Stratos Hermes Konstantinos Kyriakopoulos, better (and more easily) known as Polaroidfades, arrived in Japan in 2006 to a very different nightlife scene than exists today. Back then, vinyl was still popular, and his DJ equipment, Ableton Live, set him apart.

"When I first arrived in Japan, there were DJs here that asked me what I was doing and said it didn't look like DJing," he says. "A lot of those same people are now some of the main ambassadors for tools like this in Japan."

The DJ, a native of Greece, has as good a grasp as any in Japan of how to use Ableton, a combination of software and hardware that allows artists absolute freedom when performing live. "With Ableton, you can add a personal touch to your sets," Polaroidfades tells The Japan Times. "Electronic dance music is not like hip-hop, disco or early house. With a modern set, it doesn't feel the same if you feature scratches, cuts and other DJ techniques so heavily."