In my last post (which was, to my own shame, a while back), I asked "How did we get here?" in regards to the J-music fandom in general. It was really great seeing other peoples stories in the comments and I recommend you go back and take a look.
Now comes the point where you think, "Right, I know how I got here but why did I stay".
The "Wow, it's pure straightforward pop" method.
Being born in 1996 the music I was exposed to as a child was straightforward, cheesy pop that was very typical of the time. When I was in my early years of primary school I was a big fan of a girl group called 'Atomic Kitten' and I also grew to love Girls Aloud as they, thanks to the wonderful Xenomania, churned out some of the most memorable pop tunes of the time. I also remember rather liking 'S Club 7' around the same time and being impressed by people like Beyonce (who I still have a great amount of respect for now) who were appearing from across in the states and had more of an edge than Britain's pop stars at the time.
Thinking about it, there was probably I slight nostalgia element in my initial liking of J-pop. Japan seemed like a place where pure pop was still successful and that made me smile a little.
Girls Aloud's 'Sound of the Underground'
Morning Musume's 'Resonant Blue'
The "What a lot of variety!" method.
This ones simple.
If I want lighthearted pop I have idols.
If I want something a bit more 'hip-pop' I have Amuro Namie.
If I want some solid pop/rock I have 'Love Psychedelico'
If I want some pop/r&b BENI will do the trick.
I think you probably get the idea!
Other element that I would say persuade us to 'stay' include fashion, personalities and mental Japanese TV. What things made you want to stay in the J-music world?
Sometimes I think of my love of J-pop, "Isn't this strange? Is it not amazing how so many people have developed a strong liking of the popular culture of a country they don't really have any sort of 'link' with." If I told my ten year old self that in just three years time I would be listening to Japanese pop music she would be stunned and confused. It would just seem unimaginable that in six years time there would be a growing tower of Japanese cds threatening to take over my tiny bedroom. I am sure many people feel the same.
How did I actually get here? Well, in my case, i arrived in this fandom via the popular 'Anime and Manga Method'.
When I was in my final year at primary school, aged 11, my friend told me about some cartoon she had been watching on one of the million channels she could watch on her family's new Sky box (I still don't have satellite TV. It's a waste of money if you ask me). That cartoon was, in fact, the 'magical girl' anime series 'Tokyo Mew Mew' (known to us at the time as Mew Mew Power).
I tracked down the series on the Internet and watched all 52 episodes in an amazingly short space of time. The two of us would talk about the series almost constantly and spent a fair amount of time drawing our own 'mew-mews'. I then received the first two volumes of the manga for Christmas and read all 7 volumes and the spin-off 'Tokyo Mew Mew a la mode'. My interest in anime then branched of into the Studio Ghibli films, what I like to call 'shiny hair anime' (Clannad, Air, Ef) and silly comedy series (Lucky Star, School Rumble, Negima, K-on). It wasn't long before I became interested in the music behind these series.
ELISA's Euphoric Field, one of my favourite anime themes.
In 2008, while surfing the Internet, I ended up a Wikipedia page that was a list of female Japanese pop singers. Being named Katherine I zoomed down the page straight to K. I clicked on the name 'Kusumi Koharu' purely because it sounded cool. I saw her song 'Koi Kana' on youtube, did a quick google image search and thought no more of it. I do however remember telling my dad how this Koharu girl was only 12 when she debuted; the same age as I was at the time. I also remember saying it was kind of weird how there was pictures of her in a swimsuit on google. Poor guy must have been pretty confused. Ah, the joys of having a single father.
It wasn't until 2009 when I was looking for J-pop to listen to that I came across Koharu again. This was when I saw her as part of the group Morning Musume in the then-current single 'Nanchatte Renai'. That song and music video gave me a rather good impression of the group and I am glad I started with that fairly sedate (but brilliant) single. Koharu, of course, stayed in my mind, as did Takahashi Ai, and before long I became a fan of the group.
Other artists and groups I heard in those early days were Hamasaki Ayumi, Hirano Aya, Utada Hikaru, AKB48, Berryz Koubou, C-ute and SPEED. However, naturally, it wasn't always love at first site like it was with Nanchatte Renai. For example, even now I can't see the apparently huge appeal of Utada. (I have a feeling that statement may result in my brutal murder.)
I wonder how everyone else arrived in the world of J-music. Maybe through friends or relatives? A trip to Japan? An interest in other aspects of the language or culture? If you have the time why not leave a comment telling us how you got here.
Coming up next is a follow-up post titled 'Why did we stay?'.
