The Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (JCCC) was proud to present a bold new chapter in its history of groundbreaking programming when Mr. Jimmy took the stage at its Kobayashi Hall for four incredible shows between August 8-11, 2024.
Guitarist Jimmy Sakurai led the band through a fully authentic recreation of legendary rock band Led Zeppelin’s shows that were originally presented at New York’s Madison Square Garden, in 1973. The shows were the band’s first ever fully staged shows outside of Tokyo.
Sakurai has achieved through a modern, artistic, expression of the Japanese work ethic of continuous improvement. Sakurai has dedicated his life to fully mastering the artistry of guitarist Jimmy Page, which Page himself has acknowledged. Seeing and hearing was believing, and the healthy turn-out for the shows grew as many that attended earlier shows returned night after night with additional friends and family.
The staging was designed to exactly match Led Zeppelin’s original 1973 Madison Square Garden performances, from the exact dimensions of the stage itself, to the exact vintage stage equipment and lighting design. A dedicated crew of volunteers, staff, and highly specialized technicians worked together to deliver the intricate and elaborate shows with the support of event sponsors Toyota Canada, Canon Canada, Per Se Brand Experience the Toronto Don Valley Hotel, Beam Suntory and Ozawa Canada.
The shows allowed the JCCC to shine a spotlight on the technical capabilities of Kobayashi Hall as the world class performance facility that it is, able to present a full spectrum of musical performances with top-notch acoustics. The passive acoustic properties of the hall were on full display during the solo piano performances of concert pianists Kyohei Sorita in May of 2023 and Hayato Sumino in April 2024, presented, to high praise, to sold out audiences with no sound reinforcement whatsoever (just the natural sound of the grand piano – no microphones or amplification).
With the installation of a state-of-the-art Yamaha sound system last year, that was assisted in part by a generous grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation and a sponsorship from Yamaha Canada, the Kobayashi Hall is now fully capable of reproducing every detail of the cutting edge surround soundtracks of films for The Toronto Japanese Film Festival, to the bombast of “full tilt” rock shows like Mr. Jimmy, with clarity and precision.
The JCCC looks forward to welcoming new audiences with future ticketed musical performances as part of the centre’s annual programming. Also, thanks to popular demand, there is a good chance that Mr. Jimmy may be back again this year to authentically recreate the experience of a different era Led Zeppelin show. If you’re interested in advance notice about that, please send a note to tickets@jccc.on.ca and the JCCC will be happy to add you to the show mailing list. Catching the show would be a great excuse for a trip to Toronto and visiting the JCCC!
Finally, if you’d like to get a sense of what the Mr. Jimmy shows were all about, search “Mr. Jimmy JCCC” on YouTube and you’ll see some of the many videos that audience members have posted of the shows that have collectively already racked up more than 100,000 views from around the world.
© 2025 Chris Hope
