During a whirlwind tour of western Japan in spring 2019, I interviewed several craftsmen who work with sap from the Asian lacquer tree to make exquisite pieces of lacquerware. I imagined these craftsmen working in well-lit art studios or museum-like surroundings. Instead, I found them working out of their homes or in a warehouse-like office, their work aprons stained coal black from the urushi...
Seiko Matsuda, a Showa Kayo diva, debuted from CBS Sony in 1980 and celebrated her 40th anniversary this year. She is one of my favorite artists, who has so many masterpieces that I can’t possibly cover in one post. She had some good news to share with fans this year. As a special commemoration of the 40th anniversary of her debut, the first analog...
J-Pop queen Yumi Matsutoya, or Yuming, released a new album “Shinkai no Machi” on December 1st for the first time in four years. This is her 39th album, counting from “Hikoki-gumo”, which was released when she debuted in 1973 as Yumi Arai. As part of the promotion for this new album, Yuming has made several guest appearances in Japanese TV programs. We learned some interesting...
Maria Takeuchi’s concert video “souvenir the movie ~ MARIYA TAKEUCHI Theater Live ~” was recently released in Japan on November 18th. This is the first time she has ever released a video in her 41 year musical career. Fans were also delighted to see the participation of Tatsuro Yamashita in the band, as he is known to never make video appearances. The DVD/Blu-ray...
The song by Miki Matsubara, “Stay with me” (Mayonaka no Door), which any City Pop fan would be familiar with, has been played 4.6 million times over the past year on Spotify. The number of views is increasing in Thailand and Malaysia, and in Indonesia it has been played 30,000 times this recent month. I am happy to see this phenomenon, but at the...
In this column, I will introduce the movie series Torakku Yaro (Truck Guys). This is an action-comedy movie about a Japanese long-distance truck driver. When the first one was released in 1975, it was a big hit with box office revenue of 8 million dollars, and 10 sequels were made in 5 years. Bunta Sugawara, who played the main character Momojiro, previously became a...
Aimyon debuted from an indies label in 2015, and has gained strong popularity. Her debut song shocked listeners with lyrics that were so radical that it was banned from being broadcast on TV and radio. The promotional video was very innovative, using the communication app LINE. Aimyon’s family had a big influence on her wanting to become a singer songwriter. She grew up listening to...
Growing up, I enjoyed listening to Japanese Showa Pops as well as American and British music, and this had a huge impact on my life. As a DJ in the 80’s, I enjoyed playing Ray Parker Jr, Earth Wind and Fire, and other hot R&B and Disco music for large crowds in clubs and discos around Tokyo and Yokohama. I love the 80’s! Japan at the...
