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A japán zene számos különböző előadót, megannyi műfajban, a tradicionális zenétől a modernig, magába foglal. A zene japánul 音楽 (ongaku), az 音 "on" (hang) kandzsi és a 楽 "gaku" (élvezet) kandzsijából tevődik össze. Japán a legnagyobb zeneipari piac a világon, with US$2 billion in 2014 and the second largest overall music market, with a total retail value of 2.6 billion dollars in 2014 dominated by Japanese artists, with 37 of the top 50 best selling albums and 49 of the top 50 best selling singles in 2014.

A helyi zene gyakran, többek között karaoke bárokban fordul elő, melyek a kiadókkal szerződésben állnak. A tradícionális japán zene meglehetősen eltér a nyugatitól, mivel általában az emberi lélegzetvételen alapul és nem matematikai időzítésen.

Hagyományos-, és népzene
Japánban kettő fajta zenét tartanak számon, mint legrégebbi tradícionális zene. Ezek a sómjó (声明 vagy 聲明), azaz Buddhista kántálások, valamint a gagaku (雅楽) azaz szimfónikus udvari zene. Mindkettő a Nara és Heian-korra vezethető vissza. A Gagaku olyan klasszikus zene, amit a Heian-kor óta a császári udvarban adnak elő. Például a Kagura-uta (神楽歌), Azuma-aszobi(東遊) és Yamato-uta (大和歌) mind hazai szerzemények. A Tógakut (唐楽) és komagakut a kínai Tang-dinasztiától származtatják, feltehetően a Koreai-félszigeten keresztül került Japánba. Ezenkívül a gagaku két fajtája különíthető el: kangen (管弦) (instrumentális) és bugaku (舞楽) (tánc kíséreteként játszott gagaku).

Hagyományos zeneként tartják számon a 13. századból származó honkyoku (本曲 "eredeti dalok"). Ezek kizárólag sakuhacsira (尺八) íródott művek, melyeket a Fuke-szektából származó Zen-buddhista szerzetesek játszottak. Ők, a komuszónak ("emptiness monk") nevezetű szerzetesek, általában alamizsnáért és megvilágosodásért adták elő a honkjokukat. Annak ellenére, hogy a Fuke-szekta a 19. században megszűnt, verbálisan és írásban a honkjoku még ma is létező műfaj, de napjainkban koncerteken más előadásokon hallhatóak. A szamurájok is gyakran hallgatták és adták elő ezen dalokat, amikor az életük és megértésük gazdagítását gyakorolták.

Biva hósi, Heike biva, mószó, és goze
A Biva lant (琵琶 - kínaiul: pipa), egy rövidnyakú lant fajta, amit vándor előadók (biva hósi) (琵琶法師) használtak történeteik aláfestéseként. A leghíresebb ilyen történet a Heike monogatari, ami a Minamotók Taira-klán feletti diadaláról szól. A 13.században a Biva hósik egyesületté (tódó) alakultak melynek tagjai főként látássérült férfiak voltak. Ez az egyesület végül nagyban befolyásolta Japán zenei kultúráját.

Ezenkívül számtalan látássérült zenészekből álló kisebb-nagyobb csoport alakult, főként Kjúsú területén. Ezek a zenészek, másnéven mószók (盲僧 vak szerzetes) a helybeli családoknál vallásos szertartásokat vittek véghez, hogy megtisztítsák házukat valamint, hogy jó egészséget és szerencsét hozzanak rájuk. A biva, amit ők játszottak, kevésbé volt ismert, mint a Heike biva, amit a biva hósik adtak elő.

A mószókhoz hasonlóan, a vak és látássérült nőkből álló csoportok, goze (瞽女) is járták az országot a középkor óta. Ők dobbal kísért énekeket adtak elő. A 17. századtól kezdve gyakran használták a kotot és a simaszent. Gozek a mai Niigata területén alakultak.

Taiko
A taiko egy japán dob, ami különböző méretekben megtalálható és több zenei műfajban is használatos. Manapság igen nagy népszerségnek örvend, mert ez a hangszer alkotja a fő elemét az ütőegyütteseknek, amik a népzenéket és régi fesztiválon játszott darabokat adnak elő. Olyan hatalmas ütőegyüttesek, mint a kumi-daiko is használják ezt a hagyományos hangszert. Az eredetéről nincsenek pontos adatok, de egy doboló alakot ábrázoló agyagfigura arra enged következtetni, hogy feltehetőleg a 7. században már létezett. A Kínai behatások ellenére a hangszer és az ezen játszott dalok teljesmértékben japánok. "鼓と太鼓のながれ" - 中国の唐からわが国に入ってきたいろんな太鼓が、時代と共にどのように変遷してきたかを各種の資料からまとめると、次のようになる. Ebben az időben a csatákban az ellenség megfélemlítésére és parancsok közvetítésére használták. buddhista és Sintó zenékben is mai napig használják. Eredetileg csak szent férfiak játszottak rajta, különleges alkalmakkor egy kisebb csoportnak, de az idő múltával már a férfiak (néha nők) vallásos és kevésbé-vallásos eseményeken, mint a bon tánc fesztivál, is zenélnek vele.

Modern ensemble taiko is said to have been invented by Daihachi Oguchi in 1951. A jazz drummer, Oguchi incorporated his musical background into large ensembles, which he had also designed. His energetic style made his group popular throughout Japan, and made the Hokuriku region a center for taiko music. Musicians to arise from this wave of popularity included Sukeroku Daiko and his bandmate Seido Kobayashi. 1969 saw a group called Za Ondekoza founded by Tagayasu Den; Za Ondekoza gathered together young performers who innovated a new roots revival version of taiko, which was used as a way of life in communal lifestyles. During the 1970s, the Japanese government allocated funds to preserve Japanese culture, and many community taiko groups were formed. Later in the century, taiko groups spread across the world, especially to the United States. The video game Taiko Drum Master is based around taiko. One example of a modern Taiko band is Gocoo.

Min'jó népzene


A japán népzene, azaz a Minjó, négy főkategóriára osztható fel: Munkadalok, vallásos dalok (például szato kagura, ami egyfajta sintoista zene), alkalmi dalok (pl.: esküvői, temetési), fesztiválokon játszott dalok (macuri), főleg Obon), és gyerekdalok (varabe uta).

Az énekeseket általában 3-húrú simaszennel, taiko dobbal és sakuhacsival kísérik. Ezeken kívül kísérheti még például furulya (sinobue), kis harang (kane), kézi dob (cuzumi) és/vagy egy 13-húros citera (koto). Okinava szigetén a fő hangszer a szanshin. Ezek hagyományos japán hangszerek, de ma már modern hangszereket, mint például elektromos gitár, vagy szintetizátor, is használnak, főleg amikor Enka énekesek régi népdalokat dolgoznak fel.

Min'jóval kapcsolatos kifejezések közül érdemes megemlíteni az ondot, busit, bon utat és a komori utat. Az ondo kifejezést olyan dalok leírására használják, amelyekben előfurdol egy sajátos lejtés, ami negyed ütemnek hallható. Az Obon fesztiválon hallható népdalok nagy valószínséggel ondo dalok. A busi egy olyan dal, ami egyedi dallamal bír. A busi szó jelentése is dallam, ritmus. Ritkán használatos önmagában a szó, általában helyre, személynévre, foglalkozásra, stb. utaló előtaggal van ellátva. A bon uta, ahogy a nevében is látszik, Obon ünnepre (lámpás fesztivál, halottak ünnepe) szánt dalokat jelenti. A komori uta elnevezés gyermekeknek szánt, altató dalokat foglal magába. A népdalok címeiben általában megtalálható valamelyik kifejezés. Például: Tokió Ondo, Kusimoto Bushi, Hokkai Bon Uta, és Icuki no Komoriuta.

Sok dalra jellemző, hogy bizonyos szótagokat kihangsúlyozása, valamint magas kiáltások(kakegoe). A kakegoe általában ujjongás, de a min'jókban gyakran a kórus részét képezik. Számos kakegoe létezik, térségenként változnak. Az Okinavai minjókban gyakrabban lehet hallani a "ha ija szasza!" kiáltást ezzel szemben Japán nagyobb részén nagyobb a valószínűsége annak, hogy "a joisó!", "szate!" vagy "a szore!" kiáltásokat halljuk. Egyéb ujjongás pldául a "donto koi!" és a "dokoisó!"

Okinavai népzene
Umui, vallásos dalok, sima uta, táncdalok, és, főleg a kacsaasí, élénk ünnepi dalok, mind népszerűek voltak.

Az okinavai népzene több szempontból is különbözik Japán főszigetének népzenéitől.

Elsősorban abban tér el, hogy míg a főszigeten samiszennel kísérik az éneket, okinavában ezt a hangszert felváltja a szansin. Okinavai hangszer többek között a szanba ( kasztanyettához hasonló hangot képez), taiko and az éles ujjalvaló fütyülés, úgynevezett jubi-bue (指笛).

Másodsorban pedig a hangtónusában tér el.

Tradycionális hangszerek

 * Biva lant (琵琶)
 * Fue (笛)
 * Hicsiriki (篳篥)
 * Hoccsiku (法竹)
 * Hjósigi (拍子木)
 * Kane (鐘)
 * Kakko (鞨鼓)
 * Kokjú (胡弓)
 * Koto (琴)
 * Niko (二胡)
 * Okava (azaz Ócuzumi) (大鼓)
 * Rjúteki (竜笛)
 * Szansin (三線)
 * Sakuhacsi (bambusz furulya) (尺八)
 * Samiszen (三味線)
 * Sime-Daiko (締太鼓)
 * Sinobue (篠笛)
 * Só (笙)
 * Szuikinkucu (víz citera) (水琴窟)
 * Taiko (pl.: vadaiko) 太鼓～和太鼓
 * Cuzumi (鼓) (azaz Kocuzumi)

Tradícionális popzene
A Meidzsi Restauráció után kezdtek megjelenni a nyugati zenei darabok. Egy Izava Sudzsi nevű bürokrata olyan dalokat állított össze, melybekben pentatónikus dallamot használt. Nyugati zenék, főleg katonai indulók, hamar népszerűek lettek Japánban. Ebben az időben két lényeges zenei típus alakult ki: a soka, amiket azért komponáltak, hogy az iskolákba bekerüljön a nyugati zene, és a gunka, amik japán elemeket tartalmazó indulók. Ahogy Japán a képveseleti demokrácia felé haladt a 19 század végefele, a vezetők énekeseket alkalmaztak, akiknek az volt a dolguk, hogy az ő üzeneteiket dalban közvetítsék és minél több példányt adjanak el, mivel a vezetőknek ebben az időszakban tilos volt beszédet tartaniuk nagy nyilvánossg előtt. Oszakában a 19.század végén egyre elterjettebbé vált az utcasarki éneklés (rókjoku), az utcai zenészeket enka-sinek nevezték. Ily módon vált híressé Japán első két szárja, Josida Naramaru és Tocsuken Kumoemon.

Westernized pop music is called A nyugatias pop zenét kajókjokunek nevezik, amiről úgy tartják, hogy először Tolsztoj Feltámadás cimű novelláját feldolgozó színpadielőadáson lehetett hallani. A dal a Sinpei Nakajama által komponált "Kacsúsa no uta" volt, amit Szumako Macui adott elő 1914-ben. Ez hamarosan a legtöbbet eladott zenei művé vált Japánban. A nyugati elemeket átvevő Rjúkóka, a háború előtti időszakban került igazán be a köztudatba. Ekkor lett híres Icsiro Fudzsijama, japán énekes.

A szupersztár Miszora Hibari megjelenésével a kajókjoku hatalmas iparrá nőtte ki magát. Ezt a műfajt a japán tradíciókhoz kötötték, míg a nyugatias, modern zeneistílust japán popnak (egyszerűbben JPop) nevezték. Emellett az 1950-es években a latin zene is nagy népszerűségnek kezdett örvendeni. Ekkor fejlődött ki a tangó japán verziója, a dodompa. Az enka zene, hagyományos elemekkel keveredve főleg a háború utáni időszakban vált népszerűvé. Híres enka énekesek: Miszora Hibaria, Szaburo Kitadzsima, Ikuzo Josi és Kijosi Hikava.

Nyugati klasszikus zene
A nyugati klasszikus zene Japánban erőteljesen jelen van, mitöbb ebben az országban a legnagyobb az érdeklődés e műfaj iránt. Leghíresebb japán zeneszerző ebben a műfajban Toru Takemicu, valamint híres japán karmester Szeidzsi Ozava. Fudzsiko Hemming a népszerű zongorista, 1999 óta CD-it milliószámban adta el, ő többek között Liszt Ferenc és Frédéric Chopin szerzeményeit is játsza. A Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra, a világ egyik vezető fafúvós együttese, is Japánból szárazik. Ez a műfaj csak a 19. század második felében jelent meg Japánban, ezután viszont beolvasztották saját kultúrájukba. Nagyobb zenekarok:
 * Gunma Symphony Orchestra
 * Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra
 * Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra
 * Japan Philharmonic Orchestra
 * Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra
 * Kyoto Symphony Orchestra
 * Kyushu Symphony Orchestra
 * Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra
 * New Japan Philharmonic
 * NHK Symphony Orchestra
 * Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa
 * Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra
 * Sapporo Symphony Orchestra
 * Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra
 * Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra
 * Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra
 * Tokyo Symphony Orchestra
 * Yamagata Symphony Orchestra
 * Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra

Jazz
A jazz egészen a '30-as évektől kezdve jelen van Japánban, de a II. Világháborúban az ellenség zenéjének tartották. E műfaj szempontjából is jelentős a Japán felvásárlópiac. Előfordulnak olyan felvételek, melyek Europában, vagy Amerikában nem, de a szigetországban fellelhetőek. Számos japán jazz előadó vált híressé az évek során, mind Japánban, mind nyugaton. Ilyen zenészek például: Dzsune (japán születésű), Dan (3. generációs amerikai) és Szadao Vatanabe.

Mostanában egyre nagyobb népszerűségnek örvend a fiatalok körében a klub jazz, azaz nu-jazz. Hazai, ismert DJ-k: Rjota Nozaki (Jazztronik), a testvérpár, Okino Suja és Okino Josihiro a Kyoto Jazz Massive tagjai, valamint Tosio Macúra (alapító tagja a United Future Organization-nek). Érdemes megemlíteni DJ Sundai Macuo nevét, aki a híres, Beppu városában, havonta megrendezésre kerülő esemény, a Creole megálmodója. Emellett néhány nu-jazz zenész is változást hozott a japán jazz világában: Sleepwalker, GrooveLine, és Soil & "Pimp" Sessions.

Új jazzbandák és jazz zenészek: Ego-Wrappin', Sakerock, Otomo Josihide és Keidzsi Haino.

J-Pop
A japán pop, röviden J-pop, nehezen körbeírható műfaj, ami az 1990-es években került be a japán köztudatba. A modern j-pop gyökerei az 1960-as évekre nyúlnak vissza, olyan rock és pop együttesek befolyása érzékelhető, mint a The Beatles, ez később olyan bandák megjelenéséhez vezetett, mint a Happy End, ami a rockot japán zenével ötvözte. A J-popot nagyban meghatározó New wave bandák az 1970-es években alakuló Yellow Magic Orchestra és Southern All Stars Idővel a kajókjokut felváltotta a J-pop.

Az úgynevezett japán idol előadók a mai japán zenei ipar jelentős részét képezik. Lány és fiúbandák rendszerint a top-listák élén vannak. Ismert idol csapatok pl.: az AKB48 nevű lánybanda, akik 2010 óta, a legtöbbet eladott lemez címet évente magukénak tudják, valamint a fiúbanda, Arashi, ők 2008-ban és 2009-ben kiérdemelték a legtöbbet eladott kislemez címet.

Tánc- és diszkózene
In 1984, American musician Michael Jackson's album Thriller became the first album by a Western artist to sell over one million copies in Japanese Oricon charts history. His style is cited as one of the models for Japanese dance music, leading the popularity of Avex Group and Johnny & Associates.

In 1990, Avex Trax began to release the Super Eurobeat series in Japan. Eurobeat in Japan led the popularity of group dance form Para Para. While Avex's artists such as Every Little Thing and Ayumi Hamasaki became popular in 1990s, new names in the late 1990s included Hikaru Utada and Morning Musume. Hikaru Utada's debut album, First Love, went on to be the highest-selling album in Japan with over 7 million copies sold, whereas Ayumi Hamasaki became Japan's top selling female and solo artist, and Morning Musume remains one of the most well-known girl groups in the Japanese pop music industry.

Rock
In the 1960s, Japanese many rock bands were influenced by Western rock musicians such as The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and the Rolling Stones, along with other Appalachian folk music, psychedelic rock, mod and similar genres: a phenomenon that was called Group Sounds (G.S.). John Lennon of The Beatles later became one of most popular Western musicians in Japan. Group Sounds is a genre of Japanese rock music that was popular in the mid to late 1960s. After the boom of Group Sounds, there were several influential singer-songwriters. Nobuyasu Okabayashi was the first who became widely recognized. Wataru Takada, inspired by Woody Guthrie, also became popular.. They both were influenced by American folk music but wrote Japanese lyrics. Takada used modern Japanese poetry as lyrics, while Kazuki Tomokawa made an album using Chuya Nakahara's poems. Tomobe Masato, inspired by Bob Dylan, wrote critically acclaimed lyrics. The Tigers was the most popular Group Sounds band in the era. Later, some of the members of The Tigers, The Tempters and The Spiders formed the first Japanese supergroup Pyg.

Homegrown Japanese folk rock had developed by the late 1960s. Artists like Happy End are considered to have virtually developed the genre. During the 1970s, it grew more popular. The Okinawan band Champloose, along with Carol (led by Eikichi Yazawa), RC Succession and Shinji Harada were especially famous and helped define the genre's sound. Sometimes also beginning in the late sixties, but mostly active in the seventies, are musicians mixing rock music with American-style folk and pop elements, usually labelled "folk" by the Japanese because of their regular use of the acoustic guitar. This includes bands like Off Course, Tulip, Alice (led by Shinji Tanimura), Kaguyahime, Banban, and Garo. Solo artists of the same movement include Yosui Inoue, Yuming, and Iruka. Later groups, like Kai Band (led by Yoshihiro Kai) and early Southern All Stars, are often attached to the same movement.

Several Japanese musicians began experimenting with electronic rock in the early 1970s. The most notable was the internationally renowned Isao Tomita, whose 1972 album Electric Samurai: Switched on Rock featured electronic synthesizer renditions of contemporary rock and pop songs. Other early examples of electronic rock records include Inoue Yousui's folk rock and pop rock album Ice World (1973) and Osamu Kitajima's progressive psychedelic rock album Benzaiten (1974), both of which involved contributions from Haruomi Hosono, who later started the electronic music group "Yellow Magic Band" (later known as Yellow Magic Orchestra) in 1977. Most influentially, the 1970s spawned the electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra, led by Haruomi Hosono.

In the 1980s, Boøwy inspired alternative rock bands like Shonen Knife, Boredoms, The Pillows and Tama & Little Creatures as well as more mainstream bands as Glay. In 1980, Huruoma and Ry Cooder, an American musician, collaborated on a rock album with Shoukichi Kina, driving force behind the aforementioned Okinawan band Champloose. They were followed by Sandii & the Sunsetz, who further mixed Japanese and Okinawan influences. Also during the 1980s, Japanese metal and rock bands gave birth to the movement known as visual kei, represented during its history by bands like X Japan, Buck-Tick, Luna Sea, Malice Mizer and many others, some of which experienced national, and international success in the latest years.

In the 1990s, Japanese rock musicians such as B'z, Mr. Children, Glay, Southern All Stars, L'Arc-en-Ciel, Tube, Spitz, Wands, T-Bolan, Judy and Mary, Asian Kung–Fu Generation, Field of View, Deen, Ulfuls, Lindberg, Sharam Q, The Yellow Monkey, The Brilliant Green and Dragon Ash achieved great commercial success. B'z is the #1 best selling act in Japanese music since Oricon started to count., followed by Mr. Children. In the 1990s, pop songs were often used in films, anime, television advertisement and dramatic programming, becoming some of the best-selling forms of music in Japan. The rise of disposable pop has been linked with the popularity of karaoke, leading to criticism that it is consumerist: Kazufumi Miyazawa of The Boom said "I hate that buy, listen, and throw away and sing at a karaoke bar mentality." Of the visual kei bands Luna Sea, whose members toned down their on-stage attire with on-going success, was either very successful, while Malice Mizer, La'cryma Christi, Shazna, Janne Da Arc, and Fanatic Crisis also achieved commercial success in the late 1990s.

The first Fuji Rock Festival opened in 1997. Rising Sun Rock Festival opened in 1999. Summer Sonic Festival and Rock in Japan Festival opened in 2000. Though the rock scene in the 2000s is not as strong, newer bands such as Bump of Chicken, ONE OK ROCK, Sambomaster, Flow, Orange Range, Remioromen, Uverworld, Radwimps and Aqua Timez, which are considered rock bands, have achieved success. Orange Range also adopts hip hop. Established bands as B'z, Mr. Children, Glay, and L'Arc-en-Ciel also continue to top charts, though B'z and Mr. Children are the only bands to maintain a high standards of their sales along the years.

Japanese rock has a vibrant underground rock scene, best known internationally for noise rock bands such as Boredoms and Melt Banana, as well as stoner rock bands such as Boris and alternative acts such as Shonen Knife (who were championed in the West by Kurt Cobain), Pizzicato Five and The Pillows (who gained international attention in 1999 for the FLCL soundtrack). More conventional indie rock artists such as Eastern Youth, The Band Apart and Number Girl have found some success in Japan, but little recognition outside of their home country. Other notable international touring indie rock acts are Mono and Nisennenmondai.

Punk rock / alternative
Early examples of punk rock in Japan include SS, The Star Club, The Stalin, Inu, Gaseneta, Bomb Factory, Lizard (who were produced by the Stranglers) and Friction (whose guitarist Reck had previously played with Teenage Jesus and the Jerks before returning to Tokyo) and The Blue Hearts. The early punk scene was immortalized on film by Sogo Ishii, who directed the 1982 film Burst City featuring a cast of punk bands/musicians and also filmed videos for The Stalin. In the 1980s, hardcore bands such as GISM, Gauze, Confuse, Lip Cream and Systematic Death began appearing, some incorporating crossover elements. The independent scene also included a diverse number of alternative/post-punk/new wave artists such as Aburadako, P-Model, Uchoten, Auto-Mod, Buck-Tick, Guernica and Yapoos (both of which featured Jun Togawa), G-Schmitt, Totsuzen Danball and Jagatara, along with noise/industrial bands such as Hijokaidan and Hanatarashi.

Ska-punk bands of the late nineties extending in the years 2000 include Shakalabbits and 175R (pronounced "inago rider").

Heavy metal
Japan is known for being a successful area for metal bands touring around the world and many live albums are recorded in Japan. Notable examples are Judas Priest's Unleashed in the East, Iron Maiden's Maiden Japan, Deep Purple's Made in Japan, Michael Schenker Group's One Night at Budokan and Dream Theater's Live at Budokan.

Japanese heavy metal bands started emerging in the late 1970s, pioneered by bands like Bow Wow, formed in 1975 by guitarist Kyoji Yamamoto, and Loudness, formed in 1981 by guitarist Akira Takasaki. Although there existed other contemporary bands, like Earthshaker, Anthem and 44 Magnum, their debut albums were released only around the mid eighties when metal bands started getting a major exposure. First oversease live performances were by Bow Wow in 1978 in Hong Kong and at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, as well played at the Reading Festival in England in 1982. In 1983, Loudness toured United States and Europe, and started focusing more on an international career. In 1985, the first Japanese metal act was signed to a major label in the United States. Their albums Thunder in the East and Lightning Strikes, released in 1985 and 1986, peaked at number 74 (while number 4 in homeland Oricon chart), and number 64 in the Billboard 200 charts respectively. Till the end of the eightes only two other bands, Ezo and Dead End, got their albums released in the United States. In the eighties few bands had a female members, like all-female band Show-Ya fronted by Keiko Terada, and Terra Rosa with Kazue Akao on vocals. In September 1989, Show-Ya's album Outerlimits was released, it reached number 3 in the Oricon album chart. Heavy metal bands reached their peak in the late 1980s and many disbanded until the mid-1990s.

In 1982, some of the first Japanese glam metal bands were formed, like Seikima-II with Kabuki-inspired makeup, and X Japan who pioneered the Japanese movement known as visual kei, and became the best-selling metal band. In 1985, Seikima-IIs album Seikima-II - Akuma ga Kitarite Heavy Metal was released and although reached number 48 on the Oricon album chart exceeded 100,000 in sales, first time for any Japanese metal band. Their albums charted regularly in the top ten until mid 1990s. In April 1989, X Japan's second album Blue Blood was released and went to number 6, and after 108 weeks on charts sold 712,000 copies. Their third and best-selling album Jelaousy was released in July 1991; it topped the charts and sold 1.11 million copies. There were released more two number one studio albums, Art of Life and Dahlia, a singles compilation X Singles, all selling more than half a million, and since the formation had thirteenth top five singles, disbanding in 1997.

Extreme metal
Japanese extreme metal bands formed in the wake of American and European wave, but didn't get any bigger exposure until the 1990s, and like overseas the genre is usually treated as an underground form of music in Japan. First thrash metal bands formed in the early 1980s, like United, whose music also incorporates death metal elements, and Outrage. United's first international performance took place in Los Angeles at the metal festival "Foundations Forum" in September 1995 and had few albums released in North America. Formed in the mid 1980s, Doom played a gig in the United States in October 1988 at CBGB, and was active until 2000 when disbanded.

The first bands to play black metal music were Sabbat, who is still active, and Bellzlleb, who was active until early 1990s. Another notable act is Sigh.

Doom metal has also gained an audience in Japan. The two best-known Japanese doom metal acts are Church of Misery and Boris, both of whom have gained considerable popularity outside the country.

Hip hop
Hip-hop is a newer form of music on the Japanese music scene. Many felt it was a trend that would immediately pass. However, the genre has lasted for many years and is still thriving. In fact, rappers in Japan did not achieve the success of hip-hop artists in other countries until the late 1980s. This was mainly due to the music world's belief that "Japanese sentences were not capable of forming the rhyming effect that was contained in American rappers' songs." There is a certain, well-defined structure to the music industry called "The Pyramid Structure of a Music Scene". As Ian Condry notes, "viewing a music scene in terms of a pyramid provides a more nuanced understanding of how to interpret the significance of different levels and kinds of success." The levels are as follows (from lowest to highest): fans and potential artists, performing artists, recording artists (indies), major label artists, and mega-hit stars. These different levels can be clearly seen at a genba, or nightclub. Different "families" of rappers perform on stage. A family is essentially a collection of rap groups that are usually headed by one of the more famous Tokyo acts, which also include a number of proteges. They are important because they are "the key to understanding stylistic differences between groups." Hip-hop fans in the audience are the ones in control of the night club. They are the judges who determine the winners in rap battles on stage. An example of this can be seen with the battle between rap artists Dabo (a major label artist) and Kan (an indie artist). Kan challenged Dabo to a battle on stage while Dabo was mid-performance. Another important part of night clubs was displayed at this time. It showed "the openness of the scene and the fluidity of boundaries in clubs."

Electropop and club music
Electronic pop music in Japan became a successful commodity with the "technopop" craze of the late 1970s and 1980s., beginning with Yellow Magic Orchestra and solo albums of Ryuichi Sakamoto and Haruomi Hosono in 1978 before hitting popularity in 1979 and 1980. Influenced by disco, impressionistic and 20th century classical composition, jazz/fusion pop, new wave and technopop artists such as Kraftwerk and Telex, these artists were commercial yet uncompromising. Ryuichi Sakamoto claims that "to me, making pop music is not a compromise because I enjoy doing it". The artists that fall under the banner of technopop in Japan are as loose as those that do so in the West, thus new wave bands such as P-Model and The Plastics fall under the category alongside the symphonic techno arrangements of Yellow Magic Orchestra. The popularity of this music meant that many popular artists of the 1970s that previously were known for acoustic music turned to techno production, such as Taeko Onuki and Akiko Yano, and idol producers began employing electronic arrangements for new singers in the 1980s. In the 1990s, Denki Groove and Capsule formed and have been mainstays of the Japanese electronica scene. Today, newer artists such as Polysics pay explicit homage to this era of Japanese popular (and in some cases underground or difficult to obtain) music. Capsule's Yasutaka Nakata has also been involved behind the scenes of popular electropop acts Perfume and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, both of which have had success domestically and internationally; Kyary in particular has been dubbed the "Kawaii Harajuku Ambassador" for her visibility internationally.

Roots music
In the late 1980s, roots bands like Shang Shang Typhoon and The Boom became popular. Okinawan roots bands like Nenes and Kina were also commercially and critically successful. This led to the second wave of Okinawan music, led by the sudden success of Rinkenband. A new wave of bands followed, including the comebacks of Champluse and Kina, as led by Kikusuimaru Kawachiya; very similar to kawachi ondo is Tadamaru Sakuragawa's goshu ondo.

Latin, reggae and ska music
Other forms of music from Indonesia, Jamaica and elsewhere were assimilated. African soukous and Latin music, like Orquesta de la Luz (オルケスタ・デ・ラ・ルス), was popular as was Jamaican reggae and ska, exemplified by Mice Teeth, Mute Beat, La-ppisch, Home Grown and Ska Flames, Determinations, and Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra.

Noise music
Another recognized music form from Japan is noise music. The noise from this country is called Japanoise. Its most prominent representative is Masami Akita with his project Merzbow.

Theme music
Theme music composed for films, anime (anison (アニソン)), tokusatsu, and Japanese television dramas are considered a separate music genre. Several prominent musical artists and groups have spent most of their musical careers performing theme songs and composing soundtracks for visual media. Such artists include Masato Shimon (current holder of the world record for most successful single in Japan for "Oyoge! Taiyaki-kun"), Ichirou Mizuki, all of the members of JAM Project, Akira Kushida, Isao Sasaki, and Mitsuko Horie. Notable composers of Japanese theme music include Joe Hisaishi, Michiru Oshima, Yoko Kanno, Toshihiko Sahashi, Yuki Kajiura, Kōtarō Nakagawa and Yuuki Hayashi.

Game music
When the first electronic games were sold, they only had rudimentary sound chips with which to produce music. As the technology advanced, the quality of sound and music these game machines could produce increased dramatically. The first game to take credit for its music was Xevious, also noteworthy for its deeply (at that time) constructed stories. Though many games have had beautiful music to accompany their gameplay, one of the most important games in the history of the video game music is Dragon Quest. Koichi Sugiyama, a composer who was known for his music for various anime and TV shows, including Cyborg 009 and a feature film of Godzilla vs. Biollante, got involved in the project out of pure curiosity and proved that games can have serious soundtracks. Until his involvement, music and sounds were often neglected in the development of video games and programmers with little musical knowledge were forced to write the soundtracks as well. Undaunted by technological limits, Sugiyama worked with only 8 part polyphony to create a soundtrack that would not tire the player despite hours and hours of gameplay.

Another well-known author of video game music is Nobuo Uematsu. Even Uematsu's earlier compositions for the game series, Final Fantasy, on Famicom (Nintendo Entertainment System in America) are being arranged for full orchestral score. In 2003, he even took his rock-based tunes from their original MIDI format and created The Black Mages.

Yasunori Mitsuda is a highly known composer of such games as Xenogears, Xenosaga Episode I, Chrono Cross, and Chrono Trigger.

Koji Kondo, the sound manager for Nintendo, is also prominent on the Japanese game music scene. He is best known for his Zelda and Mario themes.

Jun Senoue is well known for composing music for Sonic the Hedgehog. He also is the main guitarist of Crush 40, who is known for creating the theme songs to Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, Shadow the Hedgehog, and Sonic and the Black Knight, as well as providing music to other Sonic games.

Motoi Sakuraba is also another well-known video game composer. He is known for composing the Tales of series, Dark Souls, Eternal Sonata, Star Ocean, Valkyrie Profile, Golden Sun, and the Baten Kaitos games, as well as numerous Mario sports games.

Yuzo Koshiro is also noted for his work with games, having composed electronic music-influenced soundtracks for games like Revenge of Shinobi and the Streets of Rage series.

The techno/trance music production group I've Sound has made a name for themselves first by making themes for eroge computer games, and then by breaking into the anime scene by composing themes for them. Unlike others, this group was able to find fans in other parts of the world through their eroge and anime themes.

Today, game soundtracks are sold on CD, as well on digitally on websites such as iTunes. Famous singers like Hikaru Utada, Nana Mizuki and BoA sometimes sing songs for games as well, and this is also seen as a way for singers to make a names for themselves.