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Simon Bartz
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
May 2, 2000
Punkers united will never be divided
It's three in the morning at the livehouse Gig-Antic in Shibuya and as the girl band launches into the first song a skinhead leaps on stage, screams "Manchester United" into a mike and dives headfirst into the mosh pit. He's caught by a studded-leather-clad kid with a yellow mohawk, a skate-punk in baggy...
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Apr 18, 2000
Heaven knows it's miserable with psyche-scarring Neurosis
Waking up to find Tokyo's governor is a racist pig is a little unnerving, especially if you are foreigner scum like me who at the first rumble of an earthquake will be out on the streets raping schoolgirls, pillaging sushi shops and torturing puppy dogs.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Apr 4, 2000
You still think music is fun? Crank the volume, this is war
My first successful venture in creative writing took place when I was 12. To avoid being picked on by bullies I would provide the school psychopaths with inventive ways to victimize other kids.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 21, 2000
Snazz sizzles at the heart of underground
This is my first time in Ogikubo, a hole just left of the heart of Tokyo, and hopefully my last. There is nothing here but grayness and cold. I see no beer, hear no talk of beer and, worst of all, taste no beer!
CULTURE / Music
Mar 7, 2000
Beers, cheers and sneers -- Guitar Wolf will eat you alive
Beer. Beer. Beer. And some more beer. The world of Guitar Wolf is an ocean of beer, and if there are any islands of sobriety they are small and infrequent and the chances of coming across one are slim indeed.
CULTURE / Music
Feb 29, 2000
I just want to go to Chelsea; the best live show in Japan
You're cruising on a silent sea in a big warm boat when suddenly a tsunami hits and you're dumped in the ocean and you're chased by sharks to the nearest island where you encounter mustachioed cannibals with Spock haircuts waving Hinomaru flags who chase you through a snake-infested jungle and up a mountain,...
CULTURE / Music
Feb 15, 2000
Fear and loathing of Las Vegas
I wake up and I'm in bed with a broken wine glass, a forgotten fag that has left a deep black scar on the futon and a hangover the length, breadth and depth of Death Valley; but what worries me most is that the sheets are covered in blood and the smell of burning flesh is wafting over me . . .
CULTURE / Music
Feb 1, 2000
The madmen of rock 'n' roll live in perpetual teen culture
The band's called Mad 3. There's three of them (Eddie "Guitar Hero" Legend, Haruto "Thunder Bass" and Kyo "Smash the Drum Kit"), and they claim to be mad.
CULTURE / Music
Jan 18, 2000
Call it garage punk, if you insist
"I was in a band called the Titties," says Cat Scratch, squeezing her breasts.
CULTURE / Music
Jan 4, 2000
The top 21 albums through bleary eyes and fuzzy logic
Here is a list of the best albums that have loitered on my turntables during 1999. It wasn't the best of years, so thank Buddha for Mogwai, Campag Velocet, Death in Vegas and, erm, some girl band . . . oh, what's the name? Maybe it'll come to me later.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Nov 2, 1999
Mosh mosh! Where have the punk girls disappeared to?
Hiroko is a smart TV tarento and it's her birthday so I've got a big treat in store for her: I've rustled up a pair of guest passes for a sold-out Guitar Wolf gig.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Oct 19, 1999
The 'Moscow Blues Monster' seen rocking Tokyo's streets
For Yuji and Tatsuya it was just another night at Club Metro in Kyoto -- sinking tequila shots, fretting over the future of their jazz band and occasionally taking to the floor to shake their booty to the bouncy bossanova beats blasting from the sound system -- when in walked that girl again.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Sep 21, 1999
Honeys, ah sugar, sugar
I'm sitting opposite Vivi, Yuri, Kotome and Zina, trying desperately hard not to think about sex. But it's hard, it's very hard.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Aug 17, 1999
Missile Girl Scoot freaks out for all to see
Junn's a freak and she's proud of it.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Aug 13, 1999
Fuji Rock Underworld more than a Blur
Big bag of cheese 'n' mushroom sandwiches: yummy. Bottle of tequila: check. Crate of Yebisu beer: yup. Jump in the Devilmobile and find the city seems to never end, but after three hours on petrol and beer our ears are popping as we spiral up the backside of a mountain near Naeba in Niigata Prefecture...
CULTURE / Music
Aug 3, 1999
Never let them see you surf
The bikini-clad teenage girls lie on mats on the sand and massage each other with low-protection sun-tan oil while examining the advancement of their tans with pocket mirrors.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jul 20, 1999
Mr. Famous Fuzzy Logic's bumpy roller Coastersride
Sometimes you get a 24-hour spell where everything feels like a mad surreal nightmare and you end up seriously contemplating spending the rest of your life as a monk sitting under icy waterfalls naked on a lonely mountain and eating nothing but nuts and honey.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jul 6, 1999
How to get your teenage kicks in the 'teahouses' of Tokyo
I'm not one to hang around kiddies' playgrounds (honestly!), but when I strolled into Shimokitazawa's Shelter last week I was instantly teleported into a school disco, and it kinda felt good. But keep that to yourself, OK.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jun 29, 1999
The Super Furry Animals engage in 'Guerrilla' warfare
In 1996, I began visiting another planet when an album called "Fuzzy Logic," by an unknown Welsh band called Super Furry Animals, opened up a wormhole in my mind which enabled me to cross into a weird mangalike dimension whenever I switched on my stereo. Oh, and also I got a name for this column.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
May 18, 1999
Holy big beat funk, Captain!
Check him out now, the funky captain. Check him out now, the F-U-N-K-Y captain. Ch-ch-ch-ch-nu-nu-na-na. (cue big drums) . . . . There's a new superhero in town, folks. His name is Captain Funk. He's touching down in a disco den near you. His manifesto is simple:
Japan to revise consumption tax exemption for overseas tourists
Tourists walk through Nakamise shopping street near Sensoji Temple in Tokyo in April
Japan's tourism industry hit by cancellations after megaquake alert
A beach closed due to a megaquake alert in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, from Friday to Thursday.
Focus shifts to incoming typhoon as Tropical Storm Maria dissipates
Newly formed Tropical Storm Ampil, which is forecast to approach eastern Japan this weekend, is seen on the left side of this satellite image.
Kishida to step down in September in bid to show ‘LDP has changed’
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference Wednesday at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo.
Publisher finds surprise audience after translating history textbooks
Yamakawa Shuppansha president Takeshi Nozawa holds the publisher's textbook on Japanese history — used in high schools across Japan — alongside the new English version in Tokyo on May 23.
Economic security is about strengthening and sustaining growth, former minister says
Former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi says changes in the international balance of power, along with deepening economic interdependence, have led some countries to attempt to use their economic power to impose their will on others.
Ice bandanas, convenience store breaks: Running under Japan’s summer sun
Blistering heat is becoming a fixture of summer in Japan, but a few tweaks to your routine can make your outdoor runs bearable — if not enjoyable — until cooler temperatures return.
Japan issued its first-ever megaquake alert. What does that mean?
Naoshi Hirata (center), chairman of a committee tasked with evaluating the risk of a Nankai Trough earthquake, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Friday.
France brings down the curtain on its Olympic party with Tom Cruise and Leon Marchand
Fireworks are set off during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics at Stade de France in Saint-Denis on Sunday.
Japan fuels U.S. LNG boom even as climate targets and impacts loom
Flaring at the Cameron LNG export terminal in Hackberry, Louisiana. Flaring, a common sight at LNG plants, is a controlled burning of gas for reasons ranging from depressurizing equipment to disposing of gas that can’t be used. The practice is a "waste of money" and negatively impacts climate change and human health, says the International Energy Agency.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’
By Thu-Huong Ha

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’
Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’

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