The cherry trees of Ueno Park are inspirational in full bloom. Come early spring and Tokyoites head to the area early to snag spots beneath the pink blossoms, which inspire romance, revelry and perhaps more than a few visionary ideas. More than a decade ago, Koichi Suzuki, the CEO of ...
Two hours before the doors even opened, the line outside New York’s Best Buy Theater snaked around several streets in ...
Most bands in Japan come to Tokyo to reach for stardom. Indie rock act Mothercoat did the opposite, however, when ...
Jazz is a form of music that was born out of live performance, and fans in Japan are certainly spoiled for choice when it comes to places to see jazz gigs. With that blessing of choice, however, comes a catch. There’s an argument that ...
Commercial music sensation AKB48 is looking to build on its wildly successful all-girl group by adding a more mature member to its teen-dominated lineup, according to an advertisement released Wednesday. The collective, whose 90-plus singers and dancers are rotated in and out of the ...
The band name Owarikara loosely translates into English as “starting from the end.” However, singer and guitarist Hyouri Takahashi gives a much more specific interpretation. “The suffix ‘-kara‘ (from) and the word ‘owari‘ (end) are both part of the name,” he says. “It’s about ...
In a music scene where the border between underground and mainstream can be incredibly difficult to traverse, it’s not surprising that many bands trapped in the indie-sphere bemoan their lot. What you hear less of is how that sense of exclusion, fostered by a ...
We’ve all been there before. Sometimes it’s a New Year’s resolution, sometimes it’s the realization that you’re out of breath just running up the stairs to catch your last train — but at one point or another, we’ve all decided to try and get ...
“The philosopher Shunsuke Tsurumi said in an interview that, when you see something like a rainbow and feel moved by it, that moment is eternity,” singer-songwriter Yuichi Ushioda tells me at the 3rd Stone Cafe in Tokyo’s Shimokitazawa area. “I want to be able ...
“Animals don’t commit suicide, but this song is so sad that even animals would want to kill themselves.” Seira Nishigami, vocalist, guitarist and synth player from Osaka-based lo-fi indie trio Jesus Weekend, is trying to explain the feeling behind her group’s evocatively titled “Animal ...
From Vincent Van Gogh’s ukiyo-e inspired paintings to novelist Natsume Soseki’s period of studies in the United Kingdom, Tokyo has long cultivated intercity relations with the likes of Paris and London through the mediums of art and literature. However, when it comes to linking ...
As the academic year draws to a close and a new cohort of young Japanese are dumped out the business end of the education system, so a new year’s graduating class of young bands face a tough and forbidding new world. In the past, ...
Ray Charles was the innovator of soul. Rei Mastrogiovanni wants to innovate ska; he says it’s in his blood. “I heard a monk in Kishiwada, where my family is from, hitting a mokugyo (wood block in the shape of a fish) and it was ...
A little-known part of the music scene will be celebrated next week at Tokyo’s Asakusa Kurawood venue, far from the candy-pop quirk of Harajuku. Obscene Extreme Festival (OEF) promises to be confrontational and dark and — yes, the capital letters are insisted upon — ...
The Sony Music Foundation took the opportunity of the New York Philharmonic’s current Asia tour to organize a special event on Feb. 11. The concert aimed to provide Japanese youth — some of whom were from Fukushima Prefecture — with first-class live performances by ...
