Something we're especially proud of at Folded Wing is that Jamie Cullum, not content with winning a Radio Academy Gold Award for his BBC Radio 2 show, can also be found on the airwaves of international stations around the world, including Japanese station Inter FM, which broadcasts in the cities of Tokyo and Nagoya. You can hear Jamie Cullum's Jazz Riot every Tuesday from 11pm til midnight local time - those in the area can listen on FM, and everyone else can listen online here.
Read moreIn honour of Jamie's Jazz Riot show, the Folded Wing team have picked our favourite Japanese exports for the blog this week. Japan is such an amazing country in terms of its incredibly diverse and creative culture and there are so many things to choose from. We hope you enjoy our choices and we'd love to hear yours too - get in touch on Twitter @FoldedWingUK.
Karen
Studio Ghibli
"This is a hard one as there's so much amazing music coming out of Japan: Soil & Pimp Sessions & Blue Note Japan!
But my heart firmly belongs to Studio Ghibli and their stunning animations for adults and children alike. They have around 15 films and it's worth seeing all of them. I absolutely love that Ghibli means 'Blow a new wind through the anime industry' and they've done exactly that for the last 20 years. This year they have released founder Hayao Miyazaki's final animated film 'The Wind Rises'.
I still need to see it and can't wait!
My favourite is of course 'My Neighbour Totoro', with his cat bus friend. A cat that is actually a bus?! Only Studio Ghibli could do that! Thanks to my Japanese friend Mari I own an actual furry cat bus with Totoro on a string so you can take him in and out of the bus, it sits pride of place on a shelf at home."
Ian
Keirin
"I've been racing bikes on velodromes for years and years, and I've always been fascinated by the Japanese sport of Keirin. We have versions of it in the UK, it's even an Olympic event, but they're nothing like the original. It's hard to describe but if you imagine a mixture of Shinto Buddhism, Sumo and greyhound racing - you'll be close. It's very Japanese, but the Australian rider Shane Perkins is one of the few Westerners who've gone there and done well. There's some nice films on YouTube about his experience..."
Jim
Fumio Itabashi - 'Watarase'
"I've only been to Japan once in 2004 but loved it so much and need to go back one day. The people, the food, the music... the record shops. Track wise, I was going to go for Terumasa Hino's 'Merry Go Round'... a jazz dance monster. But Fumio Itabashi's 'Watarase' wins this time... big, epic and very moving music. I first heard this when Gilles Peterson played it on Radio 1 many years ago and it stopped me in my tracks. A proper 'what... is... this...????' moment."
Pete
Sonic The Hedgehog 3 / Sonic & Knuckles
"Computer games and consoles have to be one of Japan's biggest exports and I used to love my Sega Megadrive that was handed down to me from my brothers. My favourite game was Sonic The Hedgehog 3, I love Sonic The Hedgehog in general, but that game has to be the best. The amazing thing about that game was the cartridge system. There was a separate game to Sonic 3, called Sonic & Knuckles. My best friend had Sonic & Knuckles and I had Sonic 3, it totally blew my mind when you could connect the two cartridges together to make one whole game!"
Micky
Osaka
"I've only visited Japan once in my life - but it's one of those places that really gets under your skin. I worked briefly in Osaka and two things stick in my mind: first that EVERYTHING is small. It's no joke to say that in order to get dressed in the morning I had to step in to my hotel corridor. Also, there's a smell that's hard to place. When I was in Osaka it was humid, very humid. And there was a smell that lingered everywhere. A smell of fish and food in general. And boy, is there good food to be had there. Sushi and Miso soup on tap. I've never felt healthier... and sweatier at the same time. Here's my tenuous (or maybe not so tenuous) link to a piece of music in the form of Dave Brubeck's 'Osaka Blues'."
Sandie
Sake
"Funnily enough, I first drank Sake in San Francisco! It's the most amazing drink, made from fermented rice. It's probably the best known Japanese drink in the world. You can drink it cold or warm and there are hundreds of different brands."
Andrea
Melt Banana
"Melt Banana are my favourite thing from Japan. They're a very noisy band with an amazing female vocalist and their live show is untrue. Saw them a couple of years ago and the first 20 minutes of their set was just a barrage of noise. Here's a more accessible track of theirs..."
Lucy
Murakami
"I've never been to Japan, but I've desperately wanted to ever since I read Haruki Murakami's 'Kafka On The Shore' about eight years ago. He's an incredibly beautiful writer of amazingly weird stories and the descriptions of all aspects of Japanese life are so compelling. His most recent work, the three part 'IQ84', was one of the most mindblowing things I've ever read, but my favourite is probably 'A Wild Sheep Chase' and I'd recommend it to anyone."