Powered by Max Banner Ads With their mix of silly and serious, happy and sad, acoustic and electric, and a highly distinctive sound all their own, Tama was one of the most idiosynchratic and original major label bands of the 90s. Comprising Toshiaki Chiku (vocals, guitar, mandolin, harmonica, recorder), Koji Ishikawa (vocals,… ...

While not gaining the recognition of pop idols or distinctive alternative rockers, Osamu Kitajima has quietly become one of Japan’s biggest selling artists internationally with his traditionally tinged new age music. Kitajima was born and raised in the beach town of Chigasaki, not far from Tokyo…. ...

Ken Ishii is among the most innovative and respected artists in the modern techno genre. While loosely categorizable as Detroit style due to its dancefloor orientation, Ishii’s music draws on a wide range of influences including Yellow Magic Orchestra, Kraftwerk, Derrick May, Nitzer Ebb, and others,… ...

The King Brothers are brothers in the Ramones tradition, and began life as such near Kobe with members possessing the real names Keizo Matsuo- guitars and vox, Masafumi “Maya” Koyama- guitars and screaming, and Jun Fujimoto- drums. Like the Ramones the band deals in high intensity rock’n'roll, although… ...

Michiyo Yagi is a pioneering koto player who is highly regarded in both traditional and avant-garde circles. She was born in Tokoname, in Aichi prefecture, and began studying koto at the age of six under Satomi Kurauchi. She later was admitted to the main branch of the Sawai Koto School. She also enrolled… ...

Paralleling musical trends in North America and Europe, the early ’70s saw several talented singer/songwriters emerge in Japan, such as Miyuki Nakajima, Tatsuro Yamashita and Yumi Matsutoya. Somewhat less well-known but equally deserving of attention is Taeko Onuki, who was one of the members of a band… ...

Drumming group Kodo has taken the art of playing Japanese taiko drums to new heights both musically and as spectacle, achieving international fame in the process. Kodo traces its origins to Ondekoza, which was formed in 1969 on Sado Island in the Sea of Japan by people from various parts of the country… ...

Rock ‘n’ roll is as much about attitude as about music. Take, for instance, the Yoshida Brothers, whose instrument of choice is not the electric guitar but the shamisen. That traditional three-stringed instrument has a twangy, high-pitched sound, which instantly conjures up picture-postcard images of… ...

Shang Shang Typhoon burst onto the Japanese music scene in the early ’90s when anything “ethnic” was considered cool. Amid the renewed global interest in world music, many Japanese were finding that they had their own version(s) of world music right in their own backyard. Okinawan music was especially… ...

Simultaneously icy and lush, desolate and comforting, the music of Chihei Hatakeyama is a transcendent combination of acoustic instruments and computer processing. Based out of Tokyo, Hatakeyama performs under his given name, and also as one half of the electro-acoustic duo Opitope along with Tomoyoshi… ...