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The first Digital Be-In held outside of San Francisco was held outside of the Western Hemisphere: in the Land of the Rising Sun. Co-organized by Verbum and IDG Expo (organizers of MacWorld Expo), with co-producer Miki Murdoch, the event was held at Makuhari Messe Conference center in Chiba. MacWorld Expo had 150,000 attendees (50,000 or more of which do not own computers!), and the Be-In attracted about 2000. The event, sponsored by Apple Computer and others, began with a presentation by Michael Gosney on the history of the Be-In and the connections between the 1960s Bay Area-based counterculture and the personal computer revolution. Gosney presented a videotaped message from Timothy Leary, in which he complimented the Japanese people on their spiritual depth and modern leadership, and suggested that Japan is going to "Turn On, Intertune In, and Shine Out!" Performances included Cheep Purple and A.K.A. Dig (Los Angeles boys living in Tokyo). The show MC was Robert Harris, a popular radio and television personality in Tokyo and one of the leading experts on Beat culture and poetry. The Digital Art Gallery was organized by Tadao Shibata, editor of SuperDesigning magazine. The Digital Frontier featured exhibits by avant garde multimedia publisher Digitalogue, HSC Software, Oracion and many others. One of the most popular features of the event was an auction for the Kobe earthquake victims: vendors donated millions of yen worth of software and many Be-In attendees spent the better part of the evening in the auction area. San Francisco's Residents made a surprise appearance late in the evening. The publicity on the event was quite widespread, including national television news stories. |