Wild Zero is a cult/trash classic - a bizarre mixture of zombie-horror and rock’n'roll-comedy from Japan. It stars the excellent garage punk band Guitar Wolf
(comprising members Guitar Wolf, Bass Wolf and Drum Wolf) doing battle with a marauding horde of zombies from outer space, and a corrupt alien nightclub owner who steals their wages, armed only with fire-sptting motorbikes, cheap sunglasses and the power of rock’n'roll (oh, and some guns and a magical guitar pick!)

Imagine if the Ramones had wandered onto the set of Peter Jackson’s Brain Dead just as the crew held a mutiny being led by John Waters, and you’re kind of nearly there. The fact that this hails from Japan makes it all the more strange of course, and while you may snigger at the band’s mis-pronounced rallying cry of “Rock’n'Roll!” (repeated by the main protagonist, Ace, a Guitar Wolf super-fan who accidentally saves the band before getting himself into a whole heap of zombie trouble while trying to rescue a shy girl - or is she?), I guarantee you will be shouting it by the end of this movie too. As you’d imagine the soundtrack is awesome, and there’s even some unexpected innovation - like two zombies french-kissing, surely a first? If you’re looking for a feel good adventure ride just now, this is the film for you. Here’s the original Japanese trailer:
 

Thanks to Geoff Crowther for reminding me of this gem.

After the jump - it’s WILD ZERO!

 
The Clone Factory in Japan can “clone” your likeness onto a doll, which brings a whole new meaning to playing with yourself.

Check the full story here.
 

 
A picture tale of doll cloning, after the jump…
 
With thanks to Steve Duffy
 

 
The Jacket Lunch Box is a Japanese blog dedicated to turning album covers into bento boxes. He’s done so many of them. This enterprise looks time-consuming. All hail our arts and crafts otaku overlord!

 

 

 
More bento boxes after the jump…

 
Particles is an “illumination installation” by Japanese artists, Daito Manabe and Motoi Ishibashi, which presents:

...seemingly floating lights that create a fantastic afterimage, this work centers around an organically spiral-shaped rail construction on which a number of balls with built-in LEDs are rolling while blinking in different time intervals, resulting in spatial drawings of light particles in all kinds of shapes. The illumination’s three-dimensional design, achieved through a fusion of the rail construct’s characteristic features and communication control technology, takes on various appearances depending on the viewer’s position. Look forward to an exciting new work that combines generally entertaining ideas and sophisticated information technology in everything from LED devices and other hardware to programming.

Particles is currently on display at the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media, Japan.
 

 
The Daily Telegraph reports on massive floating islands of garbage, some almost 70 miles in length, caused by last month’s tsunami in Japan, which are causing chaos in shipping lanes in the Pacific Ocean, as they slowly head for the west coast of the America.

Cars, tractors, boats and the occasional entire house have been spotted floating on the surface of the Pacific Ocean in the aftermath of the March 11 Japanese tsunami triggered by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake.

The largest “island” of debris stretches 60 nautical miles (69 miles) in length and covers an expanse of more than 2.2 million square feet, according to the US Navy’s 7th Fleet, which is closely monitoring the floating rubbish.

“It is very large and it’s a maritime hazard,” Lieutenant Anthony Falvo, deputy public affairs officer for the US Navy’s 7th Fleet, told the Daily Telegraph.

“The damage it can cause is anything from piercing the hull of a ship to leaving dents or getting wrapped up in propulsion systems.”

Experts have reportedly estimated that it could take up to two years for the floating tsunami debris to hit Hawaii and three years for the West Coast.

The US navy is currently working with civilian construction companies from Japan on attempts to start removing the floating debris from the ocean.

More photographs and information here.
 

 
More photos of giant isles of debris after the jump…
 

 
The Rug Cop is a spoof of 1970s Japanese TV cop shows. Directed by Minoru Kawasaki, The Rug Cop takes you on a wild ride of crime-fighting madness on the steets of Tokyo with a wig-tossing cop as the main hero.

 
(via Neatorama )

 
In the space of just over a week, the German deep house production team Snuff Crew have put together a whopping 45 track Japanese benefit compilation, with all proceeds going to the Red Cross’s earthquake relief operation. These guys aren’t messing around, they really have got the cream of European house and techno producers on board to help out. Have a look at the staggering tracklist:

01. Laurent Garnier – Cancel The Apocalypse
02. Joe Drive – The Delivery
03. Humandrone – Sun Pillar On the Debris
04. Zwei Of Snuff Crew – Fukushima
05. Billie Ray Martin and Hard Ton – Sold Life (Luke Solomon Remix)
06. Quinto – We Don`t Sleep At Night Part 1
07. KiNK – Memories From The Future
08. Neville Watson – Keep On
09. Patrick Pulsinger – 12a (Dub Version)
10. Dance Disorder – Future Retro
11. Legowelt – I Want Your Love
12. The Saint Petersburg Disco Spin Club – Birds Of Japan
13. DJ Gio MC-505 – My Face On Rushmore Mount
14. Marcello Napoletano – Acid Sunday
15. Morning Factory – Deepest Thoughts
16. Detachments – Holiday Romance (Andy Blake`s Mix For A World Unknown)
17. Photonz – Carnival Of Light
18. The Model – Bump And Jack
19. Hard Ton – Marilyn (Zoe Xenia Dub`n Pop Mix)
20. Elec Pt.1 – It´s House
21. Hieroglyphic Being – Siddharta (Part1)
22. DJ M-Traxxx – House Thunda (Unreleased Mix)
23. Roberto Rodriguez – The Girl Who Silenced The World
24. Discodromo – Bunraku
25. Romina Cohn – Follow Me
26. Meschi – Stay And Play
27. House Machine – Relief (Mix for Japan)
28. Demetrio Giannice – Untidled (One for larry) (Strictly For Japan Mix)
29. Moralez aka Telecommander1 – Life Time Groove
30. Simoncino – Japanese Heart
31. Pathetik – Accroupi
32. Roland Bassline – Ode To Mick
33. Ascii.Disko – Blues For The Red Sun
34. Joel Alter – Roll With Me
35. Andreas Henneberg, Marquez Ill, Leigh Myles – Thousand Paper Cranes
36. Eins of Snuff Crew – Kana Power
37. Remute – Worldfingers
38. Oliver Dodd – Tokyo Lovers
39. Lukatron (aka Luke Solomon) – Tommy´s Cream Soda
40. Renato Cohen – Silly Walk
41. Featherweight – Featherweight (Expanded Mix)
42. Kool & Duvall – U Lift Me Up (Craig Stewart Remix)
43. Fran Mela aka I.F.M. – Not A Game
44. Phil Moon aka Valyom – Einstein Romance
45. Mark Boombastik & Eduardo Delgado Lopez – Anders

Snuff Trax For Japan is available to download from What People Play.

For more info on the project, and Snuff Crew, visit their website.

 
In 1992 I attended a lecture by Noam Chomsky at a high school auditorium in Los Angeles. During the Q&A Professor Chomsky was asked what televised news sources he recommended and he said said none of them. He had particularly biting comments to make about how CNN “packaged” the (first) Gulf War as infotainment with clips of military jets taking off, waving American flags and footage of targets being hit that looked like video-games with a martial beat soundtrack. How can you expect the public to have an objective view of the country’s foreign policy and military actions, he asked the audience, when they’re fed images from the military itself via a tightly controlled press pool designed to foster an “us vs. them” mindset by a for profit news outlet who find their highest ratings in the midst of war, scandal and crisis? And NBC was at this time owned by General Electric, the #1 company in the world to make money from war. Who could you trust?

I used to be an absolute TV news junkie, but after his words sank in, I found the more and more I drifted away from it. I did most certainly feel manipulated whenever I was watching CNN. It became really fucking annoying to me once it had been pointed out so bluntly what they were up to and how far up the White House’s asshole they’d climbed. It’s worth mentioning that it was four years prior to the launch of Fox News when Noam Chomsky made these observations. To satiate my infomania, I was soon subscribing to five daily papers and 70 monthly magazines that ranged from far-right and far-left conspiracy theory zines, to Vanity Fair and everything in between. In addition to things like In These Times or Z magazine, I also subscribed to The National Review (before it became absolutely worthless on every level) and Free American and various libertarian publications. I picked up anarchist monthlies, eco warrior magazines and just basically everything. Extreme perhaps, but at least my information sources did not have an emotionally leading soundtrack and ludicrous music video montages of saluting soldiers, missiles being fired to slaughter people at a distance and red, white and blue flags flying in the wind.

Much of the time, TV news just felt like I was being shouted at by idiots. It was infuriating. By 1996—the year Fox News launched although I was barely aware of it at the time—I cancelled cable because I never ever watched it and it was just a waste of $70 bucks a month. If it wasn’t for my wife, I’d have never had it since (and I still never watch TV news unless there’s something really significant happening).

The brilliant and sardonic British writer and TV presenter, Charlie Brooker performs a parallel service for BBC viewers that Professor Chomsky once did for me, to illustrate a similar point he made recently—with well-chosen clips—about the despicable way the news media is treating the crisis in Japan. Watch this, it’s really good.
 

 
(via Cynical-C)

Previously on DM:
Charlie Brooker’s How TV Ruined Your Life.

 

 
One Redditor guesses the flavor as “Honey Nut Crunch.” That looks pretty accurate to me.

(via reddit)

 
Some people see vast devastation and the human toll, others, like Christian author Tim LaHaye see an opportunity for self-promotion!

Tim LaHaye, the best-selling author of the “Left Behind” series of Bible prophecy novels, was one of many visiting the island of Maui who had to be evacuated to upper floors of the Marriott Hotel today.

He said being caught in the crossfire of the fourth largest earthquake in modern history helped prepare him for two prophecy conferences he was scheduled to address in Hawaii.

“The Bible tells us in Matthew 24 that one of the signs of the last days – one of the birth pangs to occur – is an increase in earthquake activity and intensity,” LaHaye told WND. “We’re seeing that happen here. It’s not just earthquakes, but hurricanes and all kinds of natural disasters.”

Give it a fucking break, asshole! At least for a day or two, huh?

Via (where else?) World Net Daily

 
BB Submitterator’s Speedo writes: “Audio sonification of the incredible seismic activity off the coast of Honshu, Japan - Friday March 11th. Tectonic is a realtime seismic analysis and sound synthesis system. Sound is created in realtime by earthquakes as they occur across the globe. A tightly integrated system between Max/MSP, Google Earth and Symbolic Sound’s Kyma processes earthquake data that is translated into sound synthesis parameters.”

Earthquakes off the east coast of Honshu, Japan - Friday March 11, 2011 by Micah Frank

  Magnitude 5.2 - NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN 2011 March 11 14-10-39 UTC by Micah Frank

Hear more over at Micah Frank’s website and SoundCloud.

 
Raw, chaotic footage of the earthquake in Japan, shot in Tokyo where things weren’t nearly as heavy. Really sums up what it’s like to be in an earthquake.

I’ve been in several, including one in Japan when I was on the 17th floor of a building that shook like the hand of God had THUMPED it, but I’ve never experienced anything like this.
 

 
Thank you Michael Backes of Los Angeles, CA!

 
A colorful assortment of antique cute postcards in Japan from the book Antique Cute Postcards in Japan (Nippon no kawaii ehagaki) by Hiroki Hayashi. The ones with Betty Boop are my favorite.

 
See more postcards after the jump…

 
Mick Karn the former bass-player with highly influential group Japan has died at the age of 52.

An announcement on his website reads:

It’s with profound sadness that we have to inform you that Mick finally lost his battle with cancer and passed away peacefully at 4.30pm today, 4th January 2011 at home in Chelsea, London. He was surrounded by his family and friends and will be deeply missed by all.

Karn was an intrinsic part to the success of Japan which, under David Sylvian’s talents, fused synth-pop with elements of Bowie and Roxy Music. They first came to prominence in the mid-1970s, and went onto produce the highly acclaimed albums Quiet Life, Gentlemen Take Polaroids and Tin Drum; as well as the hit singles “Ghosts”, “Quiet Life” and “I Second That Emotion”. Japan’s music was to prove greatly influential over the next decade.  After the band’s demise, Karn collaborated with Bauhaus singer, Pete Murphy on the seminal album The Waking Hour. He also worked with Gary Numan and Kate Bush.
 

 
Hikikomori is a term used to describe individuals who have chosen to withdraw from social life, often to an extreme degree of isolation. The word literally means “pulling away, being confined,” and was first used by Japanese psychologist, Dr Tamaki Saitō in his study of sufferers. Dr Saitō believes the cause of the problem lies within Japanese history and society, as there has been a cultural tradition that celebrates the nobility of solitude. This together with the fact that until the mid-nineteenth century, Japan had cut itself off from the outside world for two hundred years.

Dr Saito points to the relationship between mothers and their sons, and has shown how most hikikomori sufferers are male, often the eldest son. “In Japan, mothers and sons often have a symbiotic, co-dependent relationship. Mothers will care for their sons until they become 30 or 40 years old.” This dependency causes the sufferer to be unable to interact with the outside world, and often he will escape into the fantasy world of computer games and on-line activities.

According to Dr Henry Grubb, a psychologist from the University of Maryland, hikikomori is specifically Japanese, as there is “nothing like it in the West.” Part of the problem stems from Japan’s subservient and passive/aggressive culture. Most consider hikikomori a problem within the family, rather than a psychological illness.
Recent Cabinet Office statistics in Japan, put the number of hikikomori at some 696,000 nationwide, making it a national social problem.

The Cabinet Office recently announced that an estimated 696,000 youths nationwide are hikikomori, shutting themselves inside their homes for six months or longer. According to the same report, 1.55 million youths claimed they could sympathize with the inclination to isolate oneself from society. It looks like for the time being, the government will claim the official figure for hikikomori as approximately 700,000.

In reality, the estimated population of hikikomori varies from year to year. According to Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry surveys conducted between 2002 and 2005, the number of affected households was an estimated 410,000 in the first year. The number continued to fall in subsequent years, with a 2005 figure of 260,000 households.

Over the years, there have been many reports of Hikikomori sufferers becoming violent. In 2000, “a 17 year old hikikomori sufferer left his isolation and hijacked a bus, killing a passenger. Another kidnapped a girl and held her captive in his bedroom for nine years.”

Hikikomori - The Silent Sufferers looks at a selection of hikikomori sufferers, examining their lives and how they and their families cope.
 

 
‘Hikikomori - The Silent Sufferers’ continues plus bonus clip after the jump…