It’s 11 p.m. and Kanazawa venue Puddle is packed. The space is a two-room, wood-furnished cafe/bar in the city’s Katamachi neighborhood. There’s a mediocre jam band playing later that night, but the DJ set by Yasuhiro Tsukamoto is what catches my attention. With little ...

Almost everything in the room is transparent. From the ceiling dangle two clear plastic jackets. Against the glass walls are empty glass display cases. Past the jackets on the opposite side of the room are four flat-screen TVs set to static. The room is ...

As cities, Tokyo and Los Angeles could not be more different. But as creative places, both cities resonate with one another as creative partners.

The 1970s was an important decade for the development of Japanese pop-cultural icons. Kindergarten children back then would likely have been introduced to the characters Doraemon (1969), Anpanman (1973) and Hello Kitty (1974).

At the age of 18, Kenji Sakajiri left his hometown of Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture, and moved to Osaka. He wasn’t headed to college or looking for a day job. Instead he dived headfirst into the world of vinyl records. This was in 1992 and ...

It’s December and small flocks of young, creative-looking types are making their way to a shipyard in Osaka’s Namura district. Tucked among an expanse of otherwise drab warehouses there is Creative Center Osaka, and tonight is “Hot Docks 2,” an art and music spectacle. ...

Known to most as Eadonmm, Shinya Wada is a Kansai-based producer and DJ. In addition to organizing an event called Idle Moments in Kyoto, he is now busy finishing a new album, “Aqonis,” due out this spring on Osaka label Day Tripper Records. Here’s ...

As Expe, Takatoshi Yoshitake’s October release “Emeralda” approaches the technical thresholds of guitar and percussion, but avoids the egotistical posturing that characterizes much progressive music. Instead, “Emeralda” dives deep into meter and timbre all while maintaining a cool, nuanced sensibility. It’s a funk record ...