John Lennon Owned Brown Tray: John Lennon Owned Japanese Items Collection
This John Lennon Owned Brown Tray forms part of a unique collection of John Lennon owned items, purchased by John Lennon from local tradesmen who visited his hotel suite on The Beatles visit to Japan between June 30th and July 3rd 1966. This brown hand painted wooden tray depicts bamboo in green ink and measures 14.0″ x 9.0″ (36cm x 23cm). It is in exceptional condition.
The John Lennon Owned Japanese Items Collection can be purchased as a whole group or individually – click HERE to view the entire collection
Each items in the collection comes complete with a copy of the original letter of authenticity, a market leading unconditional 90-day money back guarantee and a lifetime Presley Collectibles COA. Worldwide shipping is available.
The Beatles’ flight to Japan finally arrived at Haneda Airport in Tokyo in the early hours of 29 June, according to a report by Dudley Cheke, a chargé d’affaires at the British Embassy. Alternatively, an arrival time of around 3.30 am on 30 June is given by Beatles biographer Barry Miles and John Winn and in a 2016 Tokyo Weekender article about the visit.
The Beatles served as cultural ambassadors in Japan, where the authorities had viewed the band in an unfavourable light until their appointment as MBEs in 1965. The visit had been the subject of national debate and coincided with an era in which Japan sought to re-establish its cultural identity, following the country’s defeat in World War Two. While the more progressive-minded elements of the population welcomed the spirit of change and youthful optimism that the Beatles represented, traditionalists were opposed to the band’s influence. To meet Epstein’s requirement of $100,000 (around $750,000 in 2016) for each performance, the 10,000-seat Nippon Budokan hall was chosen; tickets were priced at twice the rate of any previous visiting pop act.
The announcement that the concerts were to take place at the Budokan – a venue reserved for martial arts, as well as a shrine to Japan’s war dead – outraged the country’s hardline nationalists, who vowed to intercede and stop the proceedings. This issue, combined with a written death threat that the Beatles had received while in Hamburg, ensured that security around the group was extreme throughout their stay. In an operation that compared with Japan’s measures when hosting the 1964 Olympic Games, around 35,000 police and fire brigade personnel were mobilised to protect the Beatles.
During their extended periods in the hotel suite, the Beatles collaborated on a psychedelic-themed painting, using brushes and paints supplied by one of the visiting tradesmen, and listened to a tape of their new album. Whitaker photographed them at work and later commented: “I never saw them calmer, more contented than at this time. They were working on something that let their personalities come out … They’d stop, go and do a concert and then it was, ‘Let’s go back to the picture!’” Having struggled to find a title for the new album since their arrival in Munich, the Beatles finally settled on Revolver and informed EMI of their decision by telegram on 2 July. Whitaker recalled that, despite the hours of confinement in the Hilton, the atmosphere within the band while in Tokyo was “a crescendo of happiness”.
John Lennon Owned Brown Tray: John Lennon Owned Japanese Items Collection
