Well, I've had an interest in Japan since I was like 10 years old.
I didn't know much about Japan back then, but I knew I loved the sound of Japanese.
A couple of years later (I think I was 12) I started playing a game called "Shougun: Total War" on the PC, and after that I started looking up more things about Japanese culture and music online (56k modem, oh yeaah!).
There was something about the koto and shamisen that I couldn't get enough of.
After some time (a year? two years? not sure..) I found the Yoshida Brothers. They play awesome shamisen music with western influences, and I really liked what I heard.
Time passed, but I stopped doing research/looking for new bands (for some strange reason), and the only japanese band I really listened to at that point was Gazette. I did listen to a few other songs by other bands as well, but that's about it.
In late 2006 I Injured my knee, got depressed, and spent most of my time in front of the PC, and in early 2007 I thought "hmm, maybe I should give anime a try..." and I did. I haven't watched a lot of anime the last couple of years, but I've still watched over 4000 episodes, and during that time I found lots of great bands.
This has been one of my favourite songs for years now. I love the hip-hop/ska-core sound, and the vid is sooo funny!
Shounan no Kaze - Saboten