watashi to tokyo

Morinaga got the bronze award of TV ad section at Cannes International Film Festival

Japanese sweets maker Morinaga won the bronze award of the TV ad section at the Cannes International Film Festival for this commercial:

Waaaaaaaaaaaa! What is this? Mystery animal washes up on Long Island beach.

A super rare mushroom that had been seen only four times in the world was found in Nara prefecture on the 25th. That is Chorioactis geaster and the only places in the world where it was found were in Austin, Texas in the US, and Miyazaki pref and Kochi pref in Japan. Here it is. Hmm, the star shape is cute, but it doesn't look very delicious.

Ageha

This is great "20 Album Covers Recreated in LEGO". Originally it seemed liked the artworks of ｡｡"brickshelf.com". I wonder if the artist might be Japanese or a Japanese music fan. There are some Japanese CD jackets like "Tokyo Jihen" (here is the original Jacket) and Shinkai of Mr. Children (this is the original), etc.

When I saw a girl who wears clothes like a doll sometimes, I thought it would be a sort of cosplay. But I realized that I misunderstood. THAT is a genre of girl's fashion that is called "Hime (princess) style. They wear super girlish clothes like a doll. Their favorite brand is "Jesus Diamante". Each item looks like French doll clothes, especially close to "made in Japan" retro French doll.

Another new girls type in Japan is "Age jo". Age came from their bible magazine "Koakuma Ageha"( means tiny devil swallowtail) and Jo means lady. Their fashion is hostess of cabaret style. They wear this type of dress and love shiny stuff and the point is big hair called "Mori hair", Mori means bank. They think big hair is cute and make their hair bigger and bigger.

Brian sent me some topics

Ha ha ha ha a Chimp faint because of his own ass smell.

By the way, Ididn't have enough time to find topic, buy Brian sent me good topics today. Accidentaly, one of them is Chimp topic. A chimp escapes Japanese zoo in Ishikawa pref. Since he is smart, it took three ourst to get him. By the way, his name is "ICHIRO".

Next one is thie "Fox Developing Cowboy Bebop Live-Action Feature Film!"　Wow! I forget about　"Cowboy Bebop", it was 10 years ago aired on TV.

Then the third one is Japan has beer for kids "KODOMO BEER". I have never tried it and I won't never tired it. This year, carbohydrate free and diet beer are boom for adults. Strictly speaking　they are not beer, it's Happoshu (fake beer). However if you are not big beer fan, you won't be ablet tell the difference between happoshu and beer, I can't tell actually.

Copy TVad.

The second Koean ad copied first one. I like the last one

Tokyo Anime Innovation

Tokyo Anime Innovation is a project to find new animation possibility. Here is their official site in English. The Tenth term Entry now OPEN! I laughed and alos feel sorry to watch this "Tokyo Punchi". That is exactlly my foreing friends said to me. "I am an Alien".　Here is the interview with the English creator

Slam Dunk will be released

Ha ha ha I like this site "Totally Looks Like". My best one would be "Donatella Versace".

This is a similar site "Celebrities.blog", it picks celebs who looks like animation characters. Ha ha ha, I like Nicole Kidman's one. If I choose ones for myself, Brandy　and Pko-chan of ObaQ of Japanese Anime. Ha ha ha ha.

This is a funny video "The Funniest Video Games Bugs & Glitches". Soccer games seem to have a lot of bugs. Among Japanese games, Bug of Boku no Natsuyasumi is a famous one. Here is the video of August the 32th.


Slam Dunk is a big "basket ball" manga that has sold over 100 million copies in Japan alone. Then finally the manga will be released in the US soon. Viz media has an event about "Slam Dunk" at the San Diego Comic-Con.

I can't believe

Fundoshi is a kind of traditional Japanese guys' underwear. Like Wiki says, it used to be the main form of underwear for Japanese adult males, but nowadays, Japanese guys wear fundoshi only during Japanese festivals. Actually, I have never seen fundoshi or someone wearing fundoshi in my life. However, as of a few days ago, a new type of fundoshi for girls called pandor shorts became a popular topic on TV and on the Internet. Here it is｡ﾄYahoo! Shopping picked it up and I can find some blogs that wrote about it, but I still can't believe someone would wear this....I could never wear it.

The Tokyo Anime Center will start their "Akiba Spot Guide" service this summer until August 20^th, it will be offered in English and Chinese. Get an English map at the Gamers Shop first and then visit the center. TIJ may be an Akiba tour too. I hope they are helpful.

Tomorrow is the release day of "SIREN New Translation." I gave up on watching the trailer after 15 seconds. Of course, the location of SIREN, "Hanyuda village," is a fictional place. As a promotion, Sony made a "real Hanyuda village" and set up a camera with a LIVE feed. And you can see something happening on the LIVE camera sometimes. Here are some videos: "Hanyuda village on another camera", check out the 6th video, inside a mirror on the right side.

Staｒwars celebration Japan

Ahhh cute, I want this Hitchcock Barbie. In Japan, Amazon will start to deliver the item in September.

I will go to Seattle and Vancouver this September, will you recommend some good places to eat and stay? I am so surprised to find that the price of hotels and B&Bs is so expensive in both cities. I can tell that Tokyo is much cheaper to stay in now.

I said that media reviews for "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea" were very positive. Last weekend, the movie was released in theaters and now I can read regular people's reviews of the movie. Then I realized that many people are saying "what??" It doesn't mean that they dislike the movie or that they have a negative impression. It's just that people don't get what the movie is about. For example, Ponyo's appearance is a very important part of the confusion. A boy and his mother who helped Ponyo said that Ponyo is a fish, but a mean old lady call Ponyo a "jinmen gyo!" (a fish with a human face) I guess that people are confused about how they should interpret Ponyo's appearance; exactly what do we see? Or is that just a metaphor? By the way, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo has a Studio Ghibli Layout Design exhibition. The exhibition shows the well-calculated layout designs of Studio Ghibli's movies and how they attract people.

Star Wars Celebration Japan was held in Makuhari Messe last weekend. They have some special programs like inviting Carrie Fisher, cosplay contests, etc. One of them is this Darth Vader Project, where artists and designers design their own Darth Vader helmet. Looks interesting.

Easy way to cook melonpan

I like this: The Click Five's "Jenny". They use some Japanese words in the video, 栗 means chestnut. It is pronounced "kuri" and sounds like "click." Anyways, is that the image of Japanese otaku culture?

Talking about Otakus, I know the name "Patrick Macias" from his Japan Times column. And I know he released some books about Japanese culture in the U.S., but I didn't know that he wrote about anime culture in the U.S. in this book: "Otaku in the U.S". It looks very interesting. I will try it.

So many comments to this video on Youtube: "What's for lunch in Japan?" Yes, they are typical high school lunches; I had the same kind too. We can read about people's lunches on many blogs, here is a nice one about the Shibuya Ebisu area. This one is about the Akasaka area and this one is about my area: "Roppongi lunch blog". Do I eat such stuff everyday? No, since I take my lunchbox to work, I eat lunch at my desk and I really miss my Shiodome lunchtime at the nice company cafeteria.

McDonald's Japan has started a "Mac Bakery." They sell three types of danish. One of them is Melon Pan, I guess only the Japan branch chose to sell it. By the way, if you want to try a similar one, it's easy to make, I think. Get a regular roll or bun and spread a thin layer of cookie dough on it. Then toast it to your taste. I have never tried making it this way before, but I assume the result will be close to Japanese melon pan.

Sonic Unleashed - E3 2008: Beastly Trailer

Sonic Unleashed - E3 2008: Beastly Trailer. I liked Sonic before.

Wow, I didn't know that a little boy died from playing "Naruto" make-believe. Japanese animations have many problems airing in the US, because American regulations are much stricter than they are in Japan. Naruto is aired at 7pm for kids in Japan, but in the US it can be aired after 10:30 PM because they have some violent scenes. One Piece was changed in order to air during primetime. Guns were changed into toy hammers, tobacco was changed into candy....ha ha ha. The funny part is that in Dragon Ball, the original scene in which Goku shows his little boy was changed so that Goku wore pants (I am not sure this happened in the US, but it happened somewhere). Japanese broadcasting rules are so loose. Maybe you would be surprised to see what Japanese kids watch everyday.