From Ningin: Today’s Music Video of the Day features j-rock band ELLEGARDEN with their Space Sonic MV from their Eleven Fire Cracker album. More »

From Ningin: Asian Kung Fu Generation’s Rewrite is going to be featured on today’s Music Video of the Day. More »

From Ningin: Visual kei J-rock band Versailles have announced that they will be going on a world tour. Not many details are released yet, but they will definitely be touring Latin America and Europe. They will have a series of concerts in Japan, and then follow with Latin America, and end with Europe. Here are the dates for Latin America: More »

January 27th is a big day for Japanese pop and rock, as well as for fans. The street date sees 11 different artists releasing new music onto the market. And that’s just the albums I know about, there could be more! Great veterans like L’Arc~en~Ciel and GLAY return with new singles. Meanwhile, upbeat rockers newcomers SuG, and abingdon boys school are just a few of the major players putting their albums out this Wednesday. Click “More” to see what other artist are part of this week’s J-Rock/J-Pop releases. More »

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Wait, wasn’t it just Sunday? Well, it’s Sunday once more so it’s time for another installment of The Weekly Bento. This past week saw the nearing conclusion of Rekuru’s Akira Kurosawa Tribute Month, so if you haven’t been checking out the plethora of posts on the famed director’s work, do so now. In addition, there were plenty of other posts this past week such as the next installment in Jacob’s popular Japanese travel guide series, news of a new Inuyasha compilation album soon to be released, two Playstation 2 game reviews in celebration of the PS2’s 10 year anniversary, and even an interesting look at the growing trend of people sleeping in the streets of Japan. All fascinating stuff, check it out. More »

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2010 is going to be such a good year for J-Rock in the U.S.! I just heard that two of visual kei’s greatest veteran groups have been confirmed for my favorite anime festival, A-Kon. These two bands have helped shape the Japanese metal genre and are considered pioneers of the visual scene in the 80’s and 90’s. In A-Kon’s 21st year, they are really pulling out the big guns to bring us the reunion shows of these two legendary bands. So who am I talking about? Click more to find out! More »

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Greetings Rekuruers and welcome to another edition of The Weekly Bento. This week saw the continuation of Rekuru’s Akira Kurosawa Tribute Month as well as the finish of New Year’s Resolution Week. As always, below I’ve compiled a list of this past week’s happenings for your viewing pleasure. Your welcome. See you next week! More »

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I heard my first Japanese rock song about 10 years ago. Since then, I’ve had an “on-again, off-again” love affair with Asian music. The following is my list of resolutions for 2010 that involve listening to, purchasing from, and exploring the J-Rock and J-Pop worlds.

1. Learn more of the classics. I already listen to many of the originators, innovators, and pioneers like BUCK-TICK, Malice Mizer, X JAPAN, GLAY, and T.M.Revolution, but I really need to familiarize with more than “just what I like.” I need to branch out from the standards in my collection and really dig deep into the catalogs of bands like Shonen Knife, The Alfee, and BOOWY. More »

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As the international popularity of Japanese rock rapidly increases, 2009 can count itself amongst the most noteworthy years for the scene. Below is my list of the most significant events in the J-Rock world for the past 365 days. More »

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Time for the Weekly Bento and with it, a week’s worth of articles for you to catch up on. This week was packed full of christmas cheer in celebration of everyone’s favorite gift-giving holiday. In addition to that, other articles such as anime youtube videos to check out, the adventures of Michael Moore in Japan, and even some cute Aardman Studios animations were there to round out the week. More »

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