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April 28, 2024
 

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Shaun McKenna

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Shaun McKenna
Shaun McKenna joined The Japan Times in 2007. He was the Music and Entertainment editor until 2019 when he became the Senior Commissioning Editor at the newspaper. He now also hosts and produces the Deep Dive podcast.
For Shaun McKenna's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 3, 2014
Kanye West cancels Fuji Rock headline spot
Kanye West has canceled his headline appearance at this year's Fuji Rock Festival "due to artist circumstances," according to festival organizers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 26, 2013
CSS, Makoto Ozone and Shonen Knife get a round of shows in before New Year's
With the year winding down and the holiday season approaching, the concert scene in Japan gets pretty quiet. Although there will be a few international acts headed here in the middle of December, your best shot for a live performance might be checking out local acts before they go into hibernation for New Year's holidays.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 19, 2013
Japanoise: Music at the Edge of Circulation
There are some genres of music that Japan excels in. Recently, acts here have been appropriating the dance music styles of dubstep and juke to create a sound that feels like a real contribution to the global music scene. Before all this, though, there was noise.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 19, 2013
Loco in Yokohama
I remember heading to the pub years ago, after teaching English at a high school, to swap horror stories with my peers. Baye McNeil's "Loco in Yokohama" is, in that sense, a trip down memory lane.
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Jul 30, 2013
Fairley tries to avoid spoilers but it's all part of the game
The standard opening line when speaking to someone about the TV series "Game of Thrones" basically amounts to a spoiler alert.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / IN THE RECORD
Jun 20, 2013
In the record bag: Mark Birtles
Born in Nottingham, England, Mark Birtles began DJing in Leeds before coming to Japan in 2008. He is one half of the Tokyo Indie events team, which has hosted DJ gigs with touring bands such as My Bloody Valentine, Metronomy, Mystery Jets and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. He let us have a look in his record bag and made a mix of some upcoming Japanese acts he's been listening to (see bottom of this story).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 23, 2013
June: Taicoclub, Tokyo Camp kick off festival season
Students are counting down the days till school lets out, while urban commuters are starting to sweat the impending heat. Summer is coming, and a sure sign of that is that music festivals are starting to kick up around the country.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 2, 2013
Pianist Onishi to come out of retirement
Pianist Junko Onishi will come out of retirement to perform one more time, at the finale of this year's Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto in Nagano Prefecture.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 29, 2013
Early quake relief project 'Nihon Kizuna' to hold two-year anniversary event
Laurent Fintoni was visiting Japan in March 2011 when the Great East Japan Earthquake struck. The 33-year-old writer and DJ quickly contacted friends in the music scene here and abroad to produce "Nihon Kizuna," one of the first albums to aid disaster relief.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 28, 2013
Japanese acts play music ambassadors at Canadian Music Week
After rock group Jake Stone Garage hit the final chord of one of their powerful guitar-heavy songs, the crowd let out a few hoots and applauded politely.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 14, 2013
My Bloody Valentine hit the decks in Shibuya
My Bloody Valentine bassist Debbie Googe manned the decks for a rare DJ set at a Tokyo Indie event in Tokyo on Friday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 3, 2013
January: Spirit of punk alive as Patti Smith, Death Grips come to Japan
The new year is starting out with a slew of potentially great gigs throughout the country.
CULTURE / Music
Nov 29, 2012
2.5D wants to change how you see Japan
A crowd much smaller than solo-guitarist Miyavi is accustomed to has gathered to hear an intimate set at the 2.5D studio in Shibuya's Parco Part 1 building. About a third of the 80 or so people have gathered around the stage so close that they can almost touch the artist. They don't try, of course, but it still causes Miyavi to mention how unusual the situation is.
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Jul 24, 2012
Today's J-blip: A song for Ichiro Suzuki
'Don't you know, he beats the throw!' Ben Gibbard's indie-pop tribute to Ichiro.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / IN THE RECORD
May 17, 2012
A Taut Line
Tokyo-based British DJ/producer Matt Lyne, aka A Taut Line, coruns the record label Diskotopia, with Brian Durr, aka BD1982. A Taut Line's melodic broken house, garage and techno productions are just as influenced by the Chicago jazz and postrock scenes as by the 1980s Chicago house scene. Meanwhile, Greeen Linez, a joint project Lyne has with Hong Kong In The 60s member Christopher Greenberg, unites early '90s dance music with '70s and '80s jazz funk. Keeping in mind the variety of music Lyne has been exposed to, we took a look inside his record bag.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Sep 9, 2011
Sendai to hold jazz festival
In times of trouble music can soothe the soul. And if anyone's souls needed soothing, it would be the people of Sendai.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 17, 2011
Meitoku players give famed kabuki piece the Kurosawa treatment
In 1985, director Akira Kurosawa released "Ran," a Japanese take on William Shakespear's masterpiece "King Lear." Kochi's Meitoku International Players are taking a similar approach to Namiki Gohei's 1840 kabuki piece "Kanjicho" by presenting it in an Italian setting and performed in English.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Feb 4, 2011
Yokohama's Chinatown community marks lunar new year
Yokohama's Chinatown district is ready to get the party hopping.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 4, 2010
CrossFit pushes exercise buffs to their limits
The grunting gets louder the further I walk down the path. It's somewhat synchronized, and suddenly I hear a buzzer and everything is quiet — for 10 seconds.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 27, 2009
Various Artists "Tokyo Suite Selected by Nigo"
As the setting for Sofia Coppola's 2003 film "Lost In Translation," Tokyo's Park Hyatt Hotel was immortalized. The long takes of a jet-lagged Scarlett Johansson staring dreamily out onto a neon-lit metropolis lent themselves well to the shoegazer soundtrack.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
In Japan, regional revitalization fails to halt population decline
Sakiyama elementary school in Tamba, Hyogo Prefecture, in March .Over the past decade, the government has directed efforts toward policies designed to give young people incentives to base themselves in rural areas.
Number of homeless in Japan hits record low
Homeless people sleep on the street in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward in August 2021.
Ukraine is far from doomed
When comparing Ukraine’s military situation in 2024 to Europe’s in 1941, Russia’s defeat seems entirely possible.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Tokyo's Koto Ward by-election a race unlike any other
Natsumi Sakai, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan’s candidate and one of four female candidates running in the by-election, touts her experience as a cancer survivor and midwife as having prepared her to tackle issues that women currently face.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Casa del Cibo: A thriving jewel born from Tohoku’s harsh past
When chef Ryohei Ikemi moved to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and opened Casa del Cibo in 2011, it was the first proper Italian restaurant in the city.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
Top U.S. and China diplomats talk tough amid warnings of new ‘downward spiral’
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Friday

Podcast

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

Longform

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

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Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

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