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Not sure if people are interested enough to actually dig up scandalous bangya or drug stories, just because that kind of discussion has been all over some English language websites. I guess the uninvolved public in Japan is just quick to agree they don't know anything about the scene, but as show biz is a wild world, it may as well be weird enough to avoid. Think about the few VK artists actually representing the scene to the public eye - TMR may seem friendly enough, but Gackt or Yoshiki both depend on their image as eccentric rock stars. My experience has been similar to the one frayed describes, although Luna Sea are about as "visual" as it gets for me. Some people become reminiscent of the 90s and the crazily shaped, colorful hair, but otherwise they just seem amused by a foreigner liking something that weird and wacky. It's the same for other lesser-known music genres though.

Maybe your iTunes folder is being synced into Spotify as an offline (additional) resource? There's an option which allows you to do that which might sync with iTunes or some other stores. Not sure about that because I use a different player for my music files. The option I was talking about allows you to see tracks added to Japanese playlists like J-Track Brand New https://open.spotify.com/user/spotifyjapan/playlist/0zA6ApbJ4AtcW9VaOGgFRJ with ALL of the tracks showing. As this is an official, Japanese curated playlist, it has tons of tracks that appear greyed out (with the display switch on) or would not appear at all (with it set to off), as they are not available in my country. Take Marionette by BOOWY or the Pikotaro song (Sweets matomete hoshi ni nare) - both show up in the playlist but are unplayable for me, but when I click through to their profiles, these tracks aren't displayed at all. (Not sure what kind of business the BOOWY song has on a playlist collecting brand new hits though?!)

Not sure if the mobile versions have it, but for the PC desktop version, go to Preferences (Strg+P) and scroll down, the last category should have a switch for it. Not sure about the English naming though, translated directly from German it would be something like "display unavailable tracks".

It's interesting how half of the new (largely non-VK) releases from Japan I see on Spotify are available and half locked / Japan only ("display locked tracks" setting switched on). Will be interesting to see how this develops, as labels might finally start to see where their tracks are actually played. I don't have hope for older releases making an worldwide appearance anytime soon though... For anyone going back to Spotify after they opened their Japan branch: Check your Release Radar, which is a playlist that gets updated once a week, you'll be surprised by what turns up there!

Sorry for the double post. Just wanted to update and say that half a year later, they made it to the US, so Atlanta, Orlando and St. Petersburg on 11/11, 12 and 13 are on! Earlier shows on the tour were sold out, but seems like you can still get tickets for those dates. Their London show put a big smile on my face, so if you find yourself in need of a bit of fun and PMA, go see them (and do say hi if you meet them, they are really friendly guys)!

I didn't see any reason being given as of now, but as they are touring with Streetlight Manifesto and they will still play those dates with a replacement now, I don't think it's about Kemuri not selling enough. They need the worldwide shows as promotion for the japanese market, maybe more than to make money on the spot. Also, they're in the US already (most likely for recording), so it could be pretty much anything, visa trouble or a scheduling conflict?

The US west coast dates have been cancelled as of yesterday, they will now join the tour on the three east coast dates below: 2016.11.11　Atlanta, GA　@The Masquerade 2016.11.12　Orlando. FL　@House Of Blues 2016.11.13 St. Petersburg, FL　@Jannus Live https://kemuri.com/contents/50372

Yeah, all the shows they played in the US after the reunion have been west coast only, right? Of course it's closer to Japan but Florida should be possible, especially if they keep playing with Less Than Jake. Hope you can see them next time!

My favourite ska punk ossan are coming back to the US and also giving the UK a try for the first time. I'll be at the London show, anybody else going? Tickets: https://kemuri.com/contents/live US dates - with Streetlight Manifesto, Tickets $20 - $25. 7/15 Denver, Colorado Ogden Theatre　 7/16 Las Vegas, NV Vinyl @ Hard Rock Hotel 7/17 Tempe, Arizona Marquee Theatre 　　　　　 7/18 Los Angeles, CA Club Nokia 7/19 San Diego, California House of Blues 7/20 Santa Ana, CA Observatory 7/21 San Francisco, CA Regency Ballroom 7/22 Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom 7/23 Seattle, WA Showbox [edit as of 07/07] US dates above have been cancelled, they will now join the tour on the three dates below: 2016.11.11　Atlanta, GA　@The Masquerade 2016.11.12　Orlando. FL　@House Of Blues 2016.11.13 St. Petersburg, FL　@Jannus Live UK dates - Fireball Fuelling the Fire Tour, with Less Than Jake, The Skints and Mariachi El Bronx. Tickets ~£15. 10/3 Bristol, O2 Academy 10/4 Sheffield, O2 Academy 10/5 Birmingham, O2 Academy 10/6 London, O2 Academy Brixton

wow, thanks for the warm welcome everyone! it's especially nice to find fellow deadman fans here, i still hope mako comes out of hiding someday again...but until that i'll just enjoy god and death stars. glad to hear you like my tumblr, fitear! i'll check yours and follow back!

went to see them yesterday and even though the crowd wasn't that big in dortmund as well, it was a really fun concert! lots of energy both on stage and in the audience. i really hope they come back to germany / europe sometime in the future (and maybe bring some labelmates, i mean, dynamord helllloo), so check them out if you still have a tour stop near you! it's so refreshing to see some bands play here that aren't just big names in the vk scene (or established in their own scene such as ska). these are the shows i mostly go for when i'm in japan, but sadly, most people don't notice them if they ever make it overseas. it's interesting to note that while tickets for those punk(pop/rock/whatever) acts go for around 2500-3500yen, the vk gigs i see on the schedule of the same livehouse are 4000yen and up. and that's not related to popularity, i paid 2500 for ellegarden (plus two other bands) well after they made it big time. we used to joke that all that hairspray and makeup is gonna cost the fans as well, but looking back i'd say it is connected with the way the labels make their money. maybe that reflects on the way ticket prices are calculated overseas as well.

hi there! i'm jana from germany. i've been a member for months already, but never got around to introducing myself or really posting on here. i'm normally known as thond around the internet, don't know why i'm missing the o here, stupidity perhaps. i've been into japanese music for some time and have favourites across all genres. as m-h is vk-focused: i'm not too well-up on recent bands but mucc, merry and metronome are some old loves, as well as deadman. if we are talking 90s vk, glay has always been my favourite band (to the point where i can't really explain it). luna sea deserve a special mention as well now that they reunited, haven't been so into a band for a really long time. i guess being a fake? and J fan helps with that. other than that, i love garage rock, all kinds of ska, punk, crossover, electronic music...doesn't matter, as long as the melodies work for me. if you want to read more band names, check out my last.fm or the list of gigs i went to. recently i've been into writing about jmusic and gathering concert info on my blog (german only, sorry, but there are videos, so...). i also have a tumblr, but that's mostly filled with fashion and random things. so yeah, nice to meet you! i look forward to posting on here!