Makuhari Messe
Location	Chiba, Japan
Operator	Makuhari Messe, Inc.
Opened	1989
Enclosed space
Total space	75,098m²
Website	http://www.m-messe.co.jp/en/index.html

Makuhari Messe (幕張メッセ^?) is a Japanese convention center outside Tokyo, located in the Mihama-ku ward of Chiba city, in the northwest corner of Chiba prefecture. Designed by Fumihiko Maki, it is easily accessible by Tokyo's commuter rail system. Makuhari is the name of the area, and Messe is a German word meaning "trade fair".

The convention center opened on October 9, 1989. It hosts many high-technology events.

Makuhari Messe is conveniently close to Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, and to Chiba prefecture's black sand beaches. It is easily accessible from Kaihin-Makuhari station on the Keiyō Line of East Japan Railway Company (JR East). The center is the host of the annual Tokyo Auto Salon (modified car show, in January), the biennial Tokyo Motor Show (in October), the annual Tokyo Game Show (video game hardware and software exhibition, in September), and the annual Jump Festa (manga, anime, and video game exposition, in December). The venue was noted in 2005 for hosting the first round of the Live8 concert. Event information, access details, and other information can be found in English at the official site.^[1]

On 1 July 2005, the company that owns the convention center changed its name from "Nippon Convention Center" to "Makuhari Messe".

The "Jack in the Box 2009 Summer" convention was held here on August 15, 2009, where numerous well-known acts performed,^[2] including the reunion performance of influential metal band Dead End.^[3]

The center also hosted the Magic: The Gathering World Championship in 2010.

It was scheduled to host the "Anime Contents Expo", hosted by the Comic-10 Shakai in March 2011 to counter the Tokyo International Anime Fair as part of their boycott of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government under Governor Shintarō Ishihara, but both events were cancelled after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.^[4]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Makuhari Messe

• Makuhari Messe website (Japanese)/(English)
• Makuhari Messe Map

Coordinates: 35°38′54″N 140°2′5″E / 35.64833°N 140.03472°E / 35.64833; 140.03472

Richie Hawtin
Background information
Birth name	Richard Hawtin
Born	(1970-06-04) June 4, 1970 (age 42) Oxfordshire, England
Origin	Windsor, Ontario
Genres	Techno, minimal techno, Detroit techno, ambient
Labels	Plus 8, M-nus, NovaMute
Website	richiehawtin.com

Richard (Richie) Hawtin (born June 4, 1970, Banbury, Oxfordshire) is an English-Canadian electronic musician and DJ who was an influential part of Detroit techno's second wave of artists in the early 1990s and a leading exponent of Minimal techno since the mid 1990s. He is best known for his abstract, minimal works under the alias Plastikman, a pseudonym he still uses today.

Hawtin is known for DJing minimal techno sets making use of laptop computers and digital mixing equipment. In May 1990, Hawtin and fellow second-waver John Acquaviva founded the Plus 8 record label, which they named after their turntable's pitch adjust function.^[1] In 1998, Hawtin launched Minus records.^[2]

Biography[link]

Hawtin was born in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England,^[3] but moved when he was aged nine to LaSalle, Ontario, a suburb of Windsor, Ontario, and just across the river from Detroit, the birthplace of techno. His father worked as a robotics technician at General Motors, and was a fan of electronic music, introducing his son to Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream at an early age. He has one brother, Matthew, who is a visual artist and ambient music DJ. Hawtin attended Sandwich Secondary High School in LaSalle. He began to DJ in clubs in Detroit at 17, and his early style was a mix of house music and techno.^[4]

With Canadian DJ John Acquaviva he formed the label Plus 8 in 1990 to release his own tracks under the name F.U.S.E.^[4] He spent part of 2002 and 2003 living in New York City, and has since moved to Berlin, Germany. He said, "I’d always wanted to move to Europe. I needed somewhere that was inspiring and where there were like-minded musicians and artists, somewhere you could still experiment with music and with life. Berlin is so liberal in so many different ways; there’s an amazing club scene, there’s a great development software tech scene, there are so many resources here."^[4]

Career[link]

	"Substance Abuse" noicon "Substance Abuse" was released in 1991 under the F.U.S.E pseudonym
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

	"Ping Pong" noicon The minimalist track "Ping Pong" was recorded under the Plastikman alias
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Hawtin has recorded music under the aliases Plastikman, F.U.S.E., Concept 1, Forcept 1, Circuit Breaker, Robotman, Chrome, Spark, Xenon, R.H.X., Jack Master, Richard Michaels and UP!. He also recorded and performed, in combination with other artists, under group names such as The Hard Brothers, Hard Trax (with his brother Matthew Hawtin), 0733, Cybersonik (with Daniel Bell and John Acquaviva), Final Exposure (with Joey Beltram and Mundo Muzique), Just For Fun (with Holger Wick), Narod Niki (with Akufen, Cabanne, Dandy Jack, Daniel Bell, Luciano, Ricardo Villalobos, Robert Henke and Thomas Franzmann), Two Guys In The Basement (with John Acquaviva), Spawn (with Fred Giannelli and Daniel Bell) and States Of Mind (with Acquaviva).

He was the mastermind of huge raves in the Detroit area, he ran several club nights, a yearly party at City Club and a crazy one at The Necto (nightclub) Additionally, Hawtin and Pete Namlook collaborated to produce the From Within series of albums which blend minimal techno and ambient. He has also released an album Sounds of the Third Season with Sven Väth.^[5]

In 2006, Hawtin collaborated with choreographer Enzo Cosimi on a composition called "9.20" for the Winter Olympics opening ceremony. He said, "Enzo and I are very much interested in pushing boundaries, both as artists and for our audiences. Working together for the Opening Ceremonies of the Winter Games delivers the creative endeavor to not only entertain a huge audience, but to also introduce them to sights and sounds that they may have never experienced before."^[6]

Slices magazine launched a series of biographies in 2007 called "Pioneers of Electronic Music"; their first issue was a 60 minute biographical documentary on Hawtin. The film follows his career from his early days crossing the border to Detroit to his current life in Berlin, and contains interviews with many colleagues and family members.

2011 saw the release of Arkives 1993 - 2010, a massive box set containing everything Hawtin has released under his Plastikman moniker, as well as a new mixed set and previously unreleased material. The collection includes CDs, vinyl, digital downloads and a DVD.

Hawtin dismisses speculation as to the demise of dance music. In an interview he said, "In the last few years, the interest in electronic music has gone back up, the quality of the music has gone back up, there’s a buzz which reminds you of the early days,” he insists. “From where I’m sitting right now, dance music is more vibrant than ever. In some countries you’ll always have the press saying it’s going down and writing it off, but somewhere else the interest level is soaring and people are discovering this music for the first time, like in South America, where it’s completely kicking off – it’s unbelievable down there. There are some great festivals and parties in Europe, and over the last five years I’ve seen Ibiza go from complete cheesy shite music to the resurgence of a number of different types of progressive electronic music."^[4]

Selected discography[link]

Albums[link]

• F.U.S.E.: Dimension Intrusion, 1993
• Plastikman: Sheet One, 1993
• Plastikman: Musik, 1994
• Plastikman: Recycled Plastik, 1994
• Plastikman: Sickness (EP), 1997
• Concept 1: 96:CD, 1998
• Concept 1: 96:VR, 1998 (remixed by Thomas Brinkmann)
• Plastikman: Consumed, 1998
• Plastikman: Artifakts [bc], 1998
• Plastikman: Closer, 2003
• Plastikman: Kompilation, 2010
• Plastikman: Arkives, 2011

DJ mix compilations[link]

• Richie Hawtin: Mixmag Live!, 1995 (Live DJ mix album)
• Richie Hawtin: Decks, EFX & 909, 1999 (DJ mix album)
• Richie Hawtin: DE9: Closer to the Edit, 2001 (DJ mix album)
• Richie Hawtin and Sven Väth: Sound of the Third Season, 2002 (DJ mix album)
• Richie Hawtin and Ricardo Villalobos Live at the Robert Johnson, Offenbach, Germany, 2004 (11 hour DJ set)
• Richie Hawtin: DE9 | Transitions, 2005 (DJ mix album)
• Richie Hawtin: DE9 lite: Electronic Adventures, 2006 (DJ mix album, produced with MixMag)
• Richie Hawtin: Sounds from Can Elles, 2008 (unmixed various artist compilation, free with DJ Magazine issue 467)
• Richie Hawtin: Mixmag presents: Richie Hawtin - New Horizons, 2012 (DJ mix album)

Awards[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Richie Hawtin

• Richie Hawtin's official site
• Plastikman's official site
• Richie Hawtin's Minus record label site
• Richie Hawtin's discography at Discogs

Shinichi Osawa
Background information
Origin	Japan
Genres	Acid jazz House Electro house
Years active	1989–present
Labels	For Life Records, Avex Trax, Sony Music Japan, Southern Fried, Data, Dim Mak
Associated acts	Mondo Grosso, Africanism, Ravex, Paul Chambers
Website	http://www.shinichi-osawa.com

Shinichi Osawa (大沢 伸一 Ōsawa Shin'ichi), also known as Mondo Grosso, is an artist currently signed onto Avex Trax's "Rhythm Zone" label.^[1] Previously he was signed to Sony Music Japan's FEARLESS RECORDS division and released albums under the title of 'Mondo Grosso', which is Italian for "big world". He was born on February 7, 1967. Over the course of his career he has worked in genres from acid jazz to house, with strong influences of underground club music, though his recent work has been in the genre of electro house. HMV Japan rated Mondo Grosso at #95 on their "Top 100 Japanese Pop Artists".

Background[link]

Osawa was originally the leader and bassist for the popular Japanese musical group Mondo Grosso, which formed in Kyoto in 1991 on the For Life Records label. However, in 1995, the group was disbanded, and Osawa worked more on his own, collaborating with many artists such as Monday Michiru, Amel Larrieux, UA, Chara, Dragon Ash and even Ayumi Hamasaki. In the midst of his collaborative work in 1997, he became a solo producer, releasing the R&B infused acid jazz and house album Closer.

He made a move from For Life Records to Sony Music Associated Records in 1999, where he began his own label. Throughout the years, Osawa acted as a producer for artists such as Bird and Eri Nobuchika. His 2000 album MG4 displayed the diversity of his production, fusing jazz and house. It featured the hit song 'Life', featuring Bird. In 2003 he released Next Wave, a more traditional house album.

Osawa provided the hypnotic array of techno music on the popular PlayStation Portable game Lumines in 2004. He did not reappear as a composer for its sequel.

In 2007 Osawa moved to avex trax. Feeling that, in comparison to his previous albums, the sound reflected more closely his DJ sets and performances (performed under his real name), Osawa released his electro house album The One under the moniker of 'Shinichi Osawa' rather than 'Mondo Grosso'. "Our Song" was the initial single released in Japan, followed by the Chemical Brothers cover Star Guitar. Under his real name, Osawa has received more international attention, creating acclaimed remixes of Felix da Housecat's "Radio" and Digitalism's "Pogo". He also performed at Electric Daisy Carnival, which was his first performance in America. He is also featured in Clazziquai's Robotica album in a remix for Prayers by Christina Chu.

In 2008, he remixed #1-hit song Startin' by Japanese pop sensation Ayumi Hamasaki. The mix appeared on the album Ayu-mi-x 6 -GOLD-.

In October 2008, following a release of Star Guitar as a single by Data Records, Southern Fried Records made a digital release of The One in the UK. A physical release is scheduled for January 2009.

In November 2008, "Our Song" appeared on the 16th version of Konami's DJ simulation series Beatmania IIDX, alongside several other songs by Avex's House Nation group.

Osawa is currently involved in Ravex, a collaboration with fellow Avex DJs Tomoyuki Tanaka and Taku Takahashi established to mark 20 years of Avex. Their debut album Trax was released on April 8, 2009, and follows the release of the singles I Rave U and Believe in LOVE - feat BoA.

Osawa released SO2, the second album under his given name, on June 16, 2010 digitally and June 30 on CD/DVD.

In 2009, Osawa collaborated with Takeshi Kobayashi to form the duo Bradberry Orchestra. With the lead single "LOVE CHECK," Bradberry Orchestra released their first album "Vol.0" on March 16, 2011 in Japan through avex. Songs from the album have been used to promote Sony's Xperia phone as well as SEGA's Yakuza Of the End.

Currently Osawa hosts a bi-monthly online radio show called Date Line with fellow DJ Masatoshi Uemura on block.fm.

Discography[link]

Mini albums[link]

Albums as head of Mondo Grosso[link]

Solo albums[link]

Live albums[link]

Remix albums[link]

Singles[link]

Compilations[link]

Mixes[link]

Remixes[link]

Works as producer and composer[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website.
• FEARLESS RECORDS official site.
• Shinichi Osawa discography at Discogs.
• Mondo Grosso discography at Discogs.
• HMV Japan Top 100 Japanese Pop Artists. (Japanese)
• Date Line - block.fm