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.
For decades, Japan's Hello Kitty icon has been the world's leading soft power fictional character seen across the globe and is now the centerpiece of the current worldwide "kawaii" sensation. And since 1974, Sanrio has made everything imaginable with some form of the world's cutest little white Japanese Bobtail cat with a red bow. Recently, Sanrio even made a Hello Chucky doll and it sold out in less than 48 hours.
But that is now about to be challenged by America's most lovable and comical family from the fictional town of Springfield - The Simpsons. On Friday 20th Century Fox announced that the world's first Simpsons store will open in Beijing, China in March with an additional store opening in Shanghai in June. Following that will be a global expansion of up to 100 stores. This announcement comes after The Simpsons were previously banned in 2006 for a controversial episode about Homer visiting China.
Here is a recent CNN News video on this development:
Could this be the proverbial last nail in the communist coffin? Maybe.
Just over a month ago, first-time mother panda Yuanyuan gave birth to a beautiful daughter named Yuanzai at the Taipei Zoo. However, Yuanyuan accidentally broke Yuanzai's foot while carrying her. There was some concern that the mother might kill or eat the baby so they had to temporarily separate the two. The zoo's nurses and veterinarians took very good care of the baby panda and on August 12th, mother and baby met for a brief, but very emotional moment.
Then earlier today (Aug 13th) both mother and baby were reunited and Yuanyuan breastfed Yuanzai with no problems. Below is an incredible video of the two coming together again:
Yes, that headline is correct as a truckload of piglets overturned in Guiyang province in southwest China forcing highway police to chase after the escaped squealing swine. A truly hilarious modern-day episode of The Keystone Cops followed as the speedy piglets continued to evade the slow, dumbfounded police officers trying to apprehend them. Here is a very funny ITN news video of this comic chase scene:
Of course the police finally caught them, but they didn't go away quietly.
A massive green algae invasion has landed in Qingdao and other seaside areas in Eastern China. The algae is reported to not be toxic to humans or damaging to water quality. But, apparently, it really stinks! Here is a BBC News video on this largest-ever swarm of the harmless "sea lettuce":
Just a couple weeks ago the official teaser trailer for the upcoming laowai indy comedy film entitled "This Is Sanlitan" was released on youtube. This full-length feature film celebrates both foreigners and local Chinese people living in Sanlitan, Beijing.
The main character is "Gary" who is played by Carlos Ottery. Gary has come to China seeking his slice of the Chinese economic dream. However, things don't work out so well and he loses his wife and son and all of his money and becomes quite desperate. How he recovers becomes the main plot of the film. Scheduled for release in late 2013, this movie was directed by Robert Ingi Douglas, and stars Carlos Ottery, Ai Wan, Christopher Loton, Hua Gaoxiang and Cromwell Cheung. Here is the funny sneak peak preview:
As we reported almost two years ago, there has been a mega boom of graffiti and street art exploding throughout China. And as we can see in the above pic, the writing is now on The Great Wall. But what does it mean? Why did they write on the Great Wall?
Looking at it a bit closer, It seems as if this tag was written in some kind of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Perhaps this message is some kind of protest? Maybe. With government land grabs still going on more land riots and revolts keep happening all the time in China. Usually, that kind of unrest happens out in the countryside amongst farmers and other country folk.
So let's look even closer at the above glyphics, and sure enough, we can see just about every character is a farmer or someone working with an animal. So, therefore, it is a very good possibility that this is some kind of protest art. Especially when government officials recently ordered a construction crew to crush a protester to death with a steamroller machine! (WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTOS)
NMA TV on Facebook's David ChoeChina: The Great Wall of Graffiti
A modern-day "Invisible Man" Chinese performance artist Liu Bolin and his team pulled off another amazing camouflage act in New York at Eli Klein Fine Art earlier this week.
His performance art/live painting show was entitled "Gun Rack 2013". And apparently it took aim at arms control methods throughout the world. Bolin's New York agency also claimed that this work was inspired by a new Chinese law that requires individuals to present identification and registration when buying certain knives.
According to gallery owner Eli Klein "These are all real weapons, not replicas. They were legal to have in the gallery as they were modified to fire blanks. Zachary Bako filmed the entire event and made this short fast forward time lapse video:
Related:
Liu Bolin: China's #1 'Forever Alone' Artist
Via China Uncensored May 3, 2013
Most likely you have heard at least some of Kim Jong Un's recent political sabre rattling and his plans to destroy the US, South Korea and Japan blah blah blah ad nauseum. However, very recently it has become more and more quiet up North as with each day that passes, no "enemy states" of "The Dear Leader" have yet to spontaneously burst into flames or just surrender. Oh wait a minute! Actually France did surrender to North Korea last month. So that makes the score North Korea 1 vs. The Rest of The World 0. So it appears as though North Korea is "winning". OK, fine.
Now back to the main theme here. Which is, most likely, you've heard of the legendary movie "The Godfather". Well, there is a very dark, shadowy figure who is, among other thugs things, Kim Jong Un's "Chinese Godfather". And today is our lucky day as we all get to meet the man with a sinister plan, the man who enjoys throwing political dissidents into Masanjia Labor Death Camp and other illegal prisons. The man who was the former head of the CCP's Super Secret Police who once commanded an annual budget that was larger than China's military! The man who once controlled the entire nations' oil industry! The man - as Chris Chappell so hilariously describes him - as a "people person. That is, he is a person who spends a lot of his time torturing - people." And, finally, the man who has enough political and economic power to start a nuclear World War Three (or at least another Korean war), ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the one, the only Zhou Yongkang:
Oh No! THAT GUY! O_O
See also:
North Korea's Ex-Super Spy Kim Hyon HuiDPRK's Moranbong Band Destroys The World
In the past we have seen The Vice Guide to Travel go to North Korea where founder Shane Smith sang "Anarchy in the DPRK" in a hilarious parody of the Sex Pistols' "Anarchy in the UK".
Then, on a more serious note, Vice Media Japan traveled to Fukushima to meet two farmers. One is still living and working his farm inside the evacuation zone in Tomioka. The other farmer lives just outside the zone in temporary housing. While there they made a chilling documentary "Alone in the Zone."
Now Vice Extended pulled out all of the stops and recently visited the "Doll Sweet Factory" in Dalian, China. And Vice Correspondent Thomas Morton basically said it all with this gem:
"Here in Dalian though it's a factory town so they've created the ultimate girl. She's, uuhh, made of silicone. And, uuhh, you fuck her."
Check out this short and NSFW documentary:
See also:
New Japanese Bukkake Doll Aya AyaChina Sex Toy Factory NSFW PhotosJapanese Virtual Web Sex Technology
Here is a very shocking undercover video of the DPRK filmed by some freelance North Korean journalists working for Asiapress in December 2012 for Japanese TV. Below the video, we have provided an accurate English translation of the narrative. Viewer discretion is very strongly advised.
00:00 Close to the border with China, in Hyesan, Ryanggang province in this video filmed just last month there a lot of people waiting at a bus stop. Then a very crowded bus stops and the people try to get on it but they cannot as it is too jammed packed. Then the bus took off in order to shake off the people hanging onto the outside.
00:37 Then we see the market place of Hyesan. Here rice, meat and colorful shoes are being sold. It is said that there is a food shortage even though there is so much in the market. It appears to be a rich market supporting the residents' lifestyles. This is the way of living for these people in the countryside. These are the first favorable scenes that we have seen since Kim Jong Un became the leader of the DPRK.
01:17 However, looking closely we also see many homeless children or "Kochebi" with vacant looks sitting or walking around the market. And then we see a very young child lying on the ground in front of a white wall. It looks like the child has fallen. But the people walk by without looking and showing no surprise. Then the photographer says that this child has been dead for the past three days.
02:04 Then we go inside to meet some of the people from Hyesan. One young girl says that the number of homeless children in the market and at the train station is increasing. She also says that there are many people dying. So many that she can't count them.
02:19 Then we see an elementary school in Sinuiju, North Pyeongan province. The sign at the entrance to the school building says "Thank you beloved Dear Leader Kim Jong Un." And then on a sign in the central square of the city we see this slogan "Let's unconditionally carry out Comrade Kim Jong Un's orders very thoroughly." Here the aim is to increase the authority of the First Secretary Kim Jong Un.
02:58 And then in the square there are some older women selling food. "Grandmother what do you have?"
"Some vegetables and bread."
03:13 Then we took a brief look at some of the town's other activities. "For the wealthy who have been living a good lifestyle from long ago, things have become better. But for common people like us, things have gotten much worse."
03:33 "In the current trading system, clampdowns have increased in all aspects. Further government tightening is also restraining the movement of people. The flow of goods gets stopped on the road and that hurts business."
03:49 And here at Sinuiju train station many people are importing goods from China to Pyongyang. People are walking one after another towards the station but these policemen are controlling the movement of the people and the goods. 04:05 "HEY YOU! GET OUT OF HERE! GET OUT OF HERE!" yelled a station employee wearing a red arm band. These officials are controlling the traffic of citizens and supplies.
04:35 In North Korea there is not enough electricity so often the schedule of the railways gets disrupted. Because of that problem the government has ordered that the movement of people and goods to be strictly controlled.
04:51 Here is news video journalist Ishimaru Jiro who has obtained a series of videos of the DPRK. "The majority of people in North Korea now are involved in trading activities so that they can keep eating. With all of these strict regulations, business gets slowed down and, in short, cash decreases. There is a lot of rice and other goods available in the markets, but without money, no one can buy them."
"In summary, people who do not have access to food cannot continue living."
05:19 In the current system there is a gap widening between the people who don't have and the people that have government power. 05:29 Here is a look at one day on the outskirts of Sinuiju. "What are you throwing away?" asks the photographer. "Grains of rice are falling," the old woman says. In the rice fields, there are some other people looking for grains of rice. This is another look at the widening gap between the residents. In the end, another old woman complains of not finding anything.
05:54 Arrests are severe and everyone's lifestyle is agonizing. What can this youngster in his 20s do? The only thing they (the government) are good at is making people suffer.
06:12 There is a common question of who are these "Kochebi" wandering the streets?
06:15 In the morning we saw another homeless child. He was wearing an adult-sized jacket and dragging a bag. He stood still and stared into the camera when next to the photographer. The photographer then gave him an ice candy and told him not to say anything about his camera. Then the photographer asked him "At your house, are both your father and mother gone?" He answered "Yes".
06:52 The widening gap between people in North Korea. Where will all of this end up going to?
UPDATE: 3-20-13 The situation in the DPRK is now being reported by independent and underground news networks as very critical and at least one food riot was averted in one major city. Watch for updates in the comments section.
See also:
North Korean Comic Jugglers Live Show (filmed in the DPRK)
The Making of "Nothing To Envy" Film'The Defector' Film Premieres at IDFAPremiere of "Camp 14 - Total Control Zone"North Korean Concentration Camp Drawings
Today Medama Sensei aka. "Miki Dezaki" released a follow up video to his controversial "Racism in Japan" clip of his classroom lesson about Japanese discrimination. After that class, his students were enlightened, there were no complaints from anyone and the vice principal of his school even said that he wished more students could have attended Dezaki's lesson.
“The reaction was so positive,” he said. "These kids have heard the stories of their parents being discriminated against by the mainland Japanese. They know this stuff. But the funny thing is that they weren’t making the connection that that was discrimination.”
But when he uploaded that lesson as a video to Youtube last week, it turned more than a few heads and generated a very negative backlash from some right-wing, racist Japanese netizens known as the "netouyu" or "nettouyoku" (ネット右翼) who even sent him death threats:
“I recently made a video about Racism in Japan, and am currently getting bombarded with some pretty harsh, irrational comments from Japanese people who think I am purposefully attacking Japan,” [snip]
"If I should have anticipated something, I should have anticipated the netouyu,” said Dezaki.
Via Daily Mail February 7, 2013
A horrifying story with a happy ending took place when twenty year old art student Xiao Li was posing for 'artistic pictures' with photographer friend Xiao Qing in Shaodong County, Hunan province, southern China. When Li attempted to strike a pose near on oncoming train, she slipped and fell in front of it and was launched backwards when the train hit her left shoulder. The below photo is the moment just after impact:
The driver immediately stopped the train, but, miraculously, Li escaped with just a bruised shoulder. "I felt this sudden bump and I was flying sideways. The train stopped and the driver thought he must have killed me," said Li.
Continued...
See also:
Ascending Mt Hua in China = NOPE!
Via The Atlantic January 30, 2013
Here is a photo of a bright color video screen in Tiananmen Square, Beijing on a recent dangerous day of very high pollution levels. Today the Beijing government announced emergency measures to reduce the heavy smog that has overwhelmed the city. The measures include the temporary shutdown of 100 factories and halting one third of the government vehicles from driving on the streets. Estimates now state that there are some 5 million automobiles in Beijing. There were approximately 3 million autos in the capital in 2008. China's Communist Party has praised Beijing as a showcase capital, but until now has never addressed the city's pollution problems.
See also:
The Truth on China's Dangerous HolesWhy, China Why? Because China
Produced by Liberty in North Korea here is the trailer from a new documentary movie about a cool North Korean guy named "Danny". In 2005 Danny escaped to China and then to the USA:
He escaped a life of indoctrination, routine public executions, and starvation.
This is a documentary about Danny's story-- from his challenging life in North Korea, to his brave escape to China, and his resettlement journey in the United States.
