THERE’S A MOMENT in the video for Hanabie’s Osaki Ni Shitsurei Shimasu (Pardon Me, I Have To Go Now), where singer Yukina grabs her boss by the neck and screams in his face. It’s the culmination of a day in the office where she’s carried out a string of tedious tasks, from tea-making to photocopying, all while being patronised, and is then expected to go for drinks in the evening. Funny and relatable, it’s one of the reasons – along with the bouncy chorus and instrumentation from Japanese stringed instrument the shamisen – the song went viral in January.
“In Japan, whether you’re working in a corporate
