Philip Brasor - The Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Mar 2, 2007

Nic Offer is sitting on a couch in a private room above the Liquid Room venue in Ebisu, cutting a less imposing figure than he does when he's on stage. Maybe it's the hair. "You got it cut short," a female acquaintance notices after popping in to say hello. Offer's usually unkempt curly locks add to...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Feb 25, 2007

Women who give a rise to the man below them; it must be love

The big show business news last weekend was the wedding of model-actress Norika Fujiwara to comedian Tomonori Jinnai at a shrine in Kobe. The press were not permitted to attend the Shinto ceremony, but Fujiwara and Jinnai did come out a few times in their costumes to talk to reporters, which was nice...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Feb 18, 2007

'Africans in Japan' . . . not from the quill of Ishihara, thank God

Last week, The Japan Times ran a Bloomberg interview with Shintaro Ishihara in which the proudly provocative Tokyo governor followed up his contention that foreigners were behind the city's rising crime rate. He challenged his interviewers to go to Roppongi and see for themselves. "Africans -- and I...

CULTURE / Music

Feb 16, 2007

The Format, Yo La Tengo

The Format, an Arizona-based pop collective centered around vocalist Nate Ruess and multi-instrumentalist Sam Means is a misunderstood band, even by people who seek to profit from them. In 2005, Atlantic dropped the duo after they delivered their sophomore album, "Dog Problems," saying it wasn't the...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Feb 11, 2007

Gore's charge unlikely to skewer Japan's traffic plans

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore was in Japan a few weeks ago promoting "An Inconvenient Truth," the documentary film version of his traveling power-point presentation on the dangers of global warming. He made the rounds of the news shows at the time, but due to the extra time required to edit entertainment...

CULTURE / Music

Feb 9, 2007

The Fall "Reformation Post TLC"

Mark E. Smith is less a rock singer than a professional iconoclast, which may make him the only member of that ill-defined late 1970s movement called postpunk who remains viable.

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Feb 4, 2007

Super temp worker who saves day is a nonconformist heroine

Prior to the start of the current Diet session, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that the ruling coalition would not submit previously announced bills to revise the Labor Standards Law. The move was seen as being cautionary, since there will be an Upper House election in July and the bills would have contained...

CULTURE / Music

Feb 2, 2007

Rickie Lee Jones "The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard"

Rickie Lee Jones' latest album is based on "The Words," a book by one Lee Cantelon that attempts to separate the teachings of Jesus from 2,000 years of dogma and make them relevant for the 21st century. About half the songs are recorded improvisations, with Jones making up lyrics to Cantleon's and guitarist...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Jan 28, 2007

Natto nonsense lands television show in sticky mess

Unless you're a big fan of natto, those sticky fermented soybeans, you probably didn't pay much attention to Kansai Telecasting Corporation's (KTV) sudden apology Jan. 20 for misinformation that was given on one of its variety shows. Anyone who watches TV regularly has probably developed the ability...

CULTURE / Music

Jan 26, 2007

Wolfmother

Sydney hard-rock power-trio Wolfmother are still young, which may explain why they parade their influences so recklessly. People who deride their willfully 1970s sound say they pick and choose their signifiers purely for their effect: the sci-fi/fantasy album artwork of Frank Frazetta; the poems about...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Jan 21, 2007

The media merry-go-round fueled by sensational murders

On Jan. 5, 21-year-old Yuki Muto was arrested for murdering his sister, Azumi, on Dec. 30 at their home in Shibuya, Tokyo. He reportedly told police that he killed Azumi because she criticized his unsuccessful attempts to get into dental college and belittled his ambitions, later adding that he was under...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Jan 14, 2007

Japan keen to keep up with the killing of prisoners

The fall of Saddam Hussein was supposed to lead to a bright new era of democracy for Iraqis, but so far all it's led to is anguish and bloodshed. Similarly, his trial at the hands of his own people was supposed to be an example of real justice, but it was little more than a sad piece of theater.

CULTURE / Music

Jan 12, 2007

A collection of the semifamous

Purposely or not, bands tend to create personas along with their music. The persona is usually based on that of the lead singer or otherwise most conspicuous member, and musicians who find that their needs for self-expression don't jibe with their group's persona either quit for solo careers or set up...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Jan 7, 2007

Bringing out the gongs in the world of media

* Media persons of the year: Children

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Dec 24, 2006

Giving life-affirming gifts without dipping into your pocket

With the gift-giving season upon us, it is as good a time as any to think about the gift that keeps on giving -- your organs. Another reason to think about organ donation is that on Tuesday the Matsuyama District Court will sentence a 59-year-old man who was convicted of buying a kidney from a woman....

CULTURE / Music

Dec 22, 2006

2006: The year that hip-hop finally grew up

The idea that rock is exclusively a young man's game hasn't held water for three decades. While there's still something off-putting about Mick Jagger's determined athleticism in the service of a catalog that's older than Justin Timberlake, there's no denying he can still fill football stadiums, and not...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Dec 17, 2006

It's horses for courses if there's a few bucks to be made

Whenever the media covers some story about an animal that has been rescued or neglected there are always dozens of people willing to adopt it.

CULTURE / Music

Dec 15, 2006

Easy All-Stars "Radiodread"

Following their successful reggae re-imagining of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon," New York's Easy Star All-Stars (musician-producers Michael G. and Ticklah) set their sights on Radiohead's no-less monumental "OK Computer," and while a predictable pattern seems to be emerging, the fact that the...

CULTURE / Music

Dec 14, 2006

Camping it up: The pride of pop's history

Scissor Sisters have been described as a band who play "camp pop." The camp bit is arguably a redundant designation since it derives from the French "camper," which means to pose in an exaggerated fashion. All pop music is a pose -- a good deal of it an exaggerated one. A narrower definition of camp...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Dec 10, 2006

SMAP's Kimutaku a different breed of idol

Six years ago this month, the public learned that Japan's most popular male showbiz personality, Takuya Kimura, was set to marry former singing idol Shizuka Kudo, already pregnant with his child at the time.

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