Who was music being made for in 2014?
When looking back on the year in music, the big question music fans should be asking themselves is, "Who was music being made for in 2014?" Looking at the broader picture, we can find the answers writ large across the Japanese music scene. Is music ...
Review: Moshi Moshi Nippon at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium
Offering non-Japanese people free entry to Moshi Moshi Nippon was a risky move on the part of Asobisystem, but it seemed to have paid off. Nearly 15,000 punters showed up for the Sept. 28 event at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, and organizers say that 7,000 of ...
Summer's here — yukata, sales and back-to-school satchels
Mintdesigns' refreshing yukata Mintdesigns is a staple brand of the Japanese fashion scene, with its hot-ticket Tokyo Fashion Week shows featuring acclaimed artisan textiles patterned with whimsical, pop motifs. It's no wonder, then, that it's decided to produce its first yukata (traditional summer clothing) this ...
Forget Cool Japan — cute is this summer's hot global export
Summer is always high season for fans of Japanese pop culture. School's out, weather's amenable and festivals, conventions and expos shift into top gear in Japan and across the globe. Many in the pop-culture business are branding summer 2014 "the summer of kawaii" (Japanese uber-cute), ...
Masuda's mission to take Harajuku art global
New York is not a city one automatically associates with the Japanese concept of kawaii — lovably, irresistibly, dependably cute. But if Sebastian Masuda, the so-called "king of kawaii," has his way, the mean streets of "Goodfellas" may one day emanate a candy-colored glow. Or ...
Bump of Chicken x Hatsune Miku, plus two other 'must-see' J-pop music videos
Besides news of a Bump of Chicken and Hatsune Miku collaboration, check out the latest from Babymetal and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu.
NYC fans of Kyary Pamyu Pamyu share 'zest for life'
Two hours before the doors even opened, the line outside New York's Best Buy Theater snaked around several streets in the middle of Times Square. Fans lined up early for pop star Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's second-ever New York concert, the finale to her recent ...
Familiar obstacles stymie change in domestic music industry
While the Japanese music industry ended last year on a promise of change, 2013 has highlighted a few of the ingrained practices that are going to be a little bit more difficult to dislodge. One industry story that caught the interest of the international press ...
Overseas it was a year of big rollouts. There was a lot of hype behind releases by Lady Gaga, Kanye West and Miley Cyrus. But will these acts be remembered for paparazzi fights and "twerking" more than their music? Instead of ranking the year's releases, ...
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 ...
Capsule's Yasutaka Nakata reworks signature sound on 'Caps Lock'
As the producer behind electro-idol trio Perfume and oddball techno-pop style icon Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Yasutaka Nakata has been behind some of the most interesting and forward-thinking pop in Japan, consistently pushing back the boundaries of what the mainstream can handle while maintaining a ...
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." The album is obsessed with the ...
