Tokyo Wave

What are our favorite Japanese films? What's going to happen to an ex-Tokyo 2020 exec who has been slapped with a new arrest warrant on additional bribery charges? Aaron and Parker discuss the Yen hitting the 150 mark vs the USD and a man arrested after going on a rampage attacking junior high school students with a bamboo sword.

Writer, Translator, Cool Japan Producer, and Global Communications Specialist Benjamin Boas talks about his upcoming new book, From Cool Japan to Your Japan, which explains why the Japanese government and local organizations need to change their tourism promotion strategy. Aaron and Parker discuss Japan's plan to scrap non-digital health insurance cards, new legal action against the Unification Ch...

Why is North Korea upping its pace of conducting missile launches, including one that went straight over northern Japan? Are they on the verge of conducting a nuclear bomb test, and do they pose a tangible threat to Japan's national security? Aaron and Parker discuss rising Japanese household spending, Japan's largest airport hotel complex to open at Haneda after almost 3 years sitting empty, and...

How can you avoid the impending throngs of tourists and enjoy Japan's autumn foliage in Oku-Nikko? How is the Japanese government trying to fight inflation, address the weak yen, and rev up the economy? Aaron and Parker discuss what to expect from the Japanese parliament's extraordinary session and a Tokyo confectionary firm chief who resigned after video footage of him going hog wild in a road ra...

Video game translator, localization expert, and video game music DJ Andrew Klim tells us about his journey from being an English teacher in a rough and tumble junior high school in Yamanashi to working on localizations for massive titles including Final Fantasy, Shenmue, One Piece, Attack on Titan, and... erotic games. Aaron and Parker share awe at Andrew's tales of brawling with chimpira in Koenj...

California-based real estate development consultant, government relations professional, and cannabis dispensary co-owner Tanner Blackman shares his journey from teaching English in rural Japan to guiding major urban development projects through the approval process in LA. Aaron and Parker discuss Japan easing COVID-19 border controls, possible government intervention as the Yen plummets, and a in...

What do Japan's complicated new border rules mean for individual tourists looking to visit Japan? Aaron and Parker discuss the plummeting Yen, record pretax profits at Japanese firms, and a city looking for 1,400 owners of 31-yr-old time capsules.

Is Kyoto ready for the inevitable deluge of foreign tourists who will come back in massive numbers once Japan's borders reopen? Will the resurge in inbound tourism be good or bad? Aaron and Parker discuss the budget for PM Abe's state funeral, Japan's economic outlook for August amid rising prices, and 4 Indonesian interns who received letters of appreciation for capturing a monkey.

Akiya Hunter and black metal warlock Matt Ketchum discusses the ongoing war on deviant monkeys, super-powerful laser beams, bungee jumping and downhill mountain biking in Gunma, the return to live underground Japanese metal shows, joining the Kanagawa DEI Rotary Club, and the slow restart of inbound tourism in Japan. Aaron and Parker discuss Japan's ongoing heat wave, Nintendo's rising profit outl...

Join us for a sneak preview of some of the original music that will be featured in our upcoming audio drama, The Mean Streets of Tokyo Wave. Aaron and Parker discuss KDDI's massive cell network outage and the ongoing monkey rampage in Yamaguchi Prefecture.

What security lapses led to the tragic assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe? Aaron and Parker discuss PM Kishida's impending Cabinet reshuffle and the campaign around the lead-up to the 2025 Osaka Expo.

Japan-Middle East legal beagle, udon shop owner, and hardcore bicyclist Christopher Gunson tells us how he became the go-to lawyer for Japanese firms doing business in EMEA, and his cycling adventures that average 4,000 km per year. Also udon. Aaron and Parker discuss the sudden shooting of former Prime Minister Abe as the situation develops in real time.

Why are Koenji residents protesting a redevelopment around the Tokyo-area station's north side? Will Japanese property prices finally start to rise after decades of stagnation? Aaron and Parker discuss Japanese teachers struggling to get kids to take off their masks even during an unprecedented heatwave, and a slew of street grate thefts near Tokyo as scrap metal prices reach new highs.

What is going on with the 2022 elections and what does it mean for Japan? How did a Japan city subcontractor lose a memory drive containing the personal info of all its 460,000 residents? Aaron and Parker discuss a Kyodo poll predicting the Japan ruling coalition will secure a majority in the July 10 upper house race and two people left ill after a suspicious liquid was sprayed inside a greater To...

Why are 80% of Japan's COVID subsidy applications going unverified? What will the ever-weakening yen mean for Japanese consumers? Aaron and Parker discuss the Bank of Japan maintaining its ultra-low rate policy and a Japanese man arrested over nailing a Putin straw doll to a tree at a shrine.

Why has the Yen gotten so cheap and what does that mean for Japanese consumers and the economy as a whole? Will we finally see Japan restart foreign tourism as virus worries wane? Aaron and Parker discuss the massive 9.1% jump in wholesale prices driven by the weak yen and the vandalism of artworks in central Japan by junior high students during a school trip.

Are you ready for a sneak preview of our upcoming audio drama? What inspired an 83-year-old Japanese man to sail solo, nonstop across the Pacific? Aaron and Parker discuss a new lawsuit against Japan's dual nationality ban and Toshiba's privatization trials and tribulations.

The voice of the Tokaido Shinkansen, voice actress, entrepreneur, and improv comedian Donna Burke shares her story of how she became one of Japan's top voices. Aaron and Parker discuss Japan slowly accepting foreign tourists, the Okinawan governor's gaffe, and there's a big surprise at the end!

What is going on with Japan's plan to discharge treated water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station? Are we going to see a PR and health fallout from the planned release in April 2023? Aaron and Parker discuss Tokyo's plan to accept small-scale tours from 4 countries, and a leak that is threatening industrial water supplies to central Japan businesses including Toyota Motor.

Vintage audio repair expert and startup founder Ippei Soma shares his story, going from working at a dorm company to starting his own business fixing and selling vintage gear, and then co-founding a startup, Acoustic Innovations. Aaron and Parker discuss SoftBank Group logging a net loss of $13 billion in FY2021 and Japan police urging officers to avoid the impression of discrimination.

Will bids to open casinos in Osaka and Nagasaki Prefectures succeed? Why did the Wakayama bid fail? Aaron and Parker discuss the yen's continuing rapid fall, a survey that found that 48% of foreigners in Japan region are earning less than before pandemic, and how the world's largest gold bar in Japan has surged in value amid the Ukraine crisis.

What is driving a boom in vinyl record sales in the US and Japan? Why is city pop, a genre of Japanese pop music that emerged in the late 1970s and peaked during Japan's golden age of the 1980s bubble economy, seeing a sudden resurgence in popularity? Aaron and Parker discuss the Yen's 20-year low and a Japanese bird researcher's world-first discovery that birds use words and grammar.

Akiya Hunter and black metal warlock Matt Ketchum shares his experiences learning how to surf and rock climb, and how he scored his first surfboard from an eccentric mountain hermit who has a place in Japan's surf history. Aaron and Parker discuss Japan beginning to relax its foreigner entry ban, and a Japanese soap firm who made their April Fool's joke reality by creating a cat-seducing fabric so...

Reuters correspondent Rocky Swift talks about coming to Japan to teach in rural Nagano, becoming a business and market focused journalist, and also his stint as a diplomat serving as a US foreign service officer. Aaron and Parker discuss rising consumer prices, an SMBC Nikko VP busted for stock market manipulation, and 24 Chiba cops referred to prosecutors for card gambling at a police dorm.

Why did Tokyo almost suffer electric power blackouts and are we at danger in the future? Why is the Tohoku Shinkansen still not fully back online following the big earthquake on March 16? Aaron and Parker discuss shareholders rejecting a plan to split Toshiba into 2 companies and driver's license center in north Japan caught collecting an unnecessary fee for 15 years.