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 Dustin Wong

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Dustin Wong
Dustin Wong grew up in Japan before moving to the United States and joining the band Ponytail. For the past 10 years, he has toured the world with his band and as a solo artist. The multi-instrumentalist is currently collaborating with musician Takako Minekawa in Tokyo.
For Dustin Wong's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / They're Playing Our Song
Sep 5, 2015
A song to start a whole new beginning
Three years after World War II ended, my grandmother's friend told her she should apply to join the Takarazuka Revue, an all-female musical theater troupe that was established in the city of Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture, in 1913.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / They're Playing Our Song
Aug 9, 2015
The song that dealt with the atomic bombs
My own feelings toward the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II — and the anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in particular — are complicated.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / They're Playing Our Song
Jul 5, 2015
The songs that tried to teach Japan to kill
It looks like the 1940s are back, but not in a way you'd expect. Military songs are reportedly becoming fashionable with certain segments of youth.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / They're Playing Our Song
May 29, 2015
The tune that allowed Japan to lament
The sympathy of Michiko Namiki's "Ringo no Uta," the first pop music hit after World War II finished, endeared it to a battered nation. Four months later in May of 1946, however, a very different tune became a No. 1 hit. Noboru Kirishima's "Reijin no Uta" ("Song of a Beautiful Woman") played up lament where "Ringo" tried to foster hope.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / They're Playing Our Song
May 3, 2015
The tune that Japan wanted after the war
Michiko Namiki (1921-2001) was a fresh face in the Japanese entertainment industry when World War II came to an end. She had lost her father and brother during the fighting, her mother in the Tokyo bombings and her first love was killed on the front lines. Her story wasn't dissimilar to that of many other Tokyoites at the time, but following the war it was her voice that provided hope for a broken nation.

Longform

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Can Japan lure the jet-set class off the beaten path?