J-Rock and Family and Friends

[Pandabear 414]

So what does everyone's family and friends think about J-rock? I mean they must of questioned what type of music you were listening to when they found out.

I got into the whole J-rock scene when i was about 14. I started to listen to ton of bands and played their music in my room all the time. My brother was the first to find out then, and he was actually pretty cool about it and ended up getting in to it. My mom found it a little odd at first and thought it was Chinese not Japanese. Naturally I had to correct her. But she didn't really questioned it after that or any of my future musical tastes. Throughout the years I actually managed to get some of my friends into it. Mostly because I think I happened to have some song playing and the music was awesome enough to transcend the language barrier and get them hooked. I think the only other negative stereotypical assumption that ever occurred was when some people thought I listened to anime music. I'd usually respond by saying I listen to some bands that happen to be in anime not anime music.

For the most part the people in my life have been pretty cool with it. They either end up getting it to it or don't really care for it and just leave it at that.

[Guest]

My family and friends doesn't care. They know it's music and only music, so they don't see a reason to care more about than the fact that I like western music and stuff. It's not more of a big deal then that I listen to, well, american, swedish, german, chinese music of different genres, just like I listen to japanese music of different genres, and whatnot. I'd be quite shocked if I ever met a person who would care about something like that.

[ronluna 17]

all of my friends that i met thru internet likes japanese music

some of my friends irl knows only a few bands

i have a friend in my school who knows loudness and is a fan

my dad and me almost have the same taste in music but he doesnt listen to very heavy music

[Kyo-sama 0]

My mom doesn't really care what I listen to ... but we don't have so similar music taste. My auntie liked traditional music (Yoshida Brothers) when I listened to it, was quite impressed but she thought it was Indian . Most funny was my friend when we talked about music and she "So, you listen to singing geishas?" Others friends don't have really similar taste, sometimes it's like I'm the only person which listen to rock/metal so, I don't even talk what I exactly listen to.. but recently I send a mixtape even with japanese music to my friend, I'm pretty curious, what he will say

[LIDL 692]

When i first embracing VK, My dad just a little funny.

Cos you know, Kyo with those cringey twitches on videos.

He think that "these band had some epilepsy" after watchin Mousou Kakugaigeki VHS with me

But since he grew up with vast of musical references,

hell i found that he own the first CD of Black Sabbath,

so he is alright with it. He always knew my fondness with Japan.

I grew up with it, the 80s anime and music and dorama.

was popular when i was kid, and dad was loving the series.

Of course Pop will be more popular.

I knew Japanese songs first from anime.

THIS THEME is the first i heard. And still remembered xD

And THIS LEGENDARY TUNES TOO that me and my friends will never stop listening, FOREVER.

And THIS TOO that every little kids will wake up to watch for, every Sunday morning at 8 AM LOL.

This 3 made somewhat legendary music for kids my age.

There was also

that very popular.

And THIS TOKUSATSU THEME and THIS ONE TOO also THIS ONE.

And then

that be the only Japanese album my dad ever bought.

Not gonna lie, it is so popular in place i grew up in, Indonesia,

that even the most ignorant people from the most unreachable village

know every words of the lyrics of this song.

It was having a very heavy airplay on the radio in the 80s.

And this is my first and most favourite J-Dorama,

Tokyo Love Story. Which helped me to move to more adult music.

And all my friends that growing up with me were all pretty much the same with me.

Enjoyed the same anime, music, doramas. and talking about it.

The perks of growing up in Asia i guess?

None of us understood the words "weaboos" cos practically weabooss is non existant here.

No prejudice at all, so many kids in Asia pretty much embraced it.

Even until today, which is good.

But when i move back to U.S.A, things get a bit different.

I was moving back when Pokemon was just releasing the first movie.

Mew 2 anyone? But i feel that there is too many prejudice here.

And hell, every anime just dubbed than subtitled.

Totally different thing from what i have exprienced for a long time.

And i even found some websites like Amazon write song titles

for first DeG album, gauze, with only "JAPANESE" than writing out the kanji.

How dumb

And then i found about terms WEABOO which never get to me.

As i always see peoples that fond of Japanese as Japanophile than WEABOO.

This is very hateful thing to say for me tbh, crude label from green eyed monster

Which sometimes makes me thinking they can't people live and let live.

Why must they feel annoyed?

So yah, never had problem until i moved back to U.S

But i moved when i have become an adult,

so who the hell cares what people think of me

as long as i enjoy it. Thankfully

[sai 868]

Lol my parents still don't get it why I listen to it, and why there are posters of them in my room and cd's of them on my desk. They've come to accept it though My friends don't really gaf about it, I'm not any different because of it. One of my friends does listen to Kpop though.

[X-Marc 7]

most friends dont get, the think all jrockers are fags and look stupid, the language is stupid. and why i try to explain why they look like that they dont listen. Maximum the hormone then again everyone likes=S

my parents didnt like it at first, but they get more and more into it. my stepdad has been to Luna Sea (he is into technical music) and my mom to Gackt (she really really likes him) and Dir en grey (she went there because my brother was 12 and she wanted to keep an eye on him)

they still dont like the hard bands i listen to, but the GazettE they like, Gackt my mom adores, Luna Sea and X-Japan are liked by both (my parents are also coming to X in utrecht) so yeah its okay here=p

and my mom saw a pv of Versailles and said: i wanne go when they come

so i guess its okay=p

[Number Girl 48]

My dad and mom think it is absolutely stupid and weird I listen to music in a language besides English. Not only that, they both think rock music is music only for "emo kids" and social rejects. They think I should be a "normal" teenager and listen to mainstream American pop stuff that comes on the radio and MTV like Rihanna, Ke$ha, or something (and in my mom's case, only a certain brand of Christian music). My family mocks my tastes and I've refrained from sharing with them about it any further because their cliched/racist reactions and dumb questions annoy me. Strangely enough, they don't mind buying CD's for me as gifts on the occasion, which is perfectly alright with me.

Most of my friends have a similar opinion, though they are lot less extreme about the racism and what not. They are mostly just freaked out by visual kei, which I don't really blame them for. I do have two close friends who are casual fans though, both of whom I managed to convert and I share MP3's with them sometimes. One of my friends really loves Versailles and GACKT (I gave her some J-indie and J-metal songs recently and she loves those a lot too) and I have another friend who also loves GACKT, Miyavi, and some "anime bands" like Orange Range and Asian Kung-Fu Generation. However, I don't know anyone in my whole county who is probably as big of a geek about it as I am.

[TheBistroButcher666 228]

My family doesn't care but my sister once teased me and tried to justify why her music was superior, stating that her artist make more money and that's why it's better ahahaha.

My friends don't care, we're not friends because of the type of music we listen to. I do have friends here that listen to Jay-rawk but I met them online through Jrock communities so of course we share that interest. However they're a small minority within my social circle.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

My parents don't really care, but sometimes they know/recognize certain musicians (Miyavi or Tomoyasu Hotei).

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

My parents make snide comments and ask me if I'm going to get a sex change.

[Gizorz 24]

My parents don't care at all, my dad's just happy I'm into music at all and my mom likes Miyavi, lol.

[lukrecia 22]

My parents don't really care about it, altough they sometimes they tell me, that they like the song I am listening to (AMWE's songs for example). My dad is also happy, that I'm so intrested about music. My friends don't really care about it, but sometimes they say that they actually liked some of my recommodations.

[ficsci 50]

My parents still lol when they hear Japanese music coming out of my room. They're like "haha, is that Japanese?". And I'll be like, "err.. I've been listening to Japanese music for 4 years now, why do you even have that reaction anymore?" ()

But I think they're fine with it, especially because before I was really really into punk/hardcore/noise rock that they understand even less.

At least as long as I don't tell them how much money I spend on CDs (.__.; )

As for friends, I think it makes it more difficult for me to join the conversation when we talk about music, but I'm just not into new Western music anymore in the first place, so it's not really because I listen to Japanese music. But I haven't exactly converted anyone either.

My parents make snide comments and ask me if I'm going to get a sex change.

Lol, good thing my parents haven't been exposed to the VK gayness (because I'm in college). However my friends have seen my infamous wall of tranny posters, and they just think of it as another one of the weird stuff I'm into, lol.

[Saaam-chan 50]

My father really can't understand too, why I listen to that music... but he has not a big problem with it or something (he is a big pink floyd fan... and had a music studio...)

My mother really loved the slowly japanese songs and she allways tried to tell me that too ^^ But she didn't liked the harder stuff... but she was allways into japan a little bit too... so she had no problem with it ~

Most of my friends can't understand why I listen to that music and they think they are just faggots and most of my good friends just say like : ahh can you not just hear megadeath or Iron maiden...

ahh guys.... xD

[Saaam-chan 50]

My father really can't understand too, why I listen to that music... but he has not a big problem with it or something (he is a big pink floyd fan... and had a music studio...)

My mother really loved the slowly japanese songs and she allways tried to tell me that too ^^ But she didn't liked the harder stuff... but she was allways into japan a little bit too... so she had no problem with it ~

Most of my friends can't understand why I listen to that music and they think they are just faggots and most of my good friends just say like : ahh can you not just hear megadeath or Iron maiden...

ahh guys.... xD

[Kaye 296]

^try telling someone you're into Kpop, that's even worse.

Pretty easy to understand that most people don't understand my music taste. My friends don't really care though, and some of them even like some songs of certain artists (whether it be Korean, Japanese or any other language/country). My parents on the other hands, well just my mother actually, she doesn't understand it one bit. She thinks it's weird and wonders why I can't listen to "normal" music. I don't think she likes the fact my sister is also addicted to Japanese and Korean music haha...

My father and stephdad don't care. Both listen to many different styles of music and both think it's good to be openminded about things.

[sai 868]

My mom now can listen to SID and K-POP groups (she even starts to like Super Junior), but me watching the DIM SCENE DVD by the GazettE was a bit too heavy for her.

[cullucoo 253]

My mother said that Full is fat and Dinah is weird while I was watching concarino live, that's the only contact she had with Japanese music.

[futoshi92 34]

I barely know personally anyone who listens to Japanese music, though I've found through Internet a lot of people who listen to Jrock. I've shown once to one of my friends MTH's Buikikaesu album and he said that he really likes it. Nowadays I'm showing to my family and friends some Japanese heavy metal songs and videos, so I don't need to be embarassed with that at all

[xMilou 2]

My family and best friends have accepted it. My mom even likes some of the bands, and she thinks some of the guys are really cute XD (Bou. She likes An Cafe lol) When she was young she was a fan of some tranvestite, so she understands me.. My father thinks it´s horrible though, my younger brother thinks it´s gay. And my friends think it´s really strange, but they don´t care that much, they think it´s funny that I love this so much.. I don´t like to tell about JRock to people I don´t really know that well though, it´s a kind of secret >

[atmosphere_zero 0]

My parents don't really care. They're just confused why I listen to music in a language that I don't understand, lol. My sister actually got into jrock when she saw me watch the psc concert. Now, she is in love with it as well. As for my friends, they don't really care, but they do give me that strange look when they see a girly guy, lol.

[gyakutai 12]

My dad and mom think it is absolutely stupid and weird I listen to music in a language besides English. Not only that, they both think rock music is music only for "emo kids" and social rejects. They think I should be a "normal" teenager and listen to mainstream American pop stuff that comes on the radio and MTV like Rihanna, Ke$ha, or something (and in my mom's case, only a certain brand of Christian music). My family mocks my tastes and I've refrained from sharing with them about it any further because their cliched/racist reactions and dumb questions annoy me. Strangely enough, they don't mind buying CD's for me as gifts on the occasion, which is perfectly alright with me.

That's my just my mom, LUCKILY. I really hate pop music. and my taste can't be changed by another person

My father listens to everything, and also metal, especially nu-metal and heavy metal. So I don't have much problems with him and I can talk/make try him vk sometimes...

My friends. I don't have many friends in Milan. Almost everyone here like dance or pop music. Shit. And instead, metalheads in Milan are purist, so if you listen both vk and western metal they're like OMG YOU'RE A POSER, lol. I made try some of my friends vk... they liked it but just for a while... >_> and bands I don't like ahah. Like Versailles.

[Furik 832]

Well, i've been listening to J-rock since 1999 (that would've made me 13). First album I bought was "OSC-DIS" from Mad Capsule Markets and all my friends LOVED it. My dad never really got into my "Japanese music" but my mom, being a musician, absolutely adored my obsession. I remember when my pre-ordered "Vulgar" came to my doorstep and I would listen to it with my mom. Yeah.

When I got into Miyavi we would listen to Jibun Kakumei and Jingle Bell together. Oh and she liked Hyde too.

Since then my parents got a divorce, I grew up, moved 3 hours away from where my sister and dad live so I don't have anyone to share my Japanese music with.

--

Okay, for real I did get into J-rock in '99 and my first album was indeed OSC-DIS but I never listened to J-rock with my family. I would play it in the cars and my mom did listen to some of my music but it wasn't a crazy obsession and my mother is really open-minded and didn't mind. I got my sister and her fiance into J-rock (mainly the ol' hide, Zilch, Dir en grey, D'espairsRay). I actually went and saw Dir en grey with my sister and her fiance in '06.