Letters from the JaME Editors #1

Welcome to Letters From the JaME Editors!

The JaME English team will begin featuring this column on the first of every month. We would like for our readers to get to know the people contributing to JaME, as well as see what we are up to; what our thoughts are on happenings within the Japanese music scene today, what we’re currently listening or watching, and perhaps help you get introduced to new Japanese music in the process!

My name is Meg Pfeifle, and I am the English artist files manager for JaME. I’ve been listening to Japanese music for over ten years, and have floated various scenes from hip-hop to visual kei, sampling all that Japan musically had to offer. Most recently, my attention has been turned to Japanese non-visual rock as well as its pop music.

With a fairly lengthy commute every morning, I have a lot of time to check out new artists. Recently in my iPod rotation has been Yamashita Tomohisa’s new album SUPERGOOD, SUPERBAD, most of Sakanaction and the Fukuoka-based rock band DOES’ discography, and most recently, Shirota Yu’s new solo work, U, which was released under the same name. Shirota had been a television actor I’ve enjoyed watching for some time, and I was pleasantly surprised by his new single, not only by the production of his work but by how carefully he made sure to include audiences worldwide and considered his full fanbase by releasing songs in multiple languages. It is also to my understanding he talks up a storm bilingually on his Twitter, similar to Akanishi Jin. That brings up another point I’ve been mulling over lately.

In a major research project I undertook recently about visual kei, it was alarming for me to discover the true extent of the lack of promotion and availability for overseas fans, not to mention inclusiveness into the scene. It was also astounding to me to see how little research-styled material we had available in English. Reading through comments on the Globalizing Visual Kei Survey we conducted in March I realized how many fans felt cut off from the various music scenes even when they had large fan bases where they lived, and how many desperately wanted to be able to have the same buying abilities as other fans.

While this makes sense since this is a music scene rooted in Japan, we’ve got numerous overseas bands such as Rammstein and the cranberries which successfully promoted their music and made their audiences globally feel as if they belonged — no matter where in the world they are! We also need to consider that such bands are mainstream and are armed with the financial backing of major record labels, but we have similar circumstances with labels such as that of the Johnny’s and others in mainstream Japan that could make this possibility a reality.

Even without such financial backing, it is not impossible to reach out to fans, and we’re seeing over time more bands doing so through Twitter and blogs, some even branching into English, which is really impressive. In particular, I have high respect for artists like Shirota, Akanishi and MIYAVI because I feel like they understand the needs of fans globally and are willing and attentive to them. That is huge! I think the new wave of blogging is catching on all throughout the music scene in Japan — the visual act girugamesh just adopted blogs for each member individually, which has had their fandom buzzing with excitement.

A lot of fans have argued that various Japanese music styles should not go mainstream, but I think we should embrace growth. If we didn’t, sites like JaME would not exist, amazing experiences would never have been had by fans across the world, and many of us would never have met some of the friends we know and love now. Just a thought!

My research project has been turned into a web series for JaME, entitled "Globalizing Visual Kei." The first installment is scheduled to launch June 5th, and will run each Sunday for fourteen weeks. Make sure to check it out!