On 27. March 1977, Kiss did the legendary photo session at the Spirit Temple in Kyoto, Japan, with Bob Gruen who was the official photographer on their tour of Japan.
Bob Gruen: “I was the official photographer on their tour of Japan. It was like Kissmania. The idea of their act has a lot of influence from the Japanese Kabuki in Japanese Theater. I felt like a general in the Kiss Army when we were in Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan. The first place Kiss went to was a giant Buddha, which I didn’t know was a very sacred shine to the dead. I was in the cab and the bus with Kiss was following the cab. I was showing the Polaroids to the cab driver and he would start driving and the bus would follow and we would go to that place. As we were coming up the hill to the shrine, I saw Mr. Udo {Tour Promoter} hustling down the hill. I didn’t know that he had tried to tell the monks who ran the place that we were coming. They objected strenuously. And rather than deal with a fight, he just kind of split. I didn’t have any idea what was up so we all just showed up and Kiss started piling off the bus. I start telling them to get in front of the statue like it’s a state park or something. There was some kind of discussion going on in the corner with the Japanese talking to the translators. I said to the translators, “Just keep them busy for a few minutes.” I set the band up, we took a bunch of pictures. A bunch of kids ran over and got in the pictures. Then we figured out we were being thrown out and we left. So I showed the cab driver the next picture and everyone got back in the bus and followed the cab to the next shrine. All the people who had been at the shrine were so freaked out that Kiss were there that they followed us the next place. So we had these huge crowds following us. By the time we left there and went to the third place, the Golden Pagoda, we had a huge line of thirty or forty cars following the Kiss bus. So it was this giant parade through Kyoto. After the third place, it was such a big mob we had to beat it back to the hotel!”
– “Kiss Behind The Mask: The Official Authorized Biography” by Ken Sharp & David Leaf.
