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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
JAPAN / Media
Oct 24, 2014
Nico Nico moves into Ikebukuro
Since launching in 2006, online video-sharing service Nico Nico (originally Nico Nico Douga) has become one of Japan's central hubs for aspiring artists and entertainers to share their talents with users across the country. They've fostered a millions-strong community capable of influencing mainstream...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 14, 2014
Takeuchi sticks to what she knows on 'Trad'
Mariya Takeuchi "Trad" (Warner Music Japan)
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 14, 2014
Smany's sophomore outing shows subdued promise
Smany "Polyphenic" (Bunkai-kei records)
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 7, 2014
Ryan Hemsworth gives Japan's budding music producers some support overseas
Canadian music producer and DJ Ryan Hemsworth is always on the move. He's zig-zagged across North America, Europe and Australia multiple times over the last two years, an endeavor he has said is "such a crazy luxury, but the most exhausting thing as well." His upcoming trip to Japan, however, is special....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 30, 2014
tofubeats calls on pals for his 'First Album'
Yusuke Kawai tries to start a para para dance halfway through his Sept. 5 DJ set, but the inside of an Apple Store isn't an ideal space for this endeavor. Kawai, who records under the name tofubeats, is performing a special show at the recently opened Omotesando store. Half of the floor eagerly watches...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 23, 2014
Remaking the EDM experience for Japan
Glitter showered the crowd at August's all-night Sonicmania event as electronic artist Zedd cued up his hit song, "Stay the Night." The crowd bobbed along at first, but as the track built and let loose in a whirlwind of bass and synthesizer the audience followed suit with fists pumping in the air and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 16, 2014
'Attack25' revists Dreams Come True's better qualities
Dreams Come True "Attack25" (Universal Music)
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 16, 2014
Diverse compilation delivers a serious message about nuclear power
Various artists "Atomic Bomb Compilation Vol. 2" (Self-released)
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 2, 2014
Dustin Wong and Takako Minekawa let their imaginations run wild on new album
Guitarist Dustin Wong is upfront about not having the cleanest apartment. "There are so many plastic water bottles in the kitchen, equipment sprawled all over the place. Pieces of aluminum foil on the floor." This was where he and singer Takako Minekawa recorded their second album together.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 26, 2014
Jazz artist Emi Meyer teams up with guitarist Seiichi Nagai for a warm, poppy album
Jazz artist Emi Meyer had plenty to be happy about in 2008. She had just self-released her debut album "Curious Creature," she was performing shows around Kyoto and major labels in Tokyo were attempting to woo her. The half-American, half-Japanese Meyer, though, says the situation wasn't so sunny.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 19, 2014
Old and new mingle sweetly at Summer Sonic
After Queen finished "Another One Bites The Dust" — 10 minutes before 8 p.m. on the Sunday of this year's Summer Sonic in Chiba — hundreds of fans darted for the exits of QVC Marine Field Stadium. Security guards and staff with megaphones tried to direct them as some dashed to the left for Kraftwerk,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 14, 2014
Seiho to take Summer Sonic into the night
Three years ago, Seiho Hayakawa could often be found playing shows at basement venues around Osaka. Today, he's all over the map.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 12, 2014
Crzkny unites artists against nuclear power
Electronic-music producer Kenji Takikawa's work took a major detour following the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 15, 2014
Kis-My-Journey takes us down a familiar path
It's not the highest of honors, but I'd like to award awkwardly named boy band Kis-My-Ft2 as the best pop act under the Johnny & Associates umbrella.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 15, 2014
Emerald Four slows its sound down
The music created by Emerald Four practically oozes from the speakers. The Kyoto-based duo crafts narcotized songs built around unfolding electronics and slow, dreamy vocals.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 1, 2014
Leftfield J-pop, '70s influenced rock and shadowy R&B: Our favorite albums of 2014 (so far)
In his Strange Boutique column last week, Ian Martin wrote about the need for a canon in Japanese music in order for newcomers to the scene — especially those writing about it — to gain some context into what is being released.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 17, 2014
Japan won't let 'Frozen' go
At first blush, the Japanese success of the animated film "Frozen" seems easy to explain. In a country where people pack Tokyo Disneyland on weekdays, of course a new princess-centric cartoon from Disney would succeed, but "Frozen" has been a phenomenon all its own. It's on pace to be the second-highest-grossing...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 17, 2014
Left Right Arms makes a bedroom escape
Sleepy solitude is a frequent theme in the dream-pop songs made by Tokyo-based artist Left Right Arms. The solo artist's first EP, self-released last year, was titled "A Sleep," while his second EP out a few months later included delicate songs such as "Out Of Bed" and "Cocoon," the latter of which is...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Jun 12, 2014
We are the World Cup: anthems from pitches past
Japan plays its first match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, against Côte d’Ivoire this weekend. Although the tournament kicks off two days earlier in São Paulo, for many the Samurai Blue’s opening game ushers in the event, along with the activities that would normally raise eyebrows but get a pass...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 3, 2014
Especia takes a road less traveled by idol acts
The eldest member of six-member idol unit Especia was born in 1989, so when I ask them about life during Japan's early '90s bubble era they can only imagine what it was like.
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.
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.
Reading the Japanese clock: Are times a-changin'?
People walk past a time board at Hakata Station in Fukuoka. Luckily for those trying to catch a train, reading a clock is universal.

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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