Tag - pop

 
 

POP

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 4, 2014
Manga, the Rising Sun and Abe's history problem
During his recent visit to the United Nations, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reasserted his eagerness to improve relations with Japan's East Asian neighbors, but the reaction from Beijing and Seoul was tepid.
EDITORIALS
Oct 4, 2014
Pop-idol group debuts in debt
It's not unusual for nine young women to form a new pop-idol group in Japan. Contrary to other groups, though, members of The Margarines were chosen for their personal indebtedness.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 27, 2014
New idol group The Margarines sing to pay off debts
Japan's entertainment industry has become so filled with idol groups that some call this the age of the "idol war."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 24, 2014
Kyoto Experiment marries form to cutting-edge content
Kyoto Experiment, the city's monthlong international performing-arts festival that debuted in 2010 and has been growing in popularity in the vanguard of contemporary performance every year since, is now set to embark on its fifth and most radical edition.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 24, 2014
Topping the pops not as hard as it used to be
Disney's almighty Marvel Entertainment Group musters its superpowers to transform a motley collection of AM radio hits from the 1970s into the No. 1 pop music album in the U.S.
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.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Jun 24, 2014
Without a canon, Japanese pop won't blast off
Exploring the world of Japanese music can be a baffling experience for those who don't speak the language.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Jun 9, 2014
AKB48 members deserve to get workers’ comp for saw attack
Are members of girl group AKB48 'workers' under the law and therefore eligible for industrial accident insurance? The evidence suggests so.
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.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
May 13, 2014
Message themes woven into songs by J-pop's Hart
Chris Hart's appearance on "Kohaku Uta Gassen," NHK's annual New Year's Eve music extravaganza last December, "became one of the two most memorable stages (of his career) so far," he said in a recent interview.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 20, 2014
Why not teach students what's going on now?
Who do textbook publishers think it's smart to start a fourth-grade history textbook with prehistoric humans who lived 10,000 years ago? Why not begin by teaching students what's going on now?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 15, 2014
E-Girls "Colorful Pop"
E-Girls are a 28-member-strong idol pop collective constructed by Avex. The "E" stands for "Exile," as in this is the female version of greased-up R&B doofs Exile.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 25, 2014
Babymetal aren't the latest chapter in the 'wacky Japan' story
The British are mad, aren't they? That Kate Bush with her crazy gyrating around a cello in the video for "Babushka," that daft loon Robbie Williams with his funky skeleton costume, those kerrr-azy Tellytubbies with their wacky dance routines — what is it about the British that makes them so totally...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 18, 2014
Babymetal "Babymetal"
It's not surprising that Babymetal has gone viral. The trio, bringing the seemingly disparate worlds of idol pop and heavy metal together, is a visually striking project perfect for the "weird Japan" fans on the Internet.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 11, 2014
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 North American tour.
Japan Times
JAPAN / AT A GLANCE
Feb 2, 2014
Transformational Akihabara has its finger on the pulse of pop culture
Tokyo's Akihabara district is always transforming itself.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 30, 2014
Fifteen minutes . . . and counting
Across the ages, individuals standing at the peak of each society's pyramid of power and fame have depended on artists to ensure their immortality: Khafre, pharaoh of Upper and Lower Egypt, conscripted an army of artisans to carve his likeness into the Great Sphinx to preserve it through the eternal...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 30, 2014
The artist and the chairman: How Warhol saw China's changing history
Andy Warhol strove to turn Mao Zedong into a superstar in the West, even as the leader waged a Cultural Revolution across China.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan