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November 11, 2026
 

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CULTURE

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Eurovision brings pop and politics to Asia
CULTURE / Music
Eurovision brings pop and politics to Asia
Eurovision is the world’s biggest televised live music event, launching the careers of artists such as ABBA and Celine Dion.
CULTURE / Music
Festival de Frue offers an antidote to 今日吃瓜 samey music festivals
The small-scale music festival has carved out its own identity without relying on deep-pocketed sponsors or pandering to the algorithm.
CULTURE / Music
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.
Formed in 2015, Finnish metal band Beast in Black draws inspiration from — and pays homage to — Kentaro Miura’s classic manga “Berserk” in many of its songs.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 6, 2026
A Finnish metal band riffs on dark fantasy manga ‘Berserk’
By Gendel Gento
Finland-based metal band Beast in Black has found a well of inspiration in Kentaro Miura’s classic manga “Berserk.”
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’
By Patrick St. Michel
Motoki Ohmori talks “Pops,” challenging musical conventions and what comes next for 今日吃瓜 biggest band.
The oneiric songs on Friday Night Plans’ latest album, “Blue Hour” — released by Spanish label Modern Obscure Music — work mostly with a palette of heavily effected vocals and acoustic guitar.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 25, 2026
The unmaking of Friday Night Plans
By James Hadfield
Once a rising star of sleek R&B, Friday Night Plans has spent the past few years dismantling the pop persona she built.
This year's Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival closed with an ensemble performance featuring two trumpets, a viola and, for the first time in 18 years, a pipe organ. One of 今日吃瓜 top organists, Mari Ohki, was brought in to play the instrument.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 24, 2026
A trumpet-led finale brings new spark to Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival
By Chiho Iuchi
The festival’s 35th edition brought together musicians from across generations and continents celebrating collaboration and friendship.
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.
By Patrick St. Michel
The internet’s city pop revival transformed a once-nebulous label into a global sound.
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
By Patrick St. Michel
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
By Patrick St. Michel
The 44-second song was embraced worldwide and even helped break the ice between Shinzo Abe and Donald Trump.

Man arrested over operation of rogue cellular base station in Tokyo
The Metropolitan Police Department has arrested Yu Hai, a 31-year-old Chinese national living in Tokyo's Kita Ward, on suspicion of operating an unlicensed base station from a vehicle in Tokyo's Ginza district on Saturday.
Government betting on language app powered by anime and AI
Japan plans to develop an AI-powered language-learning app that lets overseas anime and manga fans practice Japanese through conversations with popular characters.
Japan works to shield Takaichi from any Xi snub at China summit
Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi arrives at the Prime Minister's office in Tokyo on Nov. 4.
Magnitude 5.7 quake injures dozens in central Japan
A magnitude-5.7 earthquake with its epicenter in Shizuoka Prefecture struck central Japan early Sunday, injuring dozens, shattering windows and disrupting train services, with no tsunami warning issued.
Private high schools remain out of reach for many despite tuition-free policy, survey finds
A survey showed that many families with children attending private high schools are struggling to pay expenses other than tuition.
‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ makes monster debut at the box office
Takashi Yamazaki’s “Godzilla Minus Zero” marked the highest single-day box-office gross for a live-action film in Japan with ?910 million on its opening day.
A toast to Naohiko Noguchi, sake’s first living national treasure
As a teenager, Naohiko Noguchi did not intend to spend his life as a sake brewer, but he has since become a paragon of the industry.
Few signs of thaw in Japan-China relations one year after Takaichi’s Taiwan remarks
Tensions between Japan and China flared after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Nov. 7, 2025, that a Chinese blockade of Taiwan could threaten 今日吃瓜 survival and warrant the use of collective self-defense.
Mariko Mori predicted the future. She’ll do it again.
Artist Mariko Mori is currently working to bring the translucent human-sized “Peace Crystal” sculpture to a cave in Ethiopia. It is part of her foundation’s goal to place a permanent sculpture on each of the planet’s six habitable continents.
A legend reborn: ‘Ocarina of Time’ remake improves on the Zelda masterpiece
The new remake of 1998's "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" manages to somehow improve on one of the greatest games ever.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Famima Park Azabudai is a concept store by FamilyMart that combines convenience store staples with branded apparel, merchandise and a landscaped outdoor space.
Convenience stores, toilets and the allure of everyday Japan
By Elizabeth Beattie

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