The J-Pop recruits

How do you boost the number of soldiers at your disposal? Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the natural choice is to, erm, recruit a J-Pop star:

"Working for the Self-Defence Forces presents boundless dreams - like the earth, ocean and the sea," says Haruka Shimazaki of the all-girl group AKB48 in a new 30-second commercial distributed by the Defence Ministry.

"There's work that you can only do here," she says with a smile. A pink heart-shaped cherry petal spins as she points to the English phrase "You AND PEACE."

Ah, peace. Of course peace. Because of Japan's pacifist constitution, right? It's all about the peacekeeping.

It was just a coincidence that the ad, part of a broader recruitment drive, came out just when Abe's Cabinet was reinterpreting the pacifist, post-World War Two constitution to allow Japan's 224,526-strong military to defend friendly nations under attack, said a Defence Ministry spokesman.

Japan very much moving from 'pacifist' to a 'they started it, what am I going to do, just walk away' constitution then. Japan wouldn't need to be pulling quite so many people into the forces if they weren't expecting to be having more fights in the future.

At least the Japanese Defence department admit they're being cynical:

"We want to give a friendly image and make it easier for youth to apply to the Self-Defence Forces," said the spokesman, who asked not to be named, citing ministry policy. "We chose a member of AKB48 because the group is popular and well-known among high school students, the main target of our recruitment."

And, given there's been 140 members of AKB48 over the last decade, they also know something about recruiting people to high-turnover positions.

It's surely only a matter of time before Perrie Edwards is popping up trying to coax people into the SAS.

Muse fly the flag for Imperial Japan

It's nice - or perhaps "nice" - to have a lunkheaded flag controversy without it being either a Nazi German or Confederate American flag.

Muse managed to lob the flag of Imperial Japan into the video for Panic Station.

It's probably the worst possible time to accidentally be promoting Japan's expansionist past.

Muse yanked the video, re-edited it, and apologised:

Muse wrote an apology on Twitter which read: “Sorry for the mistake re the intro graphics for the Panic Station video. We are fixing it now.”

This is why every band should employ a historian.

A little Composure

It's a year to the day since the tsunami which destroyed so many lives in Japan.

Composure is an ambient techno album which is raising funds for Living Dreams, a charity helping those orphaned by the tsunami:

Mindgames reached out to artists who have played at the Labyrinth festival ― friends who have a deep love and respect for the country and people of Japan ― and asked them to contribute music in honor of the survivors and to help in the process of rebuilding. Their music has been compiled into this double-cd release simply titled “Composure”.

To help us all maintain calm and heal tired nerves, the music is all ambient in nature. Maintaining one’s composure in a time of crisis is not easy, but meditative music is one tool that we can all turn to for assistance.

If you have a few quid to spare, it's worth it musically and does some good in a bleak world, too.

Morning Benders help Japan

Over on their official site, the Morning Benders are doing a 'donate-what-you-can' deal: give some money to help the earthquake/tsunami survivors, get a remix ep.

Gordon in the morning: Liam does something good

Liam Gallagher is arranging a benefit for Japan:

Liam and his BEADY EYE bandmates will headline a benefit gig at Brixton Academy on Mother's Day, Sunday April 3.

The singer has persuaded Modfather PAUL WELLER, GRAHAM COXON and THE CORAL to join the bill.

What a good-spirited and generous act. And there's no need to try and cram some sort of 'massive chart battle' overwork onto the story to make it interesting, is there, Gordon?

[A source said] "Graham has mentioned the gig to Damon Albarn. It could be the end of one of the most famous British rock 'n' roll feuds ever if he shows up."

Oh.

Help Japanese animals after the tsunami and earthquake

It's not just people whose lives have been torn apart by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan - it's also left a lot of animals in distress and need, too.

A timely email from Peter D:

The earthquake and subsequent Tsunami in Japan has bought about a huge level of destruction. Thankfully there are various charities and government agencies to help those affected. These things unfortunately effect the animals of Japan and sometimes they go unthought of. A charity has been set up, to aid animals affected by this and details can be found here.

You may recall during January Darren Hayman wrote, recorded and released a song a day, under the January Songs umbrella and well as music, he posted illustrations and videos. Darren wanted to do something to help this charity and as such is auctioning off his notebook that contains the lyrics, illustrations, notes, ideas and prose on ebay over the next week. All proceeds will go to the charity and the winner obviously gets this rare one off item.

I am selling the item via my ebay profile and Darren will be sending the winner the item.

It's a really, really good cause, and really, really lovely item to bid on.

iTunes: All bill, no songs?

Japan's Consumer Affairs Agency is investigating claims that iTunes customers are being charged for downloads they say they never made:

"We have seen such cases increasing, notably since autumn last year," said an official with Japan's Consumer Affairs Agency.

"The damage in those cases seems to range from a few hundred yen to several hundred thousand yen (from several dollars to several thousand dollars)."

This would seem - with the figures involved - to be less about iTunes making up downloads, and more about fraudulent use of iTunes accounts. Curious that it only seems to be happening in Japan... for now.

On the other hand, after years of people downloading music without handing over money, maybe the music industry has now decided it'll redress the balance by taking money without people downloading tunes.

Let's hope they don't give him a Placebo

Brian Molko collapsed during last night's Osaka gig. There's a statement:

We would firstly like to thank you for all your kind words and messages of support regarding Brian’s health after fainting at the show in Osaka, Japan, yesterday.

It is always incredibly disappointing when a show cannot take place for any reason, particularly on this occasion due to Brian being unwell, as we have looked forward for such a long time to these shows in Japan!

We have undertaken a gruelling and intensive schedule over the last few months and the last couple of weeks alone played 5 countries in 9 days. Brian picked up a virus which coupled with jet lag and exhaustion caused his collapse on stage. Thanks to prompt and professional care Brian is recovering well.

We would like to extend our grateful thanks and sincere apologies to the fans who made a huge effort travelling to see us in Osaka, especially after long queue’s in the heavy rain. We would also like to extend many thanks and apologies to the promoters, Creative Man, at Summer Sonic for all their help and understanding under difficult circumstances.

We are all the more devastated after such an amazing show in Tokyo on Saturday where the crowd was incredible. We were so excited to be back in Japan after a few years away and we were reminded what a very special place Japan is to us.

Thank you all for your ongoing support and we hope to make it up to you with new dates in Japan very soon. We love your country and can’t wait to come back.

A virus, you say? *cough* *swineflu* *cough*.

Although, of course, I'm not a doctor. Apparently even if you cut the diploma off the Wheaties box neatly, it still doesn't count.

[Thanks, @dillpickle]

Darkness at 3AM: A bit of cock

The 3AM Girls are a little slow, but they get there eventually:

Ting Tings fans, prepare yourselves for a rude awakening. The name of the indie pop duo - who shot to No.1 with debut single That's Not My Name - is Japanese for a male member. No, we're not, erm, taking the rise...

Leaving aside that this story was circulating ages ago, is it true? It might be a slang term - after all, look at all the glorious euphemisms for cock that exist in the English language - but no machine translator suggests that Ting or Ting Tings means anything at all in Japanese; and, indeed, if it was the case that ting ting is Japanese for penis, what does that say about the Japanese snack Ting Ting Ginger Candy?

Japan recoils from Revolver

Velvet Revolver are upset and hurt that they're having to having to cancel their Japan tour after getting knocked back at the visa stage:

"We want to apologize to our fans in Japan that we won't be able to perform our scheduled concerts.

"We don't understand why the authorities won't give us visas, when they granted them for us in 2005 for what was a successful tour and a great experience. We love Japan and look forward to our return there."

We'd imagine there's a very, very good reason why - having had them play there once - Japan suddenly realise they don't want them back again.

Summer Sonic: Life beyond the 'No Mosh'

Phil S - who used to send us reviews from Japan a while back - has got back in touch with something from Makukari's Summer Sonic Festival. It's good to have you back, Phil

The Summer Sonic festival takes places in Makukari, Chiba prefecture, just outside Tokyo. This does not deter every performer I see from shouting "Hello Tokyo! / Tokyo you are a better audience than Osaka! / Tokyo make some noise!" It's like a band at Reading saying "Good evening London are you ready to rark?" Anyway, it is incredibly hot here, temperatures up to around 35 degrees. Good range of bands across the umpteen stages. A good day out overall - I make the commute from west Tokyo, leaving just after 8 am and getting home about 1 am. Also, a very clean festival - no litter, no smoking in arenas, no "mosh" as the signs put it, no pushing .... but loads of tasty food options, clean WCs - and generally as well organised as most Japanese events are. A chance to catch up with some old stagers (feeling my age a bit) and some newer faces on the scene, man, as well as some stuff which had slipped under my radar. Here's how it unfolded for me:

TWANG

First up, the Twang in the stadium in the noonday furnace. We sneak a crafty can of lager in and watch as they swagger about up there. First time for me to hear and see Twang, and not that impressed really; for me it's Oasis meets Simple Minds with a hint of U2 and Streets flavouring. There's a Bez type character rabble-rousing and cheerleading, throwing hooligan shapes and contributing the odd background vocal. I think they need to add another flavour or too - it's too predictable despite some funky tempo changes mid-song. My pal likes it though and he's a hard-rock fan.

POLYPHONIC SPREE

Then, swaying a little in the heat, we head out, walking along the dual carriageway to the Messe (conference centre) where most of the indoor stages are, and we catch the Polyphonic Cacophony, as I have renamed them. 22 of them on stage, so it's not dull to look at, but my god have they turned it up to 11. So loud! The singer has one of those whiny Flaming Rev Grandaddy voices and is frankly irritating, running around the stage, punching the air with both hands together. It is a terrible racket really - they are going for something symphonic and inspirational, but it all gets lost in the mix. Less is more as my pal says. The "Lithium" cover is a novelty but overall the Spree was a punishing 40 minutes.

BRETT ANDERSON

A quick break for a bowl of Okinawa pork on rice, and then back to see Brett Anderson rock the Sonic Stage. Seeing him prowl to the chilly prowl of set-opener "To The Winter" was a revelation. What a confident performer he is - you wouldn't know his solo album had failed to break the top 10. I'm a long-time fan, and like this show a lot - about half and half solo tracks from the album and half non-Bernard Butler Suede tuneage, which the crowd love. "Can't Get Enough" is a furious romp, "Everything Will Flow" is a romp, and then a triple "Coming Up" hat-trick of beautiful trash on a Saturday night round things off. "I'd like to play longer, but can't because of curfews and that shit", says Brett. Rock and roll!

BLOC PARTY

Next we make the hike back to the baseball stadium and sit under the sun to watch the earnest, impassioned Bloc Party, who I don't really get. I'm not familiar with their stuff, and although there are a couple of points where it all makes sense, overall it's fiddly, not very tuneful and I don't think Kele can really sing very well.

MANIC STREET PREACHERS

The sounds of Prince's new record fill the air as the Manic Street Preachers prepare for action. Kicking off with "You Love Us", they turn in a professional performance of straightahead rock music! J D Bradfield is still a powerful vocalist and coruscating guitar player, and N Jones is wearing a skirt and striding exaggeratedly around the stage. "Ocean Spray" is dedicated to Mitsuhiro Ikeda, photographer, and has a cool sax solo. The new stuff sounds good: "Autumnsong" has a Guns N Roses vibe, and it's a shame Nina Persson hasn't made the trip to help out on "Your Love Alone is not Enough". Of all the bands I see on Sunday the Manics are the one whose CD I fish out in the next few days. This has me rediscovering them - a top melodic rock band with cutting edge.

CYNDI LAUPER / VITALIC / MOTORHEAD

Still, we don't stay for all their set as my pal wants to head back indoors to catch Motorhead, poor feller. I leave him to Lemmy and the boys and catch the last couple of tunes from Cyndi Lauper. From the back of the hall I can't make out much but she seems to be having a ball up there. "Time after Time" is acoustic and lovely, but let down when she calls Conor Oberst on stage (he'd played the Sonic Stage just before Cyndi) to add some horrible harmonies to the chorus. He later goes down with a fever and pulls out of the V Festival. She finishes with "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" (that guitar intro is iconic - the Strokes came on stage to it at Zepp Tokyo about five years ago and it sounded amazing) where lots of females young and old dance around the stage with Cyndi. Can't help but smile. As I leave the hall I overhear a Japanese young man marvel at these veteran 80s pop acts...

Motorhead are still doing their stuff on the Mountain Stage, so I wander into the Dance Stage hall where Vitalic is on stage, a bald fellow pumping out some thumping minimal (?) techno in front of a screen. Two songs is all I can take, but the crowd are well into it.

After Motorhead finish I catch up with my pal - he liked it a lot. Lots of short songs, fun banter from Lemmy, and the "Ace of Spades" too. Quieter than the Polychaotic Spree too, apparently.

UNKLE

An hour to kill before Tennant and Lowe headline the Sonic Stage, so en route to the food stalls for a steak sarnie and beer, we hop into the Dance Stage to see UNKLE. I liked their track with Ian Brown, "Be There", but didn't know much else. We watch about three tracks - they are now a full band, dressed in black, with two guys (one of whom might be J Lavelle?) on computer and "decks" maybe. For some reason I think Death in Vegas when I first see them. A diffident bloke sings live on one track, then on another Ian Astbury appears on the screen to sing "Burn my Shadow" which is pretty cool and propulsive. The live drums work well. Quite dark and intense all around, and not as popular with the dance crowd as Vitalic. Time for a beer, we think.

PET SHOP BOYS

We take our Heinekens close to the front for the Pet Shop Boys. I've followed their career since 1985 and this is the first time I've seen them live. It's a good show - two young energetic male dancers work through inventive routines, Sylvia Mason-James and two male backing singers fill out the stage with some never overdone screen visuals behind. The PSB do a greatest hits set with not many post-1992 tunes - sadly none of their slower killers like "Being Boring" or even "London", which would have replaced the slightly dull "Minimal" / "Shopping" part of the set. The hall is rammed, Neil Tennant's vocals are spot on, and Chris does a wicked "Paninaro". Apparently the last date of their "Fundamental" world tour, this would seem a good send-off. The final "Go West" is immense and a massive crowd favourite. Beaming faces, hands in the air everywhere I look. And Sylvia Mason-James has an incredible voice. In a fairer world she would have a glittering solo career.

We wander back to the main baseball stadium where Arctic Monkeys have headlined above Kasabian, who seem to play Summer Sonic every year. We hear the Offspring mugging their way through "Pretty Fly for a White Guy" from the Mountain Stage as we amble onwards. One last beer at the outdoor bar with my pal, my pal's lady and her pals (who loved the Monkeys and Kasabian) .... and then I make the 90 minute trip home. A suitably super Summer Sonic Sunday!

Rock sick list: View falls over foot

Kyle Falconer, out The View, has been hospitalised while on tour in Japan. He's managed to let a blister on his foot go septic, poisoning his blood and forcing him to take a drip-and-rest break.

Far from Ja-Panning

No Rock is delighted to welcome Phillip Scowen, who went to see the Manics this Sunday at Tokyo Bay NK Hall:
So we take the train out on a Sunday afternoon past the commuter tower blocks, the docks, factories and warehouses into Chiba, the prefecture east of Tokyo, towards Disneyland. It's a chilly, bright winter afternoon. From the train we see the odd baseball ground, cropped grass burnt dry and yellow by the winter sunshine.

We spend an hour or so wandering the aisles of the Carrefour hypermarket in Makuhari and then get the train back ten minutes or so to Maihama. From there it's a five minute shuttle bus ride to Disneyland, and the NK Hall is next to Mickey's pad.

It's my first time at this opulent modern arena (maybe 4-5000 capacity). The standing area stage front is sold out, but a few tickets are available upstairs in the arc of seats. We're up there in a nice position with an unrestricted view. It's dark and chilly, unusual for a modern Tokyo building.

Gigs start much earlier here, especially on Sunday. Doors open at 4.30 and support act Kururi come on an hour later to the sounds of Les Voix Bulgares.
They're a Japanese indie quartet who I've seen a couple of times on Viewsic (a Japanese music channel). The singer's a modest, engaging chap who introduces the band and says it's the first time he's been out here to Tokyo Bay, how he enjoyed riding the monorail and how he could see the staff of Ratworld (as he calls it) milling around smoking near the entrance of Goofy's gaff. The music veers from lengthy post-rock workouts to anthemic mid-paced rockers. It doesn't do a lot for me, although I like the way they huddle together on the stage, probably keeping warm, and I'm taken with the lead axeman's Flying V. The guys finish with with their best song, redolent of Going Blank Again-era Ride. Guitars slash and choruses soar, my kind of thing.

The Manics pre-arrival tape gives us gems like "Ceremony", "Lazyitis" and "Bank Robber" and I get another Kirin beer. Then they're on, no fanfare, they kind of slink on to the stage. This is the last date of a four-show Japanese tour (you can get teeshirts with "Nagoya Fukuoka Osaka Tokyo" on the back) and they are going home tomorrow.

James sports a smart red shirt, Sean is in a hat and dwarfed by his kit, and the Wire is glorious in a skirt, vest and long thick socks pulled up way over the knee. How tall he is.

Simply, what a great band they are, and what an incendiary show they played here. I'm kicking myself for not having seen them live before this. Because this was exceptional. "Motorcycle" and "You Stole the Sun" blaze a trail before JDB gets us singing the intro to "Masses", which is awesome. "Motown Junk" is dedicated to "all those who came to see us on our early tours when we played the likes of Club Citta". I missed the absent trumpet solo on "Kevin Carter" (couldn't they find a trumpet player here to do it?) but James played it on his guitar anyway. Wire fluffs the spoken introduction to "Tsumarni" (as he puts it) but nobody minds, and JDB puts on an acoustic for a heartbreaking "Ocean Spray". "Faster" hits hard, and is for "Mr Richard Edwards", and by the final half hour of "Roses", "Everlasting", "Everything Must Go", "Tolerate", "Design" and "You Love Us", we upstairs are out of our seats and roaring along. James is sweating and puffing a bit between songs, he's giving everything, as are the other two, and the extra chaps on keyboard and percussion - they do sterling work. Mitch Ikeda is brought on before "Stay Beautiful" and talks about "beautiful eyes, so beautiful".

Throughout the show the band look so up for it - I can't believe they're planning to split up any time soon. All night James does this funny one-legged dance around the stage, just making it back to his mic in time for the choruses. Nicky does his scissor jumps and smashes his bass at the end. James ribs him about eating too many fried shrimp the night before and then says he's hungry himself. "A Design For Life" is introduced as a "traditional Welsh song about fucking" and tears the roof off. I haven't roared so much in weeks.

No encore. No need, as David Brent would say. James thanks us for being "fucking lovely", hoists the Wire on to his shoulders and carries him offstage. Incredible show.

History repeats like cold turkey

Shampoo were shunned in their home markets, who seemed to think that screeching, unstable women weren't a good use of their leisure time. They managed to keep their career alive by focusing on the Japanese, who know a good joke when they see one.

Mariah Carey is still popular in Japan.