Sixteen experts, including my son and taiko drummer Isaku Kageyama with Amanojaku, put in their two cents worth in compiling a list of great Japanese recordings _ including Yellow Magic Orchestera (whom I just checked out the other day in Yokohama), Hikaru Utada, Shoukichi Kina.
Isaku's recommendation: Toru Takemitsu's "In an Autumn Garden."
Thirty years ago when YMO arrived, they signaled change in being among the first in modern Japanese music to be aware of their position in the global music scene.
YMO wasn't imitative. YMO was intelligent in knowing what modern Japanese musicians could/couldn't do. YMO pursued a unique sound that was electronic, modern, mathematical and so so Japanese.
Still, YMO's language was universal (and it's not just the English lyrics).
It is in speaking to the world that art becomes Japanese.
It is in being aware of one's position in the world that one becomes Japanese.
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