Haruomi Hosono reworks a modern classic with 'Hochono House'
As he enters his 50th year in the music business, Haruomi Hosono hasn't lost his talent for making you wonder what the devil he's up to. After using modern studio technology to recreate the sounds of mid-20th century pop on "Vu Ja De" in ...
YMO's Yukihiro Takahashi celebrates a pair of 40th anniversaries
The past few years have been a boom time for Japanese reissues, as labels dredge up everything from ambient obscurities to glossy disco-pop for the benefit of listeners who missed them first time around. For Yukihiro Takahashi, it's all a bit confusing. "Do you understand ...
Yellow Magic Orchestra go big and go home
Yellow Magic Orchestra made its 1980 debut on the legendary American dance show “Soul Train” performing a cover of “Tighten Up” by Archie Bell & the Drells, two years after the November 1978 release of the trio’s eponymous first album Dressed in logoed button-downs with ...
Haruomi Hosono: 'I never tried to be a pioneer'
Haruomi Hosono is widely regarded as one of the most important figures of Japanese popular music over the past 50 years. The grandson of the only Japanese passenger and survivor aboard the Titanic, he was born in Tokyo in 1947. From the end of the ...
Akiko Yano reflects on how music has changed after 40 years in the business
What would a U.S.A. Day look like in Japan? There would need to be American food, like hamburgers, and some kind of technological wonder, like monster trucks! Now imagine Kate Bush shows up. OK, that's where things fall apart — Bush is English. But she's ...
Ryuichi Sakamoto offers his thoughts on politics, Japan and how his music will change 'post-cancer'
"The Professor" is back in town. Last weekend, Ryuichi Sakamoto took the stage at Tokyo Opera City for the debut concert of the Tohoku Youth Orchestra, a 105-strong ensemble of young musicians from Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, which counts him as its musical ...
One of the unspoken rules in the progress-fixated world of electronic music is that you don't get bonus points for dwelling on past glories. So when Yukihiro Takahashi — drummer, vocalist and dapper elder statesman of electro-pop — convened a star cast of musicians ...
Ryuichi Sakamoto gently rallies the troops for No Nukes 2012
The demonstrations against the restarting of the Oi nuclear power plant held recently on Friday nights outside Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's residence are very much directed at the occupant of that abode, but they are attracting attention around the world, too. One of their ...
