Growing overseas demand for Japanese vinyl, from city pop to Japanese jazz and J-fusion, is giving Nippon Columbia more reason to take its back catalogue abroad.
Founded in 1910, Nippon Columbia has more than a century of recorded music behind it, including releasing Japan’s first domestically produced LP record in 1951. The label will now step up international events for its J-DIGS catalogue project after its first UK pop-up drew music fans and record collectors from London and elsewhere in Europe, with some shoppers spending more than £700 in a single transaction.
‘J-DIGS celebrates City Pop Waves in London’ was held at Goodhood in Shoreditch, East London, from August 6th to 9th, timed around Masayoshi Takanaka’s headline set at City Pop Waves at Crystal Palace Bowl on August 7th. The festival bill also featured city pop singer Junko Yagami and jazz keyboardist Himiko Kikuchi, plus a DJ set from city pop-influenced Ginger Root, with organisers calling it a first-of-its-kind outdoor festival celebrating Japanese music in the UK.
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The appetite for Japanese records goes well beyond one weekend in Shoreditch. At a CEIPA catalogue workshop in April, Face Records NYC owner Yuichi Mamiya said Japanese music had grown from around 20% of the shop’s sales when it opened in 2018 to more than 80% today. Interest has also widened beyond city pop into Japanese jazz and J-fusion, the latter including acts such as CASIOPEA and Takanaka, while music from the 1990s and 2000s by acts including Lamp, Fishmans, and Ringo Sheena is also finding a growing audience. Vinyl manufacturer Toyo Kasei, meanwhile, said its overseas shipments rose 67% between 2022 and 2024, with the UK and France among the markets showing stronger demand.
J-DIGS started in 2020 as a playlist series on Spotify and Apple Music, introducing international audiences to Japanese records from the 1970s and 1980s. It now spans streaming, vinyl reissues, licensing, merchandise, and events outside Japan.
At the same workshop, J-DIGS project lead Takayuki Oki described the project as a key part of Nippon Columbia’s overseas catalogue push, which covers digitising its archive, sorting rights and metadata, and tailoring its curation and promotion to different markets. In London, that strategy moved off the screen and into Goodhood, where records and merchandise sat alongside DJ sets in the East London shop.
The pop-up stocked five recent J-DIGS reissues, including JADOES’ ‘Free Drink’ and ‘DUMPO’, Keiko Kimura’s ‘Style’, and Sumiko Yamagata’s ‘FLYING’ and ‘Emerald Shower’. Face Records and VDS London also brought in vintage city pop, J-jazz, and J-fusion records, while J-DIGS sold officially licensed Takanaka merchandise ranging from scarves and folding fans to keyrings. BEAMS & CO UK was also among the local partners behind the event.
Nippon Columbia said around 50 music and fashion media figures, influencers, and other industry guests attended the August 6th launch, before Wolf Tapes and Motion Hyrule took over the shop for an in-store DJ showcase two days later. The label said visitors came from London, elsewhere in Europe, and further afield, with some spending more than £700, roughly ¥140,000, in a single transaction.
Commenting on the London response, Oki said:
“From the enthusiasm and response at the venue, we became convinced that Japanese music culture is deeply loved across national borders. We will continue creating opportunities like this in locations around the world.”
J-DIGS stretches well beyond city pop, covering J-jazz, fusion, new wave, and Shibuya-kei. Its reissue catalogue includes records by Ryuichi Sakamoto, Jiro Inagaki, Hiroshi Suzuki, PIZZICATO FIVE, THE ROOSTERS, Susumu Hirasawa, P-MODEL, and Yasuaki Shimizu.
Following the response in London, Nippon Columbia says it plans to push J-DIGS further overseas, with more offline events and collaborations planned across Europe, the United States, and other international markets.
J-DIGS official links
- Website: https://columbia.jp/j-digs/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@J-DIGS
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/j_digs_/
