Japanese Movies

To keep current with my recent posts about Japanese Pop culture and Entertainment I am going to share with you two of my favorite Japanese movies Death Note and My Neighbor Totoro.

Death Note is a movie about a college student named Light Yagami who finds a supernatural notebook on his way home one day. Light soon comes to realize that who ever's name is written in this notebook will die. Light also befriends the previous owner of the notebook, a Shinigami (Japanese for Death God) named Ryuk. Light develops a god complex and begins to try to rid the world of evil. Although Light's original intentions are good he soon becomes power obsessed and the number of unexplained deaths catches the attention of the police and a mysterious detective called "L." Light is known to the public as "Kira" ( the Japanese pronunciation of killer) and "L" and the police will stop at nothing to capture "Kira." This movie has two sequels, Death Note: The Last Name and L Change the World which are equally as good. I am not sure the original rating of this movie but I would give it a rating of PG-13 for mature themes (i.e. death). I really enjoy this movie and each character has something unique about them that really helps to make this movie entertaining. My family really likes "L." If you see the movie you will discover some of his quirky habits that my family finds to funny.

Death Note Trailer :

By the way, Shinigami love apples!

My Neighbor Totoro is an animated film by Hayao Miyazaki. This movie is about a family who lives in rural Japan and the magical creatures that live in the forest next to them. This movie is a great family movie and gives you a glimpse of everyday life in a Japanese household. The creature Totoro, whom the younger daughters in this movie befriend, is a very big icon in Japan. It would be very hard to find someone in Japan who doesn't know who Totoro is. Other wonderful movies by Hayao Miyazaki are, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, and Princess Mononoke. Each of these movies are produce by Studio Chibli who work with Disney to bring these movies to America. If you have younger children, Totoro would be a great family movie to watch. Totoro has an English dub so there is no need to worry if you cant speak Japanese.

Japanese TV Shows

Another way I stay connected to Japan is by watching popular Japanese TV shows. When I moved here on base I was very excited to find out that my cable provider (Verizon) had a Japanese channel. Yamada Taro Monogatari and Music Station are some of my favorite shows on that channel. It is always fun to learn about a different culture by watching their shows!


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:

New Music

I just want to let you all know that I have changed the music on my blog. I will now be playing Christmas music. I looked for some nice Japanese Christmas music but none of it was any good so on my blog I will be playing Korean Christmas music sung by Tohoshinki (DBSK, TVXQ) whom I have mentioned many times throughout my blog. I bought this Christmas CD in June and I am excited to play it for you all. I hope you all enjoy it!

Potential Analysis Paper Sources Pt 2

I am still having trouble finding any site that I find to be useful and similar to my blog. I did come across a site that has potential. It seems to focus only on Japanese Pop culture but that is better then nothing because the other two sites I have focus on Korean Pop culture.

New Site:
http://burndvdburn.blogspot.com/


Other Sites:

http://shasha-dbskforever.blogspot.com/

http://dbsker.blogspot.com/

This is kind of funny because I just realized that all my sites are on Blogger.

Japanese Music -音楽-

Just like in America, Japan has an entire subculture of modern singers, bands and musicians. Just as America has her Beyonce's and Jonas Brothers so does Japan. Japan has pop music, rock, rap, and more. Interestingly, most Americans couldn't name one Japanese song, singer or group. However, the converse would not be true. Most Japanese young people could name popular American songs, singers, and/or groups.






Japanese music culture is growing rapidly. Today many Asian artists outside of Japan are looking to Japan to expand their fan base. Tohoshinki is just one example of this. Tohoshinki is a Korean group that learned Japanese and now releases Cd's and preform concerts in Japan and in Japanese. Something else interesting about Japanese music is that Japanese singers don't often put out full length albums. Instead, they put out singles followed by an occasional full length album. In America ,as you know, our singers put out album after album.




My favorite female Japanese singer is Utada Hikaru (宇多田 ヒカル). Utada Hikaru was born in New York and speaks Japanese and English fluently. I have been listening to her music for six years. I first heard Utada Hikaru when i was twelve years old. For Christmas that year I got a PlayStation 2 and the Kingdom Hearts video game. Utada Hikaru sand the theme song for that game and I have been listening to her ever since. Utada Hikaru has an amazing voice. I enjoy watching her preform live as well as just listening to her on a CD. Her voice always sounds great. I have not hears a song that i have not liked. In 2004 Utada released a CD in America titled Exodus. I went and bought it at BestBuy! Althought she released a CD here in America she did not get a lot of attetnion from it, which is a typical occurrence. That's alright with me thought, I enjoy keeping her wonderful music to myself.

Utada Hikaru - Can You Keep A Secret






My favorite male Japanese singer is Gackt. I have been listening to him for a couple of years now and he reminds me a little bit of Madonna. Gackt, like Madonna, seems to always reinvent himself. Sometimes he is seen singing soft ballads with blond hair and other times he is seen singing rock with black hair. Gackt has a unique voice, he has a natural falsetto. Little is known about Gackt's personal life. He is rumored to be in his forty's and yet his looks and unique voice transcend time. Gackt is the first male Japanese singer i ever heard and also the first Japanese celebrity i had a crush on. Gackt has stared in movies in Japan and in 2009 he will star in a movie in America called Bunraku with Josh Hartnett and Demi Moore. I cant wait to see him in an American movie!




Gackt - Another World



Johnny and Associates Inc ( also known as Johnnys or Johnnys Jimusho) is a well known Japanese record label that exclusively signs boy bands. Johnny's most famous group is called SMAP which debuted around 1991. Groups like Arashi, KAT-TUN, NewS, Hey!Say!Jump, and Kanjani8 are popular Johnnys groups among teens. Many Johnnys Jimusho group members act as well as sing. I like to watch a show called Pop Music Club on the Japanese channel. It features boy band after boy band singing in front of a live audience of screaming tween girls. To the untrained eye and ear (like my parents) they all seem to look and sound the alike, but I have no problem telling them apart.


NewS - Happy Birthday

Find more videos like this on www.truveo.com.

Potential Analysis Paper Sources

I have still been searching the endless Internet for blogs that I can use for my final analysis paper and right now I have only found two that are useful to me. One of these sites focuses on Korean Pop Culture and the other one is the same site that I used in a previous post of mine about the leading blog/blogger in my community. These sites are very nice but I am thinking that I need to find blogs that talk more strictly about culture and not just pop culture and entertainment. I haven't given up my search yet!

The first site is:
http://dbsker.blogspot.com/

The second site is:
http://shasha-dbskforever.blogspot.com/

I actually did not discover this second site until the day before our last class. I noticed that a girl who I have never met before commented on one of my blog posts and she left me a link to her site. I went to her site and it was very nice and I think it will be of help to me for my paper.

Tokyo Districts and Fashion Pt 2 - 原宿-

Harajuku (原宿) is a district in Tokyo widely known for its outrageous youth fashion. Visual Kei is the term used for the fashion in Harajuku. Visual Kei is characterized by elaborate costumes, unusual hairstyles, and eccentric makeup. Visual Kei has become even more than a fashion style, it has developed into its own JRock (Japanese rock) genre. Some styles you might see in Harajuku are Gothic Lolita, Sweet Lolita and Oshare Kei. All of these are considered part of Visual Kei.

The Gothic Lolita look is similar to Victorian style clothing and consists of very dark colors with Gothic influences. Gothic Lolita is characterized by puffy sleeves, lots of lace, petticoats, stockings, and chunky high heeled shoes. Sweet Lolita clothing looks the same except that it is pastel colored. Both Gothic and Sweet Lolita make the wearers look like dolls.

Oshare Kei still consists of elaborate costumes, unusual hairstyles, and eccentric makeup but these outfits are more brightly colored and a modern style of Tokyo street clothing. The Visual Kei bands have different sounds. Oshare Kei bands usually sing about love and have a lively beat, where as other Visual Kei bands have a darker sound.

An interesting fact about Visual Kei is that it involves a lot of cross-dressing. Many men pose as women. Most members of Visual Kei bands are men and true to the genre, participate in dressing like women.

Harajuku is a popular meeting place for people who share similar taste in fashion and music. Harajuku and its Visual Kei style is my favorite thing about Japan. I love how wild the style is and that the people who wear it are not afraid to take a risk and be outrageous.

Here are a few of my favorite songs by some Visual Kei bands:

Antic Cafe - Smile Ichiban Ii Onna





Psycho le Cemu - Yume Kazaguruma




Alice Nine - Rainbows





Dir En Grey - Yokan

Now,that you are finished reading, take another look at the pictures I have posted in this blog entry. If you can tell me how many women there are in the all pictures combined then I will bring you a special treat on Thursday!

(don't forget to click on a picture to get a larger view!)

日本、愛してる！