The English language has an interesting place in Japanese society. Roman characters show up all over the place — in the form of English words or romanized Japanese. English is prevelent in Japanese music as well. Whether it’s in lyrics, song titles, or band names, there’s no shortage of words readable by native English speakers. This trait can contribute to make Japanese music more accessible to the outside world.

This is part 2, a redux of SparkPlugged’s 5 cool Japanese band names article. Have a look at some of Japan’s wackiest band names, usually comprised of English words. How are some of these names dreamt up? One can only guess: combinations of words/letters than “sound cool” to non-native English speakers (this often employs unique and funny words as well as rhymes and alliteration). Maybe some of the names mean something to the band but combinations are often so seemingly random, that “special” meaning is indetectable for an outsider (aka: non-band member).

Without further ado, the musicians —

PaperBagLunchBox
Who are they? A fairly new Japanese indie rock band.
Why is their name “cool”? AllOneWord — initially seems to make sense and is simply funny, but wait, how can one school lunch transporter be both a bag and a box? I want one.
Official Site, MySpace

DATE COURSE PENTAGON ROYAL GARDEN
Who? A big jazz-rock fusion band (approx. 13 members).
Why? One can’t help but be impressed by this name. The meaning is incoherent but at least some of the words could fit together. I had a hard time memorizing this one.
Official Site

FUNKY MONKEY BABYS
Who? A hip-hop trio (2MC, 1DJ) formed in 2004.
Why? Must I explain? It’s cute and funny. The words “FUNKY” and “MONKEY” actually originate from the two emcees’ nicknames and “BABYS” is deliberetly misspelled.
Official Site

Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her
Who? They were an influential 90s underground trio. They have since disbanded.
Why? Band member Aiha explains that she “chose the name because it was really long and hard to remember”.
On Wikipedia

Natural Punch Drunker
Who? A Japanese indie rock band formed in Kobe in 1999.
Why? What’s natural about punch? Is it a mistake of making “drinker” past tense (on purpose possibly)? Regardless, using a form of “drunk” as a noun is always nice. I’m thirsty.
Official Site

The Jerry Lee Phantom
Who? Formed in the mid 90s, JLP is an electric rock band.
Why? Who’s Jerry Lee? When said in Japanese, “Jerry Lee” sounds kinda cool — Phantoms are pretty neat too. The presence of “The” in front of a name makes it work for me.
Official Site