Categories
Pages

Things to do: TONIGHT One Summer Night with DVS1 & DJ Nobu

Things to do: TONIGHT One Summer Night with DVS1 & DJ Nobu

Posted on Aug 15, 2013 in Must see, News, Things to do |

Hallowed Nishi-Azabu club Eleven may have closed, but the folks who ran it are still busy bringing dance music to Japan. This weekend they host a one-off night at Unit featuring veteran US DJ DVS1 (“Devious One,” get it?). The Minneapolis-based artist is known in the Midwest for his Hush parties that draw on a 10,000-strong vinyl collection, and of late he’s been getting a worldwide rep for his simple, elegant productions as well. No less than Detroit techno avatar Derrick...

Read More

Things to do: Like the beach? Check out the Morito no Hama Bon dance festival on August 15th

Things to do: Like the beach? Check out the Morito no Hama Bon dance festival on August 15th

Posted on Aug 15, 2013 in Daytrips, Must see, News, Things to do |

Do you like the beach? Do you like or want to experience Japanese summer festivals? Then the Morito no hama, bon dance competition/Festival is the best place to be this summer. Location/Date The festival will be held this year on Wednesday, August 15, 2012 between 7pm and 9pm and takes place on the shores of the Morito beach in Hayama located in Yokosuka, Kanagawa prefecture. It’s just thirty minutes from Zushi or forty minutes from Yokohama city. To get there, take the...

Read More

Things to do: Go to Akihabara and enjoy some maid cafe madness. Here is my top 5

Things to do: Go to Akihabara and enjoy some maid cafe madness. Here is my top 5

Posted on Aug 15, 2013 in Japanese customs, Must see, News, Things to do |

Maid cafés may seem like a fad from 2006 but they’re here to stay. We present you with a guide to the maid experience. Maid cafés have become so embedded in Japanese media and fetish culture that it is hard to imagine a Tokyo without them. There are now about 217 maid cafes in Japan, but the good news is that increased competition is making them much, much crazier. (For those needing background, there’s more on the history of maid cafes here) Here is a guide to the best...

Read More

5 Tokyo bars for train nerds (yes, they exist)

5 Tokyo bars for train nerds (yes, they exist)

Posted on Aug 15, 2013 in Japanese customs, Must see, News, Things to do, Where to drink |

You thought your grandfather was a train buff? Sorry to break the news to you, but ol’ gramps would have been a mere caboose in the train of railway geeks inJapan, where hard-core train aficionados are referred to by the somewhat affectionate term “densha otaku,” or train nerds. They’re famous for feats like memorizing phonebook-size timetables and visiting every single one of the country’s almost 10,000 stations. When they aren’t trying to increase their encyclopedic...

Read More

Things to do: Only in Japan; Visit an Art Aquarium

Things to do: Only in Japan; Visit an Art Aquarium

Posted on Aug 15, 2013 in Japanese customs, Japanese technology, News, Things to do |

Of all the bizarre art niches out there, “goldfish aquarium art” must rank fairly high. Yet the artist Hidetomo Kimura has built an entire career as an “art aquarist,” and his weird and wonderful live installations are now on display again at an exhibition, “Edo — the coolness of goldfish“ (link in Japanese), at the Nihonbashi Mitsui Hall, in Tokyo. First held in 2011 to mark the centenary of the Nihonbashi Bridge, where the hall is located, the unusual exhibit proved so...

Read More

Must see: ‘Uncool’ Cool Japan Video Goes Viral

Must see: ‘Uncool’ Cool Japan Video Goes Viral

Posted on Aug 15, 2013 in Must see, News |

Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has never been known as a particularly hip place — even though it’s in charge of the government’s “Cool Japan” push to promote trendy industries like anime, fashion, and Japanese cuisine overseas. But a home-made Cool Japan video shot by two ministry officials and uploaded to YouTube last month has attracted so much criticism that it’s gone viral, prompting Japan’s online community to ask: Can something be so uncool that it’s...

Read More