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November 22, 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.
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
May 2, 2001
Power Puffy girls
Is America ready for Puffy? The pop duo's record label, Sony Music Entertainment (Japan), apparently thinks so. Sony Music Imports released Puffy's most recent album, "Spike," in the U.S. on May 1, in the hope that Americans will go gaga over Ami and Yumi in the same way Japanese and other Asians have....
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Apr 25, 2001
A stunningly beautiful work of Great 3 genius
One sure sign of the maturation of a pop-music culture is when artists start releasing albums that are organic, cohesive works of art, instead of collections of their latest hit singles with some B-grade tracks as filler. "May and December," the latest from Japanese pop/rock band the Great 3, is such...
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Apr 18, 2001
Battle of the pop divas
Please sit down. There, are you comfortable? Perhaps you'd like a drink to calm your nerves, because what I'm about to say may come as somewhat of a shock.
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Apr 11, 2001
Trans-Pacific partnership serves up universal sound
A few years back, the big news on the J-pop scene was the "independent producers boom." Following the lead of the then-ubiquitous Tetsuya Komuro, freelance producers such as Takeshi Kobayashi (Mr. Children, My Little Lover), and Hiromasa Ijichi (Speed) were supposed to usher in an era in which a new...
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Apr 4, 2001
And the Gold Disc goes to... well, what did you expect?
Show-biz awards ceremonies -- who needs 'em? They're formulaic, plastic, inane, banal, maudlin, crass . . . There's no end to the pejoratives one can use to describe them.
CULTURE / Music
Feb 25, 2001
Love Psychedelico hits the blue notes
It's every struggling musician's dream: One moment you're scrounging around for gigs and a record deal while trying to keep food on the table and pay the rent, and the next moment, you've got a hit record on your hands and suddenly the talk of the town.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 14, 2000
King's not dead, long live Crimson
Robert Fripp is rock 'n' roll's quintessential English eccentric. Not in a flamboyant, over-the-top way like the late Vivian Stanshall or Keith Moon, but in an offbeat, understated manner -- like a country vicar whose avocation is the study of reptile eggs or quill pens. Fripp's quirky, yet iron-willed...
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

Podcast

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

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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

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