There’s no denying that Japanese hardware – synthesizers, drum machines, and DJ gear – has exerted a huge influence on dance music. How

How Japanese Technology Shaped Dance Music

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2021-05-22 10:00:05

There’s no denying that Japanese hardware – synthesizers, drum machines, and DJ gear – has exerted a huge influence on dance music. How did this island nation come to dominate music production and playback?

It was quite a phenomenon. There were a few decades – mostly in the ‘80s and ‘90s – where the entire chain of dance music production, from creation to playback, was monopolized by Japanese products. Sounds were created on Roland, Yamaha and Korg synthesizers and drum machines, played by DJs in clubs on Technics turntables with Audio-Technica cartridges, Pioneer DJ CDJs and mixers, and listened to by punters on Sony Walkmans and home stereo units. Japanese products were involved in almost every stage of the process and we barely even noticed.

How did Japan go from the butt of jokes – ‘Made in Japan’ used to be a pejorative, much like ‘Made in China’ is today – to the global leader of dance music electronics? To get to the bottom of this, we assembled a world-class group of experts, including Japanese engineers and a synthesizer documentarian and Japanologist, and asked them, “How did Japanese music technology come to dominate the dance music world?”