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. Reporting on Tokyo's independent rock music scene, Japan Live is the journal of Ken McCallum, "a foreigner in Tokyo." Maintained and created by Ken the site offers it's readers a unique look into the world of live house, club and street performances. Japan Live's reports on such bands as Advantage Lucy, Moga The 5 Yen, Orange Plankton, Art-School, Spangle call Lilli line and Burger Nuds not only includes descriptions of the band and venue, but also personal information on the band's history and future plans. With its live reports, articles, band and resource links, Japan Live is the premiere resource for information on Tokyo's indie music scene. When asked "How do you see your site's contribution if any, in bringing recognition outside of Japan to Japanese artists?" Ken replied, "I think my site contributes to people's knowledge about the scene by introducing great bands that aren't that well-known outside of Japan, like Orange Plankton, Plectrum and Clisms, and by describing other bands whose music people know about but which they don't know much else about. I'm able to go to these bands' shows and talk to their members frequently... ." back to features		Best Japanese music sites... Japan Live 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? Ken McCallum [Japan Live]: I've been listening to Japanese musicians since I was a kid. As a teenager I particularly liked RC Succession and the punk band the Stalin, though at one point I also liked Akina Nakamori a lot... More recently, in the late 90's I became turned on to Japanese Indies music after listening to bands like the Cymbals, Qypthone, Houseplan! and Eastern Youth, as well as more big-name bands like Pizzicato Five and Judy & Mary. I think I have an eclectic taste in popular music - I like everything from punk to pop. Like others, when I first heard the girlish voices of Japanese female singers like Chara the style seemed strange to me, but I got used to it pretty quickly. My happiest discovery so far has been the music of so-called guitar pop bands like advantage Lucy. I pretty much fell in love with advantage Lucy's music from my first listen, but then as I went to their Tokyo shows and saw the other bands they performed with, I found out there's a whole wonderful world of music I didn't know much about. These bands were influenced by Swedish and other European pop music, and their sound is bright and melodious. They include Plectrum, Vasallo Crab 75, Lost in Found, Miniskirt, Linus' Blanket from Seoul, and many others. These bands made me become interested in pop, which I hadn't paid that much attention to before. 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? Ken: Most of the sites were in Japanese, but there was one English site that I thought was great, and I still admire a lot and read often: Rock of Japan. Rock of Japan is great because it is loaded with info about Japanese bands, their albums and what they are like in shows. What's amazing about Rock of Japan is its creator, Paul, lives in New York, and only goes to shows of bands visiting from Japan. But he still manages to get a lot of good stuff. Tokyo Gig Guide is also a nice site. Its creator, Craig, should get some sort of community service award for his gig schedule list and live house maps! In general, I like sites with readable, fun prose, and photos to give an idea of what the musicians look like. 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? Ken: Japanese music is a happy part of my life, and I wanted to let other music fans know about this vibrant music scene. That's why I started Japan Live. The biggest challenge is one that is common to almost all website creators, I think: people weren't reading the site, especially the music fans that I thought might find my writing useful and entertaining. Triumph... well, gradually, more people are finding out about the site, and are commenting and sending me e-mails. On a few occasions people told me they read my site all the time. That's a really wonderful thing to be told. When deciding content what criteria and or who decides what your site will cover? What sources do you use for information? Ken: I decide the content myself, and my criteria are simple - I write only about bands I think are great and I like! (Though sometimes I write about other things that amuse me too.) I get info by talking to musicians, looking at band websites, reading magazines sometimes, and, generally, by hanging out when I have 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? Ken: Not really with the Indies bands I listen to a lot. I think these bands have trouble, too, dealing with their foreign fans, because they mostly don't speak English that well and aren't familiar with how to sell products overseas. That's not to say they don't like foreign fans; to the contrary, I think they consider it a fantastic thing when people from abroad listen to their music, but they just aren't sure how to communicate with these fans (unless the fans actually visit Japan). 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? Ken: I think my site contributes to people's knowledge about the scene by introducing great bands that aren't that well-known outside of Japan, like Orange Plankton, Plectrum and Clisms, and by describing other bands whose music people know about but which they don't know much else about. I'm able to go to these bands' shows and talk to their members frequently, so I can tell people detailed information about bands that they might not otherwise know about. In my dream world, a professional photographer would tag along with me to shows and take dramatic pictures that are actually in focus, so I can concentrate on listening to the bands. I'd do more interviews and features. I'd get free song MP3's from bands that are available only on my site. 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? Ken: Until recently, other than Rock of Japan, most fans outside of Japan seemed primarily interested in visual kei bands and other big commercial musicians. But now it seems that gradually, sites like keikaku.net and Instant Miso are popping up that talk about bands I really like. I hope sites like these help make more people aware of great Japanese music. Interview from 2005.02.21. Keikaku.net staff would like to thank Ken McCallum of Japan Live for his participation in this interview. - Denise Smith
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