Why does Japan get the best stuff?

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How many amazingly great CDs NOT MADE by Japanese artists are, for the longest time anyway, ONLY available in Japan?!?! Why is this?

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 13 August 2004 13:40 (twenty-one years ago)

To piss you off. (But don't worry, it pisses me off too.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 13 August 2004 13:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Payback for Hiroshima.

― Vic Funk, Friday, 13 August 2004 13:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Hahaha hey wait the Japanese weren't sweethearts during WWII! Why doesn't China or Burma get better CDs than them?!?!

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 13 August 2004 13:51 (twenty-one years ago)

The cruelest Japanese import of them all is The Cafe Apres Midi / Free Soul series. God, I want everyone of those volumes, even if they are $25 a pop.

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Friday, 13 August 2004 13:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Life is unfaaaiiirrrrrrr....

― Barms, Friday, 13 August 2004 13:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Because their own music scene is all 48 year old anal retentive noise fetishists who record and release their every fart and belch on 10CD boxsets.... every month

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 13 August 2004 13:59 (twenty-one years ago)

MERZBOW METHANE MAYHEM!!!!

― Stephen Boyle (SBoyle), Friday, 13 August 2004 15:45 (twenty-one years ago)

NO NEW YORK. ;-)

― jesus nathalie (nathalie), Friday, 13 August 2004 15:59 (twenty-one years ago)

i mean - releasing stuff like that that hardcore collectors are willing to pay $20-40 for is the only way the relatively small native japanese industry can stay afloat. even so, they need help from american record companies, who encourage the jpn industry by allowing bonus tracks to be put exculsively on jpn editions. in jpn, american-pressed stuff is still less expensive than the japanese stuff. theres just not enough of a domestic demand for cds, and nothing is continuously in print over there - they do print runs, and if something runs out, they wait until theres enough demand to make another fixed quantity. thats why so much jpn-only stuff is OOP, rendering it more like $100 than $40.

on the plus side, their recording/mastering is still 5-6 years ahead of ours, so sometimes its worth the money to get your favorite album to sound its best.

(i think i first heard all this info on ILM...)

― peter smith (plsmith), Friday, 13 August 2004 16:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Could someone explain to me how even though cd's and concert tickets are absurdly expensive in Japan, they are able to support EVERY BAND IN THE WORLD?

Seriously, with every kind of music I've ever been into (prog, metal, jazz, New Orleans music) I've heard time and time again from the musicians that their records and shows do better in Japan than anywhere else in the world, not to mention their treatment.

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 13 August 2004 16:26 (twenty-one years ago)

You have a very Japanese taste in music.

― Siegbran (eofor), Friday, 13 August 2004 16:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Apparently.

http://www.age.ne.jp/x/kurichan/topics/bbbb.gif

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 13 August 2004 16:38 (twenty-one years ago)

not to mention the fact that 90% of all the original copies of great old collectible jazz, rock& roll, punk rock, reggae, french pop, brazilian music of all stripes, hip hop, etc etc etc etc is carefully alphabetized and in plastic dust jackets in a ten block radius in tokyo...

and don't even get me started on the excellence of the 7-11's over there

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 13 August 2004 17:01 (twenty-one years ago)

I've never understood it either.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 13 August 2004 17:02 (twenty-one years ago)

the 7-11's?

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 13 August 2004 17:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes, the slurpies...they are a perpetual enigma to me.

No, i meant Japan getting all the goodies.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 13 August 2004 17:04 (twenty-one years ago)

also don't forget the 'bonus tracks' on all new releases.

― Monetizing Eyeballs (diamond), Friday, 13 August 2004 17:04 (twenty-one years ago)

The bonus tracks are to discourage Japanese buyers from getting cheaper American/European imports, right?

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 13 August 2004 17:07 (twenty-one years ago)

one of the reasons could be: japanese buy a lot of records. you don't only see teenagers with an ipod, you also see older people listening to music on the train.

one of the best memories i have (aside from finding NNY there) is record shopping in japan: those tiny shops where the guy is playing lps behind the counter.

the bonus tracks are only on the cd so you don't buy the imported cd

― jesus nathalie (nathalie), Friday, 13 August 2004 17:07 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.sej.co.jp/english/image/img_top03.gif

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 13 August 2004 17:08 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.sej.co.jp/english/image/img_top02.gif

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 13 August 2004 17:10 (twenty-one years ago)

friends of mine just got back from a two week trip and one of the highlights was a 40 year old housewife's t-shirt: in 3-D Superman font, written in english, the logo 'STUPID CONVERSATION'

― (Jon L), Friday, 13 August 2004 17:13 (twenty-one years ago)

almost as hilarious as all the sorority girls walking north america around with "raccoon breath power sauce" and so on tattoed on their necks

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 13 August 2004 17:17 (twenty-one years ago)

My friend bought a t-shirt in Osaka that read: SEX OFF.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 13 August 2004 17:30 (twenty-one years ago)

I saw a t-shirt at a ritzy department store that had a picture of a water faucet and the caption "DO YOU HAVE A COCK?" in huge letters

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 13 August 2004 18:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Okay, I need to find a reliable citation for this, but I read recently something about Japanese companies buying rare jazz vinyl, worth enough to make you cream your pants, as investments, and storing these in vaults. Are you referring to this, or to collectors who are at least interested in the music?

― j.lu (j.lu), Friday, 13 August 2004 18:28 (twenty-one years ago)

i was referring to the record shops

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 13 August 2004 18:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I've heard No New York wasn't totally official.

Flying Lizards to thread.

the Polygram German Progressive rock reissues to thread.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Friday, 13 August 2004 19:01 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm sure Momus would have an interesting thing to say here.

― daavid (daavid), Friday, 13 August 2004 19:23 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.engrish.com/image/engrish/think-testicles.jpg

― Joseph Pot (STINKOR™), Friday, 13 August 2004 19:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Japan broke up many years ago! David Sylvian still gets the best crop, though?

― Nightporter, Friday, 13 August 2004 21:36 (twenty-one years ago)

a friend told me about record bars there where they have basically any record you could think of.
first he asked for Albert Ayler on Shandar. they pulled out a mint copy and cranked it up. the entire bar loved it.
next he asked for Judee Sill "Heart Food". they pulled out a mint copy and everyone in the bar knew all the words and sang along!

― jean jeudi, Friday, 13 August 2004 22:46 (twenty-one years ago)

The cruelest Japanese import of them all is The Cafe Apres Midi / Free Soul series. God, I want everyone of those volumes, even if they are $25 a pop.

I've got five left to go, but admittedly I've been downloading them from slsk.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Friday, 13 August 2004 22:55 (twenty-one years ago)

You can get a fried egg on your hamburger there in the McDonalds'. And Teriyaki sauce.

― Softly Weeping at the Oki Dog (Ben Boyer), Friday, 13 August 2004 23:07 (twenty-one years ago)

in america that's called a texas burger.

minus the teriyaki sauce.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Saturday, 14 August 2004 02:42 (twenty-one years ago)

"i mean - releasing stuff like that that hardcore collectors are willing to pay $20-40 for is the only way the relatively small native japanese industry can stay afloat. even so, they need help from american record companies, who encourage the jpn industry by allowing bonus tracks to be put exculsively on jpn editions. in jpn, american-pressed stuff is still less expensive than the japanese stuff. theres just not enough of a domestic demand for cds, and nothing is continuously in print over there - they do print runs, and if something runs out, they wait until theres enough demand to make another fixed quantity. thats why so much jpn-only stuff is OOP, rendering it more like $100 than $40."

actually, the japanese record industry is, i think, the second biggest in the world; artists like utada hikaru and ayumi hamasaki sell millions of cds within days of release. So I don't think one can accurately speak of a 'relatively small industry' with 'not enough of a domestic demand for cds'.

certainly, though, in Japan imported cds (without the bonus tracks) are cheaper than Japan-manufactured cds, which is presumably one reason for the bonus tracks, though another might be that many of these bonus tracks are actually the b-sides from singles that are never actually released in Japan...

― falseazure, Saturday, 14 August 2004 09:40 (twenty-one years ago)

CDs are so fucking expensive in Japan; they deserve it. (I went to Tokyo 2 years ago, and CDs are around 3000 yen, ~35 CAD)

― defektenlieben (defektenlieben), Saturday, 14 August 2004 16:16 (twenty-one years ago)

"releasing stuff like that that hardcore collectors are willing to pay $20-40 for is the only way the relatively small native japanese industry can stay afloat"

This is wildly inaccurate.

The pricing of Japanese CDs has nothing to do with the size of Japan's record industry, which is both immense and largely focused on Japanese artists. It also has nothing to do with Japanese Merzbow fans, all nine of them.

Japan, unlike most countries in the world, has no parallel import law. This means it is legal to import cheaper foreign copies of records that have a domestic release (which you cannot do in the US). So Japanese domestic releases usually come out a month or so prior to the worldwide street date, and often have bonus tracks, to spur Japanese consumers to buy the Japanese release. Reportedly Australia is considering similar legislation.

Isaac

― Isaac, Sunday, 15 August 2004 22:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Japan gets the best stuff because the record companies don't want Godzilla to come to USA and Europe and destroy everything. That would not be cool.

― Elvis is Dead, Sunday, 15 August 2004 22:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Isaac, that's a really interesting point.

― phil jones (interstar), Monday, 16 August 2004 12:48 (twenty-one years ago)

i hate those mo'wax/unkle/nigo jap only releases. i hate them cos i want them. lots. but ebay is just silly when they drop on there.

― mark e (mark e), Monday, 16 August 2004 12:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I remember Kawabata Makoto saying to me that you can be considered a serious record collector in Japan only if you owns at least 5/6000 albums. At the time, I hoped he was kidding me.

― Marco Damiani (Marco D.), Monday, 16 August 2004 12:54 (twenty-one years ago)

This is why I'm glad I shop used.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 16 August 2004 12:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Working for a cd/dvd wholesaler saved my wallet.

― Marco Damiani (Marco D.), Monday, 16 August 2004 12:58 (twenty-one years ago)

"I remember Kawabata Makoto saying to me that you can be considered a serious record collector in Japan only if you owns at least 5/6000 albums. At the time, I hoped he was kidding me."

Would Makoto San like to try explaining to my girlfriend why I need space for another 1-2,000 albums?

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Monday, 16 August 2004 13:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I remember Kawabata Makoto saying to me that you can be considered a serious record collector in Japan only if you owns at least 5/6000 albums. At the time, I hoped he was kidding me.

A little perspective: he probably thinks that you can only be considered a serious musician if you release 5/600 records.

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 16 August 2004 13:30 (twenty-one years ago)

So a handful of cassettes and 1 rather horrid flexi-disc back in 1980 are unlikely to be enough for me to make the grade there either then, you reckon?

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Monday, 16 August 2004 13:46 (twenty-one years ago)

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