Philip Brasor - The Japan Times

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Sep 25, 2005

Several years ago, the government discussed state-sponsored care for people with disabilities. The idea was to assist mentally and physically disabled people in leaving publicly-funded facilities and entering society; or, at least, that was how it was presented.

CULTURE / Music

Sep 23, 2005

The American Analog Set and Her Space Holiday

Texas isn't just for rednecks any more -- or, at least, Austin isn't. Home to the University of Texas and the South By Southwest music conference, it's a city where even bedroom music-makers can relax and do their quiet simple thing without having to wear a cowboy hat to prove their relevance.

CULTURE / Music

Sep 22, 2005

A troubadour comes to town

Though England's The Soft Boys weren't a hugely popular band when they first made records in the late 1970s, their jangly, psychedelic rock songs stood out among the punk that was considered the vanguard at the time. Eventually, they proved to be almost as influential, especially on 1980s guitar bands...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Sep 18, 2005

Trying to keep the train-groping perverts out of touch

Earlier this year when some Japanese train lines inaugurated women-only cars the Western media picked the story up as yet another example of Weird Japan, a place, they implied, where sexual deviancy was so culturally grounded that the only thing railway companies could do to protect female passengers...

CULTURE / Music

Sep 11, 2005

The Evens

Have you hugged your local independent record store lately? It might need it, what with all those kids downloading songs and pumping them into their iPods. Whatever happened to long, lazy afternoons picking through used record stacks and cutout bins, hoping to find that deleted 13th Floor Elevator comp...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Sep 11, 2005

Desperate drones are content to be 'conned' into buying a condo

As long as I've lived in Tokyo I've received phone calls from condominium salespeople. In the past, these solicitations seemed accidental, as if the salespeople had dialed my number at random. But in the last five years the calls have been more deliberate. The salespeople know where I live -- not just...

CULTURE / Music

Sep 4, 2005

Hot Hot Heat

Since last we saw Hot Hot Heat at Summer Sonic in 2003, the Victoria, British Columbia, band lost their invaluable guitarist Dante Decaro and released a major label album, "Elevator" (Sire-London/Rhino), that has incurred the unallayed derision of the indie-rock cognoscenti. For sure, "Elevator" doesn't...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Sep 4, 2005

The aged better off heading for the hills on their limited pensions

The main opposition parties claim that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's attempt to make the upcoming Lower House election a referendum on postal reform is simply a scheme to deflect public attention away from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's fiscal failures under his leadership. Consequently,...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Aug 28, 2005

Postal reform gets stamp of approval from celeb politicians

Opponents of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's postal reform plans have a number of complaints, but the point they tend to harp on about, presumably because it's the only one the average citizen can appreciate, is the downsizing of post offices in far-flung regions.

CULTURE / Music

Aug 28, 2005

The Double: "Loose in the Air"

Positioned somewhere between the noise rock of Black Dice and the more accessible psychedelia of Animal Logic, fellow Brooklynites The Double use distortion, analog effects and explosions of pure feeling to mess around with classic pop.

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Aug 21, 2005

'Pacifist' Japan always ready to back a bit of conflict

"I don't care to belong to any club that will accept me as a member." -- Groucho Marx

CULTURE / Music

Aug 21, 2005

Zuco 103: "Whaa!"

Brazilian singer Lilian Vieira met drummer Stafan Kruger and keyboardist Stefan Schmid at the Rotterdam Conservatory of Music in 1989. After that, they worked together in a fusion outfit, and while Vieira's Tropicalismo pedigree livened up the group's sound, fusion is fusion.

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Aug 14, 2005

He hops onto a shuttle, jumps off to a media shuffle

Last Tuesday's landing of the Space Shuttle Discovery in the deserts of California capped a tense two weeks in which the safety of the vehicle and the seven astronauts it contained was never 100 percent assured. The loss of foam insulation during liftoff was eerily reminiscent of the last shuttle mission...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Aug 7, 2005

No turning back the clock when the walls come tumbling down

Because earthquakes are unpredictable, people who live with them are fatalistic: There's nothing you can do except hope you're in a place that doesn't fall down on top of you. This attitude only covers naked survival, which to most people means everything, but experts predict that in a worst case scenario...

CULTURE / Music

Jul 31, 2005

Dawn of New Wave

If you're reading this on Sunday then most likely you're not at the Fuji Rock Festival this weekend. But if you're kicking yourself for not having made the trip to Naeba, you still have a chance to enjoy at least a fraction of the Fuji fun, because six bands who are playing at the festival will be doing...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Jul 24, 2005

It's the black comedy of Japan: 'Don't mention the war . . .'

A point that tends to be overlooked in the debate over textbooks that whitewash Japan's actions during World War II is that Japanese junior high school history classes rarely make it past the Meiji Restoration. Whether or not "comfort women" or the Rape of Nanking is mentioned in textbooks becomes an...

CULTURE / Music

Jul 24, 2005

Adassa: "Kamasutra"

As with any musical genre that becomes popular overnight, reggaeton, the Spanish-language hip-hop form that has taken Latin America by storm, is much bigger than any of its individual stars, who are often difficult to distinguish amid the synthesized beats and rapid-fire, dancehall-style rapping.

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Jul 17, 2005

How gei can one get? 'Pretend gay' is as far as it gets

"Talent," or tarento, is the cushiest job in Japan -- maybe in the whole world. Though you are expected to have some kind of skill (gei), once you achieve a level of regularity as a TV variety show guest, the work is self-perpetuating, though it's by no means guaranteed forever. And rarely do successful...

CULTURE / Music

Jul 17, 2005

Missy Elliott: "The Cookbook"

The divine Miss E's sixth album of spicy hip-hop and juicy R&B is even more old school than her last joint, the criminally underrated "This Is Not a Test!" Dismissing her sous chef Timbaland after two excellent opening cuts, she takes sole charge of the kitchen and brings in the original irresponsible...

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX

Jul 10, 2005

Author asks Japanese courts, 'Where is your mind?'

Sensational crimes are defined by the media since sensations fuel the media engine. Murder has the greatest potential for sensationalism, but some murders attract more attention than others. Through a certain confluence of motive, money, and methodology some hog headlines for weeks while others never...

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