Tsutaya - This is the web site of a large CD/DVD/Book store in Japan. This site probably has the most listening samples anywhere and is good for out-of-print titles. However, pages load very slowly. The search box is in the top left corner.
Tower Records Japan – A fair number of samples and much quicker than Tsutaya. The search box is at the top of the page.
HMV Japan – A fair number of samples and decent loading time. The search box is at the top of the page.
Itunes Japan – High-quality samples but poor selection.
Amazon Japan – There don’t seem to be any samples for Japanese artists here.
Japanese psychedelic, progressive, experimental & heavy rock [including jazz rock, electronic and avant garde music] – Chris McLean has done a great job with this comprehensive list of bands in the genres listed above.
Goo lyrics – I’m listing this one because the lyrics are copyable. Other sites display lyrics using Flash so that they can’t be copied.
How to view Japanese characters on Windows – If you’re having trouble viewing the Japanese characters on this site, check out the instructions at coscom.co.jp.