noodles is an all-girl Japanese rock band. There 3 members: Yoko on lead vocals and guitar, Ikuno on bass, and Ayumi on drums and back-up vocals. They are often classified as indie and/or J-rock.

There is no reason. Why not? :P

This is very common in Japanese music culture, as well as many other countries. Band names, songs, and albums are often titled in English.

English lyrics are also very common in Japanese culture, as well as many other countries (to a lesser degree).

Some of their songs are entirely in English, and some are a mixture of both Japanese and English. Especially recently, almost 75% of their lyrics are English. As to why, I believe it has a lot to do with being creative and artsy. Yoko commented in an interview that she sings in English when she wants to shift focus to their music.

Some of their songs are titled in Japanese, and those are often referred to by a dual English title. For example, in the booklet for the album The Gravity Thief, track 5 is listed as A Gravity Thief on one page and Jyuryoku Dorobo on another. They do this for a handful of songs. I created a song identifier that lists all the songs that have titles in both languages to use as a referrence in case there is any confusion.

Because of the nature of the Japanese writing system, the spelling of an English word must be changed in order to write it in Japanese script. For example, mellow metallica would be be spelled like MEROU METARIKA (prounced "may-roh-oo may-tah-ree-kah"). Don't worry about the weird spelling; they're the same songs. Use the song identifier if you need help figuring out which song titles are which.

As to why they title some songs in Japanese script, I do not know. However, for the last several years they've been writing all of their song titles in English, as well as most of their lyrics.

When they first got together, there were 4 members. Junko was the lead guitarist until 2004 when she left the band for personal reasons.

There are some stores out there that sell Japanese CD's, but I don't know any. However, you can buy almost any of their releases online from many websites, including Amazon.com. Check out the merchandise page for links and info!

Sadly, Japanese CD's and DVD's are more expensive than American... :[

Best I can say about that is to buy used, or do some shopping around. Prices fluxuate. Just because one site is usually the cheapest doesn't mean it's always the cheapest. You can also save money by trying to find where you don't have to have it shipped overseas, or where they don't charge an arm and a leg to do so.

Yes, CD's are universal (and so are VHS tapes), but DVD's are not! Japanese DVD's are region 2 formatted, meaning you will need a region 2 (or region free) DVD player. Most computers have a function that lets you switch formatting to play region 2 DVD's, but only a certain number of times; then it will lock in place and you're stuck with whatever region you're on. I'm sure there are programs out there that will let you get around this, and of course there are region free DVD players and computers. Just make sure to do your research and you will be able to enjoy any noodles DVD! :D

One sure-fire way to get your hands on some noodles stuff is to attend a concert if they have one within traveling distance of you. Another way is to search auction sites. See the merchandise page for more information about that.

They claim to have T-shirts for sale on their official website, but I nor any one I know has been successful in being able to buy them! >_>;; DELICIOUS LABEL, the band's label, also claims to have T-shirts for sale, but again, I don't know any one who's been successful with that. But it's always worth a try! Instructions are available on the websites.

Well, if you have the opportunity to go to Japan and see them live, I wouldn't exactly turn it down! But they do come to America fairly often too. So far whenever they've toured the states, they'd play 3 to 6 shows, usually in Texas, California, and New York. They often tour with the pillows.

If I hear any word of them coming to America, you can bet it will be posted all over this website! U.S. tours would also be announced on their Facebook page and official English website.

the pillows are a J-rock band of a similar style. They often tour with noodles. Sawao Yamanaka is the lead singer and second guitarist; he has a label called DELICIOUS LABEL, to which noodles are signed. If you'd like to learn more about the pillows, check out this superb English fan-site instant music.

In their music, noodles did a cover of a song by the pillows, Vain Dog (in rain drop). Sawao Yamanaka performed background vocals for Half metronome of album long long chain. Yoko performed background vocals for a song by the pillows, Back seat dog from album Happy Bivouac.

Apparently, the song titles are just... titles. Haha. Sometimes there is an artistic theme, such as "METROPOLIS", but often it's just nonsense. Ikuno mentioned once that she likes to create song titles that are memorable. "October dim happiness" is certainly memorable! :P

I have more answers. Send me and email an I'll do my best to fill you in!

Email: admin@noodles.dx.am