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November 22, 2024
 

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Daniel Robson
Daniel Robson, a British journalist based in Tokyo since 2006, is a features editor and writer at The Japan Times. He also writes freelance about music, videogames and Japanese pop culture for other publications around the world.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 23, 2012
akai ko-en try to avoid getting caught in the Web
With a layered sound that blends postrock dynamics and sprawling song structures with pure J-pop sensibility, akai ko-en is quickly becoming one of Tokyo's most talked-about new bands. But just try searching for the group on YouTube and see how far you get.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / SHORT TAKES
Jan 20, 2012
Animal Kingdom
Director: David Michôd
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 6, 2012
'Spamalot' cast hopes 2012 is Year of the Python
"This is Spam," says Eric Idle to a room full of Japanese journalists, holding up a can of the precooked meat product that he and his fellow Monty Python cast members mocked to lasting effect in 1970 in their iconic BBC TV series.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 29, 2011
Shonen Knife celebrates 30 years
Today we celebrate 30 years under the Knife. Yes, it was on Dec. 29, 1981, that three teenage girls — Naoko Yamano, her sister Atsuko and their friend Mitchie Nakatani — entered an Osaka rehearsal studio for the first time. They emerged as Shonen Knife.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 22, 2011
Best of 2011: AKB48 "Koko ni Ita Koto"
AKB48 is not a band, or even a pop group: AKB48 is a hate crime. With "Koko ni Ita Koto," pop music has reached its lowest ebb. And that is precisely why this album is not my favorite of the year, but the one I think is the most important.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 15, 2011
X Japan's Yoshiki seeks a second coming
The setting is an upscale hotel ballroom. On a stage in the center of the room sit two crystal-clear transparent pianos, facing each other, and a mic stand. In a circle around the stage, facing inward: an audience. We'll come back to them in a minute. An octet and backing band occupy sub-stages on opposing...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 17, 2011
Passepied "Watashi Kaika Shita Wa"
Oh, not again. Almost exactly three years ago I was handed a preview copy of "Hi-Fi Anatomia" by Soutaiseiriron. At first I hated the album's anime-friendly helium vocals and pretentious air, but after a few spins, the super-minimal jazzy-poppy tunes, as fragile as glass, drilled their way into my brain....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 10, 2011
Kaela Kimura "8Eight8"
Spiders are excellent. How many legs have you got? A spider has four times more. Ha! And four times more eyes too! You and I will never be as cool as a spider — that's just the way it goes.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 20, 2011
Blip Festival Tokyo
If there's anything video-game geeks hate, it's interacting with other people — at least, that's the common perception. However, it's a perception that is routinely shattered by the live chiptune music scene — and where better to go multiplayer than at this weekend's Blip Festival Tokyo, which celebrates...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Sep 20, 2011
Tokyo Game Show: What's been your highlight of the show?
Yoshinori WatanabeOffice worker, 27I haven't seen it yet, but PlayStation Vita looks like a neat device with lots of interesting functions. I'm dying to have a go on one. I'm going to line up now, but I think we got here too late!
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 1, 2011
Shinsei Kamattechan "8 Gatsu 32 Nichi e"
Released on Aug. 31, the title of Shinsei Kamattechan's fourth album translates as "To August 32" — a date that doesn't really exist but that we could take as a celebration of the potential of a tomorrow yet to come. And yet this Chiba four-piece haven't really taken any steps into the future with...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 18, 2011
Trippple Nippples
You're based in Japan, how was it playing at Summer Sonic?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 18, 2011
Yelle
Your show was packed.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 11, 2011
Summer Sonic prepares for an Asian invasion
Amid all the rivalry between Japanese and South Korean pop groups and the contrived debates about whether the manufactured crap from one country is better than the manufactured crap from the other, fans of independent or alternative music have been left scratching their heads.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jun 29, 2011
Local heroes take Japanese video games to the world
Japan may not be the all-conquering video-game powerhouse it once was, but there are still plenty of gamers in the West who want to get their hands on the latest "Mario," "Final Fantasy" or "Street Fighter" title. And it goes without saying that they want to play them in their own language — not in...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 17, 2011
Superfly takes a heavy trip
Hang on a minute, how did this happen? Somehow hippie-loving 1960s-throwback pop songstress Superfly has got, like, totally heavy, man. While her previous studio album, 2009's "Box Emotions," featured a couple of belters, new release "Mind Travel" does away with soppy ballads almost completely, favoring...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 16, 2011
Red Bacteria Vacuum
With a rough, raw and raucous hardcore-punk edge and a balls-out live show, Red Bacteria Vacuum have become one of Japan's most revered underground bands. Formed in Osaka in 1998, the trio — Ikumi (guitar/vocals), Kassan (bass/vocals) and Jasmine (drums), none of whom use a last name — routinely...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 9, 2011
Puffyshoes just wanna have fun
Shorter is nearly always better. The Pixies managed to cram three verses and choruses into just 94 seconds on "Trompe le Monde" track "Palace of the Brine," and it became one of the best songs they ever wrote. And just look at almost any tune recorded by The Supremes or The Shangri-Las or Elvis Presley,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / SHORT TAKES
May 20, 2011
Gekijoban Shinsei Kamattechan (Shinsei Kamattechan the Movie)
Director: Yu Irie
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 12, 2011
Go! Team hope to rock Japan in a good way
"People are scaredy-cats, aren't they?" laughs Ian Parton, founder of British cut-and-paste kitsch-pop outfit The Go! Team, when told that many Western bands have canceled their Japan tours in the wake of March's radiation-tinged triple disaster in the Tohoku region.
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

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mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world
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