If you’re familiar with the world of Japanese mythology, you might have heard the name “エコツミ (Ekotumi)” before, but in case you haven’t…
エコツミ (Ekotumi) is a Japanese singer, songwriter, performer, artist and novelist. And the subject for her works is, you’ve probably guessed this already, Japanese
雪 (Yuki)
She originally started the project in 2009 as a photographer under the name of Arlequin Photography, but developed an interest in journalism and translation ever since. Because of these interests interviews and reviews were added to the project, until it eventually hit the limits as a "photographer" in 2021, and Arlequin Magazine was added to the mix.
雪 (Yuki) is a native Dutch speaker with a graphic design degree, which means she is also the main person behind Arlequin Creations.
After all these years, she's still the one responsible for the interviews and most of the live photography you see here at Arlequin, but the majority of reviews and behind-the-scenes work is also done by her.
The reviews she writes are from the viewing point of an overseas fan, and thus written in English before being translated to Dutch, Spanish and Japanese. In the English versions she also tries to explain the meaning behind certain kanji or song titles to the readers, but what you don't see here is that these explanations are omitted in the Japanese versions in order to appeal to these readers more.
She speaks Dutch and English on a native level, but also understands Japanese and German.
GLIM GARDO // Visual Kei’s Modern Storytellers
GLIM GARDO is still a relatively new band, given they’ve only formed last year and released their very first single, “Obscurial”, in April of 2020. Unfortunately for them this happened to be right in the middle of the pandemic. Despite this difficult situation they’ve managed
MIRAI // A message to “My Dear”
You might remember the interview I did in early January, in which I introduced you to MIRAI, Hideki, YURI, Shion and Rio’s work as Angels’ Temptation.
Angels’ Temptation is fairly unique in the ヴィジュアル系 (Visual Kei) scene because despite all members being from Japan, their style
Trip in the dream // Connecting lolita through fashion
If you checked the Japanese version of Arlequin Magazine recently you might have seen something has been going on there. Instead of articles being published by me, the name connected to these articles is “Aya”.
But who is Aya exactly? And why is she suddenly appearing on the Japanese part
David // Telling the Story of connection through Hexagramearth
In August of 2019 I shared a post about SUI starting a crowdfunding campaign with the intention to gather funds for the third anniversary of David, which he planned to have in Europe. Paris, to be exact. The crowdfunding ended up being a great success, even raising more money than the target goal. This
Alpha999 announces live performance being changed to studio live instead
It’s a little bit last minute, but TAKA and SYU have announced a change to their live performance that was scheduled for May 30th:
Originally planned as a live performance like we’re all used to, circumstances forced the guys to move their stage from a live venue to the studio. Rather than
THE SOUND BEE HD announces new best of album “DEAD MEMORIES”
Starting out as a Japanese gothic band and evolving into a more zombie-theme throughout the years, THE SOUND BEE HD have been gracing the dark side of the Japanese music industry for over 20 years now already. Quite the achievement for any band out there! To celebrate this milestone the band released
MEME // Reaching fans of horror with more than just music
You said it would be awesome if I could do an interview with L from MEME. And yes, I agree. That would be pretty awesome. So I set out to do just that. I asked L if he would be interested in doing an interview, and as you can probably conclude from this article being here now, the answer was a resounding “yes!”.
摩天楼オペラ (Matenrou Opera) announces worldwide merchandise collaboration with FAKE STAR USA
You might have seen this small notification slide by on Twitter already, but in case you haven’t…
Do you remember the interview I did with the members of 摩天楼オペラ (Matenrou Opera) in late January of this year?
(If you haven’t read it, or need a quick refresher, you can find it here!)
One
Mikaru announces second editions of radio and livestream performance with Yudai
You might have seen my previous posts about Mikaru’s radio show and online live performance with Yudai (G.L.A.M.S, guitar), but in case you haven’t, here’s a quick overview:
On March 27 Mikaru held his very first solo radio performance on YouTube in which he answered questions
BURN WOUND // Metalcore from Tokyo
BURN WOUND are a brand new metalcore band formed in Tokyo in the middle of the hectic pandemic of 2020.
But who exactly are yu-to, Yuma, Яin and wataru? And why have they decided such a difficult time to form and promote their band? Because given the year we’ve all been through 2020 didn’t seem
Alpha999 announces live performance “Birth EraS 2021” for TAKA’s birthday
To celebrate his birthday TAKA originally planned a live performance for February 24, 2021. Unfortunately this performance had to be rescheduled to another date due to Japan declaring the state of emergency once again.
After a lot of planning a new date for the live has been decided: April 7.
The performance