My students know that one of the ways I learned Japanese was to completely immerse myself into Pop Music. I would find music I liked to listen to and play it over and over again. At the same time I would find the lyrics and try to read along at the same time as the singer. This is not easy to do when you cannot read many kanji, but the more you listen to a song, the more you recognise what sounds are coming next, and before long, you can read through the lyrics and make very good guesses about what the kanji readings are. Together with a good dictionary, it is not that difficult to translate the lyrics. After that, you will be singing along in real time, and even more exciting, treating your friends to a full Japanese song at a karaoke box!
This is one such group that might challenge what it is you understand Japanese music to be. For sure, when you start learning about Japanese culture you might be curious about what consists of typical Japanese music. You might have some ideas of how you imagine the music will sound, or the artists appear. But something you will discover is there are so many different types of music, just like the music you and your friends listen to. That is part of the fun of discovering this music - some comes as a complete surprise and some sounds as if it could have come straight from your local radio.
Here is a group you may or may not have heard of .... I'm curious to hear what you think about them!