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Jeff Hammond
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / ART BRIEF
Apr 17, 2009
Yuki Tawada: "Missing Folklore"
For some photographers, the decisive moment for a photograph is the second the shutter is pressed. For others, the darkroom offers a host of possibilities: tonal variations, framing, paper quality, even superimposition. For Japanese photographer Yuki Tawada, the artwork is not considered finished even...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 5, 2009
Creative dialogue
While it's not unknown for practitioners of the fine arts to gain fame and fortune almost overnight these days, (even through notoriety rather than talent), only a handful of artists in the graphic design field have gained worldwide recognition. Britain's Neville Brody is one.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 23, 2009
Crossing borderlines of consciousness
Most of us have experienced waking up in a strange room, perhaps in a hotel or a friend's house, and, for a split second, not knowing where we are — that fuzzy, vague feeling in the twilight zone between waking and dreaming. Imagine having those same feelings when waking up in your own, usually...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 18, 2008
The subcontinent shows its heart
Over the last decade or so, India has gone through unprecedented change, from largely missing out on the advances of the 20th century to rapidly becoming a leader of those in the 21st. But while the fragmented media coverage of the country hails its successful IT and biotechnology industries, it also...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 22, 2008
Champion 'turntablist' Kentaro gets mixed up
It's been a busy few years since DJ Kentaro won the 2002 DMC World DJ Championship and became the first Japanese to bring back the prize — a golden pair of Technics record decks (the turntable of choice in clubs around the world) — to the land where they were made.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 24, 2008
Bettye LaVette brings her triumphant soul battle to Fuji
Few artists could have struggled through a career as thoroughly frustrating as that of American soul singer Bettye LaVette and still continue to display the strength and good humor that she does.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 19, 2008
The Album Leaf at Metamorphose
Although The Album Leaf started in 1998 as a side project to Jimmy LaValle's work in another band (San Diego's Tristeza), his postrock power-pop solo venture has since evolved into his main gig. The band's lineup often changes — multi-instrumentalist LaValle even performed as a one-man band on...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 2, 2007
Terry Callier
Variously described as a jazz-folk mystic, a singer-songwriter, a soul man and a reluctant musician, Terry Callier is in many ways the genius that slipped through the net, fluent in a variety of styles but destined not for mainstream acceptance. Callier himself has always been reluctant to have his creativity...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 15, 2006
Building a new jazz generation
There are plenty of things you might expect to find a jazz legend such as Herbie Hancock doing with his time -- flying to concerts in Europe perhaps, or preparing for a jazz festival in North America, composing new songs, maybe even catching a break from his hectic schedule.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 27, 2006
On-U Sound from way out
At most live gigs, all eyes are on the band while the mixing desk is tucked out of sight with some guy in a T-shirt standing behind it simply making sure each instrument comes out at the right level.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 6, 2006
Warrior Charge, Dry & Heavy and icchie
'The most talented producers in Britain. . . . the Sly and Robbie of 2006" is how rapper Tricky has described the rhythm unit of Perry Mellus and Wayne Nunes, better known as Warrior Charge.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 6, 2006
Beat is back
Spawned by the energy of punk, a new crowd of British bands known collectively as the ska revival, or the two-tone movement, emerged in the late 1970s around the Midlands area. Unlike the mainly white punk groups, bands such as The Specials, The Selecter and The Beat were comprised of both black and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 22, 2006
Accolades for Afrobeat originator
Producer Brian Eno has been variously quoted as saying Nigerian drummer and songwriter Tony Allen is "the most important musician," or "the best drummer" of the last 50 years. Whatever Eno actually said there is no doubt of the high regard Allen is held in, not only for his rhythms, so tight and complex...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 7, 2006
Deejay U-Roy's still-righteous chat
"Wake the town and tell the people" rings the trademark battle cry of Jamaican deejay extraordinaire U-Roy, who plays three live dates in Japan this weekend.
CULTURE / Music
May 26, 2006
Ralph Myerz and the Jack Herren Band "Your New Best Friend"
By naming itself after the soft-porn mondo director Russ Mayer, and his erstwhile cameraman, Ralph Myerz and the Jack Herren Band seem to set themselves up as purveyors of the kind of low-fi, freaked-out lounge music that graces soundtracks. On their second album, "Your New Best Friend," the Norwegian...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 5, 2006
Man from Wareika returns
During a break in a Tokyo recording session, Rico Rodriguez puts down his trombone to lark around on the roof with the teenage members of Oreskaband, the all-girl ska band he's been working with. That, at 72 years old, he is now old enough to be their grandfather doesn't even faze him.
CULTURE / Music
Apr 14, 2006
Spank Rock "YoYoYoYoYo" (Big Dada/Beat Records)
If Spank Rock sound like a bunch of college kids clowning around, that's probably not so far off the mark. Until just a few years ago, that's exactly what they were. But while injecting hip-hop with a much-needed dose of humor, on their debut album "YoYoYoYoYo" the Baltimore duo have delivered a refreshing...
CULTURE / Music
Mar 24, 2006
Nightmares on Wax "In a Space Outta Sound"
Hip-hop has made an art out of delving into the past to render something relevant for the present. It's a tradition George Evelyn of Nightmares On Wax is well versed in, but on his latest album, the sampler vies for action alongside more live instrumentation. As on previous outings, dub, jazz and funk...
Japan Times
Features
Dec 18, 2005
New chief puts paradise on map
Many dream of traveling the world and setting themselves up in a tropical paradise, but very few people make it happen. Even fewer get themselves appointed village chief of a remote Melanesian island in the process. But that's exactly what has happened to entrepreneur and art collector Ofer Shagan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 5, 2005
Adrian Sherwood: "On-U Sound Crash"
The recent On-U Sound reissue program through Japan's Beat Records has been a kind of heaven for longtime followers of the London dub/reggae label. For newcomers bewildered by the stream of titles, a new megamix "On-U Sound Crash," by the label's founder and producer, Adrian Sherwood, could be the perfect...
Japan's population continues to fall even as foreign resident count rises
The number of residents in Tokyo as of Jan. 1 rose by 0.03% from a year before, data shows, marking a year-on-year increase for the first time in three years, while the country's other 46 prefectures saw their populations continue to decline.
Ahead of the Olympics, Japan is still talking about the gymnast who won't be there
Japan's Shoko Miyata withdrew from the gymnastics team herself over her drinking and smoking, although it had already appeared as though the association was prepared to send her home from the team’s training camp in Monaco.
Yen melt-up nudges Japanese stocks into correction territory
Japanese stocks are down 10% from their July peak as the yen strengthens.
‘Crazy’ yen rally is at risk of shattering as soon as Wednesday
Some investors are warning that a yen rally is fragile, as was on show this week when the yen rapidly retraced an advance after Thursday’s stronger-than-expected U.S. economic growth figures.
Japan's average life expectancy rises for first time in three years
A decline in COVID-19-caused deaths likely helped boost the average life expectancy for Japanese men and women to rise for the first time in three years in 2023.
The Japanese Olympians looking to shine in Paris
Rim Nakamura, who is attempting to win Japan's first Olympic gold medal in cycling, will be one of the top Japanese athletes to watch at the Paris Games.
Japan’s minimum wage set for record ¥50 hike in major boost
Demonstrators rally to demand a big hike in minimum wages in Tokyo last week.
Japan loses top spot on strongest passport list to Singapore
Japan had the strongest passport for six years running from 2018, before being dethroned by Singapore on the 2024 list.
Why Japan's mysterious stash of classified funds escapes scrutiny
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (right) during a meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Japan eyes gold — and the future — as Olympic men's soccer campaign begins
Japan midfielder Yu Hirakawa controls the ball during a match against the United States in Kansas City, Kansas, on June 11.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals
By Alex K.T. Martin

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JNTO promotes sustainable tourism initiatives
JNTO promotes sustainable tourism initiatives

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