What do I have to do to get you to watch four short Japanese music videos? I know you lead busy lives and nothing gets between you and your Norwegian Death Metal, but if you aren’t familiar with Japanese music, you might be surprised. It isn’t all shrill voices and juvenile themes–though that’s what I like. HA!

Spitz–Ai no Shirushi (Love Token) with English subtitles!
     This is a quintessential pop song in any language, but it is very Japanese, especially the video. I can rewatch the first 15 seconds on an endless loop, but that’s just me. I posted this about two months ago, but for those millions of new readers, I present to you, my favorite Japanese band, Spitz:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSUFmZdLraY
L’Arc en Ciel–Honey with Spanish subtitles!
     I heard this song in a shop in Osaka and got out a pen and paper and tried to communicate for someone to write down the name of this song and the band. A girl wrote “HONEY” and “LARUKU EN SHIERU”, which is how they pronounce “L’Arc en Ciel” when they see the word. You might assume that the Japanese would stick with foreign words and phrases that sound close to the Japanese language, something that they could sink their teeth into, but no. You have to admire them for that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M-DZuLZ45k
Shiina Ringo–Koufukuron (Theory of Happiness)
     There’s a pop version of this short song, but the “etsuraku hen” version is a rip-roaring, hard charging, rock and roll face melter, as Jack Black would say. Someone matched an anime clip to this, which is kind of cheesy, but the last 15 seconds are full-on fantastic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP7KBhJ0Njw

Tankobuchin-Shojo S (Scandal cover song)
     First, let me say I have no high school girl fetish, no schoolgirl-in-uniform fetish, and no
girls-in-high-white-socks fetish. I’m also not sending fan mails that start, “Dear Tankobuchin, I’ve been following your band with great interest…” and even though YouTube shows that there have been 93,975 views of this video, no more than 85,000 are from me, maximum!
     I found this recently while looking for the Puffy song, “Jet Keisatsu” (Jet Police). This is a bunch of junior high school girls from remote Saga prefecture on Kyushu, but since Japanese look ageless, they could be in their 40’s for all I know. I just like the unbridled joy I see of them playing music (or what passes for unbridled joy in Japan) such as the look on the girl’s face at the 17 second mark when she finishes her guitar riff and starts to dance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehfs80DC8CU