“Love to,” I replied, “but I believe we’re about 45 years too late.”  I didn’t think it necessary to mention that we were also a long way from Liverpool.

Well, as it turns out, Tokyo has not one but two clubs, the other called Abbey Road, which feature cover bands playing Beatles music exclusively.

We arrived at the Cavern Club, were shown to a table, and ordered some drinks. Beatles music was playing over the sound system, which always makes me happy (Baby Boomer!). The walls were covered with wonderful black and white photos chronicling the Beatles rise to fame from the earliest days to Sergeant Pepper and beyond. As my eyes adjusted to the dimmed lights, I began to notice the equipment laid out on the stage. Definitely the real deal. Beautiful Vox amplifiers all around (remember the Sullivan show?). Displayed on the back walls were John Lennon’s black Rickenbacker, George’s Gretsch Country Gentleman, the iconic Paul McCartney violin-shaped Hoffner bass, and even an exquisite Rickenbacker 12-string, like the one George used on “Words of Love”. The front face of the bass drum sported the Cavern Club logo.

After a while, four Japanese musicians, identically clad in tight-fitting black suits and white shirts with matching black and white sneakers, took to the stage.  As the recorded Beatles music faded, I thought to myself, “Now that’s a tough act to follow!”

Instruments at the ready, “Paul” opened with the lovely acoustic guitar introduction to “Blackbird”. Then he began singing the first words, and in an instant, I felt a huge disappointment. My friend had neglected to mention that the band would be lip-synching the Beatles’ recorded voices. And in the next instant, I realized with a start that they were not.

I love the Japanese people.

As I listened to “The Beatles”, it dawned on me that in the cult-like atmosphere of this club, a determination had been set to honor and preserve, by precise emulation and repetition, something deemed to be of great value. I realized further that all this was deeply resonating with me because I share those same values, expressed not only in music or art, but also in the joy of sending that five-thousandth faithfully-reproduced dish of Spaghetti Carbonara from the kitchen, even though I had nothing to do with its invention.

We stayed for two joyous sets of “John”, “Paul”, “George”, and “Ringo” faithfully reproducing Beatles classics with talent, love and raucous enthusiasm. Check it out next time you’re in Liverpool….oops, I mean Tokyo.