2. The Inferiority Complex

Japanese fans of Western music and Japanese fans of Japanese music behave nothing alike… but why should this be the case?

As most of you probably already know, after the United States defeated Japan in World War II, Japan was subject to many years of occupation by the US military. Everyone knows about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but what many people don't know was that these two cities were chosen as targets for the atomic bomb in part because they were two of the few Japanese major cities that were still relatively intact. Japan was subjected to heavy fire bombing in the last year of the war, and most of Tokyo had already been burned to the ground. The whole country was in ruins, and everyone still alive was dirt poor. The only people who had money and resources were American soldiers – and this is why Japanese people who grew up during the Occupation Period developed such a strange inferiority complex towards the USA, and a fascination with American culture, including American rock-n-roll.

Following the Occupation, in the 1960's, a massive wave of Beatlemania swept Japan, which probably did more than anything else to add British rock-n-roll to the mix (fun fact: The Beatles were the first rock band to perform a concert at the Nippon Budoukan. Right-wing diehards at the time were scandalized by the idea that a rock band of foreign devils would profane the Budoukan's status as an arena for noble Japanese sports such as kendo and judo. Apparently orange isn't the only color in which nationalistic assholes come. They also come in yellow!) Anyhow, the earliest Japanese rockers were inspired by American and British role models, and they still had a massive complex about it. Up through Buck-Tick's generation, many if not most Japanese rockers seem to have either a subconscious or overt belief that Western rockers have something they don't.

For example, take the following quote from Murata Yukio's interview with PHY magazine about his role in The Mortal. “I never felt that Buck-Tick were a Japanese band,” he told PHY. “As a rock-n-roll boy, I watched Buck-Tick as if I were watching a Western band play.”

Wow, let's take a moment to unpack that statement! Can you see all the baggage loaded in there? First, there's an assumption that Japanese and Western bands must be inherently different in some way. Second, there's the implication that Western bands are fundamentally cooler than Japanese bands. Calling Buck-Tick “a Western band” is the highest praise. Buck-Tick are so cool they've transcended their inborn Japanese inferiority!

But don't judge Murata too harshly for saying this – at least based on my own experiences speaking with Japanese musicians over the years, I can tell you that the type of attitude expressed by the quote above is extremely widely held, at least among Buck-Tick's generation. All hail Western cultural imperialism! This is the reason why even in Japan, it's rare to hear tracks by Japanese bands played as background music at music venues, or spun by club DJs. Spin Depeche Mode or New Order and you're cool. Spin Buck-Tick and you're a fanboy.

Every time I get into a conversation with a Japanese rocker, the first question I get asked is, “Why do you like Japanese music?” They ask it in a tone of surprise. “We Japanese bands just started playing rock-n-roll to be like our Western idols,” they say. The not-so-subtle implication: Why would you bother with the likes of us, when you were lucky enough to be born in the USA?

In response, I explain to them that at this point, just as with American superhero comics and Japanese manga, Japanese artists have incorporated so much of their own culture into rock music that they've made their own unique thing that isn't Western anymore. The Japanese musicians are usually floored. They're used to being influenced by Westerners. They're definitely not used to Westerners being influenced by them.

While it's a little sad that so many Japanese musicians still carry this inferiority complex around with them, there's no denying that, no matter what your nationality, listening to foreign music is an excellent way to broaden you worldview. This is a generalization based on my own experience, but in general, I have found that Japanese fans of Western music tend to be interested in events outside their small country. Just like the readers of this website, if they haven't traveled overseas, they probably aspire to go, especially to the countries that spawned the music they love – and they tend to listen to that music with care and attention.

Japanese people who listen to Western music that falls outside of the mainstream tend to have broad and detailed tastes. Whether or not they're musicians themselves, for these people, music fandom really is about the music. The times we've seen Western artists perform in Japan, Japanese fan crowds have been everything from reverently quiet through to wildly enthusiastic, and a deep respect for the music has always been palpable.

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