Kino guitarist Yuri Kasparyan will appear at Fukuoka Art Museum on Nov. 27 for a special public event on Soviet rock music, organized by Dr. Heloísa Seratiuk Flores, Specially Appointed Assistant Professor at Kyushu University’s Institute for Asian and Oceanian Studies (Q-AOS). The event grew directly from Flores’s fascination with Kino and her efforts to trace a little-known connection between the Soviet rock band and Japan dating back more than three decades. Kyushu University lists Flores as the person in charge of the event. Kyushu University
Photo by Yulia Gubina
Titled “Yuri Kasparyan: Rock Music in the Soviet Union,” the evening will include a screening of Rachid Nougmanov’s 1986 short film Ya-Hha!, featuring Viktor Tsoi and Kasparyan, followed by a one-hour guided interview with Kasparyan and a one-hour open Q&A. The discussion will cover his experience as a rock musician in the Soviet Union, the role music played in building community, his career, and the influence of Japanese culture on his work. Asia Week Kyushu University
For those unfamiliar with Kino, the story begins with Viktor Tsoi, the band’s singer and songwriter. Emerging from Leningrad’s underground rock scene, Kino became one of the best-known bands of the late Soviet era, while Tsoi developed into a major cultural figure whose influence continued long after his death. He also starred in Nougmanov’s 1988 film The Needle (Igla), which brought Tsoi and Kino to a wider international audience. Tsoi was born in 1962 and died in a traffic accident on Aug. 15, 1990, aged 28. Central Bank of Russia
Yuri Kapsaryan, Viktor Tsoi, Gustav Gurianov, and Igor Tikhomirov, from the band Kino, Leningrad, Russia, 1986. (Photo by Joanna Stingray)
The film was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in 1990, where it attracted international attention. According to the account assembled by Flores through her contacts with people directly involved at the time, Japanese entertainment company Amuse Inc. became interested in The Needle, and discussions expanded into a possible music project involving Kino and Southern All Stars. Deseret News News Article – English
Tsoi subsequently visited Japan in the spring of 1990 and met Keisuke Kuwata of Southern All Stars. Plans were being explored for Kino to perform in Japan, with further collaboration between the two bands also under discussion. Photographs from the visit document Tsoi and Kuwata together, while Japanese accounts from the period also refer to Amuse considering a Kino Japan tour. Tuesday Breakheart
Joanna Stingray, Japanese Pop musician Keisuke Kuwata, Viktor Tsoi, and Amuse Entertainment owner Mr Osato, Tokyo, Japan, 1990. (Photo by Joanna Stingray)
Those plans ended abruptly when Tsoi died that August. What might have become a remarkable Soviet-Japanese rock connection remained largely a story of what could have been. News Article – English
For Flores, however, the story did not end there.
A longtime Kino fan, she began contacting people connected to Tsoi, The Needle, and the unrealized Japan project. That work led to the November 2025 Kyushu University Asia Week event “Soviet Film: Connecting Asia through the Work of Viktor Tsoi,” held at the university’s Ohashi Campus. The Nov. 8 event brought together figures including The Needle director Rachid Nougmanov, producer Joanna Stingray, and Kiki Miyake, formerly of Amuse Inc., who had been involved in bringing the film to Japan. Kyushu University records 50 participants at the event. Asia Week Kyushu University
Professor Kang Byoung Yoong, Rachid Nougmanov, Kiki Miyake, A. Professor Charlène Clonts, Lecturer Rieko Kamioka. Soviet Film: Connecting Asia through the Work of Viktor Tsoi event at Kyushu University, Ohashi Campus, 2025. (Photo by Maria Almeida)
Flores’s efforts also led her directly to Yuri Kasparyan. During a visit to St. Petersburg in 2025, she met the Kino guitarist and asked whether he would consider coming to Japan, a country he had long wanted to visit after hearing Tsoi speak enthusiastically about his own trip. After further discussions within Kyushu University, an invitation became possible, and Kasparyan accepted. News Article – English
Now, 36 years after Tsoi’s visit and the unrealized plans surrounding Kino and Japan, Kasparyan will finally come to Fukuoka.
Rather than a concert, the Nov. 27 program offers a chance to hear directly from one of the musicians at the center of Kino’s history. It also brings full circle a Japan connection that began in 1990 and was revived in Fukuoka through Flores’s determination to find the people behind the story and bring them together again.
Kino concert at the Luzhniki Stadium with 70.000 attendees, Moscow, Russia, 2026. (Photo by Yulia Gubina)
Event Information
- Event: Yuri Kasparyan: Rock Music in the Soviet Union
- Date: Nov. 27, 2026
- Time: 17:30–20:40
- Venue: Fukuoka Art Museum, Museum Hall, Ohori Park
- Admission: Free
- Languages: English and Russian with interpretation; automated Japanese text translation
- Program: Screening of Ya-Hha! (1986), guided interview with Yuri Kasparyan, open Q&A
- Organizer: Kyushu University Institute for Asian and Oceanian Studies (Q-AOS)
- Event organizer / person in charge: Dr. Heloísa Seratiuk Flores
- Registration: Advance registration here
- Kyushu University Asia Week 2026 official program