User Profile

Hi there anyone who has bothered to check out my journal! This is a very strange experience for me, as I have never been one to keep a journal before now. I've basically started this one in order to reach out to all of you out there who have an interest in Japanese rock music, and to be less anonymous in my participation on Livejournal.. I became a fan of several Japanese artists about a year ago, in the spring of 2007. After having moved from the west coast of NA (San Francisco and Victoria, BC) to Calgary, I found myself getting a little BORED (sorry, Calgarians, I love you all!) especially where music was concerned. I had heard a little Japanese music while living in SF, and decided to check it out again. I quickly got hooked on the music, and pretty soon the cultural aspects had me obsessed. I am an anthropologist (feel free to message me if you want to track me down) here in Calgary, so I decided to combine my hobby with my profession and start to seriously study the growing phenomenon that is the global fan culture for Japanese rock music, especially in North America. So I lurk (and participate to some extent) in on-line communities and when possible go to J-Rock concerts. To date (March, 2008) these include S.K.I.N., Oreskaband, Dir en grey, Melt Banana, Maximum the Hormone and the pillows). My ability to attend shows is (like the rest of you, I imagine) dependent on $$: you just imagine writing academic grant proposals that basically say "Yes, give me thousands of $$$ to attend rock concerts across North America and I don't know when they'll be or where they'll be, just give me the money." It has been an interesting experience so far.