In Theater's Soon: L'Arc-en-Ciel

All I have to say is this is going to be good.

Damn good.

Sweet Sweet Japanese Monkey Waiters

DVD/Series: 交渉人- The Negotiator

If you like SVU or Criminal Intent, you'll probably like The Negotiator, an eight episode Japanese series aired earlier this year, that stars Yonekura Ryoko (Usagi Reiko) as part of the metropolitan police department's special investigation team.

Here's a description from wiki.d-addicts.com:

In a modern society in which violent crimes are on the rise, there is a team that tries to resolve cases without bloodshed. It is the metropolitan police's special team, known by the abbreviation SIT (Special Investigation Team). The SIT doesn't get into action after a case but heads to the site just as a crime is being committed. They are on the front-line of risky missions, facing off against criminals; tenaciously conducting negotiations with criminals. As a result of the rigid police hierarchy that can curb the conduct of negotiators, the SIT is also a male-dominated society controlled with strict discipline. There is one female negotiator, Usagi Reiko, who bravely fights at the frontline. She is isolated in the male world of the SIT but courageously fights against crime as well as her organization.

While the series has some good hostage/negotiation stories (and some great characters) what really kind of sucks you in is the relationship between Usagi and a death row inmate and how that connection relates to SIT, and what - if anything - she'll find out about that past (and telling you anything else would be a definite spoiler).

If you're interested, check out more here.

Hot Track: Ishida Yuko

Definitely a slick vibe from the artist formally known as Juan. Check out the song and the video for Changes.



Here's some more info on Ishida Yuko from Wiki.ThePPN:

Ishida Yuko made her debut in 2001 as a member of the dance unit SOUL TIGER, from the television program Batoraku. She also auditioned for ASAYAN. A year later she was awarded Miss Magazine's Reader Special Award and in 2003 made the image girl of Teijin.

When making her debut as a musical artist in 2005, she changed her stage name to "Juan". Her first single's tracks were a throwback to popular Western songs of the 1980s. When she released her album three months later, she had a slightly more sexed-up image and included R&B influences in many of the tracks on the album, although a handful of the songs are 1980s-styled.

With her mini-album released in September 2006, Juan completely changed her style to R&B/hip-hop and took her sexy image a step further by wearing even less clothing in promotional videos and the album booklet. However, this mini-album was the last thing she released as Juan.

In 2007, Ishida became an image girl for Triumph, and in 2008 she released her "debut" single, "Missin' U", under her gravure name as a tie-in for the brand. She also won the Grand Prix award for ZAKZAK's "ZAK THE QUEEN" competition of 2007.

Utada, Heart Station, and more digital downloads than the population of Sweden

Superstar Utada's 28th single Heart Station/Stay Gold, officially drops today on the heels of her still red-hot '07 where her music sold 12 million digital units.

Shoji Doyama - president of EMI Music Japan - talks about how Utada is helping to pave the way for how music keeps getting distributed:

The success of Utada Hikaru shows that our strategy of providing access to music across multiple formats and platforms has been embraced by the consumer. We will continue to offer more opportunities for more people to enjoy more music and will keep breaking world class records.

Asian superstars who continue to blaze new paths on the music scene - definitely cool.

31st Japanese Academy Awards

The nominations are in for the 31st Japanese Academy Awards, and some of the top contenders and nominees are, Tokyo Tower - Mom & Me, and sometimes Dad, Always 2, and I Just Didn't Do It. Check out some of the trailers below, or past posts.

Tokyo Tower - Mom & Me, and sometimes Dad




Always 2




I Just Didn't Do It

Hiroshima and Nagasaki in their own words

Hibakusha: Hearing from the survivors in their own words

Retired Nagasaki Broadcasting Corp. (NBC) journalist Akihiko Ito has spent decades — and a small fortune — recording a huge collection of testimonies from the survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which are now online with English transcriptions.

Ito, 70, gathered verbal testimonies from 1,003 hibakusha in the period from 1971 to 1979 and added recordings of another 837 A-bomb survivors collected by NBC from 1986 to 2006.

He produced a series of nine CDs containing the statements made by the hibakusha and, together with copywriter Yoshihisa Furukawa and a group of 18 volunteers, added pictures and English transcripts to the recordings and listed them on a free Website called Voices of the Survivors From Hiroshima and Nagasaki (VOSHN.com).

Audience approval: Getting your Love Hotel groove on while others watch

Jeepers creepers, your love hotel might be crawling with peepers

If you — and perhaps your lady friend as well — are not sufficiently stimulated by each other’s company, you might want to consider injecting some additional excitement into your trysts, by watching other couples do the dirty deed, unbeknownst to them of course, from a handy peeping perspective, albeit not necessarily a point purposely provided.

Writing in Uramono Japan (October), reporter Hisashi Yamazaki says he developed an interest in this topic from the old days, when the walls of cheaply constructed hotels were so thin one could easily and effortlessly eavesdrop on the affectionately amorous acoustic effects generated by cavorting couples.

After considerable research, Yamazaki has found that indeed, places exist in Tokyo where a strategically situated voyeur can observe the visual action as well.

Bong Joon-ho, “Tokyo”, Ayako Fujitani, and Steven Seagal

Ayako Fujitani. Image from Off Screen

According to reports from MTV.com, the director of the ever popular Korean monster movie The Host, Bong Joon-ho will be working on a movie called “Tokyo” where directors will give their spin on the city in much the same way as the movie Paris Je T’aime.

From those same reports as well, the French director Michel Gondry will be working with Ayako Fujitani - who is the daughter of U.S. actor/director Steven Seagal.

From Wikipedia:

A writer and actress, she is the daughter of Steven Seagal from his first wife, aikido master Miyako Fujitani.

While still relatively unknown in America, she was recently featured in the French film Sansa (2003) and is best known for her role in the Heisei Gamera (1995-1999) series directed by Shusuke Kaneko. She worked again with him on an episode of Ultraman Max, whom he directed.

Fujitani wrote the short novella Shiki-Jitsu based on personal reflections of her difficulties as a multiracial child growing up in Japan and later, the unwanted attention after her father’s sudden rise to stardom.

The story was adapted into film by writer and director Hideaki Anno and stars Fujitani in the title role.

See the Off Screen movie site for more information on Shiki-Jitsu.

DJ spin that classic morning Dragon Ash

From Dragon Ash's '03 album Harvest - start the morning - or end the evening right - with Morrow:



And if you want something a little newer from the Japanese Rock/Hip-Hop group, here's a single off their '07 CD Independiente, called Ivory:

Summer's over but you can still "Mahaloha" with Yuna Ito and Micro

Micro's Vitals

• Born in Tokyo, Japan


• Part of the Jawaiian band Def Tech which sold 1.5 million records of their debut album despite being signed to an indie label.


• Formed new label Primary Color Recordz under Universal


• Just released his solo album Laid Back

Yuna Ito's Vitals

• 1/2 Japanese and 1/2 Korean


• Born in the U.S. and grew up in Hawaii


• She sings in both English (1st language) and Japanese (2nd language)


• Had immediate success on the Japanese music scene with her single Endless Story in '05 from the movie NANA (which much to the surprise of everyone even out-sold the Mika Nakashima hit Glamorous Sky).


• Has since released top selling singles like Precious and her #1 CD/DVD Heart


• 1 million+ total sales

The MV for the team-up of their
recent summer release Mahaloha

...

Yuna Ito's Endless Story from NANA
(For a version with karaoke lyrics go here)

Micro's recent solo single HANA唄

I Just Didn’t Do It, Koji Yakusho, Masayuki Suo, and the Oscars

According to reports from Variety Asia, the Japanese movie I Just Didn’t Do It, by writer/director Masayuki Suo of Shall We Dance fame (the original) has just been selected as Japan’s official entry into the Oscars for foreign language film.

The movie which stars Ryo Kase(Letters from Iwo Jima) and Koji Yakusho (Babel, Memoirs of a Geisha, Shall We Dance) takes a critical look at the Japanese legal system through the story of a falsely accused man.

From the The 45th New York Film Festival description:

Masayuki Suo, the director of Shall We Dance, trades sweetness for a tart taste of Kafka in his new film, with a dash of Hitchcock’s The Wrong Man. Falsely accused of groping a schoolgirl on a jammed train, Teppei (Ryo Kase, from Letters From Iwo Jima) is advised to plead guilty, pay a small fine, and get on with his life. But he maintains his innocence and won’t be persuaded to compromise. Suo’s follow-up to his 1996 smash hit begins as a criminal justice procedural and develops into an engrossing study (and damning indictment) of a flawed justice system, in which the presumption of innocence is basically non-existent.

A trailer from YouTube:

Emmy Roundup: Oh, Masi, America, 30, Wounded Knee, Roots, and Sanjaya makes a comeback?

So the Emmys have come and gone and here’s what’s left on the Slanted front:

Sandra Oh didn’t win but I guess the black dress went over way better than last year according to the many various online polls - and wouldn’t she rather have online fashion love instead of an Emmy?

Masi didn’t win either, but he did get to spend some time in the spotlight with Ryan Seacrest while he “hooked up” MySpace founder, friend #1 Tom, with buddy Al Gore….does it get any sweeter in defeat?

America Fererra - she did win - Best Actress For A Comedy Series for Ugly Betty - and seriously - how could she not have won? Since she lept on the screen in HBO’s Real Women Have Curves - she’s kept on impressing.

Tracy Morgan didn’t get the individual nod - but his show 30 Rock! did win for Best Comedy - beating out other comedies like The Office.

Adam Beach didn’t get a nod either - but his HBO Film Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee won six awards including Best TV movie.

The epic movie Roots received a standing ovation for its 30 year anniversary tribute - and if you can’t stand for Roots I’m not sure what gets you out of your seat…

And no - Sanjaya didn’t win anything - or make a comeback - but he was referred to as that “little boy from India” - how nice huh?

Alan Muraoka, Sesame Street, and Asian Americans On Broadway: Heart and Music

Alan Muraoka, who plays the owner of Mr. Hooper’s corner store on Sesame Street, will be helming the production of Asian Americans On Broadway: Heart and Music, which will be part of the benefit for the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California (JCCCNC).

Talking about the show Muraoka said:

“The audience sees the potential that anything is possible. That there was a Belle in ‘Beauty and the Beast’ who was Asian that looked like them. And to me, I didn’t have those images when I was growing up. We’re performing for that one person — that person that this has always been their dream, but they never thought that they could do it. Well, we’re showing them that it is possible and that anything is possible.”

Read the full article about the show down at the Nichi Bei Times as well as the show’s website http://www.asianamericansonbroadway.com/. You can also learn more about Alan Muraoka at his site.

Yakuza Moon and Shoko Tendo

With her dyed-brown long hair and tight designer jeans, Shoko Tendo looks like any other stylish young Japanese woman — until she removes her shirt to reveal the vivid tattoos covering her back and most of her body.

The elaborate dragons, phoenixes and a medieval courtesan with one breast bared and a knife between her teeth are a symbol of Tendo’s childhood as the daughter of a “yakuza” gangster and her youth as a drug-using gang member.

The author of “Yakuza Moon,” a best-selling memoir just out in English, the 39-year-old Tendo says that police efforts to eradicate the gangsters have merely made them harder to track.

Read the full article here.

Koda Kumi and Fergie Team Up For Music Single

News came out a little bit ago that Koda Kumi will be teaming up with Fergie on a single for a yet to be named Japanese drama. Whether the song will be in English, Japanese, or both - which would be my bet - is still being hashed out.

No word on when it will be released.

Takashi Miike: Sci-fi romantic comedy?

This sounds pretty cool, and a departure from Miike’s more classical films he is known for, but he’ll be re-doing a movie called Kamisama no Puzzle (God’s Puzzle) - which is based on a book (of the same name) by Japanese author Shinji Kimoto (which also won the 2002 Sakyo Komatsu Awards). Apparently the book is a sci-fi comedy romance about two twins and a girl who work together to try and figure out the secrets of the universe and create their own.

Slated for a 2008 summer release.

Read more at tokyograph and firstshowing.net.

Remembering the week of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

August 6, 1945 the first of only two nuclear bombs ever used in warfare was dropped on Hiroshima. Three days later on August 9, 1945 the second of those bombs was dropped on Nagasaki. Because of those bombings, over a quarter of a million people’s lives were taken.

Takashi Miike And Shannyn Sossamon

The Japanese Horror flick “One missed call” by freak out master Takashi Miike is being remade, which will also star Shannyn Sossamon (French-German-Filipino-Hawaiian) who is also playing on Moonlight this fall on CBS.

Utada tops the digital sales charts with 7 million units sold

If you don’t know who Utada is, she’s pretty much one of the best selling J-POP artists in the world who grew up both in NY as well as Tokyo and is more widely known by Utada Hikaru, and Hikki.

According to EMI, Utada’s single “Flavor of Life”, regular and the ballad version, is the world’s biggest selling digital single with sales of seven million units across all formats including mobile phone ringtunes, full-track mobile downloads, fixed line downloads, ring videos and ringback tones.