As mentioned earlier, we pay for our own flights—but the truth is, we pay for everything. It’s a terrifying reality. The 2023 Europe tour cost us around 1.8 million yen (approximately $12,000) in total, and that entire amount came out of the band’s pocket. Scary, right?
Here’s a rough breakdown of the expenses:
- Flights: ¥450,000 (approx. $3,000)
- Van rental and fuel: ¥500,000 (approx. $3,300)
- Tour manager: ¥350,000 (approx. $2,300)
- Gear rental: ¥60,000 (approx. $400)
- Merch production: ¥250,000 (approx. $1,700)
- Miscellaneous (like accommodations on days off): ¥200,000 (approx. $1,300)
So, our goal on tour is to break even—or ideally, turn a profit—by earning performance fees and selling merchandise. That’s the reality of touring overseas. It’s a lot to take in, but I hope you’re starting to get the picture.
In the first installment of this series, I mentioned that America is known as the “final boss” of international touring, and there’s a very real reason for that. Everything I’ve described so far applies mainly to touring in Europe. The U.S., however, is a completely different beast.
Let’s start with the biggest difference: visas. Performing abroad and earning foreign currency usually requires a visa, and compared to Europe, U.S. visa costs are absurdly high—not to mention the application process is a nightmare. Without recommendations and a solid track record, you probably can’t even get one.
For this tour, our visa costs came to about ¥1,000,000 (approx. $6,700) for the three of us. That’s already more than half the total cost of the Europe tour—just for permission to enter the country and play shows. I’d rather not even think about it.
On top of that, in the U.S., even on show days, venues don’t typically provide meals or accommodations. In Europe, once we were booked, we could at least survive day-to-day. In America, we’d starve. So we have to book hotels and buy our own food every single day. For a long tour, this quickly becomes financially draining. Combine that with the current weak yen and rising prices in the U.S., and things get even tougher.
So what’s the grand total for this American tour?
A whopping ¥3.7 million (approx. $24,600).
Yeah. You could buy a decent car with that.
Which means we’re essentially starting this tour in the red—by ¥3.7 million. Our mission? To somehow claw our way back to zero (and maybe beyond) through performance fees and merch sales.
Sounds ridiculous, right? Let’s look at the numbers. The total amount we’re scheduled to receive in performance fees across all shows is about ¥1.3 million (approx. $8,600). Assuming all goes smoothly and we don’t miss any shows, that part’s covered. That leaves ¥2.1 million (approx. $14,000) to make up—entirely through merch sales.
We have 14 shows. That means we need to sell roughly ¥150,000 (approx. $1,000) worth of merch per night. Honestly, that’s starting to sound… maybe doable?
This is a long piece, but if you’ve made it this far, I imagine you now have a solid understanding of what touring abroad actually entails.
This series will continue throughout our American tour, with updates as close to real-time as possible. A lot happens on tour—like, a lot—so I’ll be sharing those stories along with a bit of my own internal world as things unfold.
I’m also thinking of tracking our merch sales and sharing the daily numbers so readers can experience the highs and lows with us. Messages of support—especially in social media comments—really lift our spirits, so please feel free to reach out and let us know you’re cheering us on.
I know this entry has mostly been about the harsh realities of touring, and maybe some people reading this are starting to wonder if it’s even worth it. But let me just say this: touring is unbelievably fun.
Traveling with friends, sharing the music we’ve poured our hearts into, performing it for people all over the world. Facing inevitable chaos and challenges, and somehow finding a way through them together. It’s an experience like no other. That’s why, no matter how tough the circumstances, we choose to go for it.
We hope people reading this can share in that experience with us. Maybe other bands, or those just starting out, can learn something from our story—or be inspired by it. That’s why I decided to write this series in the first place.
This intro ended up being way longer than I planned, but don’t worry—the main entries will be more like short diary posts. We’ll also be posting updates from the tour on our social media, so definitely check that out too.
I’ve never written a series like this before, and I don’t usually keep a journal either. But I’ll do my best to make this fun for as many people as possible. Hopefully you’ll enjoy not just the stories, but even the rough edges of my writing, too.
To be continued…
See the full series index here.
maya ongaku US TOUR dates 2025
Apr 08 Seattle, WA, US｜Neumos
Apr 09 Bellingham, WA, US｜The Shakedown
Apr 10 Victoria, BC, Canada｜Wicket Hall
Apr 11 Vancouver, BC, Canada｜The Pearl
Apr 12 Portland, OR, US｜Wonder Ballroom
Apr 14 Chico, CA, US｜Argus Bar + Patio
Apr 15 Oakland, CA, US｜The New Parish
Apr 17 San Luis Obispo, CA, US｜SLO Brew Rock
Apr 18 Jacumba Hot Springs CA, US｜Jacumba Hot Springs Hotel
Apr 19 Los Angeles (LA), CA, US｜Teragram Ballroom
Apr 20 Flagstaff, AZ, US｜Coconino Center for the Arts
Apr 22 Santa Fe, NM, US｜Tumbleroot Brewery & Distillery
Apr 23 Oklahoma City, OK, US｜Resonant Head
Apr 24 Austin, TX, US｜APF 25: Kickoff Party
maya ongaku
maya ongaku is a three-piece band formed in 2021 by Tsutomu Sonoda, Ryota Takano, and Shoei Ikeda, hailing from a coastal village near Enoshima, Japan. Rooted in an organic, psychedelic sound that feels both grounded and untethered, their music draws from collective improvisation and the atmosphere of their local music scene.
The band’s name—maya ongaku—is a coined term, not taken from ancient history, but imagined as a landscape beyond the visible frame, hinting at the spiritual and the unseen. The group sees their beginning as a kind of spontaneous emergence—like life arising from non-life—something that simply happened, without pretense or planning.
In May 2023, they released their debut album ‘Approach to Anima’ via Guruguru Brain and Bayon Production, followed by a successful EU/UK tour in November and a domestic tour across Japan in December.
Their latest EP ‘Electronic Phantoms’ was released in August 2024. That same month, they hosted “rhythm echo noise” in collaboration with WWW, inviting Dutch artist Felbm to Tokyo. The band was also named Best Breakthrough Artists at the inaugural TOKYO ALTER MUSIC AWARD 2024, a new platform highlighting emerging voices from Tokyo’s independent scene.
maya ongaku has performed at major Japanese festivals such as Mori, Michi, Ichiba, FFKT, FUJI ROCK, Asagiri JAM, and FUJI & SUN. Internationally, they have appeared at festivals in Korea and China, steadily expanding their presence in Asia and beyond.
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