Akihiko Narisawa came to Jamaica two years ago from Japan with one aim in mind - to find authentic Jamaican music produced by Jamaican artists and send it back to his homeland, where love for Jamaican reggae had skyrocketed to almost cultish proportions. “I am interested in reggae and I want to know more about reggae music, and understand more about Jamaican culture and people,” Mr Narisawa says. “I can really only understand Jamaica if I’m here.”

The 30-year-old business graduate runs the Jamaican branch of Tokyo-based Oasis Music and sends thousands of records to Japan each month. Mr Narisawa is one of hundreds of Japanese who have come to the land of reggae to bury themselves in reggae music culture.

They want to drink in, and take back to Japan, the complete Jamaican reggae experience - late-night visits to the dancehalls, eccentrically dressed artists sporting dreadlocks, the lyrical poetry of the Jamaican DJs and the mixture of Bob Marley-styled culture reggae with hardcore dancehall rhythms.

Outspoken lyrics

Japan’s love affair with reggae really took off in the 1980s. Bob Marley’s brand of conscious and culturally expressive reggae had taken the world by storm, inspiring social revolutions and placing the Caribbean island in the big league as far as the global multi-billion dollar music industry was concerned. Young Japanese embraced the music. They loved the outspoken lyrics, the many sounds of the reggae beat and the energy of the Jamaican performers. Today, reggae music is a multi-million dollar industry in Japan and Jamaican musicians are in demand more than ever.

SOURCE - BBC.com

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