author

 
Menu
Search
 
November 24, 2024
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

Meta

Twitter

@mbmelodies

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
Mar 24, 2015
SXSW's Japan Nite celebrates 20 lively years
For the past two decades, the Japan Nite showcase has been one of the most celebrated events at the South By Southwest (SXSW) music conference and festival, a gathering where industry types, everyday music fans and performers from all over the world descend on Texas' capital. The music component of this...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH
Mar 24, 2015
Coca-Cola adds life to latest release
Coca-Cola Co's latest carbonated creation, Coca-Cola Life, launched in Japan earlier this month with the promise of fewer calories and less sugar via the use of stevia leaf extract, a sweetener that's apparently better for the body.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH
Mar 17, 2015
A healthier approach to doughnuts at Floresta
Offering delicious organic desserts across Japan since 2002, including at several Tokyo stores, Floresta is perhaps best known for its "animal doughnuts."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Mar 15, 2015
First impressions count for ALTs meeting their new Japanese colleagues
Fostering a good vibe early in the new school year can pay huge dividends, making the next 12 months easier for the both of you.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 10, 2015
Monkey ski, monkey brew as Shiga Kogen hosts annual beer-and-bands festival
Two of the bigger booms of the last few years in Japan seem like they would be a great match. But nobody thought to merge the worlds of craft beer and music festivals until Eigo Sato did so in 2012.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH
Mar 10, 2015
Yamayoshi beefs up its range of chips
Potato chips might not ever be able to fully take the place of a night grilling up juicy meat, but the Yamayoshi snack companies' limited-edition "salty green onion and beef tongue" flavor comes close.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH
Mar 3, 2015
Untouchable Toffee opens second branch in Harajuku
Untouchable Toffee opened its first store in Hamamatsu back in 2013, but the candy company didn't launch a second branch until late last year when it settled in the hipper neighborhood of Harajuku.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH
Feb 24, 2015
Seven-Eleven rolls out new line of donuts
Coffee has become big bucks for convenience stores as customers have embraced a cheap brews.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 17, 2015
AKB48 "Koko ga Rhodes da, Koko de Tobe!"
Idol group AKB48 elicits extreme reactions from people. The unit has nurtured a rabid fanbase who are willing to buy multiple copies of a single CD to show their devotion. On the other hand, critics despise the group's brand of by-the-book pop and the sideshow shenanigans the members engage in (or are...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH
Feb 17, 2015
Monarch Cupcake makes regal entrance to Tokyo
The neighborhood of Omotesando already has a surplus of trendy pancake, chocolate and sugared-up popcorn shops.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH
Feb 10, 2015
Fujiya Co. adds fizz and sparkle with macaron set
Confectionary chain Fujiya Co. has added a little pop to their macaron selection with the introduction of a Sparkling Macaron set (¥500) featuring three soda-flavored sweets.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 3, 2015
Negicco's new album turns the onion idols into Shibuya-kei's new hope
The crowd at the sold-out Liquidroom show furiously pumps glowsticks shaped like green onions in time with the beat coming out of the venue's sound system. They scream when three young women appear, and the energy only grows as the first song of the night gets rolling. It gets especially loud when they...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH
Feb 3, 2015
Oktoberfest comes early with Munchner Dunkel at Seven-Eleven
Those living in Japan know that when it comes to Oktoberfest, dates aren't much of a consideration. Past Oktoberfests have run anywhere between April and October.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 27, 2015
Pommeke makes fries the main dish
Tokyo boasts plenty of Belgian culinary spots, from beer bars to chocolate shops. Chef Bart Sablon even points out that there is a Belgian waffle store right around the corner from Pommeke, a recently opened operation where the 39-year-old works as executive chef. "That's a total coincidence, though,"...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH
Jan 27, 2015
Mister Donut seeks borough cred in Brooklyn D&D
The New York borough of Brooklyn has been a hotbed of culinary trends over the past decade. And now Japan's Mister Donut wants to cash in on the city's brand of cool.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 27, 2015
Sugar's Campaign come up with some sweet city pop for debut album 'Friends'
Seiho Hayakawa and Takuma Hosokawa think modern pop music is "grotesque," but that's exactly how they wanted the debut album by their band Sugar's Campaign to sound.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH
Jan 20, 2015
Every day is "fry" day at Lawson
It's a weird time to be a lover of french fries in Tokyo. On one hand, a string of fancy-pants stores are charging ¥600 for a handful of deep-fried spuds. On the other, you may find a tooth in an order at McDonald's. Lawson convenience stores offer an elegant solution — the "premium fried potato"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 20, 2015
Shigge "SunLimeJuice"
Since emerging in the summer of 2013, Fukuoka label Yesterday Once More has made some of the country's most intriguing electronic music in recent memory. The artists hovering around this Internet imprint embraced styles that have been in vogue with the Japanese do-it-yourself dance scene for a while...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 20, 2015
E-Girls "E.G. Time"
Idol group E-Girls have a knack for covers. On last year's "Colorful Pop," they opened with a song borrowing the main synthesizer line from Yellow Magic Orchestra's "Rydeen" before later transforming Japanese disco tunes and Bananarama singles into tightly crafted blasts of electro-pop. It made for one...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH
Jan 13, 2015
A treat so cute you'll want to eat it up
The new year is barely two weeks old, so there's still time to earn good vibes for 2015.
U.S. aircraft carrier returns to Japan carrying navy’s ‘most capable fighter’
U.S. 7th Fleet Commander Vice Adm. Fred Kacher speaks to reporters shortly after the arrival of aircraft carrier USS George Washington at Yokosuka naval base in Kanagawa Prefecture on Friday.
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.
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.
Japan approves ¥21.9 trillion stimulus plan
The policy chiefs of the Democratic Party for the People, Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito — Makoto Hamaguchi (left), Itsunori Onodera (center) and Mitsunari Okamoto — shake hands after reaching an agreement on an economic stimulus package on Wednesday.
Woman dies after train collides with car in Tochigi
A Moka Railway train car
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.”
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.

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

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER