Tag - yasutaka-nakata

 
 

YASUTAKA NAKATA

Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 15, 2018
The queen of kawaii: Kyary Pamyu Pamyu reflects on her reign
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's trip to the Museum of Death in Hollywood proved to be a 2018 highlight for the 25-year-old J-pop star.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Mar 26, 2017
Music's shifting tides reveal a hunger for artistry in Japan
Music is often characterized over-simplistically as a battle between rock and pop, seriousness and fun, but the two are always in an ever-shifting balance. With this column coming to the end of its six-year run, it feels timely to cast a look back — and perhaps also a hopeful eye forward — over the changing state of music in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 29, 2016
Yasutaka Nakata crafts a music festival in his own digi-pop image
Yasutaka Nakata's schedule tonight is packed. He's being photographed by a Japanese magazine in a basement studio after 10 p.m. on a Friday, and it's taking a little longer than expected. After this he'll have a (very) late dinner before heading to Tokyo's east end to do an early-morning DJ set at club ageHa.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 15, 2016
Perfume's back with 'Cosmic Explorer,' but I still miss them
Perfume's fifth studio album, "Cosmic Explorer," starts off with a stunner. "Navigate," with its intricate electronic atmosphere and inspirational melody, creates the sense that one of Japan's most innovative groups is on course to discovering new sonic territory. Then, the EDM iceberg hits. The title track, "Flash" and "Baby Face" opt for the kind of EDM influences that can be heard on any track from Apple Music's U.S. dance charts from over the past few years. However, though the sound may be a bit played out to Western ears, it's still relatively new to Japanese ones. It's a shame Perfume is veering away from its trademark electronic intricacies, but the group has been doing that for almost a decade. Still, the inclusion of "Story" is odd, the industrial samples sound more like songwriter-producer Yasutaka Nakata's more recent experiments with Capsule.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 9, 2015
Even if you don't see Yasutaka Nakata at Summer Sonic, you'll probably hear him
Punters heading off to Makuhari Messe this weekend for SonicMania — the all-night event preceding the annual Summer Sonic music festival — should try to arrive at the venue early to secure a prime spot for the evening's first act: pop trio Perfume.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Jan 27, 2015
Kuwata's left jab has nothing on the politics of ad money
If this column is going to be about one thing in 2015, it will be politics in music.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 25, 2014
'Kawaii' gets a landmark
While Japanese cool hunters might lament the lack of pop cultural exports in recent years — all the more conspicuous when compared to K-Pop's successful forays westward — kawaii (cute) culture has quietly permeated into global consciousness with all the effortless grace of singer Kyary Pamyu Pamyu farting out a rainbow.
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
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Dec 24, 2013
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.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 22, 2013
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 musical identity that marks anything he touches as distinctly his.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 15, 2013
Perfume dances to No. 1 with hard-edged new album 'Level3'
"Level3" is No. 1 on Japan's Oricon music chart this week, but it is not a J-pop album.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 24, 2013
August Live
For those people who can't take time off work for any of this month's major music festivals, there are still plenty of options for live music across the country.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 17, 2013
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."

Longform

Historically, kabuki was considered the entertainment of the merchant and peasant classes, a far cry from how it is regarded today.
For Japan's oldest kabuki theater, the show must go on