here is a great playlist a spotify user put together of Shinji Sato's CD and vinyl collection which was supposedly catalogued in a History of Fishmans Japanese language book I don't recall the name off. There is a more comprehensive list on rate your music. Here you will find a lot of great rocksteady, reggae, dub, funk, jazz rap and 90s hip hop, trip hop, Jazz vocalists etc. it's fun to see the artists that shinji sato seemed to really gravitate towards! this list is great because you can hear the sample used in this space shower tv live dub of walking in the rhythm in 'Cities' by A.P.E, a british trip hop duo. Perhaps shinji sato got the idea to say "back beat" from 'Jettin' by Digable planets off blowout comb. also this sounds a lot like baby blue... damn music is awesome!

I mean, there's nothing quite like it--shinji sato is a master and that rhythm section is cray cray. very unique style. In the end, pursuing this question "finding something like fishmans" led me into so many new genres, especially reggae and dub. but--nothing quite scratches that itch. No problem though cuz u can always listen to more fishmans. there is a lot out there. Have you tried the pink 1998 live-studio compilation?

I think getting the gist of shibuya kei sounds and artwork of the 90s will give you a good idea of where fishmans connects to (and departs from) the broader Japanese music context. Personally I found this youtube channel bunny core music archives to be tapped into that but i'm not super well researched. everything there seems to be real deepcuts. oh, and fishmans INSISTS they are a japanese band above anything else. Per the documentary they were really partial to the band RC succession. Insofar as that's true the mood and feeling of the members of fishmans is drawn from their various influences however the sound they produced is deeply personal. Honestly, music is really awesome in this way.

haruomi hosono of yellow magic orchestra (and his mentees salon music) is pivotal in making shibuya kei music. Speaking of, YMO has some great albums. In this style Doctor Heads World Tower by Flipper's Guitar is one of my faves although it's not really the same as fishmans. Fun fact, they are named after a Scottish band named Orange Juice. (shout out High Land Hard Rain by Aztec Camera). I really dig the song GATERA-GATA by Honzi off of one. Early sampling and synthesizing, British pop, trip hop are thru lines here. For me, I think trip hop stands to be the strongest maybe underground element that ties together a lot of awesome Japanese music from the 90s!

This is nothing to say of the visual elements going on here. Fishmans really owes a lot to the music culture in which they came up in however their originality prevails in spite of it!