author

 
Menu
Search
 
November 22, 2024
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

Meta

Twitter

@philipbrasor

Philip Brasor
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 24, 2002
Blinded by dogma, or just poor journalism
One would have thought the media learned something from the Kim Hye Gyong debacle.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Nov 20, 2002
Sinead O'Connor: "Sean-Nos Nua"
Though she's done the occasional traditional Irish song as a guest on other people's records, Sinead O'Connor has never explored her country's musical heritage in depth. Now, after more than 10 years of trying to express her adolescent earth-mother iconoclasm, she gives up and goes the trad route with...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 20, 2002
Next best thing
Three tunes into his 2 1/2-hour extravaganza at Tokyo Dome on Nov. 11, Sir Paul McCartney introduced a "song that's never been played live until this year. The thing is, if you don't tour, then when you record a song, that's the last time you ever sing it." He then launched into the simple, unmistakable...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 17, 2002
Media refuses to aim spotlight on prison life in Japan
At a news conference Nov. 12, Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama apologized for an incident that occurred at Nagoya Prison in September, when five guards allegedly used excessive force on a prisoner, who subsequently spent three weeks in hospital. Moriyama told the press it wouldn't happen again. She also...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Nov 13, 2002
"Tokyo: the Sex, the City, the Music"
Just what we need: another Japanese club-music compilation. I still get a lot of enjoyment out of the old "Dance 2 Noise" series, and the "Sushi 3003" collection is what I usually recommend to the uninitiated. However, "Sushi" came out in '96, and while even a cursory listen to "Tokyo: the Sex, the City,...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 10, 2002
Ishihara could be spiked with his own barbs
Exactly a year ago in the weekly women's magazine Shukan Josei, Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara shot off a few of his patented provocative statements. His remarks about middle-aged women were particularly noteworthy. "Old ladies have proved to be the biggest obstacle to the progress of civilization," he...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Nov 6, 2002
Mekons: "OOOH!"
Many bands will admit to being politically minded, but the Mekons are one of the few who put their politics ahead of their music. It's not so much that the band, formed by art students in Leeds, England, in the late '70s, want to advance an agenda, but rather that they believe art and commerce are inseparable...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 3, 2002
Shift into Lowe gear
Nick Lowe, who is coming to Japan this week, was supposed to tour here a year ago in support of his latest album, "The Convincer," but canceled because one of his regular backup musicians wasn't available.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 3, 2002
Abductees watch fate unfold through TV
Fuji TV, the Asahi Shimbun and the Mainichi Shimbun received unanimous disapprobation for their Oct. 25 interview with Kim Hye Gyong, the 15-year-old daughter of Megumi Yokota, who was abducted by North Korean agents in 1977 at the age of 13 and is presumed dead. The three media companies apologized,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Oct 30, 2002
Pink
Alecia Moore, better known as Pink, was just another cog in the teen dance-pop machine when producer Daryl Simmons asked her to write a bridge for a song she was performing with a vocal group. The snippet impressed label honcho L.A. Reid enough to win her a solo contract, but not enough to allow her...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 27, 2002
At last, a family cartoon playing it for real
Since virtually everyone has grown up in one, "family" is one of the few dramatic themes that can safely be called universal, even if no two families can ever be the same. Nevertheless, the popular arts, television in particular, are filled with families who are meant to represent all families.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Oct 23, 2002
Rocket From the Crypt: "Live From Camp X-Ray"
John "Speedo" Reis' critical image is of a pop culture otaku who channeled his obsessions into decent rock 'n' roll that doesn't embarrass the artists it reveres. The name of his best-known group, Rocket From the Crypt, pays homage to both Rocket From the Tombs, the legendary Cleveland shock-rock group...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 20, 2002
Turning into Japan's Everyman in a Nobel way
People who get selected to compete on Japanese trivia-based TV quiz shows are always getting asked questions about Japan's Nobel prizewinners. It's not as difficult as it sounds. Until two weeks ago, there were only 10 of them.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Oct 17, 2002
Prince
The artist formerly known as the Artist Formerly Known as Prince has suddenly embarked on a world tour and will be in Japan in mid-November. You should be excited, though no one can blame you if you're not. Having spent most of the '90s trying to figure out what to call him as he dropped one multidisc...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 13, 2002
Japanese will have babies when living is easy
In the middle of September, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry released a set of countermeasures to address the declining birthrate, which Chikara Sakaguchi -- the head of the ministry -- has said will "sink Japan" if it remains as low as it is.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 9, 2002
Nu-girls on the block
Last June, Newsweek spotted a species of American teenagers that it called Gamma Girls: high school females who are ambitious about their futures and smart about the dangers of sex and drugs. Rolling Stone more recently ran an article profiling college-age women who exert "control" over their bodies...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Oct 9, 2002
Steve Earle: "Jerusalem"
The fuss over "John Walker's Blues," Steve Earle's look-see into the mind of the American Taliban, barely survived the actual release of the song a few weeks ago. John Walker Lindh, who is portrayed by Earle as a naive but well-meaning young idealist, has since tearfully owned up to his mistakes and...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 6, 2002
When every channel is the same channel
Ever since the advent of that popular programming idea known as the "wide show" in the mid-1980s, so-called hard news and tabloid news have slowly merged into an alloy of informational reporting that defies easy categorization.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Oct 2, 2002
Sparta
When the hyper art-punk band At the Drive In announced an indefinite sabbatical last year, the members amicably split into two groups.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 29, 2002
When mourning makes straight talk taboo
The shock that accompanied the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, quickly turned into a mood of national mourning that continues to hang over the United States a year later. As a form of social behavior, mourning comes with its own protocol, and in this particular case attempts to place the attacks...
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.

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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’
SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER