Sakanaction – Bach no Senritsu wo Yoru ni Kiita Sei desu
Awesome new song and PV combo alert!
Sakanaction's fifth major single is 'Bahha no Senritsu wo Yoru ni Kiita Sei desu,' which translates to 'It's Because I Heard a Melody by Bach at Night.'
Check out the clever PV for the A-side below:
Hikaru Uterus
This is the best thing I've heard since Chobits pronounced as 'chaw-bits':
Customer: “Do you have any Japanese music?”
Me: “Yes, we have quite a large selection.”
Customer: “That’s great. My daughter wanted something by, um, ah…”
(I patiently wait.)
Customer: “Oh, I can’t remember the name.”
Me: “Don’t worry. Take your time. Maybe you could ask your daughter again?”
Customer: “No, I got it. Something like… uterus?”
Me: *pause* “Uterus?”
Customer: “Hang on. I think I’ll call my daughter.”
(The customer walks away, pulling out a cell. She comes back a minute later.)
Customer: “Okay, I got it now. It’s Utada. Hikaru Utada.”
Perfume – Laser Beam
Tokuma has finally released a preview video for Perfume's much anticipated new single, Laser Beam. One week till the retail release and the full version of the PV!
2011 Toyota Corolla feat. Hatsune Miku
So Toyota is using Hatsune Miku to advertise their 2011 Corolla. This wouldn't be too out of place if these were Japanese commercials, but in fact these are intended for the USA, which makes this her first official appearance here. I don't know who or what spawned the idea to make an American car commercial featuring a popular Japanese virtual idol and her music, but I am okay with this. Videos below.
Ooga Norio dies at age 81
Is that a Mariah Carey MD I spy?
Ooga Norio, former executive for Sony, passed away on Saturday at 81 years old.
He founded CBS/Sony Records, which is a major label even today not only in Japan but internationally. He is credited with development of the compact disc, famously insisting that the CD be 12cm in size to accommodate the entirety of Beethoven's 9th Symphony. He was a passionate music lover and conducted orchestras.
As a collector of music CDs and other optical media, I feel the world owes this man much respect for his stringent expectations of sound quality. The advent of digital audio on the public 28 years ago profoundly changed the way music is produced. It led to radical changes in computers and video games, and the world now takes the concept of optical media for granted.
Although physical formats like CDs and DVDs are slowing fading away in favor of purely digital delivery, it's important to recognize those who have paved the way for the future. We probably wouldn't have Blu-rays now without this man's ambition at Sony. Now there's a Playstaion 3 fanboy argument if I've ever heard one.
Puelli Magi Madoka Magika 11-12
The final episodes of Madoka have aired. The ending was decent and suitably emotional. I'm glad that it ended on a somewhat happy note. Though it has its weak points, the series as a whole is solid and enjoyable and gets my seal of recommendation. It's a short, 12 episode series; set aside a few hours and watch it if you haven't already.
Sudou Genki – MACHINE CIVILIZATION
Sudou Genki (須藤元気) is a retired MMA fighter who is now a singer, dancer, writer and actor. He is also a practicing Buddhist and his philosophy of 'We are all one' is a central theme in this slick PV.
SHAZNA.net (again!)
Ah, shazna.net. My website that I've ignored for far too long. Let's try this once more.
I registered the domain, thinking to make a SHAZNA fan site. At that time, I was pursuing a collection of the band's music and video works. I owned many of their CDs and VHS boxes and felt if anyone should make an English fan site, it should be me. Well, I guess I became pretty half-hearted about the project after a couple weeks of scanning photos of Izam and translating parts of Japanese interviews. The site sat half finished for a long time.
Eventually I transitioned the site into a (half-hearted, again) blog, focusing on Japanese music and other cultural trends. I tried my hand at designing the site again from scratch. Nothing really motivated me, and the site has sadly sat mostly in disarray, acting mostly as a file host when necessary.
It's sad to see it go to waste like that; paying for this site monthly and letting it go unused is a perfect example of the concept of mottainai. So here I am, trying again with a WordPress backend. Using a blogging system like this makes things ridiculously easy, so hopefully I can translate that into posting easily and more often. Expect such topics as Japanese music and pop culture, Japanese language, art, photography, science and other topics that raise my eyebrow. Stay tuned!