音楽
Description
Japanese music
Quickstats
Playlist Length
2 days, 5 hours, 36 minutes
Playlist Followers
17
Source
Playlist Last Updated
May 30, 2024
Mood
Mixed Mood
Track Popularity Rating
Somewhat Popular
Style
Varied
Average Release Decade
2010s
Main Genre:
Rock
Reddit Info
Reddit Post
I do agree with you - I wish more people would give Japanese music (of all stripes) a try. I personally started learning Japanese because I got obsessed with Passepied, Gesu no Kiwami Otome, and ESPECIALLY Sheena Ringo in 2014/2015. I pretty much *only* listened to Japanese music for \~3 years, and I still listen to it... quite a lot. Two things to consider: 1) Yes, Japan does have the second largest music market in the world. But as you said, that needs to be contextualized by noting the vast, vast, vast majority of Japanese music is made for, marketed to and consumed by Japanese people, who still (though this is changing) consume it in analog format. I love Japan and there are many things they are well ahead of the curve on, but there are certain ways they are quite behind compared to other countries. Web design is certainly one example. The music industry is another. 2) Among online music communities, a lot of Japanese music is quite well-respected if not revered. Les Rallizes Dénudés, Fishmans, Midori, MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS, Shinsei Kamattechan, tricot, and indeed Sheena Ringo herself show up a fair bit in conversations as "hidden gems." These are from people who are not necessarily interested in Japan or any specific country but rather music. I think there are different reasons for why all of those artists have enjoyed resurgences in popularity. Note that among those artists I listed who are active (so MASS, Shinsei Kamattechan, tricot, and Sheena), these communities do not seem to like their newer work as much (sans tricot). But among many (respectable) music critics, Japan is given more props than you might think, though certainly not as much as we'd probably all say they deserve given so much amazing music has lingered in obscurity for the West until recently. I don't even think the world thinks of J-Pop = idols. If we imagine "Japanese culture" as consisting of descending tiers (basically like the iceberg meme), that is like tier 2 knowledge, if that makes any sense. It's not really a surface-level thing like sushi or anime (for example) are. I think the average person in the West quite honestly doesn't even know about idol culture in Japan. When they hear J-Pop they probably think anime, and when they think anime... well, there's a lot of things they might then think. Lots of people really do not like anime and will not give it a try no matter what, and therefore not give Japanese music a try. I would obviously say that is their loss, of course. Things ARE changing, though. I remember having to listen to all my favorite Japanese music like Polkadot Stingray, DAOKO, Soutaiseiriron, etc on YouTube, NicoNico, on iTunes using a Japanese acct (for which you needed a Japanese address+credit card unless you used a workaround), or other, er, "methods" of listening. This was especially true for at-the-time obscure artists like Rei©hi, [charisma.](https://charisma.com)com, Izumi Makura, Bish, kinokoteikoku... songs and artists that just never had any non-Japanese comments (at the time). You can stream (almost) all of those artists' discogs and many more now. Look at Ado - 22 million streams and over 100 million YT views for うっせえわ is nutso. I have a wonderful memory of 秒針を噛む popping up in my YT recs during summer advanced Japanese classes in my third year of uni (8 hours of Japanese a day every day for the whole summer) and listening to it during lunch with my classmates. The video had <200 views! You couldn't find ZUTOMAYO on Spotify! All of this is to say, you had to actively look for Japanese music, and if you did you would be rewarded by the algorithms. But that can only happen if Japanese music is included in the algorithm, which was largely not the case for streaming in the West for a long time. I'm not sure if Japanese music will experience anything like K-Pop/Hallyu, but this is something that labels are thinking about now. I've written this whole comment from the perspective of the consumer. I would like to say something about Japanese artists. I truly believe Japan some of the world's greatest music talent does rest in Japan. If someone in the West were doing what Enon Kawatani is doing (not the scandal stuff lol, I mean managing four legitimately good bands) it would be a big deal! Reol has a personality, aesthetic, energy, and music (since going solo, not that her utaite stuff was bad at all) that would be quite popular if more people from the West were exposed to it. There is a reason she was listed as an [Artist on the Rise](https://youtu.be/WLE_wcVNOf0) by YouTube Music last year. Though I do indeed happen to enjoy anime and JRPGS, and I also enjoy Japanese literature. I still like using the language and don't intend to drop it anytime soon. But Japanese music is at the core of all of it for me. It's something I'm truly passionate about for reasons I think you shared in your post: it's simply criminally undervalued and underestimated in the West and should be talked about more. Just gonna take this opportunity to also drop my Japanese music playlist that I've been curating for years here. It's rather messy and I don't update it as much now that I add stuff on Spotify, but: [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXvr0E1TQ7LmapXlBnh04Xzz9NvULsJLc](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXvr0E1TQ7LmapXlBnh04Xzz9NvULsJLc) More updated Spotify version (still quite messy and incomplete, I started making the move from Apple Music back to Spotify in January): [https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3U6hv1XjT5E3MvdLQGxz1j?si=Qlubd1VGQL6W7G8M0Np5eg](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3U6hv1XjT5E3MvdLQGxz1j?si=Qlubd1VGQL6W7G8M0Np5eg)
Upvotes
23
Subreddit
japanesemusic
Reddit Username
il28cf
Reddit Timestamp
3/28/21 22:14
Reddit URL
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