E-mail: michael@emo.or.jp
FAX: 097-533-4052
mail: 2-33 Takasago-machi, Oita City 870-0029.

The Editor and staff apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your cooperation.

Every 2nd and 4th Sunday the art teacher at my school, , Yuko-sensei, is offering classes. She is really great and speaks English. From 13:30 - 15:30 is painting, and from 16:00 - 18:00 is drawing. Calligraphy (shodo), oils, watercolors, and drawing are emphasized but anything can be focused on! All levels of experience welcome.

You can have an introductory 1 hour lesson for ¥500, and after that its a low price of ¥4000/month. This is a really great cultural opportunity. Email me for more information (bell dot tyler at gmail dot com) or see the flyer attached below.

Information Flyer

Her name is Miki and I first met her in August while standing shirtless at my front door (me, not her). I had dashed from shower to door in hopes for seeing a friend or the postman with a package, but instead I surprised two young Japanese women wearing lacy skirts and carrying outfit-coordinated umbrellas. They had come to deliver a message of peace and hope, but my gaijin status and lack of fluent Japanese momentarily stopped them in their crusading tracks. A few awkward greetings were exchanged and then Miki produced from her stylish bag a pamphlet with the same three paragraphs written in twelve different languages on twelve separate pages. I glanced over the literature, curious as to why these two angles had appeared at my door, and then suddenly froze at the words “Jehovah’s Witnesses” written in bold at the top of the English page.

They had found me. Ten thousand miles away from my American home where Jehovah’s Witnesses compete with bicycling Mormons to save souls, I had opened my door and encountered the Japanese chapter of the Doom’s Day awaiting religious activists. I felt surprise. I live in Ajimu, a small town of less than 8,000 people in a prefecture described as the “Iowa of Japan”. More than that I live in an almost empty apartment building next to a school and surrounded by rice fields on all other sides. If I were on the run from the law, Columbian drug lords, or robot assassins, I couldn’t have picked a more ideal spot to hide than my little town. But despite all this, Miki and her pamphlet had come knocking on my door and were staring at me in the bright morning sunlight.

Due to the language barrier, Miki and her companion only stayed a few minutes and then left after telling me to read my Bible everyday. They were both extremely nice and at the time I wasn’t sure if they would be back or not. Part of me hoped I would see them again since they were the only folks in town to overcome their shyness and speak to me. It was this hope that echoed in my ears as I ate my chicken and tomato salad alone in the Joyfull booth. A salad delivered by Miki herself!

I had scanned the picture-covered menu and decided on a light meal. Ping-pong went the bell and over walked the server. As she approached, I felt the warmth of recognition begin sweeping my mind. I had met this person before…but where? School? Town festival? Eikaiwa? When she reached my table’s edge her smile exploded into friendly gasps and she motioned to her face to say “remember me?!” One heartbeat, two heartbeats…YES, I remember! From my doorstep!

Miki was overjoyed to see me in her restaurant and used what English she knew to make me feel welcomed. As I paid my bill, I noticed a fierce look in her eyes…fire and purpose blazed there as if to her, God had orchestrated this meal to put me in her path. God has brought me to her to save.

Four weeks went by and with each week came a visit from Miki and her companions. She brought an older man who could speak some English one time and then she brought two men the next week to give me peers to interact with. Each time I turned down their invitation for Bible study and each time they smiled as I closed the door. Finally, one Saturday morning, I knew I couldn’t keep wasting their time and I used my newly acquired phrase of “sumimasen chotto” when they asked me to attend church with them. The effect was devastating. Miki, who had been cheerfully bringing me English versions of the material she gave to Japanese people, frowned for the first time when I used her own language to turn down her invitation. She bowed and managed a flickering smile before saying good bye. The Jehovah’s Witnesses no longer knock at my door.

I still eat at the Ajimu Joyfull on random Tuesday nights and occasionally I see Miki carrying plates of chicken and tomato salads around to tables. While she hasn’t been my server again, she has looked at me from a distance and smiled. I always smile back and inside my head I thank her for being the first one to welcome me to my inaka town.

Written by Justin Shaddix (formerly) of Ajimu for The Tombo Times, Feb 2006.

In 1995, Japanese people learned just how much fun you can have in a big box with friends. Choose the background, strike a pose or six and proceed to spend the allocated time trying to work out what all the various buttons do whilst doodling on your own face, before pressing the “erase” button seconds before the time runs out. And they’re stickers too!!! Cramming pictures, comments and glittery accessories onto purikura within the time limit is soon to be declared an Olympic sport, and when it is, the school-children of Japan will win gold.

For such a simple idea, the range of expression is amazing. ¥100 purikura result in round-the-shop queues, whilst higher quality machines can charge up to ¥400 for glitter effects and various background themes. Purikura have entered the 21st century with machines which can download images straight from your phone for you to personalize, and apparently in 1997 a machine was installed at LDP headquarters for fashion-loving politics fans to have their purikura taken with then-Prime Minister, Ryutaro Hashimoto!

My personal favorite was a machine in Okinawa, where my best friend was living, which printed your pictures onto a playing card whose suit and number you chose yourself, allowing you to create your own personalized deck. Unfortunately, this tale has a tragic post-script, as the machine broke after four months and was never replaced, leaving my best friend to invent interesting new games requiring only twenty-three cards…

Like karaoke and circus trapeze acts, purikura is something which is never done alone, as I learned to my students’ amusement when I first arrived, but they do make surprisingly good prizes and presents, as well as confuse old folks back home, (my 91-year-old great aunt asked my mum why they were making Japanese stamps with me on them!).

Once you’ve discovered the many joys of purikura, be it teacher-and-student purikura, drunken-purikura or the rare, naked-purikura, you’re likely to come to the same conclusion as most Japanese students: purikura really ARE more exciting than your English lesson!

Let’s enjoy taking a picture together with me. May be? MUST be!

Written by Doron Kelmer and originally appear in The Tombo Times, October 2004.

• Assistant Language Teachers in Trying Times
• News on Japan for the latest from the Land of the Rising Sun.
• Japanese Roots. Just who are the Japanese? Where did they come from and when? The answers are difficult to come by, though not impossible—the real problem is that the Japanese themselves may not want to know.
• Solving a Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside a Cookie explains Japan is the birthplace of the fortune cookie.
• 100 Greatest Japanese Rock Albums is bound to cause discussion.
• Edo-Period Monster Paintings… creepy.
• The Writing Life, in which a writer living in Japan learns how to think in Japanese (by famous travel author Pico Iyer).
• Sumo 101 for everything you wanted to know about sumo.
• Japanese Sound Effects and what they mean.
• iKana: Japanese learning Mac software.

This year, Oita is scheduled to hit on March 25, so mark you calendars. For more information check Tenki.jp.  View full article for 2008 forecast map.

Updated 3.12.2008!

Arriving in Japan I had a passing interest in modern Japanese music, in the last 18 months this has developed into an outright obsession!

I thought that I would share some of my discoveries and passions with other JETs, not only because there is so much good music out there (I still get the feeling I have only scratched the surface), but also because it is a great way to get talking to your students and to get to know them. There are students who I remember because they love Ajikan, or have an embarrassing obsession with the boys of Kat-tun! The majority of bands here have been initially recommended to me by the students at my 2 Senior High Schools, and they have assisted to the compilation of this article, so thank you to all of them.

Japan’s popular music is a huge area to cover. There are a vast number of bands, singers and types of music. It is quite hard to find internet information on many bands, so please excuse me if my knowledge is often vague – ask your students for more information! The bands mentioned here are mainly fairly well known, to the extent that many of your (senior high) students will have heard of them, where they are more obscure I will say so. Most of this music will be in your local Tsutaya/other decent CD shop. I have tried to put names in kana/kanji as well as English when I think that there is a chance that this is how they will be listed in the shops.

I conducted a music survey of the students I teach, getting them to write their top 3 singers or bands on a slip of paper in class. The number next to the bands names in this article indicates the number of votes that band received, and at the end I have listed the top bands, as voted by 346 Japanese High School students.

Sorry for the slight punk/indie bias, I think most types of music are covered here, and if you want to make additions or comments please do so! I’m not a Visual Kei/Metal fan, or an RnB fan, and I’ve not been impressed by most of the Japanese hip-hop I’ve heard…With some of the more ‘mainstream’ artists I mention, I’ve done little more than hear a few clips on Music Station or Utaban, but thought I should mention them as they are so popular. I’ve omitted some of the really obscure bands I like, as this article was getting out of control. Also, I am recommending bands without understand most of their lyrics. Only a few sing in English, one day maybe I will be ashamed at loving some of the ones who don’t, but for now I am going to assume that their words are genius!

There are loads of websites where you can listen to Japanese music, just follow Google, I don’t have a PC, although on my Keitai there are some Japanese websites where you can listen to clips of music. There are a few websites that I’d recommend for further information:

Wikipedia is obviously a good place to start. They have a J-pop section including a huge list of bands, although most of the articles are brief. There is also some information on other things such as Visual Kei and Enka.

http://keikaku.net is a good source for reviews and information on Japanese indie/alternative music.

http://nippop.com covers alternative and mainstream artists.

http://www.zbsatozofjmusic.com is another site with info on a wide range of music, although I’m struggling to forgive him for getting me to rent Abingdon Boys School from Tsutaya.

Ok, on with the impartial A-Z of Japanese music…

A is for:

Abingdon Boys School (0) - I hate this band. They are new, although the lead singer has been around forever (mainly as T.M.Revolution, short for Takashi Makes Revolution). This sounds like Visual Kei, the kind of rock/metal/pop with wailing vocals that seems to be unique to Japan. Incidentally they are named after the school that Radiohead went to, but sound nothing like them. The last track on their album is a nice techno instrumental, the rest of it made me ill.

Acidman (6) - Good indie alt-rock, a bit like Ajikan but less predictable. That’s how I would describe their second album, ‘Loop’, anyway. I hear they’ve got into more of an ambient soundscape vibe at times recently…

Advantage Lucy (0) - Jangly indie pop with female vocals, St Etienne meets Judy and Mary I guess. I’ve only heard the ‘Echo Park’ album, its nice. Not big with the students.

Aiko (柳井 愛子) (15) – Don’t know much about her, Wikipedia says she does love songs for teenage girls! She has a Cleopatra-style pointy nose and the songs I’ve heard are pretty average.

AKB48 (0) - Fairly dire, manufactured, teen girl band(s) (they have 48 members and usually perform in 3 different sub-groups) following in Morning Musume’s footsteps, notable for performing every day in Akihabara, and having a single called ‘My School Uniform Is Getting In The Way’…

Asian Kung-Fu Generation (アジアン・カンフー・ジェネレーション) (7) – Indie art-rock giants, known as Ajikan to their fans and lazy people. They are very popular with students in bands and guaranteed to be covered at school festivals, I just wish sometimes that they would vary their sound a bit more, though I do love songs such as ‘Rewrite’, ‘Blue Train’ and ‘World Apart’ (a number one hit in Japan).

Aqua Timez (24) – Pop rock, pleasant enough with a slight electronic edge. Think New Order covering Kobukuro.

Ayaka (絢香) (12) – Another singer I know nothing about. Apparently she’s quite versatile, and she recently did a duet with Kobukuro. Her voice is impressive.

B is for:

Backdrop Bomb (0) – I got the album ‘Breakdawn’ by these after hearing some clips of earlier, punkier stuff by them, but was disappointed. It’s a mixture of funk, dance and discordant rock, it reminds me of the Zazen Boys, as well as early 80s English bands such as Wire or Gang of Four, but I found it a bit dull and uninspired.

The Back Horn (3) – This band have a fair amount of acclaim as an alternative rock band. I’ve heard ‘Ikirusainou’ from 2003 and it’s ok – it reminds me a bit of TMGE or Blankey Jet City, but not as interesting. It’s their third album and their recent stuff is supposed to be a bit more commercial, I don’t know if that is a good thing or not.

Baseball Bear (1) – Light indie rock, a breezy version of Ajikan. I much prefer their earlier stuff, which had more guts to it.

B-Dash (1) – Catchy pop-punk, occasionally mixing in folk and electronica. I’d recommend ‘B-Dash Best’, having heard a few of their albums I think they’re a singles band!

Beat Crusaders (ビート・クルセイダース) (5) – Long-running pop-punk band with a sizeable New Wave influence. They are a lot of fun, not least for their brave and sometimes disastrous (at least, in their early days) attempts at English lyrics, and their insistence on always making public appearances wearing digital printouts of their faces as masks. I love them, anything is recommended but ‘Best Crusaders’, a compilation of the first half of their career so far, may be a good place to start.

Blankey Jet City (0) – These guys split up 8 years ago and I doubt your students will know them. They’re fantastic bluesy, grimy, indie rock, all black leather attitude, a bit like Jesus and Mary Chain meets the Pixies. They have 2 ‘best of’s spanning the 2 halves of their career, both are recommended! On an enkai with some teachers recently I was told that they had some link to Fukuoka and Hita, but I can’t remember any more…

The Blue Hearts (ザ・ブルーハーツ) (2) – Getting 2 votes ain’t bad for a band that split up when half my students weren’t even born, this lot are the (pop) punk band of Japan! Think the Clash, but bigger, very catchy and the punk band that everyone knows and loves at least one song by. Usually, that song is ‘Linda, Linda’, an insanely infectious tune that advertises cars and inspires movies amongst other things. The nicely titled ‘Super Best’ is full of other classics.

Bonnie Pink (0) – A singer-songwriter with an American style (she often works on her albums in the West). I find her a bit bland and over-produced.

Brahman (0) – Post-hardcore, melodic punk with a resemblance to Bad Religion (especially the ‘Generator’ album).

The Brilliant Green (0) – Usually known as Buri Guri, they remind me of early 90s indie/folk/rock (Juliana Hatfield and Evan Dando anyone?). They formed in ’97, and from ’98 to 2002 they were very successful in Japan. They also garnered a fair amount of international acclaim – even making a Time magazine 2001 list of the top 10 not-American bands in the world at that time! I’ve heard their first 2 albums and they’re good but… I think that’s going a bit far (they have a coffee table safeness about them, like other bands who made the same list such as Portishead, Radiohead and U2). In 2002 they took a 5-year break. During this hiatus, Tomoko, the lead singer, released albums under the names Tommy February6 (80’s synth-pop) and Tommy Heavenly6 (pout rock apparently, whatever that is), as well as marrying the bassist! Last year they started releasing music again, so far 3 singles and a compilation album.

Bump of Chicken (53) – The very popular (number 4 in my student poll!), acceptable face of the current glut of bland indie rock bands in Japan (kind of Radiohead meets Travis?). They are nice enough, and have a cool name (apparently it comes from the Japanese way of saying ‘goose bumps’). Their lyrics are supposed to be great.

B’z (ビーズ) (11) – Japanese stadium rock, not my cup of tea, but incredibly popular over a long period of time…

C is for:

Chatmonchy (チャットモンチー) (6) – Up and coming female indie-rock/pop, the new Judy and Mary but a bit more polished and less jangly? They have a bit of an offbeat, geeky looks which makes me think they should triple date with the members of Sanbomaster. Their last single, ‘Hira Hira Hiraku Himitsu no Tobira’(ヒラヒラヒラク秘密ノ扉), was excellent, I saw it on Music Station and rushed out and bought it the next day, nuff said.

Corner (0) –　The new(ish) band from the lead singer of the god-like Husking Bee, these may now be defunct themselves as he is fronting another band called Mars Eurythmics (an album I am currently looking for!). Corner are a lot more laid back, alt-country, than the afore-mentioned indie punks. I doubt anyone will know any of these bands :o(

D is for:

Doping Panda (0) – This band are a lot of fun, they started off all Ramones-style punk, but are now more electro-dance rock. They aren’t too well known with the kids.

Dragon Ash (ドラゴンアッシュ) (0) – A mixture of hip-hop and indie rock. Not bad.

E is for:

Eastern Youth (1) – I was pleasantly surprised when an ichi-nensei boy wrote these down, no one seems to have heard of them! Melodic post-hardcore I guess, they have toured overseas and released a split with Cursive I think. Apparently the beauty of the music is only surpassed by the poetry of the lyrics, maybe one day my Japanese will be good enough to appreciate them!

Ellegarden (23) – Your students’ favorite socal-style punk band, their songs will most likely be played at a school festival near you. Very popular and decent enough, although I find the vocals a bit shrill at times.

Exile (エグザイル) (71) –If you like emotional RnB then these are the boys for you, number one in my student poll! They are keen on syrupy, lovelorn ballads, not my sort of thing at all, but big with teenage girls… breathy and edgy lol.

F is for:

Funky Monkey Babys (ファンキー・モンキー・ベイビーズ) (10) – I’ve got one single by these, it’s pleasant, summery pop, a bit like Greeeen or Orange Range in laidback mode, they are fairly new and becoming big!

Flow (4) – Another band whom Tsutaya enthusiastically file under ‘punk’ when they are nothing of the sort. Jumpy, annoying pop, ranging from saccharine ballads to chanting pop-rap. Saying that, I saw their new single on Music Station (February 2008) and quite liked it because it reminded me of Remioromen.

G is for:

Gackt (0) – The dictionary definition of ‘pretentious’. To be honest, I haven’t heard much by him, but his song ‘Returner’ (and its mind-blowingly up-its-own-arse video/stage show) drove me crazy last year. Bland, soft-metal horribleness. Apparently he used to be in Visual Kei band Malice Mizer.

Ga Ga Ga SP (ガガガSP) (7) – When I heard this band I was disappointed because I realized that some Ging-Nang Boys songs weren’t as original as I thought, they sound just like these! However, bouncy, sing-a-long punk is all these seem able to do and they get a bit irritating after a while. They also seem to go under the name of Ga Ga Ga DX, who appear to be the band and a couple of other jokers doing kids songs…

The Gazette (4) – Another Visual Kei band, these seem to be the big thing in that scene at the moment. I’ve listened to ‘NIL’, their second album from 2 years ago, it mixes up the usual pop-metal complete with gothic imagery and some electro-industrial noise. This does nothing for me but they do have a couple of tracks where they seem to go all rockabilly-swing, which I enjoyed, as well as the track ‘Silly God Disco’ which is catchy pop-rock. Apparently there is some rapping on their latest album, I’m not rushing out to hear it…

Ging-Nang Boys (銀杏BOYZ) (2) – A fantastic Japanese punk band. They used to be Going Steady. Their albums are a mixture of deranged, meandering pop ballads and insanely aggressive punk screaming, with some really catchy pop-punk inbetween. I love this band!

Go!Go!7188 (6) – A great, 2/3s female rock trio, with 50’s surf and Enka influences. They remind me sometimes of the Cramps or the B-52s, but are more indie rock than those bands. Every album is recommended, but I would start with their 4th, Tategami (鬣), an absolute classic.

Going Steady (2) – The previous incarnation of the Ging-Nang Boys. Good punk with a pop edge.

Going Underground (0) – I’ve only heard their first album, it’s nice, safe, pleasant indie rock. I couldn’t spot much of a musical resemblance to The Jam…

Greeeen (29) – Together with Funky Monkey Babies these guys seemed to corner the summery guitar pop market last year. They kind of remind me of Orange Range, but not as good.

Guitar Wolf (0) – Bluesy, rockabilly garage-punk, sadly no more. I only know this lot from the movie ‘Wild Zero’, a hilarious sci-fi ‘B’-movie where they played themselves, kind of like The Ramones in ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll High School’, but with zombie aliens invading earth!

H is for:

Hamasaki Ayumi (浜崎 あゆみ) (57) – In at number 3 in my poll, she is the Madonna of Japan and then some. She has managed 27 number one singles in 10 years and sold over 50 million records. I like her, especially her later stuff, she reminds me of Madonna around the time of ‘La Isla Bonita’. The ‘Best 2 Black’ album is recommended!

High and Mighty Color (ハイ・アンド・マイティ・カラー) (0) – These pop-metal Okinawans sound like they’ve taken Hamasaki Ayumi’s weaker songs and stuck the occasional heavy metal bellow and guitar solo on in the background. Not my sort of thing.

The High-Lows (0) – They rose from the ashes of The Blue Hearts in the early 90’s, a decent indie-rock band.

Hi-Standard (0) – These sound even more like a so-cal pop-punk band than Ellegarden do, and have had some overseas success – signed to Fat Wreck Chords in the USA. They have been on indefinite hiatus for the last few years, but their guitarist Yokoyama Ken is keeping the fire burning with his solo releases and his Pizza of Death record label.

Husking Bee (0) – An amazing indie punk band, quite possibly influenced by the greatest band ever, Husker Du…! I love this band, sadly they are no more and even sadder, no one has heard of them. The lead singer is now in Corner and Mars Eurythmics.

HY (34) – Very laid-back, earnest indie rock, verging on soporific at times… They are pleasant enough but I find them pretty forgettable, although they mix male and female vocals nicely and are great to listen to if you have a bad hangover. Very popular whilst still maintaining their indie independence. I’ve only heard their album ‘Confidence’.

I is for:

The Inazuma Sentai (THEイナズマ戦隊) (1) – I don’t know much about these guys and wasn’t too keen on their last album, but their first one is great – energetic pop rock, good for getting up in the morning!

J is for:

Japaharinet (ジャパハリネット) (3) – Pretty good indie rock, they remind me of a lighter, radio friendly Ging Nang Boyz meets Husking Bee, with a touch of Monpachi.

Judy and Mary (1) – Although their name sounds like a folk band they were a very successful female-fronted guitar pop band that split up a few years ago. The kind of thing a lot of people think of when talking about Japanese music (cute vocals and chirpy, jangly guitars a la Shonen Knife but better). The lead singer, Yuki, is now a popular solo artist.

K is for:

Kat-tun (8) – I guess these are the biggest boy band of the moment, not heard much by them, they seem better than some…

Ketsumeishi (ケツメイシ) (3) – These remind me of HY without the female vocals, and a bit of laid-back Orange Range. Pleasant but very samey I thought, and I don’t quite get why they are filed in the reggae section in Tsutaya. Popular with teachers.

Kinki Kids (3) – Another boy band, not heard much of these either, what I have heard hasn’t been pleasant…

Kobukuro (コブクロ) (60) – Hugely popular, not only amongst the kids (number 2 in my poll!). This little and large duo are about as inoffensive as you can get, but they do have some pretty good tunes at times. They’ve been around for about ten years and in the last couple they’ve become huge. They are apparently ‘Neo Folk’, I would call them pop-rock balladeers. Very emotional, soaring melodies and all that stuff… Not ‘rebel music’!

Koda Kumi (倖田 來未) (37) – The current challenger to Hamasaki Ayumi’s crown, Kumi seems to be one of the saucier Japanese pop stars, just check out her cd covers for evidence… Her earlier stuff was fairly bland from what I’ve heard (a compilation of the 12 singles she released on a monthly basis a few years ago), but I was quite impressed by some of her recent ‘Black Cherry’ album, a mostly decent mixture of up-tempo RnB stompers and ballads, although ‘Twinkle’ is a terrible song!

M is for:

Mad Capsule Markets (0) – These guys are quite well-known overseas. Rock/industrial/pop-metal, not bad but they leave me a bit cold. They do dress up as robots though, which is nice. Not too well-known with the kids.

Maximum The Hormone (マキシマムザホルモン) (7) – I love these, they are so much fun! They apparently started off as a fairly one-dimensional thrash band but have metamorphised into a thrash/nu-metal/screamo/pop-punk/ska/cute guitar-pop amalgam that really defies description. Their last 2 albums are excellent, each song seems to consist of 3 or 4 styles/songs trying to fight their way out. Sometimes the metal bellowings get too much for me but they are soon over and there is so much energy and enthusiasm that I can’t help but love them.

Melt Banana (0) – An insane noise band, I’ve only got a collection of their early songs, which are pretty hard to listen to. Ear shredding yelping is an apt description. I want to hear some later stuff as I have read that they have expanded on their noise punk template.

Minmi (0) – An RnB/reggae singer, I’ve only heard her ‘Natural’ album, and some collaborations she has done with Shonan No Kaze. I like her heavier, more hip-hop influenced tracks, but am not so keen on her ballady RnB stuff.

Mr. Children (11) – Possibly the biggest of the ‘light indie rock’ bands, although I’m glad to say, not at my schools. Beloved by young and old, I reckon they have taken blandness to a whole new level. Also known as Misuchiru (ミスチル).

Mongol800 (モンゴル800) (8) – More usually known as Monpachi, these Okinawans were one of the forerunners of the current ‘independent’ rock boom. They have more of a punk edge than most, but are essentially catchy pop-rock. Their first album, 2001’s ‘Message’, is a classic and the song ‘Chisana Koi No Uta’ (little love song) is one that seems to always get played by school rock bands, and justifiably so – it’s superb. I have the more recent album ‘Daniel’ as well, but am not as keen on it.

Monkey Majik (0) – Only heard the cover they did of the 70’s TV show title song that they took their name from. That was a terrible rock-funk travesty and they strike me as a bunch of gaijin chancers…

Morning Musume (モーニング娘) (0) – Long running manufactured girl band, have been very successful. They replace their members when they get over the hill (20 years old?)…

N is for:

Nightmare (ナイトメア) (1) – Fairly decent as far as Visual Kei bands go.

9mm Parabellum Bullet (0) – The new indie scene darlings, or so I read, they don’t appear to have made it to my school yet. At the risk of ‘doing a Gackt’ I’d describe them as a kind of angular/post punk/adrenalin rush sound (lol). They remind me a bit of Number Girl or Ajikan, but a bit faster. Good stuff, although I sometimes think the vocalist is a bit weak.

19 (じゅうく) (9) – Were a pop duo between 1998 and 2002. Very popular, as can be seen by them still managing a few votes in the poll, one of them joined 3B Labs. I have only heard ‘Best 青’ (Best Blue), its ok but a bit bland in the way Kobukuro and Spitz can be at times. I’m going to listen to their ‘Best 春’ (Best Spring) album and see if that has more life to it. I think this may be the hardest band to find information on in this list – you try googling 19…

Number Girl (ナンバーガール) (0) – A seminal (is this article getting more pretentious?) indie band. They split up a few years ago and the lead singer is now in Zazen Boys. They have a dark, Sonic Youth/Joy Division influenced sound, and a venerated status in Japanese indie-land.

O is for:

Onanie Machine (オナニーマシーン) (0) – Up-beat, catchy punk in a Ging Nang Boyz/Ga Ga Ga SP vein, their name makes it difficult to ask the students about them (yes, onanie is a loan-word…).

Orange Range (11) – Surprisingly low in my poll, Orangey Rangy are a pop/rock/dance/hip-hop group from Okinawa. They have been phenomenally successful over the last few years. Their rock-rap songs can be annoying at times, and they seem to have ditched them on their latest album, but also to have become a far blander band. Recommended albums are their 2nd and 3rd – ‘Musiq’ and ‘Natural’ – great, catchy stuff!

Otsuka Ai (大塚 愛) (15) – Cute, pixie pop; check out ‘Ai am Best’ for a collection of hits, some of which are a bit too hyper-cheerful, or her latest album ‘Love piece’, which I prefer!

P is for:

The Pillows (ザピロウズ) (0) – Good, indie guitar-pop, kind of like Pavement but a bit more summery and Beatles obsessed. These guys aren’t well-known at school but have been going forever, I’ve heard a few albums and would recommend ‘Happy Bivouac’ as a starting point.

Polysics (0) – Another fairly demented band. These are kind of electro-pop-punk, they have got more pop over the years. Sometimes the manic beeps and yelps can get too much but they are a lot of fun. They’re another band with an overseas following, not well-known at school…

Porno Graffitti (ポルノグラフィティ) (13) – A very popular rock band, their songs are catchy mid-tempo ditties, ok I guess, although they earned no credibility points by naming themselves after an Extreme album fercrissakes…

Puffy Ami-Yumi (パフィー) (1) – These 2 women used to be huge, maybe not so much now with 1 vote in the poll. Soft rock/pop, I haven’t heard enough to comment.

Q is for:
Quruli (くるり) (1) – I’ve heard one album by these and it sounded like a collection of bad Beatles covers.

R is for:

Radwimps (51) – These guys are taking over, number 5 in my student poll and a number 2 single in the Oricon chart as I type. The students love their blend of angst rock ballads and spikey pop with occasional hip-hop moments. The new Orange Range, anyone? Less dance orientated, their stabs at hip-hop are great, but their ballads can be a bit too sweet. Their first 4 albums are all decent, if pushed I’d say start with the most recent and work your way back. I’m not sure why they’re filed under punk in my local Tsutaya’s rental section.

Remioromen (レミオロメン) (5) – I love these at the moment, off-beat pop-rock (kind of like a lighter version of The Dismemberment Plan) and ballads that soar like angels, lol. Seriously, they are great!

Rip Slyme (7) – I’ve heard the ambitiously titled album ‘Masterpiece’ and it isn’t. Nice, laid-back hip-hop.

Road of Major (3) – Not sure where this bands name came from, the possible English equivalents I can think of - Take the High Road or Highway/Motorway - are terrible! They are good, catchy pop-rock. They remind me of Monpachi but they’re more polished and radio-friendly.

S is for:

Sambomaster (サンボマスター) (0) – I haven’t quite recovered from the disappointment of this lot getting no votes yet. Although their latest album hasn’t quite convinced me, their first three are seriously god-like. Think Dexys Midnight Runners or early Van Morrison playing the first Manic Street Preachers album with Sly and The Family Stone, maybe? They are hard to describe, ok, but I think ‘motown punk’ comes close. They have a really geeky look and a lot of the students find it funny that I love them, whatcha gonna do, these guys should be the biggest band on earth.

Shiina Ringo (椎名林檎) (8) – I had to mess with the alphabetical order slightly here to stick the lovely Miss Shiina after Sanbomaster. She is also god(dess)-like, although strangely enough her latest release (as part of Tokyo Jihen) is also giving me doubts.　After a fairly average first album (and a later not great double cd of covers) she has ploughed a unique furrow, mixing rock, pop, soul, jazz, techno, blues and even show tunes! Kind of P.J.Harvey meets Edith Piaf and backed by Massive Attack, but much better than that probably sounds. Her last solo album was also the soundtrack to the movie ‘Sakuran’, a glitzy drama of love and rivalry in a 19th century whorehouse. In the last 7 years, as well as producing 4 albums and the covers cds, she has also done 3 albums as part of the band ‘Tokyo Jihen’. Listen to her! Onegaishimasu.

Shakkalabbits (6) – These come over like Judy and Mary on too much coffee, very enjoyable and upbeat pop punk, and they do the slower tunes well too. Good stuff.

Shonan No Kaze (湘南乃風) (4) – I really didn’t expect to hear a great Japanese dancehall/ragga band, but these are that and more. Their ragga/hip-hop stompers are fantastic, tracks like ‘Rockin’ Wild’ blistering with menace and energy. They also do a good line in laid-back reggae and infectious pop (such as their big hit, ‘Junrenka’). All 3 albums are great, my favorite is the second, ‘Ragga Parade’.

Shonen Knife (少年ナイフ) (0) – Included here as they were the only Japanese band I knew up until a few years ago, famous to 90’s indie punks, but really not that great. A bit of a novelty band, or a slightly irritating version of Judy and Mary!

SMAP (10) – Another band I can’t omit, but would like to. The boy band that never seems to get old or stop dominating Japanese TV, this lot are pretty unavoidable. As I write they have just achieved their billionth number one single. I expect many of you have had to read their insipid lyrics out loud in an OC class like I have…

Southern All-Stars (サザンオールスターズ) (1) – Don’t know much about these, they used to be huge and their MOR-rock songs seem to dominate every ‘viewers favorite songs’ chart I have seen on Music Station. At least they aren’t SMAP.

Sparta Locals (0) – A fairly obscure (round here, anyway) indie band, interesting Number Girl-esque spikiness melded with New Wave style rock.

Spitz (スピッツ) (6) – A fairly unfortunte choice of name from these melodic pop-rockers. They formed in ’87 and have been big since ’95, still going strong. They remind me a bit of Kobukuro and I guess that they are an influence on Remioromen. I’ve heard their ‘Singles 1997-2005’ collection and its nice and pleasant, not much more I can say! Apparently their lyrics are surreal.

Stack .44 (0) – A new band following the Ellegarden tradition of trying to sound American. They remind me of not only Elle, but also The Ataris, Fall Out Boy and numerous other bands from the US. Ok, but the CD gets a little dull after a while. A sign of possible international ambitions is that everything is in English, from the songtitles and lyrics to the band members names and acknowledgements on the CD booklet.

Straightener (ストレイテナー) (0) – Another Japanese indie-rock band. Their early stuff reminds me of TMGE with a hint of early Green Day, the more recent ‘Dear Deadman’ album is more ‘mature’ and I didn’t find some of it as interesting (like Taking Back Sunday when they get all earnest and forget the hooks). I read somewhere that their last album was more pop and ‘urban’?!

T is for:

10 Feet (0) – I’ve only heard the album ‘Real Life’ by these guys but I enjoyed the eclectic mix of energetic punk, pop and ska.

Thee Michelle Gun Elephant (0) – These are slightly similar to Blankey Jet City, and also split up a few years ago. They play great indie rock/blues. I discovered them back in England watching the movie Blue Spring (Aoi Haru), a fine Japanese film about the worst high school you could imagine. Some of my kids have heard of them (and the infamous scenes in the film involving the railings on the school roof…). Often abbreviated to TMGE.

3B Lab.s (6) – I’ve heard the most recent (6th) album by these, ‘Nippon #5’, it’s a mixture of great, infectious adrenaline pop with some commercial-punk attitude, and some more laid-back folky numbers. I’ve also got their ‘Best Uppers’, which collects the faster, more upbeat tracks from their career proceeding the 6th album, it’s mainstream bubblegum but good stuff! They are a bit like a super radio-friendly version of the Ging Nang Boys, or Orange Range if they had focused their efforts more on pop-punk (such as the song ‘Hysteric Taxi’) instead of their dance and hip-hop side. The lead singer was in the boy-band duo 19 and 3B Lab.s formed when he left them in 2001/2.

Tokyo Jihen (東京事変) (2) – Or Tokyo Incidents, see Shiina Ringo for more information. Their music tends to be a little less varied and experimental than her solo output, more dance-rock. I’m not too sure about the latest album, ‘Variety’, but the previous one, ‘Adult’, is fantastic.

Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra (東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ) (0) – I’ve only heard one of their albums, a nice mixture of rock, laid-back jazz and ska (as you’d expect). They’ve been going for something like 21 years, known as Skapara for short.

U is for:

Utada Hikaru (宇多田 ヒカル) (6) – Don’t know much about her, but a couple of years ago she was involved in a ‘Blur vs. Oasis’ style (for the Brits out there) fight for number one with Hamasaki Ayumi. She is still big, but no Ayu! She reminds me a bit of Sinead O’Connor.

UVERworld (ウーバーワールド) (21) – Ok pop-rock. To be honest I rented one of their CDs a few weeks ago and can’t remember a thing.

V is for:

V6 (1) – A boy band, ‘nuff said.

W is for:

WaT (1) – Bland duo of pretty boys, one appears to be of part-Western descent. One of them, I’m not sure which, also starred in the recent Kitaro movie.

X is for:

X-Japan (3) – One of the first Visual Kei bands, I’ve heard one CD and it was dire, turgid metal.

Y is for:

Yui (23) – MOR singer songwriter, ok I guess, her faster songs remind me a bit of the Goo Goo Dolls.

Yuki (6) – Ex-Judy and Mary vocalist, she keeps their style but polishes it a bit, still pretty good. She gets extra credit for calling her debut hit single ‘The End Of Shite’ (English shite not the Japanese verb conjugation!).

Yokoyama Ken (1) – The guitarist from Hi-Standard, I’ve heard 3 albums by him and I particularly liked the most recent (‘Third Time’s A Charm’). It reminded me of later Screeching Weasel, if that means anything to anyone.

Yum! Yum! Orange (0) – Only heard one album, it was pop-ska, more pop than ska.

Z is for:

Zard (0) – The lead singer died last year and all I’ve heard is a retrospective on Music Station. Long-running purveyors of pop ballads.

Zazen Boys (0) – The ex-lead singer of Number Girl’s new(ish) band. They are a lot less indie, mixing jazz, electronica and experimental techno into the menacing indie rock mix. They can be a difficult listen, but the second of their 3 albums (radically titled Zazen Boys II) is easily their most accessible, a very fine album! They aren’t well known at school.

Ok, so to finish up, here is my student poll:

I asked 346 (well, about 360, I got some blank slips of paper back) students to write down (anonymously) their top 3 favorite Japanese bands or singers. If I hadn’t specified Japanese I don’t think any Western bands/singers would have troubled the top 50, except maybe Avril Lavigne….
The poll was taken in January 2008 made up of 161 first years (aged 15-16), 155 second years (aged 16-17) and 30 third years (aged 17-18). A total of 180 bands/singers were voted for! Here are the top 54 and the number of votes they got in brackets, if you want to know how your band did, ask me.

1. Exile (71)
2. Kobukuro (60)
3. Hamasaki Ayumi (57)
4. Bump of Chicken (53)
5. Radwimps (51)
6. Koda Kumi (37)
7. HY (34)
8. Greeeen (29)
9. Aqua Timez (24)
10. = Ellegarden (23)
10. =Yui (23)
12. Uverworld (21)
13. =Otsuka Ai (15)
13. =Aiko (15)
15. Porno Graffiti (13)
16. Ayaka (12)
17. =Mongol 800 (11)
17. =Orange Range (11)
17. =B’z (11)
17. =Mr. Children (11)
17. =Kato Miriya (11)
22. =SMAP (10)
22. =Funky Monkey Babies (10)
24. 19 (9)
25. =Shiina Ringo (8)
25. =Kat-tun (8)
27. =Asian Kung-Fu Generation (7)
27. =Maximum The Hormone (7)
27. =Rip Slyme (7)
27. =Nakashima Mika (7)
27. =Ga Ga Ga Sp (7)
32. =Go!Go!7188 (6)
32. =Acidman (6)
32. =Chatmonchy (6)
32. =Utada Hikaru (6)
32. =Shakalabbits (6)
32. =Spitz (6)
32. =Ikimono Gakari (6)
32. =3B Labs (6)
32. =Yuki (6)
41. =Remio Romen (5)
41. =Beat Crusaders (5)
41. =Every Little Thing (5)
44. =L’Arc-En-Ciel (4)
44. =Zeebra (4)
44. =AAA (4)
44. =Shonan No Kaze (4)
44. =ET-King (4)
44. =Seamo (4)
44. =Yuzu (4)
44. =Flow (4)
44. =Megaryu (4)
44. =The Gazette (4)
44. =Namie Amuro (4)

Thanks for reading, please comment and tell me about other Japanese bands and singers. See y’all, and to quote my students (or Tower Records, or Nokia, or whoever) – no music, no life!

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