Jason Jenkins - The Japan Times

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Jason Jenkins

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Jason Jenkins

Jason spent 13 years in Tokyo writing about cameras, parenting and the arts. In 2013 he left to travel, homeschooling his kids in Spain, Mexico and Southeast Asia before moving back to Japan in 2019.

For Jason Jenkins's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jul 17, 2005

The lights, guitars, action of Go! Team

Film commonly relies on music to add emotional impact. However, with The Go! Team, who hail from Brighton, England, it works the other way around. Early singles were flush with action and near-cinematic thrills, all guitar squalls and percussive thrust, with soaring horn lines that burst through your speakers. The Go! Team's debut album, "Thunder, Lightning Strike," even ends with the jubilant aftertaste of a summer blockbuster, harmonica and symphonic swells reminding of us of heroes high-fiving as the credits roll.

CULTURE / Music

Jun 26, 2005

Art Brut: "Bang Bang Rock & Roll"

Vocalist Eddie Argos can't sing. His band, Art Brut, prove more tuneful, but none of this matters on "Bang Bang Rock & Roll,' the London quintet's fantastic debut album. Instead of singing, Argos simply raises his voice, rambling with the articulate, impulse-driven zeal of someone who planned to use cue cards but decided to wing it. Post-punk clang and retro garage melodies punctuate his semi-serious stories of childhood crushes ("I want school kids on buses singing your name!"), new romance ("I've seen her naked! TWICE!!") and modern art ("Wow. There's something amazing about that blue.").

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jun 5, 2005

Yo La Tengo: the band next door

Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley are a nice, mellow couple in their mid-40s from Hobokken, N.J. They like homemade peach pie, watching TV and going to the occasional baseball game. Oh, and they also founded one of the most critically acclaimed bands of the last decade, Yo La Tengo.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Apr 24, 2005

Canadian indie scene keeps it together

When the Canadian music collective known as Broken Social Scene arrives in Tokyo next month, they'll be bringing a few members of their family tree along. Found on the group's Web site, the "tree" is actually 40-plus band and artist names scrawled on a paper bag and connected by the squiggly white lines.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Apr 3, 2005

Out Hud: "Let us Never Speak of it Again"

A trillion watts. They mention it more than once, so I'm guessing that's what electro-rock collective, Out Hud, wants to get their hands on. They could certainly put it to use. Their nearly indescribable 2002 LP, "S.T.R.E.E.T.D.A.D.," was a gargantuan, Frankenstein-like creature composed of punk, post-rock, dub and electronica, all sewn together with high-voltage cable. It was easy to see their connection to frenetic dance-punk outfit !!!, with whom they share three members, but now the once-instrumental Out Hud are adding vocals, and a few new creative sparks of their own.

CULTURE / Music

Feb 20, 2005

LCD Soundsystem

James Murphy wants it both ways. A walking encyclopedia of the underground scene, he loathes the narcissism and one-upmanship common among record-shop insiders. His NYC label, DFA, produced some of the most infectious dance singles of the decade thus far, yet Murphy turns down remixing work from Duran Duran and Janet Jackson (who called him personally), and ended a collaboration with Britney Spears shortly after it started.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Feb 16, 2005

Sisters gonna work it out

There was a time when radio in the United States was full of surprises -- a time when catchy, clever tunes were just a turn of the dial away. Pop music carried less baggage then, before marketing and demographics moved in and warped station programming into socio-economic formulas.

CULTURE / Music

Feb 6, 2005

Death From Above 1979

An elephant in your living room. Ask rhythm and metal duo Death From Above 1979 to describe their music, and that's a common response. Indeed, the massive sound of their debut LP, "You're a Woman, I'm a Machine" is sure to scrape the walls and shatter furniture -- that is, if you can fit it through the door.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jan 23, 2005

Interpol well suited for success after all

Image isn't everything. If it was, then the New York four-piece known as Interpol would have already become one of the biggest rock bands on the planet. While their tailored suits and runway-ready haircuts have brought them plenty of press, the band is actually earning recognition the old-fashioned way, by releasing imaginative, yet solid albums and touring relentlessly.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jan 16, 2005

Diplo throws funky DIY marketing into the mix

"The goal is to expose the artist." Wesley Pentz is on the phone from Hawaii, explaining how he publicizes up-and-coming hip-hop talent. "It's basically putting promotion and marketing in your own hands," he explains. Contrary to what you may think, Pentz is not a record executive; he's a DJ with a passion for making mix tapes -- not the romantic type you made for your college girlfriend, but the compilation cassettes (and CDs) created in bedroom studios, copied in bulk and found for sale on the streets of urban centers like New York, London and Miami.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jan 9, 2005

Todd Baechle needs help. Ever since his band, The Faint, ditched lo-fi guitars for synths and strobes, his lyrics have spiraled into misanthropic tales of paranoia and sexual frustration.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Dec 19, 2004

Rock 'n' roll that survived the trip

By the time the term "cover song" entered the English lexicon in the mid-1960s, the practice of one artist playing the work of another was as ubiquitous on the pop charts as it was onstage. Some covers were respectful tributes, others opportunistic rip-offs. Another category could be called language crossovers -- hits from one country translated (linguistically, sometimes artistically) for another.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Nov 7, 2004

Taiko ensemble, Kodo, know how to take the show on the road: according to their newsletter, the troupe has performed over 2,600 concerts in 42 countries since their 1981 debut (do the math). A wellspring of fresh ideas and aspiring young talent help explain why they grow stronger, year after year, but the real reason is simple: they are the best there is.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Oct 24, 2004

You put a spell on us

"Earnest, to me, is a bad word." Dean Wareham is reclining on a cream-colored couch in the offices of P-Vine, his Japanese record label, looking over a list of adjectives a popular Web site uses to describe his band, Luna. Curious, amused and slightly wary, he skims the list, eyebrows raised, quickly conceding that, sure, words like "dreamy," or even "spacey," might be fair assessments. But "earnest"? "I don't know. Whenever I hear that word it makes me think 'overserious,' like early U2 or something, and that's not us at all."

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Sep 26, 2004

Howl of Los Lobos stronger than ever

For 30 years, East L.A.'s Los Lobos has made a habit of crossing borders. One look through their discography reveals the Latin rock quintet's frequent movement between Mexican folk and American R&B, with regular stops along the Mississippi for funk and blues. Recent albums have even showed a moody, experimental side, but Los Lobos (Spanish for "The Wolves") move fast enough to defy classification. Their latest release, "The Ride," features many of their influences, including Richard Thompson and Tom Waits. Los Lobos' saxophone player and keyboardist Steve Berlin spoke with The Japan Times about the band's 30th year and the new album.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Sep 1, 2004

Shaking it up on Sado

SADO ISLAND, Niigata Pref. -- Step one: right leg forward, left leg back.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Aug 29, 2004

Music and travel may be hobbies for most folks, but Belgian world-rock fusionists, Think of One, consider the two more than mere avocation. More mobile, multilingual and gregarious than a carnival sideshow, To1 have turned globetrotting into a full-time gig. Their journeys in Morroco resulted in three albums with masters of the oud and local Moroccan music gnawa. Their extensive travel throughout Europe and Russia as a brass band had them living out of a truck (which doubled as a mobile stage) while absorbing the playing styles of the gypsy camps they frequented. They've jammed with Jamaican and Congolese MCs, and separate projects, one involving drum 'n' bass and one with the Inuit tribes of Northern Canada, are in the works. If Lonely Planet ever opens a club, this should be the house band.

CULTURE / Music

Aug 15, 2004

Recorded: Rogue Wave: "Out of the Shadow"

Rogue Wave"Out of the Shadow" (Subpop) Indie-pop outfit, Rogue Wave, should consider themselves lucky. Ever since the Subpop label re-released their overlooked debut, Out of the Shadow, the gushing reviews keep pouring forth. Critics compare them to everyone from the Beach Boys to Elliot Smith. That's a stretch, even though writer/vocalist Zach Rogue's hook-laden arrangements have enough sweet and bittersweet to warrant such descriptions. Aural embellishments (synths, chimes, harmonica) hover in the periphery, but take away the filigree and each track could stand on its own with acoustic guitar and Rogue's brittle alto. "I'm inspired by things that upset her," he sings on the opener, "Every Moment." "This is how men are measured." Rogue's voice and compositions can be more accurately compared with the sound of bands like Death Cab for Cutie or the Shins, with whom they've just finished touring. Let's hope their next tour is in Japan. Then we can consider ourselves lucky, as well.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jul 25, 2004

Gerling: "Bad Blood!!!"

Aussie electro-punks Gerling want it both ways: hardcore's caustic snarl with the insistent thump of disco and house. Fans of dance-punk darlings The Rapture and !!! may consider this opportunistic, but the Sydney trio have crossbred both genres for years.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jul 21, 2004

Shake it, baby, shake it

It's not just about mosh pits and busted lips: Both Summer Sonic and Fuji Rock have plenty of rump-bouncing beats on offer. In fact, the dance-oriented acts in this year's lineups are as diverse as ever. Here are a few of the best places to shake your thang.

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

Things may look perfect to the outside world, but today's mom is fine with some imperfection at home.

How 'Reiwa moms' are reshaping motherhood in Japan

By Mai Yoshikawa

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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