Aye. Indeed it's more like proto-noise in places but mostly just comes off as The Shoegaze Band Of The Gods, a good 15 years before the term came about. The cult that keeps their bootlegs circulating is incredible, they were never signed...
I think I was converted listening to them for the first time ridiculously loud, back pressed against the wall (perfect speaker positioning), unslept for 36 hours... LRD's definitely calling from the same ethereal plain as My Bloody Valentine and V.U.
Chapterhouse they ain't.
EDIT: a bit more
info on Mizutani's baby as the wiki is so poor.
Unfortunately Julian Cope's headheritage.com is down; his book
Japrocksampler single-handedly alerted myself and I imagine most of Last.fm's 700 listeners to this incredible music.