I just stumbled across this today:

"Japanese woman caught living in man's closet

TOKYO - A homeless woman who sneaked into a man's house and lived undetected in his closet for a year was arrested in Japan after he became suspicious when food mysteriously began disappearing."

I really can't say whether that's creepy or just plain awesome. I <3 Japan.

I was very excited when I saw this new video pop up on the search! I discovered Anna Tsuchiya with her single Cocoon, and as it happens she also did the music for the NANA anime series. Fabulous artist, who sings mostly in English with a rather decent accent, though I believe I read she isn't fluent. I don't hear many people talking about her, but her music is fantastic. As someone who's tired of most western/American music, and who can't always accept everything thrown out in Asia, Tsuchiya's stuff really hits the spot.

土屋アンナ x AI 6.11 Crazy World

I couldn't find the actual music video on YouTube, but you can see it here on JpopAsia.

I am disgusted. Completely, utterly, disgusted.

For those unawares, Yamashita Tomohisa, a Japanese idol, apparently took a visit to Korea wherein he was mobbed by fans at the airport [somebody must have let that leak]. It was foolish for him to go without body guards, although this was an unofficial visit, but good god. He shouldn't have needed bodyguards. For so called "fans" to be so disrespectful... the behavior disgusts me.

I think he's as handsome as the next person, but if I were to ever behave like that I demand to be shot.

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In Japan, a major symbol of the Spring season is the blooming of the Sakura--what we call Cherry Blossoms in English. In 1912 Japan gave the United States 3,000 cherry blossom trees to celebrate their growing relationship. In 1965, they gave another 3,800.

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The Cherry Blossom Festival held in D.C. [and also some other cities in the United States] is a parallel with the Japanese tradition of Hanami, the flower viewing activity that occurs from about mid-March to late May, meant to celebrate the beauty of the trees and nature. The word Hanami, written in Japanese looks like this: 花見 [you may not be able to see this if Japanese type is not installed on your computer]. The first symbol/character, read as hana 花, means "flower". The second 見, read as mi [pronounced like "me"] means "view" or "see". So it literally translates to "flower viewing". This activity began long ago in classical Japan, and although today the main focus is the cherry blossom, it also encompasses the viewing of other blossoming trees as well.

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We took the Metro down to the National Mall, the area near the Capital Building, Lincoln Memorial, and the National Monument, where the Smithsonian museums are. There were many, many tourists, lots of people making picnics and flying all sorts of kites. The Cherry Blossoms were gorgeous! It's not like other trees that have a lot of green foliage amidst the blossoms; with the Cherry trees all you see are fluffs of pink everywhere. It is truly, truly beautiful.

I was e-mailed a really interesting article yesterday about a couple of Japanese scientists who intend to conduct a new space experiment. They intend to see if they can manage to send a paper airplane to earth from space. Even if the plane doesn't make it, if they can track it they believe that the research could contribute much to space re-entry technology and design.

It sounds completely crazy, but after reading the article it doesn't sound all that impossible. There are some daunting factors, but every person sounded crazy when they first started talking about people in space. This is truly something.

The final statement touched me:

"Just imagine, children around the world would be anxiously waiting for the return of our origami shuttle, perhaps looking up into the sky from time to time," Suzuki said. "That would be great fun."

Read the article.

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I finished watching this Japanese drama with a friend last weekend. What started out as something relatively interesting slipped into boredom by the middle of the series. By far, the most interesting episode was definitely the one concerning Yamada Ryosuke as Mukodo Katsumi and his frustrations with his mother, but this was quickly "resolved" with little comment. Interpret that as you will, but in the end I can understand the low ratings.

The show lacked much climax or excitement. I felt that what little there was relied on the actors to use exaggerated expressions (Kamenashi Kazuya, the star of the show, must have been exhausted every day after filming), or long, drawn-out camera shots of people's faces. Oh, and silly dialogue/monologue as well. There was very little plot action, and where there was, I felt it was poorly enacted. I felt like the story was never quite as serious about itself as it needed to be, and so any seriousness brought in by other means, such as acting or filming, failed to hit the mark. I really couldn't take it all that seriously.

The best parts of the entire thing were the stories of the secondary characters who received far too little screen time. It may or may not be a good sign when you find yourself far more interested in what is happening with the people outside of the spotlight [and watch their expressions and reactions in each scene rather than the main actors] than the feature characters. I was not interested in the relationship of Hatanaka and Sister Angela in the slightest.

I will give the series it's certain comedic moments. If it had been focused on comedy entirely and had not tried to be convincingly serious [seeing as it failed to do so in my opinion], I think it would have earned a better reputation with me. There were some great moments, particularly with Kobayashi Satomi as Mukoda Seiko. The actors themselves weren't particularly poor either, especially with the supporting cast. I think Kamenashi is decent and convincing actor in general, especially after his performance in Nobuta wo Produce, where I had said from the beginning episode, "Wow this guy is good."

Overall, I feel it was a plot with potential that simply failed to deliver. It had a lot going for it, and the actors themselves weren't poor, but it an attempt to be serious it relied on devices that didn't help at all.

I’ve discovered that every time I drink even a few sips of Minute Maid Apple Juice it makes my heart beat really quickly. I’m thinking of putting this on my Banned Food list. It’s kind of funny because I don’t remember having this problem with anything else.

In other news, I’m considering marriage in a very untraditional sense; because damn, if it was only about singing, I’d totally snatch Tegoshi Yuya for his voice. I don’t know why, because he’s no Josh Groban, but for some reason his voice is just that appealing to me. It’s the kind I’d like to hear someone singing with around the house, you know?

If his harmony from “Hoshi wo Mezashite” wasn’t enough, or that duet he did with Massuda, “Ai Nante” has me sold:

He’s not even the only singer [his voice is the first that begins singing].
I want to see a legit music video for this.

Completely detached, I think Nishikido Ryo has the most bad-ass [when said properly] sounding name I’ve heard since Gladiator‘s Maximus.

About a month ago I came across Japanese singer Anna Tsuchiya through an add on Jpop Asia. I was very surprised to discover that all her songs are sung in English [and quite well I might add] despite the fact that she is a Japanese citizen and is not fluent in the language [she also writes all her lyrics herself]. Her music is excellent, on part with just about anything in the American market, so I recommend checking her out. Her latest single is called "Cocoon". Some people might also know her for the themes she did for the NANA anime.

Next up is the current number one single on the Oricon charts from Aoyama Thelma, who I daresay has one of the greatest voices I've ever heard come out of Japan. A little while back she collaborated with Japanese rapper SOULJA and did the harmony for his song "Koko ni iru yo" ["I'm here"], and now he's returning the favor, making a song meant to compliment his own. She's fabulous, and I wish her all the success. She previously put out another little-known single a while back called "ONE WAY", that should be checked out for something upbeat and fun.