What I hate about most J-Pop fans I meet in real life

[mx3oo]

The other day, I was talking to someone, and I found out that she was Korean. So I asked her the obvious...

Me: So you're Korean... do you by any chance listen to K-Pop?
Her: No, but I'm a huge J-Pop fan though.

Pretty cool, right? I was pretty happy to have found another J-Pop listener.

Me: Awesome! I'm a big J-Pop fan as well. What artists do you listen to?
Her: Oh, I just listen to music from like animes and stuff.

Yeah, that's right.

Me: Really? I don't really watch anime. I usually just listen to, like, mainstream J-Pop artists.
Her: Yeah, ok... do you listen to "[insert random theme song from some anime here]"?

So basically, she just asked me if I, in present tense, listen to some obscure song from an anime.

Me: No, sorry, I haven't heard of it. Who's it by?
Her: It's from [insert anime show here].
Me: Ok. So, have you ever heard of Ayumi Hamasaki? (last hope here...)
Her: No.

What a disappointment! I mean, I'll admit, I was also at a point where I was just beginning to explore J-Pop, and I had a few songs that I listened to over and over, without really knowing much about the artists, but I was 12, I wouldn't have asked people if they regularly listen to some specific song, and I certainly didn't think of myself as a J-Pop "fan" yet. Sadly, I still have yet to meet, in real life, a J-Pop fan like me, someone who has at least heard of the major artists, and preferably, knows what "an Oricon" is.

Sorry if this sounds like too much ranting, but this is annoying. Have any of you guys had any similar experience?

[YuriChan]

^I was like that once... But in time, I was more into J-POP than anime songs! Every once in while, I'll listen to them! ^_^

[waterballoon]

Well, I think it's pretty subjective.

I wouldn't expect someone who says, "I'm a fan of Japanese music/J-Pop!" to know the "mainstream" artistes, cos J-Pop can mean A LOT of different singers/music, and not just the one we know.

Granted, if someone was a huge fan of older J-Pop music and asked if you knew Seiko Matsuda/other older singer, you might not know who they are either if you're not into oldies. Similary, if a J-Pop fan is crazy about Enka, and you're not into Enka which means you do not know any of the artistes in Enka, does that make you less of a J-Pop fan?

[happiholic★]

^You make good points, but I hate J-Pop fans who only know anime songs too. My cousin is like that, and it makes me sick. The worst it when they refuse to listen to any artist that isn't connected to anime in some way. But, that's just me.

[pommy48]

All of the time X_X...Most of the people that I meet are just like your experience~ They listen to only the Naruto soundtracks and call themselves J-pop fanatics

[emi♡]

That is the BIGGEST disappointment EVER.

I know that Jpop represents a HUGE group of genres and artists...but meeting people that SAY they LOVE Japanese music, come to find out they really only like Japanese music because it's in anime, to me, don't really have a passion for the music...they just watched some anime and liked the songs, and took them, and it's very annoying.

In any case, when I hear of people knowing some Japanese artists, I take time to evaluate what that actually means.


It's like me and French music. I've listened to people like Alizee, Mylene Farmer, and a few other bands. I dont go around saying that I just LOVE French music and I listen to it all the time, and I'm so into their scene.

I happen to like/love some artists that happen to be French and sing in French, but if you start going down the list of the who's who in the French music industry, I'm gonna be totally lost.


Now I'm not saying that everyone has to be so intense into jpop like I am... but if someone says that they are just the biggest Japanese Pop lovers...those fools better know who Ayu, koda, namie, hikki, morning musume, etc, along with the bigger name bands are at the VERY least.


sorry, long post. I hate those people. I stay away from them.

[waterballoon]

Originally Posted by Love Shine

^You make good points, but I hate J-Pop fans who only know anime songs too. My cousin is like that, and it makes me sick. The worst it when they refuse to listen to any artist that isn't connected to anime in some way. But, that's just me.

Lol, i know what you mean, I think that's the thread starter & emiko feel too...

Well, then again, some J-Pop singers get famous BECAUSE of anime songs... so... lol. Some anime songs are pretty good too, but I know hardcore "only anime songs plzzz if not it's not J-POP!!" people are... ignorant and annoying, so we ignore them

[Pieces_of_SEVEN]

I agree wit the OP! That has happened to me as well, and it's really annoying. lol

[TITANIC]

I have seen tis experience a lot. I dont mind because I live in the country where Ayu is a stranger for them. ahaha. nobody love jpop here except japanese.

[Kingdom]

This happens to me a lot... and the fact that they're usually calling themselves otakus and smell bad like they haven't showered doesn't help either :-/

[happiholic★]

I hate people who call themselves otakus like its a good thing. Its not.

[Polyrhythm]

I don't think anyone has a right to deem others as not being "real" Jpop fans. You have your tastes. They have their tastes. Keep it to yourself. There is no law that says if you haven't heard of Ayumi Hamasaki or Utada Hikaru or Namie Amuro that you are a faker. What if all the Japanese people said foreigners aren't really Jpop fans because they aren't truly part of the culture? Anyway, her definition of what is Jpop may be different from yours. You may think Jpop means the big sellers. The Ayumi Hamasaki's, the Utada's, the XXX48 groups. Other people might think its anime/game songs because thats how they were exposed to Japanese music through those media first. Knowing about things like Oricon is really irrelevant actually. I was a fan of Ayu and never cared about charts until wayyy later. That's just my opinion though....since you've opened up this thread for discussion. Not trying to put you down or w/e.

[labello]

If the person says she listens to the Japanese anime songs, she might listen to JPop later! Maybe that person doesn't know much about Japanese music and thinks anime songs are typical jpop songs!

I started to listen to Japanese music because of animes! I really liked some openings so I searched for more songs of some bands and soon I was really into jpop and tried out many other artists (not only "anime artists").
My point is, if that person is interested in anime songs she might try out other jpop songs and becomes a fan. But I also think to say "I'm a jpop fan" at that point is kind of wrong, the person should have been more specific, like "I like japanese anime songs".

[Earth_maiden]

I used to be like that, only listening to anime related music.

But after branching out into other albums from artists who sang various anime themes, then listening to other artist who were "similar" to said previous artists, I eventually stopped listening to anime music all together.

I'm proud of my J-music heritage though, without anime I never would have heard Ayu, Utada, Koda Kumi, Gackt, BoA, X-Japan or heaps of other artists. Though these days I've been selling off my anime DVDs to pay for my Ayu addiction...

[AyuGAME]

i think when someone grow older, they will have a lot more diverse music...
it's normal for otakus to just like anime song...
anime song is not that bad though, i like it too...

i think japan has a very diverse variety of music though, i think it's the most diverse in this entire world...
from jazz, RnB, pop, rock, metal, electronic, trance, reggae, enka, swing, waltz, classic, dance, techno, latin, arab, ethnic, etc...
the music choice is so wide..so like it or not, when someone grow older they will try more variety on their music choice

[Lanz16]

I was just like that when I had no idea what is Jpop is.
In Philippines, VOLTES 5 and SLAM DUNK's 1st opening and ending was very popular because of re-runs, same as HUNTER X HUNTER.

If you try to play any mainstream Jpop artists in public, they'll be shocked for sure.
Seriously, I tried it on my high school and it was really proven.
They gone with "WTH?!?" reaction.

Not until Ayu changed everything what I view on Jpop.
Like me, as a music lover, I need to go beyond that boundary.

Sadly, only few people dare to do it.

Music Industry in Japan is really huge, there are lots of artists to try and explore its specified genre.

[koumori]

Sure, I can understand why it can get annoying. /shrug

But although I personally didn't discover Ayu in this way, I know alot of people who discovered her music only from first listening to her from the InuYasha soundtrack.

Also I really liked an anime called Fruits Basket years ago, and I really liked the japanese versions of the opening and ending, so I only watched it in Japanese with the subtitles on just for the songs.

And don't even get me started on the amount of people here in England who discovered Japanese music wasn't all koto's and what not when Naruto started using their Japanese opening theme for English episodes too.

Sure it's a disappointment, but alot of people slowly get into the J-Pop scene by first listening to anime soundtracks. When you actually don't live in an asian country, you don't really get much chance to listen to J-Pop artists or hear of them at all. Over here, I've never met another Ayumi Hamasaki fan face-to-face, unless I've converted them. (haha)
Utada Hikaru, although more known in the Western world - I haven't met any other fans of hers in real life, even though I know of people who've played Kingdom Hearts. (They just haven't looked up the name of the singer )

Sometimes it takes time for them to get any chance to start listening to the actual J-Pop scene, I think it's good in a sense that they're listening to at least anime music. It's spreading the love of the Japanese language and making more people accepting of other cultures. I'm sure that can only be a good thing.

I wouldn't be too harsh on people who only listen to anime music. Just because they haven't heard of big artists doesn't mean anything; it means they're more likely to become their fan if you show them their music. Think it more as an opputunity than a let-down.

[Lee^ChaN]

I met a Japanese who doesn't know who Ayumi Hamasaki & Koda Kumi are..

[Twinkle !]

hmm i discovered jpop by anime too , I was addicted to Metanti Conan and i used to love mai kuraki and rina aiuchi and their stuff so i tried to discover more like ayu kuu hikki and more others <3 thanks to anime

[Cherry Dynamite]

Originally Posted by Lee^ChaN

I met a Japanese who doesn't know who Ayumi Hamasaki & Koda Kumi are..

LOL.