yonasu.com

Gyaru Wednesday Wk13

yonasu — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:28:48 +0000

The series continues as usual, I can’t go without them on Wednesdays anymore!

This week’s edition is a bit shorter than the last but you’ve got a great post about the HMV store in Shibuya to check out today as well, so it’ll have to do^^;

Oh and by the way, it seems like you people can’t choose between cute and cool gyarus, so I guess I’ll do a little bit of both as usual!

This week’s edition of Gyaru Wednesday was made possible by Pop Cutie and gyaru, etc.

HMV Shibuya

yonasu — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:01:40 +0000

As most of you probably already know, the HMV store in Shibuya shut down on August 22. Luckily I managed to get Shiranwa to take some photos of this magnificent store before it shut down for good.

HMV Shibuya opened already in 1990, although it was moved to its current spot in 1998. It was the flagship of the HMV chain and was known as the store that helped Shibuya-kei music gain the widespread recognition it deserved. Shibuya-kei, for those who don’t know, simply means “Shibuya-style” and is a sub-genre of Japanese pop music. The Shibuya-kei genre is a mix of J-pop, jazz and electropop and some notable artists are Capsule, Fantastic Plastic Machine, Towa Tei and Pizzicato Five.

The store had 4 floors and sold pretty much everything you could think of. My favorite floors were the first and the second, as those had the J-pop, hip-hop and club music.

Advertising some J-R&B selected by Shintaro Nishizaki.

I’m not a big J-R&B listener, but I love MoNa a.k.a. Sad Girl and Chou-chou (蝶々). How about you?

Advertising some final events such as a live performance + signing by Shing02 and Chiyori at the event space on the 2nd floor.

Final sale, I would’ve loved to be there^^

Entrance to the store, if you look closely, you can see Shiranwa reflected in the glass just below FPM :P

70% off all these CDs and DVDs!

Take a pic with SCANDAL, haha. Their mascot is so weird… What is that thing supposed to be anyways?

SCANDAL Tempation Box, I’m definitely tempted.

The Korean pop group KARA was pretty much all over the store.

I actually haven’t listened to KARA since they debuted in Japan, well, now I have, as I decided to embed the PV for “Mister” below.

I don’t think this one was any good though…

More KARA…

More SALE posters, were you there by the way?

HMV threw out lots of stuff!

Some boxes and whatnot, maybe not something worth keeping, but I’m sure some fans would find even this valuable.

A whole bag of posters, I would’ve loved to get that sent to me T_T

An HMV VISA card would be pretty epic to own^^

I remember being lost once on this street until I found the HMV store xD

It’s gonna be weird not to see the big HMV logo in Shibuya anymore. Does anybody know what will take their place?

Perfume’s VOICE is very good in my opinion, not one of their best, but still worth buying.

I haven’t bought anything by Perfume since the release of Dream Fighter though, shame on me.

A last thank you from the HMV staff, it’s been a good long run, 20 years is a long time! I only managed to make 3 or 4 purchases at HMV Shibuya, but I’m happy I made it there before they shut it down.

Unfortunately, more and more stores of this kind will shut down in the near future. The CD store is doomed, but I think the music store will come back in other forms. Maybe a Poken-like system could work, poke to buy and it’s sent to your phone instantly. The only chain that isn’t downsizing is Tower Records, they tackle the problem by setting up small outlets in locations where people who don’t generally buy CDs pass by, such as the one they have at Tokyo Station.

Hopefully we’ll see HMV in Shibuya again sometime soon, in a new fresh form!

HMV Shibuya Gallery »

JPCP Report August 2010

yonasu — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 16:08:44 +0000

JPCP has been really great so far and it’s time to write up its first full monthly report.

JPCP (The Japan Photo Compensation Project) is a way for people in Japan to take photos for me and get paid in money, advertising and/or gift cards of any kind.

I never expected that JPCP would be so popular so quickly, but I’m very happy to announce that in the first month, I’ve paid out a total of $107! That’s quite a bit of money. I have a lot of posts waiting to be published but I’m still accepting submissions.

Requests	Reservations	Submissions	Photos Submitted	Expected Total Compensation (Aug)	Compensation Paid
40	25	13	301	$100	$107

As you can see in the table above, there were quite a few requests and a good amount of submissions as well, and a total of 301 photos!

And as the popularity continues to grow, I’ve decided to open up for donations, in case you want to see more from the people submitting photos of Japan. Especially now that I’m going back to school, I will need your help to keep this project alive.

A big thank you to Chris Davis and Shiranwa for your submissions, I hope you’ll continue submitting photos to JPCP!

If you’re interested in and/or have questions about JPCP, feel free to post them here or email them to me@yonasu.com!

New MacBook Pro 15″

yonasu — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 11:23:11 +0000

BAM! Take a good look at my new precious! A 15 inch MacBook Pro Intel Core i5 2.4 GHz.

This is actually my first MacBook Pro ever, I have a white MacBook and a Mac mini at home. The white MacBook will go to my mother now though, it’s not like I’m going to need it anymore^^

I got a really sweet deal on this one too. As you might’ve heard, today was my first day at school and we were lucky enough to get some great deals on both PCs and Macs. I’m paying $665 in 4 installments ($166 every period). So I’ll get to use it for 2 years for only $665, and if I want to keep it after that, I can buy it for a very good price. This is the only way I can actually afford one right now, so I’m very lucky!

Oh and in case you’re wondering, I’m studying web development at the KY-Academy in Gothenburg, Sweden. It’s a two-year program that is focused on what the demands are for IT companies in Sweden. 90% of last year’s students landed a job at one of the companies they had practical training at. So I’m hoping for that as well. I definitely think this is the way to go if you don’t want to do it all on your own.

The program includes everything from graphical design to hardcore coding. We’re starting off with PHP, HTML, CSS3, visual communication and graphical design and I’m excited!

24 of the 200+ applicants made it in and I’m very happy to be one of them!

Oh and everyone in my family has their own Mac now… :3

EDIT (3:28 PM September 6, 2010): This MacBook Pro is now officially part of the family and I’ve named it Aki. So now I have Harumi (mac Mini), Masami (white MacBook), Eri (iPhone 3G) and Aki.

Gyaru Wednesday Wk12

yonasu — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:13:11 +0000

Surprise surprise! I’ve got some lovely Japanese gyarus to show you all this week as well ;)

P.S. It’s easier to just click on one image and flick through the gallery with your keyboard’s arrow keys :)

This week’s edition of Gyaru Wednesday was made possible by: OHYEAHGYARU, supakawaiigurl, gyaru, etc, Jennyのtumblr and Pop Cutie!

LOTTE SPASH Lime & Yuzu Gum

yonasu — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:18:54 +0000

I just love chewing gums, and especially those from Japan, because of their vast variation of flavors. This one has the flavor of lime and yuzu!

As you can see from the plastic coating of the package above, it’s a liquid-in-gum. You could say I have a love hate relationship with liquid-in-gum… gums. They tend to taste a lot more, but last a very short time. I prefer my chewing gums long-lasting and full of flavor, but you can’t get everything I suppose. I do love the texture though, that thick powerful liquid pouring over your tongue feels really nice, no pun intended.

Besides the liquid, it’s a sugar free gum and apparently has, according to the image above, 50% less calories. I’ve never heard of people thinking about the amount of calories a gum has though…

Once you remove the plastic coating, you’re greeted with a lovely metallic-lime colored package. On one of the sides you have this wonderful slogan saying “SPASH is a new and EPOCHAL sugarless gum”, strong, but not a bad choice of words for this lovely chewing gum.

Each gum is wrapped in its own silver-colored paper, make sure you use them, do not throw chewing gum on the streets or even in garbage cans unwrapped! :)

Although one pack probably won’t last for more than maybe 2 days, SPASH is well worth a try. It’s available on J-list for $1.80 and if you buy a case of 15 packs, you get 20% off! There’s also a Berry & Kiwi flavor, but I haven’t tried it yet myself.

What’s your favorite chewing gum?

Don Quijote Shibuya

yonasu — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:22:45 +0000

Welcome to another message brought to you by Shiranwa. This time we have Don Quijote!

For those of you who don’t know about the Don Quijote store, it can be summarized in three words. HAS IT ALL. Honestly if you’re ever out in Japan and need something urgently then stop by Don Quijote as it’s open 24 hours.

One Piece characters Luffy and Ace. These designs have been VERY popular lately with several t-shirts going on sale often. Other characters that I’ve seen on shirts are Sanji, Zoro, Chopper and Usopp. There is also a poster with a whole lot more and would take too long to really name them all out :P.

Amongst all that chaos are laptops, DVD players, speakers, TVs, MP3 players and even VCRs! (they call them VTRs in Japan though :P)

Just consider it an upgraded dakimakura.

Some more One piece stuff above (including Robin boobie mouse pad <33333).

Here you have… err, well to be honest, I have no idea what the hell that is supposed to be :P (aside from pillows trying to be all cute >.>;;;).

Rilakkuma slippers… awwwww :3333.

These characters were created by the same people who brought you the wonderful world of Golden Eggs. Watch this if you haven’t already! (it’s better if you watch the full episodes but whatever… :P)

And finally you have boobie fridge magnets! Since everyone should have tits on the fridge! :D

Check out the gallery to see more of the Don Quijote store in Shibuya (30 photos!).

Don Quijote is one of my favorite stores in Japan, it really has everything and you often find great bargains there. Keep in mind that it’s probably not a store for the shy though, much like Condomania. Fake titties and masturbation tools sometimes hang just next to the groceries^^. But that’s not really uncommon in Japan in general, haha. — yonasu

Apple Store Shibuya

yonasu — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 11:46:21 +0000

Many requests I put up on the JPCP page are pictures of various stores in Japan. I love shopping and I find stores in Japan particularly interesting. This time, I got Shiranwa to take some shots of the Apple Store in Shibuya for me.

Being a Mac and iPhone user (although I do not consider myself an Apple fanboy), the Apple stores in Japan are very much relative to my interests.

Unfortunately though, you’re not allowed to take photos inside the store, if you do, the Apple “Geniuses” will hunt you down and end you with a deadly Chuck Norris roundhouse kick. Hiya!

This store is a very basic one for being Apple really, kind of looks like they took a few IKEA tables and just lined them up…

Anyways, are you an Apple fan? Do you or have you ever used an Apple product?

Edit: According to Chris Dolan, the store does have a second floor, so it’s actually a bit bigger than it seems.

Takashi’s Great Journey 03

yonasu — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:12:15 +0000

Missed the first episodes? Start here »

In the third episode of Takashi’s Great Journey you get to see footage from his time in Hakodate, Hokkaido. This is the last stop in Hokkaido before continuing onto the mainland of Japan.

Takashi made a bunch of friends in Hakodate at Diamond ramp, a great skate park and shop. One of them, Atsushi Ikeda, even let him stay at his house for the night, so he didn’t have to sleep in his little sleeping bag again.

Takashi’s great journey has been really great so far, and now the mainland awaits him with most likely nothing but awesomeness!

I’ve been looking into getting myself a longboard for over a year now by the way, and this makes me want to buy one even more. Do you have a skateboard or do you do other similar sports? Such as BMX and aggressive inline skating?

« Takashi’s Great Journey 02

Tengu Brand Beef Steak Jerky Chips

yonasu — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:27:52 +0000

What am I doing? I’m enjoying some Swedish beer imported from Germany while listening to some good Japanese hip-hop and looking at Gyaru Wednesday week 11.

Together with all that stuff I mentioned above, I’m having some Tengu Brand beef steak jerky chips imported from Japan! I love eating chips while drinking beer, but there are only a few flavors that really go well with it. This is one of those flavors that goes really well with beer. In fact, I’d have to say this is the tastiest “beer chips” I’ve ever had.

Just trust my words and try them, it’s going to blow your mind.

2 bucks a bag on J-list, (in case) you’re interested.