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August 15, 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
LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH
Mar 3, 2017
Patisserie Kihachi kick-starts spring with Mont Blanc Sakura sweet
It may not feel like it, but spring is right around the corner, and for the nation's dessert makers that means everything gets a bit pink as they capitalize on the coming of the ever-fleeting cherry blossoms.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH
Feb 24, 2017
Pocky's vanilla variety pairs well with a particular side
To properly enjoy Pocky's creamy vanilla variety, you're going to need a drink. According to the snack's intricate advertising campaign, it is ideally complimented by a new strawberry-flavored tea, where the two flavors join to resemble strawberry shortcake.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 19, 2017
Could Wednesday Campanella's 'Superman' be the album that saves mainstream J-pop?
Wednesday Campanella "Superman" (Warner Music Japan)
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH
Feb 17, 2017
Black S'more Pancake: More than the sum of its many parts
Sometimes, simply piling sweet tastes onto a dessert is a winning strategy. As it happens, The J.S. Pancake Cafe chain is offering up a chocolate Black S'more Pancake until the end of February.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH
Feb 10, 2017
Agepizza: a deep-fried substitute for the real deal to warm your cockles in winter
During the coldest stretch of winter, a warm snack helps to make the low temperatures a bit more tolerable.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH
Feb 3, 2017
Say it with special pancakes, slathered with chocolate mousse
Pancakes may not be the on-trend meal just now, but the right stack should still wow your date on Valentine's Day. Cafe and bookstore Bibliotheque, with locations in Yurakucho and Jiyugaoka, is rolling out a decadent take on the dish throughout February. The Valentine's Special Pancake (¥1,400) features...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 2, 2017
Justin Miller brings an American touch to one of Japan's richest musical genres: Showa pop
Justin Miller isn't a stranger to Japanese TV. He has been a guest on various morning shows to promote Showa Kayo Night, a party he co-founded in 2011. But the reaction he got after appearing on TV Tokyo's evening program "You wa Nani Shi ni Nippon E?" ("Why Did You Come To Japan?") really surprised...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 29, 2017
Quarta330 rewires his sound on 'Pixelated'
Unlike a lot of kids growing up in the 1990s, Toru Koda didn't have much hands-on experience with video games.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH
Jan 27, 2017
No big surprises from Sapporo's latest artisanal brew
In order to stand out in the ever-crowded booze corner of convenience stores, Sapporo is playing up the traditional production methods behind its brews. It has released a second installment of the "Beer Surprise" series of drinks — available exclusively at Family Mart convenience stores. The Shifuku...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 22, 2017
G.Rina balances bubble-era kitsch with modern song construction on 'Live & Learn'
Nostalgia for the 1980s typically takes one of two forms in contemporary Japanese music. Artists either embrace laid-back, acid jazz-leaning pop, or they double down on the washed-out fuzz of old VHS tapes. G.Rina finds a balance on "Live & Learn," her first major label release. Ignore the keytars she...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 22, 2017
DJ Okawari brings us back to chill on 'Compass'
It has been six years since Shizuoka-based DJ Okawari last released an album, but his timing in releasing new collection "Compass" couldn't be better.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 22, 2017
For Tracy Hyde polishes its indie aesthetics on 'Film Bleu'
For Tracy Hyde's "Film Bleu" presents an elegant way for an indie-pop band to exist in a different realm. The group has been around since 2012, started by guitarist Azusa Suga merging twee-ish rock with strokes of electronica.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH
Jan 20, 2017
Chocolate and 'yakisoba' just can't work out their differences
Here's a sure-fire way to make sure your Valentine's Day crush never replies to you: Tell them you'll cook them some chocolate yakisoba (fried noodles). This isn't even an appealing combo on paper, but the folks behind this ungodly mutation know enough knuckleheads like me will buy it for the novelty....
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jan 15, 2017
Turning YouTube into yen: Can vloggers become the new foreign correspondents?
In 2015, Sharla of the YouTube channel Sharla In Japan found herself juggling two careers. Since 2011, the Canadian-born creator had been making videos about her life here to a quickly growing audience. But actually making them was tough, as she also had a day job.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 15, 2017
Paellas aim to redefine the sound of 'now'
Fitting into the sound of the moment while still standing apart from it can be a tricky thing to do. Paellas guitarist Satoshi Anan says he wanted the feeling of "now" to come out on his band's newest album, "Pressure."
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH
Jan 13, 2017
Baskin-Robbins caters to strawberry lovers with new winter sundae
Lovers of fresh strawberries, rejoice. Until early March, Baskin-Robbins stores across Japan are offering a new Fresh Strawberry Sundae, which goes all in on the juicy red berry.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH
Jan 6, 2017
Artisanal chocolates have hit Japan's convenience stores
Craft beer, move over. It's time for artisanal "bean-to-bar" chocolate to take the spotlight at Japan's convenience stores. Sweets-maker Meiji has recently rolled out a series of chocolate bars called The Chocolate, proudly displaying the high cacao percentage and including graphs on the packaging proving...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH
Dec 30, 2016
A sweet treat for the Year of the Rooster
Dessert chain Cozy Corner is celebrating 2017 with a small cake resembling the Chinese Zodiac animal of the next 12 months, the chicken. It's a sweet, photogenic addition to any New Year's parties or family gatherings you might be attending in the next few days. This fowl delight (¥540) features a rich...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH
Dec 23, 2016
Celebrate Christmas with a rich snowman
Seven-Eleven won't be offering its limited-edition Christmas desserts for much longer. After Dec. 25, the convenience-store chain's specialty treats will be replaced, inevitably, by the next limited dessert.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 18, 2016
Japan's pop music scene saw a power struggle in 2016
Media, both domestic and overseas, spent a lot of time focused on the streaming services arriving in Japan in 2016. Months of "Can these platforms thrive in CD-loving Japan?" speculation reached a climax in September, when global market leader Spotify finally debuted here. There was a big press conference,...
Japan to revise consumption tax exemption for overseas tourists
Tourists walk through Nakamise shopping street near Sensoji Temple in Tokyo in April
Japan's tourism industry hit by cancellations after megaquake alert
A beach closed due to a megaquake alert in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, from Friday to Thursday.
Focus shifts to incoming typhoon as Tropical Storm Maria dissipates
Newly formed Tropical Storm Ampil, which is forecast to approach eastern Japan this weekend, is seen on the left side of this satellite image.
Kishida to step down in September in bid to show ‘LDP has changed’
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference Wednesday at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo.
Publisher finds surprise audience after translating history textbooks
Yamakawa Shuppansha president Takeshi Nozawa holds the publisher's textbook on Japanese history — used in high schools across Japan — alongside the new English version in Tokyo on May 23.
Economic security is about strengthening and sustaining growth, former minister says
Former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi says changes in the international balance of power, along with deepening economic interdependence, have led some countries to attempt to use their economic power to impose their will on others.
Ice bandanas, convenience store breaks: Running under Japan’s summer sun
Blistering heat is becoming a fixture of summer in Japan, but a few tweaks to your routine can make your outdoor runs bearable — if not enjoyable — until cooler temperatures return.
Japan issued its first-ever megaquake alert. What does that mean?
Naoshi Hirata (center), chairman of a committee tasked with evaluating the risk of a Nankai Trough earthquake, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Friday.
France brings down the curtain on its Olympic party with Tom Cruise and Leon Marchand
Fireworks are set off during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics at Stade de France in Saint-Denis on Sunday.
Japan fuels U.S. LNG boom even as climate targets and impacts loom
Flaring at the Cameron LNG export terminal in Hackberry, Louisiana. Flaring, a common sight at LNG plants, is a controlled burning of gas for reasons ranging from depressurizing equipment to disposing of gas that can’t be used. The practice is a "waste of money" and negatively impacts climate change and human health, says the International Energy Agency.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’
By Thu-Huong Ha

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