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July 07, 2025
 

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INDIE

Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 13, 2014
Macmanaman step up to bat for the live show
"Instrumental post-rock" is probably the worst way to introduce a band, and by this point 90 percent of this article's readers will have probably fled to the sports section.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 29, 2014
Indie band The fin. is just getting started
"There's this idea (among Japanese bands) that you have to make something different from the Western music you listen to," says Yuto Uchino, singer for indie rock band The fin. "I was really trying hard to write in Japanese, but it was awkward. The words just didn't fit and I could never really say what...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 11, 2014
Mothercoat sees tour as a step in cultivating a global fanbase
Most bands in Japan come to Tokyo to reach for stardom. Indie rock act Mothercoat did the opposite, however, when its members all relocated to Fukaya, Saitama Prefecture, two years ago.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 4, 2014
Crunch's debut mini-album aims for a 'sense of minority'
In a music scene where the border between underground and mainstream can be incredibly difficult to traverse, it's not surprising that many bands trapped in the indie-sphere bemoan their lot.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 25, 2014
Jesus Weekend will keep your family pet from a pit of despair
"Animals don't commit suicide, but this song is so sad that even animals would want to kill themselves."
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Feb 25, 2014
Keep the band, young graduates, but don't quit your day jobs
As the academic year draws to a close and a new cohort of young Japanese are dumped out the business end of the education system, so a new year's graduating class of young bands face a tough and forbidding new world.
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Oct 29, 2013
Tokyo Boredom is blazing its own trail — and the first stop is Taiwan
Of all the cliches about Japanese music being bandied around, the one I find most baffling is the idea that bands here are "just copying Western music." It's a rehash of the old jibe, originally born from fear of Japan's rapid postwar industrial growth, about the Japanese being dedicated imitators but...
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...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 3, 2013
Homecomings' harmonies help them stand out in a twee herd
All a university really needs to get its students to come out to an event is the promise of free food.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 9, 2013
Bugg scores with working-class familiarities
"I hadn't been anywhere before last year, I'd hardly left England. And now I'm going to Japan. I never thought I'd be going to a place like that. I think it is going to blow my mind."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 18, 2013
Extruders have a rock epiphany
"Before the gig, we were quite intimidated: a lowly rock band performing in front of a god. After, we found we could do it, and that was the turning point for us."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 28, 2013
Japanese acts play music ambassadors at Canadian Music Week
After rock group Jake Stone Garage hit the final chord of one of their powerful guitar-heavy songs, the crowd let out a few hoots and applauded politely.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 21, 2013
Various Artists "Upwards and Onwards" (Ano(t)raks)
Fledgling online-only label Ano(t)raks takes a somewhat needless risk with their second compilation album, "Upwards and Onwards." Founded late last year, Ano(t)raks highlighted bedroom-made indie-pop, a style defined by simple guitar playing and equally basic lyrics about love. Indie-pop has been going...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 21, 2013
Japan's influence on Grimes grows deeper
Grimes has never been shy to acknowledge the influence of Japan on her work. The Canadian electronic pop artist, born Claire Boucher, credits a wide and various list of Japanese inspirations, including Yayoi Kusama, Geinoh Yamashirogumi, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, "Akira," "The Legend of Zelda" video-game series,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 7, 2013
Hotel Mexico's pop aims at the heart
It's tough to figure out where to take your band when you get some buzz in the media right out the gate. After getting noticed for its fuzzed-out pop jams from highly regarded online music outlets such as Pitchfork, Noisey and Gorilla vs. Bear, Kyoto's Hotel Mexico knew early on that it would need to...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 7, 2013
ZZZ's hone skills abroad and have some chance encounters
The highlight of 2012 for experimental postpunk trio ZZZ's was meeting Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore in Miami. It turns out the feeling was mutual. American record label Matador Records posted their artists' and employees' favorite things from the past 12 months online recently and Hyogo Prefecture's...
CULTURE / Music
Feb 7, 2013
Dirty Beaches draws from Serbian film on new album
Alex Zhang Hungtai is constantly in motion. The Taiwanese-born artist, who performs under the name Dirty Beaches, has said in interviews the idea of "home" doesn't mean much to him. He's lived in Taipei, Honolulu, Shanghai and Montreal, and is an avid traveler on top of that. This feeling of always being...
Japan braces for more quakes as authorities dismiss doomsday hype
Evacuees from Akuseki Island, located in the Tokara island chain in Kagoshima Prefecuture, arrive at Kagoshima Port on Friday.
Heatstroke alert issued for 19 prefectures as Japan enters 'once-in-a-decade' heat wave
Japan will experience a heat wave through mid-July on a “level only seen once in a decade,” the Meteorological Agency said on June 30.
Hidden AI prompts in academic papers spark concern about research integrity
Waseda University is one of 14 institutions in eight countries found to have used hidden prompts in research papers.
Tokyo and Kyoto feature among top ‘noctourism’ destinations
Tokyo ranked second after New York and ahead of Dubai and Singapore in a ranking of the top global cities for nighttime tourism.
Elon Musk says he has created a new U.S. political party
Elon Musk looks on during a news conference with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on May 30.
Ainu land rights in crosshairs as Hokkaido communities debate nuclear waste
A street in Suttsu, Hokkaido, with a sign put up by an anti-nuclear organization. The small community is considering hosting a facility that would hold nuclear waste.
Ghibli’s Isao Takahata exhibit shows how beloved anime is made
“The man who planted Japanese animation” exhibition includes a variety of sketches, drawings and animation cels from Isao Takahata films such as color design for characters by Michiyo Yasuda from "Grave of the Fireflies."
Flag football facing challenges and opportunities ahead
Japan’s women’s flag football team at the 2025 International Bowl in Los Angeles in June. The sport is enjoying continued growth in the country.
From Hokusai’s Great Wave, shinkansen to One Piece: a cultural treasure box for Lego Japan
Michael Ebbesen, general manager of Lego Japan, says Lego bricks based on Japanese culture have a rich global appeal and are sellable around the world.
With farmed fish, RelationFish swims against the tide in fine dining
Chef Hideaki Matsuo (middle) and the staff of Oseto Suisan Fisheries prepare to check on their sustainably farmed fish.

Podcast

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Longform

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By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning
Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

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