Jon is a Japanese culture enthusiast, professional pervert and roleplaying fanatic who appreciates flexible gender identities. He enjoys science fiction, Gunpla, classical music and Red Stripe.
Aya Hirano, who was recently cast as Dende in Dragonball Kai, will record a Dende character song for the upcoming Dragonball Kai Song Collection CD. The song, entitled “Cure~Boku ga Koko ni Iru you~”, will appear alongside other DBK music, including the OP “Dragon Soul” and ED “Yeah! Break! Care! Break!” by Takayoshi Tanimoto, and songs by Yo Yamazaki and Ryo Horikawa (Vegeta’s VA). The CD is set to be released on October 21st.
Dragonball Kai’s OP and ED, both rolled into one convenient video, can be found below.
It is the year 0079 of the Universal Century… and Andrew is ready to ROCK!
The original Japanese version of this song, called Soldiers of Sorrow, was first featured as the ending of the second Mobile Suit Gundam compilation movie, and has since become symbolic of the entire franchise. Rock musician Andrew W.K.’s English language cover of it, along with several other iconic Gundam songs, appear on his new album, Gundam Rock. This album, which becomes available on Amazon today, is part of Bandai’s 30th Gundam anniversary marketing blitz, which thus far has included a 60-foot (18.5 meter) tall Gundam replica statue (complete with themed weddings), a new television series, and an epic animated short, among other things.
Gundam Rock follows in the footsteps of Andrew’s 2008 album, The Japan Covers, in which he covered a variety of Japanese pop songs. Although reviews for his latest venture into Jpop are still forthcoming, the clips that have surfaced on YouTube indicate that this will be an album well worth owning for Gundam fans.
A Japanese TV news report about the album, as well as Andrew’s cover of “Fly! Gundam” can be found below.
TV Tokyo recently held a competition to see who could do the fastest 30-meter moonwalk as a tribute to recently deceased pop star Michael Jackson. It drew some very unique contestants, including a washed-up comedian and an MJ cosplayer.
Osaka, which is no stranger to kaiju (giant monster) attacks, has fallen under threat from a new, horrible menace; a unnamed kaiju which takes the form of a rubber duck. This monster was reportedly created by mad scientist artist Florentijn Hofman in France. Although it has been spotted in other cities around the world, this is the first time it has menaced Japan.
Fuji TV, hearing about Hugh Jackman’s love of sushi, decided to take him on a tour of Tsukiji’s famous sushi restaurants. Sound familiar? That’s because NTV did the same thing a few days ago. Hugh was polite and friendly as always.
Of course, these little Tsukiji trips give hope to Hugh’s thousands of fans; they now realize that if they work hard, stay in school, star in an international blockbuster, and are voted People’s Sexiest Man Alive, then they too can get free sushi.
With it’s fifth and final episode airing earlier today, the Sighs of Haruhi Suzumiya arc (episodes 20-24 of the Haruhi re-airing, and episodes 10-14 of the “second season”) has come to an end. This arc’s claim to fame (or lack thereof) was how unremarkable it was, at least compared to the huge storm of controversy that Endless Eight generated. Fortunately, Sighs has been well-received by the fans; especially in the case of the last two episodes where, by all accounts, the art improved to “near season-1 levels”.
Select screenshots from the episode are posted below.
On a recent trip to Japan to promote his new film X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Hugh Jackman took the opportunity to learn about Japanese culture by visiting a shrine, a calligraphy shop and a few of Tsukiji’s famous sushi restaurants.
Picture this: You’re a sumo wrestler, in the throes of a mighty Mega Mac Attack. You hunger for the succulent taste of a McDonald’s hamburger… but all the seats and booths at your local restaurant are too small to support your excessive girth. What do you do?
Well, if you live in Ryogoku, Tokyo, you’re in luck. The local McDonald’s has just installed special sumo seats for its plus-sized clients. Now Japan’s most powerful and respected athletes can have a burger with the rest of us.
Today we have this nifty little AMV created by Rei, set to Fude Pen ~Ballpoint Pen~. I think it does a great job of profiling K-On!’s prevalent mise en scène. Enjoy!
What Japan Thinks recently posted the results of a survey of Japanese men, which asked them about their favorite “secret fetish”. The top result, unsuprisingly, was zettai ryouiki, which is Japanese for “absolute territory”; in other words, that glorious bit of flesh between the top of a girl’s thigh-high socks and the bottom of her skirt. I must say, the Japanese have fine taste.
Now, purely for the purposes of scientific analysis, I’ve included some examples of thigh-high-wearing women below.
Aya Hirano, who was recently cast as Dende in Dragonball Kai, will record a Dende character song for the upcoming Dragonball Kai Song Collection CD. The song, entitled “Cure~Boku ga Koko ni Iru you~”, will appear alongside other DBK music, including the OP “Dragon Soul” and ED “Yeah! Break! Care! Break!” by Takayoshi Tanimoto, and songs by Yo Yamazaki and Ryo Horikawa (Vegeta’s VA). The CD is set to be released on October 21st.
