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Japanese Ska Music

Page history last edited by Michael Mancuso 13 years, 7 months ago

CONTEMPORARY SKA MUSIC IN JAPAN

Ska Music in Japan, commonly referred to as J-Ska, is an offshoot of musical stylings from Jamaica that have been interpreted by the Japanese culture. To accurately define J-Ska, one would need to understand the origins of Ska music itself. The history of Ska music dates back to the mid 1960's in Jamaica, where dancehall and rocksteady rhythms were popular. These styles emphasize the offbeat (rather than the traditional downbeat of more typical rock music).

J-Ska primarily fits into the "third wave ska" mold - ie: upbeat guitar rhythms with poppy horn licks written generally in the major key. In Japan, ska is lumped into the pop music category - fittingly called J-Pop.

Ska was at the peak of its popularity in the mid-90's with such bands as Reel Big Fish (featured in the film BASEketball), The Aquabats (employing drummer Travis Barker of Blink 182 fame in their early career), and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones (famous for their song "The Impression That I Get") reaching mainstream success. This was when Ska became palatable to the the Japanese music scene - giving birth to several popular (generally third wave) ska bands of its own.

"In Japan, both J-ska and traditional Jamaican ska enjoy some popularity. An article in Jamaica Observer quoted a Japanese music seller as saying:

Ska is very big in Japan and we have about five Japanese Ska bands in my city. We just had Prince Buster performing there [...] Japanese people love Ska [...] in fact, they love every period of music from Jamaica." (quoted from the J-Ska wikipedia page).

The Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra was one of the few Japanese ska bands that reached popularity in the United States:

This band is unique because their music utilized more than just third wave ska paradigms, likely one of the reasons for their international popularity. The above video is a Ska classic called "Skaravan", based off the Jazz standard "Caravan" - originally done by The Skatalites, the premiere first wave ska band (that still tours today).

The Ska scene in Japan is centered around Tokyo, however many ska bands have surfaced from around the country.

A popular all-female J-Ska band called OreSkaBand (translates literally: "We're a Ska Band") is a third wave ska band from Sakai.

OreSkaBand has been together since the members were in middle school. They have toured on Vans Warped Tour but have not enjoyed much mainstream success in the United States.

One of the reasons for a lack of success of J-Ska internationally, I believe, is the lack of a any element uniquely Japanese about it (besides the language). I couldn't say what could be done to have J-Ska become more uniquely Japanese, but there is nothing that has set it apart from the rest of the Ska scene. However:

"A J-pop authority remarked that some see:

...similarities between the highly stylized "skanking" dance style associated with ska music and Japanese "bon odori" festival dances. (Ska music and ska-punk have long been favorites in Japan, and today there are countless Japanese ska and ska-punk bands.) And reggae’s syncopated rhythms are echoed in the rhythm of Okinawan music -- so much so that Okinawa music is sometimes called "Japanese reggae" (quoted from the J-Ska wikipedia page).

An article by the New York Times published in July 2010 highlights the popularity of reggae in Japan. Japanese Reggae has been steadily gaining popularity, especially in the Toyko underground music scene. The article outlines the fact that the style of reggae is more Rude Boy than Rastafarian, which shares its origins in British Two-Tone second wave Ska as much as the traditional Jamaican Rude Boys of the late 60's and early 70's.

The future of J-Ska is tied to the popularity of Ska music internationally. It is unlikely to have a second third wave style ska boom of popularity, so until fourth wave ska is solidified, J-Ska and all ska for that matter will likely remain mired in obscurity.

I saw this cartoon as very Japanese although it is an American cartoon. It mixes comic book parodies with typical cartoon absurdities. The animation is crude (much like anime can be at times).