The other day, Shiina Ringo unveiled a new song for Japan’s Wolrd Cup team (well, for NHK’s coverage of Japan’s World Cup team) and…it is pretty straightforward, which is to be expected for a song soundtracking a music video of dramatic penalty kicks. Much better is just-released “Seishyun No Mabataki,” a prickly ballad featuring a…
The career arc of Shiina Ringo isn’t like your typical artist’s. Ringo started her career as a solo musician, crafting some of the early 2000’s most forward thinking and best albums (of anywhere in the world). Yet she then decided she wanted to be part of a band and formed Tokyo Jihen who, despite having…
May 27 marks the 15th anniversary of the debut of Shiina Ringo, an artist who has released a few classic albums and has had a huge impact on a generation of Japanese music fans. To celebrate, she’s releasing a new single on that day and…it presumably hit the Internet sometime today. It’s called “Irohanihoheto” and…
With her Tokyo Jihen project officially at an end, Shiina Ringo can focus once again on her solo work. Here is the first glimpse of her post-Jihen life, “Jiyuu E Michizure” which will be serving as the theme song for some TV drama called Ataru. The song is a pretty straight-forward rock number, at times…
Up there? That’s the new seasonal flavor of Pepsi here in Japan, the stomach-churning “Strawberry Milk” flavor. I’ve yet to summon the courage to try it, but the very presence of the word “milk” on the soda wrapper has me buggin’ out. Just a terrible combination. Arashi “Meikyu Love Song” [youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_b5fgzCC34″] AKB48 grab all the…