"I was playing in a bar in Roppongi one night a few weeks before I was heading back to New Zealand. I had given up on doing music in Japan after many people telling me how hard it would be for someone like me. A Sony scout heard about me and came to see me play..." Kat McDowell

For Kat McDowell that pivotal day of discovery would come after a long, multi-cultural journey. She spent the first five years of her life in Japan and the next 17 in New Zealand, where she learned to appreciate the twin cultures of her heritage. When she set her sites on a career in music, the time had come for her to return to Japan.

But finding success in the Japanese music industry is a challenge, especially when, as she herself admits, "I always struggled with the fact that I didn't look Japanese and I was never going to be accepted as Japanese when on the inside parts of me were incredibly Japanese." So how does this chapter in the life of Kat McDowell end? With the release of her debut album "Echoes over the ocean" on August 26.

"The most important thing is a message. Of course, lyrics are important, but music including instruments, special effects, and beats are also important essences in expressing messages. We don't need to express it in any words, but we're trying to express our messages in music making." - Toshiyuki Kishi

Once upon a time a boys school in Oxfordshire, England discovered that their name had become famous overseas, not only for the quality of their education, but also for the Japanese rock band that took their name as their own. Abingdon boys school (a.b.s.) is fronted by the great Takanori Nishikawa of TM Revolution fame. Begun in 2005, the group achieved success with a series of popular singles released through Sony Music and their first self-titled album in 2007.

Their latest single, "Kimi no Uta," was released on August 26 and provides the theme song to the anime show "Tokyo Magnitude 8.0." They are releasing a 13 track album in Europe entitled "Teaching Materials" to coincide with a European tour beginning November 3, which will fittingly include a show in England.

"The whole production scene was "magic" for me. Everything seems to fit perfect in writing and production. With this great "magic flow" of this production, I've learned to enjoy creating anime music." - Naomi Tamura

For many fans of Japanese music it was Naomi Tamura's rousing theme songs to the anime series "Magic Knights Rayearth" that first let them experience that "magic" she so eloquently describes. From her signature hit Yuzurenai Negai to the many albums she has created over the years, Tamura has maintained a level of musical composition and singing prowess that helped to lend respectability to anime soundtracks.

Discovered by Sony Music at a young age, it took some coaxing of her conservative father to let her venture to Tokyo to start her career. As a member of the group Pearl and as a solo artist, her music has gained her a following in Japan and earlier this year, a debut appearance in the US at Otakon 2009.

"I wasn't born with the name Tomihira, it was my mother's maiden name. I changed it in my early twenties to honor my grandfather and as something for my mother." - Dean Tomihira

Two generations ago a Japanese musician named Tomihira left his hometown to fight and die for his country on the battlefields of World War Two. Thirty years later his grandson Dean would be born, not in Japan, but in the country Tomihira had gone to war against. While young Dean's upbringing was a world away from his grandfather's, he has been gifted with the same love of music as the man whose name he now proudly calls his own.

Now joined by his band members Markkus Rovito on drums and Susie S Kim on bass, Dean is working on a follow up album to his 2006 debut, "Play Dead." With a voice that has been described as exuding "an amorous warmth" and a musical style inspired by the likes of The Cure and New Order, one can only wonder what his grandfather might have thought of his progeny across the sea.