Sometime in November, Marxy of Néojaponisme and Patrick Macias — author of such books as Cruising the Anime City: An Otaku Guide to Neo Tokyo and Japanese Schoolgirl Inferno: Tokyo Teen Fashion Subculture Handbook — met in Inokashira Park and recorded a very long podcast about Harajuku and the past, present, and future of Japanese fashion. The result spans over an hour and twenty minutes, and yes, we edited out a lot of the boring parts. Hear Marxy talk about the minutiae of his first visits to A Bathing Ape in 1998. Hear P. Macias talk about the high-pressure sales staff at Shibuya 109-2. Good news: it ends on an optimistic note.

Intro song: “1996″ by Cornelius
Ending song: “Volunteer Ape Man (Disco)” by Cornelius

Download: Harajuku Requiem: Marxy x Patrick Macias on Tokyo Fashion Past and Present
General Néojaponisme Podcast RSS Feed: .rss

Tobias Harris of Observing Japan and I hit Showa Era-themed izakaya Hanbey for some Hoppy and discussion on Japan’s status as a liberal democracy. Ironically, Japan’s best change of becoming a liberal democracy is the removal of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

In little under one hour, our conversation tackles the upcoming election, the Democratic Party of Japan’s (DPJ) agenda, and whether Japan will become more liberal and more democratic in the future. (This podcast was recorded on July 23.)

Download: Politics at Hanbey: Marxy x Tobias Harris on Japan as a Liberal Democracy (mp3 no longer available)
General Néojaponisme Podcast RSS Feed: .rss

According to Japanamerica author Roland Kelts, Patrick Macias is “an American otaku and blogger extraordinaire.” More accurately, he is the author of multiple books in both English and Japanese and currently the Editor-in-Chief of Otaku USA. Mr. Macias was in Tokyo a few weeks back, and we met over a discount tonkatsu lunch to talk about the state of Japanese recession and the current yankii cultural takeover. Luckily, a recording device captured our dialogue (and my total inability to enunciate words or complete sentences).

So please enjoy the hour-long mp3!

Download: The Tonkatsu Tapes: Marxy vs. Patrick Macias on Japanese Recessionary Culture
General Néojaponisme Podcast RSS Feed: .rss

Volume Two in this podcast series devoted to digging up punk and punk-derived music from Japan. This episode hops all over the nation and is a bit more stylistically eclectic in scope than Volume One. Bands from Hokkaido (Tranquilizer), Sendai (G-Spot), and Toyama (Z, Chaos C.H.) are represented, as well as the usual glut of folks from Tokyo and Osaka.

Abraham Cross, Slaver, and Disclose all feature straight-ahead, speedy numbers that are sure to make folks bop along. The standout oddball track is Ghoul’s gem “Jerusalem”, culled from an old Pusmort compilation (Pushead‘s old label which did a lot to bring Japanese hardcore and metal fare to U.S. collectors). It features a weird snoozer of a piano concerto which drops into a sludgy HC/metal number, followed up by questionable mega-riffage that brings to mind early D.C. bands like Kingface (not that Kingface was questionable, mind you…). It’s just a weird song– epic for its time.

Best song name probably goes to The Execute for “Inside of Human Outside of Human,” though Chaos C.H.’s “Boycott the Suck History” gives it a run for its money.

In all, Volume Two features 22 tracks and runs for 36 minutes and 27 seconds.

File: m4a
Feed: .rss feed for iTunes etc.

Volume One available here.

Track List:
Continued »

W. David Marx (aka Marxy) and internationally-fêted writer / Otaku USA editor-in-chief Patrick Macias discuss the future of “Cool Japan” over chain teishoku in Akasaka. Topics include: Nakagawa “Shoko-tan” Shoko’s otaku cred, the importation of “kawaii” culture to the U.S., the growing creativity drought in Japan, the irrelevance of chasing Japanese fads, and predictions for the future. Will Japan’s pop culture and economy implode to the point of verdant youth rebellion?

For reference, Patrick has the nice, bold voice, while Marxy has the high-pitched nasal voice and talks while he eats.

(The photo in the graphic above was taken in a Nara gift shop last year.)

Download: Néojaponisme Podcast on Cool Japan
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