As previously stated, what first opened the door for me into my love of all things Japanese, was the genre of music known as J-Pop. Back in 2006 I went through a phase where I only listened to foreign electronic music that none of my friends at the time have ever heard of. Needless to say I did not have a lot of friends in high school.
Although big name international acts such as Lady Gaga or The Beatles are popular worldwide, there are a lot of pop acts that have contained their fame in Asian countries.
One of the most popular J-Pop sensations is the female idol recording artists that collectively go under the name Hello! Project (ハロー!プロジェクト). Hello! Project is headed by Tsunku, the famous Japanese songwriter and vocalist. He manages and writes the songs for the girl groups that make up Hello! Project. These girl groups sell millions of albums and are national sensations among young fans, the way Miley Cyrus or Britney Spears have been looked at in America.
J-Pop is definitely is not very mainstream style of music in the United States, but the Internet has helped it rise to popularity. There is a whole underground cult on Youtube of girls who learn the dances to Hello! Project songs and upload videos of themselves performing these routines. One of the most famous was a girl who went by the name "AmerikaJinMusume". An American girl from Florida named Chelsea was the queen of uploading videos of herself signing and dancing to J-Pop songs, which lead to her becoming an Internet sensation, moving to Japan and working with Japanese producers. I myself, happened to be one of those girl who performed the dances, I will include the link below (note: the date the video was uploaded, November 2006 over 4 years ago).
Although I do not continue to perform Hello! Project dance routines, I have mainted a fan of the music. New J-Pop I enjoy that is not under the Hello! Project management include the girl group Perfume (www.perfume-web.jp). They are the biggest thing in J-Pop at the moment and I really hope they are touring Asia when I am in Japan.
My love of rock music has got me into Envy as well. Envy is a Japanese screamo/post-harcorde band who has maintained international recognition since the 1990s. They released a split EP with the American band Thursday in September 2008 under Temporary Residence records. Envy recently played at the First Unitarian Church, on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia. I really wanted to attend this show but unfortunately I had to work.
I've been to a lot of shows and going to see live music in Japan is high up on my list. Concert tickets are nearly twice or three times the price that they would be in America, but I will splurge for the experience of going to one J-Pop show.
マリㇱサ
^^^^^me at age 16 doing a hello! project dance
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