?1000 says you have never heard of them. Their name is Psychic Lover (サイキックラバー), and I spent ample time during my two weeks in the anime division at Columbia Music hanging out with them. The guy on the left is Yoffy (pronounced yoh-fee) and the guy on the right is Jo (pronounced Jo). Both guys are 29, though like every Japanese person, they certainly don’t look that old. Yoffy is responsible for the band’s name, and is the composer and lead vocalist for all the duo’s songs. Jo works on lyrics, provides backup vocals, and shreds through wicked guitar solos.

Psychic Lover is one of the biggest names in Japanese anime music. They have written theme songs or supporting music for Power Rangers, Witchblade, Gaiking, and Transformers (among many others)... Read More

Our adventures in Japan started off on a difficult and tumultuous journey. My name is Lance Lasheras, and alongside my best friend Justin Kim, we decided to journey to Japan in order to pursue our dream of becoming world famous DJ's. The reason why we would choose to go to a country in which we know nothing about the culture, language, or industry is simply because our genre of music is very popular there. Our stories will chronicle our adventures in the country, in hopes to entertain others as well as possibly make some contacts while over here.

Our first real adventure in Japan came in the form of picking up our equipment. Anyone who has Dj'ed before is aware of the sheer volume of electronic equipment necessary for the craft. While we moved into a home in Noborito,... Read More

What a wonder it is to witness another country's music industry. Surely, I thought to myself Japan with it's Manga anime and crazy films and game shows would indeed be a melting pot of creativity and flair.

I spent the last five years in England floating from band to band and eventually to acoustic night playing my way around drunken venues. Always with a key message in my head about my belief in music and how I would never "sell out" or "be an ego" when it came to becoming famous. On arrival in Japan I thought "f#ck it". I decided that this was a great place to "make it" in the music business so that in the future after i at least break the market I could start to record what I enjoy. I auditioned for a few western bands around tokyo but eventually found solace in an al... Read More

One of the things I absolutely love about Japan is the variety of music on offer. Tokyo, known as DJ capital of the world, is home to every genre of sound that one could ever imagine. Before I moved to Japan, I spent my University days working part-time at an independent record store, blowing all my spare cash on music, always believing that there are some things that are always justified when spending money, those being music, books, travel, family and of course beer.

Since moving to Japan, I have been to many live shows all over the country, but especially in Tokyo, seeing gigs from everything to Ben Harper, Spinna B-Ill and Snoop Dogg, to the solid Gunma Jet band Nikajagga, yes, meat and potatoes. But there's one gig that I will keep going back to, month after month. R... Read More

The Mori Art Museum at Roppongi Hills, is showing a Humour in Contemporary Art Exhibit which runs only until May 6th and is worth a visit if you need a good snicker. (No, not the chocolate bar. That's called a Snickers.)

So my visit was worthwhile, but also daunting, as it reminded me just how 'out-of-it' I am when it comes to Japanese idiosyncrasies. As I entered the exhibit area, a uniformed employee shot out in front of me from some unknown corner, stopping me in my tracks. She did so with the intensity of someone trying to stop 'the' bomb from detonating. The lady asked me to please put the bottle of water that I was drinking out of back into my purse, or leave it in her care until I was on my way out. At least that was what I could make out from her roboti... Read More

For all you anthropologists out there, you could attend a flower arranging ceremony or get flogged by a monk somewhere but I chose the Nagisa music festival last Sunday where although I saw many locals flogged, there was not a monk to be seen. At 120 decibels though, it was hardly ‘zen’. I must say though, that after being so impressed by the technology here and having seen Jodie Foster’s movie ‘Contact’, I had rather high hopes for the Tokyo Teleport but alas, it was just a venue. It was either the beats from within, the burly gaijin security guards or Japanese efficiency that got us through a kilometre long cue in 20-30 minutes but I was happy - and limber after the long walk. The Tokyo jungle was in mating season, various species of Tokyo sub c... Read More

This year will be my official fourth summer in Japan. The first summer I experienced in Japan was whilst on a three week vacation, and I spent it sweating continuously and totally dehydrating cycling around temples in Kyoto, climbing endless stairs at Himeji Castle, shopping in Tokyo, and only found a little bit of relief once retreating to the mountains in Nagano. The second summer was even worse, it was spent in Ota city Gunma, my first since coming to live in Japan, and I wasted away endless hours in the furnace-like surroundings of the Junior High School I was working for at the time. Weekends were spent either gathering will all my mates at the rock-river jump an hour drive away, or just staying inside with the air-conditioner on, no doubt contributing t... Read More

Are you a Hapa (half Japanese) artist who feels out of place no matter which country you are in? Are you an art lover stuck between western and eastern cultures? Do you have an interest in connecting with people from all walks of life who are interested in art? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may be a perfect candidate for the group called HArts.

Originally started on Mixi (the Japanese version of My Space) in April of 2006, HArts is a combination of Hapa and arts. Founder Jamie Belton is a full time painter and graphic designer who felt that his work was always seen as foreign, whether in Japan or in England. With a mother who is Japanese and a father who is English, Jamie has flittered back and forth between two cultu... Read More

On my way from Narita Airport I could see many ads written in some mysterious signs, which looked like hieroglyphs. They looked like pictures more than letters and I was sure that they are something different than two Japanese systems I have learned at Japanese embassy back home. When I asked my guide what they were she smiled at my ignorance and explained that they were kanji. Since then to learn kanji became my obsession and I devoted my time and energy to memorize as much as I could of them.

As I started living in Japan I understood that Japanese writing system has three alphabets which are usually used interchangeably in writing. Hiragana and katakana alphabets are Japanese and they are both easy to learn and remember. The big... Read More