Looking at all the music festivals this summer, Rock In Japan is a trip to detox heaven. It arrives in early August, a week after my favorite fest -- Fuji Rock -- but, unlike the mud, mountains and madness of Fuji, it's a place where you can take your kids, your mum and grandad, too. Everybody laps up the sun, the good vibes and the music.
Taking place in early August at Hitachi Seaside Park in Ibaraki Prefecture, a 90-minute train ride and short hop on the bus north of Tokyo, RiJ puts on Japanese bands exclusively and so it serves as a barometer of where Japanese music is at, showcasing everything from hip-hop (m-flo) to grungy rock (HiGE), with a big slab of cheesy pop -- some vintage cheddar, some processed crap -- sandwiched in between.
J-pop or J-rock -- any mainstream J-music in fact -- doesn't normally do it for me, but within the serene atmosphere of RiJ it all works perfectly. Maybe this is down to timing -- since The Strokes and the now-defunct Libertines, risk-taking, edgy rock music has been hard to find. So at RiJ I indulge in cheesy pop, and enjoy the taste.