Every year, South by Southwest Music Conference and Festival (SXSW) draws musicians from around the world to Austin, Texas. Depending on your perspective, the event is either a hotbed for growth or an arena in which industry insiders watch musicians fight like gladiators.
Between March 16 and 22, 17 Japanese acts will perform at showcase events across the city in hopes of furthering their careers. Attendees can hear everything ranging from Tokyo singer Yayoi Daimon's twerk anthem, "Ketsufure," to the metal stylings of Aomori Prefecture's Ningen Isu.
In recent years, some Japanese performers have been among the festival's most discussed acts. That hype has helped foster larger audiences and more international opportunities for those performers. Chai, a dance-rock band from Nagoya, made its international debut at SXSW in 2017 and returned to the festival in 2018 and 2019. The band has gone on to work with overseas record labels and has performed in the United States, Europe and Australia.