Philip Brasor - The Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Sep 25, 2002

This year's Festival Halou, Tokyo's annual offering of French pops, features Henri Salvador, who, at 85, certainly has some stories to tell. Born in French Guiana in 1917, Salvador moved to Paris as a young man, where he played guitar with Django Reinhardt and developed his own vocal style. In the '50s,...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Sep 22, 2002

The fallout of Japan's national energy policy

In Japan, Fumiko Kometani, the wife of American screenwriter Josh Greenfeld and mother of journalist Karl Taro Greenfeld, has a reputation for being a grouch. A longtime resident of the United States, she writes for a number of Japanese publications and very rarely has anything nice to say about either...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Sep 15, 2002

'Socialism' goes shopping at Vuitton free-for-all

As an economic power, Japan is the ideal that the rest of Asia aspires to, but it isn't merely Japan's vast material wealth that everybody envies. There's a social aspect to Japan's success that many see as even more desirable.

CULTURE / Music

Sep 11, 2002

Mickey Fickey Mix

Since hardcore rap feeds off hyperbole, it's difficult to separate boasts from accomplishments. Is Dr. Dre really the originator of all that the West Coast represents, or is he simply SoCal hip-hop's shrewdest impresario? His contribution to "Straight Outta Compton," the 1988 N.W.A. album that defined...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Sep 8, 2002

Back to the old house to raise our spirits

Japan likes to present itself as the world's shining example of rapid economic development, the "postwar miracle." The government's extensive overseas development aid is more than just the gesture of noblesse oblige expected of the world's No. 2 economic power. It is an assertion of everything that is...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Sep 4, 2002

reindeer section: "Son of Evil Reindeer"

The idea behind The Reindeer Section came up when a dozen or so leading lights of Glasgow's music scene attended a Lou Barlow concert and got very drunk together. As is often the case in such situations, the idea didn't seem half as interesting the next day.

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Sep 1, 2002

Hitting English language-learning overdrive

The Japanese media is in the middle of another of its sporadic English-language learning frenzies, which, this time, seems to have been sparked by an Education Ministry decision to promote English conversation lessons in public elementary schools.

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Aug 28, 2002

Spoon: "Kill the Moonlight"

Since forming in the early '90s, the Austin, Texas, band Spoon has continually sharpened its sound to such a fine edge that its new album, "Kill the Moonlight," could conceivably be performed live with only singer-songwriter Britt Daniels on vocals, drummer Jim Eno on tambourine and a tape of the simple...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Aug 25, 2002

Buying into the idea of saving the planet

It may not be intentional, but the new batch of ads by the Tokyo Electric Power Co. could be seen as taking advantage of the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development, which opens in Johannesburg on Monday. In each TV spot, following energy-saving advice related to the use of air conditioners,...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Aug 18, 2002

59 yen burgers wolfed down by bargain-hunters

Late last month, a man in New York filed a lawsuit against four fast-food restaurant chains claiming that they were responsible for his obesity problems. Blaming advertisements that supposedly mislead consumers into thinking that their products "are good for you," the man and his lawyers hope to win...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Aug 14, 2002

Linda Thompson: "Fashionably Late"

In 1972, shortly after she married former Fairport Convention guitarist Richard Thompson and became pregnant, the sometime folk and commercial jingle singer Linda Peters began suffering from a rare psychological disorder called hysterical dysphonia. "You open your mouth and nothing comes out," is how...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Aug 11, 2002

We are more than just numbers, aren't we?

On Aug. 3, something interesting happened on the TBS newsmagazine "Broadcaster." Following a report on the new computerized resident registry network, commonly referred to as Juki Net, which would go into effect the following Monday, the show's presenter apologized for not covering the topic fully when...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Aug 7, 2002

The Streets: Original Pirate Material

Following hard on the heels of drum 'n' bass, U.K. garage (or two-beat) was already the hippest thing in urban Britain by the time the rest of the world had even heard of it. Critics called it the purest form of dance music since '70s disco, while practitioners made much of its up-from-the-streets credibility,...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Aug 4, 2002

Can you celebrate? Not yet, Amuro- chan

It's generally assumed by the media that pop singer Namie Amuro's recent divorce from dancer Masaharu "Sam" Maruyama is the first step in an earnest attempt to reinflate a career that lost a lot of air after the 24-year-old dance-music diva took a year's maternity leave. If that sounds like a cynical...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Jul 31, 2002

Arto Lindsay

Arto Lindsay's age (49) and bespectacled appearance make him an unlikely sex god, but few musicians fuse carnality and spirituality with such seamless grace. "All my visions crowd down to one bead of sweat," he sings on his new album, "Invoke." Lindsay's voice is soft, knowing, sensuous; attributes that...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Jul 28, 2002

Look at her, she's dying to lose some weight

If there is still any question whether China has finally joined the so-called industrialized world, the current diet-aid scandal should put it to rest. Only an industrialized nation with a population that eats enough food on a daily basis to worry about extra kilos can support an industry dedicated to...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Jul 24, 2002

Warren Zevon: 'My Ride's Here'

Despite having predicted his own irrelevance as far back as 1976 on the song "Desperados Under the Eaves," Warren Zevon has outlasted his more illustrious L.A. pals The Eagles and mentor Jackson Browne even if his awkward song stylings and unpretty baritone haven't changed a bit. And while Zevon himself...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Jul 21, 2002

Public works projects? Dam them all to hell

The person who said that all politics is local probably wasn't thinking about Japan, where regional officials don't seem to have much purpose in life beyond trying to cadge money from Tokyo.

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Jul 14, 2002

Going to any lengths to avoid giving offense

Weird Tales of Self-Restraint No. 16: Heroes are Hard to Find

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Jul 10, 2002

Skist: 'Ellipsis'

If the purpose of abstraction is to get as far away from representative forms as possible, then the ultimate abstraction is something that's totally unrecognizable as anything. In the 1950s, Abstract Impressionists went to such lengths to avoid even suggesting the use of paint that judgment of their...

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