Ryukyu-no (Okinawan) Rock – JET

Guitar/vocals…Jimmy Ginoza
Drums/vocals…Koji (Kozi) Nagahama
Bass guitar/lead vocals…Taki Furugen

The musicians first played together in the early seventies in a band known as Kotobuki. Kochan (Koji) quit Kotobuki in 1972 and eventually joined Marie with Medusa. In the `80s he joined forces with George Murasaki in the band Okinawa, as well as Taki in Bullet in the mid-’80s, and in the `90s Katchan in Katchan Band.

Jimmy and Taki continued to play as Kotobuki, with various drummers, until their departure to Guam in 1976. In Guam they played Japanese tourist hotels as Prism.

Taki moved to the U.S. in 1978, playing and recording with STP (Steve Tingen Plus) in Washington D.C. and the surrounding areas. He returned to Okinawa in 1980 and helped form the band Bullet with Mimi and Eddie, which played the Okinawan military circuit and various local concerts throughout the `80s.

Jimmy remained in Guam until 1983, rejoining Taki in Bullet in 1988. Etsu Aguni of Condition Green, and a former Kotobuki drummer, hooked-up with Jimmy and Taki in 1994, leading to the formation of JET. Etsu quit in November 1996 and Koji finally rejoined Taki and Jimmy in March 1998.

Also heard on the CD is keyboardist Yutaka Tajima (seen here at the annual Peaceful Love Rock Festival).

Photos Courtesy of Hiroshi Hamaguchi

I upgraded the site to the new WordPress 2.0.1 today. I’m sorry if it caused any complications. If you do run across any bugs please let me know. Thank you.

If you have been keeping up with the site, then you know I’ve made several changes in the past month. I’ve adjusted the size of images in posts to thumbnails in order to accommodate as wide a range of mobile devices as possible. If the image doesn’t first appear on the mobile device, go to the menu and select acquire file. If you are on PC and want to view the original picture, just left click on the image which will take you to the Flickr gallery with the large image.

For those persons who want to view the site via mobile access, there is a problem with images. Not all images are viewable via certain mobile units. In addition, pages and links may not be accessible. I’m trying to work out the kinks with the images and hope to have all the material available soon.

As I was doing some web searches, it came to my attention that several websites have begun to use several variations on the Ryukyu Island rock band JET term for ranking and/or business purposes. I want to state right here and now, we are NOT ASSOCIATED NOR AFFILIATED with these sites!!! There are two official homepage addresses associated with the Ryukyu Island rock band JET these are:

Ryukyu-no (Okinawan) Rock 琉球のロック℠ – JET
and
JET – Because Everyone Knows “The Ryukyu Islands Rock ‘n’ Roll”™

In addition, there are various tour sites that also contain links to the outdated Japanese JET band member fan website. Please use care in screening your searches.