Japanoise

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Japanoise is the label applied to the prolific and influential noise music scene in Japan, primarily in the 1980s and 1990s. As such it is a portmanteau of the words "Japanese" & "noise." The term is slightly controversial, as it is sometimes viewed as unserious or dismissive, but it is worth noting that it is a pun not just in English, but in Japanese: ジャパノイズ. The Japanoise scene was defined by a near-absolute sense of musical freedom, and consequently was extremely diverse, covering everything from the crazed noise rock of Boredoms to the totally unstructured and chaotic noise of Merzbow and Incapacitants, although in recent years the term has been applied mainly to the latter type of music. Japanoise has been extremely influential in underground music scenes worldwide, but especially in the United States, where it has spawned the closely related (and overlapping) harsh noise genre.