Yamada Taro Monogatari (山田太郎ものがたり) is a TV drama about a poor boy and his daily trials and tribulations. Ninomiya Kazunari (二宮和也) and Sakurai Sho (櫻井翔) from the music group Arashi (嵐) star in this drama. If any of you have seen Letters From Iwo Jima then you should recognize Ninomiya Kazunari because he has a role in that movie. His character is Army Private First Class Saigo. Yamada Taro Monogatari translates to The Story Of Yamada Taro. This show is a comedy and my family and I enjoy watching it. Yamada Taro is a high school boy and as you watch the show you get to see the comedy that occurs in dealing with high school life, juggling part time jobs, his six younger siblings, a travelling father, his mothers reckless spending habits and the fact that everyone at his school thinks he is rich because he is attractive. There are ten episodes total of Yamada Taro Monogatari and each episode is just as good as the last.
Here are links to sites where you can watch Yamada Taro Monogatari with English subs. You will have to switch back and forth between the sites because some of the links are broken.
1) http://www.mysoju.com/yamada-taro-monogatari/
2) http://www.watchdrama.com/yamada-taro-monogatari/
Hey!Hey!Hey! is a talk show. On this talk show two hosts interview popular Japanese singers, music groups, actors, and actresses. Normally they interview the celebrity in front of a live audience and then if the celebrity is a musician he or she then preforms his or her song to the audience. I like to watch this show because I like to know more about Asian celebrities and I am always hopeful that I will see the ones I know. They discuss anything and everything on the show. Sometimes the hosts and the celebrities participate in games on the show.
I originally had posted a clip of and interview with a music group but I recently found out that the link was broken so now I have a new clip up. In this clip the hosts and the guests are watching a man try to speak English and if they laugh they get whacked in the butt.Music Station is a program where Japanese singers or music groups preform. Each week they count down the most popular songs from that week and then the musician preforms his or her song. This show helps to update people on what music is popular and it is also a good show to watch if you want to learn more about Japanese music in general. I especially like to watch this show towards the end of the year because they have a Christmas special in which many musicians gather to preform. At this special I am guaranteed to see someone I like.
Here is a clip of a popular girl group called Perfume:
4 comments:
Another good post! I just watched the video from the band "Perfume" that you linked up here. I find it amazing that the music is unique (at least to my ears), but the dancing and "group" mentality of pop bands is so similar to American and Euro bands like Spice Girls and Girls Aloud. Do you find that there are crossovers in culture from Western to Eastern bands? We see a crossover from Eastern to Western in Gwen Stefani, but do you recognize others?
Julie,
Many young Japanese teens can name some American singers but I still dont see many American artists that make it big in Japan. An example that I can think of for Western to Eastern is Fergie. She recently did a duet(in English) with a very popular Japanese singer called Koda Kumi. Doing this though, as far as I know, did not raise Fergie's status in Japan. I also dont think that the song or the video was even aired in America.
Here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy0Kbl1KiNs
I never get tired of reading your posts. Not only is the subject interesting, your passion is evident. I love that your whole family enjoys the show. Is your entire family as into Japanese culture as you?
Kat,
My family likes Japanese culture but not as much as I do. They do enjoy some of my Japanese movies, TV shows and music but,of course, they dont speak any Japanese. They espically like having my Japanese friend's family over because they enjoy teaching them about America.
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