JapanJapan were an influential English new wave and art-pop band formed in London in 1974 by David Sylvian, Mick Karn, Steve Jansen, Richard Barbieri, and Rob Dean. Initially exploring a glam-rock sound, the group underwent a dramatic musical and visual transformation in the late 1970s. Fronted by Sylvian’s suave, baritone vocals and Karn’s distinctive fretless bass, they pioneered a sophisticated, synth-driven aesthetic that heavily inspired the New Romantic movement. They achieved major commercial success with their 1981 masterpiece album, Tin Drum, which spawned their top-five atmospheric synth-pop anthem “Ghosts” before internal tensions drove them to disband in 1982.