As Beijing enters its Olympic year, The Japan Times meets the Japanese mogul who's hoping to put the city on the musical map

Until April last year, the president of rock label Bad News Records, Kazutoshi Chiba, ran his Chinese operations as he had his Japanese ones — on instinct.

For instance, when he first saw Chinese punk rockers Brain Failure in 2002, he just knew that with their spiked mohawks, snarled English lyrics, accomplished technique and dogged commitment, they would succeed in the highly competitive U.S. punk scene.