About

We also blog at https://animewondering.wordpress.com/

This blog was born out of a general sense of frustration centering around three key points:

1) There's an incredible breadth of Japanese music out there, but sadly very little of it is released in the UK.

2) Coverage of Japanese music in the UK is pretty minimal, and generally limited to exceptional cases like Babymetal, Hatsune Miku and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu.

3) From my own experiences, there doesn't really seem to be a central hub / point of coverage for Japanese music in the UK, meaning as a fan it's quite difficult to know when new stuff is out/when gigs are happening/what's actually worth listening to.

So, the goal here is essentially: someone from the UK who has perhaps had their interest piqued can whack 'j pop uk' into Google and hopefully come away thinking 'Where was this music all my life?!'

Further Reading:

One thing this site isn't intended to be is a comprehensive encyclopedia, Wiki or all-encompassing glossary to the genre. There's plenty of other sites out there that do a far better job of that. What this site hopefully can do however is at the very least bring together a set of pointers so that a fan of the genre can come away reasonably enlightened as to the places that are worth bookmarking if they'd like something a bit more in-depth.

And in that regard, the below are a number of sites and resources I regularly check myself:

J Pop Go - The 'main' point of note for UK coverage of Japanese music (the one that comes up first in Google anyway). Their site is bright, colourful and is packed full with a decent bevy of features, reviews and interviews to get stuck into.

Japan Underground - The UK's leading Japanese music specialist label; they've put out some fantastic albums recently from the likes of Scandal and Spyair, but also are pretty good about covering other artists touring the UK. They also put on the occasional gig, showcasing Japanese acts - the one I attended last year near Liverpool St. station was a real eye-opener and had a great, casual vibe to it (plus the restaurant upstairs served amazing food).

The Guardian - This link is actually to their wider 'Japan' tag, but anyone with a wider interest in the country's culture will find their pieces enjoyable, and I've found out of all the UK's broadsheets, they have the tendency of giving the best coverage and are most prone to writing about J Pop.

Neo Magazine - The UK's primary (and arguably best) publication writing about all-things anime/manga/Japanese. Their site isn't perhaps lavished with as much love and attention as the physical publication is, but is a handy way of reading up on some of their older pieces.

Manga UK - With the recent well-publicized personnel changes at Manga UK, their blog isn't updated quite as often as it used to be, but their are some brilliant, well-written pieces on there if you dig back into their archive, including a host of articles documenting the ongoing OP themes to the likes of Bleach, Naruto etc.

Kotaku - Not a UK site, but in my opinion one of the finest, most entertaining sites writing about anime / J-Culture at the moment. Always engaging, frequently humorous, they're definitely worth bookmarking.

iTop Chart - A handy resource to seeing what's currently selling well on UK iTunes. Just remember that for some reason, 'J Pop' and 'Anime' are separated out, as are singles and albums.

Miyuki.TheNexxus - This Wiki page is an absolute Godsend, and seems to still be fairly frequently updated too - listing every anime OP theme available on UK iTunes in alphabetical order by anime title.