[edelweiss]

I've certainly heard a lot of Japanese music via my interest in Anime and Japanese films but nothing really grabbed me. I like to see live shows before I know if I really like a band so it's been hard for me to get into a lot of Japanese bands, so few tour the U.S. and I tend to be into more Alt/Indie/Punk stuff.

The first band that got to me was Shonen Knife in the early 90s, my roommate at the time introduced me to them. Around that time I was listening to Cibo Matto too, they put on a great live show. I also liked Ex-girl after hearing them open for Siouxsie & the Banshees.

In the last few years I've been going to the Japan Nite tour that comes through SF and I've seen a lot of great bands. From the live shows I've liked TsuShiMaMiRe, Red Bacteria Vacuum, Lolita no. 18, Josy and Hystoic Vein. I might go with a friend to see Guitar Wolf next month.

There's a New York based band I've been listening to called Asobi Seksu which is a two piece band, the female half of the group Yuki Chikudate is from Japan.