Member introduction: Danny

Well, I guess it’s appropriate to kick things off with an introduction.👋

My name is Danny and I am the founder of Japan Jukebox. I have been interested in Japanese culture and music my entire life.

Before Japan Jukebox, I hosted a Shoutcast station called “Mafu Japan” which I started sometime around the mid 2000s. One day, I was very surprised when someone told me that they had heard a Japanese radio program on KRVS. It turned out to be a show called “Rock Japan” and I became a regular listener.

Rock Japan was short lived, and when it ended abruptly, I decided to give conventional radio a shot for myself. I guess the rest is history.📻

Since Japanese music has long been a part of my everyday life, continuing to do the show for many years isn’t an issue. I’m always on the lookout for new artists and staying up to date with my favorites.

I have several favorites, but my absolute favorite is a band called “the pillows”. I buy everything they release, wear their t-shirts, try to go to as many of their concerts as possible, etc. I can guarantee you that I will be posting about the pillows a lot on this blog.😀

When I started the show, I was living in Lafayette, Louisiana. In 2016, I moved to Japan permanently. 🗾

The culture in Japan is completely different, but I enjoy the change in pace.

Besides Japanese music, I enjoy aimlessly wandering Japan, cooking and trying new foods, translation, gadgets, video games (especially Nintendo and Mega Man), non-Japanese music, turntables, and so on.

I’ll try to post interesting things here. 🦡

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Live report! "Scrappy Travelling for Miles Tour 2023" NINE MILES & Kaminarigumo + Yoshiaki Manabe

On July 14th, Cody and I attended Kaminarigumo's & Yoshiaki Manabe's "Scrappy Travelling for Miles Tour 2023" at Koenji HIGH. This was a particularly special show, because it featured the very first live performance of Yoshiaki Manabe's (from the pillows) "NINE MILES" solo project. For this new incarnation of NINE MILES, Keiji Ueno from Kaminarigumo takes charge of the vocals. Ghoma (also Kaminarigumo) provides keyboard. To start off, I'll write about how the return of NINE MILES and the album "Into the light again" came to be. The revival of NINE MILES started in early 2023 when Yoshiaki Manabe was asked to join Kaminarigumo's summer tour as the support guitarist. Manabe thought it would be an interesting idea to play as NINE MILES as an opening act, and asked the other members if they'd like to do it. He thought it would be nice to have a tour t-shirt for the occasion, so he asked his bandmate from the pillows Sawao Yamanaka ...

10th Anniversary

March 4th was the 10th anniversary of Japan Jukebox. Ten years ago, we debuted our first episode on KRVS. Time flies, huh? I guess a lot has changed since then. Back then, I was creating playlists in my bedroom in Lafayette on my iPod Classic (the battery died somewhat recently and I intend to do surgery and replace it. I love that thing). Living in Japan and experiencing the music I love firsthand seemed like an unattainable, but... here I am. I've even become friends with some of my favorite bands. If I stop to think about it, it all seems a little surreal. Keeping Japan Jukebox going for as long as possible has always been our hope. Japanese music has never been "just a hobby" for us. And while I've taken more of a backseat the past several years leaving most the show's work to Cody and Zack, my passion is still there, if not stronger than ever. So if you have listened to and enjoyed Japan Jukebox over the past ten years, thank you. I hope that we have introdu...

Culture shock: Lost belongings

A tree along a path that I walk every day has become a makeshift lost-and-found. These are belongings that people have dropped, picked up by others, and placed hanging in the tree for easy visibility. Similarly, when I go to parks I often see toys that children have left, but they remain until the owner comes back to retrieve them. This fluffy capybara plushie has been sitting on this concrete pilar for the past few days, waiting to be reunited with its owner. Once, my phone slipped out of my pocket while sitting on the train. A man picked it up, exited the train, and tracked me down through a swarm of people to hand it back to me. It’s a stark contrast to the “finders keepers” attitude of the western world. I munched on some chestnuts while thinking about this. 🌰

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