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August 11, 2026
 

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Patrick St. Michel
Patrick St. Michel is a Tokyo-based writer with a focus on Japanese music. He runs the blog Make Believe Melodies, which has focused on Japanese independent music since 2009. Besides The Japan Times, he also contributes to MTV 81 and The Atlantic.
Summer Sonic stalwarts Babymetal curated an eclectic lineup to celebrate the summer music festival's 25th anniversary.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 10, 2026
Too much music, not enough weekend: A guide to Summer Sonic 2026
From metal to 1990s dance nostalgia, this year¡¯s event packs an absurd amount of music into one long weekend.
¡°Chiikawa the Movie: The Secret of Mermaid Mermaid Island¡± is shaping up to be one of the summer¡¯s biggest hits while surprising some viewers with its dark thematic undercurrents.
CULTURE / Film
Jul 31, 2026
¡®Chiikawa¡¯ was always darker than it looked
Cute characters, folk horror and lingering trauma: ¡°Chiikawa¡± makes an unexpectedly haunting leap to the big screen.
Black Boboi was formed in 2018 when solo artists Julia Shortreed, Utena Kobayashi and Ermhoi came together under Kobayashi¡¯s newly founded label, Bindividual.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 23, 2026
The sci-fi sensibilities of electronic trio Black Boboi
The members discuss artistic trust, existential questions and the creative process behind their immersive third album, ¡°Sepia.¡±
Anime thumbnails adorn the sonic creations on YouTube channel Norinori Core, like this one from the Norinori Remix of Iruka's 1976 track "Nagoriyuki."
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Jul 2, 2026
Â鶹´«Ã½ first great AI music trend is gloriously wrong
Norinori Core turns old J-pop into dopamine-fueled divisive dance music.
The quintet from Nagoya ¡ª comprising (from left) Sangen Ron, Junsei Iwai, Musashi, Hayato Komiya and Kion Umemura ¡ª released their debut album ¡°Tomogachi Ga Imashita¡± on June 17.
CULTURE / Music
Jun 27, 2026
Trooper Salute marches to its own beat on dazzling debut album
The quintet¡¯s debut album ¡°Tomogachi Ga Imashita,¡± released on June 17, features an impressive array of styles drawn from the band members¡¯ wide-ranging influences.
Mei Hanada, a former member of the idol group AKB48, posted a video to X in response to her recent termination by the management.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jun 26, 2026
Buzzcut backlash: AKB48 member¡¯s termination stirs online furor
Mei Hanada¡¯s response video to her termination from idol group AKB48 echoes a scandal involving a different member of the pop outfit from 2013.
Yuhan, 24, Ejae and Mark Sonnenblick pose with the best song written for visual media award for "Golden" from ¡°KPop Demon Hunters¡± during the 68th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 1.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jun 17, 2026
Grammys to add best Asian pop music performance category in 2027
The new Grammy category gives J-pop, K-pop and C-pop acts greater opportunities for international recognition.
The members of TV Tairiku Ondo ¡ª (from left) Harea Togari, Ryuji Chiyotani, Kotaro Suzuki and Hiroto Yanagawa ¡ª met as high school students in Sapporo and went viral in 2024 with an energetic 90-second track.
CULTURE / Music
Jun 12, 2026
TV Tairiku Ondo channels the chaotic creativity of youth
After going viral with a 90-second track in 2024, the rock quartet from Hokkaido has been hitting stages big and small and working hard on a debut album.
Yoko Takahashi performs the theme song to ¡°Neon Genesis Evangelion¡± at the 10th annual Crunchyroll Anime Awards, which drew an international crowd of entertainers from around the world.
CULTURE / Film
Jun 4, 2026
10th Anime Awards spotlight industry¡¯s international reach
Celebrity guests from Canada, India and other countries attended Crunchyroll¡¯s annual awards ceremony, a testament to anime¡¯s growing cultural footprint around the world.
Japanese rock band Sakanaction gained belated attention worldwide after its 2012 song ¡°Yoru no Odoriko¡± was paired with a viral video of an Indonesian preteen¡¯s dance.
CULTURE / Music
May 29, 2026
Sakanaction¡¯s overseas breakthrough came from a viral dance meme
A video of an Indonesian preteen dancing on a boat became the unlikely springboard for Japanese rockers Sakanaction to gain global attention.
Seven-member group Hana kicked off California music festival Zipangu with a high-energy performance showcasing the act¡¯s wide-ranging sound.
CULTURE / Music
May 28, 2026
Girl group Hana channels positivity into every performance
Before joining Hana, the group¡¯s members were told ¡°no¡± by the entertainment industry. Now they¡¯re part of one of Â鶹´«Ã½ most talked-about new acts.
At music festival Zipangu¡¯s inaugural edition, headliner Ado performed original songs as well as classic J-pop hits such as Miki Matsubara¡¯s 1979 track ¡°Mayonaka no Door: Stay With Me.¡±
CULTURE / Music
May 28, 2026
Music festival Zipangu offers a glimpse of J-pop¡¯s future beyond anime
Ado, Chanmina, Atarashii Gakko!, Yuki Chiba and more turned a Pasadena golf course into a showcase for the breadth of Japanese music and its growing appeal abroad.
Anri says younger overseas listeners first surprised her during a 2023 performance in Los Angeles, where most of the audience was in their 20s. Nearly five decades after her debut, songs such as ¡°Last Summer Whisper¡± and ¡°I Can¡¯t Stop the Loneliness¡± continue finding new fans.
CULTURE / Music / Longform
May 18, 2026
Before city pop went global, there was Anri
Long after city pop became an online phenomenon, the singer continues to find new fans worldwide.
Noriko Sekiguchi launched Poison Girl Friend in the late 1980s, crafting melancholy, club-influenced pop with multilingual lyrics. Her music is now being rediscovered by younger listeners through streaming services and a renewed interest in ¡¯90s trip hop.
CULTURE / Music
May 8, 2026
Poison Girl Friend was early. Now it makes sense.
A once-overlooked project returns as younger listeners rediscover its melancholic sound and understated influence.
¡°Mojacat,¡± Kan Sano¡¯s first solo album in four years, gave the musician the opportunity to work with childhood favorite Ua.
CULTURE / Music
Apr 27, 2026
Kan Sano lets go of control and lets others in on ¡®Mojacat¡¯
Kan Sano¡¯s latest album expands his musical imagination, with collaborators such as Chara and Ua helping him push beyond the limits of going it alone.
BTS kicked off the international leg of its Arirang World Tour at Tokyo Dome on Friday.
CULTURE / Music
Apr 19, 2026
After years away, BTS and its fans reunite at full volume
From ¡°Fire¡± to ¡°Idol,¡± the Tokyo Dome show became a long-awaited communal spectacle.
Johnny Somali received a prison sentence of six months with 20 days detention after repeated acts of disturbing the public in South Korea.
LIFE / Digital
Apr 15, 2026
¡®Nuisance streamer¡¯ Johnny Somali sentenced to six months in prison
The 25-year-old American influencer received a prison sentence from a South Korean court for repeated acts of disturbing the public.
The Sphere in Las Vegas lights up after an earnings report in 2024. SBI Holdings is exploring a similar idea for a venue in Tokyo.
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Apr 9, 2026
Tokyo¡¯s concert scene searches for its next act
Tokyo¡¯s live music future is coming into focus ¡ª and it looks more domestic, and possibly more immersive.
More than 2,300 of Bad Bunny's top Spotify listeners in Japan were invited to his Billions Club Live show at Tipstar Dome Chiba on Saturday.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 9, 2026
Bad Bunny plays first-ever Japan show at exclusive Spotify event
The Puerto Rican superstar¡¯s Japan debut drew roughly 2,300 top listeners and celebrity guests for an invite-only show near Tokyo.
Evan Call¡¯s score for anime series ¡°Frieren: Beyond Journey¡¯s End¡± is built around European folk instrumentation with subtle orchestration choices that carry emotional weight.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 6, 2026
For Evan Call, every melody is a conversation
The ¡°Frieren¡± composer builds anime¡¯s fantasy worlds with folk-infused scores.
America¡¯s cyberforces grapple with cluster of deaths by suicide
The U.S. Cyber Command building (center) stands on the National Security Agency campus at Fort Meade, Maryland.
Many Indonesians named after Japanese anime characters
Some people in Indonesia are named Doraemon, the name of a lead character of the blockbuster anime series with the same title.
Yasukuni Shrine introduces ban on military attire and cosplay
People gather in front of thousands of lanterns on display at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on July 15 during the Mitama Matsuri, one of the capital's largest summer o-Bon festivals.
As countries ban social media for children, Japan mulls a different approach
Data from NTT Docomo¡¯s Mobile Society Research Institute released in June found that 55% of respondents across all age groups said they fiddled with their phones when they had nothing to do, even when another person was in front of them.
¡®Total whiplash¡¯: Foreign residents react to Â鶹´«Ã½ changing permanent residency rules
The entrance to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in March. For some foreign residents of Japan, tightening measures for permanent residency have become one factor in a broader calculation over whether remaining in the country makes financial sense over the long term.
Â鶹´«Ã½ brewers experiment with a secret ingredient: music
At Smoke Craft, a craft beer brewery in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, music isn't just a background to the brewing process ¡ª it's an ingredient.
As countries ban social media for children, Japan mulls a different approach
Data from NTT Docomo¡¯s Mobile Society Research Institute released in June found that 55% of respondents across all age groups said they fiddled with their phones when they had nothing to do, even when another person was in front of them.
J. League enters new era as league kicks off first fall-spring campaign
Players from each J. League club pose during a kickoff event on Monday ahead of the start of the 2026-27 campaign.
Speaking Japanese at the movies with ¡®Chiikawa¡¯
A "Chiikawa The Movie" poster is seen at Toho Cinemas in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo.
How Â鶹´«Ã½ racehorses find second careers away from the track
TCC Therapy Park is supported financially by racing organizations as well as donations from members of the public.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo¡¯s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo¡¯s ¡®stadium of desire¡¯

Longform

Disaster relief workers Taichi Kato (left) and Seiji Yoshimura enter the collapsed living quarters at Kyuganji temple in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture.
What Kumamoto revealed about Â鶹´«Ã½ earthquake readiness
By Alex K.T. Martin

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