Away from mainstream pop, Japan's best rock'n'roll bands have always been female. And most of them make western music's masculine posturing look positively puny

Japanese society might like to dogmatically adhere to gender roles, but for decades women have subverted social codes by forming brilliant bands that put their male counterparts to shame. Today, this is represented by Japan's roster of hard-rocking riot grrls. From Yoko Ono to today's new breed, Nippon's femme fatales succeed in making western rock's masculine posturing look positively puny.

In celebration of these all-girl bands, Tokyo club night Saiko hosted last week a special Rock Chick event, showcasing the latest female-fronted acts the city has to offer. Event organiser Dan Grunebaum thinks it was an idea that "couldn't be more obvious," but nobody had previously attempted, which is strange considering the great bands to choose from.

Historically, bands like Shonen Knife (who toured with Nirvana and counted Kurt Cobain among their most vocal fans) and Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her (who released a record in the UK after Courtney Love bigged them up in NME), suport the idea of women reigning supreme in the upper echelons of J-rock's hierarchy. Then there are noiseniks Melt Banana and a host of others, including Akiko Wada, Ex-Girl and Buffalo Daughter to name a few.

At Rock Chick, new acts Natccu (who is touring the UK in May with electro-femmes Tokyo Pinsalocks) and Bo-Peep play love-laden indie and lairy punk respectively. Every moment of it is thrilling.

"Japan has a culture of karaoke," says Natccu, "so vocal melodies are really important to us. There are a lot of famous female singers in Japan and have been for a long time, since showa pop and the enka singer Hibari Misora. Female singers are perceived as being better than men because their voices are more melodic."

Meanwhile Reiko, drummer in the awesome Tokyo Pinsalocks, cites that city's liberal attitude towards gender as giving rise to the riot grrl renaissance. "In Tokyo, women are free to do what they want. We know lots of other female artists (not only musicians, but DJs and photographers) and we all express our own opinions on art. I know it's different for office ladies and, generally speaking, gender relations are far behind European standards, but for us personally there's nothing holding us back."

Though the alternative scene may be free from stereotypes, Japan's music mainstream has female pop idols like Ayumi Hamasaki and Morning Musume (an ever rotating lineup of twee-pop touting teens) to maintain the gender-imbalanced status quo, where a girl's world is limited to shoes, shopping and Twittering over tabloid scandal. It's no surprise that this section of the entertainment industry is overseen by powerful men.

"Japanese women rockers represent an alternative to patriarchy by operating outside of the male-dominated entertainment industry," says Grunebaum. "Many Japanese women rockers say and do what they want because they have no interest in joining the mainstream, and commercially have nothing to lose."

However, perhaps feminist forcefulness is what mainstream Japanese pop needs. Strong female acts like Shiina Ringo and Yuki have enjoyed huge commercial success and represent a more substantial appreciation of womanhood by Japan's pop-loving masses. What's clear is that, with female-fronted bands continuing to reign supreme, Japan's gender roles are slowly changing.