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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
Sep 11, 2009
Back from extinction
Few rock bands in Japan are as legendary as Unicorn. From their inception in 1986 at the height of Japan's "band boom," which saw the balance of chart power shift from idoru (idol) pop to real bands, through to their split in 1993 and subsequent reunion this year, the Hiroshima five-piece have left a...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 4, 2009
Tigarah "The Funkeira goes BANG!"
When Japanese emcee Tigarah emerged in 2006, she shouldered great expectations. Her gritty Brazilian baile-funk party sound, created together with a Swiss-German producer she met on one of many inspiring trips to Sao Paolo, had her labeled "the Japanese M.I.A.," and she built up a firm following with...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 21, 2009
Jeff Mills
As a critic, it's easy to bemoan a festival that invites a similar lineup of acts year on year, as does Yokohama's annual leftfield electronica romp Wire. But critics don't usually buy tickets to festivals (free passes are one of the perks of the job), so frankly, who cares what we think? If the punters...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 21, 2009
Honey Sac "Allege"
Sac are a hard sell. On the one hand, the band of five girls from Osaka make anime-ready guitar music that has been shaped and moulded into the most commercial of packages. And yet . . . there's something curious about them.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 14, 2009
The Boom Boom beat goes on
Thanks to their jaw-dropping live act and the danceable nature of their techno-rock tunes, Boom Boom Satellites are one of Japan's top festival draws. Having already headlined the second stage at Fuji Rock in 2007 and with a clutch of foreign festival appearances under their belt, this year the band...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 7, 2009
Jenny Lewis
The line between alt-country and just plain country music can be a thin one. And while Jenny Lewis' vocal and guitar duties in ice-cool Las Vegas indie band Rilo Kiley might cause her to be labeled the former, there's really very little difference between the aching sentiment of her two recent solo albums...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 31, 2009
Bugy Craxone "Cheeseburgers Diary"
Bugy Craxone, whose name is a twisted mash-up of the English words blue, easy and klaxon, formed in Sapporo in 1997, relocating a year later to Tokyo. Their pop-infused, female-fronted hardcore sound won them a deal with Victor Entertainment within a year; but whereas many Japanese rock bands start out...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 24, 2009
Kimura Kaela "Hocus Pocus"
Is Kimura Kaela trying to bag Harry Potter as a boyfriend? First she dresses up as a pixie for the sleeve of 2006's single "Magic Music"; then a year later she names a single after Samantha Stephens, the foxy sorceress from American sitcom "Bewitched"; and now this, her fifth album, bears the name "Hocus...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 3, 2009
Jitterin'Jinn
Yes, Jitterin'Jinn are still going.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 12, 2009
Sonic after three decades of Youth
There's an old punk maxim that you should never trust anyone over 30. And yet as Sonic Youth rapidly approach the big three-oh, their music is on an upward curve.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 22, 2009
Hard rockers Detroit7 return with dirty tales
'In Croatia, we played in a huge club and we were the only band, but around 200 people came along to see us and went totally crazy. Everybody there loves alcohol, and so the toilets were filthy!" laughs Miyoko Yamaguchi, drummer with garage-rock band Detroit7. "The toilets around Europe were all dirty....
CULTURE / Music
May 8, 2009
mi-gu "pulling from above"
While the sentence "I'm a fan of the solo albums by the drummer from left-field Japanese electronica artist Cornelius' live backing band" might come across as almost artfully pretentious, mi-gu's third album of unconventional studio-play is actually her most accessible to date.
CULTURE / Music
Apr 10, 2009
Utada "This is the One"
While Hikaru Utada boasts the No. 1, 4 and 8 biggest-selling albums in Japanese history, and despite her New York upbringing and strong English, her 2004 stab at Western success fell embarrassingly flat. That album, "Exodus," was a flawed masterpiece — sonically original, but too left-field, moody...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 10, 2009
Utada "This is the One"
While Hikaru Utada boasts the No. 1, 4 and 8 biggest-selling albums in Japanese history, and despite her New York upbringing and strong English, her 2004 stab at Western success fell embarrassingly flat. That album, "Exodus," was a flawed masterpiece — sonically original, but too left-field, moody...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 20, 2009
"Judy and Mary 15th Anniversary Tribute Album"
If ever a pop group deserved a tribute, it's Judy and Mary. Somehow managing to pull off the rare feat of being both chart-friendly and terrifyingly talented, between 1993 and 2001 the band (none of whom were called Judy or Mary) birthed hit after guitar-pop hit, each as amazing as the last. This lends...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 20, 2009
The "Scott Murphy Meets Oreskaband" tour
In a spirit of colorful collaboration, ska popstrels Oreskaband have teamed up with Scott Murphy, the Chicago punk-pop solo artist who has been making waves in Japan recently with his albums of J-pop covers. Since Murphy's regular touring band includes members of Polysics, Ellegarden and B-Dash, Oreskaband's...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 14, 2009
Painting pictures from an artistic lyrical palette
As a narrative goes, lyricist Chris Mosdell's story is anything but a straightforward one.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 6, 2009
Primary approach adds up for GO!GO!7188
"Last year we toured Japan with bands such as Mongol800, and while we were messing around with the other bands on stage, we came to rediscover how much fun it is to just make a noise," says Akiko Noma, better known as Akko, bassist with off-kilter rock band GO!GO!7188.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 30, 2009
Yamagata paints a broken heart
I 've never met Rachael Yamagata, nor spoken to her or even e-mailed her before. Yet here I am, on a long-distance phone call, asking her about her love life.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 23, 2009
The Ting Tings
When the hype machine in their native Britain sent newcomers The Ting Tings into overdrive in 2008, the Manchester duo had one advantage over other acts garnering similar column inches: The Ting Tings were actually good.
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.

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