Like the stench of water from Osaka’s Yodo River, Japan’s Famicom nostalgia only seems to get stronger as the years roll by. The Tokyo retro/chiptune scene’s established way of celebrating this fact is with its annual Fami-mode events, all-nighters held each January in Kichijouji ward.

2010’s event has just been confirmed for January 30th at Star Pine’s Cafe and chiptune legends such as Kplecraft and Sexy-Synthesizer are on the bill, so it should be well worth the 3,500 yen admission fee. Check the YouTube highlights of last year’s event, above, for some idea of what to expect.

Oh and here’s the official flier (click the image and you’ll be magically transported to the event’s official site!):

1. Tokyo Metropolitan Brass Quintet to perform Dragon Quest IX concert in Tokyo DQ pilgrims need to arrive in the capital by March 1st......
2. The very best of Japanese chiptune, pt. 3: USK "Just a Gameboy musician in Fukuoka, Japan."...
3. 3D Dot Game Heroes appealing to Japan’s “lost” Famicom generation Something old, something new......

Kaseo and his Pikachu army: 100% real.

Japanzine is running this fascinating story which goes behind the scene of Japanese chiptune. Read it and weep (for some kind of 21st century nerd joy, naturally). Quote:

And then Kaseo appears. Wearing a full-on Don Quixote-bought Pikachu costume. Oh boy! There’s murmured laughing in the crowd as he approaches a table covered by a mysterious red cloth. He then starts flipping switches and strange lights begin flashing ominously under the table. Off comes the cloth, and then what I can only describe in Lovecraftian terms as a twisted abomination, a corruption so horrific as to leave the mind stunned in horror … A dozen yellow Pikachu figurines … strange bolts and dials soldered to their tiny forms … wires connecting them all to a cryptic metal tablet which somehow controls them. “Pika-chu!” one volunteers, its eyes flashing red. And then another speaks, and then another and another, a hellish Pika-pika polyphony … After about five minutes, as the twisted pitch-bent cacophonous shrieks of the zombie Pikachu choir become almost unbearable, Kaseo reaches toward a dial attached to his homemade goggles – and then suddenly a Pika-beat! A good ten minutes of Pika-techno later, and the crowd has gone utterly insane.

Much more here.

1. The very best of Japanese chiptune, pt. 2: YMCK Shibuya-kei reborn through the cassette slot of a Famicom......
2. The very best of Japanese chiptune, pt. 3: USK "Just a Gameboy musician in Fukuoka, Japan."...
3. The very best of Japanese chiptune, pt. 1: XINON Mr. 8-bit Awesomeness!...

Arguably the most charismatic, adventurous figure on the Japanese chiptune scene, USK is a multiple Game Boy-conducting showman (check out the clip above and all will become clear). He only released his first album – Dot Matrix Melodiator – last year, but it’s a bit of a gem and you can find a few MP3s from that CD here. Like Xinon, USK has also been gracious enough to put out a free MP3 EP via 8bitpeoples.com, which you can get here.

As well as regularly playing in clubs in Tokyo, Osaka and his hometown of Fukuoka, USK has toured Europe, the UK, China and the US, and – best of all – he’s been involved with the Tsuji Techno (辻テクノ) chiptune unit, who specialise in public silliness like this. Expect big things from this up-and-coming Japanese chiptune hero in 2010.

1. The very best of Japanese chiptune, pt. 2: YMCK Shibuya-kei reborn through the cassette slot of a Famicom......
2. The very best of Japanese chiptune, pt. 1: XINON Mr. 8-bit Awesomeness!...
3. It’s the hardwired Pikachu choir from hell! This man has a wife and kids....

If Xinon is the Richard D. James of Japanese chiptune, YMCK are the microgenre’s Deerhoof. They sound extremely kitsch and their videos contain more juicy pixel-fruit than Bangai-o and Bubble Bobble combined. Aside from mining 8-bit Famicom influences on super-sweet albums such as Family Music, Family Racing and Family Genesis, this Tokyo three-piece also find time to remix J-pop megastars and have even contributed a really nice plug-in for other chiptune artists (or you!) to download and mess around with. Midori, Yokemura, Nakamura – we love ya!

1. The very best of Japanese chiptune, pt. 3: USK "Just a Gameboy musician in Fukuoka, Japan."...
2. The very best of Japanese chiptune, pt. 1: XINON Mr. 8-bit Awesomeness!...
3. It’s the hardwired Pikachu choir from hell! This man has a wife and kids....

This is a clip of the noggin-boppingly superb live set of Xinon, one of Japan’s elite Game Boy-wielding chiptune musicians. You have to wait for the minute-mark for the full gusto of this remix of the Ryuichi Sakamoto masterpiece “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” to kick in, but when it does, well, it’s little wonder Xinon can barely keep his hat on!

Xinon has done some fine work for NYC-based chiptune netlabel 8bitpeoples, which you can grab here for FREE. You can also buy his latest CD from Amazon.co.jp, though he makes much of his work free for download via the right-hand column of his own site – where he also offers a chaku-uta rendition of his “Mr. Lawrence” remix, which is just about the best keitai ringtone in the known universe. What a generous chap!

1. The very best of Japanese chiptune, pt. 3: USK "Just a Gameboy musician in Fukuoka, Japan."...
2. The very best of Japanese chiptune, pt. 2: YMCK Shibuya-kei reborn through the cassette slot of a Famicom......
3. It’s the hardwired Pikachu choir from hell! This man has a wife and kids....