Patrick St. Michel - The Japan Times

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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.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH

Aug 7, 2015

Tokyo’s gourmet popcorn trend gets convenient

Has Tokyo’s infatuation with gourmet popcorn ended? The line outside the Garrett popcorn branch in Harajuku still snakes around the corner, but other hyped popcorn outposts in the city are often empty out front.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH

Jul 31, 2015

Ben & Jerry’s may have cooked up their best ice cream pun yet

Ben & Jerry’s ice cream-flavor puns have always been top-notch (“Cherry Garcia” is a prime example), but its latest Japan-only flavor takes things to a new level.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH

Jul 24, 2015

Fruit candy that tastes like salmon

Here’s an appealing idea: candy containing small amounts of fish. That’s exactly the draw of the limited-edition “salted salmon flavor” variety of Puccho, a popular soft candy usually available in fruit flavors.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jul 17, 2015

Ten years on, Maltine sticks to its guns on free music

Tomohiro Konuta sometimes imagines an alternate world where he’s not running a music label.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH

Jul 17, 2015

Mister Donut is building a pastry bridge to Brooklyn

Mister Donut recently unveiled their summer doughnut roster and it’s themed on Brooklyn, New York. Well, it’s “Brooklyn themed” in the sense it combines several foodstuffs together into one, in the style of New York-born fusion treats such as the Cronut.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH

Jul 10, 2015

‘Super sour lemon’ potato chips are not an entirely terrible idea

In the crowded and frequently disappointing world of novelty potato chips, a “super sour lemon” flavor seems especially unneeded.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH

Jul 3, 2015

Stratified flavors in Seven-Eleven’s new Japonais ice cream

For the last few years, Haagen-Dazs has been teaming up with Seven-Eleven Japan for a special series of ice creams called Japonais.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jun 28, 2015

Rap gets a new delivery from a wave of female artists

Hip-hop is a major force on the American music charts, but its presence has been less prominent in Japan. Elements of the wider culture have found their way into teenage wardrobes and pop-video dance routines, but even Japanese rappers admit they have a hard time grabbing the attention of new fans.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink

Jun 26, 2015

Pirate ships, cruises, riverbanks and urban campsites: New twists on the beer-garden formula in Tokyo

One way to look at the arrival of summer in Japan is to focus on the bad side of the season, such as the sticky humidity, the need to have the air-conditioner blasting cold air for the next three months. All power to you, but consider how no other time of the year can you enjoy drinking and eating outdoors...

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH

Jun 26, 2015

‘Gelato on a stick’ comes to Tokyo

The first Japanese outpost of Popbar — a franchise offering “handcrafted gelato on a stick” — opened June 26 in Shibuya, Tokyo (www.pop-bar.com/japan), and early reports indicate the line snakes well around the corner.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jun 19, 2015

Noah takes inspiration from Hokkaido on ‘Sivutie’

The way Ayuko Kurasaki, who creates music as Noah, describes her childhood home of Chitose in Hokkaido is so lovely that I’m surprised it isn’t being used in tourism ads.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH

Jun 19, 2015

Pokka Sapporo’s vanilla-flavored cola may float your boat

Pepsi’s Strong Zero soda — a zero-calorie cola boasting increased amounts of caffeine — was the biggest soft-drink release of the week. But it’s really a tasteless beverage that will give you a bellyache. So let’s focus on a pleasant alternative, available only at FamilyMart.

Japan Times

CULTURE

Jun 18, 2015

A festival for every weekend of your summer

Festivals (matsuri) of all kinds are a staple of Japanese culture and summer is the premier season to experience them. In recent years, the country has seen a bit of a boom in cultural festivals, to the point that it’s possible to book every weekend of your summer around them. We’re here to help by highlighting...

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH

Jun 12, 2015

Krispy Kreme attempts to knock the Cronut from its doughy throne with “Waffnuts”

Move over Cronut, there’s a new, wacky hybrid sweet in town. Krispy Kreme Japan has begun selling its new “Waffnuts” creations, which blend the venerable waffle together with the doughnut.

CULTURE / Music

Jun 7, 2015

Rush hour with bangin’ bass: My night on ageHa’s EDM train

A woman with purple hair sits in the waiting room on the platform at Nerima Station, surrounded by salarymen who look exhausted from their workday. Nearby, a private security guard herds four friends wearing matching floral-print pants and light-up shoes toward a line. An assortment of middle-aged workers...

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH

Jun 5, 2015

Fruit-flavored potato chips you can eat for breakfast

It’s an idea that could only come from a truly desperate board meeting: “What if we sold potato chips for people to eat at breakfast?” The Koikeya snack company has taken this proposition and turned it into a terrifying reality with its new banana-and-peach-flavored chips, which are marketed as breakfast...

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH

May 29, 2015

Yes, you can eat high-quality melon in Tokyo this summer without taking out a bank loan

Melons don’t come easy in Japan. Just a single muskmelon can set you back thousands of yen — if not much, much more. But there are, thankfully, cheaper ways to enjoy the treat.

Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH

May 22, 2015

Only one of Suntory’s two craft beer offerings manages to capture that small brewer vibe

Suntory’s new Craft Select series isn’t craft beer. It’s not from a charming neighborhood brewery, but a beverage conglomerate that bought up Jim Beam.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

May 15, 2015

J-pop singer-songwriter miwa absorbs the right elements of Western pop

miwa “Oneness” (Sony Records)

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

May 15, 2015

Parupunte’s ‘Primitive’ surprises with complicated twists

Parupunte “Primitive” (Tanukineiri Records)

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.

What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival

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