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Meet Hatsune Miku, the holographic superstar from Japan
11.10.2010
11:31 am
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Hatsune Miku, the holographic J-Pop superstar from Japan, commands legions of fans who go totally nuts for her, almost exactly the same way fans of Miley Cyrus do for her.  As cool as this technology is (and it’s very cool), I just can’t imagine an audience going so crazy for something like this on these shores. It would be like freaking out over The Archies.

 
Thanks, Juan Monasterio!

Posted by Tara McGinley
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11.10.2010
11:31 am
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Japanese transexual pop group The Spanky Girls
10.14.2010
11:53 pm
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Tina, Yuki and Sumire, post-op transexual trio The Spanky Girls, sing ‘Mapouka’, a song about their asses (I think).

Girls, no amount of surgery is gonna change the fact that you can’t sing. But, you do look good.
 

Posted by Marc Campbell
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10.14.2010
11:53 pm
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Sammy Davis Jr.‘s ultra-groovy Japanese whiskey commercial, 1974
10.12.2010
04:23 pm
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Sammy Davis Jr. scats for Suntory whiskey, 1974.

Adlibs followed by the final take after the jump.
 

 
Final take after the jump…

READ ON
Posted by Marc Campbell
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10.12.2010
04:23 pm
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Give new meaning to your life and watch this
08.26.2010
09:15 am
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You can’t look away, can you? Just try.

Thanks, Winslow B!

Posted by Tara McGinley
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08.26.2010
09:15 am
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Beloved Invaders: The Ventures in Japan
08.23.2010
06:21 pm
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During the early 60’s, The Ventures were one of the most popular bands in the USA. But their American success was soon overshadowed by the British Invasion. They went from being huge hitmakers to yesterday’s papers practically overnight. So they went to Japan where, for awhile, they were as big as The Beatles. The Japanese nicknamed the group ‘The Beloved Invaders’ and called their sound ‘teke teke’ music. They were the Godzillas of the surf guitar.

I have several theories as to why The Ventures were big in Japan, most of them having to do with the sound of Mosrite guitars, koto music, Zen and radioactive sea-dwelling monsters.

Don Wilson who formed The Ventures with Bob Bogle in 1958 recalls touring Japan:

We played in downtown Tokyo, in a big place that holds 3,500 people. They were lined up around the block, about five abreast. We played three shows, one after the other. People were still trying to get in. We played in Yokohama and Osaka, the big cities. Had I known we were that popular, I would’ve asked for more money!

Earlier this year The Ventures received the illustrious Order Of The Rising Sun Award from the Japanese government honoring their contribution to Japan’s musical culture.

Here’s footage from The Beloved Invaders documenting The Ventures first tour of Japan. After suffering through decrepit looking bootlegs of this film, it was a thrill to come upon some pristine looking footage. And the sound is awesome.
 

Posted by Marc Campbell
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08.23.2010
06:21 pm
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Japanese subway poster: The Seat Monopolizer (July 1976)
08.10.2010
12:47 pm
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Pink Tentacle has a wonderful collection of vintage Tokyo subway manner posters from 1976 - 1982. The one pictured above, The Seat Monopolizer, was inspired by Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator.

Do yourself a favor and go check out more awesome subway manner posters over at Pink Tentacle.

Posted by Tara McGinley
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08.10.2010
12:47 pm
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Japanese WTF Commercial Of The Day
07.15.2010
02:53 pm
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Japanese television commercials are absolutely insane. This one combines urinating with geysers of blood in an effort to compel you to buy some tea. Can you imagine this ever appearing American TV?  You gotta love the Japanese, they’re kooky.

Posted by Marc Campbell
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07.15.2010
02:53 pm
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Words have not yet been invented that would describe this. Not in English anyway…
06.27.2010
09:00 pm
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Whatever drugs he’s on, I want a barrel of ‘em!

Via WFT Japan Seriously

Posted by Richard Metzger
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06.27.2010
09:00 pm
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Mick Karn, bassist from 80s new wave group, Japan, has advanced cancer and his family needs help
06.06.2010
08:23 pm
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Sorry to hear this sad news about Mick Karn, whose distinctive rubbery bass lines fueled the lush sound of 80s new wave group, Japan (and the brief Dali’s Car project with Peter Murphy from Bauhaus):

With great sadness we regret to inform you that Mick has recently been diagnosed with advanced stages of cancer. Mick is currently in a positive mood and undergoing further tests and treatment. His family and friends are close with him, supporting him in practical ways, and surrounding him with their love, friendship and care.

Mick has been struggling financially for some considerable time now and we are hoping that this appeal may help to raise funds for any necessary treatment and perhaps go some way towards providing a small degree of financial support whilst Mick’s immediate family provide the care and comfort we would all wish for him. We are hoping that his friends, fans and musical colleagues will, over the coming months, offer any support they feel capable of giving. Quite aside from the sheer brunt of daunting medically-related costs, Mick’s clear and major concern is for the security and well being of his wife and young son.

If you would like to make a donation whether as an individual or as a group, you can do so via the PayPal link which has been set up for this sole and express purpose. Any support you are able to give, no matter how small, could make a difference in helping Mick cope during this difficult period. His friends will be looking at a variety of ways to raise funds.

Messages of support for Karn can be left on the forum boards here. Japan’s Steve Jansen is donating the proceeds from portraits of Karn sold on his website to the Mick Karn Appeal. The images for sale can be seen here.

 

 
Above, Japan perform Gentlemen Take Polaroids. Below, Mick Karn and Peter Murphy perform as Dali’s Car on The Old Grey Whistle Test.
 

 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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06.06.2010
08:23 pm
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AAEE)
05.18.2010
12:20 am
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And for the triple threat, I leave you with this rather… unorthodox music video in high Girl Group style. It just doesn’t get better than this.

(Via LSDEX)

Posted by Jason Louv
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05.18.2010
12:20 am
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Kissing The Mask With William Vollmann
04.20.2010
05:17 pm
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Having tackled such topics as prostitution, the nature of violence, and the Imperial Valley, author William Vollmann‘s certainly navigated a few of the world’s darker corners.  His just-released work of non-fiction, Kissing the Mask: Beauty, Understatement, and Femininity in Japanese Noh Theater, seems like it’s going to strike that typical Vollmann balance between the bleak and the beautiful.

Here’s how Vice describes it:

As its title suggests, it is a sociological exploration of the strange, veiled world of Noh and its practitioners.  The book is filled with transvestites, geishas, sex fiends of the red-light Kabukichō district, and many other interesting characters both elegant and perverted.  It also marks the first time that we have read the word “neovagina.”

Vice is also carrying an excerpt from the book’s Chapter 16, “They Just Want To Look In The Mirror.”  In it, Vollmann recounts his session with a makeup artist (see above photos) whose clientele includes a large number of cross-dressing Japanese businessmen:

Only about 10 percent of her customers dare to go out.  They often wear femme-executive or businesswoman outfits when they come to her; a few play with lingerie, but never here; some keep secret apartments furnished with their woman things, so that their families will never know.  They tend to order clothes on the internet, a circumstance which requires them to buy repeatedly before discovering a garment which actually fits; but anonymity remains infinitely more important to them than cost or convenience.

“Why do they do it?”

“Stress,” she replies. “And they have the pleasure of hiding something secret.”

Posted by Bradley Novicoff
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04.20.2010
05:17 pm
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Japanese Anarcho-Fascist Politician Koichi Toyama: “Annihilate everything that exists!”
01.11.2010
11:47 pm
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“I do not have a single constructive proposal.”

This is hilarious. It’s poetry, too. This man is a genius. Give him his own TV show!

Here’s what it says about him on WIkipedia:

Koichi Toyama (?

Posted by Richard Metzger
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01.11.2010
11:47 pm
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Animated Stereoviews of Old Japanese Photos
11.05.2009
12:16 am
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Awesome blog Pink Tentacle says, “In the late 19th and early 20th century, enigmatic photographer T. Enami (1859-1929) captured a number of 3D stereoviews depicting life in Meiji-period Japan.”
 
See more cool Japanese stereoviews over at Pink Tenticle.

Posted by Tara McGinley
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11.05.2009
12:16 am
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Japanese Youth Go Farmpunk
10.28.2009
03:35 pm
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Via the Telegraph:

In a high-tech country that grew rich selling cars and electronics, young farmers are standing up to reinvent the image of agriculture. Organic farming converts, rice-growing Tokyo fashionistas and other young green fingers have trickled back into rural Japan, where many farm towns have been slowly dying amid fast-greying Japan’s demographic crunch.

Japan, the world’s second-largest economy, now imports 60 per cent of its food, and many worry about future food security if climate change affects global food supplies or energy costs increase international grain prices.

No matter how big Japan’s economy is, no matter how much cash it stacks up, this country will soon be unable to buy so much food from overseas,” Yusuke Miyaji, 31, recently told a crowd of young farmers.

“I want to make a job in the primary sector cool, striking and profitable,” said Miyaji, dressed in overalls, to applause from his audience. “Kids should dream of becoming farmers, not baseball players!”

Miyaji, who comes from a pig farming family, has created a network called Kosegare, a word meaning “farmer’s son”, that has attracted more than 200 young farmers and supporters who share his sense of crisis.

(Telegraph: Japan’s urban youth swaps fashion for farming)

Posted by Jason Louv
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10.28.2009
03:35 pm
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Muscle Parade: WTF Japanese Wii Game
10.25.2009
12:40 pm
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Here?

Posted by Tara McGinley
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10.25.2009
12:40 pm
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