Michael Booth returns with 'The Meaning of Rice'
Michael Booth is back. And once again with his family in tow. The British food writer first came to Japan with his Danish wife and two sons in 2008 in a bid to learn more about Japan and its food culture in a trip ...
'Killing Commendatore': Murakami's latest lacks inspired touch of earlier works
Haruki Murakami has lost his magic. After two consecutive novels written in the third person (2009's "1Q84" and 2013's "Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage"), Murakami has returned to first-person narration with his latest novel, "Kishidancho Goroshi" ("Killing Commendatore"), published in Japan and ...
'Tokyo: A Biography': Tracing the life of a city
Cities are intrinsically inviting subjects for a writer. Part human, part natural; arena of history and mantelpiece of memory — cities provide the setting for the archetypal encounter of the individual with the masses. Tokyo: A Biography, by Stephen Mansfield. 208 pages TUTTLE, Nonfiction. With its conjunction of ...
Kis-My-Ft2 "Good Ikuze!" (Avex Trax)
Odds are, Japan Times reader, that you do not like Kis-My-Ft2. Maybe you've been unable to escape the bleating "Wanna Beeee!!!" while out strolling in Shibuya, or maybe they lost you at, "From the people who brought you SMAP and Arashi!" So this review ...
i-fls "Diary of Spectre" (self-release)
The first song I ever made — and I'm willing to wager many who graduated high school in the mid 2000s share this experience — was using Apple's GarageBand, a software application that lets people make music on their computers. "I made a killer ...
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 strong since ...
To describe "Jiro Dreams of Sushi" as a foodie film is akin to picking an English rose and calling it a flower. This documentary by New York-based David Gelb is at once a celebration of one of the world's most popular and coveted meals, ...
“Mr. Children 2005-2010 <macro>”
My Japan Times colleague Ian Martin nailed the state of Japanese pop music when he wrote that it was "clinging on to the hoary old remains of the past." The Oricon Chart's top albums of 2012 list was dominated by "Best Of" compilations, with ...
Shortcake Collage Tape "Spirited Summer"
Creating music meant to purposely evoke the past can be tricky. Recreate the sounds of a specific decade too closely and the music becomes too nostalgic, pining for a time the artist never even knew existed. On the other hand, approach bygone times too ...
Nick Bornoff on 'Senjo no Meri Kurisumasu (Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence)'
Internationally acclaimed for their formal style and power, Nagisa Oshima's films have always dealt with controversial issues which Japan's Establishment would rather see swept under the carpet. Based upon a famous Laurens van der Post novel (The Seed and the Sower), Oshima's "Senjo no ...
