I have a piece up at The Rumpus today titled “The Dreams of a Shrinking Nation” which is both an essay on the Japanese mega-pop band Dreams Comes True (my wife is a big fan) as well as a light-hearted look at Japan’s current demographic problems. The occasion for the essay was an Oct. 1, 2011 appearance by Dreams Come True at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles.
The band typically plays soccer stadiums in Japan and so the opportunity for Japanese fans in California to see the band in an intimate setting was a big deal. I had a lot of fun writing the essay.
