"Discovering Japan" is a song by British rock musician Graham Parker, recorded with his backing band the Rumour.

[2] As a new wave artist, Parker received much more attention in Japan as opposed to his native UK; Parker explained, "I’d been on tour, and I remember being on an airplane flying back from Japan, which was, and probably still is, like an alien planet.

In Japan, we were the mainstay of new wave, so we were sort of accepted as something on the cutting edge.

[3] Parker's trip to Japan also inspired "Waiting for the UFOs", another Squeezing Out Sparks track.

[4] In a 1979 Rolling Stone interview, Parker joked about the cultural differences between the UK and Japan, saying, "You go into a bar over there, and they're eating raw whale meat.

"[4] "Discovering Japan" was recorded alongside the rest of Squeezing Out Sparks at Lansdowne Studios in London.

I didn't write the songs particularly on the road, because I'm not good at that, but I definitely got the balance for the album from living such a crazy lifestyle, from coming from 1975 when I was living with my parents in a village in the country working in a gas station.

"[3] "Discovering Japan" was chosen as the opening track to Parker's 1979 album Squeezing Out Sparks.

Parker explained his choice in an interview, saying, "It has to do with rhythmic structure, and lyrics that may knock on to the next song.

'"[3] "Discovering Japan" was released in the UK as the second single from the Squeezing Out Sparks album, backed by "Local Girls".

Parker later said of the track, "It was a very, very important song for me, no question"; in a 1998 interview, Parker said of the song, "I couldn't write anything like that any more", while in a 2005 interview, he said, "I know how good 'Discovering Japan' is — the lyrics, the chord sequence, there's nothing like that, there's nobody that good these days".