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November 25, 2024
 

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Patrick St. Michel
Patrick St. Michel is a Tokyo-based writer with a focus on Japanese music. He runs the blog Make Believe Melodies, which has focused on Japanese independent music since 2009. Besides The Japan Times, he also contributes to MTV 81 and The Atlantic.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Feb 26, 2020
COVID-19 fears hit live music in Japan
With fears over the COVID-19 outbreak increasing, a slew of overseas artists have cancelled live shows in Japan, while others are determined that the show must go on.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 26, 2020
Departing from tradition with Hiromitsu Agatsuma and Akiko Yano
Shamisen player Hiromitsu Agatsuma teams up with singer and musician Akiko Yano for a new album which sees both depart from their previous styles and genres.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH
Feb 22, 2020
No need to 'disrupt' the potato chip, there's no improving this classic snack
Japanese snack makers are constantly looking to improve the classic potato chip. But do they succeed?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 20, 2020
Taigen Kawabe's Ill Japonia: Allowing yourself to learn from the new wave
Bo Ningen's Taigen Kawabe drops the guitars and starts rapping on his first release as III Japonia.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Feb 15, 2020
COVID-19 reveals fractured moral impulse of social media
The outbreak of a new coronavirus in China, now officially named COVID-19, has sparked plenty of concern online — some valid, others more hyperbolic in nature. Like many global events in the social media age, the outbreak has also resulted in no shortage of fake news and racism. Both elements have...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH
Feb 15, 2020
With the Kit Kat McFlurry, McDonald's continues its winning streak
Dessert Watch doesn't play favorites, but recently McDonald's Japan has been on a roll that's hard to ignore. The once besieged fast food chain has been scoring sweet hits (and online buzz) in the past few months, and its latest continues the streak.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH
Feb 8, 2020
Gird your arteries: Jumbo fried foods have taken over convenience stores
Convenience stores have started going bigger with their fried food options in 2020. Whether they are better is debatable.
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / Wide Angle
Feb 7, 2020
Arashi lets fans in on a little tedium with new streaming Netflix documentary
After 20 years of entertainment the masses, J-pop group Arashi is embarking on its final tour ahead of a hiatus. A new Netflix documentary goes behind the scenes of the preparations.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH
Feb 1, 2020
KitKat kicks it up a notch with its Valentine's-limited Cacao Fruit Dessert
Have you ever wanted to know how cacao fruit tasted? Now you can, with Nestle Japan's new cacao fruit-flavored KitKat. (Spoiler: It's zesty!)
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / Wide Angle
Jan 31, 2020
Netflix and Hulu unleash Japanese travel shows with improved mileage
Streaming services in Japan offer two very different approaches to travel shows, with 'Ainori Love Wagon: African Journey' and 'Kiko's Infinite Journey'
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jan 30, 2020
Parents in Japan use YouTube to teach bilingual baby talk that's good for any age
Mothers raising their kids in Japan head to YouTube to create a community that goes beyond basic parenting tips.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH
Jan 25, 2020
Coca-Cola Strawberry versus Asahi's Lemola: Which does fruit better?
Two prominent Japanese beverage companies are offering consumers a choice: something entirely new, or a revived Showa Era flavor.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Jan 25, 2020
Kakeibo: Turning a dull aspect of Japanese life into social media gold
At some point in the past decade, the international notion of “weird Japan” — a view in which the country produces more quirky and wacky trends than many other nations, regardless if said example is actually widespread — took a back seat to “boring but profound Japan.” 
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Jan 24, 2020
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu and Hatsune Miku help Coachella's Japan contingent to grow
The California festival adds two Japanese pop heavyweights to its lineup, following a successful appearance by Perfume there last year.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH
Jan 18, 2020
Mister Donut gets the French treatment with its Pierre Herme collaboration
2020's first hit dessert collaboration is here with Mister Donut and Pierre Herme's lineup of six chocolate- and fruit-forward doughnuts.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Jan 18, 2020
Social media turns its back on Japan's beloved strong alcoholic beverages
Everyone has a friend who likes to darken the mood when others are simply trying to have a good time. Dr. Toshihiko Matsumoto took on this mantle over the new year, killing the buzz for a number of people on social media just hours before the new decade started.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH
Jan 11, 2020
Take a cold weather gamble on Lawson's new ice bars
Lawson's Japan Flavors series of desserts, debuted in summer with a handful of citrus-flavored ice bars, and now the convenience store chain has rolled out two new varieties for winter in the form of grape and strawberry ice pops.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Jan 10, 2020
NHK raises the dead for 'Kohaku' to mixed reviews
After NHK brought deceased enka singer Hibari Misora back to the 'Kohaku Uta Gassen' stage, reaction from viewers was mixed.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Jan 4, 2020
Predicting Japan's digital trends of the next decade
Last year was all about looking back. Between the end of the Heisei Era (1989-2019) and the decade coming to a close, people appeared to go to extra lengths to reflect on the recent and not-so-recent past (this column included). Now that we’ve entered 2020, though, it’s time to leave the highlights...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH
Jan 4, 2020
Krispy Kreme's new Year of the Rat doughnuts are cuter than you might think
How do you make Year of the Rat-themed sweets adorable? Look to the mouse, of course.
Woman dies after train collides with car in Tochigi
A Moka Railway train car
After Shohei Ohtani bump, Iwate ironware maker sees brighter future
Kaito Kikuchi's decision to send superstar Shohei Ohtani one of his company's traditional ironware tea kettles has paid off with a surge of interest from general consumers.
Tokyo police care for lost umbrellas, keys and flying squirrels
An employee at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Lost and Found Center in the Iidabashi area of central Tokyo bags, tags and organizes thousands of items.
Japan to aid introduction of multilingual ride-hailing apps
A Nihon Kotsu Co. taxi departs one of the company's service offices in Tokyo.
Seven & I founding family sounded out KKR and others about buyout: report
A 7-Eleven convenience store in Tokyo
Tokyo’s newest three-star chef wants ‘harmony across every detail’
British-born Daniel Calvert earned his third Michelin star last month — a stunning achievement considering his restaurant, Sezanne, has only been open for just over three years.
133-year-old Kyushu railway station remains to be partially preserved
The remains of the original Moji Station in Kitakyushu
After Shohei Ohtani bump, Iwate ironware maker sees brighter future
Kaito Kikuchi's decision to send superstar Shohei Ohtani one of his company's traditional ironware tea kettles has paid off with a surge of interest from general consumers.
Shohei Ohtani wins National League MVP award
Shohei Ohtani celebrates after hitting a three-run home run against the Padres during the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles last month.
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.”

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?
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