Tag: japan

  • Yusuke Iseya joins Ryomaden

    So… casting over at the current NHK Taiga drama gets even more interesting with the announcement that Yusuke Iseya will be playing Takasugi Shinsaku, samurai friend of Ryomaden.

    His first appearance will be in the episode scheduled to air on July 18th. It starts from the scene where Ryoma meets Shinsaku and other Choshu samaurai by chance at a restaurant in Nagasaki.

    Suzuki Kei, the chief producer, explained: “Ryoma and Shinsaku both died young, had an unconventional fashion sense, dreamed of activity overseas, there were a lot of common features between them. We’ll be depicting them as ‘having the same soul,’ the friendship and intermingling of two people as soulmates.”

    via Arama They Didn’t.

    Bolding mine.

    I gotta be honest with you, I haven’t kept up with Ryomaden, mainly because it just gets a really difficult time-slot here. It airs like at 6am, and then it re-airs at 1pm… Maybe NHK should really think about differing their transmission. But then I would be complaining about that too, right?

    Six Degrees of separation! Well, not really… Yu Aoi — anyone knows when her character will show up? — played opposite Yusuke Iseya on Honey & Clover. Their names also appeared together on Tekkonkinkreet… and Tekkon is much cooler than HachiKURO xD

    I just wanted to post this photo.

  • AfterEllen Top East-Asian Suggestions 2010

    Okay, I took a WHOLE lot more time on getting names for this list, because apparently I am not knowledgeable enough in female actresses and well singers from Asia as I first though…

    AfterEllen.com also made their annual list of Hot 100 2010 [as well as Top Women of Color, Top Out Women, Top Women over 40], only they made it backwards, so I’m linking you to their last page, and you’re going to have to work your way backwards… Ovbiously, I thought AfterElton worked better because I took the time to look through it more than once to make sure I wasn’t missing anyone.

    Tips for a better list for AfterEllen:

    • Start from #100
    • Point out with arrows who’s going up or down in positions, and who’s a new entry.

    And really? No Asians on your list?

    Not that I don’t appreciate the likes of Alicia Keys, Jennifer Beals, Cate Blanchett, Julianne Moore, Anne Hathaway, Natalie Portman, the girls from Glee (Cheerios plus Rachel, woah that’s bizarre xD), Meryl (who doesn’t need a last name), Rachel Weisz, Amanda Seyfried (even though the things that are coming out of her mouth lately), Christina Hendricks, Tina Fey, Penelope Cruz, Jodie Foster, Rachel McAdams, the whole cast of The L Word… right? Pink, Emily Blunt, Kate Winslet, Ellen Page, all whom often make appearances on this blog. And to top it with Olivia Wilde…

    but then again… no Asians?

    So me, barely scraping made a list of Top East-Asians that you might want to consider for future editions of your Hot 100. I would also offer a weekly/monthly (a la my AfterElton offer), but I don’t think I’m as knowledgeable in this area. I could try pimping Asian talents on a monthly basis if you want xD

    Okay… once again, in no particular order.

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  • AfterElton Top East-Asian Suggestions 2010

    Dear AfterElton,

    I love that Taye Diggs topped your list of Top10 Men of Color, and that you also included Ricky Martin. Though, I still wonder… really? Eddie Cibrian? Anyway…

    I like that you tried to include 1/5 of Asians… but there’s too much Asian hotness in the world to only count Daniel Dae Kim (from Lost), and John Cho… it just makes it seem like you know two Asians in the west.

    So here is a list of Asian male that I’m pimping so you could check out for future editions. I would be more than happy (and I’m sure my friend Julz would also be happy) to contribute weekly or monthly posts of Asian hotties on AfterElton.

    So… in no particular order…

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    Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6

  • Welcome to Tokyo

    A while ago the Tokyo Metropolitan Government commissioned Studio 4°C to make an animated short to promote visiting Tokyo. Available in original Japanese audio with English, Korean, Chinese Traditional and Simplified, Italian, French, Spanish and Dutch, the short is titled Honey Tokyo and tells the story of a girl from the future traveling to present-day Japan to bring back Happiness to her time. A boy named Takeru serves as her guide to different places in the city, doing different activities and learning about traditions.

    The short had a budget of around half a million $USD, and can I just say~~~
    it’s a really great investment? It just fuels my wanting to go to Japan.

    Check it out at the Welcome to Tokyo website.

    Great way to mix Art and PR. Tagged as commercial and short! xD

  • Namie Amuro vs. Janet Jackson – FIGHT!

    So you know I don’t worship Janet Jackson. Okay, maybe a little.

    Okay, now that THAT is out of the way. I was reading that Namie Amuro topped the random polls of “female singer with the best dancing skills“, ahead of BoA… who barely made the list. I thought to myself “Wow, she must really be something”. Because even if I don’t appreciate BoA for all her BoA-ness, I thought she totally killed it with her video of Eat You Up (even if the lyrics are pretty rubbish).

    So this is my total non-biased opinion.

    I YouTubed Namie Amuro, and  came up with THIS performance for Girl Talk, which has over 100k views. Totally NOT impressed with the dancing. But something else called my attention.

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  • The Invention of Dr. Nakamats Trailer

    OMG. I am obsessed with Dr. Nakamats.

    I am so totally smelling cameras next time.

  • Seldom Book Talk

    I don’t read as many books as I watch films, tv series or listen to albums… but I think that reading subtitles count on as part as the word count of how much I actually read… as well as reading lyrics xD

    At the moment I’m reading — being trying to finish for the last month or so — Cronica del Pajaro que da Cuerda al Mundo (The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, aka Nejimaki-dori KURONIKURU) by Haruki Murakami, but really can’t blame me for taking so long. It’s 900 pages long, and I know Harry Potter 5 is as long and it only took me 3 days to finish that one. But Cronica began really slow, and I left it there for a long long time until about 3 days ago, when I picked it up again. xD

    I’m actually devouring any Murakami novel I ran into the bookstore. I have already bought Sputnik, mi Amor (Sputnik Sweetheart, aka SUPU-TONIKU no Koibito), and El Fin del Mundo y un Despiadado Pais de las Maravillas (Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, aka Sekai no Owari to HA-DOBOIRUDO WANDA-RANDO).

    I’m looking for Kafka on the Shore, which I saw at a bookstore’s listing, but when they checked… it was gone. Highly suspicious… I never believe things like books, cds or dvds ever get sold out here.

    Julz will also be surprised to find out that I ran into copies of Män som Hatar Kvinnor… which wasn’t literally translated, as the book in Spanish is called Los Hombres que no Amaban a las Mujeres [literally, Men Who Didn’t Love Women for those of you non-Spanish readers] – I guess Odiar/Hate is too-strong a word? At least it beats “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” [Hardcover][Kindle Version]. Gosh. I was disappointed with the title in English when I saw the film. xD I also found a copy of Flickan som Lekte med Elden, which was translated to La Chica que Soñaba con una Cerilla y un Bidon de Gasolina [literally, The Girl who Dreamed with a Match and an Oil Drum] but the Swedish title means The Girl who Played with Fire [Hardcover][Kindle Version], right Julz? Which is exactly like the English title. Wonder who picks the titles…

    However, I couldn’t find a copy of the third part. I will probably look for it after I finish all of the above, or buy it if I ran into it… – I wonder why they only had the two tomes.

    Also, why are books so effing expensive here? I paid a bit over $30 for each Stieg Larsson book, and they’re not even hardcover editions. Frak, I even complained when that stupid Dan Brown book was $16 USD on Amazon… while they were selling it for nearly $35 USD in bookstores here. FRAK, I tell you!

  • Get Up and Go in Tokyo by Stefan Werc

    I always love a good time-lapse~ [Vancouver][Marriage Proposal]
    and I love Japan =D so… win win, right?

  • “Super Dubbed” Films in Japan

    Coming from an article over at Wildgrounds

    What is this “super dub“? In fact, they’re trying to make the translation sounds more natural in Japanese.

    …

    what were you attempting with Super Dubbing to deal with this difference?
    For example, Leonardo de Caprio, who plays Teddy, faces a woman working in the hospital and asks, “Were you a nurse?” If you change this to natural Japanese, just saying “Kankoshi?” However, in English when you say “Were you a nurse?” your lips move three times.

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  • To Watch Until They’re 35 – Eita

    Guess who’s #10 on the list of The 20 to Watch Between 25-30?

    But it’s, of course, Eita!

    Born in Tokyo, Japan on December 13th 1982. He might be unknown to almost everyone, unless you are already familiar with Japanese films and series, but this 27-year-old actor has proven that you should keep on watching him.

    His list of films include Aoi Haru (Blue Spring), Azumi, Densha Otoko, Su-ki-da and Memories of Matsuko. Of course, Matsuko as a film works because of so many different aspects including Eita’s ability to make you want to connect with the brilliant Miki Nakatani.

    Last year, Eita worked on two films that seemed to be in many of the “best of lists” in Japan, including the acclaimed Dear Doctor — by famous director Miwa Nishikawa, who wrote and directed Yureru (Sway) — as well as the seemingly popular April Bride, directed by indie acclaimed director Ryuichi Hiroki.

    Add to that his recurring role as Mine on the Nodame Cantabile franchise [headed by fellow 20 to watch Juri Ueno] which sprung not only an 11-episode series, and two television special, but also two theatrical films opening on December 2009 and this month.

    There is a certain softness in Eita’s aura that translates well whenever he’s on screen, making him perfect to play the sensible young man. He doesn’t even need to speak a single word, even though you probably would need the subtitles to actually understand what he is saying [unless, of course, you speak Japanese], but whenever he’s in a dramatic scene… all of that doesn’t matter. He’ll deliver the goods in a way that language would really not be a barrier.

    Very few [men or women] can captivate you like this.