One place where language and cultural differences are barely an issue for Japanese artists is at the annual Barcelona electronica and multimedia event Sonar, which is part music industry showcase, part festival for ordinary music fans.
Sonar 2006 took place last weekend in the Catalan capital, and featured among the 300 performances planned over its three days and nights were 20 Japanese acts (the most ever), including world-renowned musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, minimalist electronic composer Ryoji Ikeda and hip-hop/lounge artist Tucker.
There is no language barrier for foreign audiences with these acts, because, for the most part, they don't use vocals. And since most of them are one- or two-man units operating from laptops, it costs less to fly them out, so much so that this year the Japan Foundation helped pay the way for four of the acts that played at Sonar. The festival itself sometimes foots the bill for Japanese artists.