Philip Brasor - The Japan Times

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Jul 29, 2007

Keeping abreast of developments on the small screen

Arts and entertainment criticism of the sort practiced in the West is still relatively sublimated in Japan, where pop-culture hyoronka (critics) tend to be either pundits or PR flacks who rarely say anything overtly negative about the things they review.

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Jul 22, 2007

Mobilizing the populace 'World War II-style' to judge their fellow citizens

Yoshikazu Ebisu seems an unlikely advocate for judicial reform. The 59-year-old illustrator first gained notoriety in the 1970s for his crude caricatures and moved on to variety shows in the late '80s, where his bumbling slob persona was the perfect target for insult comics. After he was arrested for...

CULTURE / Music

Jul 20, 2007

Justice "?"

Given the widespread influence of Scandinavian garage bands and the fact that the United Kingdom embraced The Strokes before the United States did, Europeans may prize authenticity in rock more than Americans do. The success of Frenchmen Xavier de Rosnay and Gaspard Auge in wresting the dance floor from...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Jul 15, 2007

No care in the world for caregivers as profit is all that matters

Scandals are coming so fast and furious now it seems eons ago when nursing care provider Comsn Inc. was busted by the government for inflating the number of employees on its payroll. Actually, it was only last month, and at the time the media could only concentrate on the particulars, namely Comsn's...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Jul 8, 2007

Take a slab of meat, beef up the label on it and Hope for the best

There's a stereotype that says the Japanese possess a refined palate. The French are said to possess it, too, but have you seen a French movie lately? All they eat is spaghetti.

CULTURE / Music

Jul 6, 2007

The White Stripes "Icky Thump"

With his penchant for meaningless self-indulgence and fickle obsession with all that's elemental about pop music, Jack White maintains a certain distance from even his most ardent fans. I have less of a problem with Meg White's limited drumming than I do with The White Stripes' lack of bass guitar, but...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Jul 1, 2007

Immigrant workers in Japan caught in a real racket

The debate over whether Japan should allow foreign workers in to make up for current and future labor shortages is dominated by the so-called foreign trainee program, which is overseen by the Japan International Training Cooperation Organization (JITCO). The program is itself the subject of a debate,...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Jun 24, 2007

Big breasts, funny hair, anything dumb — the way to go on TV

Last spring, TV tarento Rei Kikukawa made news when she appeared in a bra commercial. TV commercials are the bread-and-butter of most tarento (media stars), and Kikukawa has done her fair share, but since gaining stardom she's managed to avoid overt exploitation of her sex appeal. That's because she...

CULTURE / Music

Jun 22, 2007

Dizzee Rascal "Maths + English"

On his third album, Mercury Prize-winning rapper Dizzee Rascal has cleaned up his grime sound with concessions to other, more popular styles. Some may deem them commercially strategic, but they sound like the prerogatives of someone whose imagination has grown with his reputation. "Old school" is referenced...

CULTURE / Music

Jun 21, 2007

Soundtrack of the summer: Pet Shop Boys

Neil Tennant's genteel vocals were once the perfect ironic comment on the stylistic assertiveness of commercial pop, but as he's entered middle age and his themes have become more wistful (but only a little less ironic) he's turned into the Noel Coward of English dance pop. Fortunately, he and his silent...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Jun 17, 2007

Bureaucrats discovered to be pathetically human

Few fixtures of civilization invite more derision than bureaucracy. We understand that government agencies are necessary for the smooth operation of civic life but bristle at the prospect of having to interact with them. Public offices are cold, monolithic things, operating on principles that have little...

CULTURE / Music

Jun 15, 2007

John Wesley Harding

Assuming the stage name John Wesley Harding was a bit cheeky of singer-songwriter Wesley Stace. Associations with Bob Dylan's album of the same name are unavoidable, but Harding didn't start out playing folk music as one might think. Ever since he emerged almost fully formed from his native England in...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Jun 10, 2007

Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door — but no answer

Two deaths made headlines on May 28. Izumi Sakai, the lead singer of the pop group ZARD, was found at the bottom of an outdoor staircase at Keio University Hospital, where she was undergoing treatment for cancer. Her management quickly released a statement to pre-empt media speculation that the death...

CULTURE / Music

Jun 8, 2007

James Chance

The saxophonist-singer- bandleader James Chance is one of those canny musicians who assumes a variety of professional guises to hide the fact that he always does pretty much the same thing. Born James Siegfried in Milwaukee, he moved to New York in the late 1970s, immediately becoming a central player...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Jun 3, 2007

Another countryside 'renaissance' mired in foggy politics

A few weeks ago I traveled around the Noto Peninsula to see how the area was recovering from the 7.1-magnitude earthquake that struck March 25. Some buildings had already been razed in the small, picturesque town of Monzen, though the coastal city of Wajima, which on the day I arrived was receiving a...

CULTURE / Music

Jun 1, 2007

Spencer Doran

Relatively speaking, sampling is a recent art form, but within the fussy world of hip-hop it connotes an old-school sensibility, attracting less attention than it used to. Though Californian youngster Spencer Doran is an accomplished musician who can play a number of instruments, his recorded work is...

CULTURE / Music

Jun 1, 2007

Amerie "Because I Love It"

Amerie's "1 Thing" was the great summer single of 2005, an infectious hiccup of abandon that took the stuttery beat of Beyonce's hit "Crazy in Love" to its logical freaked-out end. Both songs were produced and co-written by Rich Harrison, who oversaw Amerie's first two albums.

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

May 27, 2007

Baby hatch gives rise to empty moralizing

Every year the national Parent-Teacher Association conducts a survey to find out which television shows people either want or don't want their children to watch. Two programs always make it to the top of the disapproval list: "London Hearts," a variety show hosted by the coarse comedy duo London Boots,...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

May 20, 2007

Buy a car and drive up your grocery bill

Toyota Motor Corp. made headlines when it announced that its profit for 2006 was a record-breaking 2.24 trillion yen. In the United States, the news was greeted with some bitterness, since the Japan automaker had recently surpassed General Motors in terms of worldwide sales for the first time ever.

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

May 13, 2007

One culture's dirty old man is another's dandy

Despite the close proximity of the world afforded by the Internet and global media conglomerates, intercultural ignorance is still pretty common. Richard Gere almost got himself arrested in India when, during an AIDS-awareness event last month, he grabbed Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty and kissed her....

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