Since the late 70s Ryuichi Sakamoto has been a musical powerhouse of J-pop and numerous film soundtracks. He got his start playing the keyboards with the pioneering electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO) from 1978 until the group broke up in 1983. After that he went solo and also produced records for quite a few other artists in addition to working on movie scores. One of his first soundtracks was for the 1983 film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. Of course as an anime fanboy my favorite from the 80s was the soundtrack to the 1987 film Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise. Read more…
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Dec 22, 2010 in Japanese TV
I adore Hikaru Utada. She’s perhaps the most recognizable Japanese pop icon in recent years. In fact, I’m pretty sure she still holds a record or two for selling over 8 million copies of her debut album in Japan alone. That’s a lot by our industry’s standards, and even moreso by their own. That aside, she’s got a lovely voice and a natrual beauty to compliment it, which is why I fall head over heels in love every time she does a commercial. This latest ad has her singing “Can’t Wait ‘Til Christmas,” which was included on the recently released Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 2 while leaning on a giant bottle of Pepsi Nex Zero — a drink I personally find delicious. It’s a shame you have to fly to the Japan to try it, though. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 13, 2010 in Animation
This is an episode of Kaito Lenya which features the voice talents of Morning Musume member Reina Tanaka. What I love about this short is that they do a good job entertaining you even though the animation is low budget. By the way I realized looking at the animation that a few months ago on the DogaDoga7 Newtype YouTube channel that Noto Arisa mentioned this project (she’s pointing to the character that she does the voice over for): Read more…
This 1991 advert for rice balls features J-pop singer Arisa Mizuki (観月ありさ) who was just making her singing debut at the time this commercial was shown. Arisa had been modeling as a child since the age of four, but her big break came with the TV drama Mou dare mo Aisanai which was followed by her first single record Densetsu no Shoujo. In addition during this time she also provided vocals for the Sailor Moon song Kaze Mo, Sora Mo, Kitto.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 30, 2009 in Japanese TV
I just came across this amazingly cute clip of Mari Yaguchi from a Japanese TV show appearance she did back in October: This video shows her adventures taking care of a baby lion! Yaguchi is a current member of the Hello! Project and was leader of Morning Musume back in 2005.
It’s amazing what you can discover on YouTube sometimes: The above commercial for NTT is from the year 2000 and features the J-Pop band SMAP as Gatchaman! Of course Gatchaman is known to use old school anime fans as Battle of the Planets which played a key role in introducing Americans to sci fi ninjas. There were four commercials in total and below is a fully animated spot which looks amazing: Read more…
The thing that makes this commercial for me is seeing Sally from the Peanuts gang scratching records — and of course having Snoopy, Marcy, Peppermint Patty and Lucy back up J-pop star Kaela Kimur (木村カエラ) singing her Hot Pepper song pushes this advert to the next level. And so what is Hot Pepper? It seems to be some sort of food website which is sponsored by Recruit which is a job placement service. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 12, 2009 in Japanese TV
It’s been a while since I’ve followed Tensai! Shimura Dobutsu-en (aka Genius! Shimura Zoo) a Japanese kids show which features a new animal each episode. This latest show features the J-pop group Hey! Say! JUMP and shows band hanging out with run away cats, a sloth, a cute baby hedgehog and an ostrich: Read more…
All 48 team members of AKB48 didn’t show up for the New York Anime Festival, but we were very happy to have even just a few of the ever so cute J-pop divas at the show! Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 21, 2009 in Japanese TV
This new Japanese ad for Pizza-La features the J-pop act Buono! which is yet another side project associated with Hello! Project Kids and Berryz Kobo. Aside from the musical aspect of this I have to admit that the idea of a Camembert cheese pizza made me want to break my current diet. By the way what’s cool about this ad is that there is a version for each member of Buono!, shown below are the spots for Airi Suzuki, Miyabi Natsuyaki and the ever so cute Momoko Tsugunaga: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 12, 2009 in Japanese TV
This latest action packed episode of AKBINGO! starts off with the girls attempting to sneak into a high school — it sort of reminded me of how Josie and the Pussycats might come up with a solution. Later in the episode there’s a museum sketch where the J-pop girls get paint all over their face: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 14, 2009 in Japanese TV
AKBINGO! a variety show which features the J-Pop group AKB48 which has so many members that they actually divide them up into different teams. In this episode the competing diva troupes has a show down by jumping rope! The fate of the young lady who is hot by the rope? Well she’s forced to dress up in nerdy eye glasses and must face the taunts of her fellow team members: Read more…
In a previous article where I explored Japanese pop singers who sound like robots I mentioned Aira Mitsuki having a strangely trashed sound which has little to do with poor quality Youtube sound:
Posted by Guest Author on Apr 21, 2009 in Animation, Tech
Virtual idols have been around longer than you think — shown above is a magazine cover featuring Kyoko Date from 1996. In this article Nick Kent gives us his insights:
The interesting “real” Robo-Girl in the pop culture room is Hatsune Miku, who really is software:
She’s a second generation Windows voice synthesis software released in 2007 that anyone can buy at mainstream Japanese software retailer for around $150. With a slightly difficult user interface software one can program her to sing anything in a voice that’s now not far out of place on the pop charts. The Vocaloid technology was created by Yamaha and then licensed to developers, namely Crypton who developed the character and voice. Read more…
In this article pop culture pundit Nick Kent gives us his insights into the growing trend of J-Pop singers who want to sound cyber:
I’ve been noticing a mini-trend in Japanese pop music lately consisting of pretty female singers singing with android sounding vocals rather than natural sounding ones. I can’t help but to think Cher’s 1998 hit single “Believe” makes her the Borg Queen of this phenomenon: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 28, 2009 in Japanese TV
Shown above is a segment from the March 25th episode of AKBINGO! a variety show which features the J-Pop group AKB48 which includes some 46 divas (well they started with 48 young ladies but that was several years ago) divided into three teams. The group is unusual in that once a week they preform at their own theater which is located in the Akihabara district of Tokyo. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 13, 2009 in Animation, Fandom
If you’re an otaku near New York City you’ll want to reserve Sunday March 1st on your calendars: Japanese cosplay singer Reni will be performing her “Japanese Maid Show” which features anime and J-Pop songs done in an authentic Akihabara style of singing and dancing:
Top Tunes, 303-305 East 53rd Street at 2nd Avenue
March 1st, Sunday 5-6pm (Doors open at 4:30pm)
No cover charge/one drink minimumRead more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 23, 2008 in Japanese TV
This number is an oldie but a goldie: It’s the J-pop group Mini Moni (ミニモニ) performing their breakout song Minimoni Jankenpyon! (ミニモニ。ジャンケンぴょん!) from way back when in 2001. Mini Moni is a subgroup of the Morning Musume (モーニング娘) and was active until 2004 when the group disbanded.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 20, 2008 in Japanese TV
Berryz Kobo is a side project of the Hello! Project — this video is from a DVD magazine and features the members of the band saying “hello” in various languages. What makes the video for me the 60s game show music which nicely contrasts with the faux educational lesson, although it would have been just a tad cuter if each presenter had a matching outfit for each language.
This is an episode of 
