Customer Reviews

Jrock, Ink.: A Concise Report on 40 of the Biggest Rock Acts in Japan

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I pre-ordered this book, thinking that it would be what it was touted as- a "concise report." I thought it would be filled with insight and interviews or at least be a basic reference book of major bands.

Unfortunately, it is anything but. Author Josephine Yun devotes two to four pages to each band- but one or three of them is stylized artwork that makes you feel like you're reading a women's magazine instead of a book. The content of the book is limited to the name of the band, the members, and some random tidbit that you could easily find by Googling the band. I don't think that the author has listened to more than one song by each artist except for the two bands she admits to listening to. Most often she focuses on one surface aspect of the band, such as Psycho le Cemu's costumes or the fact that Dir en grey's vocalist, Kyo, dislikes being called "cute." She does not delve deeply into the music or history on the bands, and quickly dismisses what she does not personally like, putting off readers who might have otherwise given a band a chance. It reads like a magazine blurb, small words and hype with bright colors.

I find it highly disappointing that someone with such a limited scope of the music scene and an amateur looking website (which lacks the content of many fan run sites) was chosen to create what could have been an excellent project. You really could find out much more about a band by joining a Livejournal community- and you could do that for free.

Overall, the presentation is nice, but, as she has uncharitably describes some of the bands contained within- It lacks substance and is all about the look.

jrock, inc. is without a doubt the best book that I could recommend to someone who is new to JRock and even to those who want to learn more about the genre. While I feel like some better artists could have been featured in the book, I can see why Josephine Yun selected them. The intro at the beginning of the book is worth the books price alone -- Her choice of words throughout the pages glued me to the book... It's not your typical biography styled writing (which is hard enough to write as it is when you are on the subject of music). The artwork in the book is absolutely gorgeous and very unique. At the New York Anime Festival (2007) I had the pleasure of meeting and getting my book signed by Josephine -- She said that she was in the works of a second book. I hope it includes Plastic Tree!
This book is definitely something you want in your JROCK collection!

I absolutely loved this book! While I'm familiar with most of the bands in it, it's a nice collector's item as well as a great buy for those of us across the ocean. Fantastic job! Not to mention the fact that we overseas fans finally get a more precise and detailed description.

This book is gorgeous in design and art but I felt it left a lot out. This book is written for those with little to no prior knowledge of J-rock and I don't recommend it to anyone seasoned in the genre, but for the wonderful illustrations of each music act.

I received this book as a gift. After reading the title, I instantly checked the bottom of list of bands mentioned to see if X JAPAN was there. To my satifaction they were. That gave me the feeling that this would be a decent book to say the least. Including X JAPAN proves that the author did their homework.

After reading it, I can honestly say that it is fairly good, especially for those that have no exposure to jrock or any of the earlier bands from the '80s. After reading the other reviews, I can agree with them about the major complaint being the section on Gackt. Being a huge Dear, I was a bit upset but at the same time Gackt has accomplished so much. Since this was not a biography, items were bound to be left out. I think it could have been written better.

The biggest suprise and joy for me were the sections on Due' le Quartz and Miyavi- more so Miyavi. The author remembering the huge impact DLQ had on the indie scene for such a brief period impressed me, others might not even remember them. The fact that she gave Miyavi his own section proves his increasing growth and finally his acceptance into the music scene as a solo artist. Miyavi is my favorite artist so seeing him included really made me squeel like a fangirl.

All in all, it is a fairly decen complilation. Nothing is perfect but it is good for anyone wanting to learn about the genre or for fellow jrock fans to refresh their memories and share their interest with friends.

Imagine a geisha playing electric guitar, or a koto performer flipping the bird. Imagine a 3-piece high school band called Mr. Children whose long-term success allowed it to evolve from a school band to number 1 on the Japanese record charts. Imagine Japanese indie rock performer who mix punk elements with Japanese. Add a healthy dose of fun drawings throughout and you have a survey of Japanese pop rock culture not to be missed: a 'must' for any alternative or indie world music fan who would better understand modern Japanese musicians.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Jrock, Ink. is a fantastic resource for fans of Japanese rock. The layout is perfect for a concise report: The 40 artists featured in the book are listed alphabetically, from Nanase Aikawa to X Japan, and each artist gets a one page biography with an accompanying artistic rendition of the band on the opposite page (the Mr. Children picture was my favorite). Thus you can easily skip directly to your favorite artists and save the others for later. The book also reads right-to-left, which should please all of the hardcore Japanophiles out there.

The information itself is abbreviated and accurate. Within the one page biographies, Yun is able to not only give detailed yet entertaining histories of the bands, but also precise descriptions of their sounds. This is invaluable to the budding J-rock enthusiast who must pick and choose the artists that will make up their collection. A detailed discography for every artist is included at the book's end that notates their indie and major releases as well as their official websites. This alone is invaluable information that would take hours of online research to uncover.

Any project such as this one will of course have its naysayers. Genre fans, whether they be music, movie, or book fans, often feel bitterness towards the mainstream promotion of their passions of choice, I've been there myself. There is no denying however that this is an entertaining read and the most valuable English-language resource for Japanese rock. At least half of the artists in this book lacked any biographical information in English until its publication, which is truly a triumph towards the promotion of J-rock in the United States. Also of note is the fantastic introduction to the book that discusses the arrival of rock and roll in Japan as well as its evolution up to the present. I can't think of any other resource where this has been discussed.

So as a Japanese music fan/DJ for over ten years now, I highly recommend this book to people with even the slightest interest in the world of J-rock. And if you'd like to expand your knowledge of Japanese music beyond the rock genre then give Nippon Pop by Steve McClure a try. Researching the world of Japanese music may be difficult for us here in the U.S., but its highly rewarding and is getting easier with each passing year.

I agree a lot with Nikki.
I'm really dissappointed with this book. The images was colorfull, but some of them didn't even look anything like original people...
And was it me, or did Yun write incorrect info about Dir en grey? I mean, Dir en grey does NOT mean "two sides of a coin". I mean, it's a "GREY" in it. And it was like... "Yeah, Dir en grey is scary, and stuff. Kyo's voice is...special... And that's it". >_____<;; I find a lot of more info and more interesting stuff at wikipedia.org, and that's for free.
Okay, good, L'Arc~en~Ciel is a GREAT band, but it seemed like it was the only band she wrote positive stuff about x__X; But they're already very popular. Why not try to get deeper into other bands and make them intresting?
And what was that about Gackt? ...She missed too much there.

And Yun sorta left out a lot of important things about the bands. It's not like it was an profile book or anything, but she could've written something about the members of the band. I'm sure newbies won't know the difference between j-rockers dressed up like girls and those who are actually girls.

If you're new to j-rock and visual kei, this book might be something. But if you're like me, who knows where to get good information and already knows the lot, use your money on something else!

It seems like I've been waiting forever for Jrock to quit being a cock tease and make a move on the West. With L'Arc~en~Ciel's 2004 Otakon showing it did, and with Josephine Yun's Jrock, Ink. it's taken its first cautious steps out of the iron barred crib of the internet, and into the harsh light of mainstreamica, to be puzzled over, strared at with wonderment and no doubt riddiculed.

What makes Jrock, Ink. so interesting is that it's written with a fan's passion, an enthusiast's knowledge and a journalist's respect for the medium. Not every artist is covered with the same clarity and depth, but the essays written for the 40 artists, manage to cover most of the bases, with a mix of description, history and fact.
The art, like the breezy style of the writing, is a delight. Dripping with the artist's personality, yet still tied strongly into each individual band. The unique layout of alternating profile/illustration works well.

Overall, I had a lot of fun with this book, though I'm not sure even Takui himself could convince me of his relevance. i like that the book doesn't let bands off the hook. It's not all gushing. Psycho le Cemu, for instance, gets called out for their somewhat questionable musical importance, while simultaneously praised for their anime fan friendly looks. I also like that the book didn't play it safe, and made some important comparisons to Western music. If only for the sole reason that Western audiences should not be expected to know the old school Japanese artists who inspired this generation's sound.

Novices, and Experts alike should find different things to like (or gripe) about this book. No matter how you slice it, it's an important work that will no doubt be clutched lovingly to some teen's chest as I once held Frederick L. Schodt's Manga Manga: The World of Japanese Comics.

Academia can be such a kick, eh.

As excited as I was at the annuoncement of a book on the top 40 acts in Japan, this has been a huge disappointment. I've been a fan of this scene since 1999, and I only dreamed that something like a print lexicon on JRock would happen, though now that it has, it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

This book could have been written by the most casual of JRock fans. The highly styalized illustrations in the book, while very well done, sometimes misrepresent the bands. For example, Dir en Grey's illustration is from about five years ago. They are a totally different band from that time. She states about three actual facts in Dir en Grey's section, and the rest is telling and retelling how dark their music is. The other sections, such as La'cryma Christi and Buck Tick, are like this as well. This isn't so much a factual book about the Top 40 Music Acts in Japan, as a livejournal-esque review, filled with more opinion than substance. Some of the entries can even be misleading and misrepresentational of the bands, such as Psycho le Cemu's section.

Some bands in there shouldn't have been in there at all. As much as fans in the West loved Due le Quartz, they did not impact the Japanese music scene. They were an upper-tier indies band that had even gained a decent sized fanbase in the West, but that should not have warrented them an entry into the Top 40 Music Acts in Japan. Duel Jewel, as much as I love them and believe that one day they will be something, should not have been entered either. They were influential in the West as they were the first Visual Kei band to start doing the con scene in America (which later led to bigger acts Pysho le Cemu and L'arc en Ciel comming to perform at cons as well), but they have not yet impacted the Japanese music scene. They are still quite indies. She really should have titled this book something else if she wanted to include bands like these. These had an impact on the Western side of the JRock fandom much more than the Japanese.

This book had the potential to be something really really good, but it blew it. I really don't want new fans of the genre to read this and get the wrong ideas and mistake this woman's opinions as facts. I regret spending my money one this, and plan on sending it back to this woman, with a loose-leaf sheet of paper between each page stating all of her misstatements (which will be a daunting task, as there are many). Perhaps next time JRock fans will get something that give is the real facts about these bands that they may not be able to find elsewhere if they can't read Japanese.