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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
Mar 24, 2018
With Le Chocolat, Alain Ducasse expands into the Japanese dessert market
The latest addition to Alain Ducasse's food empire also happens to be a first. Le Chocolat Alain Ducasse opens up in Nihonbashi on March 26 (Mon.), and marks the first outpost of the French-born chef's chocolate operation outside his home country.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Mar 22, 2018
Just let Johnny's Jr. be Johnny's Jr.
Around 60 people gathered at YouTube Space Tokyo on Tuesday to welcome Johnny & Associates to the 21st century. It was a day before the launch of the talent agency's first official YouTube channel, devoted to its Johnny's Jr. acts. It's a huge development for a company that has viewed the web as one...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Mar 22, 2018
It takes one to know one: How YouTuber Chris Okano built an agency to help his fellow J-vloggers
This past week, Japanese YouTube heavyweight Hikakin appeared on NHK's long-running business show "The Professionals" ("Professional: Shigoto no Ryugi") where he discussed the "new job" of being a YouTube content creator.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH
Mar 17, 2018
Ministop's 'Adult Tiramisu' a caffeinated delight unsuitable for kids
Ministop often gets overlooked when discussing convenience store chains in Japan. Due to the sheer number of outlets found across the country, the big three — Lawson, Seven-Eleven and Family Mart — tend to hog the attention (including from this column, which last sampled a Ministop exclusive ......
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Mar 17, 2018
Reactions to GoPro sushi train video reflect gaps in etiquette between East and West
Every piece of content on the internet can be divisive these days, even the innocuous stuff. This truism was on full display over the past week and a half thanks to a now-removed YouTube video set in a Tokyo sushi restaurant, which charmed many Western viewers and angered a few Japanese.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH
Mar 10, 2018
Three Twins brings organic ice cream to Daikanyama
Much like it has in the rest of the world, organic eats are becoming a buzz food in Tokyo. More and more restaurants and stores in the capital are wheeling out the phrase and now it comes to ice cream.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 9, 2018
Rock act Chai has no time for your definition of 'cute'
The members of Chai aren't content with "kawaii." That word — meaning "cute," but in a kind of pitiable way — gets tossed around a lot in Japan and by people overseas, who use it to refer to almost anything Japanese.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news / Sound Off
Mar 8, 2018
Net-shy Johnny's announces deal for online channel with YouTube
Internet-shy entertainment management company Johnny & Associates said Monday it will launch an official YouTube channel on March 21.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 8, 2018
SXSW offers opportunities for Japanese musicians to find their audience
The South By Southwest (SXSW) music conference and festival in Austin, Texas, has long been a destination for Japanese acts looking to get noticed in the U.S. market. This year's gathering, which runs March 12-18, presents more options than ever for Japanese acts to find their crowd.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH
Mar 3, 2018
Calbee gets beefy with Ikinari Steak flavored potato chips
Japanese restaurant chain Ikinari Steak accomplished two big milestones this past month. First, they opened their fourth store in New York, a big step forward in plans to expand internationally. Perhaps more importantly though, they teamed with snack maker Calbee to produce their own flavor of potato...
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Mar 3, 2018
NHK puppet show offers a rare glimpse into unconventional lives
Arguably the best interview show on terrestrial TV at present stars a bunch of puppets exploring the often unexamined corners of Japanese society.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH
Feb 24, 2018
Starbucks back with its range of cherry blossom-inspired treats
Life in Japan can be measured in seasonal dessert offerings. With Valentine's Day now in the past, the focus falls squarely on one of the year's spotlight stretches. Cherry blossom season approaches, with companies big and small prepping an array of sakura-tinged foodstuffs for the pink-loving masses....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH
Feb 17, 2018
Seven-Eleven's latest creation captures the magic of the Winter Olympics
Everyone has Olympic fever thanks to the ongoing Pyeongchang Winter Games. Yet interest in Korean food — especially the popular dish dak-galbi — was on the rise in Japan well before the athletes got going.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Feb 15, 2018
Pyeongchang's pop takes home gold
Politics hovered over the opening ceremony of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. The pageantry came against a backdrop of geopolitical intrigue, featuring the presence of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's younger sister, Yo Jong, who was on hand to watch a unified Korean team march into the Olympic...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 14, 2018
AmPm masters the Spotify game
The central pair behind electronic project AmPm didn't have high expectations when they flew to Jakarta last August for Spotify On Stage, a live event organized by the market-leading music streaming service.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH
Feb 10, 2018
Coca-Cola Peach: A saccharine adventure that isn't as bad as it sounds
For a long time, Pepsi has owned the flavored cola market in Japan. It did so with left-of-center flavors that often tasted bad but, by rolling out curiosities such as cake-flavored soda, got attention, which is sometimes all that's needed. Now, Coca-Cola wants in on the action.
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Feb 8, 2018
'Ainori' teaches lessons in love ... and soft power
Netflix Japan's reboot of the reality show "Ainori" features plenty of drama — most of it interpersonal, but some geopolitical.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH
Feb 3, 2018
Kanazawa Ice's Burning Soft Cream Parfait: The ice cream that doesn't melt
Admittedly, the idea behind Kanazawa Ice's creations doesn't sound all that jaw-dropping in the dead of winter. The sweetmaker, which opened a branch in Harajuku in late January 2018, boasts of soft serve and other ice-like creations that don't melt, even when left in a particularly hot room.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jan 31, 2018
The Japan vlogger's gospel, not according to Logan Paul
In the wake of the Logan Paul 'suicide forest' fiasco, YouTubers offer their tips on filming in Japan without infuriating the locals.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH
Jan 27, 2018
FamilyMart's Japari Man: Kemono Friends' colorful adventure in taste
The chocolate Japari Man is as simple as it gets. Save for the pink color of its exterior, this warm snack offers ample amounts of chocolate in every bite.
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

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