By the late 1960s, musicians were starting to create Japanese-language rock . Many pop bands at the time sang in English but some underground groups tried splicing Japanese into the rock mix. Seminal band Happy End were pioneers. Led by composer Haruomi Hosono and lyricist Matsumoto Takashi, the band tried to mesh folk-rock with Japanese lyrics about love and politics, and in the process inspired an entire generation of rockers.

Rock blossomed as the Seventies advanced, forcing styles like enka to move to a more middle-aged audience. A new generation was about to be turned upside down by Kina Shoukichi , a little-known Okinawan rocker, with his band Champluse (the name comes from the name of a traditional Okinawan stir-fry). Kina , the son of legendary min'yo singer and sanshin player Shouhei, combined Okinawan min'yo and rock on his song Hai Sai Oji-san (Hello Uncle), which became so famous that it is used today as a drill song for high-school baseball games.

The Asian rock sound, as defined by Champluse, was further developed by bands like Carol, Harada Shinji and RC Succession. The Southern All Stars , whose way of singing Japanese as if it were English helped them to become Japan's biggest-selling band in the late 1980s, were another influential group. This period also produced a wave of "alternative" rock acts like Tama and Little Creatures, as well as Shonen Knife and the Boredoms.

But the most successful international and domestic band of the 1980s has to be Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO), formed by Haruomi Hosono, Sakamoto Ryuchi and Takahashi Yukihiro. Heavily influenced by German band Kraftwerk and computer game ditties, YMO's brand of technopop inspired many followers, notably The Plastics and Melon. Sakamoto went on to a highly visible and successful international career, both as a soloist and as an Oscar-winning film-score composer. Haruomi, certainly regarded in Japan as a pioneer in searching for exotic sounds to incorporate into his music, has been working in diverse fields - soundtracks, songwriting for idol singers, music documentaries for TV and work with artists from James Brown and Ry Cooder to Tunisian singer Amina Annabi. His massive influence on the new roots generation in Japan cannot be underestimated.

What informs Haruomi's work - the search for an identity - is a major preoccupation of roots bands like Shang Shang Typhoon and The Boom. Haruomi became one of the first Japanese musicians to look south to the islands of Okinawa for inspiration: in 1980 both Haruomi and Ry Cooder performed on Kina Shoukichi's second, Okinawan-influenced album, Bloodline . Recently he has been working with Bill Laswell, as well as on albums with singers like Koshi Miharu and Moritaka Chisato.

Sandii and the Sunsetz were another band that savoured international success in the 1980s. Led by powerful singer Sandii and composer/producer Kubota Makoto, the band blended reggae and Okinawan music into its mix. But shortly after the band split up, Kubota turned his attention to producing Asian popular music, working with Indonesians like Queen Elvy Sukaesih and Detty Kurnia, as well as Singaporean comedian/singer Dick Lee. Kubota's most recent work has been with dance star Monday Michiru, The Boom and, on his own label, Sushi, with the Madagascan band Njava.Since her debut in 1980 ( Eating Pleasure , with Hosono Haruomi), Sandii has moved easily across a broad range of styles. Kubota's interest in creating "an Asian pop style for the 1990s" is in strong evidence in Sandii's recent albums which feature the champur -style dangdut dance form (with house and dance beats in the mix), lots of Asia-Pacific and Brazilian songs and a voice that can carry anything from torch songs to reggae and Japanese pop. Sandii has also returned to her roots with three superb Hawaiian albums, the last of which features American guitarist Bob Brozman. Wildly successful, the albums have fuelled another boom in Hawaiian music.