About us

 
Arlequin Magazine was started under the name of Arlequin Photography as a photographer’s portfolio back in 2009, with the intention to combine a love for Japanese ヴィジュアル系 (Visual Kei) music with a love for photography. Throughout the years the project grew bigger and bigger, adding new things like interviews and journalism to its list of activities until it eventually couldn’t continue under the name of “photographer” anymore.

In 2021 the project officially upgraded from “photographer” to online “magazine”. The name was changed from Arlequin Photography to Arlequin Magazine to accompany this change.
Arlequin Photography now serves as the photography portfolio for the magazine.

 

Our portfolio

We primarily focus our work on the ヴィジュアル系 (Visual Kei) genre, but we also work with artists from other genres like J-Rock and J-Metal if the opportunity presents itself.

ヴィジュアル系 (Visual Kei) is a very theatrical musical genre that originates in Japan. The music from the artists in this genre can range from pop to heavy metal and everything in between, combining their music with flamboyant (and often androgynous) looks to add more to the story they want to tell with their music, while also being a way for individual musicians to express themselves freely. For people who aren’t familiar with this concept: the style takes a lot of influence from the western “glamrock” genre.
If you’d like to learn more about this unique genre, please check the Wikipedia page. (But of course you can always ask us, too!)

Throughout the years we have worked with artists like 摩天楼オペラ (Matenrou Opera), ダウト (D=OUT), ONE OK ROCK, NOCTURNAL BLOODLUST, CROSSFAITH, Versailles, Jupiter and BAND-MAID, just to name a few.

 

Influence

Of course the main influence for the magazine is the genre and the artists themselves, but there is one Japanese publication that caught our interest just a little more than others: “ROCK AND READ” magazine. Unlike other publications like “SHOXX” and “Cure”, this magazine focuses on artists and individual musicians in a more detailed way, asking about more than just the current events going on in their world and combining these interviews with stunning private photoshoots.
Inspired by the style of this magazine, Arlequin Magazine aims to provide the same style of work, while also trying to bridge the gap between Japanese artists and their overseas fans by providing their work in English, Dutch and Spanish.

 

Our services

For our magazine and photography we provide:
– Interviews / informative articles.
– Live photography (photos taken during a live performance,).
– Special photography (behind-the-scenes / backstage photos / photos to accompany our articles and interviews).
– Private photography (a photo shoot at a private location without any audience which can be used for promotion by the artist themselves as well as our magazine to promote the artist and their works through our articles).
– Online photography (we can do remote photo shoots through software like Skype, Zoom or other screensharing software).

IMPORTANT: Our photographer is based in The Netherlands, at the moment it’s not possible to take any live or special photography sessions in Japan.

Additionally, we also provide:
– Translation (Japanese → English, Dutch, Spanish).
Graphic design / Web design.
PR Service.