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December 23, 2024
 

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Steve McClure

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Steve McClure
Steve McClure has lived in Tokyo since 1985. Formerly Billboard magazine’s Asia Bureau Chief, he now publishes the online music-industry newsletter McClureMusic.com.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Jul 10, 2019
Decades on, justice still eludes interned Japanese Canadians and their kin
More than 70 years after racism and wartime hysteria devastated their community, Japanese Canadians are still fighting for justice.
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 9, 2019
Unlocking Japan's geothermal energy potential
How Japan can meet its future energy needs is not necessarily something you think about while enjoying a nice long soak in a hot-spring bath.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Apr 15, 2017
Pursuing peculiar passions: the wacky world of Japan's offbeat groups
Play it safe. Follow the rules. Respect authority. And, above all, don't stick out like that silly proverbial nail.
CULTURE / Music
Jun 25, 2016
Yesterday: When the 'Beatles typhoon' hit Japan
Fifty years ago this week, the Fab Four played some of their final live performances in Tokyo. We speak to fans who were u2018swept off their feet' by the visit.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 22, 2014
'Jazz mecca' Osaka to host star-studded global concert
What comes to mind when you think of Osaka? Maybe takoyaki (octopus dumplings), the Hanshin Tigers, Universal Studios Japan, wacky comedy and down-to-earth, unpretentious people.
CULTURE / Music / MONEY AND MUSIC
Dec 3, 2013
Spotify, Rdio and what didn't happen in 2013
This was supposed to be the year that changed the Japanese music business.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 12, 2013
U.S. jazz singer Harvey Thompson finds a new home in Japan's clubs
If Harvey Thompson had been a better 10-pin bowler, jazz would have been the loser.
CULTURE / Music
Nov 5, 2013
Hostess exists rather happily on the edge
With international repertoire's share of the music market down to about 15 percent, it has never been harder to break foreign acts in Japan. And given the shrinking market for non-Japanese music, it seems quixotic to set up a company specializing in bringing foreign repertoire into the country — especially...
CULTURE / Music / MONEY AND MUSIC
Oct 15, 2013
Download law yet to bite after a year
It has been a year since Japan introduced penalties for downloading pirated music and video files.
CULTURE / Music / MONEY AND MUSIC
Sep 11, 2013
Tower Japan boss says biggest challenge facing record stores is attracting young customers
A few weeks ago I was preparing to do a guest slot on InterFM’s “The Selector” program, which features music mavens sharing their favorite tracks.
CULTURE / Music / MONEY AND MUSIC
Jul 3, 2013
Japan's festival industry is stuck in a fine kettle of fish
Are summer festivals killing Japan's live-music market?
CULTURE / Music / MONEY AND MUSIC
Jun 6, 2013
Been down so long, it looks like up
I've been to a lot of music-industry conferences over the years, and for the past decade I've listened to the same old song: How can the recording industry fight online piracy, which it blames for plunging music sales?
CULTURE / Music / MONEY AND MUSIC
May 2, 2013
Universal-EMI is the dinosaur in the room
Last September, the European Commission and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission approved Universal Music Group's buyout of EMI. Since then, the two record companies have been merging their operations worldwide. In Japan, the combined Universal-EMI entity will have a market share of between 15 percent and...
CULTURE / Music / MONEY AND MUSIC
Apr 4, 2013
Barakan wants InterFM to dial down the talk
While station-surfing on my car radio several years back, I chanced upon a program about Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page. The disc jockey said Page's solo in "Stairway to Heaven" was among his best.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 7, 2013
Recochoku brings Japan further into the stream
Recochoku, a digital content aggregator owned by major Japanese labels, debuted a smartphone-based streaming service called RecoChoku Best on Tuesday. It's due to become available on PCs this summer.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 9, 2012
Music industry takes baby steps toward digital content
Will it be the "carrot and stick" or just "the stick" that revives flagging digital-music sales in Japan?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 2, 2012
Warner's Ishizaka says 'exterminate' illegal downloads
Not many music-business executives compare themselves to Oda Nobunaga or Napoleon Bonaparte.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 17, 2011
Saori Yuki wants a kayōkyoku wave
Defining kayōkyoku is like trying to nail down konnyaku.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 18, 2011
Go on, just say his name
Miyavi is a guy you can read like a book — literally.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 28, 2011
Local, foreign songwriters camp it up
Early in the band's career, Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham is reputed to have locked Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in a room and told them not to come out until they'd written their first song.
How Bashar Assad's inner circle fled Syria after his fall
Syrians step on posters of Bashar Assad and his father, Hafez Assad, in Homs, Syria, on Tuesday.
Zelenskyy to replace Ukraine ambassador to Japan
Ukrainian Ambassador to Japan Sergiy Korsunsky delivers a speech during a handover ceremony of Self-Defense Force vehicles to Ukraine, at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo, in May last year.
Bankruptcies and suicides rise as Japanese struggle with mounting debt
Lawyers estimate that personal bankruptcies in Japan are on track to reach the highest since 2012 this year.
Honda and Nissan consider mutual production of vehicles, report says
Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe at the Japan Mobility Show 2023 at Tokyo Big Sight in October 2023.
The mighty Mekong River's growing plastic problem
A group of elephant keepers in Chiang Saen, Thailand, remove plastic waste from the Ruak River, a tributary of the Mekong River, as a pair of Asian elephants bathe behind them.
For baseball fans, 2024 brought The Summer of Shohei Ohtani
Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani reacts to a standing ovation from fans after hitting his 50th home run of the season, against the Marlins in Miami on Sept. 19.
Casual workouts, cool living, ‘complete’ food: Japan’s health trends of 2024
In 2024, efficiency trumped effort among Japan's fitness-focused aspirants.
Is Japan finally ready to tap its abundant geothermal energy potential?
Steam rises from a geothermal plan in Yuzawa, Akita Prefecture. Despite its long history and potential, geothermal provided just 0.3% of Japan's overall energy mix in the fiscal year from April 2023
Japanese officials inspect Yokota Air Base over PFAS concerns
The Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in September 2019. An inspection of the base by Japanese government officials on Friday came amid public pressure to investigate suspected links between the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam by the U.S. base and contamination of soil and groundwater in western Tokyo.
North Korea aiding Russia where it needs it most, Canadian general says
North Korean special forces soldiers march and shout slogans during a military parade marking the 105th birth anniversary of the country's founding father, Kim Il Sung, in Pyongyang in April 2017.

Podcast

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

Longform

Visitors to Kyoto walk along a street near Kiyomizu Temple in April. A popular tourist spot, Kyoto has seen what locals feel to be an overwhelming amount of tourists in 2024.
Is Japan ready for 60 million tourists?
By Kathryn Wortley

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