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April 30, 2024
 

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HIP HOP

Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 8, 2019
Rapper Chanmina is blurring the lines of genre and nationality
Everyone has moments where they have to choose between two paths that will lead to drastically different lives. For Mina Otomonai, it came during her second year of high school when she strongly considered moving to South Korea to pursue a career in music. Her friends convinced her to stay in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 23, 2019
88rising's quest to find a Japanese hip-hop sensation
Japanese music hasn't made many inroads into Western markets this decade. Save for some brief viral flashes and niche success, the country's artists have mostly been overlooked. However, Sean Miyashiro, founder of media company 88rising, thinks Japan still holds one big advantage.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 1, 2018
'We felt the need to mix it up: Japanese and hip-hop culture'
It has been a hot year for viral dance challenges and Japan has had its fair share. The most notable was the craze surrounding Da Pump's "U.S.A.," attempted by everyone from teenagers on TikTok to U.S. Marines on YouTube.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
May 10, 2018
Can Fuji Rock and Summer Sonic give U.S. hip-hop a boost in Japan?
This summer's slate of music festivals are putting more of a spotlight on American hip-hop. Fuji Rock Festival announced Kendrick Lamar and the group N.E.R.D as headliners, while Summer Sonic features Chance the Rapper on its main stage. It's a considerable showcasing moment for a genre having an up-and-down year in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 4, 2018
'Yamato (California)': Hanae Kan does well as an aspiring rapper that's straight outta Japan
The American military bases in Okinawa are often in the news, usually because of an accident, protest or crime. The bases elsewhere in Japan, not so much. These reminders of a postwar occupation now seven decades in the past have mostly faded from the public imagination.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 5, 2018
Hip hop and R&B knocked rock off top genre pedestal in U.S. in 2017
Hip hop and R&B surpassed rock for the first time in 2017 as the biggest music genre in the United States, but British artist Ed Sheeran's romantic pop album "Divide" was the year's biggest single draw, according to a Nielsen Music report.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 12, 2017
Wonk plays around with 'experimental soul' on a pair of new albums
"The way music from America and other Western countries got imported into Japan, the roots are different," says Ayatake Ezaki, keyboardist for Tokyo-based quartet Wonk.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 1, 2017
AI celebrates East, West identity on new album
There was a time when Japanese music labels were concerned that Ai Carina Uemura's music sounded too American due to her R&B style.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 24, 2017
On 'Kiseki,' rappers bring out the true grit in resurgent DJ Krush
On 'Es.U.Es Corporation,' DJ Krush's collaborators bring an undeniable energy to the proceedings, and the veteran turntablist responds with some of his grittiest productions since the 1990s.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 19, 2017
Yurufuwa Gang infuses plenty of positivity into its hip-hop sets
Yurufuwa Gang are one of the latest Japanese hip-hop acts to be getting attention from both domestic media and overseas players. As the nation's rap scene experiences something of a modest boom, the pair of Ryugo Ishida and Sophiee seem poised to be part of it.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 22, 2017
DJ Okawari brings us back to chill on 'Compass'
It has been six years since Shizuoka-based DJ Okawari last released an album, but his timing in releasing new collection "Compass" couldn't be better.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Sep 24, 2016
Multimedia producer Randall Murchison: 'Remain thankful for whatever makes you wiser'
Media coordinator on balancing art and industry.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 19, 2016
Omake Club helps Zombie-Chang escape down her own artistic rabbit hole
Midway through our conversation at a dimly lit Shibuya cafe, Meirin Yung offers to break down any song on her recently released album under the name Zombie-Chang. I choose the slacker-inspired "Semete Kanashii Tokiniwa" (loosely translated as "At Least in Sad Times") that served as the advance preview of her second full-length release, "Zombie-Change."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 20, 2015
The verse that launched Kohh's rise into rap stardom
One of the country's fastest rising hip-hop artists just might be on his way to becoming the first internationally recognized rap star Japan has produced.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Oct 11, 2015
Hoodie Monks mix beats with their Buddhism
The Hoodie Monks bring together two cultures that might at first seem like unlikely partners: Buddhism and hip-hop.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 5, 2015
Briefly maligned, bilingual rappers gain visibility
English words and phrases have been a part of the Japanese MC's arsenal since hip-hop culture began making inroads here in the early to mid-1980s.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 26, 2015
OMSB counts his blessings on 'Think Good'
Rapper and producer Brandon Katou (aka OMSB) is an artist that, while humble, exhibits a sense of pride in his work atypical of Japanese artists. In recent interviews he's done for his new album, he's compared himself to big-name acts like Kendrick Lamar and Kanye West, remarking that his work is up to par with theirs.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 22, 2015
Budamunk's 'The Corner' makes a play for local hip-hop heads
Back in 2008, a beat-making competition called Goldfinger's Kitchen was held in Tokyo's Shibuya district. In each round, contestants had 15 minutes to chop and flip a given sample on an MPC sampler as the crowd watched. When the 15 minutes were up, the contestants played back what they had created to see whose beat rocked the crowd the most. As soon as Tomonobu Kanno's off-kilter kicks and snapping snares blared out of the speakers, there wasn't a head in the crowd that wasn't bobbing.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 3, 2015
Pigeondust seeks out the story in a sample
When Chiba-based hip-hop producer Yuta Yamaoka, better known as Pigeondust, isn't busy flipping through crates of dusty vinyl at used record shops, he's at home dissecting and connecting bits and pieces of sounds, lifted from those records.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 24, 2015
Nujabes’ friends to pay tribute to the soulful hip-hop producer on the fifth anniversary of his death
When a traffic accident on Feb. 26, 2010, claimed the life of independent hip-hop auteur Jun Seba, who recorded and DJed under the name Nujabes, even some of his closest collaborators didn't find out until a few weeks later. The Japanese rapper Shingo Annen, better known by his professional name Shing02, was among the first to break the news, in a blog post published March 17. Paying tribute to Seba, he said that he'd unwittingly been leaving the producer voice mail messages over the previous days, trying to arrange a studio date.
When will Japan intervene to support the yen?
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki has reiterated the government's readiness to take an appropriate action as the yen continues to slide against the U.S. dollar.
'So hot you can't breathe': Extreme heat hits the Philippines
A pedestrian cools himself with a folding hand fan as he waits for a ride along a road in Manila on Wednesday, as extreme heat hit the Philippines.
Raising kids in Japan as a single parent? It takes a village.
Making things work as a foreign, single mother in Japan isn't easy, but these tips and tricks can help you through the hardest parts.
Yen rebounds strongly after first slide past ¥160 since 1990
The yen dropped to ¥160.245 per dollar on Monday before heading into the other direction to ¥155.01 amid speculation of an intervention by Japanese currency authorities.
JAL cancels international flight after captain gets drunk at Dallas hotel
A Japan Airlines' flight from Dallas to Tokyo was canceled last week after its captain got drunk at a local hotel.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.
Casa del Cibo: A thriving jewel born from Tohoku’s harsh past
When chef Ryohei Ikemi moved to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and opened Casa del Cibo in 2011, it was the first proper Italian restaurant in the city.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.

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Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree
By Alex K.T. Martin

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