Introduction Have you ever wondered what prompted the creation of your favorite Japanese music site? Who created it? Through this weekly series of interviews Keikaku hopes to shed some light on the motivation and driving personalities behind some of my personal choices for the best English language based Japanese music sites on the web. Junk Magnet is written and maintained solely by Nick Freeman and has been around in various forms since 1994. The current site was created in June of 2000. Junk Magnet offers an informative links page, articles on Japanese and Western pop culture, and artist profiles on the likes of Ayumi Hamasaki, Melt-Banana, Number Girl, Tamio Okuda and Boredoms. This was the first site to cover all of Kenichi Asai's projects: Sherbets, Jude, Ajico and Blankey Jet City, and until recently, one of only two sites I know of with English language profiles on the band Jude. When asked, Could you describe your dream site? Nick replied, "Actually, I don't care too much about that goal, ...I would like to walk into a Recofan equivalent, without having to be in Japan. Not just online importation, but actual presence at the mall, or in big cities, where rows upon stacks upon shelves of current Japanese music can be had..." back to features		Best Japanese music sites... Junk Magnet Can you remember your first reaction to listening to a Japanese artist? What were your initial thoughts? As you've become more knowledgeable about the Japanese music scene how has that effected your personal choice of artist? Nick Freeman[Junk Magnet]: The first Japanese music that I consciously bought was from Shonen Knife, in the late 80s. At that time they were starting to get a small buzz, due in no small part to their champions in College Rock circles (like Red Kross or Sonic Youth). I thought they were amazingly sparse and "pure", coming from a very real place that transcended their foreign aspect. Simply put, they rocked in a somewhat cute way. Plus, at that time I was beginning to study the Japanese language casually, and Shonen Knife were the first Japanese band I actually understood. Soon after, my affinity for noise punk led me to the Boredoms and all of their related bands; in the early 90s they were released and promoted in the US, so I was fortunate enough to see them live in San Francisco. About the same time I also saw Seiichi Yamamoto's Omoide Hatoba, who impressed me enough that I asked my roommate to pick up some of their releases when he went home to Japan for a visit. The albums he brought back were a bit part of my inspiration to start the Junk Magnet zine, in 1994. Ever since then, Junk Magnet has always covered some form of Japanese music, from the crazy sounds of Melt-Banana in the mid 90s, to my discovery of Puffy and Tamio Okuda in 1998. At that point, I was enamored enough by the Japanese music scene that I wanted to understand and enjoy it in real time, instead of waiting for selected niche artists to be imported. Thus, I created junkmagnet.com, with a very strong focus on Japanese Music - the first cover highlighted Puffy. When you first looked for artist information on the web what type of English sites were available? What sites attracted you? What was it about these sites that made you a frequent visitor? What was lacking? Nick: Ever since 1994, when the Internet was commercialized, I used all available resources to find out more about the music I loved. First, it was Usenet to find out about the Boredoms, and later on Japanese record labels and fan sites, picking through the words I understood to bring forth-new sounds. There weren't many Japanese Music sites at all, and what existed was almost always focused on one particular artist. Furthermore, the English sites rarely linked to their Japanese counterparts, and the information available was behind the times. Thus, I picked through what existed in English to find suggestions, but mostly focused on content from Japan. After a while, I had collected a massive amount of bookmarks to Japanese websites, and wanted to organize them, as well as share some of the things I'd found with English speakers. I envisioned the Japanese Pop section of junkmagnet.com to be a micro Yahoo, a collection of links and concise bits of information that would take a long time to track down otherwise. Sort of a selected Japanese music portal, that would tie in English speakers looking for Japanese Music info, and Japanese speakers looking to see what was popular in the US. To go from fan to reporting on the artists is a big step. Please elaborate on what motivated your decision to create your site? What has been your biggest challenge? Triumph? Nick: I had been reporting on music in the Junk Magnet zine on and off for 6 years, and also via a few small websites. Then, in 2000, I decided to take the .com plunge, and to try my hand at the sort of Japanese Pop site that didn't exist as of yet. I knew that I barely had any real knowledge of the vast Japanese music scene, and creating a website focused on what I wanted to learn, seemed to be a great way to meet like-minded people that could turn me on to new artists. Junkmagnet.com was never designed to be commercial, just to be a collection of the things I liked. Japanese Pop was my current obsession (eclipsing video games and technology, which the site also covered), and so I decided to go whole hog. Besides, it gave me an excuse to buy lots of music from Japantown SF, or from the increasing number of websites willing to import the sounds I had seen on Japanese TV, or heard about in magazines. The more I tried out, the more I could share. Over the course of the past 5 years, the biggest challenge has been finding the time and energy to maintain my multiple fan sites and profiles, while still seeking out new music. I enjoyed giving away dozens of CDs via contests, or meeting new people all over the world interested in the same bands. I suppose the biggest triumph is simply surviving 5 years, long enough to see other sites refer to my work, or to see my profiles at the top of search engine results. I always considered that last part a shame, especially when my English profile of an artist comes before that artist's official website. It goes to show that there really is an informational vacuum, and that there's so much more work to be done before the amazing artists that exist in Japan know are known world wide. Personally, I was quite happy to see Puffy (AmiYumi) finally make it moderately big in the US, after 5 years of promotion. Feeling like I had a small part in that has been payment enough. When deciding content what criteria and or who decides what your site will cover? What sources do you use for information? Nick: Since I am the sole creator of Junk Magnet, the only music that's covered is things that I've bought and enjoyed. Genre is unimportant, and whether the artists sing in English or Japanese is beside the point (although Japanese is preferred). I simply discover things that I like, and then share what I've found. Due to strange circumstance, many of the artists I've covered are from Sony Japan, simply because they have a large roster, massive promotional tools, and an extensive (yet still quite incomplete) English part of their website. Besides that bias, I've tried to sample as much music as possible. In the 90s, I watched Hey Hey Music Champ heavily, so I found out about many artists like Puffy, Ayumi Hamasaki, Hikaru Utada or Tamio Okuda from that. Then, I searched for days through the original Japanese websites, translating discographies so I could track down the latest releases. I'm luck to live in the San Francisco Bay Area, so I used to frequent Japantown SF, browsing the shelves at Mikado or Kinokuniya, buying lots and special ordering what they didn't carry. Japanese music magazines and promotional fliers from there were another big source of information. I also searched all of the Taiwan-affiliated music shops, to find Taiwanese releases of the latest Japanese hits (official releases for at least $10 less). That's how I was able to try lots of artists for a relatively reasonable price. That eventually led to using websites like YesAsia to ensure I got decent deals on the Japanese versions. YesAsia was the gateway drug to using stores in Japan, like CDJapan or Amazon.co.jp, which along with Oricon supply me with ample email updates about all of my favorite artists. Furthermore, soon after I started junkmagnet.com, other like minded folk started similar projects, many of which covered artists I had never heard of. Thus, my competition proved to be the best educators, and I tried to pay back the favor with links or kind emails. Now that Anime is reaching a mass market, Japanese Music is ever so slowly starting to become more available from mainstream US retailers. Thus, I can occasionally find articles about everyday artists, rather than those practicing certain "cool" genres. Thus, unlike in 2000, there is now heaping handfuls of information about the current Japanese music climate, so I'm having a great time. Have you noticed an increase in English pages being offered at many Japanese artist official sites and record companies? Do you have an opinion as to why this may be? Nick: Japanese sites have always used English, but mostly as accentuation. Only over the past few years has it become more common not just to have an English site, but to keep it updated and at parity with the "real" Japanese site. When Sony started up their English section in a big way, right before their current Japan For Sale compilations, I used it fairly often, but honestly found it quite lacking. Only a few artists were covered, and often the information was a year or two behind. However, as the marketing potential for overseas consumption of Japanese music is realized, then I can only see the trend continuing. So, in the end, I think the trend is mostly to test the waters, and eventually transcend the gray market of imports with actual official releases from the big guns (Toshiba, Sony, Warner, Avex, etc.). Utada and Puffy is a start, but until I can find Tamio Okuda or Jude in my local stores, I'll never rest. How do you see your site's contribution if any, in bringing recognition outside of Japan to Japanese artists? What does your site offer that other sites don't? Could you describe your dream site? Nick: I don't think it's for me to say if junkmagnet.com, has been effective or not at evangelizing Japanese music, but I've tried. I do know that people have written to me, thanking me for turning them on to bands like Judy and Mary or Polysics. I also know that I receive lots of traffic from Puffy or Hikki fans, which was true ever since the beginning, so clearly English speakers want to know more about the more famous and "accessible" acts in Japan. My goal is to promote the less accessible acts, the ones you have to understand Kanji to even find on the Internet, or in import stores. I think I've done that in a few cases, but not as much as I could. The only thing that junkmagnet.com really offers is my favorite Japanese music, presented in an omnibus fashion. Each page has a short profile and discography, along with many links to English and Japanese websites. The links have always been the goal and focus - I don't want other potential fans to have to search for hours, perhaps through pages they don't even understand, just to find out about new music. I think in my own meager way I've fulfilled that goal, at least for a few artists. My dream site would be a collection of information about every single Japanese Music release over the past 100 years, with ample information and analysis, not to mention sound clips. Since that's not going to happen any time soon, I would love to see the same music information that a typical person can get in Akihabara or Shibuya, available in English for all to enjoy. Actually, I don't care too much about that goal, because it's happening now as we speak, with dozens of sites in Japan and abroad. I'm more interested in the distribution and sales aspect of it all - I would like to walk into a Recofan equivalent, without having to be in Japan. Not just online importation, but actual presence at the mall, or in big cities, where rows upon stacks upon shelves of current Japanese music can be had. Perhaps that will happen first through the popularization of Anime soundtracks, or manga tie-ins, but I don't care, as long as I can see it in my lifetime. It would save me a whole load of trouble. Of course, one could say that peer-to-peer sharing can achieve more than that right now, but that's an argument for another day. I prefer to stick with more sanctioned methods (which is why junkmagnet.com has never hosted music clips or full tracks). Finally I'd like to ask; what do you perceive to be the current state and focus of the Japanese music scene outside of Japan? Nick: First of all, compared to 20 years ago, we're living in an age of enlightenment when it comes to the appreciation of Japanese music outside of Japan. Sure, initial experimentation with releasing mainstream Japanese artists in the US has been shaky (like with Dreams Come True), but eventually bands like the Polysics won't be released on indie labels in the US - they'll be released by Sony at the same time as they are in Japan. Utada's [Exodus], in my opinion, is the tipping point - even if she's not selling massive amounts of CDs, her album came out basically the same time in both the US and Japan, and she's actually being promoted almost as much as her stature and talent requires. That said, it seems like there are lots of fans, but not a whole lot of support from the mother ship, so to speak. 99% of Japanese music is being made for the Japanese market, and if it wasn't for the Internet, it would be virtually unknown abroad. Even though I've studied Japanese semi-casually for 15 years, and made the requisite pilgrimage to Tokyo and Osaka, I was simply not prepared for the unacceptable amounts of great music that wasn't leaving the islands. Thus, I think the burden is still upon those actually living in Japan, to help reveal the full extent of the new and amazing sounds. Sure, there are also lots of mainstream crap, but the sheer amount of innovation and refinement supercedes the mundane, and deserves better exposure. So I continue my project, highlight a few artists, and strive to discover what Japan has to offer." Interview from 2005.02.20. Keikaku.net staff would like to thank Nick Freeman of Junk Magnet for his participation in this interview. - Denise Smith
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