THIS IS JAPAN! Episode 6: This is Karaoke!
Twitter is my main platform for drawing manga that introduces Japanese culture to people overseas. This sixth installment is about karaoke.
Here is the original English version.
I received an interesting reply this time, so I'd like to share it. It's from someone living in the UK who is likely older than me (44 years old).https://twitter.com/ItemShopDX
What's interesting is that in response to my question, "How many of the Japanese hit songs in this manga do you know?"...
"Please add a little bit of Southern All Stars, BOOWY, and Go!Go!7188 too 😊"
Go!Go!7188 is a garage rock band that was active in the 2000s. This person is quite the Japanophile! Personally, I was surprised that they brought up BOOWY.
As we continued our exchange, I learned that they also like Yuming, Akina Nakamori, Halcali, Blankey Jet City, Rip Slyme, and B'z. I love Blankey too, so I showed off my Benzie fan.
By the way, Halcali is a side project by members of Rip Slyme. I only caught a glimpse of them once a long time ago on a channel like Space Shower TV. It seems like this person really digs deep into Japanese music!
And furthermore, their wife was a fan of Yokohama Ginbae when she was young! Hearing the words "Yokohama Ginbae" from someone in the UK is so intense. They mentioned, "Isn't Blankey heavily influenced by Yokohama Ginbae?" It's true that they share the same roots in rock and roll, rockabilly, and early punk. And apparently, they used to live in Sapporo and Tokyo!
They seem to like hip-hop too. They mentioned THA BLUE HERB and Buddha Brand. They said, "Hokkaido has a lot of good music groups!" and I agree. Bloodthirsty Butchers and Dohatsuten are also from Hokkaido, after all. Since they are conscious of regions, they might even know about Fukuoka's Mentai Rock.
They also seem to like Candies, Pink Lady, and so on. And surprisingly, even The Mops! They are one of Japan's proud psychedelic Group Sounds bands.
That very day, I happened to be wearing a King Crimson (a British psychedelic rock band) hoodie, so I introduced it to them. Since we had a UK connection, I wore a The Damned T-shirt the next day.
From BOOWY to Pink Lady, The Mops, and Blue Herb, they were someone who digs very broadly. Music is often categorized by genre, but enjoying it genre-lessly like this is the best way. I truly felt that culture, whether it's manga or music, transcends borders. I'll do my best so that one day, my manga will also be something that people who don't know each other can talk about like this.