author

 
Menu
Search
 
November 23, 2024
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

Meta

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 familiar,...
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 live...
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 approves ¥21.9 trillion stimulus plan
The policy chiefs of the Democratic Party for the People, Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito — Makoto Hamaguchi (left), Itsunori Onodera (center) and Mitsunari Okamoto — shake hands after reaching an agreement on an economic stimulus package on Wednesday.
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.
Saitama court bans demonstrations over anti-Kurd hate speech
Kurdish people in Japan in 2015. A court injunction has banned acts that defame the Japan Kurdish Cultural Association and are disrespectful, such as putting up banner flags or handing out fliers with hate speech like “Refugees should go back to their home countries.”
China reinstates visa-free travel for Japanese nationals
Beijing Daxing International Airport
U.S. aircraft carrier returns to Japan carrying navy’s ‘most capable fighter’
U.S. 7th Fleet Commander Vice Adm. Fred Kacher speaks to reporters shortly after the arrival of aircraft carrier USS George Washington at Yokosuka naval base in Kanagawa Prefecture on Friday.
Shohei Ohtani wins National League MVP award
Shohei Ohtani celebrates after hitting a three-run home run against the Padres during the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles last month.
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.

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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world
mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER