With Tokyo winning the bid to host the 2020 Olympics, a newfound debate is underway centered around efforts to reform Japan's 60-year-old fueiho laws, which impose strict regulations on dancing in social spaces. The laws are the result of a larger effort to stamp out the perceived immorality of nightclub culture, but many people in Japan's musical community believe it is causing the vibrant scene to lose its meaning. Although Japan's Cabinet recently agreed to lift the notorious law, club owners are still operating in a legal grey zone. Through interviews with music journalist Mike Sunda, DJ, producer, and reform leader Watusi, and club promoter DJ Vivid, THUMP's Andrea Feczko explores the present-day state of dance music culture in Japan. Tracing the beginnings of the anti-fueiho movement to recent concerns surrounding the Olympics, Japan's War on Dance: Clubbing in the State of Fueiho is an investigation into Japan's changing assumptions and policies towards club culture.
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