The video of the Beatles’ only tour of Japan in 1966 was recently released after a lengthy legal battle in the country, much to the delight of fans of the legendary British rock band.
This 35-minute black-and-white silent film, now freely available on YouTube, was made at the time by Japanese police for security purposes.
blurry faces
We can see the “four boys in the wind” all smiles as they step off the plane dressed in light kimonos, then playing in front of a raving crowd in the hall of the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, or even behind-the-scenes police operations.
These files, however, have a strange detail: in addition to those of the Beatles, the faces of all the other people filmed are out of focus, for reasons of respect for privacy.
Pendant des années, the question du droit à l’image des filmées malgré elles dans ce film a constitute a pierre d’achoppement between the Japanese fans of the Beatles et de defenders du droit à l’information d’un côté et la police locale of the other.
Fans went all the way to Japan’s Supreme Court to try to approve an uncensored version, arguing that it was a “historical document” and saying it was absurd to blur faces filmed more than 50 years ago and therefore virtually impossible to identify today. , according to them. .
Just a tour in Japan
But the Court had rejected their arguments in 2018, and the police proposal to launch a version with pixelated faces finally triumphed.
Interviewed by AFP on Monday, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Satoshi Shinkai, is now doing a good job against bad luck.
This film “comes out of the shadows for the first time … I’m sure experts and Beatles fans around the world will be very interested in it,” said Mr. Shinkai, himself an absolute fan. from Liverpool. cluster.
The Beatles remain extremely popular in Japan, even though they only toured there for five concerts.
Source: BFM TV
