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July 16, 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
Jul 5, 2012
The Beauty "Love in the Heart of the World Shout" / Faron Square "Willys Heartbeat"
At this time last year, Tokyo's Cuz Me Pain label was a collection of artists recording dark and dreamy dance tracks from their bedrooms, and that got them a smattering of overseas attention from various music blogs. In 2012, a lot has changed. Various projects under the imprint's umbrella have signed...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 7, 2012
tengal6 "City"
Please show sympathy to all those involved in tengal6. The six-person pop-rap group is "supported" by Tenga, a Japanese adult-toy company (first line of their online concept: "The future of masturbation is here!"). I can just imagine the members of tengal6 dreaming of pop stardom, of seeing their own...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 31, 2012
AKB48 'election' shows marketing brilliance
The biggest event of the year for AKB48, the 48-member pop group that's the most popular music act in Japan today, arrives next Wednesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 31, 2012
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu "Pamyu Pamyu Revolution"
It's fitting that the leadup to Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's debut album has focused heavily on her image. She's a fashion blogger and model now pursuing music, her clothes grabbing as much attention as her songs. Her savviest move was releasing three bonkers music videos over the past year featuring stuff like...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 24, 2012
Hideki Kaji "Blue Hearts"
"Prolific" doesn't even come close to describing Hideki Kaji's career. Since the mid-90s, the Tokyo artist has been putting out albums and singles of upbeat indie-pop music at a constant clip. None of his releases are amazing, but his entire discography is still consistent. He also hasn't achieved widespread...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 12, 2012
mfp "Mindful Beats Vol. 2"
"Mindful Beats Vol. 2" has one of the most simultaneously accurate and misleading album names of the past year. On a literal level, the title tells no lies — it is a second volume of beats made by Osaka producer Masaki Konagai, who records under the moniker of mfp. Yet it also makes it sound like...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 5, 2012
Pictureplane inserts punk's attitude into a hard drive
Last September, music magazine Spin wrote that America was experiencing an "electronica revolution." Spearheaded by speaker-destroying producers such as Skrillex and Deadmau5, Spin wrote that a "new rave generation" has helped make electronic dance music an inescapable presence on the nation's music...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 29, 2012
MiChi "Therapy"
It has been a good year for Japanese pop music so far. The Oricon charts still house the likes of AKB48, Arashi and a slew of acts that make me want to bang my head against the wall, but a crop of J-pop artists operating a little outside of the mainstream (Nanba Shiho, Kou Shibasaki and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu)...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 22, 2012
Japan competes for attention at SXSW
On the afternoon of the South By Southwest (SXSW) Music Conference And Festival's second day, I sat on a shuttle bus with eight people who had been hustling between the countless concert venues in this city. True to the its slogan "Keep Austin Weird," a local resident whipped out a bag of marijuana and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 15, 2012
New House's YouTube marathons help deliver a debut
Yuta Mitsuhashi says he spends a lot of time falling into "YouTube holes": Watch a clip, click on a related link, repeat until the majority of your night has been spent staring at a computer screen. He isn't scrolling through LOLcat videos though, he dives into things like Thai pop music, Middle Eastern...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 1, 2012
Your Gold, My Pink 'Teenage Riot'
Your Gold, My Pink's decision to name its debut full-length album "Teenage Riot" shows some serious guts from the young quartet. It's a title that has certain connotations, that either the band embraces the adolescent rebellion of punk — or just really likes Sonic Youth. This "Teenage Riot," though,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 23, 2012
Salyu "Photogenic"
"Photogenic" is the sound of a wrongfully imprisoned inmate who was cleared of all charges being sent back to prison for no good reason. J-pop siren Salyu (born Ayako Mori) has spent the majority of her decade-plus career singing over generic instrumentals, her voice wasted on sounds better suited for...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 9, 2012
Galileo Galilei "Portal"
Galileo Galilei's sophomore album, "Portal," manages to both document everything that's wrong with contemporary mainstream Japanese rock music and offer a better way for guitar-centric pop in this county. This Hokkaido group falls through many of the same trapdoors as artists dotting the Oricon Charts,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 2, 2012
Tokyo Jihen "Color Bars"
Tokyo Jihen's first five albums have titles relating to types of television programming, "Sports" or "Variety" or "Adult." The Shiina-Ringo-led group's sixth album, though, is titled "Color Bars," after the rainbow lines that grace the TV screen during technical difficulties or dead-air time. It's a...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 26, 2012
Seiho launches Day Tripper label with 'Mercury'
Seiho Hayakawa started making music the way a lot of curious kids growing up in the digital age did — by fiddling with his cell-phone ringer. But he eventually plunged headfirst into the world of jazz as a high school student, with a trumpet at his side.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 26, 2012
The Creams "Panache"
Osaka's The Creams put on one of the better live sets in the Kansai region today, playing the sort of dance-rock that seems like it was plotted out on graph paper in the vein of 1980's cool kids such as Liquid Liquid or ESG. Yet on stage, The Creams round out their music with a sense of menace and unpredictability,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 22, 2011
Best of 2011: Miila and the Geeks "New Age"
Miila and the Geek's debut album, "New Age," would be my favorite Japanese album of 2011 even without the postquake context into which it was released.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 1, 2011
Friends "Let's Get Together Again"
In an interview with The Japan Times in May, Friends frontman Syouta Kaneko put forth U.S. band The Beach Boys as one of their influences. A glance at the artwork for "Let's Get Together Again" — found photos of people enjoying the summer — or any blog writeup of Friends' sound ("beach,"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 10, 2011
Sapphire Slows "True Breath"
The music Sapphire Slows conjures up on her debut EP, "True Breath," floats between genres: dance music, dream pop and ambient are just a few. However, the element uniting these five songs is really how unsettling they can sound — even at their most danceable.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 10, 2011
At Innit's Osaka parties it's bring your own beats
Osaka's Innit crew don't hold your typical club event. Though their parties feature a mix of live performers and DJs, founder Masayuki Kubo wants to attract a particular type of reveler — aspiring artists. The Osaka native offers a ¥500 discount for anyone who brings along electronic music...
Bloodied Trump survives assassination attempt at political rally
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is surrounded and evacuated by Secret Service agents at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. Trump was rushed off stage at the rally after shots rang out.
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
Amid same-sex marriage ban, LGBTQ couples opt for 'photo weddings'
A lesbian couple, consisting of a 35-year-old woman (left) and 40-year-old woman, cover their faces with bouquets as they pose for wedding photos in Yokohama on Nov. 1.
China and Russia conduct joint Pacific military patrol
The Russian corvette Gromkiy enters the Chinese port of Zhanjiang as part of a joint China-Russia naval exercise on Saturday.
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
After Trump shooting, U.S. presidential race might take a violent turn
United States Secret Service Counter Snipers stand guard on a rooftop during a campaign rally for U.S. President Donald Trump in Avoca, Pennsylvania, in 2020.
No AC this summer? No problem (for me).
Think air conditioning is a requirement for a Tokyo summer? Think again.
She’s paying ¥1 million to help behind the scenes at the Paris Olympics
Mai Tarumi, who previously volunteered at the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, has a travel budget of ¥1 million for her trip to volunteer at the Paris Games.
How to tweak your diet when temperatures spike
Most people think of hydration as a strictly liquid-based concept, but eating foods with high water content is an essential part of making it through a Japanese summer unscathed.

Podcast

You can often see generations of families enjoying performances together at Fuji Rock Festival.
Japan’s summer music festivals are feeling the heat in more ways than one

Longform

Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
By Tomoko Otake

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