The Top Ten: Songs in Japanese Feb 26 '05    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet The Bottom Line It just goes to prove that foreign music is superior to domestic music. Anyone who knows me should know that I'm a huge fan of Japanese rock music. Not only that, I spend countless hours trying to get English translations to them. This list will be very biased towards two bands: the pillows, and Dir en grey, simply because I enjoy them the most. Other artists will appear, but sparingly. Also, picking only ten songs is real hard to do, but I try. 10. Dir en grey - Garden. This is the song that get them started, while they were still an independant band. It is only available on their out-of-print release Missa, so your best bet is to download it somewhere. You can tell this is an older song; Kyo's voice is still out of control, and it just reeks of a young band. 9. Dir en grey - Raison detre. This song is from their first major release, Gauze. While the band was still very young, it's an improvement over "Garden". Kyo's voice is not as out of control, and even better, the rock vibe is just there. There's really no way to describe how I like it. I just do. 8. L'arc~en~Ciel - Ready Steady Go. Available on the band's first American release Smile, as well as the first soundtrack to Fullmetal Alchemist. Hyde's vocals, mixed with the excellent guitar riff, make this song top ten worthy. It's so far the only Laruku song I've heard, but I'm looking for their album so I can hear more. Only bad thing: Hyde sings too fast, so I can't follow along. Oh well. 7. Dir en grey - pink killer. This song is insane. It's available on the bands' third major release, Kisou. The reason I say it's insane is due to the lyrical content, as well as the way Kyo sings it. Within a split-second he goes from a soft whisper to a death scream. The song itself is a 12-step instruction to brutally kill your lover. Good stuff here, that is if you like this kind of thing. 6. Do As Infinity - Fukai Mori. OK, a female-fronted pop band. So what? I absolutely adore this song. I first heard this song after watching an episode of Inuyasha. Too bad, it wasn't the full version. The singer (I forget her name) has an absolutely soothing voice. Mix that in with the acoustic guitar and the flute-like instrument they used, and you get one excellent pop song. 5. the pillows - Ride On Shooting Star This song is crazy. All near-accurate translations point to a songwriter high on ganja, but the opening riff alone is enough to get it into the top 5. Yes, it's that good. 4. the pillows - She is Perfect This is a love song -- to a lesbian. Strange, because it was written by a straight man. Yamanaka has a soothing voice in this song, which, like most Japanese songs, makes absolutely no sense. Oh well, I try. 3. Gackt - Vanilla This is a song about sex, written by a bisexual man who claims to be a 500-year-old vampire. Gackt's voice is very infectious, which mixes well with the swing melody. The man has excellent range -- he can go from low to very high without a problem. He just sings too fast. 2. the pillows - Instant Music This one caused a bit of controversy when they released it a few years back. Yamanaka won't reveal what it's about, but popular rumor suggests that it's a flip-off to a society that embraces talentless pop acts. Yay, exactly what I've been waiting for. And now I'm down to the final song. Oops, I just gave away the song title. 1. Dir en grey - The Final This is probably the most beautiful song I've ever heard. Kyo's voice is actually soft throughout the entire song, which isn't heard of when it comes to Dir en grey. This is a song about suicide, which isn't a happy topic, but Kyo makes it sound beautiful. I just can't help myself when it comes to this sort of thing. Gah, that was difficult. I had to actually cut a few songs from this list. I hate when I have to do that, but it had to be done for this top ten list. Maybe next time, I'll do a top 15.

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