"It's about the urge to drown out your inner weaknesses with the guitar," says Masashi Imanishi, guitarist for Osaka band Lemon's Chair. "There's a sentimental aesthetic to it that's about picturing scenery through sound, but I don't really have a strict definition for it."

He's talking about the shoegaze genre pioneered by U.K. bands such as My Bloody Valentine and Ride in the early 1990s. Shoegazers were so named because band members would stare down at their feet while playing live because that's where all the effects pedals they used to craft walls of feedback were. While the term "shoegaze" was initially derided by artists, it is widely accepted now.

Imanishi and his band are the minds behind Japan Shoegazer Festival. The event first took place in 2011, and the latest edition will be held Oct. 26, 27 and Nov. 4.