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November 22, 2024
 

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Jason Jenkins

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Jason Jenkins
Jason spent 13 years in Tokyo writing about cameras, parenting and the arts. In 2013 he left to travel, homeschooling his kids in Spain, Mexico and Southeast Asia before moving back to Japan in 2019.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 18, 2004
The Album Leaf: "In a Safe Place"
Jimmy LaValle's classical training helped define his old outfit, Tristeza, whose intricate post-rock pastorals could have been jarring or cluttered without a subtle, steady hand. As the Album Leaf, his present incarnation, the San Diego guitarist's strings recede into more barren terrain. Lush acoustic...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 4, 2004
Kenji Jammer: "Hula Hula Dance 4"
Japanese guitarist Kenji Jammer's eclectic dossier includes studio work with everyone from U2 to Bill Laswell to Simply Red. His "Hula Hula Dance" CD series, however, has focused on a reinterpretation of Hawaiian-style steel guitar, sauntering past the luau for the sleek sofas of club-lounge culture....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 27, 2004
Nothing like vintage tech
It's been said that the musical style now referred to as "electro" wriggled to life in the early '80s, when the heavy thump of funk collided with burgeoning synthesizer technology. Jittery, bass-heavy and bombastic, electro lurked on the half-courts and back-alley clubs of New York City, embraced mostly...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 20, 2004
De La Soul: "Live at Tramps, 1996," "De La Mix Tape"
Few hip-hop fans argue the relevance of golden-age innovators De La Soul, but two recent releases from the Rhino label may cause debate.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 6, 2004
RJD2: "Since We Last Spoke"
Any DJ worth his wax knows there's more to hip-hop than beats, bravado and samples extracted from R&B vinyl. On "Since We Last Spoke," the Def Jux label's star spinner, RJD2, strays further from the medium's usual rap/soul axis and delves into arena rock, circa 1984 (Van Halen reference intended). Some...
CULTURE / Music
May 16, 2004
The Beta Band: "Heroes to Zeros"
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 11, 2004
Sufjan Stevens: "Seven Swans"
In a recent interview, Sufjan Stevens confessed vocal inadequacies: his range is limited; his falsetto is strained; he lacks Patti Smith's attitude and Willie Nelson's cliches. However, narrative, he says, saves the music from these weaknesses.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 21, 2004
Junior Senior
Danish duo Junior Senior may be difficult to describe, but their message is unmistakably clear: Get on the freaking dance floor. Their debut, "D-D-Don't Don't Stop the Beat," was last year's best party album, brimming with tracks that read like cheerleading chants: "Move Your Feet," "C'Mon," "Dynamite,"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 29, 2004
Lightning Bolt emerge from tightly knit scene
Avant-garde hardcore duo Lightning Bolt may be the heaviest thing ever to come out of Rhode Island. Technically precise, unwaveringly experimental and deafeningly loud, their shows are known for blowing the minds (and eardrums) of headbangers and jazzbos alike.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 15, 2004
Harper pushing himself to a higher plane
Ben Harper just had a great week. First, the singer/songwriter and master of the acoustic slide guitar spoke with Andre 3000 of hip-hop heroes OutKast about going into the studio together. A few days later, guitar legend Ry Cooder called about collaborating. Then blues great Taj Mahal called with a similar...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 1, 2004
Savath & Savalas: "Apropa't"
In the spring of 2002, Scott Herren -- known best for avant-garde hip-hop under the moniker Prefuse 73 -- decided to put his beats in storage and move to Spain. There he met Eva Puyuelo Muns, a singer/songwriter with tastes in traditional Latin music similar to his own. Together, they took Herren's side...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 25, 2004
Bob Log III
He may never show his face, but Bob Log III is by no means shy. With his head concealed by a motorcycle helmet hooked to a telephone receiver and his gut squeezed into a low-cut, blue spandex jumpsuit, Log looks more like Evel Knievel in a Dadaist porn flick than a one-man band belting out the Delta...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 21, 2003
Faye Wong: "It's My Style"
Fans of the Far East's most creative siren, Faye Wong, should know her latest album, "It's My Style," is worth the three-year wait. Due to a poetic reference to opium, the opener (and best track), "To Love," was banned in China. That means most mainlanders will miss hearing Wong trill through Middle-Eastern...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 7, 2003
Organic Groove
Fans of experimental electronic music will get an earful this coming Saturday at the latest all-night show thrown by the popular Organic Groove productions.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 5, 2003
Ima Robot: 'Ima Robot'
Ima RobotIma Robot
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Aug 27, 2003
The Dismemberment Plan: "The People's History of the Dismemberment Plan"
For frenetic indie foursome The Dismemberment Plan, breaking up has certainly been hard to do. Despite announcing their own dismemberment in January, the farewell tour has stretched into September, with their final show in Japan set for Saturday at Shibuya Nest before a farewell gig in Washington, D.C....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 20, 2003
Mutated beats for postmod grooving
Scott Herren is many things to many people. To some, he is Delarosa & Asora, the purveyor of jagged, techno dissonance. To others, he is Savath & Savalas, a mutating musical project that navigates electronica, postrock and Spanish folk with equal ease. At the moment, however, Herren's hip-hop outlet,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 16, 2003
Fuji's hipper hop
Despite its immense popularity in Japan, hip-hop has until recently suffered from poor representation at summer music events. The Fuji Rock Festival seems keen to make up for lost time this year, augmenting the usual legion of club-oriented DJs with a veritable roll call of some of today's most innovative...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 15, 2003
Prepare to be spanked hard
Thirty minutes into the interview, Wammo has to go on stage. "We're about to start," he says from his cell phone. "But if you want, call me tomorrow night after 10. My parents should be in bed by then."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jun 4, 2003
Allison Goldfrapp: "Black Cherry"
Allison Goldfrapp caught the attention of ambient techno-heads The Orbital after they saw one of her first performance-art pieces -- she sang while milking a cow. After contributing vocals to their album, "Snivilization" (1994), she collaborated the following year with dark-hop overlord Tricky on his...
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.
Russia fired experimental ballistic missile at Ukraine, Putin says
Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an airstrike in Dnipro on Thursday.
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.
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.
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.

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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