Metropolis Community

Mt. Fuji at dusk with Nakano-ku in the foreground, by Ben Beechey.

Titan of UK progressive house, John Digweed had time for a quick Q&A ahead of his appearance alongside the likes of the Chemical Brothers at this weekend’s Big Beach fest on a gritty slab of sand by Tokyo Bay. The event is the brainchild of Fatboy Slim, who will be helming the festivities at a simultaneous [...]

You might not guess it now with all the powerful Japanese riot grrrl rock groups about these days, but drummer Masumi Sakurai of Tokyo noise rock duo Moja is something of a pioneer. When she went to famed music college Berklee in Boston, she was the only woman drummer among dozens of Japanese. “In the past, [...]

For those of you who feel unfairly excluded from the gyaru community, specialists Galt Pop have opened the themed bar 10sion (7F KN Shibuya 2 Bldg, 13-9 Udagawacho, Shibuya-ku; http://galtpop.jp/10sion) on Center-gai, to initiate you. Men and women are welcomed alike, and the entirely female staff do away with polite speech in order to create an unpretentious atmosphere. [...]

SOME BOOZE WITH YOUR BIRD?

A new Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Tokyo comes complete with a fully stocked bar called KFC Route 25 , in honor of the highway that runs past the original Sanders Café in Kentucky. Whisky, tequila, vodka, rum all available… Name your poison. The Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International in Kyoto Prefecture—along with some help [...]

For moviegoers, the mere mention of Tim Burton summons up frightful scenes of grimacing jack-o-lanterns, corpse brides and headless horsemen. Yet the director whose very name is synonymous with gothic imagery had never tackled a vampire movie. Nor, for that matter, had his frequent collaborator, Johnny Depp. That has all changed with Dark Shadows , a fresh, comedic [...]

Rowing on the Edogawa, by Steven DiGiacomo.

Is it real or fake? Should we care? At first glance, German artist Thomas Demand’s photographs of nuclear control rooms and presidential offices look real. On closer examination they yield small clues that they are in fact cardboard constructions of Demand’s making. In the conceptual artist’s first major exhibition in Japan, viewers are asked to question [...]

Imagine if you could enjoy a famous artwork in solitude. Entered only with reservations, Gotanda’s Louvre DNP Museum Lab is a collaboration between the landmark Paris museum and Dai Nippon Printing that brings this dream to fruition. For its current show visitors get to examine at close reach one of Spanish master painter Goya’s finest works, The [...]