Category: Japanese

  • Namie Amuro vs. Da Mouth – FIGHT!

    So I was trying out some of Da Mouth’s music — some electro-ish hip-pop music quartet from Taiwan — and like I always do, I began listening to their official discography from their first album. It was all fine until I reached the song I Just Like You (我就是喜歡你), which began bothering me. A LOT.

    My brain immediately connected it to Namie Amuro’s Girl Talk. And I don’t even like Namie Amuro — but at least I don’t hate her any longer. I had previously said that Girl Talk, released in 2004, reminded me a LOT of Janet Jackson’s Doesn’t Really Matter, released in 2000 [1]. However, this Da Mouth single, released after 2007, reminds me too much of Namie Amuro.

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  • Floating with Natsumi Hayashi

    I don’t usually have enough time to browse the web any longer, so I ran into Natsumi Hayashi’s floating photography in the magazine that was on the plane to… it was either Los Angeles or my way to South Korea. In any case, I thought it was stunning and am aware that am late to the party.

    But just for future reference.

    I think Natsumi has stopped updating her website though, considering the last pictures there are dated June 2011.

  • Hayato Ichihara on NHK’s Studio Park

    I don’t know what is it about Hayato Ichihara (or Christopher Gorham) that I find so irresistible. Must be the kind of boyish charm, huh? I suddenly ran into Hayato Ichihara on NHK (so lucky I changed the channel!) where he talked about his new NHK project, A Tree in the Sun (陽だまりの樹) — adaptation of an Osamu Tezuka manga, and the interviewers asked him about All About Lily Chou Chou, for its recent 10th anniversary.

    I don’t remember seeing him in the anniversary pictures [1], but I’m so glad they asked him about it because Yu-chan got a mention by name as well as a very long clip. Natsukashii na~~~

    Anyway, I didn’t get much about the interview (of course!), except that he likes tako nigiri sushi (octopus). LOL — Also, Hiroki Narimiya stars in the new show, and he’s another one of my weaknesses~ I find Narimiya attractive when I see him acting on screen (crazy and all), though, not on photos.

  • More Yu-chan for JINS Air Frame CM

    Sh*t just got dirty. Sorry, I had been reading Japanese “news” that I missed during my trip. ANYWAY, I’m not here to talk about such things. If we’ve discussed such things, you probably have a way to email me or PM me in some forum or Facebook — if you wanna talk about this, you know what to do~

    Here’s a very super cute commercial Yu-chan released on early March sponsoring these glasses [1]. She looks positively glowing, and the reports say she was a natural during these shots. Of course. She excels at this type of things. Her facial expressions are perfection. Always. All the time.

    Best way to begin the week!

  • Yu-chan in Shiseido stand in Hualien~

    I couldn’t help myself and grabbed a Shiseido pamphlet while night shopping. LOL

    image

    This is going to be as close as it’s ever going to get. By the way, I’m not weird at all… I usually grab all printed materials from whatever I get to visit.

  • Yu Aoi for Madame de Sade

    Look what I found!

    Yu-chan is going to be starring on the play Madame de Sade, which… I’ll just copy/paste the info I found because I’m lazy. LOL~ I know, I know~~~ But I compensate by adding all the dates on the Yu Aoi Google Event Calendar, alright?

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  • I don’t even… Tamatama

    Unofficial Yu Aoi Film Discussion post. LOL

    Has any of you gotten the chance to watch Tamatama yet? (are there subs out?)

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  • From the Vault: Yu Aoi on Casting Interview at Age 14

    I always wanted to use that phrase: “From the Vault” LOL. Have I said how much I love Weibo? You find all these gems uploaded all the time. It’s amazing.

    Yu-chan was so young in this one that she didn’t even write the kanji for “sai” next to her age.

  • Yu-chan on Shokuzai not getting fansub interest

    You know I have to do it… LOL

    I wanted to add one more panel, but I thought it would be too spoilerific of the episode. I really really REALLY hope and wish someone subs Shokuzai because it’s only five episodes, and buzz seems to label it as “the drama” of the season because of the amount of talent involved [1].

  • Faye Wong Performs New Song for New Year

    See, this would be a mega-talent post if NHK would only let me embed Shiina Ringo’s performance at the latest Kouhaku, but no~~~ they gotta make things difficult.

    Anyway, I think I may have died a little and gone to heaven. One of my wishes from last year may be coming true or something. Faye Wong singing new material — for New Year nonetheless — it’s like the creative muses got together and made Shiina Ringo and Faye Wong perform so close to one another, some babies may have been born with no talent at all because the concentration of it might be too much. LOL

    as per usual with Faye Wong stuff, I have no idea what this song may be call except for Yuan (愿) which can mean “desire, wish, hope, willing, ready” — take your pick. You can listen to the studio version here.

    The live version is… off, apparently Faye — diva and all – recognized she messed up a bit. I’m really blaming her time off stage, but it doesn’t matter… I can just LOOT AT HER. THAT STAGE. That stage is stunning beyond words. I can salivate looking at that stage and love that I can see it in high definition… there are just no proper words to describe it.

    Thanks to Cfensi for the heads up.