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.
Four cute young women clad in ghostly white robes prance around in a forest holding twigs: No, it's not an outtake from the classic 1973 pagan spookfest "The Wicker Man." Yes, it is the excellent video for the Merpeoples' spankingly sublime song "Sherman."
Singer/guitarist Charlotte and drummer Rico must be the star pupils in their art-school class, as Merpeoples — completed by keyboardist Sayaka and bassist Ikuko — made the video themselves.
"Sherman," boasting a hypnotic but spiky guitar lick, is the catchiest song you'll hear this year and deserves to be a staple hit on all indie dancefloors. Like most of Merpeoples' eponymous debut album — released Feb. 17 — "Sherman" is dreamy pop melded to post-punk guitar riffage, but the band aren't afraid to experiment, and on the track "Midara na Story" ("Dirty Story") Sayaka's ivory-tinkling conjures up an exotic buzz — like the music from a James Bond scene in a souk.
Shame they spelled "Sherman" wrong.
"You mean it's S-H-A-M-A-N?" asks Charlotte.
I'm afraid so. Sherman is an old U.S. tank. I didn't see a tank in the video. "Thanks, but on the CD it's in katakana, so it's OK," Charlotte says (she got her nickname 'cos a friend said that in profile she looks like Charlotte Gainsbourg).
(CNN) -- Tsunamis from the deadly 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Chile rippled across the Japanese coast Sunday, appearing to get taller with every wave.
The first one, a 4-inch wave, hit Minami Torishima, according to the Japanese meteorological agency. Minami Torishima is a small island in the Pacific Ocean.
A few more waves later, the tallest one yet at about 4 feet hit the Kuji Port in Hokkaido, the meteorological agency said.
Tens of thousands of residents evacuated Sunday morning from coastal Japan in anticipation of a possible tsunami after the earthquake. Authorities urged evacuees to stay away because a second and third round of waves could gain strength.
The northern part of the main island could be hit by a tsunami at least 9 feet high, according to the meteorological agency.
Sunday's alert was Japan's first major tsunami warning in more than 15 years, the agency reported. In 1960, a tsunami spawned by Chile's 1960 earthquake killed 140 people in Japan.
"At Eco-Products 2009, Oriental Co., Ltd. exhibited a revolutionary recycling machine called White Goat, which makes toilet paper from shredded paper."
"White Goat won a top prize at the Monozukuri Nippon awards. It has patents pending, and Oriental is getting ready to release it in summer 2010."
"Glee is about to make its debut in Japan and just like Americans, the Japanese make promos in anticipation of such events. But Americans don't make promos like this. Featuring two adorably fat sumo wrestling tweens, retired sumo great Akebono and a cast of fly girls, this promo should result in Super Bowl level ratings. As Akebono would say, "So fun, so Fox!"
Here are two trailers for the upcoming Japanese TV version of this show:
Yesterday the Tokyo Auto Salon was held in Makuhari Messe, Chiba. In case you missed it, here are a few clips of some of the featured new car models via Youtube:
Two space aliens shooting cheese and a beautiful foreigner screaming and speaking Japanese! WTF! Here is a very funny TV CM for the all new Cup Noodle double cheese curry:
"From a few years ago, the Glamor bar began to recruit foreign young girls from Africa and Eastern European. Have these foreign girls to be proud of this bar, and they become their business signs. Many of the local guests came to the Glamor bar just for "looking for different beauty"
"Reports are circulating today that Tibetan filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen has been sentenced to six years in prison by the Chinese government for having produced "Leaving Fear Behind" a film about the plight of Tibetan refugees."