Eastern Youth (イースタンユース) formed in 1988 in Sapporo, Japan and are highly re… Read Full Bio ↴Eastern Youth (イースタンユース) formed in 1988 in Sapporo, Japan and are highly respected as one of the leading punk bands in Japan. They toured America with At The Drive-In in 2000, Jimmy Eat World in 2001, and Cursive in 2003 and again in 2006. Two albums, 其処カラ何ガ見エルカ "What Can You See From Your Place" (2003) and 365歩のブルース "365-Step Blues" (2006) have been released in America through FiveOne. The band released a split CD with Cursive in 2002. In 2008 the band celebrated their 20th anniversary with two career-spanning compilations and the second installment of 2-disc compilations documenting artists that have played at the band's 極東最前線 "Far-Eastern Fighting Front" events. Their 13th album 歩幅と太陽 "In Pace With The Sun" was released in September 2009 and was to be followed by a nation-wide tour in the fall that was cancelled due to abrupt health issues with vocalist Yoshino Hisashi. Yoshino has since recovered, and the tour was rescheduled in the spring of 2010. Their 14th album 心ノ底ニ灯火トモセ "Light a Lamp at the Bottom of Your Heart" was released May 18th 2011.

東京
eastern youth Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

進んでいるんだろうか?
戻っているんだろうか?
頭の上には通勤電車
足の下には汚れたアスファルト
同じ街同じルート同じ靴
同じ店からはいつもの匂いがする
花弁は枯葉のように見えるし
真夏は真冬のようにも見えるんだ

進んでるように見える景色は
戻ってるようにも見える景色さ

東京west 西の外れ
歩く速度は昨日と同じさ
東京west さらば青春
Go away

東京west 日暮れ前
赤く染まった巨大なロウソク
東京west 記憶と現実
行ってくれ

それが何だったのか
君は誰だったのか
一歩毎に崩れて
一歩毎にこぼれて
これが何であるのか
俺は誰であるのか
一歩毎に損なって
一歩毎に追いかけて

笑ってるように見える顔は
泣いてるようにも見える顔さ

東京west 西の外れ
歩く速度は昨日と同じさ

東京west さらば青春
Go away

Overall Meaning

The song 東京 by eastern youth talks about the daily life and struggles of living in Tokyo. The lyrics express a sense of confusion and ambivalence about whether they are moving forward or backward in life. The scenery appears to be moving in both directions, as if they are caught in a loop of the same routine every day. The singer is surrounded by the mundane sounds of the city, the smell of the same shops, and the sight of flattened flower petals and dirty asphalt. The lyrics also highlight the way that time seems to blur together in the city, with summer and winter feeling almost interchangeable.

The chorus of the song, “Tokyo West, Farewell to youth, Go away” represents the theme of leaving something behind and moving on. This is contrasted with the image of a giant red candle that stains everything around it, much like how memories can linger and cling to one’s psyche. The lyrics become more ambiguous in the second verse, asking: what was all that about and who was I? They express the struggle of trying to maintain one's identity and sense of self in a fast-paced and constantly changing city. The final lines are a plea for the courage to keep moving forward and not lose oneself in the process.

Line by Line Meaning

進んでいるんだろうか?
I wonder if we are actually progressing

戻っているんだろうか?
Or are we just going back to where we started?

頭の上には通勤電車
We see the hustle bustle far above our heads in the form of a train commute

足の下には汚れたアスファルト
We are walking on dirty asphalt

同じ街同じルート同じ靴
We see the same city, walk the same path and wear the same shoes

同じ店からはいつもの匂いがする
Same old smell from the same old store

花弁は枯葉のように見えるし
Petals look like dead leaves

真夏は真冬のようにも見えるんだ
We can't tell the difference between winter and summer

進んでるように見える景色は
The view looks like we're making progress

戻ってるようにも見える景色さ
But also feels like we're just regressing

東京west 西の外れ
We are at the west side of Tokyo, the outskirts