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November 22, 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
Sep 9, 2016
Seven-Eleven Japan unites a pudding and a roll cake in holy matrimony
Few things in life can top the joy of two desserts coming together to form an super-treat. Seven-Eleven's new Perfect Circle Pudding Roll Cake does just that, plunking the former right into the center of the latter.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 4, 2016
Kento Yamada from yahyel has an eye for music
Music in 2016 is every bit as focused on the eyes as it is the ears. Videos play a pivotal role in helping artists stand out in the digital age. One viral clip can break a previously unknown name, or bling up existing acts.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH
Sep 2, 2016
Classic New York brownies lurk underneath Shinjuku
Another week, another New York eatery opens up a Tokyo location. The newest comer is Baked — a bakery that specializes in brownies and cakes — which opened in the basement of Shinjuku's Isetan department store.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 26, 2016
Radiohead triumphs at Summer Sonic
Few bands can draw a massive round of applause for 15 minutes of ambient music, but that's just what Radiohead received at the start of its Sunday night headlining set at this year's Tokyo leg of Summer Sonic.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH
Aug 26, 2016
Look! Chocolates are getting the jump on autumn
In the same way that shops jump the gun on Christmas by getting the Santa decorations out on Nov. 1, konbini (convenience store) shelves begin stocking autumn-themed treats while the mercury is still well above the 30 degrees Celsius mark.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH
Aug 19, 2016
Classic summer treat gets a granola makeover from Kellogg's
Wa Kitchen Kanna (2-43-11 Shimouma, Setagaya Ward, Tokyo) gives its tastiest offering, kakigōri (shaved ice), a breakfast-ready makeover in cooperation with cereal maker Kellogg's. The limited-edition dessert takes the store's original kakigori, adds a hearty amount of condensed milk to the top and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 18, 2016
From Hiromi Uehara to Radiohead and Sakanaction, here's how to plan your weekend at Summer Sonic
Summer Sonic offers something for fans of every music genre — it's practically the festival's calling card. Fans of a specific style still have it easy, though — just hang around the stage catering to your preferred sound, whether that be EDM blasting from the Beach Stage or Top 40 pop on the Mountain...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 14, 2016
Summer Sonic founder Naoki Shimizu explains the search for the perfect music festival lineup
Creativeman President Naoki Shimizu says he had the perfect idea for this year's Sonicmania. The event, an all-night party that comes ahead of Creativeman's Summer Sonic music festival, would feature EDM heavyweight Skrillex and long-running synthpop outfit New Order as the headliners, bringing out young...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH
Aug 12, 2016
Calbee goes for a home run with Koshien-themed potato chips
The Olympics aren't the only sports competition going on just now, the extremely popular Summer Koshien high school baseball tournament is also happening. To celebrate it, snack maker Calbee has rolled out a limited-edition "Koshien Curry" flavor of potato chips. Based off the most famous concession...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH
Aug 5, 2016
We gather here today to wed ice cream to french fries
Pretty much anything with ice cream sounds good when you're a kid, but not so much when you're all grown up. However, that's not stopping Belgian-style fries restaurant And The Friet from teaming up with Ben & Jerry's for a limited-edition "Ice And Friet" (¥500). Available at the restaurant's outposts...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH
Jul 29, 2016
Tokyu Hands goes diving for its new range of summertime desserts
Tokyu Hands' Ikebukuro outpost is offering some deep-sea desserts until Aug. 23. Its "Aquarium Sweets" series features 16 unique cakes, each shaped to look like a different sea critter, ranging from a cuddly otter to a sea slug. The cakes (ranging in price from ¥500 to ¥650) each has a different flavor,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH
Jul 22, 2016
Asahi's highly caffeinated companion to the Rio Olympics
Want to watch the Rio Olympics live, but are worried about having 
to stay up until the wee hours of the morning? Asahi’s solution is the new Dodekamin Brazilian Energy drink, advertised as being able to give you the extra energy needed to watch the games as they happen. The beverage (¥140) boasts...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 17, 2016
Babymetal is having a really good year
In the run-up to Fuji Rock Festival, the event's digital team will post video messages on YouTube from performers that are slated to play at the three-day gathering in the mountains of Niigata Prefecture. They tend to get, on average, around 1,000 views. This fact has held true for this year's batch...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 17, 2016
Slot Machine plans to show Fuji fans how Thailand rocks
Thailand has been a destination for Asian artists looking to expand their markets. From J-rock to K-pop, fans in Bangkok have been able to listen to their fill. Rock band Slot Machine wants this to be a two-way conversation and the members say they'll begin it this year by being the first Thai band to...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH
Jul 15, 2016
French toast gets a summer makeover with 'Melon The Rocks'
Fukuoka's Ivorish excels at french toast, but this summer it has put a fruity spin on their savory desserts. The awkwardly named "Melon The Rocks" (¥2,000) includes french toast inside half of a honeydew melon, with chunks of green melon and jelly to drive home the seasonal theme. It's a big treat...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH
Jul 8, 2016
New coriander-pork potato chips pack a punch
Coriander can be a contentious herb, some swear by it, others say it tastes like soap.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jul 3, 2016
Japanese teens take their love from 'purikura' to the web
Like many teenage couples, Kazumasa and Riko love documenting important memories in their relationship — say, an anniversary or a trip to Okinawa. They also like to share short movies about their life as a couple online, and so far their clips have been viewed more than 18 million times.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH
Jul 1, 2016
Baskin-Robbins gives the Japanese summer an icy welcome
The heat might not have reached peak levels yet, but ice cream chain Baskin-Robbins marked the start of summer this week with two special crushed-ice treats for 2016. Each dessert (¥450) includes two layers of flavored shaved ice and is accompanied by a scoop of your preferred ice cream on top. The...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH
Jun 24, 2016
Japan invents another range of potato chips that you can eat for breakfast
Last year saw Japanese snack-maker Koikeya roll out a "breakfast fruit" line of potato chips, and they are still intent on flavoring their chips around the most important meal of the day, this time with "milk" and "toast." Each offers a very different experience. "Milk" suffers from the same problem...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 19, 2016
KiWi "The Scene of Ordinary" (Self-released)
Producers Azupubschool and Cor!s are both accomplished artists in their own right, having released individual albums and worked on larger J-pop projects in recent years. Together, they create music as KiWi, a project that recently shared an up-tempo dance-pop cut via the Diplo-founded online label Good...
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.
Tokyo Metro’s overseas efforts begin in earnest with London deal
Tokyo Metro will soon have a role in the running of London's Elizabeth Line, a major train route serving the U.K.’s capital city and environs.
Russia fired experimental ballistic missile at Ukraine, Putin says
Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an airstrike in Dnipro on Thursday.
Ex-yokozuna Kitanofuji dies at 82
Yokozuna Kitanofuji enters the ring during the May 1970 grand sumo tournament in Tokyo.
Man charged with murder allegedly made victim date other men for money
A car carrying suspect Ryotaro Masuda, who was indicted for allegedly beating his 25-year-old girlfriend to death, leaves the Shibuya Police Station in Tokyo on Thursday.
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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world
mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world

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