Patrick St. Michel

1 week ago | mbmelodies.substack.com | Patrick St. Michel

One of the surest signs of Hallyu’s success in Japan can be found relatively regularly on convenience store shelves. K-pop stars constantly collaborate with the big three konbini chains — 7-11, Lawson and Family Mart — whether for simple advertising purposes (here’s SEVENTEEN pointing at cakes excitedly) or for deeper tie-ups (TWICE not only holds pieces of fried chicken come Christmas, but they had a series of special sweets on sale last year in Family Mart).

1 week ago | japantimes.co.jp | Patrick St. Michel

All eyes at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards turn to NFL defensive end Myles Garrett as he begins to sing the theme from “Pokemon.”There’s a lot happening on the “orange carpet” ahead of the ninth edition of the anime streaming service’s awards ceremony, held on May 25 at the Grand Prince Hotel Shin Takanawa in Tokyo. Musician Rina Sawayama and Maneskin vocalist Damiano David chat with the media about how Japanese animation has inspired them over the years.

1 week ago | mbmelodies.substack.com | Patrick St. Michel

From a compilation capturing some of his workAt some point in 2021, I had an idea that I thought could be amazing without thinking of all the work it would require. Fresh off the success of The Japan Times’ “Recultured” podcast — a look at how COVID-19 transformed Japanese pop culture written and reported out largely by me — images of audio breakthroughs danced in my head.

1 week ago | mbmelodies.substack.com | Patrick St. Michel

Dos Monos — Dos MoonsThe turn Dos Monos took on last year’s Dos Atmosremains as imaginative and intimidating today as it did the day it came out. The rap trio embraced heavier rock textures bordering on the metal and made space for experimental saxophone blurts to craft a sonic battleship from which they could plow through the psyche and condition of modern day Japan. Time folded in on itself, references to dusty history facts and philosophical tenants colliding with NewJeans Ojisans and Pikotaro.

2 weeks ago | mbmelodies.substack.com | Patrick St. Michel

Ten minutes into wandering the main floor of the first anime convention I’ve ever attended, a voice barked out loudly for all in the immediate vicinity to hear:“Hentai, get your hentai, hentai here,” delivered with the moxie of a hot dog vendor at Wrigley Field forty minutes away from the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, where this man was peddling porn in front of a rainbow-colored flag labelled “yaoi.”So here I am, I thought, in the heart of soft power. This post is for paid subscribers