The Wolverine channeling is a very good way of describing it! You get a reality check about the position of VK in the Japanese music industry as a whole when you go to Tower Records in Shibiya. They had the floor display for Alice Nine's new release, for sure - but most of the main floor was taken up by idols, Johnny's, K-pop - and the same music we get in the West. (And I'm sure that VK bands that aren't in the top rank - i.e., GazettE, Alice Nine, Nightmare and possibly SuG - don't even get the new release floor display). They do have a VK section tucked away on the second floor, which is almost all major label bands - if you want most indies bands, you have to go to one of the VK specialty stores (we went to Like an Edison in Tokyo and Pure Sound in Osaka). Hell, I'll bet a lot of VK fans in less urban areas of Japan have to order all their CDs online like we do.