Metropolis Magazine's Japanese Clubbers' Almanac

Published today here in Japan (well, in Tokyo anyway) in free weekly English-language magazine Metropolis.

The lowdown on 2009 - and wishlists for 2010 - from some of Japan's top artists, producers and labels including DJ Kentaro, Fumiya Tanaka, DJ Mayuri, DJ Baku, Takkyu Ishino... oh, and my crap 2 cents' worth as well.

You can the article out online HERE.

End Of Year 2009/10 Top 10 Shenanigans

Well, I kind of had no choice, what with the plethora of Top 10 lists that currently bamboozle the senses, all focused on the decade known as the Noughties, the Naughties, the Aughts, the 00s, the 2000s or the Zeros, depending on your cultural upbringing or sense of humour; it seems everyone and his dusted-down and/or bedraggled dog is conjuring up one list or another, and I keep expecting to read one that highlights the ten best kinds of staple (I'm talking stationery apparatus, not food product) over the past 10 years.

In that case my vote goes with Zebra, the Japanese stationery manufacturer established in Japan in 1897, since theirs are the only ones I've actually been able to use over the past 8 years anyway. And I have a soft-spot for the name still, exactly a decade after I was editor of a little magazine of the same moniker back in Melbourne.

What a somewhat mad 10 years it's been over the intervening period.

For what it's worth - which is likely extremely little in these circumstances - here's my ¥2 worth of Top 10 inanity, even if these tens don't exactly restrain themselves to the past decade but count towards something in the atmosphere at least (maybe they've tainted the water supply?):


TOP 10 JAPANESE ARTISTS
Seiji Fujishiro
Yayoi Kusama
Yoko Umehara
Shirow Masamune
Maharo
Yoshitomo Nara
Yumiko Kayukawa
Takashi Murakami
Aya Takano
Ryoji Arai


TOP 10 JAPANESE FILM DIRECTORS
Seijun Suzuki
Akira Kurosawa
Yasujiro Ozu
Mamoru Oshii
Satoshi Kon
Ryuhei Kitamura
Takashi Miike
Hayao Miyazaki
Mamoru Hosoda
Shinichiro Watanabe


TOP 10 JAPANESE ELECTRONIC MUSICIANS
Hifana
Takashi Watanabe (DJ Warp)
Tatsuya Oe (Captain Funk)
Toshiyuki Yasuda (Robo*Brazileira)
Shin Nishimura
Shuji Wada (DJ Wada)
Kenji Kawai
Gadget Cassette
M-Koda
DJ Krush


TOP 10 JAPANESE MOVIES IN THE 2000s
Millennium Actress
Spirited Away
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
Battle Royale
Azumi
Casshern
Zatoichi
Tekkon Kinkreet
Tokyo Marble Chocolate
Mind Game


TOP 10 ANIME SERIES 2000s
Ghost Hound
Fullmetal Alchemist
Paranoia Agent
Gankutsuou
Samurai Champloo
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Samurai 7
Wolf's Rain
Le Chavalier D'Eon
Zenmai Zamurai


TOP 10 JAPANESE FOODS
Takoyaki: Octopus balls swamped in mayonnaise, special sauce and dried bonito flakes
Ikura don: Salmon rose with wasabi, chopped shiso and Kikkoman soy sauce on rice
Yakitori: Grilled chicken and the bird's assorted parts on sticks
Mori soba: Chilled buckwheat noodles served on a bamboo mat with a dipping sauce
Ramen: Noodle soup, especially tonkotsu (pork broth)
Fugu sashi: Blowfish served up super-thin and raw with a lip-smacking ponzu dip
Hachinoko: Bee larvae snack, great with beer. Really.
Basashi: Raw horse served sashimi style, often with ginger and daikon radish
Ikayaki: Grilled squid, often served with lemon and Kewpie maynonnaise
Tsukemono: Japanese pickled vegetables


TOP 10 TOKYO PLACES
Tokyo Parasite Museum
Tsukiji Fish Market
Nihon Minkaen Open-Air Folk House Museum
Jiyugaoka cake shops
National Film Centre
Nakagin Capsule Tower
Tin Toys Museum
Yakitori Alley, Yurakucho
Yamamoto-tei Tea House
Shibamata

TOP(PLING) 10 JAPANESECULTUREGONOW! SPOTLIGHTS
The quirky culture of Sake consumption
RX-78-2 Gundam statue terror
Tokyo's Postmodern (architecture) Purge
Shikinejima: Flying Fish Island
I was an MP in Post-WW2 Japan*
Tokyo Tower vs. Tokyo Sky Tree
Crow Castle
Toho Studios
Panda! Go, Panda! - the zaniest anime ever made?
Godzilla vs. Mothra

The Greatest Necessity of the Age!

Sometimes things aren't so subtle after all, especially when you have a big, slightly blacked-out loo (stuffed, apparently, with used toilet paper), on the cover. This is the brand new EP, The Greatest Necessity of the Age!, out through IF?

It's by an apprentice expat French plumber in Tokyo - and we're unsure if he's an apprentice expatriate or new at his job.

One thing is for sure, we certainly dig the moniker, Joseph Gayetty. Rarely have more appropriate names reigned so truly - and if it's for real, then the world is full of suitably surreal unintended humour.

Mamoru Oshii's next flick

Have been awaiting this baby for some time now, with whispers circulating round the traps - Mamoru Oshii's first feature-length live-action movie since the brilliant Avalon (2001).

It's called Assault Girls, and will be released in Japan in December.

Until that happens, here's a quality taster from the director of the Ghost in the Shell movies.

Gundam Statue Terrorizes Tokyo

This baby knocked our socks off today, although calling it a 'baby' is a wee bit of a misnomer, since the brand new, iconic RX-78-2 Gundam statue at Odaiba's Shiokaze Park here in Tokyo - still under construction, but almost ready to be unveiled in July 2009 - towers over innocent, earthbound bystanders at around 18 meters.

It also weighs in at 35 tons, so close proximity in this earthquake-prone country may not be so advisable. What the statue does do is make the nearby copy of the Statue of Liberty look, well, tired and matronly by comparison. Not to mention insignificant.

The full-scale Gundam figure is being put together to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the first broadcast of the rather spiffy mecha anime TV series, Mobile Suit Gundam.



Our lumbering suit of futuristic combat armour also exudes mist from various points in his body, and is apparently going to look a treat in the evenings with some special lighting. Personally, I was gob-smacked; this is just plain brilliant.

Word has it that other people can train-spot this baby for free up until the end of August - whereupon it'll be torn down, sad to say.