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July 04, 2026
 

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CULTURE

Music

Film
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Entertainment news
NU Festival tests Takanawa Gateway City complex’s culture cred
CULTURE / Music
NU Festival tests Takanawa Gateway City complex’s culture cred
JR East has been positioning the sprawling new Takanawa Gateway City as a cultural hub since before it even opened. The music, art and tech NU Festival put that claim to the test.
CULTURE / Music
Tujiko Noriko’s new album is a feline tour de force
On tour in Japan this month, the France-based artist talks about channeling her “crazy cat woman” energy into musical creation and finding harmony in dissonance.
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Japan’s 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
By Patrick St. Michel
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.
Kaze Fujii received a second consecutive album of the year award for “Prema,” his English-language debut, at the Music Awards Japan ceremony.
CULTURE / Music
Jun 17, 2026
Music Awards Japan levels up and looks ahead
By Alyssa I. Smith
Japan’s largest music award ceremony moved to Tokyo for its second year, with a night of electric performances and artists honored in 78 categories.
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
By Patrick St. Michel
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.
Pioneering hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan's mythology has drawn heavily from East Asian imagery and martial arts films since its inception.
CULTURE / Music
Jun 1, 2026
Wu-Tang Clan’s final tour stop highlights enduring Asian influences
By Kim Kahan
Wu-Tang Clan built its mythology on martial arts films and Asian iconography — and Yokohama finally got to witness that legacy live on the group’s farewell tour.
Japanese rock band Sakanaction gained belated attention worldwide after its 2012 song “Yoru no Odoriko” was paired with a viral video of an Indonesian preteen’s dance.
CULTURE / Music
May 29, 2026
Sakanaction’s overseas breakthrough came from a viral dance meme
By Patrick St. Michel
A video of an Indonesian preteen dancing on a boat became the unlikely springboard for Japanese rockers Sakanaction to gain global attention.
Seven-member group Hana kicked off California music festival Zipangu with a high-energy performance showcasing the act’s wide-ranging sound.
CULTURE / Music
May 28, 2026
Girl group Hana channels positivity into every performance
By Patrick St. Michel
Before joining Hana, the group’s members were told “no” by the entertainment industry. Now they’re part of one of Japan’s most talked-about new acts.
At music festival Zipangu’s inaugural edition, headliner Ado performed original songs as well as classic J-pop hits such as Miki Matsubara’s 1979 track “Mayonaka no Door: Stay With Me.”
CULTURE / Music
May 28, 2026
Music festival Zipangu offers a glimpse of J-pop’s future beyond anime
By Patrick St. Michel
Ado, Chanmina, Atarashii Gakko!, Yuki Chiba and more turned a Pasadena golf course into a showcase for the breadth of Japanese music and its growing appeal abroad.

‘My dream is broken’: Japan visa rules push out foreign residents
A man orders from a kebab shop in the Okubo district in Tokyo.
Japan triples departure tax in push to combat overtourism
Tourists in Yanaka Ginza, Tokyo, on Wednesday. Japan tripled its International Tourist Tax (departure tax) to ¥3,000 from ¥1,000 on Wednesday for all travelers leaving Japan, regardless of nationality.
Japanese-language education is at a turning point
The country is gradually transforming Japanese-language education from a volunteer-driven system into a professional, government-supported network to better serve its growing foreign population. 
More facilities in Japan placing sanitary bins in men’s restrooms
A sanitary bin with an awareness sticker placed in a men's restroom in the Nagasaki Municipal Government building
Japan plans to sharply raise fees for residence permits from October
Foreign tourists walk on the path leading to the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in May.
Iran war exposed, but hasn’t changed, Japan’s reliance on imported oil
Wind turbines generate energy from strong easterly winds on the Shonai Plain in Yamagata Prefecture. Despite the oil crisis caused by conflict near the Strait of Hormuz, and concerns instability in the region could continue to impact supply and the price of imports, the administration of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi does not seem to be drawing on the war as a pretext to hasten progress toward Japan's renewable goals.
Six of the best: rikishi of note in each sumo division
Kazuma (right) faces off against future <i>yokozuna</i> Onosato during the All Japan Amateur Sumo Championships at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in December 2020.
Some startups see opportunity in an aging Japan
Yasmin Baba, CTO of Amilis, wins the Grand Prize at the Pitch2Tokyo Grand Final on Feb. 19.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.

Podcast

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

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

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