It all started with Kinki Kids and Matsuda Seiko. There was this song by the latter "Missing you" that caught my attention at Tower Records and also "愛されるより 愛したい" by the former while I was watching channel NHK.

I bought my first Japanese mini cd single by Kinki kids in 1997 when I was still only a boy. I still have the cd single with me.

Then Ozaki Yutaka came along, again, it was during when I was watching NHK. It was 1998, and I have no idea he had already passed away in 1992because it showed that he was singing live at a concert. And it didn't help that there were "new" albums by him like Missing Boy (1997), Osaka Stadium on August 25 in 1985 (1998), Artery & Vein - The Very Best of Yutaka Ozaki (1999) . I only found out more about him in early 1999 when I first started using the internet.

There were also groups like Pool bit boys and Da Pump who I really liked back then. The latter is still active albeit 3 out of the 4 original members had left.

I'm Chinese and I always listen to Chinese music. However, a lot of Chinese songs are actually Japanese covers. Of course, most Chinese people don't know this. So imagine my surprise when I hear that some of my favorite Chinese songs aren't Chinese at all....they're actually Japanese songs.

That was what got me interested in Japanese in general really.

You can find a lot of these songs on youtube, it's fun to listen to both versions.

YouTube - 真夏の果実 / SOUTHERN ALL STARS

YouTube - 張學友 - 每天愛你多一些


YouTube - 真情流露/张学友

YouTube - 旅姿六人衆/サザンオールスターズ


YouTube - 王菲 - [容易受伤的女人]

YouTube - 中島みゆき　　ルージュ

I think I got into tokusatsu and anime songs and then I found someone on YouTube that uploaded the weekly charts and,as they say,the rest is history.

I was introduced into Japanese music by animes really. First one was when I was 12 and it was The real folk blues. About 2 years after that I got into j-rock and thats where my music interests have stayed <3

I was looking for more "trance/techno" type of music trying to get away from "nu-metal" and came upon ayu's "M" the techno version I guess its called and got more interested in japanese music ever since listening to that and her original then I heard Gackt's Mind Forest song and it was game over after that lol

Well, the first Japanese Music I can remember listening to was Puffy Amiyumi, from both Hihi Puffy Amiyumi and Teen Titans. Also my older sister introduced me to most of the Japanese music I like. She Introduced me to: Kanon Wakeshima, Vocaloid, An Cafe, Plastic Tree, and V(Neu). And Also I discovered new music through various anime -- Ikimono Gakari and Akeboshi from Naruto. And I found Malice Mizer from Kanon Wakeshima.

I saw some pictures of Miyavi at some friend's profile, and then I went on Youtube and searched on him, and I thought he was really cool so I started listening a lot to him. Later on, I found An Cafe too, and they are my absolute favorite band now (or, they've been for 4-5 years) :D

The first Japanese song I heard was Heart of Sword by T.M. Revolution in the ending theme to Rurouni Kenshin. I had just discovered Toonami (which, by the way, I miss a lot), and I started watching anime. I didn't really get into Japanese music until I heard Ready! Steady! Go! by L'Arc~en~ciel in the opening Fullmetal Alchemist theme. I started actively listening to Japanese music when I first heard Riraito by Asian Kung-Fu Generation as the last opening theme to Fullmetal Alchemist.

Unfortunately, Ajikan was the only Japanese band I knew of, and I literally listened to nothing but them for the next 2-3 years. One day, my friend linked me to Num-Ami-Dabutz by Number Girl on YouTube. I didn't really like them at first, but I listened to some of their other work and now they're my favorite band. I eventually heard about Zazen Boys through the same friend and I even went to a Zazen Boys concert in New York after Comic-Con with him and some other friends.

More recently, I've started listening to the Kimonos. I didn't even know Mukai was in the band at first. If I had known, I would have started listening sooner.

My friend also introduced me to エレファントカシマシ (another favorite band of mine) and THEE MICHELLE GUN ELEPHANT (I don't listen to them that much, but they're okay.) Some other bands I like are L'Arc~en~ciel, Daft Punk, and a few songs by Yoko Kanno.

To be honest, mostly through DDR. God, I love Perfume. <3

I was watching tokyo tv and an old show called bento beatbox was on and played many jrock bands. Also another show on azn tv was callde pop japan tv.