Hello all! You can call me Rhi, and I’ll be blogging on Japanese music of all kinds in the coming posts. I felt it best to begin this first post with a brief introduction of myself and my interests, and include some resources I frequently use to navigate through the wonderful, but often times confusing, world of J-Music.

I am a grad student working on a master’s in anthropology who has been a part of the J-Music world for… oh… 4 years? 5? Something like that. Like many, my first introduction was from anime music, which grew into a healthy obsession with artists that produced anime material, which lead to a constant and weekly maturation until we get to today’s status - obsession! I listen most often to mainstream Japanese pop, rock, and urban, but will dip my toes when the mood strikes into the vast world of indies music. For Japanese music, I spend my salary, and my time, listening, learning, and dreaming. Maybe one day I’ll write a real academic paper on it, but for now, this blog and various livejournal communities gives me the creative outlet for ideas and thoughts. I hope you enjoy.

To get the ball rolling, I’d like to introduce and explore some of the great resources on Japanese music you can find but a few mouse clicks away. For oldies, newbies, or you random people who stumbled here by accident, I hope you will find something interesting and helpful among these!

•ThePPN Wiki
Only the creator’s know what ThePPN stands for, but names aside, this is one of the best resources out there on the subject. May I present Japanese Music’s very own Wikipedia project! I use this site daily, for track listings, album art, recommendations, and information. It is vast in its wisdom, constantly updated, and like the original Wikipedia, can cost you hours of fascinated link clicking.

•Cherryblossom Garden
When it comes to news of new releases, there are precious few resources as comprehensive and navigable as Cherryblossom Garden’s news page. Unfortunately, the news hasn’t been updated since May. Despite this heady loss, this is still a great page for lyrics, translations, and older news. Let’s hope that the postings resume in the future!

•CDJapan
Besides being one of the largest suppliers of Japanese Music overseas, CDJapan also always has listings of current and future releases, though not as comprehensive as Cherryblossom Garden. The page is a little hard to find, so here is a strait link to it (Just look to the left to specify the month).

•JaME US and JaME UK
This set of sites, tailorable to many countries and in many different languages, is yet another great news resource, not just about new releases as the above two are, but also for concerts coming to their respective continents. Moreover, the sites have interviews and other media of interest. Definitely worth a look!

•Corichan
Looking for lyrics? Look no farther! Cori’s site is one of the first to visit when looking for any type of Japanese lyrics, either in original Japanese, romanized, or translations. And you can even request!

•J-Pop CD Cover Art
Those of you who’ve been around for awhile will probably agree that when it comes to finding beautiful, high quality covers of Japanese releases, whether for adding into iTunes, making graphics, or just to stare at, pickings are slim. This is one of the places that has a great, and growing, selection.

•Oricon Style
Oricon provides rankings and news, sort of like Billboard in the West. Not only does this give a good indication of what is popular and selling well in Japan right now, they have extensive archives for those interested in further research on trends. The site is in Japanese, but I find it pretty easy to navigate in general; just concentrate on the blue buttons to the left.

•JpopMusic Forums
A great place for discussion and connections with other fans who share your interests. Rather oddly organized on the whole, but that’s what that “search” button is for, right?

•Places to buy
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Yesasia.com:
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hmv.co.jp:
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amazon.co.jp:
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CDJapan:
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Play-Asia:

Each has its pro’s and con’s, so explore and see which one fits you best!

•Other Good Links
Record Label Sites and Artist Official Sites are more specific resources that offer much greater detail than the general sites listed above. Specific to each artist, sometimes in multiple languages, and often with some amazing flash effects, these sites contain the best resources for up-to-date and future information on any subject pertaining to the artist in question!

I always welcome feedback, so if you find these links (un)helpful, would like to alert me to different/better places, or have any sort of general Jpop Questions, you can reach me at rhiannon3j [@] yahoo.com or at a comment here at Nihon Watch!