“Arlequin Magazine & Photography aims to create a bridge between Japan and foreign countries”
Arlequin Magazine & Photography was originally started as a photographer’s portfolio in 2009, with the intention to combine a love for Japanese ヴィジュアル系 (Visual Kei) music and fashion with a love for photography.
Throughout the years the project grew bigger and bigger as interviews and journalism were added to the list of activities, until it eventually couldn’t continue under the label of “photographer” anymore in 2017.
In 2021 the project officially upgraded from “photographer” to “online magazine”, and the name was officially changed to Arlequin Magazine & Photography to accompany this change.
This means our work is divided into two main sections:
Arlequin Magazine – where we share our interviews, news and other interesting articles as well as general promotion for artists and their works, and Arlequin Photography – where we share our photos taken at live shows, (cultural) events and cosplay.
(You can find Arlequin Photography through the “portfolio” link in the top menu.)
Additionally, in order to create a bridge between Japanese artists and their fans worldwide we try our best to offer our works in English, Dutch, Spanish and Japanese – in an attempt to not only reach as many readers as possible, but also to connect fans who might not speak the same language normally.
We primarily work with ヴィジュアル系 (Visual Kei) artists, but are also open to other genres like J-Rock, J-Metal and even artists and genres from other countries.
What is ヴィジュアル系 (Visual Kei)?
Simply put, ヴィジュアル系 (Visual Kei) is a music genre that originates from Japan since the 1980’s, in which the visual image is just as important as the music these artists create. The name was derived from “Psychedelic Violence Crime of Visual Shock”, a slogan that was seen on the cover of X Japan’s second studio album “Blue Blood”, released in 1989.
By combining the often flamboyant and androgynous looks with their music they tell the story of their works in a more theatrical way than most other genres worldwide often do. The visual presentation of these artists also serves as a way for these artists to express themselves as individuals in their own creative style.
Overall, the genre takes a lot of it’s visual influence from the western “glamrock” genre, but the music these artists create can range from Pop to Heavy Metal and everything in between. This means their works also appeal to a wide range of people, and it’s not strange for fans to mention being fan of an artist on the Pop-side of the genre as well as one from the Metal-side in the same sentence.
If you’d like to learn more about this unique genre, you can find some information on the Wikipedia page, but of course you can always ask us too! 😉
Throughout the years we have worked with artists like ダウト (D=OUT), 摩天楼オペラ (Matenrou Opera), ONE OK ROCK, NOCTURNAL BLOODLUST, Crossfaith, Versailles, Jupiter and BAND-MAID, just to name a few.
(For a full list of the artists please refer to the side menu in the top right of the menu bar.)
Our influence
The main influence for our works comes from the genre and artists themselves, because we would be liars if we claimed we aren’t fans ourselves. However, in Japan there have been a lot of magazines that featured these artists as well, like “SHOXX”, “Cure” and our personal favorite and main influence: “ROCK AND READ”.
Unlike most other paper magazines this magazine comes in a pocket-size booklet for each edition rather than a full sized magazine, mostly featuring individual musicians rather than the full band for a detailed interview and stunning private photoshoots. These interviews are often more detailed and focus on a wider range of events than what is currently going on in their careers.
Inspired by the style of this publication, Arlequin Magazine & Photography aims to provide a similar formula for it’s interviews, while also trying to bridge the gap between Japanese artists and overseas fans by offering our articles in multiple languages.
What can we do?
Since we divide our work in to “Magazine” and “Photography” we can offer the following services:
Magazine:
Interviews, News Posts, Release Reviews, Other Informative Articles
PR/Media Services (communication, organization, research, promotion)
Translation (Japanese → English, Dutch, Spanish) (currently for documents only)
Graphic Design / Web Design
Photography:
Live Photos, Special Photos (behind-the-scenes, offshot), Private Photoshoots
(Please note that our photographer is based in The Netherlands, but is open to travel internationally.)
While we reach out to artists to request interviews ourselves, this doesn’t mean we aren’t open to requests.
If you are or represent an artist and are curious about whether we can collaborate with you for an article or something else, feel free to reach out to 雪 (Yuki) at yuki@arlequin-magazine.com to learn more.