Where did Japan meet? Which school did they go to?
• Japan (with the exception of Rob Dean) all attended Catford Secondary in Catford, London. Catford is part of the London Borough of Lewisham. David first met Steve when he was born (they are brothers), then David met Mick and Richard because they were in the same form at school. David and Mick spent more time together as Steve had his own set of friends and Richard, better at studies, was not always in the same classes. Rob Dean grew up in Hackney and met the band when he answered an advert for a guitarist in Melody Maker. He went ’round to David and Steve’s house and was auditioned in Steve’s bedroom. He played guitar along with David and, he says, “seemed to have got the job there and then” (quote from Bamboo 9). At around the same time that Rob joined the group, Richard also joined, having spent the intervening years working in Barclays Bank and competing in Tennis championships (he is a qualified coach).
