[Graphic by the JRR.com Graphics team]

March 2010

South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual entertainment industry convention. Considered to be the most influential and important convention for the music industry, I submitted a panel idea about Japanese rock music internationally for consideration.

In 2010, there were over 2200 panels in for consideration with only 300 able to make the cut for the final lineup. Due to the uniqueness of our idea and the fact that, to my knowledge, no other panel had ever been presented on the Japanese music industry at SXSW, we were hopeful. To our delight, we were accepted. The original panel host was not able to attend and I presented the panel with Makoto Kawabata of Acid Mothers Temple and Keith Cahoon of Hotwire K.K. in Tokyo, Japan.

Our panel gave some history of the Japanese music industry in Japan as well as how the relatively underground movement of imported rock and other genres have fared around the world in recent years. Both Mr. Cahoon and Mr. Kawabata provided invaluable insights from their respective areas of expertise, rounded out by mine being based here in the U.S.

Our panel was well received by attendees and SXSW representatives. Adding in watching Dolly and other Japanese acts throughout the festival made it an incredible experience.

See additional coverage on Anime News Network and JrockRevolution.com!