While other music festivals weren't much affected by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, at least not in logistical terms, the same can't be said of Rock in Japan. The country's largest outdoor music event takes place at a seaside park on the Ibaraki coast – a location that finally reopened on April 19, after more than a month out of commission. With its future assured, the festival quickly settled back into business as usual, and the first lineup announcement probably provoked as many yawns as it did squeals of excitement. Familiar faces abound at this year's event: more than half of the acts announced also appeared at the last Rock in Japan. Here's the complete lineup:
Friday 5
Asian Kung-Fu Generation, Asparagus, Back Drop Bomb, Base Ball Bear, The Bawdies, Bigmama, B x A x G, [Champagne], Cinema Staff, Cocco, Comeback My Daughters, Dustbox, 80kidz, Flip, Frontier Backyard, Tohru Hidaka, Hige, Gen Hoshino, Isobe Masafumi Band, The 50 Kaitenz, Locofrank, Naotaro Moriyama, Northern19, The Mirraz, Miwa, Mongol 800, Nubo, Ogre You Asshole, Perfume, Polysics, Rhymester, Sakanafiction, Sambomaster, Shinku-Horou, 10-Feet, Tsuru, Unison Square Garden, Yanokami, Yuki
Saturday 6
Mao Abe, Androp, Another Sunnyday, The Back Horn, Capsule, Chara, Dragon Ash, Fujifabric, Glory Hill, Going Underground, Good 4 Nothing, Halcali, Kaela Kimura, Kinniku Shojo Tai, Kishidan, Low IQ 01 & Master Low, Magokoro Brothers, Aya Mizobuchi, Monobright, Mowmow Lulu Gyaban, Nihon Madonna, Nikiie, Nothing's Carved in Stone, N'Shukugawa Boys, Okamoto's, Orange Range, The Rice Panic, Rip Slyme, The Salovers, Soil & "Pimp" Sessions, Special Others, Yu Takahashi, The Telephones, Aoi Teshima, Totalfat, Triceratops, Unicorn, Yui, Zazen Boys
Sunday 7
Acidman, Art-School, Arukara, Back Number, The Band Apart, B-Dash, Black Borders, Brahman, Coldrain, Dirty Old Men, Elephant Kashimashi, Fact, Galileo Galilei, Hoff Dylan, J, Kegawa no Maries, Ryujin Kiyoshi, Knotlamp, Kreva, Kuroneko Chelsea, Miyavi, Mucc, Negoto, Nico Touches the Walls, 9mm Parabellum Bullet, Okuda Tamio no Suunin Cantabile, One OK Rock, Plastic Tree, Plenty, Puffy, Scoobie Do, Sekai no Owari, Sokabe Keiichi Band, Straightener, Shikao Suga, Sukima Switch, Te', UL, Kazuya Yoshii