music, podcasts, and recordings from tokyo
Podcasts and self-produced music from Tokyo. AI trends from Tokyo, Asia News Analysis, Odd Japanese Items, and documenting the rising conflict in the Indo-Pacific region.
Japan Wut Podcast drops a new AI music episode! Dive into exotic folk vibes from Europe to Turkey, crafted on Suno.com. Think klezmer with soulful violin, trumpet, acoustic guitar, cajon, & piano. Dance to groovy rhythms & sway to melancholic melodies. #AIMusic #Klezmer #FolkMusic #SunoAI
Japan Wut Podcast dives deep! Is JICA’s Africa Hometown project AI surveillance or geopolitical chess vs. BRICS? Discover Japan’s LLMs like tsuzumi & CALM3 battling Big Tech. JPYC stablecoin: freedom or control for your wallet? Tune in for Japan’s tech & global moves!
Get show notes at: matthewpmbigelow.com
#JapanAI #TICAD9 #Stablecoins
Show Notes
CyberAgent’s CALM3-22B-Chat: Open-Source Japanese LLM for Developers
Japan Scrambles to Refute Claims It Is Bringing in a ‘Flood’ of Africans
TICAD9: Marrying African Ingenuity with Japan’s Technological Strength
Degas Limited Pledges $100M to Make Ghana Africa's First AI-Powered Agricultural Hub
Japan Isn't Fulfilling Its Sustainability Potential. How Do We Encourage Better Investment?
Exotic Folk 2! The adventure continues. Enjoy full-spectrum instrumentals: fiddle, trumpet, drums, and piano recorded in front of an AI studio audience. Perfect for folk music lovers. #JapanWUT #AIMusic #ExoticFolk #Klezmer #FolkTunes
Topics on today’s podcast
1. Wargame: AI-driven drones with facial recognition & cyber hacks targeting Japan’s cities.
2. Is Japan pushing WEF AI policies?
3. Japan and the US were once best buddies, but what’s now driving them apart?
#DroneWarfare #JapanSecurity #AIThreats #CyberWar #WEF #HiroshimaAI #Geopolitics
Show Notes
Wargame
**On the Horizon: The Ukraine War and the Evolving Threat of Drone Terrorism**
**Countering Swarms: Strategic Considerations and Opportunities in Drone Warfare**
**Security analysis of drones systems: Attacks, limitations, and recommendations**
**Drone Wars: Developments in Drone Swarm Technology**
**Counterswarming Is Imperative**
**SWARM: Pioneering The Future of Autonomous Drone Operations and Electronic Warfare**
**Drone Swarms: The Good, The Bad, and The Terrifying Future**
**Breaking the Shield: Countering Drone Defenses**
**Countering the Swarm: Anti-Drone Technologies and Tactics in Modern Warfare**
JAPAN/AI/WEF
Data Free Flow With Trust
Data Free Flow with Trust (DFFT): Paths towards Free and Trusted Data Flows
Every country has its own digital laws. How can we get data flowing freely between them?
Future of Data Governance in Asia and Operationalisation of ‘Data Free Flow with Trust’*
Japan’s Strategy for Building a Robust Domestic AI Ecosystem
Shaping Global AI Governance: Enhancements and Next Steps for the G7 Hiroshima AI Process
Generative AI Governance: Shaping a Collective Global Future
Minister Hagino exchanged documents with WEF Managing Director regarding Hiroshima AI Process
Japan, US, WHere are you?
Japan’s Strategic Interests in the Global South: Africa
Ishiba-Lee Summit Meeting Summary
Japan’s $5.5 Billion Pledge for African Development
A New Normal?: Navigating Japan’s Shifting Political Currents
Ishiba omits divisive proposals in first policy speech as PM
Can the US-Japan alliance stay the course as Japanese voters reset their politics?
Japan WUT A.I. Music Podcast 13: Exotic Folk! Enjoy full-spectrum instrumentals: fiddle, trumpet, drums, and piano recorded in front of an AI studio audience. Perfect for folk music lovers. #JapanWUT #AIMusic #ExoticFolk #Klezmer #FolkTunes
Adam Jang aka rock legend Yeti Valhalla (Instagram) is back in Tokyo. He discusses how to become a fully independent music artist, which involves some sketchy stories from Vietnam, where he is based. The conversation meanders across business, family, tech, and gear.
See him on the Tokyo tour here, at Meguro Live Station on August 24. Always a banger! I toured with him once!
Yeti Valhalla YouTube
Japan’s population falls 900K+, testing Society 5.0 amid surging migration. AI drones thrive, yet rogue AI stir trouble. Supply chains face new fronts: Japan’s frigate pact, TSMC leaks, and China’s space defense push. #JapanWut #AI #SupplyChain
Show Notes
DEPOPULATION
Number of Japanese people declines by over 900,000 for the first time | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News
SOCIETY 5.0
Japan’s AI-Powered Drone Boom Is Changing the Game
Israel Launches AI System to Forecast Strategic Shifts
SoftBank Group sees better fortunes on surging AI stocks
'Catastrophic': AI Agent Goes Rogue, Wipes Out Company's Entire Database
Beware The AI Industrial Complex
IT firm buys customer complaints, sells them as big data
Japanese newspaper Yomiuri sues Perplexity AI over copyright
SUPPLY CHAIN WAR
Taiwan detains 3 for alleged TSMC tech leak to Tokyo Electron
Nuclear bodies join forces to advance atomic-powered ship development
Taiwan plans to purchase nearly 50,000 indigenous drones by 2027
China warns against Japan's 1st space defense guidelines
Chinese researchers suggest lasers and sabotage to counter Musk's Starlink satellites
Climate, gender in focus for World Bank in aid-reliant Pacific Islands
China's Grip On Critical Minerals Disrupts U.S. Defense Supply Chain
Discover Japan Wut's latest AI Music Podcast, blending gritty Southern Rock with vibrant Japanese flair! Dive into innovative sounds, AI-driven creativity, and cultural fusion. Tune in at matthewpmbigelow.com
Operation Southern Grit: Classified Audio Mission
Agents, your ears are needed for a covert drop of Southern Rock instrumentals on our AI Music Podcast! Infiltrate the riffs of Phantom Blaze and navigate the pulse of Crimson Helix. This ain’t just music—it’s a stealth op through Obsidian Spark and Thunder Wraith. Click the link to decode the soul of the South. Time’s ticking—join the mission now! #SouthernRock #AIMusicPodcast
Michael Yon Substack https://substack.com/@michaelyon
Michael Yon, former Green Beret & war correspondent, connects the dots between Zero Borders Activism in Nagasaki, anthropological warfare, Fabian Tactics, Thailand-Cambodia conflict, China’s Belt and Road, Oligarchical Systems and more!
Michael Yon is a former Green Beret, author, and war correspondent with over two decades of experience reporting from conflict zones across more than 100 countries. His work focuses on unfiltered, on-the-ground perspectives, covering complex issues like global insurgencies, migration, and geopolitical conflicts. Today, we’ll discuss his insights from the frontlines.
Japan navigates normative dystopia within its Society 5.0 infrastructure. Egypt and China use yuan and AI-driven payment systems to rival the U.S. dollar. U.S.-Japan trade deal strengthens G7 against Beijing’s rise. #SupplyChainWar #Geopolitics
Show Notes
Intelligence Brief: U.S.-Japan Trade Deal and Indo-Pacific Supply Chain Dynamics
The U.S.-Japan trade agreement, finalized on July 23, 2025, reshapes Indo-Pacific supply chain dynamics, placing Japan at the heart of the G7-BRICS rivalry. Japan, a G7 member and U.S. ally, faces a complex strategic landscape due to its maritime borders with BRICS nations like China and Russia, as well as BRICS-friendly states such as North Korea. The deal commits Japan to a $550 billion investment in U.S. semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, and energy, alongside increased imports of American cars, rice, and agricultural products, and $17 billion annually in U.S. defense equipment. By lowering U.S. tariffs on Japanese autos from a threatened 25% to 15%, the agreement deepens Japan’s integration into G7 supply chains, particularly in critical technologies, reducing reliance on China, its largest trading partner. This aligns with G7 efforts to counter BRICS influence through initiatives like the Quad and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, bolstering regional economic security. However, Japan’s geographic proximity to BRICS states heightens geopolitical risks, as strengthened U.S.-Japan military cooperation could escalate tensions in the South China Sea or over Taiwan. The deal’s economic shifts may disrupt regional trade, with higher U.S. tariffs on non-NAFTA auto imports pressuring Indo-Pacific allies and Japan’s pivot to U.S. agricultural imports challenging exporters like Australia. Japan’s G7 alignment grows stronger, but its delicate position necessitates careful diplomacy to mitigate potential economic retaliation from China.
Egypt, China central banks sign pacts to boost yuan use, payment systems
US lifts sanctions on Myanmar junta allies after general's letter to Trump
US demands to know what allies would do in event of war over Taiwan
Russia To Begin Trading Gold On St. Petersburg Exchange
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov: Russia conducts 90% of trade with BRICS countries in national currencies
One Billion AI Agents Concept and Crystal Intelligence
How One Japanese Town Succeeded in AI Transformation
AI Breakthrough for Depression: Japan Approves New Brain Scan Device
Japan’s Neuromorphic Chips Power AI Revolution
Neuromorphic chips mimic the brain’s neural networks, using spiking neural networks (SNNs) to process data as event-driven spikes, unlike traditional chips’ binary operations. This parallel processing integrates memory and computation, cutting latency and power use. Unlike von Neumann architecture, which separates memory and processing, neuromorphic chips emulate synaptic connections, enabling efficient, real-time AI tasks. Japan is capitalizing on this to lead in AI and edge computing.
Sony’s neuromorphic image sensors, developed with Prophesee, use event-based processing to capture only visual changes, enhancing robotics and consumer tech like BRAVIA XR TVs, powered by the Cognitive Processor XR for human-like sensory processing. Sony’s acquisition of Insightness bolsters its efforts. Toshiba’s 2016 Time Domain Neural Network chip, presented at A-SSCC, targets low-power IoT devices. In 2019, with Johns Hopkins University, Toshiba unveiled a chip mimicking hippocampal spatial perception at ISCAS in Sapporo, enabling compact autonomous robots for infrastructure inspection.
Use cases include: 1) Autonomous Robotics: Neuromorphic chips enable robots to process sensory data in real time with minimal power, ideal for tasks like infrastructure monitoring. 2) Healthcare Diagnostics: These chips power real-time analysis of medical data, enhancing wearable devices for continuous patient monitoring. Japan’s smart tech strategy, backed by R&D, drives growth. The Asia-Pacific neuromorphic market, led by Japan, projects a 119% growth rate from 2024 to 2029 (Mordor Intelligence). Globally, valued at $138.2M in 2023, it’s set to reach $600M by 2032 with a 55% CAGR (Global Market Insights).
Sources: Mordor Intelligence, Global Market Insights, Toshiba, Yole Group
Osaka Prefecture to ban people aged 65 and over from making phone calls in front of ATMs; new AI camera technology to combat fraud
🎺Get ready to groove with our Nu-Jazz AI Music Podcast! ⚡️Sizzling tracks fuse soulful Nu-Jazz vibes with heart-pumping energy. Tune in and strut! 🥁
Dive into the surge of populism & technocracy in post-Covid Japan with our latest episode. We unpack Sanseito’s rise, Team Mirai’s tech-driven vision, and the LDP’s historic loss. Where do people go if they have no home? #JapanElection #Populism #Technocracy
Based on the 2025 Japanese House of Councillors election results, here are all parties that won seats, including Team Mirai, with their respective seats, votes, and percentage of votes cast:
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP): 38 seats, 12.81 million votes, 21.6%
Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP): 26 seats, 7.40 million votes, 12.5%
Democratic Party for the People (DPP): 17 seats, 7.62 million votes, 12.9%
Sanseito: 14 seats, 7.43 million votes, 12.5%
Komeito: 12 seats, 5.21 million votes, 8.8%
Japan Innovation Party (Ishin): 8 seats, 4.85 million votes, 8.2%
Japanese Communist Party (JCP): 4 seats, 3.56 million votes, 6.0%
Reiwa Shinsengumi: 3 seats, 2.67 million votes, 4.5%
Team Mirai: 1 seat, 1.40 million votes, 2.6%
Japan’s summer heat is here, and so is The Japan Wut Podcast! Dropping our second AI-crafted reggae & ska music episode to vibe with the season. Tune in for chill beats and island feels!
#JapanWutPodcast #Reggae #Ska #SummerVibes
We’re diving into the Supply Chain War and Society 5.0. Are Japan and USA drifting apart? How costly will political blindspots be? What is Shizuoka doing with AI Satellites?
SUPPLY CHAIN WAR
Japan tariff negotiator held in-depth talks with Lutnick, Japanese government says
Tea-Field Carbon Credits: A New Tool for Fighting Global Warming | The Government of Japan
[단독] 서해 구조물에 온누리호 접근하자 中 함정 등 5척이 둘러쌌다
Exports to U.S. surpass China, may aid Taiwan's economy: Scholar
Sabotage suspected as mystery blasts hit oil tankers
SOCIETY 5.0
SoftBank Group Shareholders Meeting: CEO Son "Aims to be the core of the ASI industrial base"
Dive into the vibes of AI-generated Ska & Reggae! From skanking beats to chill rasta rhythms, we explore the future of music creation. Listen now and join the groove! #AImusic #Ska #Reggae
Japan Wut Podcast Ep. 217: "Organ on a Chip" explores AI-driven medical & energy breakthroughs. From organ-on-a-chip to digital power plants, discover Japan's AI innovations revolutionizing healthcare & tech. #AI #MedTech #DigitalPower #JapanWut
SHOW NOTES
Lawson opens next-generation AI-powered convenience store in Tokyo
'Stop hiring humans': AI company Artisan launches Times Square billboard campaign
CEO Replit Amjad Masad says the best engineers are now managing fleets of AI agents. (X LINK)
AI is doing up to 50% of the work at Salesforce, CEO Marc Benioff says
CyberAgent Commits 400 Million Yen Annually to Boost AI-Driven Development
Kansai Electric Power Pioneers AI-Driven Digital Power Plants
Key Citations
Opening new possibilities for medicine.Opening a prosperous future. (Japanese Company)
From Organ-on-a-Chip to Human-on-a-Chip: A Review of Research Progress and Latest Applications
AI-Powered Security Cameras: Transforming Crime Detection and Prevention
Dive into the AI Music Podcast Experiment! Explore cutting-edge AI music generation with Synthwave 2.0. Discover mind-blowing, AI-crafted tunes that redefine what great music can be. #AIMusic #Synthwave #MusicInnovation
How are Japan and China mitigating energy risks amid the Iran Situation? What’s going on with Japan’s 5G Infrastructure? Can Tourism Surveillance be the answer to Over Tourism?
#War #SupplyChains #5G
Show Notes
Breakthrough 5G Railway Test on Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line
JAPAN AI Slashes Press Release Creation Time with In-House AI Agent
5G mmWave Coverage Enhancement in Nishi-Shinjuku
China-build 1043-meter tunnel of KKH project completed
Israeli strikes one more challenge for new China-Iran rail corridor
The Saffron Wraiths on Japan Wut AI Music Podcast 6: Asia Psychedelica. Gritty riffs, funky drums, Khmer mysticism. Japanese-Cambodian band blends Sabbath & Cambodian rock. Survived guitarist's '90 shoe-itis death. #AsiaPsychedelica