Next week is Japan Music Week!

The festival will showcase musical styles from all over the world, including Germany, Sweden, France and London.  There are hundreds of events scheduled in venues all over Tokyo, running from the morning until dark for 6 days.

Some of the events have already gathered attention like the performance of EMIKO, a Japanese-American artist who will speak at the opening ceremonies of Japan Music Week on November 9th.

I’m most excited to see Shake Forward, an event showcasing artists of mixed roots, including Afro-Japanese, Nikkei Brazilian, and Ainu. They have events every year attempting a dialogue about the different cultures in Japan through music. The name means “shake” (your body) and (move your mind) “forward!”

Tickets vary by event, but there are wristbands that will get you into most events for 2500 yen.

Here are some select events from Japan Music Week.

“Best of Japan” Festival

Featuring Japanese artists who are going to make it big internationally.

Date: November 9

Time: 6-10:30 pm

Venue: Shibuya O East

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Punk Festival

Punk music and culture festival

Date: November 10

Time: 6-10 pm

Venue: La Mama, Shibuya

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Faces

An international Techo music and culture festival.

Date: November 12

Time: 8 pm to 5 am

Venue: Rock West Shibuya

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Shake Forward

Date: November 13

Time: 7-11pm

Venue: Tokyo Shibuya O-East

Related posts:

1. It’s Party Time
2. Minorities in Japan: Ainu
3. Japanese Tunes Thursday- SEAMO

Seamo (Takada Naoki 高田 尚輝) is a Japanese rapper and hip-hop artist from Nagoya.  The katakana writing of his name (シーモ) comes from the alias he used when he debuted as Sea-Mo Nator (シーモネーター) as a hip-hop and reggae collaborator. You can hear Seamo’s reggae roots come through in his 2005 solo debut single “Kanpaku” (関白).

In 1995, Seamo and other young independent musicians created the hip-hop group 「男塾」. The group began to grain recognition after organizing a “Monster Event” at Nagoya’s 男(だん)尻(じり)祭り」in 2001. In 2002 Seamo (still as Sea-Mo Nator)  worked with DJ Taki-shit on 「浪漫ストリーム」which climbed to number 3 on the national radio charts. From then on, Seamo  worked with famous Japanese artists like nobodyknows+ and HOME MADE家族, gaining respect with other members of the hip-hop community.

In 2005 he retired his Sea-Mo Nator alias and became Seamo. This was also the year that Seamo became a hit. In July, Seamo released his second single, “Drive” which charted as one of the top twenty most played tracks on FM radio in Japan. Soon after, he collaborated with artist BENNIE K on the song “a love story,” and hit number 1 on the radio charts and 2 on the USEN charts. That was the moment Seamo became a star.

Seamo is interesting because not only is he a famous hip-hop artist, but he has a great sense of humor. He recorded the theme song for the Crayon Shin-chan movie The Legend Called: The Singing Buttocks Bomb「クレヨンしんちゃん 嵐を呼ぶ 歌うケツだけ爆弾！」in 2007, which made him popular with children as well. Since then he has had success with the theme song for xxxHolic:kei, which was a re-release of his song “Honey Honey” sung with Ayuse Kozue, and his song ”My Answer” is the ending theme of the vastly popular Nartuo Shippuuden.

In October 2009, Seamo released a “Best of Seamo” album, which seems a bit quick doesn’t  it?

His bio on his official website is pretty funny!  He lists Terminator as one of his favourite movies and says he loves croquettes and MC Hammer!

Happy Birthday Seamo!

Sista in Tokyo also likes Seamo.

Seamo

Related posts:

1. Tricks and Treats in Japanese Halloween
2. Japan Music Week 2009: November 9-15
3. Japanese Learning

In fall, many Japanese universities have festivals, or sai (祭) that are like town carnivals. At bigger ones, like at my university Waseda the festivals are like concerts, and have many entertainers and bands come to perform. There are street vendors selling food and little souvenirs, as well as student groups performing acts they have been working on for months.

The best thing about these is that they are free and open to anyone!

Tomorrow is National Culture Day and everyone is off, so it would be a good day to see the closing festival of Sophia-sai.

Waseda-sai begins on 11/7 and closes 11/8, and will have many famous singers come and perform, so I am definitely going to be there to show some school spirit!

p.s.

At university festivals there is a food called daigaku-imo, or University yams, that is a very starchy sweet dessert. I hate it, but Just Hungry has instructions on how to make it, if you are into that sort of thing.

Related posts:

1. Japan Music Week 2009: November 9-15
2. Tricks and Treats in Japanese Halloween
3. 新年あけましておめでとうございます！