Make Believe Bonus: Who SHOULD Be Nominated For / Winning At Music Awards Japan 2026

A Labyrinth Of Disclosures, A Maze Of Professional Confusion

The central challenge of my professional life in 2026 is balance. I love writing and want to keep doing what I do around here and for publications like The Japan Times…but I also need a steady income, so alongside left-field freelance work I don’t talk about much around here (analyzing sound files for research purposes) I need to work in PR. Which is largely fine, as long as I keep wires from crossing that would create some kind of ethical dilemma for the journalist side of me.

I usually can stay upright in this regard, and when they do intersect I’m not shy about dropping a “full disclosure” aside. Yet there’s one Japanese music happening I’m involved in that causes an internal friction I haven’t fully resolved yet.

That would be Music Awards Japan, an event I work on in an English PR capacity via Vegas PR Group (there’s your first full disclosure). That means I can’t really write about it in any journalistic sense for publications, which is fine.

What gets me is frequently staying quiet about who I think should be winning these trophies.