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November 23, 2024
 

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Philip Brasor
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 5, 2009
Dead ends, about turns abound in the politics of roads
About a year ago, the government was all in a lather about extending the gasoline tax. Local governments and the ruling coalition, not to mention interested bureaucracies, wanted to continue the tax because they said the revenues were necessary to build more roads. Opposition parties were against the...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 29, 2009
Make room in the scrapyard of history for those quaint TV sets
When regular television broadcasts in America started in 1939, the intrinsic evils of the medium were already being discussed, and by the '50s the term "idiot box" had been coined.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 22, 2009
The cowardly whisper of politics
A few weeks ago I watched "All The President's Men" for the first time in more than 20 years. Set in the early 1970s, it was a potent blast from the past, but what struck me wasn't the relative youth of Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman or the pre-Internet drudge work that their real-life characters,...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 15, 2009
Japan's 'silly couple' reunite despite domestic violence
For the past few weeks, America's showbiz media has lingered over the alleged beating that R&B star Rihanna received at the hands of her boyfriend, the equally popular singer Chris Brown. Below the titillating layer of scandal is the story's more sobering subtext of domestic violence (DV), a social problem...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 8, 2009
Gay rights in Japan blurred on TV
When Sean Penn won the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of slain San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk two weeks ago, he used his acceptance speech to rail against supporters of California's Proposition 8, which last November repealed a State Supreme Court ruling extending marriage rights to same-sex...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 1, 2009
Japan loves wasting food
The Fair Trade Commission's current investigation into whether or not Seven-Eleven Japan Co. bullies its franchise members has been barely covered by commercial TV news, which isn't surprising.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 22, 2009
Be it booze or cheese, LDP loves to court controversy
Was he or wasn't he? That is the question the media wrestled with last week when discussing former Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa's behavior at the Valentine's Day news conference held during the Group of Seven meeting in Rome. By this point everyone seems convinced he was drunk, but the relationship...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 15, 2009
The recession will lead to a downturn in media quality
Every day there is more gloomy news about a major manufacturer or retailer or service company cutting jobs — and not just a few dozen here or there, but thousands, tens of thousands. No one gets out alive, except self-made billionaires and McDonald's, which is doing quite well, apparently. People will...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 13, 2009
Of Montreal
In the late 1990s, the band Of Montreal had deals with two different Japanese independent labels, including the estimable Quattro Records, which reportedly did very well by the American outfit. It's easy to see why. Of all the groups that emerged from the Elephant 6 collective of freewheeling psychedelic...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 8, 2009
New law may backfire on victims
In December, a new law went into effect allowing victims of crimes and their families to participate in trial proceedings. Previously, victims were virtually shut out of criminal courts unless they were called on to provide testimony. Under the new law, they may sit next to prosecutors during trials,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 6, 2009
Blackstreet
Since the golden age of hip-hop in the late 1980s, producers have dominated urban music, but few have actually been credited with creating an entire subgenre.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 1, 2009
Popularity's dead! Rebellion against brands starts now
Recently I ran into a friend who works at a TV station in Tokyo. The conversation turned to Johnny's Jimusho, the most powerful talent agency in Japan, whose stable of male singers has dominated television for almost two decades. When I asked her if she had run into any of Johnny's stars, she said she...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 25, 2009
Poking fun at the ¥12,000 handout
The opposition parties' objections to the extra fiscal 2008 budget, which was put together to deal with the unexpected seriousness of the economic downturn, center on the ¥2 trillion in cash handouts originally conceived by the LDP's coalition partner, New Komeito, last summer during the final days...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 18, 2009
TV delves deep toward darker depths of dumbness
A fter more than a decade of slipping popularity, NHK's "Kohaku Uta Gassen" ("Red and White Song Contest") roared back to relevancy last New Year's Eve with impressive ratings.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jan 16, 2009
Deerhoof
Occasionally, you'll run across a review that says San Francisco's Deerhoof are the greatest band in the world. They're not, but you can understand why some people think so. There's something perfect and unique about their angular, chaotic guitar songs, and how many bands can claim perfect and unique...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 9, 2009
Glasvegas
The name is cute: a mash-up of Glasgow, the band's hometown, and Las Vegas, the American Oz. In the great tradition of British bands appropriating U.S. cultural touchstones, Glasvegas take these twin geographic signifiers and turn them into a whole different country that nevertheless feels familiar to...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 4, 2009
Rounding up 2008's media
Media Figure of the Year: Tomohiro Kato
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 28, 2008
Critics switched off over digital-TV plans
Yukichi Amano is one of Japan's sharpest media critics, so it was disconcerting to see him on NHK several weeks ago pimping for digital TV.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 26, 2008
High notes, low tones
The ups and downs of 2008 in music.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 26, 2008
A turbulent 12 months
Like pretty much everything these days, the fortunes of the music business in 2008 were mainly tied to the global economy. CD sales have long been dropping steadily, mostly due to the steady increase in illegal downloading, but until this year, top artists could still count on fairly decent sales, and...
Tokyo Metro’s overseas efforts begin in earnest with London deal
Tokyo Metro will soon have a role in the running of London's Elizabeth Line, a major train route serving the U.K.’s capital city and environs.
U.S. aircraft carrier returns to Japan carrying navy’s ‘most capable fighter’
U.S. 7th Fleet Commander Vice Adm. Fred Kacher speaks to reporters shortly after the arrival of aircraft carrier USS George Washington at Yokosuka naval base in Kanagawa Prefecture on Friday.
Man charged with murder allegedly made victim date other men for money
A car carrying suspect Ryotaro Masuda, who was indicted for allegedly beating his 25-year-old girlfriend to death, leaves the Shibuya Police Station in Tokyo on Thursday.
Russia fired experimental ballistic missile at Ukraine, Putin says
Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an airstrike in Dnipro on Thursday.
Ex-yokozuna Kitanofuji dies at 82
Yokozuna Kitanofuji enters the ring during the May 1970 grand sumo tournament in Tokyo.
Shohei Ohtani wins National League MVP award
Shohei Ohtani celebrates after hitting a three-run home run against the Padres during the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles last month.
The slow-burn success of ‘A Samurai in Time’
A 19th-century warrior gets struck by lightning and wakes to find himself in 21st-century Kyoto in Junichi Yasuda’s surprise hit “A Samurai in Time.”
Around a quarter of Japan married couples in their 20s met through dating apps
A survey released by an organization promoting “Good Couples Day” shows that 24% of couples in their 20s met their marriage partner through a dating app.
'Tokyo Swindlers': Get deep into the minds of real estate con artists
In Ko Shinjo's "Tokyo Swindlers," a group of con artists manipulates real estate giants into falsified deals within the highly competitive, quick market.
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.

Podcast

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