How did you discover Jpop? Tell your story!

[hot0rikun967]

Hey guys! So I was just thinking that it might be cool if we all told our stories of how we made the transfer from one musical culture to another. What was the first Jpop song you heard? First Jpop artist you started following? How did you find Jpop: anime, games, other asian music? Tell your story! I'll be posting mine up soon, but for now I must get to work on this shiny Ralts breeding. 400 eggs in and still nothing, but patience is my virtue...and Judas is the demon I cling to. I CLING TO! (Uhhh...I might go make another thread now for those interested in whoever got that reference XD)

[Sai]

Hmm... Let's see, then. I was in elementary school, and maybe 9 or 10? I generally liked whatever anime was being shown on TV at the time (Sailor Moon, Pokemon, Dragon Ball, Cardcaptors, etc.) and had joined an anime-related guild on Neopets. Someone from that guild sent me the song 'Pure Snow' by Yuko Sasaki and I was crazy in love with it. I had that, plus a couple of other Yuko Sasaki songs sent to me by the same person, and that was my first J-pop experience!

Then in 2004, I got into InuYasha, which had a surprisingly mainstream collection of singers doing the OPs/EDs, including BoA, Ayumi Hamasaki, Do As Infinity, Namie Amuro, etc., which got me into those songs. I still love a lot of them today, honestly. My music library at this point consisted of those + video game songs/remixes, including the usual Utada Hikaru stuff from Kingdom Hearts (even though I'd never even played them!)

Then in 2005, when I had my own computer and access to anime from the internet, I got really obsessed with Love Hina, which was infamous at the time for its numerous character songs. So I got really into the seiyuu scene and all the seiyuu who worked with Love Hina, most famously Yui Horie. I watched the two Love Hina live concerts (my first J-pop concerts!) and was utterly obsessed; I'd watch them over and over again, day after day. Seriously, it'd be all I'd listen to, the same 20 or so songs over and over again XD. I'm not sure how I did it now, looking back - I have thousands of songs now and still have days where I just can't find anything to listen to xD

Later in 2005 I had my first real fateful encounter with Ayumi Hamasaki's music. I had heard 'Dearest' and 'no more words' from InuYasha, but I honestly just thought she (/and everyone else in Japan xD) was just some typical anime singer. My 12 year old brain could not wrap itself around the idea that Japan had a music industry of its own that didn't revolve around anime OPs/EDs So yeah, I got into the Ayu fandom hard, and now, 9 years later, I'm still absolutely obsessed with everything about her! And it was through Ayu and the forums that I joined to keep up with her that I was catapulted into the rest of the J-pop world - Koda Kumi, Namie Amuro, Utada Hikaru, Morning Musume/H!P, Mika Nakashima, Nana, mihimaru GT, Goto Maki, etc.

So, yeah. tl;dr: Random Yuko Sasaki songs --> InuYasha OPs/EDs --> Love Hina character songs --> Ayumi Hamasaki --> Everything else. It's been a fun ride, and I don't plan on getting off anytime soon! Looking forward to your story, hotorikun!

[relmy]

It all came from Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy X-2! I thought Koda Kumi was just somebody they'd found for Final Fantasy oops. I didn't really like her much though because 12 year old me was a prude haha. I didn't even know Simple and Clean had a Japanese version at first!! So, Jpop and me didn't get off to a good start. That must have been 2003 because I think FFX-2 came out here early 2004.

It must have then been early 2005 when I really got into Jpop. Somebody on a forum sent me Ayu's Because of You and I was amazed! I then did some digging and found her 'new album' (MY STORY). I didn't really like it. This was the age of Limewire (oh dear) and I just used to search for 'Jpop'. I listened to a lot of BoA. I also really got into day after tomorrow (Tales of Symphonia!) and tommy february6. These were the dark days of not knowing what I was doing or looking for. I was also a failure, because this means that I MISSED OUT on following the glorious (miss)understood era for Ayu. It wasn't a disaster though, I'd managed to acquire most of her discography (somehow) by now and was in LOVE.

I also had friends at school getting into Jpop/anime/manga, but they went more for the visual kei and Jrock stuff, which was another false/start dead end for me and Japanese music. We also went through a DDR music stage. :S Although, I was at an arcade a few years ago and played DDR, and it had loads of Nana songs. I think I did SECRET AMBITION.

I have something in common with Sai here - LOVE HINA!! My friend was obsessed with the manga, and while I never watched the anime we were all obsessed with Sakura Saku. I never really got into the seiyuus though, I think it was because I never watched Love Hina myself. My friend had the InuYasha connection and sent me Dearest and No More Words and was gutted when I knew them already hahahaaa.

2006 was important for 2 reasons: Ayu's BLUE BIRD single came out and I started following Ayu proper, and Jpop in general, and in December 2006 Wild Arms 5 was released, and I was so excited when the opening song was released as a single in November, it was Justice to Believe! I downloaded HYBRID UNIVERSE and her older material, but I didn't start following until after UD.

So, my Jpop story starts in 2004, but it didn't become a full blown love until later 2005/2006.

...I didn't mean to make that so long!!! tl;dr: 13 year old me couldn't use the internet.

[Sai]

Man, Sakura Saku was totally my jam circa 2005!! I had the lyrics memorized to that song (actually, probably still do... ahaha).

Limewire was such a fun, yet disastrous way of getting into music. I kind of miss it though, to be honest - in today's age of rigid song tagging and iTunes-organized libraries, there's no longer this sense of jumping into the unknown when you get into an artist! Mistagged song titles, remixes listed as 'original mixes', songs with horrible bitrates, songs not even by that artist being falsely credited to them (Hello, Butterfly - smile.dk!). Man, even after joining forums and JPopSuki and all those sites to download proper albums and singles in their entireties, I still saved a folder of music I got from LimeWire just for the nostalgia. It was beautifully chaotic in its own way.

tl;dr: I am an old man who misses strange things D:

[sevenpetals]

I had a song stuck in my head around... 2007... for an entire month! I dreamt of something in the past (me watching anime on toonami as a child!) It turned out to be Moonlight Densetsu from Sailor Moon. I went on the internet searching for the japanese opening of it... fell in LOVE. Searched around.. Hatsune Miku was released and by the time 2008 came around I heard "Melt" and i literally melted.I became obsessed with vocaloids and listened to vocaloids basically 100% (Just Miku and Rin basically.. always hated Len tbh) until I heard of Kanon Wakeshima. I bought her album and it was my first japanese album - Shinshoku Dolce. While shes kind of not very famous anymore and barely releasing music (2 singles in 2 years, last album was like 2010 or 2011...) shes still "active" and i hope she releases at least 1 more album before she might get let go of her record label She had such promise and im very very saddened to see her sales.. but her record label just doesnt give her ANY promo at all. Shes more famous in europe and especially france than in Japan most likely by now... haha xD!


But then i found other artists, like Nana! and Utada, and Kana Nishino, and ayumi and koda and miliyah and ieiri, and tommy, and aqua timez, few bands, gackt, BoA, YUI, Yui Horie... the list goes on!

I often hear anime openings and research groups... only to find that i dislike their general music but love their anisong like music... but i dontlike lyrics that are bluntly written for anime.. So many generic anime songs with motivational words and they all end up using some form of flying in them and those kind of irk me, even if they are catchy. I like Nana's style of referncing the show without being like "Nanoha, lets be friend forever!" Innocent Starter slayed me when i first read the lyrics, they were so true to the show's characters... but they were like a message or motifand fit SO perfectly !


But im ranting! So yeah, sailor moon, vocaloids and anime introduced me to J-Pop. Now ive branched out but ill never go back. My favorite Musical genre.. especially Nana-song. (Nana's form of Anisong J-Pop xD!!!)

[tokyo88]

Interesting to reads all the post of each of you ^^

I must say that the first J-pop song I heard was in 2007 the first opening of Naruto (R★O★C★K★S performed by Hound Dog) followed by all the others opening and ending of this anime but I listened to them without pay  I wasn't into the J-music's world yet lol

After one year of being a big fan of Naruto one day in june 2008 I decided to research the faces behind the voices of my favorite characters and yes even before knowing that Nana Mizuki was the seiyuu of Hinata I wasn't indifferent to her speaking voice lol anyways I found this video www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT6mf2CcQAc and for the Hinata part it was Innocent Starter WOW the feelings the song gave me at the first listen was amazing before it I was not really listening to music it was the first time a singer gave me so much enjoyment ... then I looked the MV of Innocent Starter and the one of SUPER GENERATION !
I played them an incredible amount of times and some weeks after I decided to move and listen to her other songs Astrogation, SECRET AMBITION and ETERNAL BLAZE etc... etc... I became fan immediately and I listened to her and only her all days until late 2009 and the begining of 2010 when I discovered Rule of Ayumi Hamsaki gghuuuu another amazing woman !!!

Now since mid 2010 I'm very versatil musically I only listen to J-musics but I can be a total Otaku guy and listen to singers like Nana Mizuki, Minori Chihara, angela, DaisyxDaisy, JAM PROJECT, Masami Okui, TMR, fripside etc... or listen to mainstream singers like Ayumi Hamasaki, Namie Amuro, L'arc en ciel, Every Little Things, Koda Kumi, Flow or even some oldies like Seiko Matsuda, Akina Nakamori, Globe, TRF etc...

Among them my Top 3 are of course Nana Mizuki then Ayumi Hamasaki and then globe !

Btw sorry If my english is somewhat bad ...

[hot0rikun967]

I'm so glad I started this thread! Reading all your posts is so cool! Yet I've yet to post mine. I've just had no time to post long posts...But I will do it! I will! Graaar! D:

[Sai]

We're all waiting, hotorikun!

Great taste, tokyo88! Ayu and globe are both amazing. I also remember the first time I heard innocent starter (like many, it was while watching Nanoha). So magical

[stranger]

In 2007, when I was in high school, I saw this news article that said this Japanese artist Ayumi Hamasaki's newest greatest hits were the #1 and #2 album globally, beating all these big name American artists, and just got this impulse to search for her on youtube, since I wanted to see why she's so popular. I came across "Dearest" first and liked it, then came across "Step You" and got hooked. From there I listened to all the mainstream J-pop singers (Koda Kumi, BoA, Morning Musume, Utada, Namie Amuro) for the next year and essentially abandoned English music. Along the way, I got a friend hooked into Jpop and he ventured out into more adventurous territory and recommended urban artists, MISIA and Miliyah Kato, pop/rock bands like Ikimonogakari, and even one anime suggeston: Masami Okui. It's thanks to her I tried Nana too, since I liked her so much and she wrote the lyrics to Transmigration.

It's sad though, since I started to abandon mainstream J-pop and found more quality music in singer-songwriters a starting in 2010. I never really got back into the mainstream J-pop/urban scene except for MISIA/Ayu. I haven't listened to Kuu lately but I have a soft spot for her, there's something I love about her even if her music is so hit and miss. I think it's because even she releases the bad songs, like Twinkle Twinkle why don't you crap your hands, it's just so bad it's funny and enjoyable. She or her team can't listen back to that and think "I'm so proud of this track, it's one of my best", surely...? And then she releases song/videos like Taboo and I fall in love again. To be honest, even though I owned all her albums at one point, I don't get the love for Namie. I always found her discography so mediocre, even though she has some good songs, the majority aren't that great. I do love her personality though.

[hot0rikun967]

I had always been a fan of anime and manga since I was really little, starting off with your typical Shounen Jump! series such as Dragonball, One Piece, Naruto, and Shaman King. Around 2007, I was watching the Naruto anime for the first time on television because I had no idea it was even on T.V. at the time since I was so caught up in reading manga. I heard it's fourth opening, "GO!!!" by FLOW, and I didn't hate it. I was a little confused by the amount of English used in the song, and I remember feeling confusion toward the language that was being spoken. It was my first interaction with the Japanese language. I had never heard it before. I continued to watch the Naruto anime for some time, and I didn't mind the theme songs that began to play as the arcs progressed; however, I ultimately payed them very little attention. During this period, I was going through a very strange musical transition. As a child, I was hooked on video game soundtracks, but toward the end of middle school, I began to listen to a post-hardcore rock group called The Fall of Troy after hearing one of their songs on Guitar Hero (because my brother owned the game--I'm a Nintendo kid). I don't know why they appealed to me, but it may have had to do with the turmoil I was experiencing in my home at the time. My parents had begun their nasty divorce, and I had taken sanctity in music for as long as I can remember.

Fast forward to the spring of 2008. A friend at school introduces me to Shoujo manga through the Shugo Chara! series. I felt weird about loving it as much as I did, but the message of the series really spoke to me, and I fell in love with it. After staying up late one night at my dad's house, I happened to catch an episode of Code Geass when it was syndicating on television. I don't know what captivated me so much about that show, but I remember falling in love with the theme song "COLORS", which also happened to be by FLOW. It remains one of my favorite songs to date. While waiting for new episodes of Code Geass to air, I was reading and watching more and more Shoujo series, keeping them secret from my friends in fear of being taunted. I began to read Fruits Basket after seeing the anime on the Funimation Channel that had recently been added to my programs after switching cable companies. But there was one show that really changed my anime experience forever: Kodomo no Omocha. I realized that I had a passion for romance anime, and it's childish, outlandish humor made for quite the entertaining experience. It is with this show that my Jpop experience truly began. Kodocha's theme songs were really catchy and fun, and I wanted to be reminded of the show even when I wasn't watching it. I just loved it so much. And so, never having used the computer much, I searched the relatively new YouTube for it's theme songs. I would listen to them every day, all of them, and eventually I looked up the themes to Code Geass as well. Soon, I had a nice list of miscellaneous Jpop themes from back in my anime watching heyday: the themes to Haruhi, Lucky Star, Hare Nochi Guu, Naruto, One Piece, and The Slayers. I was really surprised that there was music out there that reminded me so much of the video game OST's that I used to listen to as a kid. I loved the fast-paced, high-instrumental feel of each song. They were fun, but I never latched onto an artist. At least, not until August of 2008.

I decided to watch the Shugo Chara! anime because I was tired of waiting for the manga to be translated and available at the bookstore (seriously, that series didn't finish up until like 2011 and it has 12 volumes). This is when things became real. My heart was instantly connected with the up-beat, fun, and feels-inducing message of the opening and ending of the anime, "Kokoro no Tamago" and "Honto no Jibun", respectively. Both were by the Hello!Project trio, Buono!, and as I continued to watch Shugo Chara! I continued to look up and listen to the new theme songs on an almost hourly basis. The first Jpop music video I ever watched was Buono!'s "Honto no Jibun", and my gosh was it cheesy. But I loved it. I loved their fashion, I loved the cute dance moves and bubbly expressions on each of their faces. Buono! was the first Jpop act I ever seriously began to follow, and so, realizing that the internet was an incredibly useful tool, I ordered my first Jpop CD: "Cafe Buono!", the group's first album. I would listen to that CD for hours on end, but then it stopped being enough for me. I started ordering their singles as they kept releasing music toward the end of 2008 and into the beginning of 2009. At this time, Shugo Chara! had also lead me to, unknowingly, listen to my first Nana songs: "Meikyuu Butterfly" and "BLACK DIAMOND". I loved the latter, but I never bought the CD because I felt that I needed to buy other miscellaneous CD's before it because I loved those songs more; for example, I bought FLOW's best-of album. But I remember seriously considering buying the "BLACK DIAMOND" CD in December of 2008.

Enter mid-January 2009 when I remember "BLACK DIAMOND" and see the name "Mizuki Nana" next to "Hoshina Utau" on the Shugo Chara! Wikipedia page. This is the single most important moment in my life thus far, I will say. As a lost 14-year old just having begun high school, I had no sense of identity. I felt empty, hollowed out by my volatile family situation and out-of-whack anxiety disorders. I searched "Mizuki Nana" on the glorious YouTube machine, and up popped the theme songs to Rosario to Vampire, an anime I had begun watching recently. I was shocked to learn that the same singer who sang my newly heard song "Dancing in the Velvet Moon" also sang "BLACK DIAMOND", but I knew she sounded familiar. After a few more clicks, I stumbled upon the video for "Astrogation" and my world changed. So used to the cutesy Buono! music videos, the sleek, beautiful style of "Astrogation" in its entirety captivated me. I was sucked into that telescope completely, watching Nana's every move, and already really good at lip syncing, I began to mimic her movements. She was everything. After finding and listening to "Trickster" and the other Rosario themes, I bought "STARCAMP EP" and "Trickster". Nana began to take over my entire life. I kept searching for songs of hers, searching for more reasons to buy her music. I quickly purchased "THE MUSEUM", "GREAT ACTIVITY", and the brand new "Shin'Ai" single. I couldn't get enough. I discovered danie's shopping log and participated in the hype of the "ULTIMATE DIAMOND" promotion, and "Etsuraku Camellia" blew my mind, forever changing the game of Jpop in my head. There was a standard now. Nana was the standard, and as I began to find artists such as Kawada Mami, Chihara Minori, Hayashibara Megumi, KOTOKO, and ALI PROJECT in the summer, Nana was still my number one. Anison became the only music I listened to, and I even looked down on English language music for what I thought was simplicity. I continued to listen to Buono!, Nana, Minorin, ALIPRO, KOTOKO, and Mami up until the beginning of 2010 when Buono! released their third album and went on hiatus. It hurt, but I had two brand new Nana singles to hold me down for the first half of 2010. Since discovering Nana and her participation at Animelo, I found more and more anison artists that I still listen to and love today: Tamura Yukari, m.o.v.e, Faylan, Okui Masami. Later I branched out a little more into the mainstream market as my then girlfriend introduced me to Berryz Koubou and Morning Musume, giving me my fix of idol groups while Buono! was on hiatus. By the summer of 2010, I was a raging Jpop audiophile anticipating the release of "IMPACT EXCITER" and marking dates on my calender to wish Nana luck on the days of her LIVE GAMES concerts.

My whole life was driven by Jpop, Nana most importantly. She gave me a sense of self, an identity, that I had long wanted. And although my friends would complain to me that I was obsessed with her, I knew that at the time I just needed someone in my life to keep my grounded throughout all of the chaos and turmoil as my depression worsened with my family life. I remember one day after a nasty fight with my mother, I ran upstairs and plugged in my headphones. I blasted "SUPER GENERATION" for reasons I didn't know, and I began to ball my eyes out because I felt that Nana was holding my hand, telling me that I would make it out of the Hell in which I was living. To this day, "SUPER GENERATION" remains the song I go to when I need to feel protection and safety from the world.

In summation, my discovering Jpop was more a discovering and exploration of myself. It's dramatic, but true, that without Nana I would have committed suicide long ago. This is why I love her so dearly. I'm not a crazed Otaku; I'm a dear fan of her music, image, personality. I look up to her; I admire her charisma, fearlessness, and friendliness. Her smile relinquishes me of my anxiety and sadness, and she vitalizes me to get through the day. She helped me endure my parents' divorce, the subsequent fallout, my brother leaving my house, my self-harming phase, my anxiety with school, my coming out as gay, my emergence into the person I am right now. As people have left me to feel lonely and abandoned, Nana has always stuck by me through her transcendent voice and incomprehensibly radiant smile.

[stranger]

Wow, I wasn't expecting a story like that! I don't want to say much more in fear of detracting from your post, especially since it looks like you put a lot of effort into it, but I can completely relate to that, so thanks so much for sharing that! Nana and her fans are pretty amazing.

[hot0rikun967]

Thank you. I know it was long and at times I'm sure it was a little disturbing, but I really appreciate your taking the time to read it. I was in a very emotional mood last night, and so I felt it the best time to post this story since I hadn't been able to since I started this thread. I'm really extremely grateful for this forum and for the access to discuss and share Nana with all of you. I truly am ^_^

[sevenpetals]

*Applauds*

I loved reading yours.


and i LOVE COLORS! that song is so perfect

[relmy]

Thank you for sharing Hotorikun. Music is amazing. I'm glad you were able to share your story (even if it made me teary).

[crownofavalon]

The first Japanese song I liked was Moonlight Densetsu from Sailor Moon, (we have something common there, sevenpetals! haha) which was my first anime, but back then I didn't listen much to J-pop... I just listened some anime openings occasionally. One day I was reading the Shugo Chara!-manga and Utau was my favorite character, so my friend gave me a link to song Meikyuu Butterfly which was sung by Utau.
I loved that song! Soon I found out that singers name is Nana Mizuki and that she is a singer and a seiyuu. I listened to a couple more of her songs and became completely hooked! I even did watch some animes (like Nanoha and Rosario+Vampire) because sake of her voice! xD Through Nana I also discovered many other j-pop artists that I ended up liking, like Ayumi, Koda Kumi, Namie and Hikki. Nana is still my first and favorite J-pop singer.

So this was a short story how I discovered both J-pop and Nana. ^_^