The Japanese Punk Rock Band That Toured With Green Day, Weezer, and NOFX

This is the story of how three dudes from Tokyo captured the spirit of the California Punk Rock scene and created the youth anthems of 90s Japanese teens.

And, how their journey took them to playing Warped Tour and becoming buddies with some of the biggest Punk acts in history – NOFX, Green Day, Weezer, Rancid, and The Offspring.

Ken Yokoyama (Gt, Vo), Akihiro Namba (Ba, Vo), and Tsuneoka Akira (Dr) were the core members of Hi-Standard when the band began in 1991.

They had their first live show a little less than three months after forming, playing on the bill with another influential punk band, Bloodthirsty Butchers in Koenji.

(I recently learned about Bloodthirsty Butchers at the Ging Nang Boyz concert from chatting with some punk fans in the crowd. They were also a big influence for Kazunobu Mineta from GNBz, another one of the biggest punk rocker icons from Japan.)

After releasing their demo tapes in ’92, Hi-Standard began performing as the opening acts for British and American punk bands who were touring Japan.

They played local small venues and music festivals for three years until releasing their first mini album, Last Of Sunny Day (1994).

It was history from there – not even a year after the mini album’s release, Hi-Standard was opening for Murphy’s Law, NOFX, and The Offspring for their Japan Tours in 1995.

They became good buddies with Fat Mike of NOFX after performing as their opening act.

Fat Mike helped Hi-Standard come to America and record their first full album.

The album GROWING UP was released under the band’s now famous private record label, PIZZA OF DEATH. Thanks to their global network of friends and connections, it was released in both the US and Japan.

It was a hit in both countries, selling 300,000 copies in US, pretty unheard of at the time (even now?) for a first album from a band all the way in Japan.

Back-to-back touring with Green Day, then Rancid the next month.

Hi-Standard then went on their own world tour, coming to the US and Canada.

To wrap up the year, they opened for Weezer in Tokyo on their Pinkerton tour.

Tearing the world up year after year, they released a second album in 1997, sat out on another America tour with NOFX, and played Warped Tour all within the span of a few months.

I will leave you with the titular song from their second album.

HI-STANDARD TODAY

30 years later, the band was once again playing support for NOFX in Japan on their final breakup tour in 2024.

Hi-Standard, and their incredibly influential punk record label PIZZA OF DEATH, is still going strong. Ken and Namba have had huge solo careers to go along with Hi-Standard – “Ken Yokoyama” and “Namba69”.