It seems I’m quite new to this compared to most people, since I only discovered the VK/Jrock world about two and a half years ago, and it’s all thanks to Youtube. I was listening to something totally unrelated, but it decided to show Unlucky Morpheus - Black Pentagram in the recommendations, and I was like ‘yeah, why not?’. That was pretty good, so I bookmarked it and started exploring based on that and discovered Yousei Teikoku and Wagakki Band, and eventually Versailles, Gazette and Dadaroma, and then so much more.
I remember at first the androgynous looks made me slightly unconfortable, but it quickly clicked for me, and now I think it’s amazing. Later I found other ways to find bands, like forums (MH) and databases (like visual ioner), but it all started with Youtube. I guess it had to, since I don’t have friends who are into this, and I don’t watch anime, and have basically no other connection to modern Japanese culture (I am interested in their history and traditional theater (Kabuki, Noh), but that’s a different realm to VK). Nowadays the vast majority of music I listen to is VK.