Japan

The British ensemble Japan evolved from its modest glam rock roots into refined synth pop and additional explorations, emerging as one of the period’s more distinctive and commercially viable acts. The group came together in London in 1974 as a five-piece featuring singer and songwriter David Sylvian, bassist Mick Karn, keyboardist Richard Barbieri, drummer Steve Jansen (Sylvian’s brother), and guitarist Rob Dean. During this initial period the musicians adopted the sonic approach and visual aesthetic of glam rock acts such as David Bowie and the New York Dolls, while Sylvian’s flamboyant vocal style, echoing Bryan Ferry, repeatedly invited (often scornful) parallels to Roxy Music.

After prevailing in a contest backed by a record company, the band secured a deal with Germany’s Ariola-Hansa Records in 1977 and issued its first two albums the next year, Adolescent Sex and Obscure Alternatives; the LPs attracted scant notice in Britain or the United States yet resonated with listeners in Japan. The 1979 album Quiet Life signaled a decisive shift into more polished and understated terrain, and a subsequent hit single reworking Smokey Robinson’s “I Second That Emotion” reinforced the newly evident soulful dimension of the group’s music.

Gentlemen Take Polaroids, released in 1980, further enlarged Japan’s palette by folding diverse exotic elements into its increasingly atmospheric textures. The 1981 album Tin Drum, recorded without Dean, represented the band’s creative summit: incorporating funk alongside Middle Eastern rhythms, the record moved past standard pop boundaries into experimental textures and timbres, and it delivered a major U.K. success with the single “Ghosts.”

Tin Drum nonetheless became Japan’s final statement, as long-standing frictions among the members erupted when Karn’s girlfriend took up residence with Sylvian, prompting the group’s breakup in 1982. The musicians soon launched separate ventures: Sylvian embarked on a flourishing solo career and undertook collaborations with artists such as Ryuichi Sakamoto, Holger Czukay, and Robert Fripp, while Karn released the solo album Titles in 1982 before forming the short-lived duo Dali’s Car with Bauhaus vocalist Peter Murphy. In 1986 Jansen and Barbieri issued Worlds in a Small Room under their own names and subsequently recorded together as the Dolphin Brothers.

Karn’s 1987 solo release Dreams of Reason Produce Monsters, which included contributions from Sylvian and Jansen, prompted reunion speculation that materialized in 1989 when the four principal members reconvened under the name Rain Tree Crow. Although an eponymously titled album appeared in 1991, relations had again collapsed amid acrimony, and the musicians dispersed once more; Sylvian continued independent work, while Karn, Jansen, and Barbieri periodically joined forces on various projects even as they maintained solo careers.