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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 / 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.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH
Jan 6, 2015
Pepsi's pink drink is a major dose of sweetness
Pepsi Japan's seasonal cola specials, appearing on convenience store shelves for about a month or two at most, are always a viral hit.
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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