Is Prog "Big In Japan"?

My former roommate was from Japan.  He was a big music fan (a composition major too).  He was mostly into noise rock, punk and art-rock-like stuff, but he was well aware of Ruins and liked them.  There was another awesome band he liked and played for me a bunch of times called Rovo.  They were similar to Mahavishnu Orchestra.  I know there was a band called Rovo from the US.  It was not them.  They're Japanese. 

I lived in Japan for a good portion of my life, and I must say the prog scene in Japan has its pluses and minuses. CD stores both new and used as well as the plentiful CD rental shops are very well organized, and usually have a good selection of the more popular prog bands. As mentioned, in Tokyo, the areas around Shinjuku and Ochanomizu stations have a vast number of used CD shops some of which specialize in only prog. Shibuya also has a number of big box CD stores 6 or 7 storeys tall. There is of course a loyal prog following among a certain kind of listener, much as there is in the west.

On the downside, prog both domestic and foreign gets very little radio play, and is seldom featured at the in-shop listening stations, so people probably find out about it mainly through word of mouth or on the internet. All in all, prog is probably slightly less well known than in the U.S. or Britain.

Avestin asked:
What are the most popular prog acts (local and intl.)?

I decided to look into this question a bit more. I've compiled lists of the bestselling prog CDs based on the sales ranks given on the Amazon Japan web site. I'll only list the most popular CD for each band.

International bands
1. Led Zeppelin - "The Song Remains the Same" 67
2. Pink Floyd - "Dark Side of the Moon" 1212
3. King Crimson - "The Court of the Crimson King" 1245
4. Queen - "Made in Heaven" 1679
5. Radiohead - "Airbag/How am I driving?" 1741
6. Muse - "Absolution" 2019
7. Dream Theater - "Systematic Chaos" 3342
8. Tool - "10,000 days" 5586
9. Deep Purple - "Made in Japan" 8182
10. Porcupine Tree - "Nil Recurring" 8285

Led Zeppelin and King Crimson appear to be actually more popular in Japan than in the U.S., while the other bands are all less so. Other bands that are popular in the west such as The Mars Volta, Jethro Tull and Blackfield finish further down the Japanese list. Blackfield in particular seem virtually unknown in Japan, surprising given the high ranking of Porcupine Tree.

Japanese bands
1. Sound Horizon - "Elysion" 282
Not listed on progarchives yet, but given by Honganji as a prog band. They do elaborate rock opera stage shows with an emphasis on the vocals sort of akin to Ayreon or Andrew Lloyd Webber.
2.Envy - "abyssal" 778
3.Dir en Grey - "Dozing Green" 793
More gothic metal than prog and perhaps a bit poppy for some tastes, but they do have some prog-like traits: a certain dramatic character, shifting moods within the same song, themes other than love.
4.Yellow Magic Orchestra as HASYMO - "Rescue/Rydeen" 845
A weird mix of synthpop and vaguely atonal bits a la David Sylvian/Japan.
5.World's End Girlfriend - "The Lie Lay Land" 2049
Post-rock which alternates between prog-like guitar riffs, children's songs, dissonance and new age. "Garden in the Ceiling" recalls Genesis's "Musical Box" or Kate Bush.
6.toe. - "new sentimentality" 2132
7.Boredoms - "Vision Creation Newsun" 6551
8.High and Mighty Color - "Amazing" 9454
An eclectic band, not yet reviewed in progarchives. Their tracks vary widely from symphonic goth metal a la Nightwish to pop to hard hip hop often all within the same song. They show flashes of prog influence on tracks like their hit "Ichirin no Hana" and "Aozora ni furu yuki."
9.Mono - "Gone: A collection of EP's 2000-2007" 15102
10.Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO - "Acid Motherly Love" 26362
Jimi Hendrix-like psychedelic jams. Guaranteed to send you tripping back to the 1960s.

Many of the other bands honganji mentioned - Sense of Wonder, Gerard, Kenso, Ain Soph, Ruins and Bi Kyo Ran - finish not far behind. Has anyone mentioned Otomo Yoshihide?

Edited by fuurinkazan - November 09 2007 at 09:28

Gerard will give 4 lives in this December. Active band.

honganji wrote: Gerard will give 4 lives in this December. Active band. Ars Nova is also active. However I'm astonished at current formation. Once Ars Nova was formed by only female musicians. Now Ars Nova includes male guitarist and male drummer.

damn... I didn't know that....  .. nice gig if you can get it

What about buying live video's and live DVD's with Japanese progrock in Japan, how many are available?

I remember Starless!!

When I was in Japan in the summer, I went vinyl hunting and found a store that had a very large progressive rock section. Picked up Nursery Cryme there. Anyway, I didn't want to read through all these posts (I'm new here)...but, I'll say something:

I don't think progressive music is actually *HUGE* in Japan. But, there are lots of crazy cult followings in Japan. Many artists who aren't "famous" actually have many devoted fans for many years. There are many subcultures or whatever for stuff like this. It's pretty crazy.

Anyway, an artist like Tatsuya Yoshida. He isn't a huge celebrity there. But, to fans of avant-garde music in Japan that are into the scene, he is a god.

Apart from Mono and Acid Mothers Temple and a few of their offshoots I know very little about Japanese music, isn't Japanese Zeuhl supposed to be amazing?

I love AMT lol.