AP A car bomb exploded outside a mosque Sunday, killing at least 37 people and wounding another 141 in a mostly Shiite Muslim neighborhood in the southern Pakistan city of Karachi — the third mass-casualty attack on the minority sect in the country this ...
It's a dangerous, unpredictable world. Twice in January Chinese warships in the East China Sea challenged Japan's Maritime Self Defense Forces patrols in a manner deemed threatening. And on Feb. 12 came North Korea's nuclear test.
Here's an open secret: Japanese men have a bad international reputation on the romance front.
SELLING WOMEN: Prostitution, Markets and the Household in Early Modern Japan, by Amy Stanley. University of California Press, 2012, 282 pp., $49.95 (hardcover) In the vast cultural landscape, Japan fascinates the mainstream with manga and anime, the martial arts, Zen and kimono. Of course, ...
Kenta Maeda shook off worries about his form with five shutout innings as Japan beat China 5-2 in first-round Pool A of the World Baseball Classic on Sunday at Fukuoka Dome. Japan improved to 2-0 following a tough win over Brazil in Saturday evening’s ...
The new year is starting out with a slew of potentially great gigs throughout the country. The most anticipated of these is probably Patti Smith and her Band’s seven-city tour, which starts in Sendai on Jan. 22 (Sendai Rensa; 7:30 p.m. start; ¥7,000 in ...
“Kitaro and I were destined to meet each other,” Dennis Banks tells The Japan Times. “Our beliefs are similar: Mother Earth, who we are … we are all the children of this Earth.” Banks, 75, is a Native American activist and leader of the ...
Six long years after their first two enjoyable albums, Tokyo band Yucca made a welcome return in June 2012 with the even more impressive “Our Journey (to anywhere we want).” It may not be the most innovative album of 2012, but because of its ...
Rock music in Japan has become reliant on programming, synthesizers and new technology. While that electronic advancement has made it easier for bands to start out through D.I.Y. websites, new artists can sometimes lack live-performance techniques and the experience of interacting with an audience. ...
The 2012 general election might not seem to have any bearing on the state of pop music in Japan, but there was an eerie similarity in the way both the electorate and the pop world turned back the clock and wrapped conservatism in a ...
On her own, Japanese pop superstar Hatsune Miku can’t sing. Nor can she rap, dance or DJ. She is drug- and alcohol-free because she can’t indulge in either, and she can’t have affairs or engage in offstage shenanigans fit for YouTube scandals or tabloid ...
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 ...
If you’ve been to any jazz or funk gigs in the Kanto area over the last couple of years, there’s a good chance you may have seen trombonist Takao Hirose up on stage. In addition to featuring in the horn section for other acts ...
The members of Tokyo Girls’ Style have a lot to juggle in the next couple of months. This Saturday, the five-member pop group will perform a solo show at Japan’s storied Budokan arena — a huge milestone for any musical outfit here. About a ...
The end of the year is approaching, which means — if you’re not stuck in the house watching popular music show “Kohaku Uta Gassen” with Grandma — it’s time to party hard. For those who like beats, there are tons of dance-music events across ...
For a genre that critics and musicians have been declaring dead for more than half a century, each year nevertheless sees new artists dipping their toes in the vast ocean that is jazz. Some decide to re-trace and re-interpret well-established routes, others choose to ...
Whichever way you look at it, there’s something a little bit different about Indigo Jam Unit. The Osaka-based band has succeeded on its own terms, eschewing the Tokyo club-jazz crowd, but at the same time carving out their own little niche within the scene. ...
