POST-WHATEVER with Ken Nishikawa

The US government ranked every language in the world in five categories - by how much learning time it requires for an American diplomat to become fluent. Japanese didn't make it to any of these categories. In fact, it found itself in a unique category on its own - above all the languages that exist. Does that mean Japanese is the single most difficult and/or complex language in the world?In Episode 10 of Post-Whatever, I am tackling that very subjectWhile at it, I will offer some questionable answers to the questions such as; why the "hardest language in the world" title is almost entirely meaningless, why Japanese is simultaneously terrifying AND simpler than English, and why language exams should be abolished immediately.It's academic. It's educational. It's occasionally quite funny and merciless.Post-Whatever with Ken Nishikawa — weekly cultural commentary on the space between Japan and the West, presented by Ken — composer, broadcaster, DJ, film director, and occasional grumpy old man — who has worked for the BBC, MTV, TBS, J-WAVE, and several organisations that probably regret it.New episodes every Thursday. Like and subscribe if you know what’s good for you and partial to being mildly offended.Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and YouTube.Search: POST-WHATEVER with Ken Nishikawa#PostWhatever #KenNishikawa  #TokyoLife #ExpatJapan #Podcast #JapanPodcast #TokyoPodcast #JapanExpat #LivinginJapan #TokyoExpat #JapanTips #JapanLife #TokyoLife #JapanVlog #HiddenJapan #TokyoVlog #JapanCulture #CulturalDifferences #JapanObsessed #LearnAboutJapan #CulturalCommentary #Japan #Tokyo  #TalkShow #WeeklyPodcast #CulturePodcast #JapaneseCulture #TravelJapan #TalkShow #TokyoHistory #JapanHistory #LanguageLearning  #LearnJapanese #Linguistics #Bilingual

Every week, somewhere in the world, a well-meaning Western chef reaches for silken tofu and tamari soy sauce and applies them to everything with the quiet confidence of someone who has done absolutely no research.This episode is for them. And for you.In Episode 9 of Post-Whatever, Ken demystifies two of the most misunderstood ingredients in your Japanese pantry: tamari soy sauce and silken tofu. Both are excellent. Both are routinely used in entirely the wrong context. And both have been systematically misrepresented.Also : why the little paper flag on kids’ lunch counts as a national security risk.It's academic. It's educational. It's occasionally quite funny and merciless in tone.Post-Whatever with Ken Nishikawa — weekly cultural commentary on the space between Japan and the West, presented by Ken — composer, broadcaster, DJ, film director, and occasional grumpy old man — who has worked for the BBC, MTV, TBS, J-WAVE, and several organisations that probably regret it.New episodes every Thursday. Like and subscribe if you know what’s good for you and partial to being mildly offended.Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and YouTube.Search: POST-WHATEVER with Ken Nishikawa#PostWhatever #KenNishikawa  #TokyoLife #ExpatJapan #Podcast #JapanPodcast #TokyoPodcast #JapanExpat #LivinginJapan #TokyoExpat #JapanTips #JapanLife #TokyoLife #JapanVlog #HiddenJapan #TokyoVlog #JapanCulture #CulturalDifferences #JapanObsessed #LearnAboutJapan #CulturalCommentary #Japan #Tokyo  #TalkShow #WeeklyPodcast #CulturePodcast #JapaneseCulture #TravelJapan #TalkShow #TokyoHistory #JapanHistory #tofu #tamari #soysauce #JapanPodcast  #JapaneseFood

The Doomsday Clock stands at 85 seconds to midnight. We just moved it forward by 3 seconds. As a species, we are clearly committed.In Episode 8 of Post-Whatever, Ken Nishikawa asks a straightforward question: would you kamikaze? This week's episode debunks the myth of patriotism — not with a rant (well, a little bit), but with history, linguistics, and some quietly uncomfortable facts that several governments would probably prefer you didn't know.Topics include: why “best country in the world" is a statement only someone who has lived in all 195 nations for at least a year is remotely qualified to make; how the Japanese, British, and French governments all used identical methodsto strip children of their native languages through humiliation and peer surveillance and replace regional identity with state-approved nationalism.Also featuring: Elon Musk, Frank Zappa, and the quietly radical notion that we might, as a species, be just intelligent enough to destroy ourselves and not quite wise enough to stop.Post-Whatever with Ken Nishikawa — weekly cultural commentary on the space between Japan and the West, presented by Ken — composer, broadcaster, DJ, film director, and occasional grumpy old man — who has worked for the BBC, MTV, TBS, J-WAVE, and several organisations that probably regret it.New episodes every Thursday. Like and subscribe if you know what’s good for you and partial to being mildly offended.Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and YouTube.Search: POST-WHATEVER with Ken Nishikawa#PostWhatever #KenNishikawa #TokyoLife #ExpatJapan #Podcast #JapanPodcast #TokyoPodcast #JapanExpat #LivinginJapan #TokyoExpat #JapanTips #JapanLife #TokyoLife #JapanVlog #HiddenJapan #TokyoVlog #JapanCulture #CulturalDifferences #JapanObsessed #LearnAboutJapan #CulturalCommentary #Japan #Tokyo #TalkShow #WeeklyPodcast #CulturePodcast #JapaneseCulture #TravelJapan #TalkShow #TokyoHistory #JapanHistory#kamikaze #patriotism #patriot #DoomsdayClock

Japan never really did “happy” love songs - traditionally, at least. Here's why — and why that's more interesting than it sounds.In this episode of Post-Whatever, Ken Nishikawa traces the surprisingly dark — and occasionally hilarious — history of Japanese popular music, from 19th-century geisha ballads to City Pop to modern J-Pop, and asks what it all reveals about how Japanese culture has always understood love, melancholy, and the business of being human.Along the way: the tragic story of Okichi, a 17-year-old geisha forced to serve the first American Consul to Japan, whose story became one of the most famous songs in the geisha repertoire. The word "aishiteru (= I love you)” — which didn't exist until someone invented it 150 years ago. A drunkard who dies, misbehaves in heaven, and gets deported by God — whose song sold 2.8 million copies. An Italian children's song that finished last in an Italian children's competition, crossed the Pacific, and sold 3 million copies in Japan. And the all-time best-selling Japanese single — certified by Guinness World Records — about a fish-shaped pastry making a doomed bid for freedom. The pastry lost. The record stands.We also look at what the data actually shows: how the proportion of "happy" love songs in Japan has shifted across seven decades, how the Bubble era briefly made optimism fashionable, how the Lost Decades brought the melancholy back, and how — in a twist nobody quite predicted — the West's pop charts are now heading in exactly the same direction Japan started from.Post-Whatever with Ken Nishikawa — weekly cultural commentary on the space between Japan and the West, presented by Ken — composer, broadcaster, DJ, film director, and occasional grumpy old man — who has worked for the BBC, MTV, TBS, J-WAVE, and several organisations that probably regret it.New episodes every Thursday. Like and subscribe if you know what’s good for you.Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and YouTube.Search: POST-WHATEVER with Ken Nishikawa#PostWhatever #KenNishikawa  #TokyoLife #ExpatJapan #Podcast #JapanPodcast #TokyoPodcast #JapanExpat #LivinginJapan #TokyoExpat #JapanTips #JapanLife #TokyoLife #JapanVlog #HiddenJapan #TokyoVlog #JapanCulture #JapanBritain #JapanvsUK #CulturalDifferences #JapanObsessed #LearnAboutJapan #CulturalCommentary #Observational #Japan #Tokyo  #TalkShow #WeeklyPodcast #CulturePodcast #JapaneseCulture #TravelJapan#TalkShow #WeeklyPodcast #CulturePodcast #JapaneseCulture #TokyoHistory #JapanHistory #BurtonCrane #JPop #JapaneseMusic #Japan #Podcast #CityPop #Enka 

A visit to YBA & Beyond — British Art in the '90s from the Tate Collection at the National Art Centre Tokyo recently stopped me in my tracks. It was all je ne sais quoi then, Now it's a period piece. Which, of course, is exactly what "contemporary" art eventually becomes — the clue was always in the name.That visit became the seed of Episode 6.The 1990s began with the end of the Cold War — which some historians call World War Three — and ended with 9/11, which triggered the ongoing conflict between the Christian and Islamic worlds, already being called World War Four by some. Which makes the '90s, rather neatly, an inter-war decade. A brief, strange window of relative peace and optimism — and I have the Doomsday Clock to back me up. In 1991, the Clock stood at 17 minutes to midnight, the most hopeful reading in its history. It currently stands at 89 seconds — the closest humanity has ever been to self-inflicted catastrophe. We've come a long way. Backwards.In Episode 6, I use that window — the euphoric, deluded, magnificent '90s — to examine London and Tokyo: two cities that were, briefly, at the top of the world. Through music, art, and economics, I trace how they got there, and what happened next. Britpop. The bubble. The YBAs. The boom. And the long, quietly dignified slide since.Decay fascinates me more than progress - Oscar WildePost-Whatever with Ken Nishikawa — BBC, MTV, J-WAVE — weekly cultural commentary on the space between Japan and the West. Music, food, art, politics, history, philosophy. Presented by someone who has lived in both worlds long enough to find them equally baffling.Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and YouTube.Search: POST-WHATEVER with Ken Nishikawa#PostWhatever #KenNishikawa  #TokyoLife #ExpatJapan #Podcast #JapanPodcast #TokyoPodcast #JapanExpat #LivinginJapan #TokyoExpat #JapanTips #JapanLife #TokyoLife #JapanVlog #HiddenJapan #TokyoVlog #JapanCulture #JapanBritain #JapanvsUK #CulturalDifferences #JapanObsessed #LearnAboutJapan #CulturalCommentary #Observational #Japan #Tokyo  #TalkShow #WeeklyPodcast #CulturePodcast #JapaneseCulture #TravelJapan#TokyoHistory #JapanHistory #BurtonCrane #1930sJapan #JapanAndTheWest #EnglishPodcastJapan #JapaneseCulture #TokyoPodcast #expatllife #PopHistory #MusicHistory #JapanExpat #AsiaHistory #CulturalHistory #TokyoLife #PodcastsInEnglish #JapaneseMusic #MusicHistory #JapanAndTheWest #ExplorJapan #AsiaHistory #DocumentaryStyle #HiddenHistory #Britpop #1990s #London #Tokyo #Japan #YBA #BritishArt #CoolBritannia #JapaneseBubbleEconomy #Oasis #DamienHirst #BritishCulture #JapaneseHistory #Wabisabi #NationalArtCentreTokyo #TateCollection #Trainspotting #DrumAndBass #TripHop #ApexTwin #BilingualPodcast #JapanAndTheWest

In 1925, a young elite American journalist named Burton Crane arrived in Yokohama as a financial correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. This was, by any reasonable measure, a respectable career trajectory.By 1931, he was Tokyo's biggest pop star.Nobody planned this. Least of all Burton Crane.Episode 5 of Post-Whatever “Sake of the Song: The Wall Street Journal Correspondent Who Became Tokyo's First Pop Star” tells the story of a man who learned Japanese in the bars of Asakusa, stumbled into a recording contract at a corporate drinking party, and accidentally became the forerunner of an entire genre of Japan”s “Gaikokujin” celebrity — all whilst filing financial dispatches for some of America's most serious newspapers. He was dubbed the "Bing Crosby of Japan." His first single was heard from virtually every café on the Ginza. Toshirō Mifune reportedly sang it when pickled.Along the way: a detailed investigation into the 40-plus tram lines of pre-war Tokyo (yes, really), the February 26th Incident of 1936, the tragic fate of his duet partner in the firebombing of 1945, and the founding of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan.Also: why you could stay out later in Tokyo in 1931 than you can today. Some things were more civilised back then.This is Post-Whatever — the show that lives in the cultural space between Japan and the West, and occasionally gets lost in translation.Music featured in this episode courtesy of Burton Crane (1901–1963), originally recorded and released on Columbia Records Japan between 1931 and 1936. These recordings are believed to be in the public domain in Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom. If you are the rights holder to any recording featured and believe this to be in error, please contact us directly.#PostWhatever #KenNishikawa  #TokyoLife #ExpatJapan #Podcast #JapanPodcast #TokyoPodcast #JapanExpat #LivinginJapan #TokyoExpat #JapanTips #JapanLife #TokyoLife #JapanVlog #HiddenJapan #TokyoVlog #JapanCulture #JapanBritain #JapanvsUK #CulturalDifferences #JapanObsessed #LearnAboutJapan #CulturalCommentary #Observational #Japan #Tokyo  #TalkShow #WeeklyPodcast #CulturePodcast #JapaneseCulture #TravelJapan#TokyoHistory #JapanHistory #BurtonCrane #1930sJapan #JapanAndTheWest #EnglishPodcastJapan #JapaneseCulture #TokyoPodcast #expatllife #PopHistory #MusicHistory #JapanExpat #AsiaHistory #CulturalHistory #PrewarJapan #TokyoLife #PodcastsInEnglish #BurtonCrane #JapaneseMusic #MusicHistory #JapanAndTheWest #ExplorJapan #AsiaHistory #DocumentaryStyle #HiddenHistory #ForgottenStars

Being vegetarian in Japan is a bit like being a pacifist at a sword convention. Technically possible. Occasionally uncomfortable. And people keep offering you things you didn't ask for.In this episode of Post-Whatever, Ken Nishikawa — broadcaster, DJ, and almost lifelong vegetarian — navigates the surprising, baffling, and occasionally magnificent world of plant-based eating in Tokyo. From the bonito broth lurking in your "vegetarian" soba, to the ancient imperial decree that somehow forgot to ban wild boar, to the Buddhist monks who invented the phrase "mountain whale" to justify their dinner — this is the story of a nation that was technically vegetarian for 1,200 years and has since decided to make up for lost time.Also covered: why Japanese chefs are fleeing to Paris, why your aglio e olio has bacon in it, and what to do when a kind chef assures you that sausages are absolutely fine.#PostWhatever #KenNishikawa #JapanUK #TokyoLife #ExpatJapan #Podcast #JapanPodcast #TokyoPodcast #JapanExpat #LivinginJapan #TokyoExpat #JapanTips #JapanLife #JapanPodcast #TokyoLife #JapanVlog #HiddenJapan #TokyoVlog #JapanCulture #JapanBritain #JapanvsUK #CulturalDifferences #JapanObsessed #LearnAboutJapan #DryHumour #BritishHumour #Comedy #CulturalCommentary #Observational #Japan #Tokyo #Podcast #TalkShow #WeeklyPodcast #CulturePodcast #JapaneseCulture #TravelJapan #Vegetarian #Vegan #JapaneseFood #VeganJapan #VegetarianJapan #JapaneseHistory #VeganTravel #ShojinRyori #BuddhistFood #PlantBased #FoodHistory

In this episode, Ken Nishikawa introduce to the world Café Bonnet — a tiny, resolutely unreconstructed junkissa tucked down a side alley in the seaside resort town of Atami — and tells the story of its remarkable owner, Hiroshi Masuda, who introduced American hamburger to Japan and served to Japanese literary giants two decades before McDonald's knew Japan existed.Along the way: Yukio Mishima's secret swimming problem, Toshiro Mifune in light disguise and a mother who was a geisha.Also: why a French hat became the name of postwar Japan's most improbable cultural institution.Post-Whatever is a dry, unhurried talk show about Japan, culture, and the things that fall between the cracks of official history. Hosted by Ken Nishikawa — composer, broadcaster, filmmaker, and occasional resident of places with too many hot springs.Nivatak / Atami My Miamihttps://music.apple.com/jp/album/atami-my-miami/1790943853?i=1790943857 SOURCES & FURTHER READING:Café Bonnethttps://japantravel.navitime.com/en/area/jp/spot/02301-pn0002954/Yukio Mishimahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukio_MishimaAfraid to die (film)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afraid_to_DieJunichiro Tanizokihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jun'ichirō_Tanizaki#PostWhatever #KenNishikawa #JapanUK #TokyoLife #ExpatJapan #JapanPodcast #TokyoPodcast#Atami #CafeBonnet #YukioMishima #JapanTravel #JapaneseHistory #JapaneseCulture #Hamburger #Junkissa #PureKissa #JunichiroTanizaki #ToshiroMifune #Shizuoka #Sendai#JapanExpat #LivinginJapan #TokyoExpat #JapanTips #JapanLife #JapanPodcast #TokyoLife #JapanVlog #HiddenJapan#TokyoVlog#JapanCulture #JapanBritain #JapanvsUK #CulturalDifferences #JapanObsessed #LearnAboutJapan #DryHumour #BritishHumour #Comedy #CulturalCommentary #Observational#Japan #Tokyo #Podcast #TalkShow #WeeklyPodcast #CulturePodcast

Why is it almost always western man, Japanese woman — and the other way round is comparatively few? And why has it been that way since at least 1600?In this episode, Ken Nishikawa voluntarily marches into the minefield of race to examine the John & Yoko Phenomenon — the curious and persistent pattern of western men and Japanese women finding and gravitating towards each other across centuries, oceans, and apparently 47,000 years of genetic memory.Along the way: the first Englishman in Japan who navigated his way directly into prison; Hollywood's very convenient double standard on interracial romance; a brief detour into lion-tiger cross-breeding (for scientific reasons); and the shocking finding of Neanderthal — which rather undermines my potentially revolutionary hypothesis.No conclusions are reached. Several hypotheses collapse under their own weight. A good time is had.Post-Whatever with Ken Nishikawa — because someone has to ask the awkward questions.Sources & further reading:NEANDERTHAL / SCIENCE SOURCESThe sex-biased interbreeding study (the core science of the episode):https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aea6774The 47,000-year dating / Princeton study overview:https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/07/250713032519.htmWILLIAM ADAMS / MIURA ANJIN:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Adams_(sailor)SESSUE HAYAKAWA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sessue_HayakawaTHE HAYS CODE / PRODUCTION CODE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hays_CodeFILMS MENTIONEDSayonara (1957): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050994/The Barbarian and the Geisha (1958): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051378/You Only Live Twice (1967): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062512/#PostWhatever #KenNishikawa #JapanUK #TokyoLife #ExpatJapan #JapanPodcast #TokyoPodcast#JohnAndYoko #JapanAndTheWest #InterracialCouples #MixedCouples #ExpatJapan #WesternManJapaneseWoman #CulturalDifferences #JapanCulture #TokyoLife #SoftPower #Neanderthal #HumanEvolution #DNA #PopularScience #Japan #Tokyo #Shimokitazawa #JapanExpat #JapaneseHistory #WilliamAdams #Shogun #JohnLennon #YokoOno #NicolasCage#JapanExpat #LivinginJapan #TokyoExpat #JapanTips #JapanLife #JapanVlog #TokyoVlog#JapanCulture #JapanBritain #JapanvsUK #CulturalDifferences #JapanObsessed #LearnAboutJapan #DryHumour #BritishHumour #Comedy #CulturalCommentary #Observational#Japan #Tokyo #Podcast #TalkShow #WeeklyPodcast #CulturePodcast

If you think your soul is worth no more than ¥11,000 (69USD) like I do, then press play.Free money. Well — almost. It’s complicated. It’s Japan.In this inaugural episode of Post-Whatever, Ken Nishikawa guides you through the surprisingly rewarding ordeal of claiming ¥11,000 from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government — via a My Number Card, two apps, and what remains of your soul and dignity. Along the way: a brief history of Japan’s heroically unsuccessful war on paper, a character study of Governor Koike Yuriko, a serious conversation about points that become other points, and a heartfelt tribute to the OK Store.Post-Whatever with Ken Nishikawa is a weekly talk show about Japan, the West (Britain, in particular), and the vast, baffling space in between — covering music, culture, food, history, politics, philosophy, and whatever else demands attention that particular week. Hosted by Ken Nishikawa — composer, broadcaster, DJ, film director, and occasional grumpy old man — who has worked for the BBC, MTV, TBS, J-WAVE, and several organisations that probably regret it.New episodes every Thursday. Like and subscribe if you know what’s good for you.LINKS:Tokyo App campaign details: https://www.tokyoapp.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/news/260116348.html#PostWhatever #KenNishikawa #JapanUK #TokyoLife #ExpatJapan#MyNumberCard #TokyoApp #FreeMoneyJapan #KoikeYuriko #TokyoPoints #JapanDigital#JapanExpat #LivinginJapan #TokyoExpat #JapanTips #JapanLife #JapanVlog #TokyoVlog#JapanCulture #JapanBritain #JapanvsUK #CulturalDifferences #JapanObsessed #LearnAboutJapan#Japan #Tokyo #Podcast #TalkShow #WeeklyPodcast #CulturePodcast