# MusicBrainz is pain for Japanese music
**URL:** https://community.metabrainz.org/t/musicbrainz-is-pain-for-japanese-music/815806
**Category:** MusicBrainz
**Tags:** search, alias
**Created:** [October 14, 2026, 8:06am UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/musicbrainz-is-pain-for-japanese-music/815806 "2026-10-14T08:06:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Arete01](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/Arete01)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2026, 8:06am UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/musicbrainz-is-pain-for-japanese-music/815806/1 "2026-10-14T08:06:52Z")
I have just spent one hour and 20 minutes adding a [release](https://musicbrainz.org/release/8f4f919d-2f5e-4576-9b97-a9e827199357) to MusicBrainz including English transliteration aliases and cover art.
This biggest frustration was adding aliases. As far as I know there is no way to do this in bulk so it is extremely time consuming and tedious.
Then, after spending over an hour on this Picard can’t find the release for some reason. Neither `artist:(小久保隆) release:(癒しの森~フィンランド) tracks:(14)` nor using advanced query syntax `reid:(8f4f919d-2f5e-4576-9b97-a9e827199357)` worked. None of them returns [the release](https://musicbrainz.org/release/8f4f919d-2f5e-4576-9b97-a9e827199357). MusicBrainz search also doesn’t find it: [Search results - MusicBrainz](https://musicbrainz.org/search?query=reid%3A%288f4f919d-2f5e-4576-9b97-a9e827199357%29&type=release&limit=50&method=advanced)
On one hand I feel accomplishment for contributing. On the other hand I feel frustrated that it really has to be this hard.
We seriously need a way to bulk add translations and transliterations.
---
### Author:  [@chaban](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/chaban)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2026, 10:01am UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/musicbrainz-is-pain-for-japanese-music/815806/2 "2026-10-14T10:01:48Z")
> [@Arete01](#):
>
> This biggest frustration was adding aliases. As far as I know there is no way to do this in bulk so it is extremely time consuming and tedious.
It’s true aliases are not yet a first-class part of the editing UI. They can be added, edited or removed but only one at a time. “power” editors therefore usually rely on userscripts to enhance the UI, for aliases there are mainly three:
- [Scripts/BatchAddRecordingAliases.user.js at main · YoGo9/Scripts · GitHub](https://github.com/YoGo9/Scripts/blob/main/BatchAddRecordingAliases.user.js)
- [musicbrainz-scripts/mb-edit-add\_aliases.user.js at master · loujine/musicbrainz-scripts · GitHub](https://github.com/loujine/musicbrainz-scripts/blob/master/mb-edit-add_aliases.user.js)
- [musicbrainz-scripts/mb-edit-set\_work\_aliases.user.js at master · loujine/musicbrainz-scripts · GitHub](https://github.com/loujine/musicbrainz-scripts/blob/master/mb-edit-set_work_aliases.user.js)
The first is what would be most helpful in your case if there is already a pseudo-release or you have a way to quickly import (seed) from elsewhere.
The second one allows to more quickly add multiple aliases to a chosen entity.
---
### Author:  [@Arete01](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/Arete01)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2026, 10:20am UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/musicbrainz-is-pain-for-japanese-music/815806/3 "2026-10-14T10:20:10Z")
Thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately I already tried these.
- YoGo9’s script is designed to copy recording titles from one MusicBrainz release to another, but I am adding a completely new release. I don’t have another release to copy from.
- loujine’s script doesn’t work for multiple recording aliases. I still need to visit each recording’s aliases page separately.
Regarding Picard failing to find the release I added I have no idea why this happens. If anyone knows please let me know.
---
### Author:  [@reosarevok](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/reosarevok)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2026, 1:59pm UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/musicbrainz-is-pain-for-japanese-music/815806/4 "2026-10-14T13:59:39Z")
It seems there was an issue with our search server yesterday and since all our devs are in one room meeting in person nobody noticed. I think it should be fixed now, so all the search stuff should be slowly fixing itself.
Drag and dropping the tab into Picard should normally work as a workaround, or adding `?tport=8000` at the end of the release page to get a green Tagger button to then send the data to Picard, but both of these options are non-obvious. Sorry about the annoyance and thanks for contributing!
---
### Author:  [@majkinetor](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/majkinetor)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2026, 2:21pm UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/musicbrainz-is-pain-for-japanese-music/815806/5 "2026-10-14T14:21:34Z")
You should use [String Theory](https://milic.info/musicbrainz-userscripts/) and all your pain goes away. Aliases can be edited in 1 table for all recordings just like you edit tracklist, and bulk added by Falcon in couple of seconds (You can just type them, when you press enter on one recording next one is selected and its focused on alias, reusing the same language you set on previous one). You don’t have to use any other userscripts, many are barelly working or are not maintained anymore.
> Regarding Picard failing to find the release I added I have no idea why this happens. If anyone knows please let me know.
Copy release URL and paste into Picard search bar.
---
### Author:  [@Arete01](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/Arete01)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2026, 3:01pm UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/musicbrainz-is-pain-for-japanese-music/815806/6 "2026-10-16T15:01:45Z")
> [@reosarevok](#):
>
> It seems there was an issue with our search server yesterday and since all our devs are in one room meeting in person nobody noticed. I think it should be fixed now, so all the search stuff should be slowly fixing itself.
Alright. That might explain why I was having problems. I am glad to hear the team is working together 😊👍
Picard still doesn’t find the appropriate release when I use `Lookup` though. I am curious if I missed something when adding the release or if there is something else going on? I really wanted aliases to work and make it easier for Picard to find the release, but it doesn’t seem to work.
It matches the wrong album.
These errors appear when I use Lookup:
```auto
E: 16:58:13,484 picard\\webservice.\_handle_reply:664: Network request error for https://musicbrainz.org/ws/2/release?limit=50&query=artist%3A(Takashi%20Kokubo)%20release%3A(The%20Forest%20of%20Healing%20\-%20Finland)%20tracks%3A(14)%20date%3A(2014\-03\-28) -> Error transferring https://musicbrainz.org/ws/2/release?limit=50&query=artist%3A(Takashi Kokubo%29 release%3A%28The Forest of Healing %5C- Finland%29 tracks%3A%2814%29 date%3A%282014%5C-03%5C-28%29 - server replied with status code 503 (QT code , HTTP2 code 200)
E: 16:58:14,393 picard\\webservice.\_handle_reply:664: Network request error for https://musicbrainz.org/ws/2/release?limit=50&query=artist%3A(Takashi%20Kokubo)%20release%3A(The%20Forest%20of%20Healing%20\-%20Finland)%20tracks%3A(14)%20date%3A(2014\-03\-28) -> Error transferring https://musicbrainz.org/ws/2/release?limit=50&query=artist%3A(Takashi Kokubo%29 release%3A%28The Forest of Healing %5C- Finland%29 tracks%3A%2814%29 date%3A%282014%5C-03%5C-28%29 - server replied with status code 503 (QT code , HTTP2 code 200)
E: 16:58:16,393 picard\\webservice.\_handle_reply:664: Network request error for https://musicbrainz.org/ws/2/release?limit=50&query=artist%3A(Takashi%20Kokubo)%20release%3A(The%20Forest%20of%20Healing%20\-%20Finland)%20tracks%3A(14)%20date%3A(2014\-03\-28) -> Error transferring https://musicbrainz.org/ws/2/release?limit=50&query=artist%3A(Takashi Kokubo%29 release%3A%28The Forest of Healing %5C- Finland%29 tracks%3A%2814%29 date%3A%282014%5C-03%5C-28%29 - server replied with status code 503 (QT code , HTTP2 code 200)
E: 16:58:20,393 picard\\webservice.\_handle_reply:664: Network request error for https://musicbrainz.org/ws/2/release?limit=50&query=artist%3A(Takashi%20Kokubo)%20release%3A(The%20Forest%20of%20Healing%20\-%20Finland)%20tracks%3A(14)%20date%3A(2014\-03\-28) -> Error transferring https://musicbrainz.org/ws/2/release?limit=50&query=artist%3A(Takashi Kokubo%29 release%3A%28The Forest of Healing %5C- Finland%29 tracks%3A%2814%29 date%3A%282014%5C-03%5C-28%29 - server replied with status code 503 (QT code , HTTP2 code 200)
```
---
### Author:  [@chaban](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/chaban)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2026, 4:22pm UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/musicbrainz-is-pain-for-japanese-music/815806/7 "2026-10-16T16:22:19Z")
Lookup doesn’t use aliases as far as I know hence the need for pseudo-releases.
And since I wanted to know more about it myself I used AI tool to [investigate](https://gist.github.com/chaban-mb/5f3e4899a708239da1d7d166bb0a589a).
---
### Author:  [@Arete01](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/Arete01)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2026, 7:18pm UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/musicbrainz-is-pain-for-japanese-music/815806/8 "2026-10-16T19:18:22Z")
Alright I think I will stick to manually finding the correct release.
There are so many problems using pseudo-releases I don’t even know where to begin.
I think MusicBrainz has a lot of potential here when it comes to aliases. I mean, in this case the alias is provided so at least the data is there.
---
### Author:  [@chaban](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/chaban)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2026, 7:23pm UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/musicbrainz-is-pain-for-japanese-music/815806/9 "2026-10-16T19:23:07Z")
> [@Arete01](#):
>
> There are so many problems using pseudo-releases I don’t even know where to begin.
What problems? Recently I made a plugin for Picard to supplement pseudo-releases with data from linked original release.
---
### Author:  [@Arete01](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/Arete01)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2026, 7:39am UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/musicbrainz-is-pain-for-japanese-music/815806/10 "2026-10-17T07:39:37Z")
I really don’t want to clutter this thread as this is kinda off-topic, but in short:
Technically there is no problem using pseudo-releases. but pseudo-releases are a poor solution for Japanese music (or any music in another script) because:
- They clutter release groups with multiple versions of the same release.
- It’s unclear whether titles are official or unofficial transliterations or translations.
- They often rely on inconsistent, non-authoritative sources, potentially justifying even more pseudo-releases.
- Most Japanese albums lack them, meaning I’d have to create one for nearly every album I own, defeating the purpose of convenient metadata lookup in Picard.
At that point I might as well just go back to mp3tag and make my own unofficial system.
---
### Author:  [@jesus2099](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/jesus2099)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2026, 11:19am UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/musicbrainz-is-pain-for-japanese-music/815806/11 "2026-10-17T11:19:36Z")
I don’t think you are cluttering this thread, you are completely on topic, right? 🙂
> [Pseudo-releases] clutter release groups with multiple versions of the same release.
I don’t think they clutter RG, maybe provide an example or two?
See [this RG](https://musicbrainz.org/release-group/70637c12-2da9-4baa-98ab-d4e693cfc2eb), there is 1 pseudo-release, separated from the 3 original releases.
Doesn’t it look rather clean?
> It’s unclear whether [pseudo-releases] titles are official or unofficial transliterations or translations.
When they are official, we can have a [release comment](https://musicbrainz.org/search?query=status%3Apseudo-release+AND+comment%3Aofficial&type=release&method=advanced) saying so.
> [Pseudo-releases] often rely on inconsistent, non-authoritative sources, potentially justifying even more pseudo-releases.
Hmm? Please provide some examples. I have never seen this issue happening.
> Most Japanese albums lack [pseudo-releases], meaning I’d have to create one for nearly every album I own, defeating the purpose of convenient metadata lookup in Picard.
This is the job of editors like you, who want pseudo-releases.
As an editor who wants original releases, I create my missing original releases.
It’s part of the use I make of MB.
---
### Author:  [@yindesu](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/yindesu)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2026, 5:57pm UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/musicbrainz-is-pain-for-japanese-music/815806/12 "2026-10-17T17:57:46Z")
This is really just [Pseudo releases vs recording aliases](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/pseudo-releases-vs-recording-aliases/815796) all over again.
> [@Arete01](#):
>
> aliases
[Aliases weren’t designed to support tagging a specific tracklist](https://musicbrainz.org/doc/Aliases). For tagging purposes,
> Aliases are used to **localize** an entity’s main name into a different language
When using aliases, you don’t get to choose whether it’s translation or transl_iter_ation.
The database / data model is designed so that you need a [Release](https://musicbrainz.org/doc/Release) to have medium titles, track titles, artist credit join phrases, and a **[Script](https://musicbrainz.org/doc/Release#Script)**. This is the way you’re supposed to enter data for tagging.
Aliases don’t have a script. Medium titles and artist credit join phrases don’t have aliases. (Track titles can differ from recording names by design, so track titles also don’t technically have aliases.)
However, the parts of the database that _are_ designed for tagging have lots of pain.
There used to be a way to distinguish between translation and transliteration via a dedicated database value, but of course it was [dropped because you’re supposed to use language/script instead](https://tickets.metabrainz.org/browse/STYLE-420). However, many editors believe in using the [language](https://musicbrainz.org/search?query=lang%3A%22mul%22&type=release&limit=25&method=advanced) and [script](https://musicbrainz.org/search?query=script%3A%22Qaaa%22&type=release&limit=25&method=advanced) fields literally, [despite the style guidelines saying otherwise for Japanese specifically](https://musicbrainz.org/doc/Style/Release#Language_and_script), so we end up with all the releases saying “multiple languages/multiple scripts” and we can’t even use these fields to differentiate track titles. There’s also [disagreement over whether there should be a way to identify the language/script of artist credits and join phrases](https://tickets.metabrainz.org/browse/STYLE-424), so technically, you’re not supposed to.