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Category Archives: Op Eds
Young Love for the New and Old of Japanese Enka Music
It is hard to trace where my love for Japanese Enka first began. I can say that I grew up listening to it my whole life. My early childhood was spent living in Taiwan where Enka at the time was … Continue reading
Posted in 5 Sound. JuneJuly. 2010, Enka Music, Music Japan
Tagged enka, Featured, japanese music
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Nagano’s Music Scene: Interview with Aya Hasegawa
It’s a Saturday night at Nagano City’s India Live the Sky. The music between bands stops, and from behind the fog on stage steps a guitar-and-recorder welding 24-year old singer-songwriter named Aya Hasegawa. Flanked by her lead guitarist, Shingo “Waku” … Continue reading
Posted in 5 Sound. JuneJuly. 2010, Local Musician Features, Music, Music Japan, The YomoYama
Tagged Aya Hasegawa, Featured, local music, rock
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Japanese Idioms
By Jon Perry Some months ago, I was quaffing beer contentedly with a grizzled old Japanese man as we watched his baseball team, the Hanshin Tigers, do battle with the less threateningly named Hiroshima Carp. As often happens when men … Continue reading
U.S. for Okinawa Report
From April 1st to April 4th US for OKINAWA, a Tokyo-based peace action network, organized a study program to Okinawa’s main island. The goal was simple: to experience what is really happening in regards to the U.S. military’s Futenma Air … Continue reading
Posted in 4 Smell. April. May. 2010, News, Okinawa, Politics, The YomoYama
Tagged activism, Featured
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Korean Is The New Japanese
By Christine Peng I’m going to hijack this space and talk about music from our neighbors across the pond (the ones without nukes). In a blow to Japan’s national J-pop cultural pride, the group whose picture on my PowerPoint met … Continue reading
Shogi, The Game of Generals
By Matthew Dowd Shogi is a strategic board-game that, like many things Japanese, blends several imported ideas with a twist. Shogi is related to the western game of Chess, sharing a common origin in antiquity. Both Chess and Shogi are … Continue reading
The Pets and Posers of Urbanism
Pets are wonderful things. There is certain innocence about pets; they are like children, yet slightly more responsible. They possess an honesty that human beings lose as we allow life to damage us into an affected fortress of “sophistication”. Humans … Continue reading
Japan Railways Installs Blue UV Lights To Lessen Suicide Attempts
The facts about suicide in Japan are staggering. Almost 100 people kill themselves every day, totaling more than 30,000 people each year. This number is twice as high as the United States and three times as high as the UK, … Continue reading
Prospects for Japan’s future
By Tomoko Fujimoto A new year for 2010 has opened. The newspaper is filled with prospects for Japan’s future by experts. I challenge myself to translate their comments, interweaving my humble opinion. Today’s world is too chaotic for even specialists to … Continue reading
Posted in 3 Sight. Feb.Mar. 2010, News, Op Eds, Reflections
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Cannibal Cook: Issei Sagawa
Cannibal Cook By Amanda Dale Of all crimes, cannibalism strikes a particularly strong chord in most Western societies. Crimes involving cannibalism immediately become salacious, inspiring fear and curiosity and bringing instant notoriety. The Donner party still lives in infamy, Hollywood … Continue reading
Homegrown Album Release: Interview with Derek Hurst
Shinano-machi’s Derek Hurst debuts his first CD How would you describe your music? Derek: Pop-piano rock, although my producer Kohki added a lot of really interesting touches to the CD. The songs we did a lot of work on have … Continue reading
Posted in 2 Food. Dec. Jan. 09-10, Local Musician Features, Music Japan
Tagged album release, interview, Music Japan
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Rock on the Gokon
by Adam Stokes A line of guys on one side; a line of girls on the other. Sounds like your junior high school kids, right? Well this is not school, this is the start of the “Gokon.” With a veritable … Continue reading
Posted in 2 Food. Dec. Jan. 09-10, Dating, Op Eds
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Fireside politics with Jesse: Japan’s Iron Triangle
By Jesse Sergent Even a foreigner living in Japan has sensed the titanic upheavals which have recently rocked the Japanese political world. This past August, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) won a majority in the lower house of the … Continue reading
Buddhism for Beginners
by Shannon Lough I met up with Keiji on the steps of the Yasaka-jinja shrine in the Gion district of Kyoto. From there he lead me to his friend’s temple through the narrow back streets of Higashiyama, where the cluster … Continue reading
From Canned Coffee to Latte Art: Japanese Coffee Culture
Japan’s Changing Coffee Culture by Whitney Conti Aki never considered herself an artist until she picked up a toothpick. Now, her palette is frothed milk and her easel is the top of a latte. Aki is the primary barrista and … Continue reading