The images of a video of the only tour of the

Beatles

in

Japan

in

1966

have come to light after a long legal battle in the country.

The film, without sound and in black and white, lasts

35 minutes

and is currently in free access on

YouTube

.

It was done back then by the Japanese police for security issues.

In the footage, the four musicians can be seen beaming off the plane, dressed in kimonos, and then performing in front of a riotous crowd at the

Nippon Budokan

hall in

Tokyo

.

These files have, however, a curious detail: apart from the faces of the

Beatles

, the faces of the other people filmed are blurred, for reasons of respect for privacy.

For years, the issue of image rights for these recorded people was a sticking point between Japanese Beatles fans and right-to-know advocates and local police.

Fans turned to the Supreme Court of Japan to

try to authorize an uncensored version

, claiming that it was

a "historical document"

that it was absurd to want to blur the faces recorded more than 50 years ago, almost impossible to identify today, according to they.

But the court rejected these arguments in 2018 and the police's proposal to make the document public with the faces blurred was finally prevailed.

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