I want to hear how you got into listening Japanese music!
For me, I can barely remember where it started. I knew about the existance of girlgroups like AKB48 and anison since I was a kid due to my sister being into anime but it never clicked much with me.
But somewhere 2017~2018 I somehow started to listen to Chanmina, who I still like. I have no clue how I got there anymore. Around that time, I also started listening to TeddyLoid and a few others.
2021 was the real turning point. I was mainly listening to Kpop at the time and releases where a bit dissapointing lately. Then Koda Kumi’s Doo-Bee-Doo-Bob got recommended on my YT list and I was hooked. A year later she’s my 2nd most-listened artist of all time, with only Bruce Springsteen above her. Having a 20 year long discography really gives you a lot of stuff to listen to 😅.
But it also showed me a whole other side of Jpop that was quite clicking with me. Up beat, high attitude, and not-cute. I got into more singers like Ayumi Hamasaki, Namie Amuro, Mika Nakashima, Tomomi Itano, and more. Jpop has become a common genre I listen too, and a big part of my CD collection.
How about you guys?!
The very first Japanese band I ever listened to was Versailles.
It all started with a random MySpace search, back when I was in high school, which lead me to them. You know, when you find an interesting profile and then one profile leads to another, and boom!
I listened to some of their songs and I was immediately hooked. Thanks to them I got introduced to more bands, I found out about Visual Kei, and then a whole new world appeared in front of my eyes.
For me, it was the anime “Beck”. I started watching that, listening to the accompanying soundtrack and fell down the rabbit hole from that point… That was back in '05 😅
Feels old
Honestly it was anime. I don’t know if there was a specific use of Japanese music in anime that did it. I was a pretty casual listener. I might have got more into it with LiSa due to Sword Art Online, Mayn with Macross Frontier, and Maaya Sakamoto with Tamayura.
I’m learning japanese, a friend recommended Ado some time ago, started listening for immersion, and it’s just very good.
In 2009, I saw a picture of Versailles in Fotolog. I liked the aesthetic and got curious so I went to look for some of their music. Needless to say I loved it, so I went in search of other bands similar to them. I’ve been listening to visual kei since then.
It’s pretty simple, Toonami was my gateway. I was so impressed by the full length songs featured in anime, little me felt so robbed. The moment I got a personal device that could access the internet, I would just look up Japanese opening songs of shows and games that I liked. I remember listening to Inuyasha OPs on loop on my crappy tablet, those were some good times.
As I grew up this led to me listening to more general artists. Eve, Tuyu, Yorushika, etc. etc. Most of my listening is still composed of JP artists, I don’t think EN music is bad or anything. It’s just a preference for the sound of the language and how it affects the flow and rhythm of their music.