It uses a light beam reflected, refracted, and other “re” words from physics 101 to heat up and illuminate it’s way to the big ending. See the video below and a making of video below that.  I think that for this kind of thing, a “planning of” video would be more interesting though… what kind of awesome ideas were thrown out the window.

It sure beats the old commercial starring comediennes “Mori San Chu”, actress Ayame Goriki, and violinist Taro Hakase.

An added bonus over years past, as you can see in the screenshot above, is access to NFL Network Live. This is especially good for the kind of fan that wants to watch all the teams and all the commentary. I haven’t seen it yet, but the condensed games also seem like an interesting way to save time when watching games you are less interested in.

This service also works if you are in other countries than Japan, and if you happen to be in the US and want this for some reason?… I recommend using a free or inexpensive VPN to get access by making it seem your computer is outside of the US.

Pepsi Japan has picked up the story and began releasing a series of commercials to advertise their calorie free Pepsi Nex. I’ve embedded them below and if you are a fan of the folklore, feudal japan movies, or monster action flicks in the vain of Godzilla you won’t be disappointed.

The videos star the extremely popular actor Shun Oguri in the lead role:

Episode 1 takes place before Momotaro has gathered his band of friends.

And there is also an Episode 0 featuring the pheasant, monkey, and dog as well.

They seem to be shows also available on the “DramaFever” web site, so let’s hope they catch on and more tv shows become available legally outside of Japan.

I’ll list the shows I’ve found down here and add to it if I see more activity.

In addition to now having the Pokemon and Pokemon Origins shows among tons of other anime:

AKB48 NE-Mouse TV 　”AKB48ネ申テレビ”　(Season 1) – which is a variety show starring the ubiquitous AKB48 singing group and hosted by grouchy comedian Hiroiki Ariyoshi.

You can also find the following dramas:

Future Diary – Another World  “未来日記　Another:World”

Last Cinderella  “ラスト・シンデレラ”

Mischievous Kiss  “イタズラなキス　Love In Tokyo”

Hours of my Life　”僕のいた時間”

A Clinic on the Sea　 “海の上の診療所”

Switch Girl!!　　”スイッチガール！！”

Now, I haven’t seen these yet, but they are in my queue and I’ll be on the lookout for more.

Also, if you are not in the US and looking for a cheap way to access Hulu and american online tv, I recommend trying Hotspot Shield which can also be used on iOS devices and others. Hotspot Shield Elite

The original animated version was released in Japan in 1989, and then dubbed and released in the US by Disney in 1997.

It is, simply put, the story of a young witch named Kiki who ventures away from home to spend a year away from home and find her vocation as witch with her best friend, a black cat named Jiji.

The Disney dubbed version features some well known actors including the late, great Phil Hartman as Jiji the cat, Kirsten Dunst as Kiki, and comedian Janeane Garofalo as Ursula a painter who befriends Kiki.

16 year old Fuka Koshiba won the role of Kiki.　Kiki’s mother and father will be played by veterans Rie Miyazawa and Michitaka Tsutsui. Machiko Ono will play the bakery owner, and Ryohei Hirota as Tombo.

The first poster released also shows a shot of Jiji her cat and best friend.

We have yet to see anything more than a teaser trailer that just shows a view of flying over a forest ending with the still shot from the poster above, but there is a web site up at: http://www.majotaku.jp/

The film also has a twitter account at: https://twitter.com/majotakumovie

His blog was last updated on October 3rd.

On October 5th, he was in a van on the Chugoku Expressway in Yamaguchi Prefecture on route to a performance in Kumamoto with his band, “BijoMen Z” when their van hit a guard rail. The band manager, Kotaro Sunamori and Yasuo Saito were hit by cars on the highway when they left the truck to investigate the damage. Here is a news story below (the story starts from the 34 second mark).

Many hot springs have policies prohibiting tattoos but in many cases are not enforced unless the guest has given some other cause for being ejected. In this case reports say that she was visiting  the resort with a group of about 10 people for dinner and to enter the hot spring. Accompanying guests of Ainu descent reportedly called for the hot spring to show more cultural sensitivity, but in the end they were denied entry.

A representative of the hot spring reportedly said that they understand different tattoos have different backgrounds, but that customers may not understand that, and if they allow exceptions they might lose the trust of their customers.

I’ll editorialize a bit to say that a 60-year-old linguist with a small tattoo on her chin is hardly going to cause any kind of negative stir. If anything, your average Japanese person would jump at the opportunity to get to know her… and the other 9 people (including Japanese people of Ainu descent) who were with her.

One argument I’ve seen several times in comments on the internet is that the organizers never should have gone to a hot spring with a sign outside prohibiting tattoos. Some also argue that the shop is allowed to refuse service if it so chooses. I’ve even seen the opinion that it’s Japan and they need to respect Japanese culture… the counter argument to this is that it’s not necessarily “Japanese culture” to discriminate against tattoos, it’s certainly not illegal.

On the other hand, the people refused entry also have the right to publicize the issue in the name of education and cultural awareness.

There are beaches and shops that still discriminate against people with tattoos and I would love to see citizens with tattoos in Japan organize and educate the populace. Again, it may be the shop’s prerogative to refuse service, but it’s kind of silly. Would they have turned away a Hollywood starlet?

This will continue to be a hot issue in Japan as events last year with Osaka mayor Toru Hashimoto crusading against tattoos has shown.

The bottom line in this case, however is that the Maori tattoos are a cultural issue, and the case is more akin to wearing a burqa than to a cool dude peacocking his ink at the beach, and certainly warrants discussion.

I’m reminded of a clause in my first rental contract for an apartment in Japan which specifically had a clause prohibiting any playing of Mah Jong in the room. The intention here was to keep Yakuza members from renting an apartment there… because, you know, of all the things the Yakuza are known for, one thing they would never do is violate some small print in a contract for a one room apartment in Osaka.

The show started up in October of 2005 and will be finishing a successful run on Tuesday, September 10th.

Mimura from “Summers” posted a message to his twitter account. saying he was sad to check his schedule and no longer see Lincoln on there.

Lincoln will be replaced by a new Downtown led “educational” or “infotainment” type of show, the first Downtown has hosted. The show will be called (100Byo Hakase Academii). I haven’t seen an official English title for it yet, but let’s call it “100 Second PhD Academy”.

Downtown will host along with female announcer Erina Masuda, pictured below from her TBS bio.

Frankly though, I’m going to miss that little dose of Lincoln every week.

The main character is a thief played by 23 year old veteran actress Mitsuki Tanimura, and　Julia Nagano who is not only from Hiroshima but has been practicing karate for over 11 years according to her blog (which has not been updated in nearly a year.)

Here’s a video of Nagano showing her karate/action star skills:

In the beginning, some of the cheap looking production values may have movie watchers thinking of other films in their queue, but it’s definitely worth watching, especially if you are a fan of this kind of film. Tanimura and Nagano have a nice chemistry and there are a few other characters in there that deliver.

If you are still on the fence then, here’s the Japanese trailer:

Here’s a youtube clip with the track:

I’m sure fans of Namie Amuro AND TLC will love the new track, especially as TLC may have gained some new younger fans in Japan after performing on MTV Japan’s 2013 awards show and receiving a legend award.

Here’s a video of the performance:

130622 by Arisaaa_0928

I’m not sure how long this video will last, even on Daily Motion so watch it while you can!