If you relocate to the Kansai region and are interested in live music, you’ll be pleased to hear that there is a vibrant music scene spanning many genres. Japan has a good reputation internationally for producing artists from pop to avant garde, and Kansai is a hub where you can find a number of thriving scenes that have produced many successful artists.
Rock Music
Kansai’s rock music scene is alive and well, with many venues across its cities attracting national and international as well as local talent. Osaka has several stores around the Umeda area and venues across the city such as Live House BRONZE, Umeda Zeela, and Teradacho Fireloop advertise gigs throughout the week. In Kobe, you can check out more underground indie and punk sounds at Helluva Lounge while many acts also play at Nagomibar. Kyoto, meanwhile, has the trendy Metro that is popular with the younger generation.
Noise Rock
Japan has gained a reputation over the past few decades for doing noisy experimental music very well. Growing out of the punk scene in the late 1970s, noise rock grew in the 80s and 90s. Kansai developed a thriving underground scene and the “Kansai Noise Scene” rivalled the Tokyo indie scene with artists such as the Boredoms and Haijokaidan pushing the boundaries. The movement, known globally as “Japanoise”, is still going strong today with Osaka-based artists Incapacitants, Masonna, and Solmania at the forefront. Meanwhile, Kyoto’s Urban Guild art space is worth keeping an eye on for interesting gigs.
Electronic Music
Another movement that is infused with the experimental spirit, Kansai’s electronic music scene has grown rapidly in recent years thanks to social media and venues such as Osaka’s Live Space CONPASS and Compufunk Records, and Kyoto’s West Harlem. If you’re looking for cutting-edge sounds from Kansai, give a listen to the likes of Yulippe, Metome, and Le Makeup.
Northern Soul
Believe it or not, those distinct soul sounds that got northern England dancing at the Wigan Casino in the 1960s and 70s are currently going down a storm in Kobe and Osaka. Nude Restaurant is a hugely popular monthly night at Kobe’s JamJam club. Meanwhile, Osaka has the Milk Bar that plays a variety of 1960s and 70s soul from across the sub-genres.
Jazz Bars
If chilling out in relaxed or dimly-lit jazz joints is your bag, there are a few places across Kansai worth checking out. In Kobe, the aforementioned JamJam bar has live musicians and DJs playing everything from classic to Brazilian club jazz. Elsewhere, you can enjoy great cocktails with your live jazz at Sone.
Meanwhile, Music Club Janus in Shinsaibashi, Osaka offers up a range of musical acts including purveyors of fine jazz and funk. Lush Life, next to Kyoto’s Demachiyanagi Station, is a tiny jazz café supplying coffee, alcohol, vinyl, and exclusive live performances from local jazz talent. Zac Baran, also in Kyoto, books gigs from jazz artists as well as blues and soul talent.
Japanese Folk Rock
Japan, like much of the Western world, had its hippie counter-cultural revolution in the 1960s that gave birth to psychedelic, progressive and folk rock artists such as Itsusu No Akai Fusen and Ryo Kagawa. Kansai has played an important role in that development, and today the influence of the scene lives on in places such as Osaka’s Folk Rock Bar Phoebe that is crammed full of vinyl and nick-nacks from eras gone by. You can also catch the odd live act here. It’s not just Japanese folk music that has made waves. In downtown Kyoto, you can head to Field and hear traditional Irish folk music while supping on a fine pint of Guinness.
Useful links
Kansai Music Conference – annual event held in Osaka to promote the Kansai music scene
Asacyan [CC BY-SA 3.0], from Wikimedia Commons
