Mon. March 22

We've had a lot of fun at Japan Nite. No, it's not a sushi special - it's an annual club tour of young - and mostly female - Japanese bands put together by Audrey Benton that once again stops at T.T. the Bear's. This is the 15th year of the tour and it stops locally on Monday March 22. Japan has produced some wonderful rock bands from the Yellow Magic Orchestra to Shonen Knife to the Boreoms, all skewed by a non-Western sensibility. (Which is to say, Japanese bands tend to pick up rock cues from the west and warp what they pick up in a pretty cool way.) This year, we've got Chatmonchy, Red Bacteria Vacuum, Dolly, Omodaka and OPkamotos. We'll turn the descriptions over to Benton. We love these capsules. Chatmonchy - "definitely the top of all girl bands in Japan and also one of the biggest bands who did Budokan two-night concert. You'll see how adorable Eriko is and how all three girls are skillfill and the uniqueness of the sound." Red Bacteria Vacuum - "this hard rockin' all-girl punk trio will give you nightmares!" Dolly - "named after the famous cloned sheep, Dolly is a visually and sonically intriguing 'Visual-kei' band. I am sure you will enjoy their costumes and make-up as well as their music. Omodaka - The Otaku wizard of electronic music. Check out his new video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozdGYpcdVJk. (I saw Omodaka last year and thought he was a hoot.) Okamato's - "The spirit of the Rolling Stones lives on in these 19 year old Japanese rockers." Oh, and there's on more band TBA.  Tickets also TBA. Expect the show to start around 9.

10 Brookline St., Cambridge, 617-492-0082 www.ttthebears.com