Finland continues to punch above its weight in Japan. Some 80 Finnish acts – roughly half of them metal bands – are currently signed to Japanese labels.

They include power metal outfit Stratovarius, (whose latest album, Polaris, reached No. 11 on Oricon magazine’s international-album chart after its May 20 release by Victor Entertainment), Children of Bodom, H.I.M., Sonata Arctica, R&B singer Tuomo (currently enjoying heavy airplay with his track Firsts) and jazz group Five Corners Quintet.

One reason for their Japanese success is the Finnish government and music industry’s active international promotion of the Nordic nation’s music. For example, industry umbrella group Music Export Finland (MUSEX) this year again brought some 30 Finnish music-industry executives representing 20 companies as well as several bands to Tokyo on the annual Finland Fest trade mission.

Finland Fest included a May 27 seminar on current Japanese music-industry trends (moderated by this newsletter’s executive editor) and a May 29 showcase organized by local promoter Creativeman at Tokyo’s Liquid Room venue. The event featured Finnish acts such as Carmen Gray, Indica, and Sunset Avenue, and was MC’d by Michael Monroe of Hanoi Rocks.

Monroe, who earlier this year visited Japan for Hanoi Rocks’ farewell tour, joined  female punk trio Stalingrad Cowgirls on stage for cover versions of the Ramones' Blitzkrieg Bop and Johnny Thunders’ I Wanna Be Loved.

While the Finnish delegates were mostly looking to license material into Japan, a number also expressed interest in signing Japanese artists, especially visual-kei acts, to label deals or booking them for live shows. (Japanese visual-kei bands MUCC and Girugamesh are playing the Tuska metal festival in Helsinki on June 28.)

"Part of the reason Finnish artists are popular here is that much of their music, even the very heavy metal stuff, is quite melodic,” says Keith Cahoon, CEO of Tokyo-based music publisher Hotwire Japan, which helped organize Finland Fest. “Also, Finland has a great music-education system, and many of the players are technically very accomplished. From a business point of view, one of the keys to their success is simply that the Finnish companies make the effort to come to Japan and meet their Japanese counterparts in person.”

Upcoming Japanese releases by Finnish acts include Auteur Jazz’s album Aphorisms on TAC on July 2, Sunrise Avenue’s album Popgasm on Pony Canyon on July 15 and Amoral’s Show Your Colors (Marquee/Avalon) on July 22.

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