I’m getting this shit back on track, and you’re coming with me. Inside, witness the power of the Japanese schoolgirl.

So, I noticed that, if you looked at the category listings in the area I lovingly refer to as “the right nav” you would have seen with the last entry that American entries had started to beat out Japanese ones. Since I define myself by my devotion to the mysterious and inexplicable culture of the Land of the Rising Sun, I’ve shot myself in the virtual foot by veering so severely off course here. Expect a remedy for that in the form of a lot of writing about shit you can’t find and/or wouldn’t watch even if you could, unless you’re Regan or one of the people in my class that I’d never want to talk to.

Additionally, I noticed the “music” category is woefully underrepresented as well. This is because of a sense of terrible and weighty embarrassment that I’ve since decided to cast away along with the rest of my irrecoverable pride and self confidence. In accordance with the rules of my pledged obsession, I’ve been listening to a whole lot of Japanese music lately. My name is Eugene, and I’m a J-Pop listener. Wow, I feel better already. However, as cute and captivating as I find bands the likes of ZONE and subsequently MARIA, to say nothing of YUI and even some other “artists” whose names aren’t entirely capitalized, I wanted to broaden my musical horizons, while staying strictly confined to only being able to understand half of what I’m hearing lyrically. As such, I have a confession to make that will shock very few people reading these words, because I’ve pretty much told everyone individually. I’ve been listening to ska lately.

In an attempt to reach outside of the manufactured and glossy bubblegum pop of the Japanese top forty scene, I took a look at the bands playing at SXSW this year right here in the US of A. Again, there was some guilt involved in the decision, as my iPod is loosely packed with music that I listen to primarily because the melodies conjure images of the videos I watch when I’m pretty sure nobody can see what I’m doing. Yes, I was chasing the label of legitimacy once again. But, as I have never failed to fail, I found a band full of high school girls from Osaka who participate in a form of music which I have actively decried and opposed in my past. And promptly become obsessed with them. ORESKABAND answers the age-old question: What’s better than five Japanese schoolgirls? Not surprisingly, it’s six Japanese schoolgirls.

So, now that I’m attempting to find positivity wherever I can, as the drought has gotten fairly dire here, I’ve accepted that happy music has a purpose in the world. And yes, even in my own life. If I turn up ORESKABAND loud enough, the voices in my head telling me to kill everyone sound like they’re suggesting that I “krill everyone” instead. I don’t know what that means, and I think it involves seafood, but either way, it keeps me out of trouble for a minute or two until the Slipknot track sneaks into the playlist. I realized, though, that even as I started to enjoy a lighter musical fare in my college days, I still stayed away from ska as though it was a vile, foamy-mouthed carrier of the most heinous and foul contagion simply because I didn’t agree with the enthusiasm or attire of its devotees. Luckily, my current obsession provides me access to this wondrous new world. If only I’d fostered such a fixation earlier, all my parents would have had to do to shape me into their ideal child would have been to show me images of Japanese schoolgirls wearing bright colors, studying in school or eating vegetables.

As an afterthought, in a desperate but ultimately futile attempt to lower my rating on the creepometer, I will offer a series of backpedaling caveats: I think that, to be honest, I actually like the music, and the spirit of optimism conveyed by the songs and the members of the band. It makes me jealous of their enthusiasm, sure, but there’s a level of hope and love for a creative act that I can’t help but adore and admire. I keep mentioning when attempting to defend my fascination with youth culture (Japanese or otherwise) that it’s because I still want to regard myself as childish and able to abandon realism and enjoy frivolity. Also, I will mention that I also listen to predominantly male bands (see Asian Kung-Fu Generation, L’Arc-en-Ciel, Base Ball Bear, The Pillows, and The Blue Hearts), as well as girl groups with ladies who are age-appropriate for a geezer such as myself (see Puffy and… Okay, just Puffy). And then there are some other… uh… “musicians” that I won’t mention as Regan keeps telling me she’s going to write about them, and I don’t want to step on her toes or admit that I know what she’s talking about.

I’ve written too much again, and it’s time to watch the new Puffy video a few more times over McDonald’s breakfast. Oh, and by the way, I only call it “the right nav” in private because people have told me such cutesy pet names induce nausea.

This entry was posted by eugene on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007 at 6:21 am and is filed under japanese, music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.