E-sports getting real in Japan
How real are esports? Some competitors in Japan say they can only win by becoming an athlete. And industry groups are working as well to ensure competitions track the values of conventional sports.
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Japan Times
2 hours ago
- Japan Times
Four-division world champion Kosei Tanaka retires at 29 due to eye injuries
Four-division world champion Kosei Tanaka has called time on his professional career at the age of 29 due to repeated eye injuries. Tanaka is the fastest boxer to earn belts at four different weights, winning the WBO strawweight, light flyweight, flyweight and super flyweight titles in 21 bouts, surpassing American Oscar De La Hoya's record of 24 fights. Having made his professional debut at 18, Tanaka retires with a record of 20-2. His last fight was in October when he lost to South Africa's Phumelele Cafu. He said he underwent surgery on both eyes after the bout. "I'm retiring as a professional boxer. 11 years of professional life. The reason is all about my repeated eye injuries" Tanaka posted on social media on Wednesday. "Due to the effects of hernia operations on my neck and many, many operations on my eyes alone in the four years from 2021, my eyes have become brittle and I can no longer spar, let alone compete. "I decided to retire because there was no way for me to get into the ring."
Japan Times
4 hours ago
- Japan Times
New Naoshima museum bets on Asia, not the West
A flight and a bus or several trains, a line, a boat, another line, a bus, a walk and 96 stairs is all it takes to get to Naoshima's newest art sanctum. Benesse Art Site Naoshima in the Seto Inland Sea, popularly shortened to just Naoshima or 'the art islands,' is a veritable art theme park of six museums and 22 spaces across four islands. Last week it welcomed a new member. The building, imaginatively named Naoshima New Museum of Art, opened May 31. Tadao Ando, Naoshima's inextricable architect, designed the space, making the museum his 10th contribution to the art site. Three floors of about 3,200 square meters of gallery begin at ground level and descend into the hill on which it rests. Architecturally the museum feels very much same-same as the rest of Naoshima, with a humble facade that looks out over the lesser-used Honmura port on the east side of the island. The staircase in the new Tadao Ando building creates a single line through the museum. | Thu-Huong Ha Unlike other Naoshima museums, whose collections are permanent, the new museum will change periodically, with the first update scheduled for February 2026. The new museum opens under the directorship of Akiko Miki with the exhibition 'From the Origin to the Future,' which contains installations and site-specific works by 12 living Asian artists. This is an important departure from the rest of Naoshima; the roster that's made it famous — Yayoi Kusama, Claude Monet, Walter De Maria, James Turrell, Hiroshi Sugimoto — skews heavily white and Japanese — although the new museum is consistent in that it's still predominantly male. The art site is jointly run by the Fukutake Foundation and Benesse Holdings, which were both founded by the Fukutake family. The vision for the art islands originally came from Tetsuhiko Fukutake, but when he unexpectedly died in 1986, his son, Soichiro, took over and presided over the island's cultural transformation over the next several decades. The billionaire publisher turns 80 this year, and the new museum, which draws from his collection, may well be his swan song. 'I started the Asian collection based on the hypothesis that the era of the West, of Europe and America, was coming to an end, and that an era of Asia would begin,' Fukutake told the press. 'And now, it feels like the times are actually heading in that direction, so I feel like it was the right decision.' Benesse signaled its commitment to the region in 2016, when it moved its ¥3 million Benesse Prize from its home at the Venice Biennale to the Singapore Biennale, with a new focus on Asian art. Works shown at the Naoshima New Museum of Art include past winners of the prize. Pannaphan Yodmanee, 'Aftermath' (2016/2025) and Henri Dono & indieguerillas, 'Consciousness of Humanity: a Journey to the Center' (2024-25) | Thu-Huong Ha Detail of Pannaphan Yodmanee, 'Aftermath' (2016/2025) | Thu-Huong Ha On the first floor, Southeast Asian artists make statements about religion, harmony, colonialism and memory. 'Aftermath' is an intricate and expansive mixed-media mural installation by Thai artist Pannaphan Yodmanee. The 11th Benesse Prize-winning work explores Buddhist cosmology using rocks and found objects. The artist paints traditional Thai art motifs directly onto stone and displays stupas below, while figures who seem straight out of Buddhist hell look on. Moving right across the mural, horse-backed Europeans shoot at loin-clothed natives in an endless cycle of suffering. Indonesian husband-and-wife pair indieguerillas, comprising Dyatmiko 'Miko' Bawono and Santi Ariestyowanti, collaborated with established Indonesian artist Heri Dono for seven pieces that make up the installation 'Consciousness of Humanity: a Journey to the Center.' Bright cartoon-like acrylics on wood draw on imagery from traditional Javanese puppet theater. The figurative illustrations were originally meant to be a public art work connecting a mosque and a church, says Bawono. But the commission didn't work out. '(The government) preferred a more neutral work with only shapes, like circles and triangles,' he says, adding that he's glad their vision could be executed on Naoshima. Do Ho Suh, 'Hub/s, Naoshima, Seoul, New York, Horsham, London, Berlin' (2025) | Thu-Huong Ha One floor down is a gallery containing Do Ho Suh's 'Hub,' an ongoing series that's brought the London-based Korean artist to global renown. Suh creates to-scale fabric and steel replicas of rooms and spaces he's lived in in Seoul, New York, Berlin, among others. For this iteration, he adds the hallway of a house from Naoshima, connecting it to previously made spaces. Though other works in this architectural series feature detailed fixtures like stoves, toilets and radiators, the ones here appear as one extended hallway, connecting place to place to place, smooth and nonspecific. On the lowest floor are three provocateurs of Japan's contemporary art world. Makoto Aida's newly commissioned 'Monument for Nothing — Red Torii Gate,' part of his ongoing project of the same name, critiques Japan and its leadership. A distorted torii gate sculpture looms over the space of the gallery, covered in low-res images collected from the news over the past three decades, a period in which Japan's economy has suffered and its birth rate has declined. The faces of Japanese politicians, with appearances by U.S. President Donald Trump and Steve Jobs, adorn the gate. One image shows former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wearing his infamous 'Abenomask,' while another shows him flanked by other former heads of government and cracking up. Thin sprouts rise up from all over the deformed figure, intended to represent hope for Japan's future — but they only manage to make the form look even more grotesque and diseased. Chim↑Pom from Smappa!Group, 'The Sweet Box: Michi in Transit' (2024-present) | Thu-Huong Ha The artist collective popularly known as Chim↑Pom shows elements from its Michi (as in, 'street') work in Tokyo's Koenji neighborhood, part of their 'Sukurappu ando Birudo' ('scrap and build') project. Documents, sofa parts, hoses, pipes and other debris from the demolitions of the former Parco building in Shibuya and Kabukicho Shopping District Promotion Association building are squashed into a box reminiscent of a shipping container, in a statement on Japan's constant construction and rebuilding. Stretching between the two works is Takashi Murakami's 13-meter-wide 'Rakuchu-Rakugai-zu Byobu: Iwasa Matabei RIP,' based on Iwasa Matabei's Edo Period (1603-1868) National Treasure screens depicting life in Kyoto, which the artist has updated since 2023. Finally, 99 life-sized wolf sculptures in Cai Guo-Qiang's 'Head On,' which has traveled all over the world from its debut in Berlin, now live on Naoshima as part of Fukutake's collection. Cai Guo-Qiang, 'Head On' (2006) | Thu-Huong Ha After the subterranean wolves, there's respite at the museum cafe. Breezy at the same time that it feels slightly weighted by the sea air and charged by the energy of trees tossed by the wind, the space contains a newly commissioned work by Indian artist N. S. Harsha. Harsha seized the chance to work on the cafe. 'I really like when art is positioned in a place where it's not exactly a museum, it's at the threshold,' he says. 'Happy Married Life' consists of panels telling three stages of a story about a wedding. 'It's been a longtime idea of mine to get a microscope and telescope married. I wanted them to get married. It's time!' the artist says, chuckling. It's playful and joyful — Harsha's name means 'happiness,' so it sort of goes with the territory, he says — but the work also represents a union between what he sees as two components inside each of us, internal and external visions. That cheer is somewhat at odds with the depictions of suffering and political critiques on display throughout the rest of the museum, but it's a nice moment of whimsy against Ando's sleek, spare monochrome. It's worth noting that the new museum is one of the few art spaces on Naoshima that allows photography. Perhaps that's why the museum leans a bit too heavily on large-scale, Instagram-worthy crowd-pleasers. Which is unfortunate because the mix of critical Japanese works and works by younger Southeast Asian artists makes the Naoshima New Museum of Art otherwise a welcome addition to the larger Western-focused Benesse complex. N. S. Harsha, 'Happy Married Life' (2025) | Thu-Huong Ha Most of the indoor Naoshima spaces have long had a no-photo policy, which allows for more actual art-viewing, as opposed to the kind of look-at-me-looking-at-art experience that has become the norm at clogged art shows. One has to wonder if the new photography policy is pandering in a way Naoshima has largely been able to avoid (with the exception of its famous pumpkin, the rare public artwork that has its own self-governing line). Fukutake's shift to Asian art is more than a lofty vision of the world's future creative center — it's a shrewd commercial move for the tycoon who's already completely remade the island and region. Takamatsu Airport serves daily low-cost flights to and from Seoul, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Taipei, making Naoshima an international weekend getaway that's as convenient (or inconvenient) from East Asia as from Tokyo. Streets of old-style Japanese houses are wedged in with cafes catering to foreign tourists, and a quiet slope is quickly interrupted by visitors shouting to each other as they fly by on motorized bicycles. The ferries and long queues are filled with the bustling excitement of languages from around the world, people holding up their phones, ready to look and be looked at. The entrance to the Naoshima New Museum of Art displays its oddly hard to read logo. | Thu-Huong Ha For more information about the Naoshima New Museum of Art, visit
Japan Times
8 hours ago
- Japan Times
Six months into 2025, J-pop is having a full-on identity crisis (and a great time)
The Japanese music industry has spent the first half of 2025 in full-blown celebration mode. There were government-funded concerts in Los Angeles and the splashy Music Awards Japan in Kyoto — both of which offered no shortage of self-congratulatory back-pats for J-pop's steady climb on the global stage. But beneath the revelry, something more interesting is happening: the sound of transition. With the first half of the 2020s now behind us, the big question isn't who's winning, but what comes next. Will the future belong to fantastical rock bands or hip-hop-inspired pop groups? Will the industry lean into AI — or gorge on ... ice cream? As summer sets in, the paths ahead for J-pop are diverging. What role does music even play in a decade as fluid as this one? Awards and accolades are abundant, both at home and abroad. But the real trend of the year so far might be trying to predict the next major shift in the zeitgeist. Top of the J-pops Pop-rock trio Mrs. Green Apple is pretty much inescapable at this point. Even before the year began, Motoki Ohmori, Hiroto Wakai and Ryoka Fujisawa were already the reigning champions of J-pop. After a two-year hiatus starting in 2020 as the group developed its 'phase 2,' Mrs. Green Apple returned with a vengeance, climbing straight back to the top of the domestic pecking order thanks to gospel-tinged ballads 'Soranji' and the musical theater bounce of 'Dance Hall.' Last year's surging rock cut 'Lilac' became the group's largest hit yet. Mrs. Green Apple is celebrating its 10th anniversary, and its grip on Japan has only tightened. Newer releases 'Kusushiki' and 'Darling' have racked up millions of views on YouTube while becoming staples in supermarkets and chain stores nationwide. At time of writing, 15 of the tracks on Spotify Japan's 'Top 50' playlist are by Mrs. Green Apple — five are in the top 10. Sonically and visually, the group's ascent signals a shift in what mainstream J-pop sounds and looks like. The early 2020s were dominated by acts like Yoasobi and Ado — Vocaloid-indebted creators who offered a more realistic (meaning an often more dour) snapshot of modern life, marked by darker lyrics and harsher vocal deliveries. Mrs. Green Apple isn't above getting a little emo, either — for example, 'Bitter Vacances' tackles the grind of modern life — but the group's lens is more optimistic, sometimes to the point of sounding like a motivational coach with a guitar. It's a snapshot of a mainstream in flux. Alongside Mrs. Green Apple, a fresh wave of groups are blending melodic sugar with hip-hop edge. XG, a girl group that sings in English, recently played Tokyo Dome, while fledgling girl group Hana has scored one of the year's biggest breakout hits with the swagger-scented 'Rose.' On the male side, trio Number_i has been building steam behind the slick 'God_i.' While artists such as Ado and Fujii Kaze — representatives of the early 2020s J-pop global breakthrough — go on large world tours, the domestic scene is recalibrating. In today's fractured music landscape, the biggest shifts may not come from who's in the spotlight — but from who's on the edges outside it. Generative hits Japan saw its first AI-generated hit in early 2025 — and naturally, it was a complete joke. Technically, 'Yaju & U' dropped in late 2024, but it only blew up at the start of this year. It was uploaded to the internet by someone calling themselves Mochimochi, but the credited composer is Udio — an AI music program. And yes, you can tell: The strings are clunky, the vocals are uncanny and the whole thing sounds like a computer's idea of either a J-pop track or the long-lost follow-up to Dexys Midnight Runners' 'Come on Eileen.' But hold the sonic critiques, because more importantly, this song works as a chaotic ode to one of Japan's oldest and weirdest memes. The lyrics pay homage to the 2001 adult video 'A Midsummer Night's Lewd Dream' — a relic of early internet culture best known for its terrible acting and glorious absurdity. The AV became meme royalty in Japan. 'Yaju & U' — named after a now-iconic character — continues the legacy with a track that feels like it was coded specifically to go viral. Bonus: There's a goofy TikTok-ready dance to match. 'Yaju & U' dominated Spotify Japan's 'Viral 50' for weeks, marking the biggest moment for generative AI in the country's music sphere to date. While it's tempting to go full-Luddite and condemn this brave new world, the song really reflects our relationship with memes. AI-powered music has flooded the Japanese web as of late, from imitation city pop playlists to goofy geopolitical satire. These songs aren't trying to say anything profound — they exist to rack up likes, shares and shrieks of 'wtf did I just listen to?' Still, that doesn't mean they can't top charts. 'Yaju & U' shows that viral hits don't need a human touch to resonate — just a well-placed punchline and a good beat. It's not the death of music, just the rise of a new kind of background noise. Hot idol summer? The biggest Japanese song to catch fire globally in 2025 is not about rock positivity or bawdy memes. It's about ice cream. Idol trio AiScReam's 'Ai Scream!' unites three performers from the long-running 'Love Live!' media juggernaut for a sugar-rush tribute to frozen desserts — and, naturally, to love. A clip of the group performing a section after the first chorus where each member shouts out an ice cream flavor they like ('but not as much as you!') — hit TikTok like a brain freeze. As these things go, the clip broke out of idol-centric spaces before spilling into the wider corners of the internet, where it was gleefully adopted by users worldwide, especially K-pop performers. Somehow, 'Ai Scream!' ended up as this year's 'Bling-Bang-Bang-Born' — an unlikely J-pop export that turned viral gold. It wasn't built to break the internet, but it did, climbing global streaming charts and becoming a bonafide meme in its own right. That's right, the defining sound of J-pop so far in 2025 is a high-pitched cry of 'choco mint!' This kind of out-of-left-field success isn't a surprise in the 2020s, it simply reflects how most J-pop hits travel now. What is different, though, is the type of group enjoying this success. Yes, we may very well be gearing up for an 'idol summer.' Hyper-cute idol-pop groups — who many resigned to the music history heap of the 2000s and 2010s (remember Morning Musume, Momoiro Clover Z and AKB48?) — are having a moment. While those legacy acts never really went away, they've felt increasingly distant from the road J-pop is on. Not anymore. AiScReam's breakout is just the tip of the strawberry soft-serve cone. Fruits Zipper recently nabbed its first No. 1 on the Oricon Charts with 'Kawaii Te Magic,' while more hyperactive compatriots Cutie Street and Candy Tune are racking up views with a pastel vengeance. A change is in the air — and it's wearing Skittles-colored dresses. But there's something deeper under the kawaii overload. Idol music has long been criticized for its talents' perceived lack of singing and dancing skills, but the draw is the emotional arc. Fans go on a journey with their favorite performers as they stumble, grow and eventually overcome. If 'Yaju & U' imagines a meme-core future churned out at the speed of a Temu delivery, then 'Ai Scream!' suggests a different path — messier, sillier, sweeter and unmistakably human. It's a future you might just want to say 'hai!' to.
