The swing revival never really got going in Japan. Maybe it was an age thing. Though Japanese young people cotton on to nearly every American trend, swing wasn't quite a product of youth culture. Instead, it was championed by folks who listened to Nirvana or the Red Hot Chili Peppers as teenagers and are now slipping into their late 20s and early 30s and jumping and jiving to the likes of Brian Setzer and Squirrel Nut Zippers.
Then there was the space problem. There aren't many Japanese venues that could easily fit the big bands that characterize the swing scene.
Despite this, a giddy little number with a savage swing beat and a spitfire vocal came jitterbugging over the airwaves and out of record stores last spring. "Psychoanalysis," the breakthrough hit from Ego-Wrappin's second major-label release, "Michishio no Romance," sounded like the Dorsey Brothers on amphetamines. It was utterly audacious -- as fast and furious as The Ramones, but with the silken polish of a Lena Horne tune.