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August 18, 2025
 

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Patrick St. Michel
Patrick St. Michel is a Tokyo-based writer with a focus on Japanese music. He runs the blog Make Believe Melodies, which has focused on Japanese independent music since 2009. Besides The Japan Times, he also contributes to MTV 81 and The Atlantic.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Dec 22, 2013
Don't let the holidays leave you homesick this year
Homesickness is a particular concern for foreign residents in December, when the holiday season starts to conjure up images of family dinners and drinking parties with old friends. For new arrivals, it's further complicated by the simultaneous challenge of adjusting to a different culture.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 17, 2013
The best Japanese albums of 2013: Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, 'Nanda Collection'
While boy bands such as Arashi and Exile continued transmogrifying midtempo pap into Oricon gold, the interesting twists and turns in J-pop over the past year came from idol pop. The scene, often associated with schoolgirl costumes and no-dating policies, produced some great music and exciting storylines....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 17, 2013
Some of the year's best music was free
Variety wasn't something the Oricon Charts delivered much over the course of 2013. With few exceptions, the biggest sellers were the same as they ever were — Johnny's boy bands such as Arashi, Kanjani 8 and Kis-My-FT2; AKB48 and their affiliated projects; and a variety of rock 'n' roll fossils. Not...
CULTURE / Music
Dec 17, 2013
New Year's single, Christmas concert get Meyer into festive spirit
Jazz pianist and singer Emi Meyer has a lot of fond memories of the holiday season.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 20, 2013
The Charles in Charlie Brown
The advertising surrounding "Ever and Never: The Art of Peanuts" focuses on the cutest character from the classic American comic strip. So much so, promotions for this exhibition at the Mori Arts Center Gallery has been dubbed the "Snoopy Exhibit," a title that also graces the Twitter and Facebook accounts...
CULTURE / Music
Nov 19, 2013
Arashi "Love"
At the time of writing this review, Arashi's "Love" has been bought more than any other Japanese album this year. Barring a sudden full-length LP from AKB48 or a cash-in compilation from Mr. Children, the group's 12th CD should end 2013 in the same position. There have been a lot of nice developments...
CULTURE / Music
Nov 19, 2013
Elen Never Sleeps "Rum"
Recent advancements in recording technology has made it easier than ever before for anyone with computer access to create and distribute their work from the comfort of home. Paradoxically, these advances also allow artists to hide themselves within their songs. There are countless effects and tools designed...
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Oct 27, 2013
When it comes to discipline in class, leave it to the locals
Aaron Joseph remembers the email Interac sent him regarding his school placement in Sakai, Osaka, in August 2012.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 22, 2013
Biollante "Alone in this World"
Tokyo's Biollante has found a clever way of standing out among the ever-crowded field of Japanese bedroom music producers — get melancholic.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 22, 2013
Perfume "Level3"
"Level3" is going to look amazing live. Perfume member Ayaka "A-Chan" Nishiwaki reportedly told producer Yasutaka Nakata that her trio wanted songs suited to the huge venues they'd perform it in. Nakata has obliged. Perfume's fourth studio album — the first with access to Universal Music's deep pockets...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 2, 2013
Nite Jewel's new best-of album, 'Gems,' celebrates a diverse catalog
A best-of album is not what you'd expect from an artist who has been around for five years. But that's exactly what Ramona Gonzalez, who records under the moniker Nite Jewel, released in advance of her upcoming Japanese tour.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 18, 2013
Rock God Dam's teen mastermind: Eighteen-year-old student pulls off two-day music festival for charity
With 90 minutes to go before the start of the Rock God Dam music festival, organizer Nakako Isoo is trying to find one of the headlining acts. She's supposed to pick up Virginia band Suburban Living, but comes back to Shibuya club Vuenos alone. "They are going shopping," she says. "I will try one more...
CULTURE / Music
Sep 18, 2013
Maximum The Hormone "Yoshu Fukushu"
Maximum The Hormone's sixth album, "Yoshu Fukushu," proves its members know how to laugh at themselves. The four-piece have long been slapped with the "hardcore" and "nu-metal" tags, putting the band in the company of other such acts like Limp Bizkit and Korn, who aren't known for self-awareness. Yet...
CULTURE / Music
Sep 18, 2013
Various artists "Tanukineiri Drink Sampler"
It's getting harder to listen to netlabel-released albums in one sitting recently. Electronic-music compilation series "Fogpak" recently put out a collection featuring 48 different artists (should we call the Guinness people?). Now Tanukineiri Records has popped out "Tanukineiri Drink Sampler" — 90...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 21, 2013
Spreading the word through manga
Videos of anime conventions in America greet visitors to Tokyo's Museum of Contemporary Art at this summer's "The Power of Manga — Osamu Tezuka and Shotaro Ishinomori" exhibition. Looped footage of attendants in cosplay at the Los Angeles Anime Expo and other similar events play, while a "prologue"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 14, 2013
Hard rock, J-pop rule Summer Sonic
Veteran Japanese rockers Mr. Children attracted so many fans to this year's edition of the Summer Sonic music festival that they made Smashing Pumpkins' frontman Billy Corgan upset.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 14, 2013
Namie Amuro "Feel"
The age of the J-pop diva has long passed, those halcyon days of Whitney Houston-inspired vocals and million-unit-moving singles. The female entertainers from this period have recently coped by embracing American trends. Kumi Koda struck Oricon Single Chart gold last year with "Go To the Top," which...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 14, 2013
Smany "komoriuta"
Netlabel culture in Japan — referring to Web-only music labels that distribute tunes online, usually for free — has been around long enough to develop its own set of minor celebrities and "star" imprints. Bunkai-Kei has become one of the most popular of these Internet institutions, and its latest...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 17, 2013
DJ Miso Shiru and MC Gohan raps and roasts on 'Mother's Food'
A gig doesn't double as dinner, but at DJ Miso Shiru and MC Gohan's shows there's a good chance food will be involved. Besides a hip-hop set, the audience can sometimes participate in cooking demonstrations.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 17, 2013
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu "Nanda Collection"
"Am I an adult? Or am I a kid?" sings Kyary Pamyu Pamyu on "Furisodation," a song about the Harajuku blogger-turned-model-turned-pop-star turning 20 earlier this year. That's the question that looms over all of her sophomore album, "Nanda Collection."
Winning warship bid gives Japan confidence boost as Tokyo eyes more exports
Australia’s decision to select Japan's upgraded Mogami-class warship, seen in this computer-generated image, has been “well received across Japanese industry," a Defense Ministry official said.
European leaders to join Zelenskyy for key meeting with Trump
U.S. President Donald Trump greets Russian leader Vladimir Putin on the tarmac after they arrived for a meeting on Ukraine at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday.
Hiker missing in Hokkaido after bear attack found dead
The Rausu mountain range at Hokkaido's Shiretoko National Park. A man in his 20s who went missing after being attacked by a bear while hiking on Mount Rausu has been found dead.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers
Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
Trump shifts stance on road to Ukraine peace after meeting Putin in Alaska
U.S. President Donald Trump looks on next to Russian leader Vladimir Putin during a news conference following their meeting to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday.
Winning warship bid gives Japan confidence boost as Tokyo eyes more exports
Australia’s decision to select Japan's upgraded Mogami-class warship, seen in this computer-generated image, has been “well received across Japanese industry," a Defense Ministry official said.
In Paris, chefs Chizuko Kimura and Kei Kobayashi make their mark
Chef Kei Kobayashi is France's only Japanese chef with three Michelin stars.
Top MLB prospect Rintaro Sasaki is committed to doing it 'the hard way'
Rintaro Sasaki hits a home run during a game against Duke at Stanford's Sunken Diamond on March 16.
In preserving Japanese hospitality, ‘details are everything’
Beniya Mukayu, a traditional "ryokan" inn located in Ishikawa Prefecture, considers itself at "the heart of onsen towns, local residents, farmers, fishermen, sake brewers and artisans" — all of which need new, sustainable methods of serving visitors to survive into the future.
A seaside hotel built on competitive Japanese cycling
In a region more associated with art, Keirin Hotel 10 takes a decidedly more athletic approach to attracting tourists.

Podcast

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

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers
By Tomoko Otake

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