Culture

Interview: Dela – Idol Music & Conquering The World

May 25, 2016 Andy Kavanagh

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In the underground car park of Akihabara’s UTX building (which some of you may know from Love Live!), Tokyo’s summer’s-coming humidity is intense, to say the least. My best shirt is pasting itself to my back and I can feel my face flushing with every step through the dense, soggy corridors in search of Dela, […]

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Buzz

Tokyo’s Plus-Size Maid Cafe Is Very Much Still A Work In Progress

December 6, 2015 Andy Kavanagh

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Maid Cafe’s are, as I’ve written about before, a cultural institution in Japan. So much so that over the years, the conceptual offshoots that have opened in Akihabara’s back alleys range from cute and quirky to batshit bonkers. It’s difficult then to believe that the recently opened Shangrila is Tokyo’s first maid cafe staffed by […]

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Culture

Life In Japan: Shrine On, You Crazy Diamond

September 7, 2015 Andy Kavanagh

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It’s easy to think about Japan and imagine the bold and brash imagery that comes packaged with its pop culture. It’s true, Japan has a pop-culture-pulse like nowhere else on Earth, and it’s easy to get completely swept up and lost in the endless energy of Harajuku, Akihabara and Shibuya without ever looking back. To […]

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Life In Japan: Maid Cafés And You (Part 1)

August 23, 2015 Andy Kavanagh

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Japan has a lot of unique stuff within its borders, mostly because of how unique its culture and its people are, although that may well be a chicken-egg question best left unanswered. One such cultural oddity is the globally infamous Maid Café but, as popular as they are, and believe me they are, it can […]

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Anime/Cartoons

Review: Love Live! The School Idol Movie

July 23, 2015 Andy Kavanagh

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If you’re the type of person who pays attention to anime news, and if you’re reading this you probably are, you might be aware that several of the industry’s biggest names are unhappy with its current state. Schrodinger’s retiree Hayao Miyazaki has said that the industry is in decline and more recently Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno went […]

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