I’ve mentioned before that my descent into the deep, bottomless rabbit hole of Japanese shoegaze began in early 2022 with For Tracy Hyde’s final record Hotel Insomnia, but navigating the scene over there – which goes back 15 to 30 years, depending on which thread you pull on – is no easy task, particularly when you don’t speak or read the language. You surely need a map, and in my case, that map came from the /r/japanesemusic subreddit.

Japanese shoegaze flowchart from a user in South Korea @ /r/japanesemusic

It dates back a couple years and was assembled by an enterprising South Korean J-gaze fan as a graphical representation of RIYL albums based on some of the major names of the genre – your Kinoko Teikoku, Tokyo Shoegazer, Supercar – and lead you to more records in that particular style of the genre: more pop, more noisy, more psychedelic, more sludgy. At first it seems overwhelming – and it is – but as you listen through the suggestions, the directions become invaluable for effectively exploring the history of Japanese shoegaze and dreampop.

But what about the present, or the future? You can spend a lot of time digging around the past – and goodness knows I have – but while a lot of the legends of the scene have disbanded, there’s still a lot a lot a lot of great new music being made. Will these acts be as genre-defining and influential as their forebears? Only time will tell, but they’re certainly worth listening to, and it’s always exciting to discover new, young acts and see them develop in real time. There’s arguably less pure shoegaze influence in the newer acts – there’s certainly a lot of dreampop, J-pop, math, and emo in there if you’re looking for it – but that’s only a problem for the more gatekeepy-minded. I still really enjoy a lot of it, and their pedalboards are all on point.

Which is why this post by Japanese blog Public Image Republic last week was such a good read – and it’s also helpfully been translated to English by the author, so no need for Google Translate! It basically considers the state of the current scene, and highlights some of the most interesting new acts who, incidentally, are a lot of the ones I’m currently excited about. I’m not sure about the purported surge of interest in Uchu Nekoko, but I’m not really in a position to confirm or deny that. Word of a new record from the mysterious duo is good news, though.

The New Generation of Japanese Shoegaze Movement @ Public Image Republic

All of AprilBlue, Blurred City Lights, Yuragi, Moritasaki In The Pool have gotten e-ink around here, though I’m surprised that Kurayamisaka didn’t get a mention – even NME and Rolling Stone is hip to them. But some other new picks have newsy bits to go along with them, so I’ll offer those up as a way to get those embeds out there.

Beachside Talks just last week released their first full-length Hokorobi, which built on the three singles they released last year. The last one, “Dream Up”, came with a new video back in November:

Cephalo have already gotten a lot of love around here, but it’s validating to see that they’re getting similar attention back home. They dropped a new video from Fluorite Code last month. The article also revealed that frontwoman Fuki has another band – iVy – who offer similar if lighter vibes as Cephalo. Win!

Idol-gaze outfit RAY also just released a new EP in Seasons, which also came with a new video for “Sunset Hurts”:

The piece also goes into a bit of history, paying due respect to the OGs of the current movement, most of whom are already familiar to anyone who’s been reading this site (which is probably just me. That’s cool). There’s also a solid 50-song playlist that functions as a three-hour listening companion; sadly, it’s only available on Spotify but similar ground is covered in this annotated【20’s】Japanese Shoegaze playlist from Japanese label Oaiko, which is also available on Apple Music.

It’s taken a few years but I feel like I’ve finally gotten a handle on how to navigate Japanese music as a foreigner on the other side of the world – where to look, who to follow, how to buy – and while it’s a lot of work, that also makes it rewarding for an old person like myself who would spend inordinate amounts of time in my youth doing just this kind of research for more accessible bands. Of course, going to see a killer bill back then didn’t necessitate a $2000 plane ticket, but sometimes that’s the price you gotta pay.