When I visited Japan, I was amazed by how similar *and* different Japanese culture differed from American culture. Japan boasts an ancient tradition that the US can never match–– especially since we Americans constantly tell ourselves that we are so brand new, and our culture is rife with reifying examples of characters' shaking off the fetters of old world (European) traditions. But where Japan and America absolutely overlap is in the astounding consumer culture that has taken hold of much of the world in the last century (and especially in countries where the US exerted direct influence, as was the case with Japan after World War II). Japanese candy, music, television, movies: though these obviously draw on unique Japanese flavors-- like smoked salmon candy, for example, because no American would eat that!-- they still reminded me repeatedly of American mass culture, as an almost weird mirror-image. And like American mass culture, what lurks below the blaring AKB48 singles in gaudy obnoxious department stores and sky-high malls is a vibrant independent music scene.
All of this is to say that Shugo Tokumaru is an artist all his own, and that his music stands out against the Japanese and American mass cultures that we all love to love, and love to hate sometimes too. Here's a nice track (though they're are many more!):
And here's an add that ran this summer in Japan, when a well-known confectionary company decided to make dried Salmon chews (I've tried them, and they're disgusting, but the ads are adorable, so why not share!).
I have a lot of Japanese music (old and new) that I'd like to share here, so keep checking back and hopefully I won't be too lazy to write again soon!
We have a quiz tomorrow covering, among other vocab, the Japanese days of the week. Here's a song that's helping me memorize them-- may work for you too if you prefer cute old songs to rote memorization!
