OK, after seeing Danny Choo’s latest dance performance I couldn’t resist blogging about this.

Not only is the song great, the dance moves are hilarious. It even comes complete with free background dancers!

Speaking of all the guys who jump in to dance along with Danny…many people have this mental image of Japanese as being quiet and reserved, trying to avoid drawing attention to themselves, but as this video clearly demonstrates, even they can’t resist the lure of going crazy in the front of the cameras.

It’s also ironic that he’s doing this in Shibuya, of all places, which is where all the “too-cool-for-school” yuppie teens and 20-somethings come to hang out. This kind of funky, off-the-wall behavior would fit right in in Harajuku, where people regularly parade up and down the streets in every fashion on Earth, as well as a few that I’m convinced originated on some other planet.

Shibuya, however, is a completely different story. The kids who hang out in Shibuya are often trying so hard to appear cool that they look like they’re in pain. Danny’s performance must have just blown their minds. It was such a departure from the normal image the Shibuya-kei (Shibuya style) guys try to put on, they probably just had no idea what to make of him.

In Shibuya your collective attire should have the roughly the same retail value as the downpayment on an automobile…so en vogue it’s almost embarassing. Whereas in Akihabara it’s almost expected to see some form of street performers; in fact you’d feel a little cheated if you crossed the street without seeing some kind of crazy cosplay or idol performance.

And you can think of Harajuku as the crazy art student cousin of the yuppie metropolitian professional known as Shibuya.

As a gaijin in Japan, fitting in is not an easy thing to do. Standing out, on the other hand, is both easy and fun! People are gonna stare anyway, might as well give ‘em a good show, right?

Props, Danny. It was megas funny.

Original at www.dannychoo.com

That’s right, Ghetto Happy Dining…and
of course it’s a really posh restaurant.

As a nation, Japan is absolutely fascinated with the English language. They give their products English names to make them sound foreign and exotic, they brand them using Roman letters to give them that distinctive trendy look, and they wear T-shirts with phrases that look as though they were produced by having a blindfolded person point to a series random words in a dictionary.

It wasn’t that long ago that learning a foreign language was looked upon with a great deal of suspicion. During Japan’s more isolationist days, anyone who spoke English too well was viewed as un-Japanese, something of a renegade. Now that the Japanese have really opened up to the west, however, they seem determined to make up for lost time by using and abusing the language in every way conceivably possible.

If you’ve ever traveled in Japan, you have no doubt seen the way English is plastered all over signs, advertisements, and T-shirts. The free-spirited brazenness with which it is used, unhindered by such petty things as “grammar”, makes linguists and English teachers around the world cringe in dismay, but it also provides plenty of entertainment for gaijin like myself.

Below is a sampling of a few of the things I ran into during my time in Japan that made me laugh. Read the rest of this entry »

Stories about the recent series of ax murders have certainly dominated Japanese news over the last few days, and in particular the aniblogosphere has been in a frenzy over these events and their connection to the cancellation of School Days 12 and the postponement of Higurashi.

There have a number of other developments on the political scene that have also been rather interesting, however.

Lots of boring politics after the jump (and also some Rozen Maiden)… Read the rest of this entry »

Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, who’s been under the gun ever since his party (the LDP) was royally whupped in the July 29 elections, has finally announced that he’s stepping down.

Considering all the troubles he’s had with his Agricultural ministers lately, as well as his push to extend the increasingly unpopular “support-the-US-war-on-terror” mission, it certainly comes as no surprise. It was a bit of a shock how suddenly he announced his resignation, however.

OK, time to put on my rant hat. Read the rest of this entry »

Slow day here at Epic Win, so I thought I’d share with you all a couple of Japan related videos that have been making the rounds recently and which I’ve enjoyed a lot.

First off, from the great guys over at Japan Probe, this video featuring the most awesome mochi making technique you’ve ever seen.

Mochi is traditionally prepared during New Years in Japan, when families break out the giant mallets and make it the old fashioned way. Half the time, however, the guys are totally smashed when they do this, so it’s generally not an especially speedy process. These guys, on the other hand, have taken it to a whole new level.

This one’s been much more widely circulated, but is still a favorite of mine. Crowdy day indeed! Brings back fond memories of how packed Tokyo can be, from trying to squeeze onto a Shinjuku-bound Chuo line train during rush hour, to trying to escape from the one million person strong ocean of madness that descends on Asakusa during the Sanja Matsuri.

Otaku invade Washinomiya-jinja, home of the Hiiragi Twins

This is kind of old news, but it seems like a number of people haven’t seen this yet, so I thought I’d mention it here.

As you may know, the setting for Lucky Star is in Japan’s Saitama prefecture. What you may not realize is just how closely the show matches reality. In fact, the locations that appear in the show for the most part actually exist, and are strikingly similar to their real life counterparts.

Lucky Star is set in the real life town of Washimiya in southern Saitama, and many of the town’s locations are featured in the show, most notably the venerable Washinomiya-jinja, which appears in the opening credits.

Hakase’s site Small Love has a nice set of comparison shots between various scenes in the show and photographs of the real town. Read the rest of this entry »

Fireworks light up the sky over Miyajima

Continued from Part 1.

Having finally achieved the summit of Mt. Misen, Miyajima Island’s tallest peak, I decided to hurry back down to the beach so that I could secure a good spot from which to photograph the fireworks. Read the rest of this entry »

The famous floating torii of Miyajima

Japan is, in my very humble opinion, one of the most beautiful countries in the world. Certainly it’s one of the most accommodating to travellers. The country offers a stunning juxtaposition between the modern and the traditional, all easily accessible via one of the world’s most modern transportation networks. Hop on the shinkansen (bullet train) in Tokyo and head north into the mountains, and within an less than an hour the seething mass of humanity and skyscrapers gives way to rice fields, endless bamboo forests, and soaring alpine scenery.

In addition to anime news and reviews and the like, it’s also my goal to share with you my passion for other aspects of Japanese culture. As a former resident of Tokyo and a card-carrying Japan-o-phile, I always enjoy talking about the many fascinating and unique experiences I’ve had while traveling throughout the Land of the Rising Sun. To that end, I hope to put together these little travel diaries from time to time as I feel motivated, giving you a window into my journies.

Since it’s Obon season right now, I thought it would be fitting to show you a little bit about one of my more memorable Obon adventures. Guff hasn’t been to Miyajima yet (the poor sap), so this post will be just me (0rion). Read the rest of this entry »