Kazemachi Roman was a defining landmark of Japanese rock. Prior to the band’s debut, the majority of records were sung in English, closely mirroring the music being imported from America and dominating Japanese radio. Japanese themes were rarely present in popular records; most were indistinguishable California folk-rock if not for the accents of the vocalists. (Yuya Uchida of the Flower Travellin’ Band famously argued that the Japanese language did not suit rock melodies, and that singers needed to learn English if they had any hope of keeping up.) Happy End boldly flouted those conventions, singing entirely in Japanese and theming the album around idealized visions of a Tokyo long past, before Americanization took hold following the 1964 Summer Olympics. Kazemachi Roman sparked fierce debate about the commercial viability of Japanese rockers singing in their native tongue, but history would ultimately prove Happy End was on the right side.