The Japan tour was like a dream. I saw Phish about a dozen times from spring of '92 until summer of '94. I hardly saw them again after that, as I moved overseas and also wasn't into the bigger and bigger venues they started playing (although I was super happy for them and they managed to make the transition smoothly). Seeing them again in 2000 in the relatively tiny Japanese venues was awesome. It was also quite surprising, as up until that point I had never met a single Japanese Phish fan, despite living in the country for five years. At least at the Tokyo shows, however, the crowd was about 80-90 percent Japanese. Like with many Western acts, they probably picked up a lot of these fans at their previous appearance at the Fuji Rock Festival.

I will have to give the Fukuoka show another listen, as I've always focused on the two shows I actually attended (6/10 & 6/11). Correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember Trey making a comment about this show along the lines of "Although we were playing at a level we had never reached before, the music also probably sounded tired."