This blog offers selected features of alternative Asian TV segments, news stories, editorials, photos and more from Japan, Korea, India, China and many other Asian countries. This blog also includes some WTF Japanese, North Korean online videos, entertainment news, beautiful Chinese and Japanese models, and much more.
It is well known that Japan has always been the one country where luxury cars, DVDs, CDs, books, rock stars and fashion all die a very long and slow death. But sometimes the exact opposite happens and they do not die but instead they propagate and get even worse! For example:
Here is "Left My Heart in Tokyo" by Mini VivaThis debut single from last year was very popular and charted well in Europe. Their new album is due out any day now. See more at Viva Mini Viva
'I am 'Metal Man,' " states Akihito Morimoto matter-of-factly. "I love heavy metal, and I also studied metal materials and die-cast manufacture at university. So all my life is about metal."
At the live shows of his band Electric Eel Shock, it shows. Coming on stage 150 times a year to their own twisted, tortured version of Black Sabbath's "Iron Man," guitar-vocalist Morimoto and chums Kazuto Maekawa (bass, gurning) and Tomoharu "Gian" Ito (drums, nudity) rock up a sweat, blasting out tight, powerful metal with a fistful of Osaka humor.
Over 10 years of almost constant touring, the band have become one of Japan's best-known musical exports, playing at venues and festivals all over the U.S. and Europe. It's not only their staggering stage show that has earned them a reputation — though watching Morimoto lurch around the stage with his Flying V guitar in his mouth before calling everyone in the audience "bastards" while Gian, wearing nothing but a strategically placed sock, whacks his kit with four sticks and Maekawa lurches into the crowd certainly has its charms. No, it is also the members' unfailing belief in the power of metal, which has seen their albums grow increasingly essential despite their low-budget recording.
Their sixth album, "Sugoi Indeed," is their best to date, a short but sweet bundle of power chords, guitar solos and fierce rhythms. Its songs feature lyrics in English (which Morimoto, with his limited vocabulary, describes as "difficult") and Japanese, and include the aforementioned "Metal Man" as well as garage-rocker "Out Of Control" ("The song's character thinks he loves his girlfriend, but really he just loves thinking of himself as a caring lover," explains Morimoto) and the dark "More," whose chorus contains a subtle warning against wasting food ( "More! More! More! It's gross!").
Yes, I have been posting often about "Masu Dore" lately, but, seriously, modern-day alternative rock music does not get any better than this incredible band from Kobe, Japan. Here is a digital YouTube audio clip for their awesome ハイライト ("Highlight") single:
A couple years ago, in an somewhat unlikely matchup, the Japanese alternative rock/avant-pop group Buffalo Daughter of Grand Royal teamed up with Avex Trax pop singer/actor Ami Suzuki and released 'OK Funky God' on Suzuki's unsuccessful 2nd studio album entitled: 'Connetta' And, while the album did not succeed as a whole, the 'OK Funky God' track is, indeed, a winner! And the music video is truly stunning! Check it out right here:
Buffalo Daughter will appear with DE DE MOUSE on Friday, June 19th at the Shimokitazawa Townhall For more information, visit their official website: Buffalo Daughter
Released earlier this year, this is a very cool promo video entitled このスピードの先へ (Kono Speed no Saki E) or "This Speed Ahead" by the Japanese alternative rock group Mass of the Fermenting Dregs:
In many countries around the world, Eastern Youth is a very well known and quite popular Japanese indie punk rock trio that sings in various complex styles. Their songs' Japanese lyrics express the helplessness of much of today's younger Japanese generation. This video is a newly released high quality promo version of Eastern Youth's "365 Step Blues" And below the video I have also included both the Japanese lyrics in ROMAJI on the left, and just next to that on the right is an excellent English translation that another Eastern Youth fan/Japanese friend of mine gave me last year. And I just really like Eastern Youth and, especially, this song too! Please enjoy!
Here is a pretty spooky promotion video by Capcom for its upcoming play station portable game entitled 'Monster Hunters Unite":
Well, I am not a big gamer, but I really like the above promo video and how it is quite chilling, indeed. To see more about this upcoming release, visit Encyclopedia Gigantica - which is an online book with many details and photos from the game like this one:
Here is a new promo video 'Cold Heat' from detroit7:
This sexy rocker is from their previously released 'detroit7 BABYLON Live Album (2009)' album which coincides with their recently launched detroit7 Black and White World Tour 2009 Also, look for their latest release: detroit7 (2009)
TOKYO (Reuters) - Ladies, take your battle for the environment a little closer to your heart with a solar-powered bra that can generate enough electric energy to charge a mobile phone or an iPod.
Lingerie maker Triumph International Japan Ltd unveiled its environmentally friendly, and green colored, "Solar Power Bra" on Wednesday in Tokyo which features a solar panel worn around the stomach.
The panel requires light to generate electricity and the concept bra will not be in stores anytime soon, said Triumph spokeswoman Yoshiko Masuda, as "people usually can not go outside without wearing clothes over it."
But it does send the message of how lingerie could possibly save the planet, Masuda said, adding that the bra should not be washed or sunned on a rainy day to avoid damaging it.
Being eco-friendly is now fashionable in Japan, and the "Solar Energy Bra" follows the company's other green-themed undergarments that include a bra that turns into a reusable shopping bag and one that featured metal chopsticks to promote the use of reusable chopsticks.
"It is very comfortable and I can really feel involved in eco-friendly efforts as well," model Yuko Ishida said.
And if the gorgeous Japanese model above is what being eco-friendly is all about, well, then, of course, I will soon become a charter member of Greenpeace!