So far in 2019, there have been two prominent J-pop songs about J-pop itself, at least to some degrees. Teenager SASUKE practically gives the industry an entire pep talk with a song going to great lengths to tell you J-pop will never end (raising the stakes significantly with a line about how “Japanese people will…
#10 Suiyoubi No Campanella (Wednesday Campanella) Galapagos I shouldn’t be surprised by anything KOM_I of Suiyoubi No Campanella does, yet back in the early days of summer I watched slack-jawed as she left the stage at a quaint venue near Mt. Fuji and wandered into a field that had been set on fire sometime during…
Today Japan’s Lower House passed a controversial security bill that, if it goes through and results in Japan’s Constitution being changed, would allow the country’s Self-Defense Force to participate in overseas operations where Japan or one of Japan’s allies are in danger. It’s a huge departure from the nation’s previous pacifist position and, even though…