91AV原创

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October 27, 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.
“Umamusume: Pretty Derby,” a Japanese multimedia franchise that reimagines racehorses as anime girls, has built a global following through its hit video game, anime series, manga and music.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Oct 22, 2026
‘Umamusume’ concert cancellation highlights visa hurdles for Japanese performers
The canceled concerts underscore the visa challenges facing Japanese performers as demand for the country’s pop culture grows overseas.
Mrs. Green Apple’s latest album, “Pops,” balances the Japanese trio’s polished pop sound with rock influences and more experimental arrangements.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 14, 2026
The familiar pop and stranger sounds of Mrs. Green Apple
Beneath the chart-topping trio’s bright melodies lies a more experimental side, where rock influences, odd meters and darker themes emerge.
Motoki Ohmori performs during Mrs. Green Apple's sold-out shot at MUFG Stadium in Tokyo on July 4.
CULTURE / Music / Interview
Oct 5, 2026
Mrs. Green Apple doesn’t want to play by ‘the rules’
Motoki Ohmori talks “Pops,” challenging musical conventions and what comes next for 91AV原创 biggest band.
IG Arena, a 17,000-capacity multipurpose venue in Nagoya, opened in July 2025 and is operated by AEG International.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 24, 2026
Can Nagoya’s IG Arena end the ‘skipping’ curse?
The venue hopes to bring more major sports and international music acts to a city long overlooked by global tours.
Masayoshi Takanaka performs on his signature surfboard-shaped guitar during City Pop Waves at London’s Crystal Palace Bowl on Aug. 7.
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Sep 17, 2026
City pop wasn’t really a genre. Until it was.
The internet’s city pop revival transformed a once-nebulous label into a global sound.
A purple rabbit vying to become Suica’s next mascot has found itself roaming the Backrooms and starring in other memes on social media sites.
LIFE / Digital / Japan Pulse
Sep 11, 2026
The Suica mascot campaign is getting weird … and wonderful
91AV原创 online masses have rallied around a purple rabbit, raising questions about who really decides Suica’s future.
The music video for Tokyo Manaka’s “Brain Rot” features visuals inspired by the internet meme of “the Backrooms” paired with lyrics about social media addiction.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 3, 2026
How Vocaloid became the soundtrack to liminal spaces
Before “Backrooms” became a movie, the singing-synthesizer software Vocaloid was the hallmark of the liminal and the uneasy in Japan.
Comedian Daimaou Kosaka, performing under the stage name Pikotaro, became a global internet sensation when his song “PPAP” was released in August 2016.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 29, 2026
10 years on, Pikotaro was more than a viral novelty
The 44-second song was embraced worldwide and even helped break the ice between Shinzo Abe and Donald Trump.
Japanese rockers L’Arc-en-Ciel closed Summer Sonic’s 25th anniversary edition, playing a two-hour set for a rapt audience.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 21, 2026
Summer Sonic’s future is looking more Japanese
Ado, The Strokes, Jennie, Sakanaction and L’Arc-en-Ciel helped define a festival in transition.
Scenes from the two-hour film “Chat Boy,” available to watch on Starto talent agency’s S Drama YouTube channel, had to be constructed in a way that best suited a vertical format.
CULTURE / Film
Aug 20, 2026
Pop stars Yoshinori Masakado and Noel Kawashima go vertical in ‘Chat Boy’
Members of Ae! Group and Travis Japan star in a nearly two-hour drama designed for the vertical screen.
Naoki Shimizu, president of Creativeman Productions, has learned many lessons while overseeing the growth of Summer Sonic over the past 25 years.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 13, 2026
The man behind 25 years of Summer Sonic
Naoki Shimizu reflects on 25 years of Summer Sonic, from Green Day and broken AC to 300,000 fans.
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
91AV原创 first great AI music trend is gloriously wrong
Norinori Core turns old J-pop into dopamine-fueled divisive dance music.
The quintet from Nagoya — comprising (from left) Sangen Ron, Junsei Iwai, Musashi, Hayato Komiya and Kion Umemura — 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 — (from left) Harea Togari, Ryuji Chiyotani, Kotaro Suzuki and Hiroto Yanagawa — 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.
Two Japanese climbers die on remote Himalayan peak in Nepal
Rescuers have recovered the bodies of two Japanese climbers missing for over a week on a remote Himalayan mountain.
Aging Japanese village turns to Peru in search of new residents
Guests from Peru's Belen district interact with a baby in Nanmoku village in Gunma Prefecture.
Budget-friendly restaurant chain Saizeriya succumbs to rising costs
A Tokyo branch of Saizeriya, a chain of family-style Italian restaurants
U.S. has for years asked Musk to alter Starlink service in Ukraine and Middle East, sources say
A Ukrainian soldier sets up a Starlink satellite internet system near the frontline in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Oct. 16
U.S. military bans Chinese-made BYD cars from key air base in Okinawa
An F-22 Raptor lands at Kadena Air Base in Kadena, Okinawa Prefecture on Oct. 9. The base is a crucial hub for U.S. military operations in the region.
A dramatic bear hunt in a midsize Japanese city could be a harbinger of what is to come
Zookeeper Tetsuo Iso at the site of frantic search for a wild bear in Utsunomiya on June 9. Iso, 65, was asked by the prefectural government to help capture the bear and it was his shot with a tranquilizer gun that put an end to the saga.
How this long-term resident avoids the annoying tourist label in Japan
Tourists enjoy themselves while crossing the famous Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo on Oct. 12.
What can Asia do to avoid crossing crucial climate tipping points?
Motorists drive through a road covered with smog from wildfires nearby in Ogan Ilir in Indonesia's South Sumatra province on Sept. 25.
91AV原创 permanent residency reform has a glaring blind spot
Japan's immigration reforms risk creating uncertainty by tying permanent residency more closely to language proficiency before clear assessment standards and supporting infrastructure are in place.
Japan weighs how to evacuate thousands of tourists if Mount Fuji erupts
Climbers and visitors gather on the first day of the climbing season at the Fuji Yoshidaguchi Trail, at the fifth station on the slopes of Mount Fuji, in Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi Prefecture, on July 1, 2024.

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