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Sense of Place: ATARASHII GAKKO! wants to awaken Tokyo from its doldrums

courtesy of the artist

The United States and Japan have a long tradition of cultural exchange. For our Sense of Place: Japan series, you may have heard us talk to Japanese artists who are influenced by American garage rock, Chick Corea or the massive post-war import of American vinyl. But to close out this series, the tide turns the other way.

ATARASHII GAKKO! is a J-pop group of four members who perform highly choreographed, extremely energetic routines. Their popularity in Japan has been boosted by their songs being used in anime and film, but over the last few years, their presence has been growing in the U.S., as well.

They've performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and at Coachella. This fall, they are embarking on a major North American tour to support their new album, AG Calling!

Raina Douris, an award-winning radio personality from Toronto, Ontario, comes to World Cafe from the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), where she was host and writer for the daily live, national morning program Mornings on CBC Music. She is also involved with Canada's highest music honors: Since 2017, she has hosted the Polaris Music Prize Gala, for which she is also a jury member, and she has also been a jury member for the Juno Awards. Douris has also served as guest host and interviewer for various CBC Music and CBC Radio programs, and red carpet host and interviewer for the Juno Awards and Canadian Country Music Association Awards, as well as a panelist for such renowned CBC programs as Metro Morning, q and CBC News.
World Cafe senior producer Kimberly Junod has been a part of the World Cafe team since 2001, when she started as the show's first line producer. In 2011 Kimberly launched (and continues to helm) World Cafe's Sense of Place series that includes social media, broadcast and video elements to take listeners across the U.S. and abroad with an intimate look at local music scenes. She was thrilled to be part of the team that received the 2006 ASCAP Deems Taylor Radio Broadcast Award for excellence in music programming. In the time she has spent at World Cafe, Kimberly has produced and edited thousands of interviews and recorded several hundred bands for the program, as well as supervised the show's production staff. She has also taught sound to young women (at Girl's Rock Philly) and adults (as an "Ask an Engineer" at WYNC's Werk It! Women's Podcast Festival).