The above picture is from a children’s book found on the shelves of a kindergarten playroom by Matt, an English teacher in South Korea who blogs at Gusts of Popular Feelings. The picture books contained images of Japanese torturing, shooting, and stabbing Koreans. There were also images of heroic Koreans killing Japanese:

"These aren’t sophisticated in the least, but then, when aimed at children under ten (they’re available for children under seven at the hagwon), they don’t need to be. Showing these images to children who are too young to critically evaluate them does nothing but inculcate hatred for Japan."

* A longer post with more pictures from the book can be seen here

japanprobe
can't we all just get alooooooong

• 03:41 The verdict has long been in: I really love Titan Maximum. #

<3 Love you all!

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credit: dirah9305

Two months after the release of Urusei Yatsura no LUM no LOVE SONG, misono will be releasing her fifteen single. Titled Watashi Iro/Bokura STYLE, the single will be out November 25 and will come in the CD-only format and a CD+DVD version.

Watch the pv here.

( covers and tracklist. )

Visual kei indie band SKULL will release a new mini-album, titled Natural Born Killer, on January 20th 2010.

This release will be SKULL's first release since the single AWAKE, which was released in July. It will also be their third release with their new line-up, since bassist Sakura left at the end of last year and was replaced by Ryou, as well as additional guitarist Ryou, in February.

Natural Born Killer will include five brand-new tracks: karma, voice, serial killer, Sick Boy Crying Scream and COKEHEAD. To promote the release, the band will be holding a one-man live, titled NATURAL BORN V KILLERS, at Harajuku Astro Hall on February 27th 2010.

jameworld

LOL, I'm going through my Robert Pattinson tag and found this post from November 25, 2005:

Is it just me, or is the Robert Pattinson fandom starting to get a bit... scary?

If only I knew what was to come. Sigh.

ETA: Haha, just found this old interview too!

Of course, he's Harry Potter's love rival, because you meet Cho Chang first - so did you joke around on set that you're not supposed to like each other?

I don't know. I think he's (Daniel) , just in real life, he's just so far superior to me in terms of desirability, so he didn't really have much of a competition with me. So there wasn't really much joking around. I'd probably cry if he did. If I was Katie, I would definitely go out with him because he's rich and famous, and I'm not really.

But you know you're gonna be a heart-throb!

I don't know. Maybe. I don't know. I'm quite immature so that's quite good, so I prefer to be a heart-throb!.

ETA: Forgot to mention this is the reason for going back. Old school RPattz fans, go do it!

Today Fuji TV finally made it official. The dorama "Code Blue" will see its 2nd season in the upcoming winter season and Yamapi will yet again find himself in the getsu9 slot after only 1 season after "Buzzer Beat".

It might be no surprise to see a 2nd season of "Code Blue", after all it achieved a high average rating of 15.6% which gained it the first place back then. This year’s special even had a viewer rating of 23.1%, one of Fuji TV’s best single-episode dorama of 2009. However, it’s still a surprise to see it happen so soon after its original season and a first in the getsu9 history to have one actor occupying this slot twice in only a period of 3 TV seasons.

( more words )
Sources: Sanspo www.kawaii-joyuu.com

Do you know that Japan has a Kanamara matsuri or Festival of the Steel Phallus.? It is Shinto fertility festival dedicated to the penis celebrated every year at Kawasakidaishi.





See more pics at the

Source: www.kirainet.com/english/kanamara-matsuri-festival-of-the-steel-phallus/

Arashi monopolizes top 1-4 spots for first week singles sales of 2009

The five-member group Arashi debuted at the top of single rankings for the week of November 23rd with their new song "My Girl". Following their own "Ashita no Kioku/Crazy Moon ~kimi wa muteki~" (with a first week sales of 502,487 copies, released this May) and "Believe/Kumorinochi, Kaisei" (with a first week sales of 501,988 copies, released this March), they recorded the third highest first week sales of 2009 with sales of 430,000 copies after one week since its release. In addition to this, combined with the fourth highest first week sales for the single "Everything" (released this July) at 342,000 copies, the top four spots of 2009's first week singles sales are all being monopolized by Arashi at this point in time.

Furthermore, this is Arashi's 24th time to capture the the top spot for singles sales, and also their 17th consecutive since "PIKANCHI DOUBLE", released in February of 2004. Even Arashi's "5x10 All the BEST! CLIPS 1999-2009" DVD released on October 28th has recorded sales of over 500,000 copies in two weeks in a thorough display of their popularity. With the year's end, future record-breaking and more, their sales trends are currently drawing much attention.

Regarding this piece of work, not only is it the theme song of fellow member Aiba Masaki's first featured drama, "My Girl" (TV Asahi) which began airing on October 9th, it also includes the coupling track "Tokei Jikake no Umbrella", the theme song to drama "0 Goushitsu no Kyaku" (Fuji TV) which started on the 23rd of the same month.

Source: Oricon

why doesn't this fierce bitch have more fans!?
source:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czBdTg-ijGE&feature=player_embedded

This is, NHK's Kouhaku will be celebrating its 60th birthday. The program is finalizing the list of artists whom they will invite to this important event.

Last week, Inoue Yousui, an influential figure in the Japanese music scene, has made his predictions on this year's choices of Kouhaku. So far, it is confirmed that Yoshida Takurou, Nakashima Miyuki, Matsutouya Yumi [T/N: all famous old-time singers] will be participating.

Yazawa Eikichi (60) [T/N: an important & influential artist] is also expected to participate in this event, since his CM and concert have become such a hot topic this year.

In addition, Southern All Stars' [another influential group] Hara Yuko, Fukuyama Masaharu, and Amuro Namie are also expected to come to this year's Kouhaku.

"We request for Amuro Namie to perform at NHK's biggest hall, Studio 101, instead of the usual NHK Hall," said her representative.

We also expect to have the idol group AKB48. For ayaka, who's been down with her disease this year, this event is expected to be her last one.

For foreign artists, Richard Carpenter (60) of The Carpenters might make a surprise appearance. "It won't be a special performance, but rather, he'll be playing the piano when other artists sing together," said a representative.

We'll also dedicate some moments to artists who have passed away this year - Michael Jackson, Imawano Kiyoshirou, Kato Kazuhiko, composer Miki Takashi, and actor Morishige Hisaya.

( Prediction List )

Source: Yahoo Japan News
Translation: linhkawaii @ OneTVXQ.com
Credits: OneTVXQ.com { One World. One Red Ocean. One TVXQ! }
Feel free to repost, but please leave the full credits intact. Thanks!

There is a standard protocol for Japanese record labels when their artists are arrested on drug charges or for any other anti-social acts: they pull all of the artists’ CDs from stores.

The idea is not just that these recordings are “tainted” by a drug using artist, but that companies must self-censor their catalogs to make sure that the offender does not profit during the criminal proceedings. But this behavior also conforms to a Japanese cultural principle: 「臭いものにふたをしろ」”Put a lid on things that smell.” In other words, companies want bury anything controversial as soon as possible. By removing the CDs, record labels feel like they are quietly erasing any legacy of the criminal artist’s existence.

So when Sakai Noriko was arrested for amphetamines in August, her record label Victor Entertainment — as is the convention — took all of her albums out of distribution. And in this digital age, Victor also had to remove all her songs from iTunes. But here’s where the label messed up: they forgot to remove Sakai songs that showed up on compilation albums. Horror! There were free-floating Nori-P songs out there on iTunes. Surely the Japanese people — who we are told again and again have a low moral tolerance for drug use — rose up in outrage against Victor, Apple, and Sakai for the oversight. Or maybe in more predictable Japanese style, everyone just ignored these offending tracks.

Actually, that’s not what happened at all: Sakai’s 1995 hit “Blue Rabbit” (「青いウサギ」) was the number one song on iTunes for the week.

If anything, this proves the old adage that “all publicity is good publicity.” Surely the arrest made a lot of casual fans think about Sakai for the first time in years. They thought, “You know what I want to hear? ‘Blue Rabbit.’” So they went to iTunes and bought it. There was likely nothing particularly complicated about their motivations.

The high sales for “Aoi Usagi” was big egg on the face of Victor, but on the bright side, this slip-up let us test the idea that Japanese companies and Japanese people share the same morality. Before now, record labels could successfully remove records from distribution, therefore consumers had no way of showing any kind of countervailing reaction against the self-flagellation. Now with iTunes, we see that Japanese consumers’ primary reaction to seeing a disgraced starlet arrested for drugs… is to buy her work. This is not an affirmation of drug use, but it surely is not a hyperventilating rejection of it either.
Record label self-censoring therefore is an elitist act. Consumers should be able to make their own moral choice about whether they want to support or reject Sakai Noriko through purchase of her work. Until now, record labels have prevented this choice and imposed their own perceptions of a monolithic conservative morality upon the market. The case of “Blue Rabbit” shows that pulling records from stores is not in accordance with “Japanese morality” but only the industry’s own guidelines.
When looking at consumer phenomenon in Japan, trends and booms correspond so directly with huge marketing campaigns that it is often hard to separate out natural consumer interest when so many want to consume “whatever is popular.” And that’s why this iTunes “mistake” was crucial: the media and record labels for once were telling consumers not to buy and they did anyway. Perhaps the so celebrated Japanese “singularity of experience” is imposed by the market and the authorities rather than an actual expression of society.
Source: neojaponisme.com/2009/11/16/sakai-noriko-and-japanese-morality/

Title: Truly Happy
Author: sam_cc
Rating: G
Genre: Romance.
Pairing: Ryo/Fubuki.
Theme: 93) Happiness.
Summary: Fubuki didn’t know happiness until it hit him.
Notes: Set post-GX. Short fic is short.

( The real happiness came after that… )

This is FPC ep 40 review.
( Ayumi's kidnap review )

Word: Headband
Author: Kleptomaniac Can Opener
Rating: PG
Characters: Crow, Kiryu, Yusei
Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh 5D’s is a Studio Gallop production.

( Headband )

The single is coming out on the 18th.

source

As I became interested in Pretty Cure, I have found many things about it and they are mostly tokusatsu. It was also mainly discussed in the /m/ section of 4chan.org because they called Pretty Cure as an "honorary tokusatsu". Here's what I found:


Pretty Cure is more like using Toku elements than Magical Fighting fighting. Splash Star was the most DBZ of them but it turned off the original audience which was the little girls.

From an imageboard I hang-out, it was pointed out that Pretty Cure is more influenced by Kamen Riders. It goes:

Futari + Max Heart = BLACK + BLACK MH

- We all know that Yoko Honna also appeared in Kamen Rider Black and Kamen Rider Black RX.

Splash Star = DBZ + Kuuga + Agito featuring Hoppers

- The Cures having two forms are also similar to the two Showa-inspired Kamen Rider shows of the Heisei era

Yes! = Ryuki (at least, the movie is)

- They faced their Dark Cure counterparts. But Dark Dream sought redemption but too bad, she died.

5GoGo = Faiz (Milky Rose is a Takumi/Faiz)

- Yep. We all know that Kurumi/Milky Rose/Milk is unfriendly toward Nozomi and she's an emo. Takumi is also known for his emoness and he tries to be unfriendly.

Fresh = Blade

- I'll explain more for my next drabble.

Expectation are high that next year's PreCure would be song-oriented a la Hibiki (HIBICURE).

On "Sentaku", a poll website with the motto, "Everyone's polling place, according to everyone, for everyone", a Johnny's Jimusho popularity contest is being held.

As of 10:30 on the 15th, the top 5 consists of:

1. Matsumoto Jun (Arashi) - 884 votes
2. Yamashita Tomohisa (NEWS) - 820 votes
3. Ninomiya Kazunari (Arashi) - 615 votes
4. Akanishi Jin (KAT-TUN) - 611 votes
5. Nishikido Ryo (NEWS, Kanjani 8) - 450 votes

As expected, all the Arashi members were able to enter the top 10 with Ohno Satoshi at 7, Sakurai Sho at 8 and Aiba Masaki at 10. From the Johnny's Jr, the number of votes earned by Ikuta Toma at 9 is growing larger. Also, from SMAP, some members have ranked-in within the upper half with Kimura Takuya placed at 12, Kusanagi Tsuyoshi at 15 and Nakai Masahiro at 19.

The poll is expected to end on 28/2/2010

source translated by zuttodaisuki

matsumoto jun beating yamapi by 64 votes? let's wait and see the final results next year (:

Look what I found on Toei's European site:

http://www.toei-animation.com/en/catalog/pretty_cure_splash_star

Despite the corny writing, the localization seemed spot on.

You don't hear anything except announcer guy and the transformation sequence, but it sounds pretty good to me.