Led Zeppelin's 1971 Japanese Tour was the first concert tour of Japan by the English rock band. The tour commenced on September 23 and concluded on September 29, 1971. It was one of the first tours of Japan by a western rock band. The only known live performance by Led Zeppelin of the song "Friends" was performed on this tour on 29 September 1971 in Osaka,[3] as is captured on a number of Led Zeppelin bootleg recordings of the show. One of the concerts from this short tour, at Hiroshima on September 27, was organized as a benefit show. As an expression of thanks, the city of Hiroshima presented the band with a letter of appreciation and the city medal by the local mayor. During this tour, singer Robert Plant allegedly punched drummer John Bonham before one of the shows. This was not the only turbulent incident which occurred during the tour. As manager Peter Grant explained: There were rows. One bloody amazing one happened in Japan when Robert came off stage with a split lip. It was over some dispute over some money from some tour. He still owed Bonzo some petrol money for 70 quid or something, but that's how it was! The concerts were recorded at the insistence of the Japanese Warner Pioneer label, which was owned by the band's record company Atlantic Records. However, upon hearing the recordings guitarist Jimmy Page found the audio quality to be so inferior that he decided to wipe over the tapes and use them again.