Ian Martin - The Japan Times

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Ian Martin

Ian Martin is a freelance writer covering music and pop culture. He has been active in the Tokyo music scene as an indie event organiser, DJ and label owner since 2004 and has been contributing to The Japan Times music page for almost as long.

For Ian Martin's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jan 10, 2016

Z/nz finds the right kind of wrong on debut album

'We were outside the station at Yahata in Kitakyushu and there was this festival going on — this group of old guys playing in a band with all these young people dancing. It was a strange scene — what kind of festival is this? That's where the album title 'Nanka Festa' ('Something Festival') came from."

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE

Dec 27, 2015

The best Japanese indie albums of 2015

While it remains this column's firm conviction that J-pop is trapped in a self-perpetuating dark age, the indie and underground music scenes provide a far livelier picture of Japan's musical landscape. In 2015, there was such a flow of fascinating new releases arriving from all angles that it was difficult to keep up.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE

Nov 27, 2015

The complexities of living too close to Tokyo

While traveling in the northeastern part of Japan last month, I was struck by the way quirky, alternative and avant-garde music carves out a space for itself in parts of the country that are isolated from the major cultural centers.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE

Oct 23, 2015

Unexpected places step in to fill the role of live house venues in Japan's north

When I made the decision to embark on a largely bicycle-based tour of every prefecture in Japan to investigate music scenes outside the industry mother-brain of Tokyo, I made a point of not having any expectations.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Sep 25, 2015

Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her’s Aiha Higurashi listens to her inner teen on ‘Eternal Adolescence’

Aiha Higurashi pauses, her brow furrows slightly, and she purses her lips. Her eyes have the sharp, scrutinizing focus of someone who doesn't want to miss a single cue or nuance of meaning in her surroundings. There's a wariness about her, and even in the simple matter of scratching her chin, it's her middle finger she extends to perform the task.

CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE

Sep 25, 2015

Hokkaido's musical 'dreamers' and 'patriots' comprise a necessary duet

Viewed from the hothouse of the Tokyo music scene, the northeast of Japan can sometimes seem like a mysterious land. A gray, frozen, sparsely populated expanse: a cultural wasteland.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE

Aug 29, 2015

Music festivals are better when the customer isn't always right

In an industry that devotes itself with ever more granular precision to the art of serving you what its research says you want, music and events that demand you meet them halfway are ever more precious.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE

Jul 26, 2015

Rock in Japan focuses on the experience of an eternal afternoon

If the lackluster response to Fuji Rock Festival's lineup announcements and the closure of at least one of its stages suggests looming trouble for Japan's festival scene, there is one rival that has gone from strength to strength: the domestically focused Rock in Japan.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jun 28, 2015

Keep up the hunger to find new music

Have you heard or had this conversation recently?

CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE

May 22, 2015

Band boom of the 1980s left a handy indie infrastructure

The wonderful and invaluable music website Tokyo Gig Guide lists just under 700 performance venues in Tokyo, but the scene wasn't always so flush with space.

CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE

Apr 24, 2015

The secret to indie success is in the bag

Here's a joke: When is a bag not a bag? Give up? When it's a symbol for the shifting place of music in the pop cultural landscape. . . . I'm here all week, folks. Try the veal.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE

Mar 24, 2015

Leave charts to fans of music, not gimmicks

Anyone who pays any kind of attention to the music charts in Japan knows that for many years now they've been a joke.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE

Feb 24, 2015

Sympathy for the snob: Real DJs play vinyl

Up a backstreet in Shibuya's Udagawacho neighborhood, tucked in behind the Milky Way, Chelsea Hotel and Star Lounge live-music venues — an area tight with record stores — I'm on my way to a party crammed with style-conscious young folk in sweaters and berets, DJing against the backdrop of Roman Polanski's 1965 film "Repulsion." That's when I see the billboard.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE

Jan 27, 2015

Kuwata's left jab has nothing on the politics of ad money

If this column is going to be about one thing in 2015, it will be politics in music.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE

Dec 23, 2014

Who was music being made for in 2014?

When looking back on the year in music, the big question music fans should be asking themselves is, "Who was music being made for in 2014?" Looking at the broader picture, we can find the answers writ large across the Japanese music scene.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Dec 16, 2014

Rock, J-pop and dance: Albums we liked in 2014

The year-end album charts in Japan have a tendency to prop up the same acts year after year: Exile, anything that ends in a "48," and almost every group from the Johnny & Associates stable of boy bands. Writers at The Japan Times, however, spent the year looking past the charts to find a few gems lurking in the underground of the country's music scene. Here are some of their favorite albums from 2014.

CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE

Nov 25, 2014

Pop artifice was never better with Aya Matsuura

When a pop singer who has long faded from the limelight suddenly starts appearing in your Twitter timeline in the form of glowing, nostalgic re-evaluations, they're either gearing up for a comeback . . . or dead.

CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE

Oct 21, 2014

You say proto-this, I say post-that, let's call the whole thing 'skronk'

A famous quote of mysterious provenance (most likely the American actor and singer Martin Mull) has it that, "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture," and anyone who has ever tried to write about music will know that language can be an inadequate tool.

CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE

Sep 30, 2014

Live houses need to rethink their product if they want to attract customers

In these times of declining music sales it has become a truism that the live arena is where bands and artists can make their money. Certainly that seems to have factored into the decision by U2 and Apple to give the Irish band's new album to iTunes users for free — whether they wanted it or not.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Books

Sep 20, 2014

Studio Ghibli inspires endless adaptations

As one of the most important and acclaimed animation studios in not only Japan but the world, it's unsurprising that Studio Ghibli has also inspired a wealth of printed material. Helen McCarthy's "Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation" about the studio's most celebrated director and Miyazaki's own "Starting Point: 1979-1996" essay collection, as well as numerous art books, provide fascinating insights into the workings of the studio and its creative staff, but what about those just looking to sit down with a good story?

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

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.

Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

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