The year-end album charts in Japan have a tendency to prop up the same acts year after year: Exile, anything that ends in a "48," and almost every group from the Johnny & Associates stable of boy bands. Writers at The Japan Times, however, spent the year looking past the charts to find a few gems lurking in the underground of the country's music scene. Here are some of their favorite albums from 2014.
J-pop: Seiko Oomori
Seiko Oomori — 'Sennou' Another year, another opening paragraph lamenting the glacial pace of the Japanese mainstream-music landscape.Once again, idol groups and boy bands monopolized the Oricon Music Charts, and it even felt like a struggle to be peeved about this monotony. Disregarding the rankings' reliance on physical sales, the most omnipresent single (and, digitally, one of the most popular) was "Let It Go" from Disney's "Frozen."
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