Yoshida Brothers are Japanese musicians famous for playing the shamisen (三味線, lit. three flavour strings), a traditional Japanese music instrument.
Kodo (鼓動) was released in 2004 in the Yoshida Brothers II album; a remix version of the song was used for Nintendo’s Wii commercial in 2006.
A Japanese ramen restaurant in Tokyo, Japan, is experimenting with two robotic-chef to cook the noodles; would be really cool if the whole restaurant’s operation is automated, with robots serving the dishes as well…
The 4th Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial, dubbed the world’s largest outdoor art festival, is currently held (July 26 to Sept 13, 2009) in the Echigo-Tsumari region, encompassing Tokamachi City and Tsunan Town in Niigata Prefecture, Japan.
Artists from 38 countries collaborated with local residents and urban supporters to create over 350 artworks in rice paddies, abandoned houses, and closed schools etc. Check the event’s official website for more pics and details.
Nakizumo (lit. crying sumo) is a traditional Japanese festival with 400-years of history. The event, believed to bring good health to the babies, is held annually in temples across Japan where the kids would face-off each other to see who’s crying the soonest (and loudest)…
The above video [credits to garyjpn@youtube for the upload] is probably from Hiroshima in 2009; there are other slightly different format in other places, including in Tokyo where some real sumo wrestlers were involved.
One of the great fun of karaoke is to scream sing out loud; but Japanese, ironically, has invented a microphone kit for people to enjoy the karaoke at home without making too much noise…
Basically it’s an innovation that absorbs the singers’ voices using ergonomic design and soft cushions. It probably beats the general purpose of karaoke… but how I wish some of my neighbours could get one for goodness sake. On second thought, the invention is not that ironic after all.
[image from JTT [Jp], via Shibuya246]
Japanese horror story writer Koji Suzuki has teamed up with Hayashi Paper to publish his latest work, “Drop”, on toilet papers.
Suzuki is famed for horror stories like “Ring” and “Dark Water” which were adapted into Japanese and Hollywood films.
Drop is set in a public restroom; the story uses up about three feet of a roll and can be read in just a few minutes. The paper roll sells for 210 yen ($2.20 USD) apiece [via Brb]
Printing on toilet papers is nothing new in Japan, but it’s probably a first for horror story. It could prove an unexpected hit with constipation a common issue among Japanese; it might just scare the shit out of the folks.
A Japanese farmer has ‘found’ a 56-leaf clover on May 10. The discovery wasn’t mere luck though; Shigeo Obara from Hanamaki, Iwate, has been conducting research on clovers for over 50 years.
Obara will apply for a new Guinness World Record for the most leaves on a clover stem, currently held by none other than Obara himself since 2002. He also made headlines last year with a 21-leaf clover which he didn’t apply for a record.
Meanwhile, a pair of Yubari melons were auctioned for 500,000 yen (US$5,200) at Sapporo Central Wholesale Market… seems expensive, but it’s far below the record 2.5 million yen fetched in 2008 or the previous record of 2 million yen in 2007.
Yubari melons are popular summer gifts in Japan; buyers would flock to the market for the prestige of winning the very first melons of the year.
Yubari official Kaoru Hirano seems happy with the deflated price though, saying that the previous records were giving misconception that the Yubari melons were too expensive for average folks.
Eating beer cans, swallowing swords, wielding light saber, lesbian kiss, fire show, wacky performance, loud music, booze, dance, girls… that’s what you are going to see from the below video… [by ronindave@youtube, via Japundit]
Founded in October 2005 by ex-French drag queen Adrien Le Danois, Tokyo Decadance had the goal to mix all the most creative, flashy, crazy, exaggerated, extreme, bizarre styles of the Tokyo streets.
The event is now the rendezvous of gothic, cyberpunk, fetish, manga heroine, lolitas, yamanbas, ko gyaru, drag queen, punk, Tokyo jet-set, partymonsters, and also salaryman and ‘normal people’.
The wild party is occasionally on tour in some European cities beside the monthly show in Japan [check out Decadance' Myspace]
