Miyazawa | Tokyo Story |Far Side Music | Japan

Marketing Asian pop to an Anglophone public is a challenge, to say the least--if the music strays too far from the familiar, it won't get radio play; if it sounds too much like the homegrown pop du jour, it won't appeal to more adventurous listeners. Japanese pop star Kazufumi Miyazawa is an urbane and charismatic performer whose songwriting and arrangements draw on jazz, soul and bossa nova. In this way he is a bit like Sting, whom he admires; he is unlike Sting in that he doesn't sing (convincingly, at least) in English and is thus unlikely to hook the SUVs-and-lattés crowd. Conversely, he doesn't consistently wear his Japanese identity on his musical sleeve and so doesn't fit neatly under the World Music rubric.

Nevertheless, Miyazawa has found Asian and South American success with his band the Boom (particularly with the Okinawan-flavored "Shima Uta"). Tokyo Story, a new CD compiled from Miyazawa's post-Boom solo career by the U.K.'s Far Side label, features English liner notes and takes a shot at enlarging his Western audience. For fans of sophisticated pop who don't mind not understanding the lyrics, it's worth a spin. The disc opens with hiphop and turns musical corners through samba, bossa, tango, Okinawan and plain vanilla pop, all capably produced by the likes of Arto Lindsay. One can't help but think of another slick synthesist of all the aforementioned styles and frequent Lindsay collaborator, Ryuichi Sakamoto. He's an obvious influence on Miyazawa, but the younger musician is a much better singer, which may, ironically, prevent him from having the same degree of international success. Sakamoto never hesitates to have someone sing his melodies for him, usually in English.