FACT‘s profile of rising electronic musician Seiho Hayakawa serves as an introduction to the unique challenges the underground music scene in Japan has had to contend with over the years:
While the internet and cheaper travel have helped break down many of the physical barriers that once isolated Japan, the way the music industry operates remains difficult to understand from afar. Many facets of the industry taken for granted in the west — electronic music as part of a wider club culture, decreasing gaps between independent and mainstream acts, growing digital markets, access to PR — still don’t apply in Japan.
