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Art-School is one of Japan's more fascinating rock bands. Art-School got started thanks to the work of Riki Kinoshita, who got all of the members together. They started like any Indie band does, by playing at clubs and festivals. In 2002 the band was able to get a time slot to play at the Fuji Rock Festival. That same year, they also got a contract with Toshiba-Emi and released the single Diva that October. In January 2003, they held a concert at the Shibuya Club Quattro that sold out! Art-School continued to sell out concerts that they performed at. In March 2004, a bassist and guitarist formally joined the band. They share something with Nirvana, one of Kinoshita's idols.
Members: Riki Kinoshita, Masafumi Todaka, Takeshi Uno, Yuichi Sakurai

Asian Kung-Fu Generation (Ajian Kanfū Jenerēshon) is a Japanese rock band signed by Ki/oon Records, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment Japan. The band was first formed in 1996 by Kensuke Kita, Takahiro Yamada, and Masafumi Gotō, with Kiyoshi Ijichi joining the band shortly after. They played in many small venues until they released their first indie EP in 2000, a six-song EP of songs sung in English. In the following year, the band tried to get their first Japanese single, "Kona Yuki", onto indie radio shows. The song was eventually picked up by a popular radio DJ and put into heavy rotation due to the demand of listeners.
Members: Kensuke Kita, Masafumi Gotō, Takahiro Yamada, Kiyoshi Ijichi

Beat Crusaders (Bīto Kuruseidāsu in Japanese) also known as BECR, isa Japanese rock/punk-pop band. During all their promotional appearances, their faces are masked by drawings resembling themselves as printed by a dot-matrix printer. was instigated at the end of 1997 by Tōru Hidaka as an experimental U.S. Lo-Fi Indie Pop unit. The rest of the band later joined as a result of continual experimental gigs performed around the Shimokitazawa (Tokyo) area. Their creative use of analogue, synthesizers and the old Casitone, incorporated with influences of such bands as Weezer and The Rentals, and at times the dynamism of Snuffesque rock , had transformed them into a powerfully melodic guitar band.
Members: Tōru Hidaka, Masahiko Kubota, Tarō Katō, Hirofumi Yamashita, Keita Tanabe

Blankey Jet City was an influential rock band from Japan, formed in 1987. The iconic trio crafted a unique blend of rockabilly, punk, and jazz, which was fronted by the distinctive vocals and songwriting of guitarist Kenichi Asai. Blankey Jet City formed when guitarist Kenichi Asai and bassist Toshiyuki Terui left a motorcycle gang and moved to Tokyo to start a band. They convinced drummer Tatsuya Nakamura to join them, who had experience in various punk bands. After touring venues for awhile, the band received a kick-start to their recording career when in February 1990, they entered a "battle of the bands" style television show which aired on TBS. Blankey Jet City went on to win the competition, and attracted the attention of the major record labels with their distinctive sound, and heartfelt lyrics. Their final live performance was at the Fuji Rock Festival on July 28, 2000, with the announcement that they wish to pursue indie careers.
Members: Kenichi Asai (Vocals and Guitar), Toshiyuki Terui (Bass), Tatsuya Nakamura (Drums)

Bloodthirsty Butchers is a long-running indie rock and punk rock band from Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan. Bloodthirsty Butchers began in 1987. Although little-known in the West, they have contributed to two compilations on the Olympia, Washington based Yoyo label. The band has also released a split single with Rocket from the Crypt and a split CD-EP with +/-. I never heard of them before, but after listening to a few songs I was already able to say that their music isn't bad! I think it is kinda like Asian Kung Fu generation. worth checking out, but I've heard better though... BB is still active.
Members: Hideki Yoshimura, Masahiro Komatsu, Takeshi Imoriya, Hisako Tabuchi

BUMP OF CHICKEN (Banpu Obu Chikin) is a Japanese rock group from Sakura, Chiba, Japan. They are a popular group in Japan; every release since their third single, Tentai Kansoku, has charted in the top ten on the Oricon Weekly Charts. Their music has been used for various video games and as theme songs for movies and television shows in Japan. The members first met in kindergarten and were classmates throughout their primary and secondary education. BUMP OF CHICKEN's first performance was in 1994, during their ninth grade cultural festival, playing a cover of The Beatles' version of Twist and Shout. They released their first album on TOY'S FACTORY, jupiter, in February of 2002 and was their first number one on the Oricon Weekly Charts. Bump of Chicken released their latest album, orbital period, on December 19, 2007.
Members: Fujiwara Motoo, Masukawa Hiroaki, Naoi Yoshifumi, Masu Hideo

B'z is a japanese rock duo comprised of Tak Matsumoto (Matsumoto Takahiro, composition, guitar) and Koshi Inaba (Inaba Kōshi, lyrics, vocals). Since their inception, they have sold more than 75 million records in Japan alone. They were the first artists from Asia to have their handprints and signatures put up in the Hollywood's Rock Walk. They were recommended by Steve Vai. Tak Matsumoto, who was a professional guitarist, had been extremely busy with various recording sessions and live performances. On May 21, 1988, Tak released his first solo album, "Thousand Wave". He saw this as a finishing of a chapter as a solo guitarist, and began his search for band members. He met vocalist Koshi Inaba, the two bonded and started a band.

Ellegarden (typeset as "ELLEGARDEN" by the band and its fans) is a Japanese rock group that formed in December 1998 in Chiba, Japan. Ellegarden has a sound strikingly similar to some American pop punk bands, and sings in both Japanese and English. Ellegarden has been compared to famous artists of a similar pop-punk style, most notably Sum 41 (Ellegarden was the band's opening act on February 2005 during the Sum 41 Japan Tour 2005), Blink 182 and Good Charlotte. Their popularity comes from the sounds that they bring which has an emotional punch to it.
Members: Hirotaka Takahashi, Takeshi Hosomi, Shinichi Ubukata, Yuichi Takada

EXILE (Eguzairu) is a 7-member Japanese pop music band. Current leader Hiro was originally in the band Zoo that split up in the mid-1990s. In 1999, he started a new group called J Soul Brothers, which later changed its name to EXILE in 2001. Exile is still active and quit populair, it released a total of 27 singles, 6 albums. I can't more info and I don't listen to Exile, so this is all I can say. I first thought this was more Jpop than Jrock, anyone else that agrees? Anyway, just try to look for yourself in the meantime, like I said before, they are quit populair. I've seen them performing on Music Station (MS) pretty often.
Members: Hiro, Makidai, Matsu, Usa, Akira, Atsushi, Takahiro

Miyavi, born September 14, 1981 in Nishikujo, Konohana-ku, Osaka City, Japan, is a Japanese solo rock artist and former guitarist (under the name Miyabi) for the visual kei indies band Dué le quartz, which disbanded in 2002. In the same year, Miyabi announced that he was going solo, changed his name to Miyavi, and released his debut album Gagaku. He soon signed a contract with PS Company along with other artists such as Alice Nine, Kagrra, The Gazette, and Kra. In October 2004, Miyavi released his first major single Rock no gyakushuu -Superstar no jouken- (under Universal Records Japan) and began to credit himself in the songwriting credits in his liner notes as "Myv". His first major album, Miyavizm, was released in June 2005.

Although I consider it Jpop, it is mentioned as Jrock. Which is kinda true... Mr. Children, commonly called "Misuchiru" is a Japanese rock band formed in 1988 by Kazutoshi Sakurai. As a group, they are one of the most successful Japanese pop artists, having sold over 50 million records. They currently hold the record for the highest first week sales of a single in Japan, with 1.2 million copies of their 10th single "Namonaki Uta". They have 27 consecutive #1 singles and the most #1 albums on the Oricon charts and won the Japan Record Award in 1994 for 'Innocent World' and in 2004 for 'Sign'. The bands music is mainly composed and written by lead singer Sakurai
Members: Kazutoshi Sakurai, Kenichi Tahara, Keisuke Nakagawa, Hideya Suzuki

Orange Range (Orenji Renji) is a 5-member Japanese alternative rock band, based in Okinawa. Formed in 2001, the band began with Spice Music and later signed with Sony Music Japan's gr8! records division in 2003. Before they were signed by a major label, Orange Range played mostly in small art houses and clubs until they were found by a record agent. The band is mix of Pop and Rock style music as can be heard by the vocals and the instrumentals. Their style is also made up of many different cultures and musical styles from around the world. Originally, Orange Range was a cover band, doing mostly covers of songs by other artists. Their second single, Shanghai Honey, peaked at #5 on the Oricon charts, and started the popularity.
Members: Naoto, Ryo, Yamato, Hiroki, Yoh

Plastic Tree also known as PuraTuri, or more affectionately Pura-chan by fans (kurage), Plastic Tree formed between 1993 and 1994. They can generally be described as alternative, although their beginnings tend to be labeled as visual kei, and are often compared with brit-rock bands. Plastic Tree's sound has been influenced by bands such as Radiohead and The Cure, though the most recognizeable signature of Plastic Tree is the melodic, child-like voice of Ryutaro. It is often described as very 'ethereal', and adds to the unique quality of their music. Tadashi wrote nearly all the songs, usually with Ryutaro writing lyrics. Members: Arimura Ryutaro, Nakayama Akira, Hasegawa Tadashi, Sasabuchi Hiroshi

Porno Graffitti (Poruno Gurafiti) is a Japanese male rock band from Innoshima. I consider them a pop band, but heck. The band got their name from the album Pornograffitti by the band Extreme. They currently record under Sony Music Entertainment Japan. The origin of this band is a band called “No score” that was formed by Haruichi Shindo with his cousin in high school. After Haruichi made the band, he asked Akihito Okano and Masami Shiratama (Tama) to join his band. They debuted with the song Apollo in 1999. Their two subsequent CD singles, Saudade and Agehachō both sold over a million copies in Japan. They are also well known for the song Melissa, used as the opening theme of the anime series Fullmetal Alchemist, in 2003. They also created the song Hitori no Yoru,
Members: Akihito Okano, Haruichi Shindo.

RADWIMPS (also known as RAD) is a J-Rock music group formed in 2001 while the members were in high school. The music they create is considered rock, but believe me the music prefers to go to the softer side of that. Yet not bad and the band is quite popular among the girls. Not much info to be found on Radwimps, but I'm pretty sure that during the period of 2003-2007 Radwimps released 9 singles, 4 albums and performed 6 live performances. Pretty much all there is to say about Radwimps, the voice of the lead-singer might be considered strange in the beginning (high voice), but you'll get used to it and start to like it. They prefer to have their songs written in Kanji by the way.
Members: Yōjirō Noda, Akira Kuwahara, Yūsuke Takeda, Satoshi Yamaguchi.

Spitz (Supittsu in Japanese) is a Japanese rock band originally formed in 1987. They are one of the Japanese music groups who gained remarkable commercial prosperity in the mid and late 1990s, generally known by their abstract and eccentric songwriting mainly penned by primary singer-songwriter and guitarist Masamune Kusano. In March 1991, they debuted with their self-titled album and a single "Hibari no Kokoro." Since the commercial success of their breakthrough single "Robinson" which was released in 1995, they have retained their stable popularity on the Japanese music industry. To date, they have produced 14 number-one hits (nine albums and five singles) on the Japanese Oricon record charts. As of November 2007, total sales of the band's albums and singles have been estimated more than 20 million units. Spitz’s musical style is based on acoustic guitar that was influenced by Donovan, electric guitar played with arpeggio, and steady rhythm. Their characteristic is the surreal lyrics written by Kusano, melody influenced by popular songs and Kusano’s soft voice. Many of their songs are composed simply. The band's name was proposed by Kusano and means “sharp and pointed” in German language.
Members: Masamune Kusano, Tetsuya Miwa, Akihiro Tamura, Tatsuo Sakiyama

The Blue Hearts (Za Burū Hātsu) was a popular Japanese punk rock band that performed from the latter half of the 1980s to the early half of the 1990s. The have been compared to such bands as the Sex Pistols, The Clash and the Ramones. In 2004, The Blue Hearts were named by HMV as the 19th most successful and influential Japanese music group. Formed in 1985, the group made its major debut in May 1987, and released its first album, the self-titled The Blue Hearts and followed that up with seven more albums. Though they started on an independent label, each album sold more copies than the previous one, with their last recording selling in the millions.
Members: Hiroto Kōmoto, Masatoshi Mashima, Junnosuke Kawaguchi, Tetsuya Kajiwara, Mikio Shirai (support member)

UVERworld (Ūbāwārudo) is a Japanese rock band known for their mixture of musical genres such as hard rock, electronic, and beat-boxing. UVERchan, the band's mascot, is a fictional bear-bat like character, which appears on several of their covers. The five-member band known as UVERworld first formed in 2003, and were known as Sound Goku Road or, more popularly, "Sangoku Road." The band originally consisted of seven members. 2005 was the year that the band signed with the label gr8! records, which is under Sony Music Records. The band made their debut with the single "D-tecnoLife", which served as the 2nd opening theme song for the anime BLEACH. After three months UVERworld's second single, "CHANCE!" was released. The band's newest effort, titled PROGLUTION, was released on January 16, 2008. UVERworld is band which I wouldn't consider rock, but more pop with a slight rock. Check it out for yourself.
Members: TAKUYA, Katsuya, Akira, Nobuto, Shintarou