Higher Frequency's Online Japanese Shopping Space

Kei Tajima from leading Japanese music portal Higher-Frequency chatted to Skrufff
this week about their new digital downloading spin-off Hrfq.com and the scene in
Japan and said the internet means Japanese clubbers are nowadays as clued up as
anywhere else.

"As far as I'm concerned there is no big difference between the club scene in Japan
and the scenes in Ibiza and the UK. We have big names coming to play almost every
weekend, throughout the year and we have really good underground parties as well,"
she said,

"People's attitude in clubs is pretty much the same as well. There are some people
who come to see one particular DJ, but there are others who just come to 'party',"
said Kei.

The new dance download site (the first in Japan) includes multiple genres from
artists and labels from both the independent sectors including labels like Border
Community, Cocoon, Truesoul and Gigolo and also offers facilities for unsigned
producers to access the Japanese market, which Kei said is always particularly
receptive to 'intelligent' music.

"Techno has always been popular here in Japan with producers like Jeff Mills and
Richie Hawtin always attracting big crowds, I guess Japanese people go for
intelligent looks and sound," she surmised.

"Although nowadays it's pretty similar to the rest of the world because now people
read magazines or websites from abroad a lot so they know who's big and who to see."

Kei added that more and more Japanese people now speak English though warned that
visitors should be careful of one mistake many westerners make.

"Phoning on the train!" she laughed, "Some of my innocent foreign friends have had
sudden attacks from old Japanese old men for doing that."

http://www.hrfq.com