Alphaville – Big In Japan

Live at Top Of The Pops – 6 September 1983

“Big in Japan” – Single by Alphaville from the album Forever Young.
B-side: “Seeds”
Released: January 1984
Recorded: 1983
Songwriters: Marian Gold, Bernhard Lloyd, Frank Mertens
Producer: Orlando (Wolfgang Loos)
Charted No.66 in US and No.8 in UK

Marian Gold developed most of the lyrics while visiting a dentist. The theme was based on two friends who were involved in the sordid drug scene of West Berlin’s Zoo station. The refrain “big in Japan” symbolises the idea of being successful in another world, a fantasy about being drug-free.

“‘Big In Japan’ tells about a couple of lovers trying to get off Heroin. They both imagine how great it would be to love without the drug: no steal, no clients, no ice age in the pupil, real emotions, true worlds. Till nowadays Berlin station Zoo is an important meeting place for junkies. That’s why this place became a venue of the song.”