Category: Japanese

  • Time to Test HMV Japan~

    So much for my economy~~~ I went to YesAsia to check if they listed Yu’s new PB – almost had a heart attack with the price tag. Portugirl took way~~~ LESS time to get listed in YesAsia than Juri’s Ao Akua. It’s like instant! But COME ON! $45USD? !!???? Just for it? And I don’t even get free-shipping. So I just signed up to HMV Japan, because they are listing  Portugirl at almost half the price… + shipping, is costing around the same price YesAsia’s book. And Amazon JP’s listing it at $30USD + $30ish shipping here~~

    Hooray for HMV’s international business plan. Now, don’t go all YesAsia on me and suddenly change your country zoning to charge me more… and don’t go all Amazon JP on me and suddenly charge 30 bucks for it.

    Will report on how f ast, and how nice HMV is~~ Will YesAsia lose my business? And I do a lot of business, considering I’m broke but I keep on clicking. *tsk tsk*

  • Paco and the Magical Book, Tetsuya Nakashima + Dramatic Comedy Meets Disney on LSD

    Tetsuya Nakashima’s latest film, PAKO to Maho no Ehon is one horrorific Japanese film – and you should see it for it. Nakashima has become quickly in one of my favorite Japanese directors (alongside Shunji Iwai, who is, by the way, a total different approach to filmmaking) and Memories of Matsuko is my favorite Japanese film to date.

    Nakashima is quickly turning into my Japanese sort of Tim-Burtonesque filmmaker stylist, in the way he uses rich visual enhancements to his storytelling – thanks to his background in CMs, and just found out and remembered watching this – He combines amazing color treatment, art direction, cinematography and mashes it all up with anything he can… be it a bit of violence, grandeur musical numbers, and animation.

    PAKO to Maho no Ehon - Paco and the Magical Picture Book

    In the end, it isn’t much of a surprise when you begin watching Paco and the Magical Book and find yourself in a very Disney-nesque world (the film starts with a Lion-King-esque chant, literally) – after all, this is supposed to be aimed at a younger audience. However, don’t ever fool yourself thinking that this will dumb down anything that Tetsuya wants to show… which includes a punk-goth-tatooed-blond nurse (Anna Tsuchiya), a psychologically-insane-ex-child-star-bum (Satoshi Tsumabuki), a raging-drag-queen whom a lot of people are referring to as ‘gay’ (Jun Kunimura), and a blood-sucking-neck-biting-vampiresque nurse (Eiko Koike). And don’t forget the grumpy old man who doesn’t back down when hitting the kid (Koji Yakusho)… well, I actually laughed at that bit. Does that make me an asshole??

    Yes, the film is nuts, but it’s worth watching. For international audience, it might not be recommended to watch with their kids, unless they are willing to read subtitles… because films like this should be enjoy in its original language. I still think is not as brilliant as Matsuko, but I will have to see it once more with proper subtitles to form a strong opinion. And man! Those CGI animated sequences… and the whole thing, like I said~~ dramatic comedy meets Disney on LSD. I think that’s the perfect description for Nakashima’s style.

    I’ll leave you with some links,

  • Juri Ueno – Ao Akua by Yuichiro Kobayashi – GOMA BOOKS

    Ao Akua arrived this afternoon! – Book is the cutest thing ever. LOL’ Tinier than I expected really~~

    Juri Ueno - Ao Akua - Cover

    Though, I don’t love this PB as much as I love A Piacere, mainly because I was a tad bit disappointed on the photographs. Don’t get me wrong, there are a few great shots, but a lot of snap shots too~~ What I love about this one? I like the concept, and the fact that there’s a companion DVD.

    More after the break.

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  • Yu Aoi Film Discussion – Nijuuyon no Hitomi – 24 Eyes

    Something about the film:
    (From AsianMediaWiki)
    Schoolteacher Hisako Oishi struggles to imbue her students with a positive view of the world and their place in it, despite the fact that she knows full well that most of them will die in the war.

    Genre: Drama
    Starring: Hitomi Kuroki, Kaoru Yachigusa
    Appearances by: Akira Emoto, Yu Aoi, Shun Oguri
    Duration: +2hr

    Below, the spoilers~

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  • Yu Aoi + Yoko Takahashi = Portugirl!!!!

    OMGOGMOGMGGMOMOGMG. I just died of excitement. *laughs*

    I haven’t been to Yu Aoi’s website in a while, and not only did I find a new ‘news item’ but also a new ‘message’ – they were announcing the release of Portugirl!! Yu’s NEW PHOTOBOOK!!!!!

    OMG, I’m so frakin’ BROKE. =.=

    Yu Aoi x Yoko Takahashi - Portugirl Photobook

    And  the PB just went on sale on Saturday… according to the website. March 14th ~ which is NOT TODAY anymore. However, the Amazon.co.jp link I found shows the ‘pre-order’ button, instead of the ‘add to cart’ – not like I’m buying through Amazon *laughs* but just something to point out.  Also~~~ HMV Japan has it listed with another title.

    Should I test HMV and not wait for YesAsia to list it? I have $5 off my next YesAsia purchase, but that could expire before the book shows up there~~~

    Anyway!!! Best thing ever~~~ Yu’s back with Yoko *laughs* – to quote Yu on Travel Sand. I LOVE Yoko-san’s world. ALSO… when did Yu got time to visit Portugal??? Yo, girl~~ I’m telling you… you should totally visit this side of the world, and I’m not talking about Venezuela or any of the Guyanas xD

  • Juri with WOWOW~ and with Jiji no e Tegami

    WOWOW + Juri!!!! Exciting!!

    As you know, I LOVED WOWOW’s Camouflage with Yu Aoi. *hearts* So the prospect of a WOWOW project with Juri (before she goes off to Europe to film more Nodame – Julz, this is your cue) is NUTZ. The current working title apparently is:
    GI~TA~ KE~SU no Onna –> A Girl with a Guitar Case, but you know that could change just like Camouflage switched titles.

    As you know, I liked Hito no SEKKUSU (Don’t Laugh at my Romance) and Hyakuman-en (One Million Yen Girl) which had WOWOW attached… of course that might had to do with Yu Aoi as well ~ but these prospects are the same. ^^

    ON OTHER NEWS!

    There’s a trailer out for Juri’s North India Documentary with NHK on the Jiji no e Tegami project, or Grandfather’s Letters… which in case you didn’t know~~~ Juri has a song for… (just like she has Onara Taisou for Nodame).

    The documentary will be on NHK March 20th (Friday) from 8pm to 9.29pm (LOL, 29? haha… sorry). Set your clocks, and I will set my own time… 6am??? GOSH~

    [iframe src=”https://www.tudou.com/v/EDrN434X3SY/v.swf” width=”480″ height=”400″]

    For more some photos and graphics, head over to Juri’s LJ community.

  • Interactive JDramas and Voice-over your Anime!

    Well… ‘interactive’ almost haha

    Hmm… two weeks ago, in fact~~~ On February 25th, I was watching NHK and saw this pretty awesome segment where they showed this JDrama that you could put your face into, the second segment mentioned a new for of ‘karaoke’ to voice-over anime~~~ To tell you the truth, I found it hilarious!

    Anyway, I was trying to find some info on it, but since my Japanese is so limited I couldn’t really google anything. Luckily, I was watching NHK this afternoon and recognized the hosts, so I could go to the show’s website and find out. And so I did!

    The first segment is Sangwoo & my Story – obviously a romantic JDrama aimed at women who want to put their face into the protagonist body. LOL’ You literally scan your face, and they will make it all digital and moveable… they will even give u a digital surgery so your face is not wonky xD ~~~ Then they just paste your digi-most-improved-face onto the body of the person playing the lead, make your digi-mouth move at the proper sync and you got yourself into your love story JDrama. You buy it on DVD, go home to watch yourself on screen with your Asian hunk.

    Sangwoo & my Story - Face Scan and Tweak

    Pretty amazing stuff, really… even if it’s kind of weird. Can’t possibly imagine what the porn industry could do with that… LOL – Can you?

    Anyway~~~

    The second segment was a feature on JoySound.com – who have released a type of Karaoke machine to dub anime, so otakus can go… knowing all their favorite anime lines, begin recording with a passion, and then watch their masterful over-dubbing~~~ Funny stuff considering I could sit with my friend and play Harry Potter PoA while watching the film~~~ I find this one more funny, than impressive though… The above ABOVE idea was crazy.

    Now, if all dramas could be like that~~~ let’s start with Japan. Can you imagine being in Nodame? Or Osen??? Can you imagine put your face into Eita’s body and get to hug Juri playing Ruka. LOL Can you imagine that in a western show… or I mean, your favorite American or English show?

    I know a few that will probably considering being on FRIENDS… Well, I know many will likely do the karaoke-voice-over thing with it anyway.

  • Three-Year Friendship Anniversary, Julz!

    Yo~~~~~ I’m pretty sure it’s not March 8th yet in Sweden. In fact, according to my iPod it’s barely 9pm there at the moment, but hey! we’re here to celebrate!! Celebrate that faithful e-mail you sent 3 years ago! Wow, how much you’ve changed and evolved, Julz~~

    Truly! Most improved! Remember? You didn’t know how to call avatars, let alone make them~~~ Now! Now you run your OWN website… make graphics, and are all over many things Asian. Very very amazing~~~ you’re Singing in Korean (Colbert joke in here) xD~~~ Of course~~~ singing in Japanese! And you are about to witness Japanese Entertainment industry’s history~~~~

    Julyssa & Amy
    Was this T-Centralen? July 2007? xD

    Loca!!!! Happy Friendship-versary!!! LOL’

  • Rookie of the Year Award for Yu!!

    Yu Aoi - 2009 - Rookie of the Year Award CeremonyRookie? LOL’ I don’t think she’s a ‘rookie’ perse but okay… I’ll take it!

    The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan has named Yu (in the fields of Media and Fine Arts) their Rookie of the Year Award (Movies).

    On why they are giving this award to her, they talk about her debut on the Shunji Iwai film All About Lily Chou Chou, and her steady career throughout the years mentioning Hula Girls. They also mention her work on One Million Yen Girl the past year, as well as her natural talent. Finally, they close their paragraph saying that Yu’s future is expected with much anticipation.

    Or something like that…

    Also named there in the field of Public Art, Shiina Ringo!!!! Like… Rookie?? Again~~

    Sorry, no photos~~

    *update March 30th* – Added a photo from Yu’s site.

    *update May 20th* – Added a link to video. Check it out after the break…

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  • Jugemu, the Tongue Twister

    In October last year, I posted an extra from the Hana & Alice DVD, in which the cast did a rhyme or a “rakugo” – which by the way wasn’t on Wikipedia back then – and I took a while to get what they were saying, but now there’s information!

    The rhyme is called Jugemu, and it’s one of the most popular rakugo for its featuring on NHK’s Nihongo de Asobo segment… which was the program I quoted last February, when I posted a comment with the romaji for it. Jugemu tells the story of a man picking a name for his newborn baby. When the priest gives him a list of auspicious names, the man decides to use all of them to give his child a lot of luck in life, resulting in a super long name.

    The Japan Forum

    The Tikki Tikki Tembo story is also kind of funny~~