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April 29, 2025
 

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Philip Brasor
CULTURE / Music
Jul 3, 2009
Japan was Jackson's other Neverland
Last Friday I watched the second half of the two-hour tribute special to Michael Jackson on Fuji TV and after it was over started surfing to see if there were any others. NHK's BS-2 channel was airing a retrospective of performances by the late singer Hibari Misora, and it occurred to me that June 24,...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 28, 2009
The only bonus you'll get this summer is the sun
One of the cleverest ideas developed by the Japanese business world is the distribution of semiannual "bonuses" to employees. Usually, a bonus is tied to a company's good fortune or an employee's performance. Japanese workers have always deemed them to be part of their salaries and tend to plan their...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 21, 2009
My son, I give you power over the people
Last Monday, TBS's noontime show "Hiruobi" was covering Kim Jong Un, the son of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and presumed successor. One commentator on the show, an editor for an entertainment magazine, wondered what the citizens of North Korea really thought of this dynastic system. "In Japan right...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 19, 2009
Asian Kung-Fu Generation @ Nano-Mugen Festival
There are few success stories in Japanese rock as satisfying as Asian Kung-Fu Generation's. Formed at Yokohama's Kanto Gakuin University in 1996, the punk quartet slowly garnered a following in the Tokyo metropolitan area before appearing at both Fuji Rock and Summer Sonic in 2003. That same summer,...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 14, 2009
A trifle late, but the media master murder-case coverage
After the Supreme Court upheld Masumi Hayashi's death sentence in April, the Wakayama Curry Murder Case became history. As far as the media is concerned, there is nothing left to talk about until her sentence is carried out, even though serious doubts remain about the prosecution's evidence, which was...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 12, 2009
BMO Music Fest
The BMO Music Fest is a one-night urban music extravaganza that squeezes a lot of entertainment into a limited space of time. Seven major hip-hop and R&B artists will be on hand, all of whom could fill a club or even an auditorium on their own. This year's headliner is Shaggy, who remains the biggest...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 7, 2009
Our columnist's 'drug runs' are happily over
Whenever I visit the United States, friends ask me to pick up things for them, usually over-the-counter (OTC) drugs that are cheaper in the States than they are in Japan. I always return with this booty as nervous as if I were carrying a brick of hash, having once been told by a colleague how customs...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 31, 2009
A slight unmasking of Japan's flu 'pandemic'
While traveling through Scandinavia two weeks ago, I had scant opportunity to monitor Japan's anxiety over the sudden increase in confirmed cases of H1N1 flu that led to closings of schools in the Kansai region. Europe seemed barely concerned about the new flu and when I caught BBC World in hotel rooms...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 24, 2009
The art of eco: Eco this, eco that, eco is such a steal
As Kermit the Frog once said, "It isn't easy being green." Take this new "eco points" plan that goes into effect once the latest supplemental budget is formally passed. Consumers who buy refrigerators, air conditioners and TVs designated as having energy saving qualities will receive points that can...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 17, 2009
Oh! To have a married life
Last week, during an NHK discussion about the future prospects of people who are presently 35 years old, an announcer casually dropped a statistic that said 82 percent of all 35-year-olds in Japan make ¥2 million or less a year. These are the people who are now supposed to be the core purchasers of...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 10, 2009
A death from human kindness
On April 21, the body of former pop singer Yukiko Shimizu was found in a cemetery in Oyamacho, Shizuoka Prefecture, in front of her father's grave. Police assume that she committed suicide on the spot by inhaling hydrogen sulfide fumes and had probably also tried to kill her 80-year-old mother, who was...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 8, 2009
The Horrors "Primary Colours"
The big hair, the mascara, the emaciated frames, the all-black get-ups, the BELT BUCKLES! It's difficult to take The Horrors seriously on any level because it's impossible not to receive their visual gestalt as some sort of bad joke that they themselves don't get. Even the name is hilariously obvious....
CULTURE / Music
May 8, 2009
Bluesman Robert Cray plays it with soul
Robert Cray last performed in Japan 13 years ago at the Japan Blues Carnival — an experience that for him is now a bittersweet memory.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 3, 2009
SMAP star Kusanagi causes naked rage among media
Between the time the media first heard the news that SMAP member Tsuyoshi Kusanagi had been arrested for public indecency and his press conference the next day, there was a frisson of titillating anticipation over what the scandal might reveal and how Kusanagi would emerge from it. Even now, speculation...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 26, 2009
Media silence on first lady's school visit shows Japan's education gap
Earlier this month, while her husband, the president of the United States, met with other world leaders at the G20 summit, Michelle Obama visited a school for "disadvantaged" girls in North London and was moved to tears by the students' hard work and talent. In an emotional speech, she hailed the young...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 24, 2009
Jane Monheit
Jane Monheit first attracted attention as the runnerup in the 1998 Thelonious Monk Institute Vocal Competition held in New York, but her musical sensibility seems better suited to Broadway show tunes than jazz standards.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 19, 2009
Chiba's governor may soon be whisked away to his home planet
In the latest installment of Suntory's series of TV commericals for Boss canned coffee, the extraterrestrial Tommy Lee Jones, who has been sent to Earth to study the human race, runs for governor of an unnamed prefecture and wins by a landslide. The excitement is short-lived, though, as his inappropriate...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 17, 2009
The deBretts
On the MySpace page for The deBretts, a new four-piece band from London, there's a photo of lead singer Vonnie in a black chiffon dress sitting on a toilet in what looks like a public rest room.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 17, 2009
Sparks plug away toward ultimate entertainment
Most successful pop musicians live in a strange world. Several years ago, Bono shocked conservative sensibilities and delighted antiestablishment types by uttering the F-word at the Grammys, but he was not being rebellious. The word slipped out because he was excited about receiving an award from the...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 12, 2009
Entertainment as a fun family soap
Last weekend, actor Shunta Nakamura was arrested for possession of hashish while sitting in a parked car in Suginami Ward, Tokyo. The suspect's father, veteran actor Masatoshi Nakamura, quickly obliged the showbiz media by performing one of those tearful apologies that everyone looks forward to under...
China seizes disputed reef near key Philippine military outpost
China Coast Guard officers unfurl a national flag on Sandy Cay reef, near the Philippine-held Thitu Island, in disputed waters of the South China Sea this month in this screen shot taken from Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami
A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
California says it overtakes Japan to become world’s No. 4 economy
Vehicles travel along the 110 freeway in downtown Los Angeles. California's GDP has overtaken Japan's to become the world's fourth largest economy, according to the U.S. state.
Arunima Mazumdar: ‘Japanese literature has a niche but deeply engaged readership in India’
Arunima Mazumdar, a New Delhi-based communications professional, began sharing her love of Japanese literature online in 2022. The platform has grown into a robust community known as Dokusha Book Club.
Counting the reasons why there are so few American cars in Japan
Tesla's store in Tokyo's Shibuya district. While sales of American cars in Japan appear to be shrinking, Tesla's presence in the country is growing.
Shohei Ohtani's example could change Japan's views on paternity leave
Shohei Ohtani and Mamiko Tanaka announced the birth of their first child on April 19.
Counting the reasons why there are so few American cars in Japan
Tesla's store in Tokyo's Shibuya district. While sales of American cars in Japan appear to be shrinking, Tesla's presence in the country is growing.
Nearly half of workers in Japan engage in ‘quiet quitting’
"Quiet quitting" is most common among the younger generation, with 46.7% of respondents to a survey in their 20s identifying with the practice, reflecting a less-motivated workforce more focused on work-life balance.
U.S. secretary of the navy weighs ‘dual-use’ shipbuilding with Japan
John Phelan at a Senate confirmation hearing for U.S. secretary of the navy in Washington in February
Expo '25 gives the world a masterclass in mascots
2025 Osaka Expo mascot Myaku-Myaku dances on the stage during the event's official opening ceremony on April 12.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami
By Alex K.T. Martin

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