Japan Live

Tokyo's biggest fireworks festival was happening, and the explosions could be heard even inside the theater where I sat. Big crowds were...

Things I love about Japanese indie music: * That after all these years, I still sometimes discover brilliant bands like Risette . They forme...

Congrats to Vasallo Crab 75 , now 10 years old. They celebrated with two other great bands, Plectrum and Condor44 . A quick one for now, be...

One of my favorite albums so far this year is Merry Go Round Jailhouse , the first work in five years by the unit Serani Poji (it went into...

Time-traveling back to the not-too-distant past again, I went to a great event organized by Mr. Henachoko at a venue called Bar Coredo in No...

Traveling back in time a bit, I went to the Asakusa Jinta event on April 3 at the Maru-ai Bldg, the venue right above a noodle joint called...

Whatever happened to Shibuya-kei? I believe I saw its remnants at the Club 440 last month. The band was Little Lounge Little Twinkle . The t...

It's a common belief in Japan that when the weather warms up in spring, the weirdos come out of the woodwork, emerging from their shelte...

Sunday was girl band night at the Club Que, but the three featured groups had little in common other than that they were all girls. First up...

I remember a few years back a Korean all-girl band played in Tokyo, and even though their show was excellent, they looked unhappy later, bec...

Not sure what it was but when Umekichi came on stage in her light pink kimono and started a traditional dance, my eyes started watering up,...

Alas, at the moment I can't think of a nice, round '10' favorite albums for 2009, and can only come up with eight. I'm not s...

Strange how standing on the concrete floor of the Que can feel sofa-like, at a pal's pad, when there's good music. And there was, in...

I knew Japan-Kuruu-Special was a band worth checking out when I took a look at their website, the funnest I've seen in a while. It paro...

Until quite recently, I had no idea there was surfing in Fukui prefecture. In fact, it never really occurred to me that people surf on the S...

How remarkable it is that you can now watch a live Tokyo rock show 5,000 miles away on the internet. From LA, on a vacation, I caught advant...

Brain Police, also known as “the radical protest band” Zunou Keisatsu , is near the zenith of the celestial list of legendary Japanese rock ...

Did anyone see this? It was a live internet broadcast of advantage Lucy and Vasallo Crab 75 , ahead of the Nov. 26 Munekyun Arpeggio show,...

The sixth anniversary of the passing of advantage Lucy and Vasallo Crab 75 guitarist Takayuki Fukumura is approaching, and in Japanese Budd...

I doubt many people will ever make it to the Mori no Terrace in western Tokyo, but I like its concept so I'll write about it anyway. Th...