Editing Japan (band) (section)

===Mid-career===
[[File:Japan band.jpg|thumb|right|Japan perform in 1979 (Karn, left, and Sylvian).]]

In 1979, the band briefly worked with the successful [[Euro disco]] producer [[Giorgio Moroder]], who co-wrote and produced a one-off single, "[[Life in Tokyo]]". The track was unsuccessful as a single but a significant change in musical style from their earlier guitar-laden recordings, moving them away from their glam rock roots and into electronic new wave.

The electronic style continued on their third album, ''[[Quiet Life]]'' (1979), which was produced by the band with [[John Punter]] and Simon Napier-Bell. In a retrospective review of the band's work, ''[[The Quietus]]'' described ''Quiet Life'' as defining "a very European form of detached, sexually-ambiguous and thoughtful [[art-pop]], one not too dissimilar to what the ever-prescient David Bowie had delivered two years earlier with ''[[Low (David Bowie album)|Low]]''".<ref name="quietusjapan">{{cite web|last1=Burnett|first1=Joseph|title=Thirty Years On: Japan's Oil On Canvas Revisited|url=http://thequietus.com/articles/12875-japan-oil-on-canvas|website=[[The Quietus]]|date=19 July 2013 |access-date=14 March 2016}}</ref> It showcased Barbieri's synthesizers, Sylvian's now [[baritone]] style of singing, Karn's distinctive fretless bass sound and Jansen's odd-timbred and intricate percussion work, with Dean's guitar playing becoming somewhat sparser and atmospheric.<ref name="Robert Dean"/> While largely ignored in their home country, ''Quiet Life'' was a success in Japan, where it had the distinction of becoming the first foreign rock record to enter the national chart, and went straight in at number 8 in Canada, and also had some success in continental Europe.<ref name="sh">{{cite magazine|title=Turning Japanese |author=Taylor, Steven |magazine=Smash Hits volume 50, 30 October 1980 |page=7 }}</ref>

In the UK, ''Quiet Life'' was the first Japan album to reach the [[UK Albums Chart]], but it wasn't a success on its initial release. It peaked at a lowly 72 in February 1980 and dropped out of the chart the following week. The band had for long been a financial strain on their record company and management, and after a final attempt to score a hit single that would boost the sales of the album with a cover version of "[[I Second That Emotion]]" was unsuccessful, Japan was dropped by Hansa Records.<ref name="Martin Power 2012"/>

Hansa-Ariola would later issue a [[compilation album]] (''[[Assemblage (album)|Assemblage]]'') featuring highlights from the band's tenure on the label, followed by a series of remixed and re-released singles.