By Kirsten Phillips (Niigata-ken, 2005-08)
Loving Japanese music from afar is hard.
If it sucks this bad in the red, white, and blue I can only imagine what my poor J-music loving kindred in Yugoslavia must be enduring. Living in Japan was my oyster! For years I had to pay massive amounts every time Shiina coughed out a single or assisted someone else in coughing one out (I am dedicated, if broke…) In addition, much of the Japanese music that gets any play whatsoever on these shores doesn’t usually cater to my taste. Sure, I love Cibo Matto and Shonen Knife but they are practically unheard of in Nippon. That’s because by now they’ve worked themselves so firmly into the American indie diaspora, they are never to return. They didn’t so much make it over there, they left and began over here.
And truly no offense? But PuffyAmiYumi can kiss my ass. No, no, I don’t hate them? But I’m also not 12, thank you.
Then there’s the Vis-Kei scene. L’Arc, Malice Mizer, D’ir En Gray, Glay, X-Japan, Luna Sea, etc. It is pretty safe to say that I 
dislike viz kei music with the passion of a thousand suns. Their style and their aesthetic sit just fine with me but I can’t listen to them very long. Naturally, there are exceptions to everything. Each one of these bands has at least one song I will listen to (with the exception of D’ir and Malice ^^).
Youjeen rocked my world when I was in college. As did Oblivion Dust, The Brilliant Green, Chara, Blankey Jet City, Yellow Monkey, Elephant Kashimashi and Cocco. I still rock out to Cocco when I’m mad, old habits…
But the fact is, you have to really HUNT this shit down when you’re in the States or get a source, a fix, a shady backstage hook-up. Or discover CDJapan.com/Amazon.Jp ^^ Ohhh, shipping charge! It blows verily, it doth! In Japan, all I had to do was trot on over to Family Book or Tsutaya! I miss you Tsutayaaaaa. I pine….*sniff* Alack! Alas!
My stint in Japan scored me some hellacious finds! It pays to haunt the bargain bins at Hard-Off (that name is still vaguely dirty to me) Such behavior will earn you a reputation among friends as being the overenthusiastic white chick who digs bands the Japanese have to search for.
Can someone please recommend a B’Z song to me? They seem to be everyone else’s favorite band. I’m not quite at that level of adoration yet. Sure, I like OCEAN but I get too easily distracted by Siam Shade. How can I like Siam Shade and NOT B’Z? It makes no sense to me. I guess I just haven’t heard the right song? Or I am retarded.
My Internal Japanese Playlist for Mayo de Seis:
天の邪鬼 by Yuu: Yumi Nakashima I heart you. Poor man’s Ringo you are not but a fruit of a different peel altogether.
Ranka by CONDOR44: Heavy on the reverb and not a little maudlin? But ethereal and trippy, like just having had a really good smoke after a warm bath.
Angel Song by The Brilliant Green: God, it’s like I’m 22 again. I adored Brilliant Green! Why did she have to go Tommy February? Where was the need for that? Meh.
愛妻家の朝食 by Shiina Ringo: As if there couldn’t be any Ringo on this list? This is a wonderfully infectious song which actually won me over faster than the single it came with. Still can’t always pronounce the title though. Aisaika? Choshuck you? Dammit, Japan!
ハイウェイ by Quruli: Best UK band to not come outta the UK. Period. Their genius in composition rivals Shiina (ie KAME) on occasion. This song always made me feel better when I was lonely in Japan.
キラキラ by BUGY CRAXONE: Whatever happened to these wacky dudes from Hokkaido? This is the one song I have by them that survives. The rage is palpable and whatever this chick is saying, she ain’t playing.
one comment so far...
You can turn up some J music thru file sharing, via Isohunt or Demonoid etc., but Japanese music is harder to find online. One trick I found was to do a search on these sites for [band name} + JPSEEK. It is a torrent site based in China that focuses on Japanese pop music, but going straight to their site wont help since it’s all in Chinese.
Legit? Maybe not, but it can help ease your fix from afar.