MOVIES,MUSIC & ENTERTAINMENT (48)
Keiji Inafune Stays Ahead of the Game
Keiji Inafune Stays Ahead of the Game
From CAPCOM to comcept
Keiji Inafune has been named one of the top 10 game creators in the world. The video game concept developer and designer had a stellar 23-year career at CAPCOM as head of the production, research & development and online development divisions. He oversaw over 900 employees and produced over 60 game titles including CAPCOM’s bestselling hits Mega Man, Street Fighter, Resident Evil, Dead Rising, Lost Planet and Onimusha. In 2010, he went on to found comcept Inc. and in 2013 the company successfully raised over $4 million in funding from 70,000 backers through Kickstarter for his newest project, the Mighty No. 9. Tokyo Journal Executive Editor Anthony Al-Jamie met with Keiji Inafune at Anime Expo 2014 in Los Angeles to find out more about this innovator.
Model/Actress Garcelle Beauvais
From Model to Actress to Author, Garcelle Beauvais Does it all
Haitian-American model and actress Garcelle Beauvais has appeared on the big and small screen in productions like The Jamie Foxx Show, NYPD Blue, Wild Wild West with Will Smith and Flight with Denzel Washington. She began her career as a model for such clients as Avon, Mary Kay, Clairol, and Calvin Klein, and has modeled for Playboy. In 2014, at the age of 47, she was selected for People Magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful Women issue. Tokyo Journal Executive Editor Anthony Al-Jamie spoke with Garcelle about her career, charity work and new book.
L.A.’s Entrepreneurial Photographer Brad Elterman
Introducing Western Rock, Pop and Punk Pictures to Japan
Brad Elterman is a renowned photographer from California’s San Fernando Valley who captured iconic shots of 1970s rock, punk and pop musicians including Robert Plant, David Bowie, the Sex Pistols, The Runaways, Bay City Rollers, ABBA and Leif Garrett. Although his gritty, snapshot-like photographs have appeared in such publications as Rolling Stone, People, Hit Parader and the New York Post, Brad made a name for himself sending his photos overseas long before the days of digital cameras and FedEx. He went on to launch one of the first West Coast celebrity photo agencies, California Features International, Inc., in 1980. In 1992, he co-founded Online USA, Inc., which was sold to Getty Images, Inc., in 2000. Tokyo Journal’s Executive Editor Anthony Al-Jamie spoke with Brad Elterman about his early days in Japan and how social media launched a resurgence in his career.
ONE OK ROCK
Originally a five-piece band formed in 2005, the four-member band ONE OK ROCK now includes singer Taka (son of Japanese singers Masako Mori and Shinichi Mori), guitarist and founder Toru, bassist Ryota and drummer Tomoya. Fusing emo, rock and heavy metal with mixed Japanese and English lyrics, the band has gone from selling out shows in Japan to rocking fans overseas. Tokyo Journal Executive Editor Anthony Al-Jamie caught up with Taka and Ryota before the band’s performance at the Pomona, California leg of the Vans Warped Tour; a two-month nationwide tour that went to 43 cities.
TJ: Can you tell me about your background? Where did you guys grow up?
TAKA: I was born in Shibuya, Tokyo. I grew up in Osaka and San Francisco.
RYOTA: I’m a bassist from Osaka. When I was six years old, I started hip-hop dancing and when I was 
16 years old, I joined the band.
WagakkiBand
Fusing East and West with Old and New
WagakkiBand is an intriguing act that fuses rock music with wagakki (traditional Japanese musical instruments), shigin (Japanese poetry recitation) and Vocaloid songs (a Vocaloid is a singing voice synthesizer allowing users to input their own lyrics). Singer Yuko Suzuhana, who won the Grand Prize at Nippon Columbia’s nationwide shigin contest in Japan, is joined by seven others playing traditional instruments including the shakuhachi (bamboo flute), tsugaru-jamisen (Japanese three-string guitar-like instrument), koto (Japanese harp) and wadaiko (Japanese drum). Their hit song “Senbonzakura” has over 22 million views on YouTube and their single “Ikusa / Nadeshiko Sakura” is the theme song for the anime TV show adaptation of Koei’s Samurai Warriors video game series. They played their first U.S. show on July 4, 2015 as part of Anime Expo at Club Nokia in Los Angeles, and their new album Yasou Emaki is scheduled for a September 2, 2015 release. Tokyo Journal ’s Executive Editor Anthony Al-Jamie spoke with vocalist Yuko Suzuhana, shakuhachi player Daisuke Kaminaga, koto player Kiyoshi Ibukuro, tsugaru-jamisen player Beni Ninagawa, guitarist and backing vocalist Machiya, bass player Asa, drummer Wasabi and wadaiko player Kurona at Anime Expo 2015 in Los Angeles.
Rock Photographer Mick Rock
The Man Who Shot the Seventies
Born in 1948 in London, England, Mick Rock is an acclaimed British photographer known for his iconic shots of David Bowie, Queen, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Syd Barrett, the Sex Pistols and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, with recent subjects including Lady Gaga, Snoop Dogg, Pharrell Williams, Jimmy Fallon, Daft Punk and The Black Keys. His 2003 retrospective exhibition of 186 prints at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography was described in the Japanese media as “one of the finest collections of pop art to ever reach these shores.” He was known as David Bowie’s official photographer, and his newest publication by Taschen, The Rise of David Bowie 1972-1973, will be available in September 2015. In August 2015, he began hosting his own TV show On the Record with Mick Rock on the Ovation Channel. Tokyo Journal’s Executive Editor Anthony Al-Jamie rapped with Mick Rock about his four decades of memorable musical imagery.
Legendary Rock Photographer Bob Gruen
From John Lennon to Green Day
Bob Gruen is one of the most well-known and respected photographers in rock and roll today. By the mid-1970s, he was already regarded as one of the foremost documenters of the music scene, working with major artists such as John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Tina Turner, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Elton John, KISS, Aerosmith, David Bowie and Alice Cooper as well as covering emerging new wave and punk bands including the New York Dolls, Patti Smith, the Clash, the Sex Pistols, the Ramones and Blondie. Tokyo Journal ’s Executive Editor Anthony Al-Jamie interviewed his colleague and fellow Tokyo Journal columnist Bob Gruen about his remarkable career.
The Legendary Whisky a Go Go and Rainbow Bar and Grill
Since opening in 1964, the world famous Whisky a Go Go on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles has hosted some of the biggest rock stars in history. The Doors, The Byrds, Janis Joplin, Neil Young, Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, Led Zeppelin, Alice Cooper, Van Halen, Guns N’ Roses, Mötley Crüe and Metallica have played on the stage that continues to launch today’s up-and-coming artists. In 1972, Mario Maglieri, along with Whisky co-founder Elmer Valentine, Lou Adler and others, started the Rainbow Bar and Grill down the street from the Whisky. Originally the Villa Nova restaurant where Marilyn Monroe first met Joe DiMaggio on a blind date, the Rainbow opened with a party for Elton John. It went on to become a stomping ground for celebrities such as John Lennon, Keith Moon, Neil Diamond, Robert Plant and even Elvis Presley. John Belushi ate his last meal at the Rainbow, while W. C. Fields punched a hole in a wall, Charles Manson got thrown out and Janis Joplin had her last drink at the Whisky. Mario, who over time became the sole owner of the Whisky, passed on the running of these two legendary Hollywood hangouts to his son Mikeal, and now his grandson Mike. Tokyo Journal ’s Executive Editor Anthony Al-Jamie met with all three generations of the Maglieri family at the Rainbow Bar and Grill.
Carl St. Clair
Celebrating a Quarter Century of ‘Good Conduct’ With Pacific Symphony
Carl St.Clair is one of the longest tenured music directors of a major American orchestra, celebrating 25 years at the helm of the Orange County-based Pacific Symphony this year. It is the largest orchestra formed in the last 50 years in the U.S. A graduate of the University of Texas, he went on to become a tenured professor at the University of Michigan and studied conducting under Leonard Bernstein and Gustav Meier as a Conducting Fellow at Tanglewood. He was the assistant director of the renowned Boston Symphony Orchestra with the legendary conductor Seiji Ozawa before joining Pacific Symphony. He is on the faculty of the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music and is the principal conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica. He has led symphonies in the largest cities of North America and he has appeared with orchestras in Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Israel and South America. Tokyo Journal’s Executive Editor Anthony Al-Jamie spoke with Carl St.Clair about his 25th anniversary.
Apocalyptica
Classical Cello Metal Maestros
Formed in 1993 in Helsinki, Finland, Apocalyptica has come a long way over the past two decades. First gaining recognition as a Metallica cover band after their 1996 debut album Plays Metallica by Four Cellos, they have gone on to release eight albums and sell over five million copies. Consisting of three cellists (Eicca Toppinen, Paavo Lötjönen and Perttu Kivilaakso) and one drummer (Mikko Sirén), the band has progressed from playing instrumental music to featuring guest vocalists — such as Ozzy Osbourne, Marilyn Manson, Billy Joe Armstrong of Green Day, Corey Taylor of Slipknot and Gavin Rossdale of Bush — to recruiting Franky Perez as their full time lead vocalist. Tokyo Journal’s Executive Editor Anthony Al-Jamie spoke with cellist, songwriter, producer, arranger and Apocalyptica cofounder Eicca.
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