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November 23, 2024
 

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Philip Brasor
CULTURE / Music
Apr 7, 2006
Craig David
Arguably the most popular artist to emerge from the short-lived garage/2-step scene in Britain, Craig David arrived fully formed as a producer, since he was DJing both on radio and in clubs in his hometown of Southampton before hooking up with garage maven Artful Dodger. Together, they produced a number...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 2, 2006
Buying U.S. out of Okinawa started a habit that is hard to kick
The bombshell that former Foreign Ministry official Bunroku Yoshino dropped last month hasn't had the explosive effect one might expect. Yoshino was in charge of the ministry's American Bureau at the time the United States handed Okinawa back to Japan in 1972, and in an exclusive interview in the Feb....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 31, 2006
Spring in their steps
As a crash course in the current state of African-American pop music, this weekend's Springroove festival being held on consecutive days in Osaka and Chiba Prefecture showcases an impressive range of artists. The headliners all represent major labels, and thus the mainstream: Since hip-hop and R&B are...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 26, 2006
Consumer credit companies have your money, and the media, in their pockets
On Jan. 13, the Supreme Court found in favor of an individual who had sued a consumer credit company for charging too much interest. By doing so, the court rejected the controversial "gray zone" that such companies take advantage of in their business.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 19, 2006
Prefecture opts for foster-care plan to combat declining birthrate
A recent Associated Press poll found that Americans' views about abortion aren't very clear-cut. Only a small percentage of the respondents were in favor of either legalizing abortion completely or banning it outright. About 60 percent were somewhere in the middle. The AP took these results to mean that...
CULTURE / Music
Mar 17, 2006
Reggae Japansplash
Until 2002, Reggae Japansplash was Japan's longest-running non-jazz summer music festival until it was moved up to the spring. The change made it easier to book a reasonably priced venue, but also eliminated one of the festival's most basic appeals: grooving to deep, sinuous riddims under a sweltering...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 12, 2006
Weekly magazines joust over trillion-yen fortunetelling trade
It is often said that if you really want to understand what is happening in Japan you should read the weekly magazines. Though the weeklies' journalistic standards are considered less rigorous than those of the daily newspapers, they are less reluctant to step on toes that belong to people who might...
CULTURE / Music
Mar 10, 2006
Dem Franchize Boys "On Top of Our Game"
In case you didn't know, "snap" is a relatively new hip-hop genus of the Dirty South species, utilizing slower tempos and concerning itself mainly with clubbing and a life of leisure. Dem Franchize Boyz is one of the groups who take credit for inventing the style, and Jermaine Dupree, who produced their...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 9, 2006
Who are you, Tommy?
" 'Tommy' didn't really answer anything, which was the beauty of it.''
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 9, 2006
A thumbnail history of the rock musical
"Bye Bye Birdie" (1961) The songs aren't rock, but it was the first Broadway show to address rock 'n' roll: an Elvis-like singer (actually based on singer Conway Twitty) stages a big publicity event before he enters the army.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 5, 2006
A few bows too many for shamed DPJ lawmaker Hisayasu Nagata
One picture, as they say, is worth a thousand words, and the one that graced the front page of the Feb. 24 Asahi Shimbun is worth more than all the kanji expended on the Democratic Party of Japan's e-mail fiasco.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 3, 2006
At the heart of the matter
April 26 will mark the 20th anniversary of the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukraine.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 3, 2006
James Brown
Of all the self-promoting labels James Brown has appropriated in his career, "The Hardest Working Man in Show Business" is probably the most apt. People think it refers to the intensity of his live performances -- the hoarse screams, the manic, stuttery dance steps, the buckets of perspiration -- but...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 26, 2006
It was downhill all the way in Japan's media coverage of Olympics
Were the Turin Winter Olympics really that boring or was it just the Japanese television coverage?
CULTURE / Music
Feb 24, 2006
The Verbs "And Now . . . "
When Meegan Voss tells off her unfaithful lover in "Don't Say a Word," you imagine her walking out the door all calm and collected. "I'm tired of your story," she exhales, and while the bluesy backing track sounds a little like "Piece of My Heart," Voss's vocals are exactly the opposite of Janis Joplin's...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 19, 2006
Careful planning helps to preserve male-succession mind-set
The morning after it broke, news that Princess Kiko is expecting a baby in September was greeted with predictably meaningless blather on the TV wide shows. Commentators made a connection between the pregnancy and that ceremony the princess and her husband, Prince Akishino, attended in September of last...
CULTURE / Music
Feb 17, 2006
Various Artists "Congotronics 2"
One of last year's great discoveries was the "Congotronics" album by Konono No. 1, a Congolese group that's been around since the 1970s. Founded by electrician Mawangu Mingiedi, Konono No. 1 produces music with likembe thumb pianos amplified through microphones and amplifiers rebuilt from old junk, and...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 12, 2006
Hosting is ghosting in as respectable profession
The reported improvement in the ratio of jobs to job seekers is good news for the nation's leaders, and not just because it indicates better economic health.
CULTURE / Music
Feb 10, 2006
BMX Bandits
Every regional music scene has its petrie-dish band from which members crawled off to spawn other bands with the same stylistic DNA. In Seattle it was Green River; in Omaha it was Commander Venus. Glasgow has had an internationally recognized rock scene for longer than those two cities, and while Orange...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 5, 2006
When building bridges becomes a fruitless endeavor
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi prides himself on his plain-spoken approach to politics. His popularity guarantees that people listen to everything he says, and because what he says tends to be simple it has the power of a pronouncement, regardless of whether or not it makes any sense.
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.
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.
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.”
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

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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