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November 21, 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
Feb 11, 2014
Mitsume play the indie game, but are winning the mainstream
Mitsume subscribes to an easy-to-get-behind ethos regularly found in indie-rock communities: "Since our first album, we've been under nobody's control but our own," says lead vocalist Moto Kawabe. "We prefer to do whatever we can ourselves."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 21, 2014
Kobe's tofubeats moves from blogs to the big time
Like many kids growing up in the 1990s, Yusuke Kawai's initial brush with the World Wide Web happened in elementary school.
CULTURE / Music
Jan 21, 2014
Ventla, i-fls and the road out of the Web
Tokyo bedroom producer Ventla has one goal and one goal only.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 14, 2014
Girls' Generation "Love & Peace"
K-pop's golden days in Japan are over. The time when Korean groups could top the Oricon charts and (more importantly) monopolize media coverage is now a memory, in part due to an oversaturation of new acts. K-pop remains a strong niche market, though, even if the hallyu hype has fizzled out. Some groups...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 14, 2014
Metoronori "Veil"
Time will tell whether "Veil" sounds good come warmer months, but right now it's the perfect album for winter. Tokyo artist Metoronori's third full-length album appeared online in the middle of last week, when the wind blew especially cold. With the heat cranked up and the windows shut, "Veil" was a...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Dec 22, 2013
Don't let the holidays leave you homesick this year
Homesickness is a particular concern for foreign residents in December, when the holiday season starts to conjure up images of family dinners and drinking parties with old friends. For new arrivals, it's further complicated by the simultaneous challenge of adjusting to a different culture.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 17, 2013
The best Japanese albums of 2013: Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, 'Nanda Collection'
While boy bands such as Arashi and Exile continued transmogrifying midtempo pap into Oricon gold, the interesting twists and turns in J-pop over the past year came from idol pop. The scene, often associated with schoolgirl costumes and no-dating policies, produced some great music and exciting storylines....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 17, 2013
Some of the year's best music was free
Variety wasn't something the Oricon Charts delivered much over the course of 2013. With few exceptions, the biggest sellers were the same as they ever were — Johnny's boy bands such as Arashi, Kanjani 8 and Kis-My-FT2; AKB48 and their affiliated projects; and a variety of rock 'n' roll fossils. Not...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 17, 2013
New Year's single, Christmas concert get Meyer into festive spirit
Jazz pianist and singer Emi Meyer has a lot of fond memories of the holiday season.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 20, 2013
The Charles in Charlie Brown
The advertising surrounding "Ever and Never: The Art of Peanuts" focuses on the cutest character from the classic American comic strip. So much so, promotions for this exhibition at the Mori Arts Center Gallery has been dubbed the "Snoopy Exhibit," a title that also graces the Twitter and Facebook accounts...
CULTURE / Music
Nov 19, 2013
Arashi "Love"
At the time of writing this review, Arashi's "Love" has been bought more than any other Japanese album this year. Barring a sudden full-length LP from AKB48 or a cash-in compilation from Mr. Children, the group's 12th CD should end 2013 in the same position. There have been a lot of nice developments...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 19, 2013
Elen Never Sleeps "Rum"
Recent advancements in recording technology has made it easier than ever before for anyone with computer access to create and distribute their work from the comfort of home. Paradoxically, these advances also allow artists to hide themselves within their songs. There are countless effects and tools designed...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Oct 27, 2013
When it comes to discipline in class, leave it to the locals
Aaron Joseph remembers the email Interac sent him regarding his school placement in Sakai, Osaka, in August 2012.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 22, 2013
Biollante "Alone in this World"
Tokyo's Biollante has found a clever way of standing out among the ever-crowded field of Japanese bedroom music producers — get melancholic.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 22, 2013
Perfume "Level3"
"Level3" is going to look amazing live. Perfume member Ayaka "A-Chan" Nishiwaki reportedly told producer Yasutaka Nakata that her trio wanted songs suited to the huge venues they'd perform it in. Nakata has obliged. Perfume's fourth studio album — the first with access to Universal Music's deep pockets...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 2, 2013
Nite Jewel's new best-of album, 'Gems,' celebrates a diverse catalog
A best-of album is not what you'd expect from an artist who has been around for five years. But that's exactly what Ramona Gonzalez, who records under the moniker Nite Jewel, released in advance of her upcoming Japanese tour.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 18, 2013
Rock God Dam's teen mastermind: Eighteen-year-old student pulls off two-day music festival for charity
With 90 minutes to go before the start of the Rock God Dam music festival, organizer Nakako Isoo is trying to find one of the headlining acts. She's supposed to pick up Virginia band Suburban Living, but comes back to Shibuya club Vuenos alone. "They are going shopping," she says. "I will try one more...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 18, 2013
Maximum The Hormone "Yoshu Fukushu"
Maximum The Hormone's sixth album, "Yoshu Fukushu," proves its members know how to laugh at themselves. The four-piece have long been slapped with the "hardcore" and "nu-metal" tags, putting the band in the company of other such acts like Limp Bizkit and Korn, who aren't known for self-awareness. Yet...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 18, 2013
Various artists "Tanukineiri Drink Sampler"
It's getting harder to listen to netlabel-released albums in one sitting recently. Electronic-music compilation series "Fogpak" recently put out a collection featuring 48 different artists (should we call the Guinness people?). Now Tanukineiri Records has popped out "Tanukineiri Drink Sampler" — 90...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 21, 2013
Spreading the word through manga
Videos of anime conventions in America greet visitors to Tokyo's Museum of Contemporary Art at this summer's "The Power of Manga — Osamu Tezuka and Shotaro Ishinomori" exhibition. Looped footage of attendants in cosplay at the Los Angeles Anime Expo and other similar events play, while a "prologue"...
Ishiba delays meeting with Trump, citing legal restrictions
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba waves upon arrival for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, in Callao, Peru, on Friday.
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.
Rising sex tourism exposes loopholes in Japan's anti-prostitution law
While financial misfortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic may have driven some women to work the streets, others simply want more money to spend — or want to pay off their debts — at host clubs.
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.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
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.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

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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