Originally centered around South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, the event expanded in later years to include multi-city tours of the United States, and has often been the first US performance for the participating artists.

Japan Nite was conceived by Hiroshi Asada, former manager of Pizzicato Five, and Audrey Kimura, the founder of the independent Japanese label Benten.

[1] Asada was approached by representatives from SXSW who invited him to create a similar showcase in Austin, since there was not a strong presence of Asian music at the festival at the time.

[11] The Austin Chronicle said "Japan Nite usually means getting your mind blown"[12] and LA Weekly characterized the tour as "bringing an eclectic mix of alternative-minded Japanese bands".

"The music business people thought that one show at SXSW would be enough to make a deal out of, but it isn’t so easy."