Asian Kung-Fu Generation (アジアン・カンフー・ジェネレーション), or “Ajikan” (アジカン) for short, were the first Japanese rock band I came across in my search for Japanese music. My favourite songs are 君という花 (“Kimi to iu Hana” / “a flower named after you”) and アンダースタンド (“Andāsutando” / “Understand”). The title of the latter is amusing because, well, I don’t understand any of the lyrics yet! However I can appreciate good rock music and they are one of my top 5 favourite bands.
Here’s a little bit more about them from Wikipedia:
The band was first formed in 1996 by Kensuke Kita, Takahiro Yamada, and Masafumi Gotō who met in a musical circle of Kanto Gakuin University, with Kiyoshi Ijichi joining the band shortly after. They played in many small venues until they released their first indie EP in 2000, a six-song EP of songs sung in English. In the following year, the band tried to get their first Japanese single, “Kona Yuki” (粉雪), onto indie radio shows. The song was eventually picked up by a popular radio DJ and put into heavy rotation due to the demand of listeners. The band released their second indie CD containing songs with Japanese lyrics later in 2001. In 2003, the band would release their first mini-album Hōkai Amplifier (崩壊アンプリファー), which received immense critical acclaim with the sales of the album reaching 35 on the Oricon charts. In 2003, the band released the singles “Mirai no Kakera” (未来の破片) and “Kimi to iu Hana” (君という花), which would catapult them to fame. Their first full album, Kimi Tsunagi Five M (君繋ファイブエム), sold over 250,000 copies and landed in the number 5 spot on the Oricon charts in its first week.
Looking at their YouTube videos they have a lot of energy on stage. This is one band I would love to see play live.
Albums
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未だ見ぬ明日に“Mada Minu Ashita Ni” Release Date: 06/11/2008 Buy Mada Minu Ashita Ni at Play-Asia.com |
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ワールド ワールド ワールド“World World World” Release Date: 03/05/2008 Buy World World World at Play-Asia.com |
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フィードバック・ファイル“Feedback File” Release Date: 10/25/2006 Buy Feedback File at Play-Asia.com |
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ファンクラブ“Fan Club” Release Date: 03/15/2006 Buy Fan Club at Play-Asia.com |
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ソルファ“Sol-fa” Release Date: 10/20/2004 Buy Sol-fa at Play-Asia.com |
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君繋ファイブエム“Kimi Tsunagi Five M” Release Date: 11/19/2003 Buy Kimi Tsunagi Five M at Play-Asia.com |
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崩壊アンプリファ“Hōkai Amplifier” Release Date: 04/23/2003 Buy Houkai Amplifier at Play-Asia.com |
Links
- Asian King-Fu Generation (Official Site in English)
- Asian King-Fu Generation (Official Site in Japanese)
- Asian King-Fu Generation (Wikipedia)
- Asian Kung-Fu Generation Flash Back! (Fan Site)
July 7th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Wow - this is a pretty thorough introduction! In fact, it’s so thorough that it disabused me of the notion that somehow they came from this area… I’m sure someone told me that at a rock festival last summer. But alas, I was mistaken. Anyway, great music. And if you’re interested, the Japanese DS game 押忍！闘え！応援団！ (Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! / Hey! Fight! Cheer Squad!) features the アジカン song ループ&ループ. It’s a cover, I think, but it’s still good stuff.
July 7th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Cheers for the tip, I’ll have a look for that game when I’m next in Japan. I would sell my soul to go to the Nano-Mugen festival this month. It has “Ajikan”, “Third Eye Blind” and “Stereophonics”. All 3 are easily in my top 10 favs. Oh well, maybe next year!
July 8th, 2008 at 5:29 am
I love Ajikan. I happened upon Houkai Amplifier on a browse at the Shibuya Tower Records about 4 years ago and have loved them ever since. Almost got to see them live the next year but tickets were sold out. Bummer.
Some people liken them to shallow pop-punk bands here in the US, but they’ve got too much talent and honesty for that to make sense to me. The music style itself isn’t exactly groundbreaking, but they put a little bit of something in it that makes it stand out for some reason.
July 8th, 2008 at 11:29 am
@itsalljustaride - They definitely have a little something special. For me they’re similar to Third Eye Blind and Matthew Good Band, in that I love all their songs and can listen to them over and over without ever getting tired of it. It’s great when I find new bands like that
Most other bands have one or two good songs on an album and the rest I get tired of quickly.