I’ve been in Tokyo all week, just sort of loafing about, and on one of my random walks I ended up in Harajuku. Amongst the waves of garish-pink fabric and whipped-cream-heavy crepes, I spied the official AKB48 store, Harajuku branch. I almost went in, except 1.) you had to wait in line with 2.) a…
Here’s something I’ll never type again…reader, have mercy on the songs featured here this week. Due to a combination of moving woes (“what do you mean I’m out of boxes?????? WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN’T FIND MY APARTMENT??????”) and the [REDACTED] (this sounded way more melodramatic when I wrote it Wednesday, let’s just move…
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6w0rf10nPm0″] Because we live in an age where most people celebrate a band getting their music used in a commercial, where becoming the backing sound of a new Toyota signals a huge leap forward for a career (and it does, and that’s good!), because this is Japan where this type of thing seems typical, where…
So I stayed up way past my bedtime on a Sunday night to watch the Women’s World Cup Final and not only was treated to the best game of soccer I’ve ever seen…and that’s not some weird jab at the sport, it genuinely was the most thrilling match I’ve ever seen, albeit that’s a small…
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb3IdLdIc6s”] On the one hand, “Ponponpon” sees producer Yasutaka Nakata return to the sorta pure-pop sound he does exceedingly well with Perfume, and sometimes with Capsule and Meg. Now he’s working the boards for a fashion magazine model turned J-Pop singer, someone called Kyarypamyupamyu. “Ponponpon” sounds like Bugs-Bunnied-up electro-pop, Nakata coming home from the club…