Despite Japan being the world’s second largest music market, it remains one of the most challenging and misunderstood industries in the world. What makes the Japanese music market so unique and difficult to break into? We will break down and take a look into the various and deeply unique cultural processes (Japanese record label and publishing infrastructures, fandom culture, physical CD and DVD sales, etc.) and its impact on the local market, while elaborating on the forward-thinking path as the globalization of music continues to be at the forefront of the mainstream music conversation.