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David Hickey
For David Hickey's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Dec 2, 2012
Michael Woodford: Japan's whistle-blower supreme speaks out
Michael Woodford glances out of the floor-to-ceiling window of his multimillion-pound loft apartment, which looks out across the River Thames toward the City of London, the so-called Square Mile that is among the world's leading financial and commercial centers.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jul 19, 2009
A different kind of hardball
It's as English as dancing round a Maypole on the village green. But, wedged between a rugby pitch and fields full of practicing Little Leaguers, the University of Tokyo Cricket Club and their counterparts across town from Chuo are doing their best to put this most civilized of pastimes on Japan's sporting map.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 15, 2009
Japan resident, get set for your date with dentistry
They were four simple words that I never wanted to hear: "Ha wo warimasu, ne (歯を割りますね, I'm going to split your tooth, OK?)."
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
May 17, 2009
Tokyo's 'song and dance man'
Three-dozen sozzled office types, teachers and the like are cradling their drinks in one hand and punching the air with the other, bawling, "Everybody must get STONED!"
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Mar 15, 2009
45s at 60 just keep groovin' on their 7-inch way
It was 60 years ago this month when a country crooner from the South released the first-ever single to spin at 45 rpm.
Japan Times
Features / WEEK 3
Oct 19, 2008
Hell's a-poppin' if you know where . . .
Thinking it was high time I had my synapses chomped by digitally enhanced satanic hardcore dance music, I head off to the appropriately titled Hell's Gate event at Studio Cube 326 in Tamachi, a reclaimed armpit of Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 15, 2008
The fans have their say at Summer Sonic's Tokyo site
Riviera, 19, office worker; Miku, 22, store manager; Nao, 22, sales assistant
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 25, 2008
Spiritualized beat the reaper
Jason Pierce almost died in July 2005. Hooked up to a ventilator and suffering from double pneumonia, Pierce — aka J Spaceman — shrank to 45 kg and spent two weeks in intensive care in a London hospital. Things looked so bad that his girlfriend was offered grief counseling.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jul 6, 2008
Peace follows turbulent times
"It was a nightmare," laughs Tokyo-based author David Peace of a recent trip to Paris to promote the French version of his most successful novel, "The Damned Utd."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / MY PLAYLIST
Jun 13, 2008
We Are Scientists
Three years after their catchy debut "With Love and Squalor" burrowed its way into the homes of 150,000 people worldwide, Brooklyn-based indie-rockers We Are Scientists are back.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 2, 2008
Sex, drugs and sitars
Blame Julian Cope.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 28, 2008
The revolutionary tale of Mikami's enka blues
Kan Mikami once beat the crap out of David Bowie.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / MY PLAYLIST
Mar 21, 2008
MY PLAYLIST: Cornelius
Keigo Oyamada stopped writing hits a long time ago. Not playing the pop star suits him just fine. It gives Oyamada — formerly of Flipper's Guitar but better known since 1993 as avant-pop boffin Cornelius — more time to indulge his multimedia fantasies to the full, as captured on two new DVDs released on Wednesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / MY PLAYLIST
Feb 29, 2008
Ian Brown
'Every time I do interviews, they ask me about the same things — poverty, war and the power of the church," says 45-year-old Ian Brown by telephone from Manchester.
CULTURE / Music
Feb 22, 2008
The Bawdies "Awaking of Rhythm and Blues"
Few bands are better placed than R&B revivalists Bawdies to ride the current Showa Boom. Listening to this second album from the mod-attired Toyko four-piece — leader Ryo "Roy" Watanabe (bass/vocals), Taku "Taxman" Funayama (guitar/vocals), Yoshihiko "Jim" Kimura (guitar/vocals) and Masahiko "Marcy" Yamaguchi (drums/vocals) — and it's like the past four-and-a-half decades never happened: "My Little Joe" swaggers like The Stones' "It's All Over Now"; "I'm in Love with You" sees Watanabe doff his mop-top in the direction of Cavern Club-era Beatles; and slowie "I'm So Lost Without You" reaches for the exalted highs of Sam Cooke's "Bring it all Home to me" (and almost gets there).
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 18, 2008
The hotel of eternal youth
It was reportedly good enough for Elizabeth Taylor. It kept Chairman Mao forever young (until he died). And Charlie Chaplin went straight to the source — a clinic in Bucharest — for it.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 9, 2007
From trailer park to catwalk
"Sorry, I'm having pure chaos!"
CULTURE / Music
Oct 26, 2007
"Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind"">Vashti Bunyan "Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind"
"Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind"">Thirty-five years — that's how long it took for singer-songwriter Vashti Bunyan to be convinced there was an audience ready for a followup to her long-lost 1970 classic, the Joe Boyd-produced "Just Another Diamond Day." Among this swelling fan base was the likes of latter-day hip folkies such as Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom, both of whom guested on her comeback album, 2005's "Lookaftering." With one of the most unlikely of pop resurrections in place, who can blame Bunyan's label for now trawling through the vaults and cashing in with this two-CD set of her earliest recordings?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / MY PLAYLIST
Oct 26, 2007
MY PLAYLIST: Robert Wyatt
"I think there are more jokes on it than people might realize," says one of the most distinctive voices in British pop, Robert Wyatt, when asked why his latest album isn't exactly a laugh-a-minute listen despite being titled "Comicopera." "I used to joke that deep down I'm really shallow, and it does hold with what I do."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 3, 2007
Chats backstage at Fuji
'Mine's best' 'It's been lovely," said former Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker toward the end of his Friday afternoon set at FRF '07. And indeed it was. The JT caught up with Cocker backstage after his show and asked him to elaborate.

Longform

A statue of "Dragon Ball" character Goku stands outside the offices of Bandai Namco in Tokyo. The figure is now as recognizable as such characters as Mickey Mouse and Spider-Man.
Akira Toriyama's gift to the world