Cultural exports and the anime wingman

Anyone who knows anything about me knows I happen to be a a mild fan of Japanese culture.

Okay, I'm a BIG fan.

It's no secret, especially for anyone who might wander by my desk at work and wonder why there's a mirror with a smiling cat face staring at them. I like Japan. There. I said it.

So it may come as surprise to people that although I perhaps began my flirtation with Japanese culture through anime, I've little less than forsaken it for the last three years. ("What! She likes Japan, but doesn't like anime? What's wrong with her!") But actually that's not it at all.

I don't dislike anime in any way. It introduced me to Japan, as a sort of wingman. Yeah. Anime is Japan's wingman. But I do kinda of dislike the stereotype that fans of Japanese culture must love every facet of every Japanese exports beginning and ending with anime. I too began with anime, and I truly respect it as a pervasive and intelligent medium and art form. But I also love exploring the many other just as engaging elements of Japanese culture.

For one, I love music. I myself play bass and occasionally guitar in a chronically disbanded cover band. It helps me unwind, and it feels great to sorta of recreate something -- even if it's just broken riffs or remix versions of other people's music. But for a few years, I've found myself now engulfed in the wake of specifically Japanese music.

It makes sense, really, if you think about it. Behind the US, Japan is the number two producer of music globally. Yes, Japan. That's beating out even England and makes a great piece of trivia to whip out to your friends one day. But it shouldn't be too surprising. After all, Japan has historically been a culture that respects the arts, whether auditory or visual, far more than, for instance, we in the US could probably legitimately claim (particularly given its waning attention as part of education. But I digress). 

Many people when they think of Japanese music, think more of traditional songs represented on shamisen or some other uniquely Japanese instrument. Traditional music is great too and culturally unique. But what I'm talking about is Japanese hard rock. Jrock.

This ain't your daddy's Japanese music.

This is music that sounds more like something off of Coheed & Cambria's Year of the Black Rainbow and sometimes harder. If you're a fan of anime, particularly subbed, you've no doubt heard themes from bands which are outrageously popular in Japan and yet virtually unknown anywhere else. Bands like Orange Range, Asian Kung-Fu Generation, L'Arc~en~Ciel, and Nightmare (the band pictured above) are all fairly well-known in Japan. The band screaming over the second Death Note Opening Theme is  called Maximum the Hormone. (A little too hard for me, personally.) Interestingly enough though, more and more Japanese bands seem to be cautiously stepping out to explore the American market and trying to carve out a following, even if it does mostly consist of fans of anime and manga. Just a couple years ago, bands like VAMPS, Glay, The Pillows, and X-Japan all played stateside. And this year even more big name Japanese bands seem to be taking the plunge even for worldwide tours. One of my favorite bands L'Arc~en~Ciel just played Madison Square Garden on Sunday. That's crazy. And amazing.

Of course, many of these bands likely don't have delusions of grandeur of hitting it really big in the US, at least not any time soon. The American Music Industry is a brutal, killing machine, even without the challenges that come from singing primarily in Japanese. But it's still interesting to consider how music might be evolving some day, irrespective of culture or language. I know I'm a little biased in this regard, but I hope it continues. ~Tet