Book: “HAPPY” Snapshot Diary Tokyo 1968-1973

(Volume 1 & Volume 2)

2002, Blues Interaction

463 photographs; text in Japanese.

A rare and precise documentary of Japanese pop culture in the late 1960s and early 1970s. As the title suggests, this is a collection of images from Mike Nogami’s photographic diary of his life in Tokyo during that era. The focus of the collection is Nogami’s friends’ rock band, the now-legendary Happy End. In addition to documenting the social milieu and Nogami’s personal life, the photographs trace the evolution of Happy End, from its first incarnation as Apryl Fool to the end of the band and the beginnings of the group members’ solo careers.