Coverage of independent music from Japan commonly focuses on the major metropolitan areas of the Kantō region, evolving around the sprawl of Tōkyō and Yokohama in the east, and the Kansai expanse formed around the cities of Ōsaka, Kyōto, Kōbe and Nara in the west of Japan’s main island of Honshū. In one sense, this focus is not surprising, as numerous influential independent music projects such as Fushitsusha, Hijokaidan, Mainliner, Hadaka no Rarı̄zu (Les Rallizes Dénudés), Boris and Merzbow emerged from the culturally and economically opposing forces of the Kansai and Kantō regions throughout the twentieth century (Novak 2013: 111ff.). Nonetheless, smaller and geographically separated cities such as Nagoya and Fukuoka host established DIY music scenes that draw on these cities’ particular local traits and culture to shape their own identity of music-making. Artists from Tōkyō and Ōsaka tour through Nagoya and Fukuoka and DIY labels release CDs, vinyl records and cassette tapes of local as well as national and international artists (see Discogs 2021; Galaxy Train 2021; Martin 2016c). Although acting outside the major urban centres, these music scenes participate in the overall production and distribution of independent music in Japan and on an international scale.