It seems that Hitoshi Matsumoto was not as forthcoming as he could have been in his press conference yesterday when he described his new bride as “an everyday person”. She is actually a 26 year old (19 years his junior) former tv announcer and television personality named Rin Ihara pictured below. Their baby is due…
Forty-five year old Hitoshi Matsumoto from the Japanese comedic duo “Downtown” has gotten married. The new bride is not in the entertainment industry. Not much has been reported about her except that she is currently pregnant. Many people in the entertainment industry had Matsumoto pegged as a lifelong bachelor, however in a press conference he…
OK, I don’t usually write about Japanese idols or gravure or anything like that, but I think I’ve found one worth writing about. Right not she seems like she wants to do the DVDs and everything, but she is also a talented comedian. I watch most of the comedy shows on tv here in Japan,…
I know, I know, I love these top 10 lists that come out. Even if they don’t mean anything they sure put a little spotlight on Japan for us. This poll is especially fun because if you’ve been here going on fifteen years like some newzjapan bloggers I know, you learned Japanese watching some of…
Aeon Japan will begin selling a 32″ flat panel tv for 49,800 yen tomorrow (February 20, 2009). Aeon is the giant retail company that runs Jusco, Saty, Max Valu supermarkets, and owns a ton more retail outlets. Although they sell electronics now, they are testing the waters to enter the market in earnest with the…
OK, if you don’t live in Japan and watch a lot of tv you probably have no idea what I’m talking about. If you don’t watch a lot of tv but know some Japanese words you can see the humor in Hello Kitty (a cat) being grouped in with Nezumi Sempai (nezumi meaning mouse). For…
Pika Pika in Japanese describes illumination or something bright. It can also describe a flashing light. It’s another one of the ubiquitous Japanese onomatopoeias (which I happen to love). This is a pretty cool video that was on tv last night. I’m sure a lot of people saw it already, but it’s definitely worth putting…
I’m staying up late tonight to blog about yet another cnn article that shows a complete lack of knowledge about anything Japanese… that’s fine however if these writer’s would do even the slightest bit of research. The assured way they write about Japan, while being completely wrong will never fail to amaze me. “American TV…
Here is a crazy thing I found tooling around on youtube. It’s the very old live action Spiderman tv show that used to air in japan. Some people may have seen it before somewhere (I heard some footage was used on the Jimmy Kimmel show for a parody.) Anyway, let’s take a break from all…
Here’s the scoop on the drama, just in case you don’t actually have a tv under the rock in Japan where you live… but maybe that’s too extreme. I’m sure there are plenty of people in Japan who don’t know about Gokusen. So here’s the ad for the show… if you’re even slightly interested, I…
Poll done by the Oricon Life website. (Link destination is in Japanese). Overall Top 10 Anime 1. Dragon Ball 2. Gundam 3. Detective Conan 4. Neon Genesis Evangelion 5. Slam Dunk (tied) 5. One Piece (tied) 7. Doraemon 8. Sailor Moon 9. Fullmetal Alchemist 10. Lupin the Third The Top 5 for women were 1….