Urusei Yatsura is one of the most beloved anime series of all time. The show’s theme song Lum’s Love Song is still a fan-favorite 40 years after its release in 1981. To celebrate the anniversary of the track, the original composer Izumi Kobayashi has released a self-cover only available on streaming services. A worldwide remix project based on the song is also underway and will continue into the new year. 

On November 17, Izumi Kobayashi released Lum’s Love Song (Reboot) along with Limited Toss, a trackmaker she met in London. The B-side of the single is another self-cover of Bambutsuruten, the theme to Tokyo Gambo. 

Izumi Kobayashi wrote a number of anime songs in addition to Lum’s Love Song, such as tracks for Sasuga no Sarutobi and Stop!! Hibari-kun! After working as an artist, session musician, and playwright in the 1980s, she moved to the UK and worked alongside Depeche Mode and SWING OUT SISTER, while also supporting the overseas activities of Ken Ishii, Denki Groove, and DJ KRUSH.

In addition to this self-cover project, Lum’s Love Song is now being remixed by a number of talented artists from around the world. The first EP of the remix project, ‘Lum’s Love Song (Reboot) Mimix EP.1’ was released digitally on December 8. It features remixes by Kenmochi Hidefumi of Wednesday Campanella, Chinese trackmaker 3asic, and Osaka-based Limited Toss. 

Upcoming Lum’s Love Song remixes will be provided by Korean music producer T.WON and SKYTOPIA, along with tofubeats. ‘Lum’s Love Song (Reboot) Mimix EP.2’ will be released on January 12, 2022.

Rumiko Takahashi, the original creator of Urusei Yatsura, was inducted into the Harvey Awards Hall of Fame in October 2021, one of the most prestigious U.S. comic awards. 

Comment from Izumi Kobayashi

“It’s been a long time since I’ve released a new album!

Everyone involved in this project is so excited, and we know that something amazing is going to come from it. As it’s the 40th anniversary of Lum’s Love Song, I created a new cel cover for it. I’m just thrilled!

Thank you to everyone who listens!”

小林泉美

tofubeats appeared on the first episode of Red Bull Check Your DMs, a reality show by Red Bull which connects artists around the world together online for the first time and has them make a song together remotely. He collaborated with UK music producer DJ Q and Netherlands singer Gaidaa to create an original track named All In.

Red Bull Check Your DMs – Episode 1

This was the first time the three artists had met each other, all of whom have different nationalities as well as work on different styles of music, from hip-hop and electronic to singer, rapper, and track maker. Just how did these three individuals create a new song from scratch? All they need is talent, inspiration, and an internet environment for this unique project which coincides with today’s digital age.

The show welcomes a whole host of artists, from this episode’s tofubeats, music producer DJ Q, and singer Gaidaa to bassline DJ Flava D, rappers Ms Banks and Burna, Canadian electronic music producer Ryan Hemsworth, South Korean singer CIFIKA, Diamond Vargas from Australia, Girl Ultra from Mexico, Phil Speiser and Palazzo Beats from Austria, Wow Jones from the USA, Yartze from Puerto Rico, and more.

Red Bull Check Your DMs is available to watch for free on YouTube and the Red Bull TV app. A new episode will air every Friday.

MAISON ABLE Cafe Ron Ron is a popular conveyor-belt dessert cafe in Harajuku. We visited the cafe last year when it had just dropped, so be sure to check out our cover story if you want more information.

The cafe has just announced a night party that is exclusive to those in their 20’s. Titled “Cafe Ron Ron 20ty’s Night Party -PINK FRIDAY- supported by MAISON ABLE,” the event began yesterday and will run every night up to September 27.

Customers can enjoy all-you-can-eat unlimited snacks for just ¥500 with no time restrictions. For an additional fee, you can also pick from the food menu which features 5 dishes and order from the drinks menu which includes alcohol.

Everything on the food and drinks menu is ¥500 too, making it a delicious bargain!

Desserts are served at varying time slots from 19:00. Depending on what time you arrive or decide to start eating the menu will change which is all part of the fun!

The cafe has also teamed up with the fashion rental shop airCloset next door so customers can enjoy dining at Cafe Ron Ron while wearing a yukata.

You can even continue wearing the kimono after you’ve eaten so you can stroll the streets of Harajuku, go to nearby festivals and more for an exciting day out in Japan’s youth and culture hub. The yukata can be rented by people of all ages – full details on the websites below.

DINING & BAR TABLE 9 TOKYO is a fabulous dining and bar venue located on the top floor of Shinagawa Prince Hotel. The establishment is known for its “DJ TIME” where a DJ plays music, and it has just been announced that the experience is set to be revamped on May 29 where the theme will change each day.

Ever since its grand opening, the bars of TABLE 9 TOKYO have been leaders of today’s Tokyo with its night scene as its opening hours roll out until 4:00am. It is home to 3 different bars, NINE BAR being one of them, and each enjoys a huge attendance rate including many non-Japanese guests.

The bar and lounge is a place for adults to sit down, enjoy a drink and listen to music. The idea to have a theme change each day is a way for the bar to expand its services by having more options to choose from when it comes to the music.

The first week will begin with jazzy music, and there will be disco music on Wednesday and Thursday for which a new standing area has been set up in front of the DJ booth. On Friday night guests can enjoy getting down to some energetic dance music while on the weekends the playlist will span a wide variety of genres.

Enjoy a sophisticated night out in Tokyo at NINE BAR.

It’s been 15 years since Roppongi Hills first opened, which is set to welcome summer again this year with exciting events running from July 14 to August 26. It will be packed with events including the 5th run of TV Asahi’s collaborative Natsumatsuri Summer Station event, the annual Bon Odori dance and more. There will even be events up Tokyo City View, one of Tokyo’s best observation decks with a panoramic view of the city.

TV Asahi & Roppongi Hills Natsumatsuri Summer Station 2018

One of summer’s biggest events in Tokyo, Summer Station began in 2014 and has been held every year since. Last year, it saw a record 5.8 million people turn up. The theme this year is ‘summer magic’ for which the event will collaborate with the whole town. Look forward to live music performances, shows, food, VR sessions, photo spots, exhibitions and more. The popular life-sized Doraemon will make a return at 66 Plaza where there’ll also be artists performing as well as anime inspired food. A new booth will also make an appearance at Keyakizaki this year. There’s plenty for both adults and children to enjoy!

Roppongi Hills Bon Odori 2018

This will be the 16th year of the Roppongi Hills bon odori where people come together and dance around the central yagura. The event will offer the real Japanese ‘matsuri’ festival experience, with food stands serving up original menus from restaurants in Roppongi Hills, and more.

Feel the Summer Sky Atop Tokyo City View

A summer event will be held at Tokyo City View, the observation deck of Roppongi Hills, where you can learn about the ocean and environment. There will be a digital globe you can touch which will introduce the mysteries of the world with a focus on the sea. It’s a popular project that was set up by the UN and museums around the world. Also, people who head up to the roof sky deck dressed in yukata or other traditional summer clothes will receive a special bonus. The opening hours will also be extended so people can fully enjoy watching neighbouring firework events, the starry night sky and the city nightscape. If you’re looking to experience Japanese summer to the max then this one’s a must!

Enjoy an exciting Japanese summer from all angles in Roppongi!

TOWER DISCO is a night party coming to Kyoto Tower where you can enjoy music and a nighttime view up 100m high.

The event will take place in three places in Kyoto Tower: the Sando B1 Food Hall, KUU Sky Lounge, and Observation Deck. Expect DJ booths manned by some of the industry’s leading DJs as well as Kyoto-bred DJs.

Continuing the trend of Kyoto Tower’s transformation from the opening of Kyoto Tower Sando in 2017, TOWER DISCO is a stylish and modern event that serves to symbolise its change!

TECHNO INVADERS is an experimental club event that slices up everything to do with Japan’s techno scene and puts it back together to create an all-new techno experience. The event is set to return on March 23 at Shibuya VISION.

Taking to the stage this time around is Takkyu Ishino, a composer and music producer who continues to dominate the Japanese techno scene and who released an eight-disc collection of his work titled Takkyu Ishino Works 1983～2017 in January this year. Joining him is Yoshinori Sunahara, a producer and DJ and a current member of METAFIVE. Licaxxx will also be performing, a multi-talented individual who’s active as a DJ, beatmaker, editor, writer, radio personality and more. This edition of TECHNO INVADERS truly offers an indispensable line-up.

In addition, internationally recognised artist GONNO will play at the event, whose single Acdise #2 was released from International Feel Recordings and has been played by French electronic music producer Laurent Garnier, British electronic artist James Holden, and others. Sapphire Slows will also make her first appearance at VISION. Her overseas activity has proven remarkable, having performed at the worldwide music festival Sonar in Barcelona in 2016.

Don’t miss out on this fantastic line-up of artists who continue to delve deeper and deeper into the unending hole of the techno genre.

MUSIC NIGHT SPOT is a new series that introduces the hottest spots to experience music in Tokyo at night. In this debut installment we will take a look at SOUND MUSEUM VISION, the city’s biggest underground club and live music venue located in the center of Dogenzaka, Shibuya. Spanning a floor space that covers almost 1000m² and housing a capacity of 1,500, VISION first opened on October 28, 2011 as Daikanyama AIR’s sister location. The music site consists of four unique floors – “GAIA,” “DEEP,” “D LOUNGE” and “WHITE” – as well as six bar counters and a connecting corridor to a gallery. Night after night VISION hosts genre-less and globalized parties making it a truly diverse location that almost every lover of club music has visited. VISION operations manager Kohei Norita spoke to me about the history and management of the venue.

Interview & Text: Mami Naruta

Translator: Joshua Kitosi-Isanga

■During the year the earthquake struck, I thought to transmit a new culture from Tokyo and uplift Japan as a whole

――VISION was refurbished in autumn 2011 from a 991.7m² underground space in Dogenzaka that used to house restaurants and a car park, correct?

That’s right. It was the year right when the earthquake had struck. The whole of Japan was still in low spirits, it was a lonely period. The owner chose to let me open the place during such a time to uplift Japan and transmit a new culture from this Tokyo – to do something big and overturn the mood. That’s what led to the opening of the venue. Did you know, the clock on the wall backstage here is stopped on the date October 28, 2011?

――Wow, you’re right! I’ve been here so many times and never noticed before.

Over there is a “SLOW” sign, a remnant of the car park that has been left as it is. We’ve been able to treasure a little of the original location in the interior design.

――Could you tell me about how you came to be part of the management team at VISION?

I used to be a bartender at Daikanyama AIR, VISION’s predecessor, and when the chance for this place became possible I moved here to work as opening staff. From there I became the bar manager, shop manager, and now I’m the director. From the get go I endorsed the owner’s sentiment. We spoke about what would be interesting to do, and we came up with the idea of creating a place smack in the middle of Shibuya with 4 floors where we could host different genres of things. I also took over AIR and thought to put in something else completely new… It is Shibuya anyway, a place where different cultures are mixed together, so I thought I could definitely create something interesting. VISION is, how do I put it, a place where you can do anything. We can have bands, techno, hip-hop, idol performances. I think that’s what’s great about it.

――It’s one of Tokyo’s most popular clubs that can hold 1,500 people. How are the staff broken up?

We generally have 3-4 people working on planning and booking. I’m one of them. When we’re open, there are 16-17 people bartending, 16-17 floor staff, 5 people on reception and tills, about 6 people for lighting and PA. So, there are around 40 staff working in a day.

――What is the process of booking like?

We first of all look at it on a monthly basis and consider how we should create a balance and what kind of genres to have at the parties. For example, if we have hip-hop here, then we’ll have EDM here and bass here. We’re also constantly listing what overseas artists we want to perform here, so while keeping in contact with them we decide where to prioritize for our artist schedule. But whatever we do, we consider it case by case as this venue is in Shibuya and we have four floors to play with. Even in hip-hop there’s a lot of different elements, from the hard stuff to the stuff more centered around culture. When it’s like that we’ve sometimes picked what we’re crazy on.

――Do you have any criteria when selecting a line-up?

We take on every kind here, so we don’t really have one. My roots stem from techno, house and electro, but that has no influence on our choices. We look at the scene in Japan as a whole and say, “we should do this” or “it might be a little early but let’s go with this”. But we also have a selection of parties that we cherish and hold on a regular basis, like “EMMA HOUSE” which is a house music party we’ve always done, and “WARP!!!” that we co-host with ASOBISYSTEM on the first Monday of every month.

■A place where you can enjoy one whole festival

――VISION is a driving force behind Shibuya right now. What do you think is interesting about Shibuya?

Whether it’s music or fashion, I believe Shibuya to be the center of culture. It’s a place where people of a high sensitivity gather, and it’s precisely because of that fact that we’re always on the lookout and must absorb and take on board a variety of things. VISION being in Shibuya doesn’t mean that we cater to our own personal tastes, it means that we listen to lots of other people’s stories and learn form them. That’s what I believe we are. In order for us to embrace different perspectives, we keep our eyes open so that people view us positively, whatever their background.

――VISION doesn’t fit into one box and can’t be labelled as “this” kind of place or “that” kind of place because it’s genre-less, correct? From a management perspective, what is VISION’s strength?

At other venues, the same kind of music is always playing when you go there, and there are people looking for that kind of thing. But we’re the opposite. When you come here the music is always different, and the direction is completely different depending on the day. That’s VISION’s selling point. We’re looking for people to say “VISION’s merit is that it’s different each day”.

――VISION also has four floors. The atmosphere must be different on each one, right?

That’s right. On GAIA we do really hardcore stuff, in the DEEP LONGUE we have days where we play chill music. And the people are completely different on each floor. You could say that VISION is to be enjoyed as one big festival where we create a solid time on each floor and where our customers can enjoy moving around each one. We bear that in mind when organizing events.

――When did you realize you were glad to be doing this job?

It’s cliché, but seeing everybody enjoying themselves here makes me really happy. I read people’s responses to an event on Twitter, and while there are sometimes some pretty brutal things said (laughs), it’s fun to hear people’s real voices, whatever it may be. It was out of this world when the guests accepted my intentions. I feel this was truly worth doing. And that’s not just me talking. Everyone at the bar, on the floor and at the cashier feel the same. They are kind enough to say how much fun it is and how much it’s worth doing when they see all the customers happy.

■Derrick May and Jeff Mills performed at our countdown event and it was so full-on I have no recollection of it

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In this announcement, MMN will introduce to you the recommended club event “TECHNO INVADERS.”

“TECHNO INVADERS” is an event where top techno underground artists from home and abroad perform together.

This time, “TOWA TEI” who is known as an originator who introduced Japanese dance music to the world and who is also a member of the unit “METAFIVE” will perform.

The legend of the techno scene Yoshinori Sunahara (ex-Denki Groove) who is a member of METAFIVE, “Seiho” who is famous all around the world with his superb and unique sound and the number one female techno DJ “Licaxxx” who is actively working in many kinds of fields will perform in the event.

Of course, everybody can enjoy the party, not just techno fans. The character and creativity of each artist will mix together vividly and thus the voltage of the floor will keep elevating for sure.

“Night pools” have recently been introduced by some television programs and in some magazines! Some popular models also introduce these pools in their Instagrams.

So, let us introduce to you some recommended “night pools!”

Enjoying the atmosphere of swimming in the sea in the middle of downtown 「Toshimaen night pool」

In Toshimaen, only the “wave pool” is opened at night. You can enjoy playing in the waves just as if you were playing in the ocean.

Some shell-shaped floats and some goods to turn you into a mermaid are available. (for a limited time）

Some cocktails, loco moco bowls, and pancakes with a lot of fruit and other wonderful food items are also offered. They all make great material to upload on your SNS!

Play on the “water slide”and enjoy the illuminations at 「Odaiba night pool」

The “water park” changes into the dreamy space with shiny illumination and projection mapping.

You can enjoy a 100m-long slide and a 10m long big slide and other exciting attractions. Also check out their photo spots such as wall art by some artists.

<<next page  Check out the cute floats♡

“YYY”—the live concert and party event hosted by Japanese music and pop culture leaders WARNER MUSIC JAPAN and ASOBISYSTEM—is getting its first late night installment on August 25th.

YYY is spearheaded by 4 of Japan’s cutting-edge music veterans: Nakata Yasutaka, kz, tofubeats, and banvox, all of whom have gained immense attention around the globe. In many ways, it can be said that hosting YYY late into the night has been something long yearned for by fans.

It has also been announced that MATZ will be joining the line-up, a well-established music artist active in Hokkaido who has gained much attention from DJs all around Japan for his original tracks that he posts to SoundCloud.

YYY is always hosted at Studio Coast in Shinkiba. The venue is known for its multitude of different stages and areas. The popular “Ray-Van” party is set to be held in the WATER area which will no doubt be hugely well-received for summertime. With artists including Shogo Soezima (T.U.S), TJO, Fumihiko Chiba and YASUKI leading the pack, each floor will be filled with DJs ready to dazzle and exite.

You can expect to see the popular traditional Japanese music-only club party Japangu♪, which started back in 2003 in Shinjuku Ni-Chome, in the BOX area, while the ISLAND area will be hosted by numbersixxx, a regular artist at the popular party xxx.

Studio Coast was absolutely packed and spilling with fans partying late into the night for last year’s “YYY.” The next installment is about to hit, so why not get yourself a ticket and experience the madness yourself?

Related Article：Yasutaka Nakata to Provide Official Worldwide Anthem for Ultra Music Festival—and Perform at Ultra Japan

Related Article：Second Wave of Artists Announced for Yasutaka Nakata Produced Festival “OTONOKO”

The second wave of artists for the big music festival “OTONOKO,” which was help in Kanazawa last year to huge success, have finally been announced. The new artists added to the line-up include Taiiku Okazaki, DAISHI DANCE, tofubeats, and banvox.

The festival is hosted by none other than Yasutaka Nakata, whose influential career spans wide across the Japanese music industry. Nakata is well-known as being the producer for the huge J-pop artists Perfume and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. As well as that, he has created music for international ceremonies, as well as for a huge variety of movies both inside and outside Japan including for Hollywood. A representative musician, producer and DJ for Japan, he is well respected and recognised by artists all around the world.

Last year’s “OTONOKO” prospered greatly. The next festival will be held this year on December 2nd at Ishikawa Sangyo Tenji in Hall 4.

Tickets are now available at various playguides in Japan. It has also been announced that there will be a round-trip bus tour directly to the venue where the festival is being held. There are two plans in place: the first will give you the opportunity to be taken back to where you came from to reach the venue, while the second includes an overnight stay so that you can enjoy your time in Kanazawa. There will also be original OTONOKO merchandise for bus tour takers only. For more details, be sure to check the homepage. Reservations for the bus tour will take place over on the event’s official website on July 31st from 16:00.

Nakata hopes to deliver his sound (“OTO”) to the world from his hometown of Kanagawa with OTONOKO, a new kind of festival the likes you have never seen.

For the latest information and details regarding OTONOKO, please visit the event’s official homepage.

Related Article：CAPSULE Announced to Perform at the Yasutaka Nakata-Produced Music Festival “OTONOKO”!

Related Article：Introducing the latest clips and videos from internationally acclaimed Japanese artists—from Kyary Pamyu Pamyu to Perfume & more!