On the face it, you wouldn't expect this album to work, but in fact, it's quite brilliant. Pure voiced, angelic, female vocalist and actress, who has sung with Kuricoder Quartet and was in the film 'Linda, Linda, Linda' covers songs by Oasis, Radiohead, Pretenders and others, and manages to make them her own. Recorded in London. and contrary to the name of the Radiohead song she covers, quite a surprise. Gentle, folky style, feel good music.

1. Don't Look Back in Anger (OASIS) 2. To Be With You (Mr.BIG) 3. No Surprises (Radiohead) 4. Sweet Chid O'Mine (Guns n'Roses) 5. Don't Worry,Be Happy (Bobby Mcferrin) 6. I Want You Back (The Jackson Five) 7. Don't Get Me Wrong (The Pretenders) 8. Angel (AEROSMITH)

Mariko is a pianist and singer who has released a string of solo albums and collaborated with Otomo Yoshihide among others. High quality songs, piano and vocals. 13 tracks.


Price:   £21.99

Very assured and original first album from 20 year old female composer and pianist. Stradling the line between pop, classical and avant-garde, the album features four female vocalists, Julia Marcell from Poland, plus Japanese Ayu Okakita, Saho Terao and Mariko Otsuka. Sometimes dark and broody, sometimes light and melancholic, constantly absorbing.

1. World’s End Village/Rites of Beginning 2. Tin Soldier 3. The Thief -Nusubito- 4. Shrink 5. The Place Where We Will Be Reached 6. The Spinning Wheel 7. Lethe

Something like her 28th album we reckon, but only her 4th acoustic album (piano and vocal) which have proved very popular with her fans.12 covers plus 3 original unreleased songs.

1.Good Morning (Quruli) 2. Hebi no Naku Yoru 3. Isu (Tsunehiko Kamijo ) 4. Harukaze (Quruli) 5. Inu no Kitaku (The Moon Riders) 6.Nageki no Fuchi ni Arutokimo (Nobuyasu Okabayashi) 7. Okasan - Japanese lyrical song 8. Say It Ain't So (Weezer) 9. Kiyoshi chan 10. My Love 11. Migite (Ellegarden) 12. Vincent (Don McLean)13. Sa Boukenda (Akiko Wada )14. Green Tea Farm (Hiromi Uehara) 15. Iihi Tbidachi (Momoe Yamaguchi )


Price:   £24.99

English version of her 2008 album, called Akiko (FSD4439), previously only available in the Akiko-Complete Box. Produced by T Bone Burnett mainly recorded in Los Angeles. Released as paper jacket (cardboard sleeve).

27th album, first original album in four years from the 'Japanese Girl'. This album was recorded mainly in Los Angeles and was produced by T Bone Burnett. Features Jay Bellerose on drums and Marc Ribot on guitar, plus Akiko on piano and vocals this is a high quality album, and maybe her best since her debut, Japanese Girl, 27 years ago.

1. When I Die 2. Evacuation Plan 3. The Long Time Now (T Bone Burnett) 4. Song for the Sun 5. Whole Lotta Love (Led Zepellin) 6. Shimata 7. Ii Ko Dane 8. People are Strange (The Doors) 9. Nothing Ever Stays the Same. 10. Kawarushi.


Price:   £23.99

The complete box features a CD2 with English versions of the songs from the album (10 tracks) plus a DVD with a promotional trailer and the promotional video for the song Kawarushi.

Female piano player and singer who studied jazz at Berklee in Boston, became a regular on the concert circuit in New York, discovered at the audition of Sakamoto's radio program and made her first record in 2006. This is her 3rd album and she is joined by Yuichi Ohata, Sakerock among other interestings artitsts.


Price:   £23.99

Kotringo is a talented female piano playing singer/songwriter, a kind of protege of Ryuichi Sakamoto. She started playing piano aged five, and composed her first songs, aged seven. From Osaka, she lived in New York for a while, and in 2005 was 'discovered' by Sakamoto after she sent him a demo tape for the audition corner on his 'Radio Sakamoto' show on J-Wave. This, her 2nd album, is released on Sakamoto's Commons label. Strong melodies, piano, vocals, strings, percussion, swing jazz, electro pop and other cool sounds, a cut above usual J-pop. 12 tracks.

1. Me & My Bird Prince 2. Closet 3. Oideyo 4. Me.Ga.Ne 5. Classroom 6. Summer 7. Kaerimichi 8. Daisy 9. Daisuki na Hito 10. Kimi wa Genius 11. Furetara 12. To Stanford

Kimiko Wakiyama is a champion whistler, winning competitions at international whistling conventions in the USA and Japan. On this album she puckers her lips to 11 tunes including Lovin' You, Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head, Norweigan Wood, and Sora no Shita, Hoshi no Ue written by Kazuyuki Sekiguchi who accompanies her on ukulele. Her ultimate ambition is whistle a duet with a parrot.


Price:   £23.99

Susan is best known for collaborating with members of YMO and gained a cult following in Japan and around the world. Born to a Japanese mother and American father she had a pop and acting career in the 70s before meeting Yukihiro Takahashi of YMO who helped relaunch her career. As well as featuring all three members of YMO, her album 'Do You Believe in Mazik?' had contributions from other luminaries such as Makoto Kubota and Kenji Omura. She was launched in Europe alongside YMO, Sandii & The Sunsetz and Ippu-Do in a campaign called 'Music from the Land of the Rising Sun.' She recorded another album with YMO members called 'The Girl Can't Help It' that also featured Masami Tsuchiya of Ippu-Do, Shigeru Umebayashi (from EX) and Sandii. The 2 CD set Complete Susan features both these albums plus singles released onto CD for the first time. CD1. Modern Flower in Boots 2. 24,000 kai no Kiss 3. Dream of You 4. Do you Believe in Magic? 5. Ah! Soka 6. Freezin'Fish Under the Moonlight 7. Glass Girl 8. It's No Time for You to Cry 9. Screamer CD2. 1. You're My Number One 2. Koi Seyo Otome 3. Training 4. Blow -Up 5. I Need Your Love 6. I Only Love Out at Night 7. Go Go 8. Nuit de Saint-Germain 9. Tokyo Sue 10. My Love 11. Modern World 12. Samurukand Odori 13. Chavon Doll 14. Koi wa Dance.

Miyuki Hatakeyama is a sultry voiced female singer with Port of Notes, who has also sung with Double Famous and other cool groups. On this album she is joined by Asa-Chang and Blue Hats a kind of supergroup big band with 16 of Japan's finest musicians on brass and stringed instruments including Nargo on trumpet (Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra), Yassy on trombone (Black Bottom Brass Band) and Hiromichi Sakamoto (cello). Mix of jazz standards and Japanese pop tunes. 1. Lover Come Back to Me 2. Kimi Koishi 3. Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend 4. Chisana Kino Mi 5. Something Stupid 6. Tsugara no Furusato 7. Never Will I Marry 8. In the Still of the Night 9. Watashi no Aozora 10. Hamabe no Uta.


Price:   £23.99

Yanokami (Akiko Yano and Rei Harakami) first met in 2003, first played together in 2004 and started recording together the following year. This though is their first album as Yanokami. In case you don't know, Akiko Yano has been a leading songwriter/pianist/singer for over 30 years, as a solo musician, as a collaborator with Yellow Magic Orchestra and a host of western musicians from Pat Metheny to Thomas Dolby. Rei Harakami is an electronic musician, who has worked with UA, Coldcut and many others. Most of the 10 songs on this album were written and sung by Yano, with Harakami adding an electronic orchestration.

It's two years since the unpredictable UA last released a full album. One of her great abilities, apart from her smoky voice, is to find and work with some talented and upcoming producers and songwriters. On this album of 10 tracks these are Kazuhisa Uchihashi, Masato Suzuki and Mai Fujinoya, as well as old faces Hirofumi Asamoto and Daikichi Yoshida. Walks the line between cutting edge and catchy J-pop. 1. Obon no Midori (Golden Green) 2. Melody La La La 3. Paradise Alley / Ginga Cafe 4.Turi 5. Noren Noren - Haiiro Shita Saru no Yume 6. Love Scene 7. San Andreas Fault 8. Elm 9. Panacea 10. Moor


Price:   £23.99

Madam Guitar is a very nice blues guitarist and singer, backed up by a great band on piano, sax, trumpet, bass, drums and sometimes a string section too. She also writes most of her own material. Melancholic, nostalgic, bluesy, jazzy. 12 tracks.

Re-release from 1987 of the Ryuichi Sakamoto produced / arranged / mixed album by the UK singer/songwriter. The opening track is a duet between Virginia and David Sylvian, while the last is a bonus track only found on the Japanese release.

1. Some Small Hope 2. A Father 3. So Like Dorian 4. I'm Sorry 5. Tree Top Club 6. Charm 7. Love's a Lonely Place to be 8. A Summer Long Since Passed 9. Darkness Has Reached its End 10. A Day, A Night


Price:   £20.99

Retrospect of career of kayokyoku (Japanese style pop) legend. 28 tracks recorded between 1962-68.

Triple CD by popular 50s singer. From mambo, to western songs, to 'westernized' Japanese songs such as the title track, Fujiyama Mama.


Price:   £47.99

Re-release from 1982 of Sandii & the Sunsetz third album (first by which they added Sandii to the Sunsetz name). By this time the group had garnered quite a following from overseas, such as Melody Maker's (UK music paper) Adam Sweeting and David Bowie and as such featured other admirers such as David Sylvian of Japan, Talking Head Steve Scales and Dave Jordan of Fun Boy Three as well as Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi of YMO. Both Sandii and Makoto Kubota share lead vocal duties in Japanese and English. Mixture of rock and techno-pop with some Okinawan traditional elements.

From 1984, compilation album of the Sunsetz first three albums, including live and rare tracks.


Price:   £21.99

Sandii is a wonderful chameleon like singer who has changed from a pop and rock star with the Sunsetz to one of the greatest vocalists of Hawaiian traditional music via stopovers in Indonesia and Malaysia. This new Best Of compilation is released to mark her 30 year anniversary as a singer. Mostly tracks from her Hawaiian album, plus 3 new recordings of covers by ex-Bo-Gumbos vocalist Don't, Okinawan group Begin and Kumiko Yamashita.

Brilliant second album from the Sunsetz, now considered one of their classics. Mixture of technopop, rock, with some Okinawan and Indonesian flavours sung in English and Japanese. Produced by Haruomi Hosono.


Price:   £21.99

Welcome re-release of one of Sandii's best albums from the 1990s. Featuring Singaporean Dick Lee and produced by Makoto Kubota, multi-lingual songs from well known Japanese songs, (Sukiyaki, Sakura) to Indonesian (Ikan Kekek) to French (Te Cherire a Jamais) considered a classic of Japanese 'world' music.

New album from the massively popular Okinawan singer. Her usual blend of pop with some Okinawan and other Asian elements. Includes her most recent hit single Sayonara Arigato- Tenno Kaze.


Price:   £23.99

Okinawan Rimi Natsukawa has become popular throughout Japan after a string of hit Okinawa light pop singles. On this album of duets she sings some of the most popular Okinawan influenced tunes of recent years, usually with the original artist and songwriter. 'Kana Yo Kana Yo' with Kazufumi Miyazawa, 'Warabigami' with Misako Koja, 'Michishirube' with Kiroro, 'Irayoi Tsukihama' with Yasukatsu Oshima, 'Famureuta' with Parsha Club, 'Nada Soso' with Ryoko Moriyama and Begin. Themed CD of easy listening Okinawan music dreamt up by a marketing department.

Rimi Natsukawa has become a star in Japan with her pop Okinawan music with hits such as Nada Sou Sou. Her fourth album has thirteen songs written by both Okinawan and Japanese artists such as Misako Koja, Yasukatsu Oshima, Mamoru Miyagi, Kazufumi Miyzawa and Ryoko Moriyama. This CD includes her latest hit singles 'Kokoro Tsutae' and 'Sayounara Arigatou'.


Price:   £17.99

She hasn't been around that long, yet Rimi Natsukawa already qualifies for a first Best of. Rimi is an excellent singer who has been amazingly popular with her renditions of Okinawan style ballads. Most popular of all was the million selling 'Nada Sou Sou' written by Begin. She doesn't sing in a particularly Okinawan style at all, but her voice is usually accompanied by sanshin and overall the songs have a strong Okinawan flavour to them. This album features her seven singles so far, including 'Nada Sou Sou,' 'Warabi Gami' (originally sung by ex-Nenes Misako Koja) and 'Kana Yo Kana Yo' penned by Kazufumi Miyazawa. Included are the seven 'B' sides to those singles.

Currently Rimi Natsukawa is one of Okinawa's best selling female artists. She sings in a pretty much pop style, but the songs she signs have a distinct Okinawan feel. This third album includes another hit single, 'Kana Yo Kana Yo' written by Kazufumi Miyazawa of the Boom.


Price:   £17.99

Full album by Okinawan lady singing star. The 11 tracks include 'Asadoya Yunta' 'Shimauta' and remix version of 'Nada Sousou'. The Okinawan pop folk trio Begin join as guests on an album of pop minyo.

Okinawan female singer who has become a star with her million selling single 'Nado Sousou'. Her style is rather light and poppy versions of Okinawan minyo or folk tunes. On this album of 7 tracks she sings standard and popular minyo such as 'Tinsagu Nu Hana' 'Warabigami' 'Hana' as well as that million selling hit 'Nada Sousou'.


Price:   £17.99

The 11 tracks on this album includes a live version of her hit 'Nada Sousou' and the song 'Satoukibi-Batake' (Sugarcane Fields). This was written by a Japanese composer in the 1960s and was dedicated to the Okinawan people who died during the war. 'Satoukibi Batake' was sang by famous Japanese singers at the time as it is once again now. It has become a song of peace for both Japanese and Okinawans.

This 7 track mini album of Okinawan and Japanese lullabies incldes a different version of 'Warabigami', originally perfomed by ex-Nenes singer, Misako Koja.


Price:   £14.99

The latest full album of Okinawan pop songs includes some great tunes including 'Warabigami', 'Irayoi Tsukiyohama', 'Shimajima Kaisha' and 'Nada Sousou'. All sung and performed in a light pop folk style.

First album for two years from the brilliant UA doesn't disappoint. Strong songs, excellent production with jazzy electronica and other cool sounds with a kind of big band feel. Collaborators include Haruomi Hosono, Yoshimio (Boredoms, OOIOO), Little Creatures, Yoshihiro Hanno, Hirofumi Asamoto, Yamp Kolt (aka mai fujinoya). 13 tracks.

1. Ai no Shinro 2. Tida 3. Purple Rain 4. Kosmos 5. 2008 6. Revelles-toi! Mezameyo 7. Asparagus (Album Mix) 8. Picnic_20c. 9. Jusanbanme no Tsuki 10. Kaibutsu 11. Familia 12. Tsuki ga Kieteyuku 13. Toki Meki


Price:   £23.99

One of Japan's best singers, UA's soulful voice hovers over the coolest rhythms and die-for melodies. First album from 1997.

UA has been one of Japan's most innovative female singers since the mid 1990s. This compilation draws from material throughout her career, including all the hits and best album tracks, ranging from pop to the more inventive. Excellent place to discover this amazing artist. 2 CDs


Price:   £29.99

Yukari Onishi from Osaka has a soulful voice and sings her own songs that have a strong flavour of popular music from the mid Showa era of the 1950s and 60s.

Best of album, selected by Ohtaka of her music used in TV commercials, films and soundtracks, of which there is plenty, as Ohtaka has even been dubbed the "commercial queen". In it's own right, a great album by one of Japan's best female singers.


Price:   £23.99

First album for two years (May 06) from Amami island female singer. More pop than roots but still keeps an Amami island flavour. Hit single on this album written by Yumi Matsutoya.

Chitose Hajime has become more of a pop singer than an Amami island roots singer, following her million selling first album. Much better than nearly all other Japanese pop albums, with classy production, tingling vocals and a dry, quite hard sound. Not too many traces of sanshin (traditional banjo), but still a hint of that Amami shima uta falsetto vocals give it that roots edge.


Price:   £23.99

Before her involvement with electronic music via Haruomi Hosono, Miharu Koshi was more of an pop idol singer when she started her career in 1978. She recorded for the RVC label and this is her best of album from the RVC years. 20 tracks : 1.Love Step 2.Arabian Rapsody 3.Kimagure Highway 4.Yume o Misasete 5.Snoopy 6.Koi wa Funny Feeling 7.Gogatsu no Kaze 8.My Blue Summer 9.Iiki na Monone 10.Street Life 11.Tachiiri Kinshi 12.Itazura Annui 13.Tsuioku 14.Cardia no Umi 15.Herbour Light 16.Sarigenaku Ginger Ale 17.Akai Yoru Aoi Asa 18.Tokumei Kibou 19.Mr.M 20.Pocket Ippai no Love Song

First album by Japanese female singer/songwriter.


Price:   £23.99

Female singer/songwriter, mixing bossa nova, folk and pop in a unique style.

Japan's best ever selling album ( 5 million or so), non-offensive pop from 16 year old female singer and songwriter, usually described as J-r&b, but without much rhythm or blues.


Price:   £23.99

Singer/songwriter/piano player. Cool beats and Brazilian musicians.

Superb new singer / songwriter. Pop, Indian, African influences.


Price:   £23.99

Female singer/songwriter acoustic guitar duo. Punky folk in the vain of Ani di Franco, with tons of energy and personality. Recent visitors to London, their first album is packed full of good songs, a fun and impressive debut.

Halo is singer Ayako. On this second album in her 'colour' series she has collaborated with a stunning array of musicians from around the world. These include in London Danny Thompson on bass, in Hawaii Ray and Elodia Kane, in Hong Kong Tats Lau and in Sweden Svante Henryson. Ayako has chosen the songs well, to which she has mostly added her own lyrics. Brilliantly played, well performed.


Price:   £23.99