Globalizing Visual Kei: Final Results

On March 11, 2011, JaME's English version coordinated with eleven other versions around the globe and launched the “Globalizing Visual Kei Survey.” The survey ran for two weeks and ultimately reached 6,384 fans across 87 countries. It covered a variety of issues, many of which had never been documented before for research purposes.

Below you will find the combined answers of all twelve versions of the “Globalizing Visual Kei Survey.”

Fan Statistics

How old are you?



Where do you live?

Country Algeria Andorra Argentina Australia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bolivia Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Canada Chile China Columbia Costa Rica Croatia Czech Republic Denmark Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Estonia Finland France Gabon Georgia Germany Greece Guatemala Hungary Indonesia Ireland Italy Israel Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malaysia

Fans 3 2 60 60 53 1 31 43 3 423 4 4 89 196 337 48 1 4 8 8 5 2 1 5 6 71 541 1 1 750 74 3 37 26 6 201 1 49 1 18 12 24 3 37

Country Malta Mauritius Mexico Moldova Mongolia Morocco The Netherlands New Zealand Norway Oman Panama Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Romania Russia Saudi Arabia Serbia Singapore Slovakia Slovenia South Africa South Korea Spain Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Thailand Tunisia Republic Turkey Turkmenistan United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ukraine United Kingdom United States Uruguay Venezuela Vietnam Non-specified European fans

Fans 1 1 104 5 1 3 101 6 9 1 3 1 35 29 745 15 3 1 28 560 3 6 46 7 2 2 3 131 97 35 1 30 5 3 2 1 3 63 141 865 5 20 3 4

TOTAL COUNTRIES: 87
TOTAL RESPONSES:6,384

How long have you listened to visual kei?



How did you find out about visual kei?



When you hear “visual kei,” what do you immediately think of?



Would you listen to a non-Japanese band that embodies visual kei?



Do you listen to multiple types of music?


Do you listen to underground music from your own country?




Music Consumption

How often do you listen to visual kei music?



How do you obtain visual kei music?



How often do you purchase visual kei music and merchandise?



How often do you download visual kei music and merchandise?



Do you download legally via iTunes, Hear Japan, Japan Files or another similar site?



How much do you spend on visual kei music and merchandise every three months?



Do you think it will be easier to obtain visual kei music and merchandise in the future?





Concert Activity


How often do you attend a visual kei concert?



How far will you travel to see a visual kei event?



Would you attend an anime convention SOLELY for the visual kei bands who are performing at that convention? (For fans who weren’t nearby conventions, this was hypothetical.)



If you've seen a visual kei band live once, will you attend their concert again if they return to your country?



Do you think visual kei concerts are violent?



Why do you think visual kei concerts are violent?



Have you ever been injured or in a fight at a visual kei event?



Due to previous violence they have experienced or seen, fans have...



Do you think that anything can be done to stop some of the violence at visual kei concerts? (This question utilized check boxes.)



In the free-write section, many fans around the globe found the questions on violence peculiar; where they lived, this behavior did not exist. Broken down individually, certain areas had much higher levels of fans responding “yes” than others. For example, 55% of Polish fans reported “yes” they had either been in a physical or verbal fight or witnessed one, while 71% of Chinese fans said they’d never been in a fight nor witnessed one.

At nearly all concerts, a certain level of violence is expected: moshing and pushing are normal and are unavoidable. These questions were designed to target opinions of fan violence that exceeded those “typical” levels: Intentional injuries by fans fighting over spots in the crowd or items tossed from the band, etc. These answers helped to gauge if there was indeed an issue with crowd violence that anime conventions, promoters and venues need to consider. As the fan base was divided in several of these questions, it appears to be an issue which could be given a closer look through future research.


Living Visual Kei


Do you think visual kei is a mainstream music style, both in Japan and overseas?



What is best about visual kei?


Is sex appeal a reason you enjoy visual kei?



When you began listening to visual kei music, what made visual kei most appealing at that time?



Do you think most Japanese people are accepting of visual kei?



What do you think of visual kei's popularity overseas today?



What do you think of visual kei styles today?



What do you think of visual kei music today?



What do you think of visual kei overseas performances today?



What do you think of the future of visual kei?




The Fan Base

How do you connect with other fans? (This question utilized checkboxes.)



What is best about the overseas visual kei fan base?



What is the worst thing about the overseas visual kei fanbase?



Do you cosplay visual kei artists?




Summary

I hope you have enjoyed the “Globalizing Visual Kei” web series, and I would like to thank all of the readers for their insightful thoughts and comments during this journey through the in’s and out’s of visual kei.

This project was ultimately the culmination of many people's hard work. Over 100 people were interviewed during the early stages of research, and when it was decided to do the survey, members from twelve versions of JaME came together to help make it possible. When writing was underway, critique and beta readers, translators, and even helping hands from other teams and outside parties came together to supplement more information and finalize the project.

I'd like to thank every person who helped out because without you, this never would have been possible.