Greetings all! I've been browsing the site for a couple of years and finally decided to become official. I'm Shelf and I reside in the U.S. (Philadelphia, PA area). I have Duran Duran to thank for my discovery of Japan back in 1986 - in some lame Duranie fan book, John Taylor and Nick Rhodes both listed "Tin Drum" among their favorite albums. I figured that if I liked DD, and they liked "Tin Drum", then I should also appreciate Japan. My deductive reasoning paid off - hearing "Tin Drum" for the first time changed my entire listening perspective. It was the revelation that a spectrum of brilliant music existed beyond the top-40 crap played on mainstream radio. Given the recent releases by Sylvian and Karn at the time, I got into the solo material immediately, as well. Sylvian has been one of my favorite artists ever since, although his output through Samadhisound has been a bit too unconventional for my tastes.
I saw Sylvian live in New York on the Everything and Nothing Tour - an event I'd waited years for, made even more memorable by Sakamoto's guest appearance. I haven't been keeping up with all the various solo projects, although I still maintain great respect for Jansen, Barbieri, and Karn's respective work. Besides Japan et al., my other favorite artists include New Order, Pet Shop Boys, The Cure, The Smiths/Morrissey, Bauhaus/Peter Murphy, Dead Can Dance, Gary Numan, PiL, and other 80s-era indie/synth/goth/industrial acts. That's about it - no need to bore you further!