[Everything Gets Labeled Partying] Japan's True Dance Music Fans Are Becoming ‘Hidden Christians’ [Prejudice from the Poorly Informed]

This article began as a column I posted on LINE@, but I decided to add to it and publish it on the blog too.

This is about an acquaintance I used to DJ alongside and sometimes see at festivals and events, who normally works for a well-known electronics manufacturer.

Under the banner of “our generation will innovate!”, he seems busy with various activities outside work, such as organizing offline communities and events.

Well, my older brother works for a major car manufacturer and did something similar when he was just over thirty, so perhaps it is a common rite of passage for people who have spent a certain number of years at legacy companies.

Now, from here I will offer plenty of personal opinions...

My immediate impression of the people involved was that they seemed disconnected from dance music culture and, without mincing words, boring. After all, if they really wanted to innovate, joining an online community like Horiemon's and acting, or starting their own business, would be more fundamental, haha. Then I saw a passage that made that impression definitive.

However, what it said seemed to reflect an attitude held not only by these people but by most Japanese people.

What was it...?

Prejudice Against Everything Connected with Dance Music

A Facebook event page for a talk or something he would speak at was shared on his timeline.

The introduction of him there was pretty terrible.

Our fourth speaker is [acquaintance's name], who works in new business development at a certain electronics manufacturer! Personally, I think of him as a party person who goes to festivals and things, so I'm surprised he will be speaking at this event!! Haha.

The introduction continued.

[Acquaintance's name]. New business development DJ. On weekdays, he handles business strategy and partner development in an electronics manufacturer's new business division. On days off, he has many roles: DJ, photographer, camper, event organizer, and more.

What is with this creepy sense of taste?

There is no need to write ‘DJ’ twice, and the sequence from party person to DJ and event organizer treats those keywords as equivalent.

Obviously, party people, DJs, and event organizers are not equivalent categories.

The comments on that introduction were pretty terrible too.

I'm so-and-so, one of the co-organizers. Embarrassingly, this is the first time I have seen the term ‘paripi’.
Looking it up, I found it apparently originates from Mariko Hayashi's introduction of ‘party people’ in Beauty Introduction Part 3 in 1999. I look forward to hearing when ‘people’ changed into ‘peepo’.
I hear you like ULTRA, so will Mayweather be your cornerman this time? I'm looking forward to it.

New business development DJ, haha.

But prejudice like this, often experienced particularly at companies, is nothing new.

I have experienced it myself, after all, haha.

On Weekdays, Hide Your Love of Dance Music Completely

It is an inconvenient truth, but dance music fans are a minority in Japan, and prejudice is the default.

On top of that, there are things like these:

This creepiness peculiar to Japan makes the sense of confinement even worse.

There was also a period when I openly told people at work that I liked dance music and was working hard on DJ activities as part of being open about myself.

But it never benefited me, and after people said unpleasant things, I stopped entirely.

I also clearly separated who could see what on social media. Some of my connections there were work-related, and they arbitrarily linked dance music and DJ activities to my weekday attitude and performance at work and gave me unjustified negative assessments.

You Have No Choice but to Find Your Own ‘Promised Land’

Unfortunately, this is most Japanese people's standard attitude toward dance music. There is nothing to do but accept it.

Moreover, Japan's dance music festivals and events keep losing energy.

Living as a “hidden Christian” in Japan is the easiest approach.

There Are Many Places Abroad That Are Open-Minded About Music

I now spend most of my time abroad, and music, entertainment, and culture are woven into people's lives as one element among others.

Of course, that probably does not apply everywhere in the world, but to put it mildly, Japan's lack of fun is abnormal.

Going to a big festival each year is good, and expanding your outlets for expression through the internet is good too, but make it something you can sustain.

Above all, I want you to enjoy music, entertainment, and culture throughout your life and increase the number of people you can talk about them with.

In Japan, those will probably be a small, select group, so I want you to actively make foreign friends too.

If You Agree with My Views, Please Register for LINE@!

If you have read this far and agree with my views, I would be happy if you registered for LINE@.

For now, I send columns through LINE@ as a supplement to the blog, but I plan to give away T-shirts and tickets to recommended events at my own expense.

There are only 24 subscribers now, but I would eventually like to grow that to several hundred or around a thousand, expand it into an online community, and do creative things and hold events.

Register for LINE@ Here

On LINE@, I share in-depth secret conversations I cannot have on the blog. I also run surprise giveaways.

Load external image Open source