Daniel Robson - The Japan Times

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Daniel Robson

Daniel Robson, a British journalist based in Tokyo since 2006, is a features editor and writer at The Japan Times. He also writes freelance about music, videogames and Japanese pop culture for other publications around the world.

For Daniel Robson's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Feb 23, 2012

akai ko-en try to avoid getting caught in the Web

With a layered sound that blends postrock dynamics and sprawling song structures with pure J-pop sensibility, akai ko-en is quickly becoming one of Tokyo's most talked-about new bands. But just try searching for the group on YouTube and see how far you get.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film / SHORT TAKES

Jan 20, 2012

Director: David Michôd

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Jan 6, 2012

'Spamalot' cast hopes 2012 is Year of the Python

"This is Spam," says Eric Idle to a room full of Japanese journalists, holding up a can of the precooked meat product that he and his fellow Monty Python cast members mocked to lasting effect in 1970 in their iconic BBC TV series.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Dec 29, 2011

Shonen Knife celebrates 30 years

Today we celebrate 30 years under the Knife. Yes, it was on Dec. 29, 1981, that three teenage girls — Naoko Yamano, her sister Atsuko and their friend Mitchie Nakatani — entered an Osaka rehearsal studio for the first time. They emerged as Shonen Knife.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Dec 22, 2011

Best of 2011: AKB48 "Koko ni Ita Koto"

AKB48 is not a band, or even a pop group: AKB48 is a hate crime. With "Koko ni Ita Koto," pop music has reached its lowest ebb. And that is precisely why this album is not my favorite of the year, but the one I think is the most important.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Dec 15, 2011

X Japan's Yoshiki seeks a second coming

The setting is an upscale hotel ballroom. On a stage in the center of the room sit two crystal-clear transparent pianos, facing each other, and a mic stand. In a circle around the stage, facing inward: an audience. We'll come back to them in a minute. An octet and backing band occupy sub-stages on opposing walls, but no one's looking at them; everyone's gaze is fixed on the guy at the piano and the guy with the mic. They are Yoshiki and Toshi from X Japan.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Nov 17, 2011

Passepied "Watashi Kaika Shita Wa"

Oh, not again. Almost exactly three years ago I was handed a preview copy of "Hi-Fi Anatomia" by Soutaiseiriron. At first I hated the album's anime-friendly helium vocals and pretentious air, but after a few spins, the super-minimal jazzy-poppy tunes, as fragile as glass, drilled their way into my brain. It's now one of my all-time favorite albums.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Nov 10, 2011

Kaela Kimura "8Eight8"

Spiders are excellent. How many legs have you got? A spider has four times more. Ha! And four times more eyes too! You and I will never be as cool as a spider — that's just the way it goes.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Oct 20, 2011

Blip Festival Tokyo

If there's anything video-game geeks hate, it's interacting with other people — at least, that's the common perception. However, it's a perception that is routinely shattered by the live chiptune music scene — and where better to go multiplayer than at this weekend's Blip Festival Tokyo, which celebrates the genre that emulates 1980s 8-bit video-game consoles.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET

Sep 20, 2011

Tokyo Game Show: What's been your highlight of the show?

Yoshinori WatanabeOffice worker, 27I haven't seen it yet, but PlayStation Vita looks like a neat device with lots of interesting functions. I'm dying to have a go on one. I'm going to line up now, but I think we got here too late!

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Sep 1, 2011

Shinsei Kamattechan "8 Gatsu 32 Nichi e"

Released on Aug. 31, the title of Shinsei Kamattechan's fourth album translates as "To August 32" — a date that doesn't really exist but that we could take as a celebration of the potential of a tomorrow yet to come. And yet this Chiba four-piece haven't really taken any steps into the future with this album: Its sound is much the same as that of their previous two albums, "Tsumanne" and "Minna Shine," both released on the same date last December.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Aug 18, 2011

Trippple Nippples

You're based in Japan, how was it playing at Summer Sonic?

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Aug 18, 2011

Your show was packed.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Aug 11, 2011

Summer Sonic prepares for an Asian invasion

Amid all the rivalry between Japanese and South Korean pop groups and the contrived debates about whether the manufactured crap from one country is better than the manufactured crap from the other, fans of independent or alternative music have been left scratching their heads.

Japan Times

LIFE / Digital

Jun 29, 2011

Local heroes take Japanese video games to the world

Japan may not be the all-conquering video-game powerhouse it once was, but there are still plenty of gamers in the West who want to get their hands on the latest "Mario," "Final Fantasy" or "Street Fighter" title. And it goes without saying that they want to play them in their own language — not in Japanese.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jun 17, 2011

Superfly takes a heavy trip

Hang on a minute, how did this happen? Somehow hippie-loving 1960s-throwback pop songstress Superfly has got, like, totally heavy, man. While her previous studio album, 2009's "Box Emotions," featured a couple of belters, new release "Mind Travel" does away with soppy ballads almost completely, favoring instead a sound that takes as its starting point classic hard rock.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jun 16, 2011

Red Bacteria Vacuum

With a rough, raw and raucous hardcore-punk edge and a balls-out live show, Red Bacteria Vacuum have become one of Japan's most revered underground bands. Formed in Osaka in 1998, the trio — Ikumi (guitar/vocals), Kassan (bass/vocals) and Jasmine (drums), none of whom use a last name — routinely blow the speakers at venues across the country (not literally of course, that would cost a fortune) with their fierce stage workouts.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jun 9, 2011

Puffyshoes just wanna have fun

Shorter is nearly always better. The Pixies managed to cram three verses and choruses into just 94 seconds on "Trompe le Monde" track "Palace of the Brine," and it became one of the best songs they ever wrote. And just look at almost any tune recorded by The Supremes or The Shangri-Las or Elvis Presley, or all The Beatles' early stuff (before they became rubbish) — nearly all within earshot of the magic three-minute mark. Five-minute-long J-pop ballads? No thanks. Make them a short, sharp shock — or keep them the hell away from our stereo.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Film / SHORT TAKES

May 20, 2011

Gekijoban Shinsei Kamattechan (Shinsei Kamattechan the Movie)

Director: Yu Irie

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

May 12, 2011

Go! Team hope to rock Japan in a good way

"People are scaredy-cats, aren't they?" laughs Ian Parton, founder of British cut-and-paste kitsch-pop outfit The Go! Team, when told that many Western bands have canceled their Japan tours in the wake of March's radiation-tinged triple disaster in the Tohoku region.

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.

[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.

The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Students ‘study abroad’ on island of Suo Oshima

Students ‘study abroad’ on island of Suo Oshima

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