What do you think about them? I've been listening to Japan quite a bit lately and I really love their last three albums- Quiet Life, Gentlemen Take Polaroids, and Tin Drum- probably Gentlemen.. is my favorite of the three. Their first two are ok, kind of slightly embarrassing glam rock albums, nothing amazing but not too horrible either. I just don't think they really found their own sound until Quiet Life came out. Their live LP, oil on canvas is great as well. Really severely underrated and I think a big influence on early duran duran (Nick Rhodes looks like a clone of David Sylvian) and a number of their early songs seem to sound slightly similar. Japan never went the whole commercial route they quickly did of course. I'm not too much of a fan of Sylvian's solo work but I can appreciate some of it.

excellent band. first few albums were generic and glam, but "tin drum" is one of my top ten albums of all time. i wish more people were aware of them, and just how damn good they were.

I'm not crazy about Sylvain's voice, but I love Lewis Taylor's cover of Ghosts. Just a great song.

Huge fan. I think Adolescent Sex is a fantastic debut album. Obscure Alternatives feels like a retread, but other than that one album I think they were pretty consistently brilliant. Tin Drum is an absolutely amazing album.

Also, David Sylvian has had a really interesting solo career. Some of his solo albums are mesmerizing.

rain tree crow is really great. not as catchy as japan's work, but some really beautiful music.

also, Masami Tsuchiya's "Rice Music" is a great complimentary album to japan's tin drum/oil on canvas. that is... if you can find it anywhere!