Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index Japan was a British rock group, formed in 1974. David Sylvian, Mick Karn, Rob Dean, Steve Jansen and Richard Barbieri began playing glam rock, debuting on record with 1978's Adolescent Sex and Obscure Alternatives which sold well in Japan, though nowhere else. Their second album, Quiet Life, included a hit cover of Smokey Robinson's "I Second that Emotion". Their following two albums, Gentlemen Take Polaroids (1980) and Tin Drum (1981) continued to expand their audience as the band restructured its sound and became part of the early-1980's New Romantic movement. But Tin Drum ended up being the final album as personality conflicts tore the band apart. Nevertheless, the album's unconventional single "Ghosts" reached #3 on the UK pop charts. An attempted reunion in 1991 with the Rain Tree Crow project failed. This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.