“The Beatles are the gods of rock!” How four Japanese schoolboys fell in love with The Beatles 50 years ago and fulfilled a dream by visiting the UK for their own magical mystery tour

Four Japanese schoolfriends, now in their 60s, travelled to London and Liverpool to fulfil a decades-old ambition of visiting sites linked to The Beatles, whose music had shaped their teenage years and inspired them to form their own band. The trip, dreamed up years earlier during a reunion and delayed by the pandemic, shows the enduring, cross-generational and international pull of the band more than half a century after they split, with the men dressing as their favourite members for the pilgrimage.

The group, from Kumamoto and known by the nicknames Ricky, Masa, Moomin and Tora, had their wallets stolen by pickpockets outside Buckingham Palace within hours of arriving in London, but said they bore the thieves no ill will. On their second day they visited Abbey Road studios in St John's Wood, dressed as individual Beatles complete with suits, wigs and facial hair, to recreate Iain Macmillan's famous 1969 album cover photograph, with Ricky walking the zebra crossing barefoot as "Paul". Ricky first heard the band in 1973 via his sister's copy of the "Red Album", which led him to buy a guitar, start a band with Masa and other school friends, and later discover acts such as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Queen.