RECORD LABELS/ BANDS
Please check in the SEARCH(bands/label/genre/scene) for tons of links to specific bands and labels. There are way too many to list here.
INTERESTING sITES
indiesmusic.com and a related site(?) indiesnews.com
http://home.wanadoo.nl/cmgs/shibuyalink.html interesting visual explanation of the connections between different albums in the Shibuya-kei style.
Josh Jacobson's wonderous homepage
Steve May's site is filled with journal entries, archived articles, and interviews
Gagaku is the ancient court music of Japan. Try either of these sites: 1 and 2
Nippon TV page about Japanese punk
J-Underground has mainly hardcore, punk, etc. information. Sleek site.
Although limited scope of coverage and only a handful of bands, what's there (Buffalo Daughters, Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her, and Guitar Wolf among others) is lengthy. Includes show reviews and some interviews. Check out www.rockofjapan.com.
http://www.mindspring.com/~jcurran/tokyo/tokyopop.htm Handy guide to record shopping in Tokyo.
http://members.aol.com/bocad/ Great website with links to all kinds of indiepop bands, including Japanese ones (indentified easily with flags!).
http://ttss.jp.org/webring/ Indie-Pop Web Ring!
http://www.geocities.co.jp/MusicStar-Bass/9242/ Japanese website with many links to micro indie bands. Some very good ones.
Tokyo Gig Guide, a very useful site for show info.
http://www.rotnroll.com/japcore/japcore.html Has lots of band names and some website address of what seems to be mostly punk/metal/hardcore bands.
LISTS
Indie-pop List
Tools
Kneel at the altar of Twee pop music. Especially worthwhile is the section on record-shopping in Japan which proved helpful even for me, and I have been living here for a while.