Sunday, April 6
We gathered in the early morning light of Enoshima, ready to head to the airport. Before long, a cold rain began to fall.
We weighed our luggage carefully, trying to meet the airline’s weight limits while optimizing what to pack together. Then came a crucial step: tightly wrapping two pieces of luggage together with vinyl tape to count as one. A small trick to reduce the number of checked bags.
Our friend Hattori, a dyeing artisan and an old bandmate who once played drums with us, drove us to the airport. Always grateful for him.
We arrived three hours before departure, only to be met with a huge line at the Philippine Airlines check-in counter. We ended up waiting nearly two hours, leaving us with barely any time before boarding.
At the counter, we started checking in one bag at a time. But trouble hit. Philippine Airlines wouldn’t accept our two-taped bags as a single item. We pleaded with the staff, and finally, they said we could get by if we used the airport’s wrapping service. So we dashed off, luggage in hand.
After paying ¥3,000 (about $20), we got everything wrapped properly and rushed back to the counter. But then—another snag. Ikeda and Takano’s carry-ons were too big and were forcibly counted as checked baggage too.
And just like that, an extra ¥40,000 (about $265) was added to the tour’s already steep ¥3.7 million ($24,500) budget. One more step away from breaking even.
The flight to the Philippines took around four hours. The next leg would take us to Seattle. The moment we stepped off the plane, we were hit by the thick, damp air—over 30°C (86°F) and tropical. We killed time playing Mario Tennis and eating mystery buns near the gate.
When boarding time came, we stepped into a much larger aircraft—double the size of the first flight. The seats were more spacious, reclining deeply enough to help survive a long-haul flight. A relief.
Though turbulence rocked us pretty hard, I managed to doze off for a bit. When I was awake, I watched Alien: Romulus and read. Eleven hours passed surprisingly fast.
Seattle greeted us with cold rain. At arrivals, our tour manager Mikey was waiting. With a long, silky mane and a bold mustache like a lampshade under his nose, he looked straight out of a ‘70s American rock band. Total vibe.
He drove us to the hotel he’d booked, and we passed out almost instantly. It had been 20 hours since we left Japan. But that night, jet lag hit hard. I lay there, listening to Seattle’s midnight noise, waiting for morning with my eyes closed.
At 7 am, we had breakfast at the hotel and headed out for a walk with Mikey. We wandered into Pike Place Market and bought fruit, then picked up rice at a Chinese supermarket. Along the way, we ducked into a gallery called “Steinbrueck Native Gallery” to escape the rain. It featured Northwest Coast Indigenous art—folk pieces by Native Canadians. The patterns felt primal, the sculptures raw and almost haunting in their beauty.
Most of the gallery’s items were way out of our price range, but near the register was a dish of colorful “spirit stones,” each with an animal painted on it. I picked up a green one with a frog. On the back, it said “PEACE.” It cost $5. I decided this would be my lucky charm for the tour.
The rain got heavier. I’d always assumed America was mostly sunny, so none of us had brought rain gear. We walked back to the hotel soaked.
Back in our rooms, drying off and lounging around, we got a message from our Japanese manager, Mr. Kitazawa—Kita-san. He’d just arrived in Seattle. Bayon Production, the company he runs and we belong to, manages us in Japan and Asia. Technically, overseas tours are outside his scope. But he’d come on his own dime, just to support us for a few days. He even flew to London just to see our show during the EU/UK tour. We can never thank him enough.
That evening, Kita-san suggested dinner, so the five of us, including Mikey, walked to a pizza place across from the hotel. Our first real meal in America.
That night, I slept a little better than the last.
Tomorrow, the tour finally begins.
Day one kicks off with a live session at Seattle’s non-profit radio station KEXP, followed by a show at a venue called “Nemous.”
My heart was pounding with anxiety and excitement.
To be continued next time
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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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