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CULTURE / Music
Jul 16, 2000

A guide to the music festivals of summer

The recession has reportedly made concert promoters' lives miserable, and yet it doesn't seem to have affected the flood of foreign acts rushing to these shores.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 10, 2023

Was Brazil's insurrection foretold?

It is cold comfort that most of the militants who sacked Brazil's government institutions were amateurs, much like their counterparts in the U.S. Jan. 6 insurrection.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 30, 2020

Tokyo DJs and owners say closing clubs to curb virus is easier said than done

Clubs and bars are facing pressure to close their doors as the new coronavirus spreads throughout Japan's major cities. As a result, those who make a living from the clubbing industry are also facing tough financial prospects.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Aug 25, 2016

Koenji's Awa Odori festival celebrates 60 years

For the past few weeks, visitors and residents in Koenji have been haunted by a song — a plaintive, pentatonic melody that seems to circle endlessly, never quite resolving. You can hear it playing over speakers on the station platform just before the train doors close. It's there again as you walk...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 4, 2016

The changing face (and bodies) of fitness

There has been a recent trend among Japanese comedians to go big — with their workouts. Toshiaki Kasuga, Nakayama Kinnikun and Yoshio Kojima all incorporate flexing into their routines, playing up macho stereotypes for laughs. However, Shun Kaneko isn't laughing.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 27, 2013

'There will be people who walk out of the cinema, I'm sure'

In a drab building in central Scotland, one afternoon in the armpit of winter, an actor who looks a lot like nice-guy James McAvoy is persuading a room full of blokes to — I'm paraphrasing here — Xerox their cocks.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 4, 2013

Sonar festival sounds out Japanese hopefuls

For two decades, it's entertained, educated and — on more than a few occasions — polarized electronic music fans. As Barcelona's Sonar festival enters its 20th year, it's still as contrary as when it first started: an event with equal space in its heart for abstract electronica and the Pet Shop Boys,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Mar 29, 2012

A tale of two paths to indie success

Tokyo postpunk quartet Otori is an archetypal product of the city's underground live-music scene. The band's sets feature a machine-gun rattle of drums, slashes of guitar that explode in fierce climaxes, and bursts of scattershot vocals that teeter on the brink of hysteria — the kind of music that...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 15, 2011

Make it a countdown to remember

In Japan, New Year's Eve is traditionally celebrated at home with the family. For many it is a somber — if not sober — experience. Yet over the years Japan has firmly placed itself on the world map as a major stop-off point for some of the biggest names in the electronic music scene, and looking...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Oct 15, 2011

Golden Kings, Evessa class of the West again

Almost nothing remains the same in the Eastern Conference, as all 10 head coaches this season are in spots that they didn't occupy at this time a year ago.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 4, 2007

The camera and the truth

With his fake documentary purporting to show serving President George W. Bush's assassination, director Gabriel Range has made this year's most controversial movie
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 26, 2006

Foreigners make leap from classroom to club

While it appears that only the most basic of artistic demands are placed upon the "gaijin tarento" that pop up periodically on Japanese TV screens, it would be a mistake to assume that Japan fetishizes foreigners in the entertainment business.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Jul 27, 2006

Psychedelic radar 07.27

TPE Open Air Summer Festival: July 28-30
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 26, 2000

Visual abstractions in old-fashioned language

Imagine the gentle good humor to be found in the name Michael England but being, say, Scottish. In fact England's mother is Irish and his father Welsh, so quite the national conundrum. "Do I think of myself as Gaelic? Only when drinking and dancing. First and foremost I'm a painter."
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 15, 2023

Police probe explosives attack as Kishida returns to election rallies

A suspect is in custody after a cylindrical object landed 1 meter from the prime minister, who was evacuated before the device exploded.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 30, 2022

How Halloween parties turned deadly in a popular Seoul district

The intimacy of backstreets in the Itaewon district turned sinister this Halloween weekend, with a deadly crush killing at least 151 people.
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / 'Terrace House Tokyo 2019-2020' Recaps
May 22, 2020

Ep. 42 ‘Woman Who Makes Everyone Dream’

I enjoy a good cliffhanger as much as the next person, but I wasn’t eager to see how Toshiyuki and Yume’s night in Sapporo would unfold. When we last saw these two, they were sitting close to each other in a dark bar. Toshiyuki was urging Yume to drink more alcohol as he mustered the courage to express...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 18, 2019

Madarao: The tree skiing capital of Japan?

The Madarao Kogen ski resort prides itself on two things: its powder snow ('Madapow!') — enjoying over 10 meters of fresh snow annually — and its tree skiing. It is less well-known than some of its rivals within the prefecture, but that just means emptier runs and shorter lift queues.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Aug 22, 2017

Spanish police corner, gun down Barcelona van attacker

Spanish police on Monday shot dead an Islamist militant who killed 13 people with a van in Barcelona last week, ending a five-day manhunt for the perpetrator of Spain's deadliest attack in over a decade.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 4, 2014

Jaga Jazzist brings the sound of Oslo to Tokyo Jazz Festival

Trying to slot artists into specific trends, genres and an ever-expanding number of subgenres is a constant obsession for meticulous music fans looking to define what they're listening to. Journalists categorize, sometimes to the dismay of the bands they're covering, to make things simpler for their...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Dec 5, 2012

Japanese innovation was alive and well at Maker Faire

When talking about Japan's advanced technology, many may imagine that it's mostly developed by huge household-name firms such as NTT, Sony and Toyota. However, much of Japan's "unique" or quirky technology is developed by individuals and small groups of geeky inventors — hundreds of whom were at Maker...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 18, 2012

Kentaro makes hip-hop personal

Almost the whole of Kentaro's life has been devoted to dance — in particular to hip-hop dance — ever since he first saw it on television as an elementary school boy.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 30, 2012

'Our Planet' director focuses on Japan's locals

Just three years ago, in 2009, Yukio Shiba burst to stardom at age 27 with his masterful first play, "Waga Hoshi" ("Our Planet"), which premiered in Tokyo and the following year scooped Japanese contemporary theater's prestigious Kishida Kunio Award.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 9, 2012

Goth-Trad hatches postdisaster pop

Talking with Takeaki Maruyama in a Tokyo cafe, I'm caught off guard when the dubstep artist better known as Goth-Trad suggests that his fourth and latest album is pop. When I let it sink in, though, I realize that "New Epoch" could in fact be the perfect postdisaster-pop album.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 3, 2010

Carl Craig

In April 2000, Tokyo nightclub Womb opened its doors and became one of the cornerstones of Japan's dance-music scene. This weekend, the club brings music fans the third installment of their Womb Adventure event, which adopts the theme of "expansion of reality." Though the club is located in Tokyo's Shibuya...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 3, 2010

Festival marks blip on the radar for chiptune

Taking Nintendo's Game Boy to places it was never meant to go, a lineup of international chiptune artists will be converging on Koenji High this weekend for Japan's first ever Blip Festival. The roster includes acts such as Nullsleep from New York, who takes a blowtorch to sweet "Super Mario" style ditties,...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 9, 2007

Acid-house pioneer shakes Tokyo

The death of music impresario Tony Wilson in August this year led to tributes from across the world, and recently the movie "Control," a biopic of late Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis, was released to critical acclaim. What do these two events have in common? Manchester's music scene of the late 1980s....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 29, 2006

J-cool factor struggles to woo NYC

For someone who stands to gain from the hot topic of Japan's "Gross National Cool," Taeko Baba ought to be the last to pop the phenomenon's bubble.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jan 27, 2006

New blood flows in city's heart

While Shibuya is becoming a boomtown for bars aimed at the young and casual, one small area -- right at its heart -- has been a hot spot for more than half a century.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?