Japan 3

Japan 2

Japanese HC (not music wise) but people involved/mentality wise is so fucking weird it hurts.

Don't get me wrong, people are really nice people. I love some of these dudes, they are really nice kids. Just the Japanese idea of punk in general is very very very twisted :)

In a nutshell Japanese kids don't speak any English. 90%+ can only understand "fuck you" and "thank you" and maybe "hello" so they copy the visual and music aspects of the US/Euro HC so that they look and sound OK but the whole thing lacks any substance. It's just dumb as fuck.

I want to listen to a band that has something to say. Something I can relate to. Like I grew up listening to bands that had something to say and I could sing along to the lyrics...

The Clash


Stiff Little Fingers


Crass


Conflict


and then there were the DC/Boston/CT/NY HC bands...

Bad Brains


Minor Threat


SSD


Cro-Mags


Youth of Today


Judge


But the language barrier is not what pisses me off themost about the scene here. It's the mentality.

Take an average HC kid in Europe or US that is over 25 years old and has been in HC for 5 years +
I will bet you that in 80%+ their mentality will be set at creativeness, expressing their own shit, and generally being pro-alternative, anti-mainstream so their set of morals/state of mind would be like the total opposite to the dude who goes to Britney Spears and fucking I dont know Lady Gaga gigs whereas in Japan a guy who goes to a J-pop gig to see Ayumi Hamasaki or some other turd and a guy who goes to a TERROR gig (whenever they come to play) - its the same dude. That's why you have shit like groupies at HC shows here, autograph signing, general idolism and all the stuff that I generally hate about music. All those things are acceptable in here.

Yet another thing that I think is weird is this obsession with COPYING something. A lot of bands here don't try to have their own sound, or their own look but instead they try to copy the best they can some band A or band B and tey try to sound and look exactly like them to the point that they watch videos of those bands and try to copy clothes, moves and what not. Pretty fucking stupid if you ask me. That's why I don't really care for any of the newer HC bands all that much with few minor exceptions.

This is my take on the JP HC scene that I participated in as a sideline observer for quite a few years now. It's not a rant on any particular band or person and it does not portray the 100% accurate picture of Japanese HC. I just highlighted some things that are part of the greater picture and in my personal opinion are pretty ridiculous.

It's different to the idea of punk/HC I grew up with but it's a different culture and people have different mindsets / sets of values so I'm not saying it's good or bad. These are just my personal observations.

Japan 2

Japan 1

I live in Chiba near Tokyo. I usually go to shows in Tokyo. The venues are small but when some popular are bands doing shows, the venues are always full of hardcore kids.
We get some information about shows from band's websites or flyers that band members have distributed.
I think doing a band is quite tough in Japan. Almost all members of hardcore bands have another job like a salesman or a part-time job.
In my opinion, this is one of the reasons why they can't tour like famous bands from overseas.
Some Japanese bands are doing shows as support acts for overseas bands.
And some American bands have released split CDs with some Japanese bands like these...

WInds Of Plague/xAFBx/Loyal To The Grave

Shook Ones/Easel

Sinking Ships/My Love/As We Let Go

Thursday/Envy etc.

There are so many great Japanese hardcore bands:

As We Let Go (Tokyo)

Endsweck (Tokyo)

Ill Communication (ex-My Love) (Tokyo)

Nervous Light Of Sunday (Tokyo)

Silence Kills The Revolution (Tokyo)

Inside (Tokyo)

Loyal To The Grave (Tokyo)

Crystal Lake (Tokyo)

Doggy Hoods (Tokyo)

Eric (Tokyo)

Cleave (Tokyo)

Enslave (Kanagawa)

NOTIIBELIKESOMEONE (Kyoto)

Falling Apart (RIP) (Tokyo)

Anticipation (RIP) (Sendai)

No Choice In This Matter (RIP) (Tokyo)

Naiad (RIP) (Kyoto)

Keep Your Hearts (RIP) (Tokyo)

State Craft (RIP) (Tokyo)

Versus The Night (RIP) (Tokyo)

Hardcore more than music... You're right!
Cheers.

Japan

I usually go to the gigs in Tokyo. I think there are two types of gigs. One is made by bands or promoters like the label owner or the person who likes music, and the other is by the venue.

I think we have a good community in the Tokyo underground music scene even though I'm sure some bands hate some other bands. But I think this always happens in any area in the world. This is just my opinion but the bands who try to have any kind of HxC and punk show has real talent and always puts on a good show.
To be honest, I feel the japanese HxC scene is really small, so a lot of people seem to be helping each other.



I think FC5 and Endzweck are one of the most representative bands from our scene, because they have toured around the world and also have a big HxC Fest in Jan for the last 3 years and it's always really great.
This year, the headliners were Earth Crisis, The Bold, Abihinanda, Bring it down, First Blood,,,,and more bands!


I don't think the scene fights for change... but I'm sure many people in the scene dislike the authority, bad government problems, religion or something like that. Maybe the scene just fights against main stream music?

I don't think there is any information in english about the japanese HxC scene.
Alliance Trax is one of the big japanese HxC labels which promotes a lot of bands from other countries, so there're always newest information about Japanese HxC gigs, so check it out!

There are a lot of great japanese HxC bands like

And Believe



As We Let Go



Birth Place



Doggy Hood$


xINSIDEx

Loyal to the Grave


My Love


No Choice in this Matter


Silence Kills the Revolution



,,,,,and more!!

Here's my photo page. so check it out!

Here are some youtube links
xINSIDEx
As We Let Go
Silence Kills the revolution
Loyal to the grave