TLC has decided to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the song “Waterfalls” by teaming with Japanese pop star Namie Amuro for a version which (in a slight bit of controversy) removes the rapping of the late Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes. (Although Left Eye’s estate will benefit from royalties due to her writer’s credit on the…
So far this story doesn’t have a lot of legs, but some Japanese Tabloids and internet sites are reporting that Ai Kago, who recently was hospitalized after attempting suicide has signed a contract for 100,000,000 yen, or well over 1 million dollars at current exchange rates. As I said, mainstream media has not yet confirmed…
Many Japanese news media outlets are reporting that Ai Kago (age 23), formerly of Morning Musume attempted to commit suicide on September 11th. She was found in her apartment in Roppongi in Tokyo by a member of her talent agency. The agency member then immediately called 119 (the equivalent in Japan to 911) for an…
The internet is alive with comments about how bad the Aqua Timez rock band’s lead vocalist Futoshi’s rendering of Kimi Ga Yo. Now, in defense of Futoshi, that is a hard song to do well and is definitely out of his genre. Aqua Timez is a fine band, especially as Japanese rock bands go, so…
Although many schools make an effort to keep a school song at least somewhat timely and fun to sing, and there are a lot of good school songs around Japan with the inevitable charismatic brass band to play it as well as they can… Shigakukan High School in Nagoya city, Aichi Prefecture has a great JPop…
With a huge height difference on display, 192 cm tall Masaya Nakamura and former Morning Musume member Mari Yaguchi who reaches all of 145 cm on a good day got married. Newzjapan reported the pending nuptials around which were announced around New Year’s. (Mari Yaguchi to Marry Masaya Nakamura). The official date of the marriage…
If you are a fan of Saturday Night Live, the iconic, long-running skit and stand-up comedy show broadcast live from New York with the opening catch phrase… “Live From New York – It’s Saturday Night!”… Then get ready to hear “Live From Tokyo – It’s Saturday Night!” Japanese veteran comedians Akashiya Sanma and Koji Imada…
Yes. The band is called Kis-My-Ft2 or Kis-My-FtII. It’s Johnny’s latest entry into the boy band market in Japan. Johnny’s is the entertainment company responsible for SMAP, TOKIO, Arashi, Kinki Kids, V6, Kat-Tun, and Hey! Say! JUMP. The newest venture tries to put the names of the members into some recognizable form (as was done…
Japanese singer, Hitomi, has called her own husband her greatest enemy in raising their children. She recently released a new baby clothing line in collaboration with Seven&i Holdings (the growing powerhouse behind Japan’s 7-11 convenience stores, Itoyokado malls, and much more). Hitomi’s clothing line will be called Pomipomi, and when announcing it commented that there…
It’s only mildly crazy and a little captivating for the first three minutes, but please enjoy the mild craziness while it lasts for at around the three minute mark the naked guys start a-spinning. The band is called Apogee and they are a group of Japanese college students (at pretty good schools like Sophia University)….
This is an awesome video. Basically it’s a rap video about the top news stories of 2008. You can consider it a little pop quiz of your Japanese news, pop culture, and current events knowledge. How many of the images or stories in this do you remember? Enjoy this trip in the time machine courtesy…