Philip Brasor - The Japan Times

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

May 5, 2002

Fighting society's evils: illegal bicycle parking

As social problems go, illegally parked bicycles probably rank relatively low, somewhere between sex service advertisements in phone booths and public urination. But the problem has become so intractable in certain areas that local administrations have resorted to ever more desperate moves in response...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

May 1, 2002

Marc Ribot

Guitarist Marc Ribot originally gained attention by playing with those iconoclastic Downtown Johns -- Zorn and Lurie -- in the early '80s. Later he cemented his reputation as a musical polymorph with session work for people like Elvis Costello and Tom Waits. However, it was mainly as the leader of Los...

CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF

Apr 28, 2002

A suck-up, a thumbs up

Ever since SMAP-man Goro Inagaki returned from self-imposed exile, during which he supposedly reflected on his heinous parking infraction, he seems to be everywhere, as if he were making up for lost time. Perhaps as a spoof on his capacity to demonstrate self-effacement, he's currently starring in his...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Apr 28, 2002

Public rests easy with cash under the futon

As the scandals keep a-comin', the citizens are receiving what many believe is a healthy and long overdue reality check about those whom they've entrusted with their collective well-being. Politicians have always been suspicious types and bureaucrats only slightly less so. But now teachers, policemen...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Apr 24, 2002

Elf Power: 'Creatures'

After almost a decade on the lo-fi indie scene and numerous personnel shuffles, the Atlanta-Denver axis known as the Elephant 6 Collective has engendered a love-hate reaction from those of us who appreciate what it stands for but not always what it produces. The Olivia Tremor Control releases nearly...

CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF

Apr 21, 2002

Tireless fighters and flightless invaders

Truth may not be stranger than fiction, but it's usually more dramatic, as proven in a series of best-selling memoirs by Mayumi Takeda. The 32-year-old writer has lived what some people have described as a "roller-coaster life," and Monday night on Nippon TV's "Super TV" documentary program, this life...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Apr 21, 2002

A superstar rises to the advertising occasion

I guess it's supposed to set up a connection between athleticism and potency, but I was still slightly taken aback last week while watching a broadcast on NHK of a major league baseball game. Behind home plate there was an advertisement for Viagra.

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Apr 17, 2002

Blackalicious: 'Blazing Arrow'

'Who said underground is just one mode?" asks the Gift of Gab (Tim Parker) on Blackalicious' new album, "Blazing Arrow." That question became a rhetorical one when the Bay Area hip-hop duo's label, Quannum Projects, was picked up for distribution by MCA/ Universal. But even if they're underground only...

CULTURE / Music

Apr 14, 2002

It's not what you're thinking . . .

The way the rock business works is, you buy the record and if you like what you hear, you go to see the band in concert, which more likely than not, will be scheduled within two months of the record's release. Or, you see a band (by accident?) at a concert and then you rush out to your nearest record...

CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF

Apr 14, 2002

It's spring and renewal is in the air

English teachers will definitely want to check out Sunday's two-hour "SmaStation Spring Berabera Festival" (TV Asahi, 6:56 p.m.). "SmaStation" is the latest SMAP-related hit variety series, normally broadcast Saturday nights at 11 p.m. Taking its name from TV Asahi's influential nightly news program,...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Apr 14, 2002

Pop stars set an example for us all

The permanent five-day school week that goes into effect this month has given rise to a great deal of discussion in the government and the media as to whether or not Japan can afford to cut back on classroom time. This discussion, however, has not addressed the question of what education is supposed...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Apr 10, 2002

Weezer

Though it's probably not their fault, Weezer are generally credited with creating rock's now passe nerd-slacker ethic: The band's catchy Ric Ocasek-produced 1993 debut album could have been titled "Songs About Beer and Masturbation." Led by rock's most reluctant star, Rivers Cuomo ("Anything real is...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Apr 7, 2002

Did NHK balk at covering war tribunal?

It was indicated last week that the International Criminal Court, a permanent judicial body with the power to try individuals and groups accused of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity, will soon be formally established. So far, 56 nations have ratified the Rome Statute of 1998, which states...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Apr 3, 2002

Jimi Tenor

If there's enough temporal distance between your music and that music's source influence, you may be mistaken for an original. Better yet, if you strip that influence to its basics, you can be labeled a purist. Sometimes this strategy backfires, and you get people like Tiny Tim, a minimalist throwback...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Mar 31, 2002

Secretarial problems claim 'woman of integrity'

Kiyomi Tsujimoto's departure from the House of Representatives last week was caused by the misappropriation of money that the state paid to one of her secretaries as a salary. However, as with so many elected officials before her, the Osaka native's main mistake, at least in the eyes of the media, was...

CULTURE / Music

Mar 31, 2002

Abandon the search for meaning

A not-so-funny thing happened to the Australian band Gerling on the way to Japan last fall. Having presented a buzz-worthy performance at last summer's Fuji Rock Festival, the trio was completely psyched for a Japan tour set for November. Then, America was attacked. But while a lot of bands subsequently...

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Mar 27, 2002

Pet Shop Boys: 'Release'

More than 16 years ago, Neil Tennant emerged as the Noel Coward of dance pop when he and fellow Pet Shop Boy Chris Lowe exhorted all the young dudes to "make lots of money." Like the playwright, Tennant sauntered on to the scene fully jaded, his wit already acerbic, his ironies prickly with cynicism....

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Mar 24, 2002

And for your comic delight: The Suzuki Show

CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES

Mar 20, 2002

Kasey Chambers: 'Barricades & Brickwalls'

Home may be where the heart is, but sometimes the voice comes from somewhere else. Whether it's Mick Jagger's Mississippi drawl or Billy Joe Armstrong's cockney pretensions, pop singers adopt accents because that's the way they imagine one sings a particular style of music. It doesn't matter that Jagger...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Mar 17, 2002

The Imperial family: celebrities or deities?

At a press conference to mark his 68th birthday last December, Emperor Akihito surprised reporters by saying that he felt a strong "kinship" with Korea.

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