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July 17, 2024
 

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Philip Brasor
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 25, 2008
Jables steals the show
You could tell Jack Black was itching to act up. Sitting on the dais with four colleagues to promote their new animated film, "Kung Fu Panda," at a hotel in Shinjuku, the roly-poly actor looked — as he himself put it — like "the cat that ate the canary": face frozen in a self-satisfied grin...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 20, 2008
All this fuss over just a little drink at a . . . love hotel
The big tabloid scoop last week was snagged by the woman's weekly Josei Seven, which caught celebrity/announcer Mona Yamamoto and Yomiuri Giants shortstop Tomohiro Nioka in a love-hotel tryst. The reason the incident hit such a big nerve in the media is that the night the tryst took place was also the...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 13, 2008
When it's not quite convenient to protect the planet
"They work all day but still can't pay the price of gasoline and meat / Alas! Their lives are incomplete — Warren Zevon.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 6, 2008
Driving scams abound in the world of the bureaucrat
As long as I've lived in Tokyo, I've wondered why the city's public transportation system, maybe the best in the world, doesn't operate round the clock. One of the explanations I've heard is that taxi companies have successfully campaigned against any extension of train and bus services past midnight....
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 29, 2008
Akihabara killer followed plot mapped by the media
After serial killer Tsutomu Miyazaki was hanged on June 17, some death-penalty opponents wondered out loud if Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama had signed the execution order as a response to the indiscriminate murders of seven people on the streets of Akihabara nine days earlier. Of course, Hatoyama didn't...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 22, 2008
How can the press be free if it's used as a public-relations tool?
The Supreme Court's decision on June 12 to reverse a lower-court ruling that had found in favor of a women's group received a fair share of concerned media coverage. The suit involved a program NHK had produced about a 2001 citizens' tribunal, which prosecuted Japan's wartime leaders on behalf of sex...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 20, 2008
Children of Bodom
In the crowded world of Scandinavian hard rock, where dozens of subgenres vie for the attention of fans who just want power chords, the Finnish death-metal band Children of Bodom are iconoclasts.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 19, 2008
Santogold at Summer Sonic
Santogold has quickly eclipsed Vampire Weekend as the year's certified hippest new indie-rock act, and for good reason. Santi White's weird and wonderful vocal style — a sly mix of girl-group theatrics and new-wave experimentalism — complements her high-energy, ska-derived beats in such a...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 19, 2008
Egberto Gismonti at Tokyo Summer Festival
The theme of the 24th annual Tokyo Summer Festival, which runs from July 3 to 31 at venues throughout the city, is Forest Echoes/Desert Voices. Representing the former is pianist and guitarist Egberto Gismonti, who studied classical music in Paris only to return to his native Brazil to live in the forest...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 15, 2008
Nationality ruling could affect Japanese who don't 'exist'
After the Supreme Court ruled on June 4 that 10 children born to Filipino women had the right to be granted Japanese nationality, every media outlet in the country called the verdict "epoch-making" because the court declared a provision of the Nationality Law unconstitutional.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 13, 2008
World Beat 2008
If New York City was the world, then the borough of Brooklyn would be Global Bohemia, the place where undiscovered international creative forces meet, get drunk together and make art. In terms of music, no Brooklyn indie band personifies this idea better than Gogol Bordello, the "gypsy punk" collective...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 8, 2008
It might be lousy, but political TV drama 'Change' lives up to its title
Pre-premiere hype is important for Japanese TV drama series since their broadcast runs tend to be limited to 13 weeks. They don't have time to build an audience the way more open-ended series do in the West. As many people as possible have to tune in right from the start.
CULTURE / Music
Jun 6, 2008
The Roots "Rising Down"
Who says hip-hop acts can't get better with age? Since they started working for The Man (i.e., Jay-Z) two albums ago, The Roots have hardened their sound; and whether or not you believe such a gambit translates as a commercial sellout, as some older boosters believe, the socially conscious content on...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 1, 2008
Generic drugs? Brand-name drugs? Any old drugs will do
On April 1, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare notified local governments that from now on welfare recipients entitled to free medical care must only use generic pharmaceuticals rather than more expensive brand-name drugs. Almost immediately the plan was attacked in the media, which implied that...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 25, 2008
The art of 'not being funny' drums up big laughs on TV
It was a year ago that comedian Yoshio Kojima got his big break, and Japanese TV hasn't been the same since. Kojima is the young man who wears the colorful bikini briefs and nothing else while happily dancing and declaiming in meter: "Sonna no kankei nai (I couldn't care less)." His only punch line is...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 18, 2008
Pandas: pawns in a game of international diplomacy
As he often does, Shintaro Ishihara recently offered his views on a subject that didn't concern him and kicked up a controversy. During a press conference, the Tokyo governor sardonically questioned the "divinity" of pandas and wondered out loud, "Do we really need them?" — thus adding fuel to...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 11, 2008
The authorities gain complete control of the stories
Prior to the recent retrial of a man who was eventually sentenced to death by the Hiroshima High Court for killing a woman and her 1-year-old child in 1999, the Broadcasting Ethics and Program Improvement Organization complained about the coverage of the case. The BPO said that media outlets concentrated...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 4, 2008
The role of the media in tulip massacres and suicide
Since late March there has been a rash of vandalism directed against flowers. Tulips, in particular, have been cut, uprooted or trampled in public places. The news trail seems to originate during the most recent cherry blossom season, when eight young trees were found destroyed in West Tokyo's Koganei...
CULTURE / Music
May 2, 2008
Cajun Dance Party "The Colourful Life"
As the five members aren't old enough to play at venues that serve alcohol, Britain's Cajun Dance Party have channeled the creative energy new bands usually spend on touring into their debut album. Their first single, "The Next Untouchable," released a year ago, promotes their appeal magnificently:...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 27, 2008
Weighing up a media culture that sees 58-cm waistlines as the norm
Earlier this month, the French Parliament began contemplating a bill that would make it illegal to promote extreme thinness. Following the death in 2006 of a Brazilian supermodel from complications associated with anorexia, the issue of young women purposely starving themselves for the sake of self-image...
Who needs AI when you have Hatsune Miku?
Over the first six months of 2024, a handful of songs using Vocaloid singer Hatsune Miku’s voice have enjoyed widespread attention, underlining a global interest in the character and the technology she represents.
Yen’s woes seem too big for even a BOJ hike this month to solve
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo
China’s economic growth comes in worse than expected
Pedestrians in the Wangfujing shopping area in Beijing on July 11, 2024. China's economic growth in the second quarter was lower than forecast, adding pressure on Chinese leaders to lift confidence at the Chinese Communist Party's third plenum this week.
Kansai airports to increase takeoff and landing slots ahead of Osaka Expo
Kansai International Airport in Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture. The upper limit on the number of takeoff and landing slots at the airport as well as Kobe Airport in Hyogo Prefecture will be raised in spring next year ahead of the 2025 World Exposition in Osaka.
Shooter came within inches of killing Trump, but left few clues as to why
An aerial view shows the stage where Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump had been standing during an assassination attempt the day before, and the roof of a nearby building where a gunman was shot dead by law enforcement, in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Sunday.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
After Trump shooting, U.S. presidential race might take a violent turn
United States Secret Service Counter Snipers stand guard on a rooftop during a campaign rally for U.S. President Donald Trump in Avoca, Pennsylvania, in 2020.
No AC this summer? No problem (for me).
Think air conditioning is a requirement for a Tokyo summer? Think again.
She’s paying ¥1 million to help behind the scenes at the Paris Olympics
Mai Tarumi, who previously volunteered at the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, has a travel budget of ¥1 million for her trip to volunteer at the Paris Games.

Podcast

You can often see generations of families enjoying performances together at Fuji Rock Festival.
Japan’s summer music festivals are feeling the heat in more ways than one

Longform

Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
By Tomoko Otake

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