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Japanese rock music, also called J-Rock, is a niche market in Europe that has been growing like no other genre for the past 4 years. Bands such as Dir En Grey and The Gazette tour all over Europe and sell out concert halls within days and sometimes within minutes! Fans love Japanese bands’ different approach to music, their outfits, and having Japanese lyrics brings a completely new touch and freshness to songs for westerners. A few European labels have been very successful in releasing J-Rock albums and bringing respective artists to Europe. Electric Eel Shock, a Japanese rock band, is playing 16 European shows in July 2008, and they are not the only Japanese band this busy when touring the old continent.

Nonetheless, more genre differentiation has been asked since many fans find that J-Rock has been limited to Visual Kei bands, which are rather metal oriented. Japanese music forums show that there is a very large demand for J-Pop artists and other Japanese bands that are not connected to Visual Kei. Artists such as Koda Kumi and Ayumi Hamasaki are artists wanted by fans for European stages.

Fact is that Japanese music has something mystique that is conquering the hearts and ears of a strongly connected group of European music listeners who are fed up with western style music. And, like everything Japanese, it is more fashionable than what Westerners consider to be fashionable, which is very appealing to European audiences.