When the best person ever (aka fellow scribe Shawn Despres) invited me to join the Fuji team I was excited. Not only was it an unexpected trip to Japan - which means I'll get to see old friends - but it was a chance to cover one of the festivals I've always wanted to experience.

Oh, and then there's this: Flower Travellin' Band are playing. That fact is still melting my brain. FTB, if you don't already know, are probably Japan's most critically acclaimed '70s psyche rock band. Their album Satori has been called the penultimate Japanese rock record. Flower Travellin' Band are Japan's Led Zeppelin (in stature...musically, they're more like a more psychedelic and proggy Black Sabbath).

For me, though, there's two added reasons for my excitement. One thing is that I'm Canadian. Canada is the only country outside of Japan where Satori actually landed on the charts - top ten, no less. CHUM-FM in Toronto used to play the album. The band opened for Emerson, Lake & Palmer here. Finally, the FTB record Made In Japan was actually recorded in Canada. So there's this strange rock-historical connection happening for me.

Secondly, I'm the host & producer of a weekly Japanese music show called Octopus Army (Note: Yes, I stole the name from the clothing shop chain in Japan and no, so far, they haven't sued). So I've been listening to FTB for years, playing them on the show and thinking "Wow, too bad I missed this when they were around."

Guess what? They're still around. For anyone lucky enough to hit the Field of Heaven on Saturday...this should be a little glimpse of J-rock history.

Jamie Tennant