Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on August 2009 In the wake of the large-scale Tokyo Art Fair comes what is being billed as Japan’s first event devoted to premium photo art. Tokyo Photo 2009 is, like TAF, an attempt to invigorate…

The most prolific perfectionist in electronica is back with a vengeance

Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on August 2009 A former editor at Forbes and the Financial Times, Eamonn Fingleton has been monitoring East Asian economics ever since 1986, when he met China’s supreme leader Deng Xiaoping as a member of a…

Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on August 2009 The Kill Your T.V. 09 compilation CD, released in April, provided a pretty decent summary of the current state of Japanese indie rock. If you missed the accompanying national tour, don’t fret: many…

Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on August 2009 Borrowing from the Japanese term for battle of the bands (tai-ban), dancer/choreographer Kentaro!!—a man never short on superlatives—has put together a triple bill dubbed Tai-Dan!! The hip-hop-influenced hoofer’s own Tokyo Electrock Stairs company…

Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on August 2009 Today’s transgression is tomorrow’s in-flight magazine. For every taboo-busting work of fiction that’s retained its capacity to shock or disgust (American Psycho springs to mind), there are acres of one-time controversy courters that…

Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on August 2009 Said to possess more museums per capita than any other country, Belgium is the subject of an offbeat exhibition in Shibuya. “A Museum of Belgian Visionary Art” discards Old Masters like Rubens in…

Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on August 2009 Promising 720 drums on 720 seats, the South African “interactive drum-theater experience” returns to Japan following its highly rated 2008 debut. Drumstruck began life a decade ago as a corporate motivational show before…

Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on August 2009 A pair of artists spanning two generations and working in separate mediums are the subjects of a new exhibition at the gargantuan National Art Center in Nogizaka. Born in 1936, Yoko Matsumoto is…

Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on August 2009 Courtesy of Cotton Club The most famous soul singer you’ve never heard of, Leon Ware was a hitmaker for the likes of Marvin Gaye and Michael Jackson. Today, the Motor City son known…

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