Archive for February, 2010

Japan’s Sexiest Winter Olympic Athletes

My last post was about Japanese women choosing the most handsome non-Japanese male athletes at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Here’s the results of a similar survey about Japanese athletes, this time with Canadians doing the judging:

Top 5 Women

1. Yuka Fujimori (Snowboarding
2. Aiko Uemura (Mogul Skiing)
3. Mao Asada (Figure Skating)
4. Mari Motohashi (Curling)
5. Tomomi Okazaki (Speed Skating)

Top 5 Men

1. Daisuke Takahashi (Figure Skating)
2. Joji Kato (Speed Skating)
3. Norihito Kobayashi (Nordic Combined Skiing)
4. Taku Takeuchi (Ski Jumping)
5. Junpei Yoshizawa (Short Track Speed Skating)

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Sexiest 2010 Winter Olympic Athletes

ATV news asks Japanese women to choose the most handsome non-Japanese Olympic athletes:

1. Bjørn Einar Romøren (Ski Jump – Norway)
2. Johnny Weir‎ (Figure Skating – U.S.)
3. Jan Schmid (Nordic Combined – Norway)
4. Evan Lysacek (Figure Skating – U.S.)
5. Henrik Lundqvist (Ice Hockey – Sweden)

Honorable mention: Mike Kohn (Bobsledding – U.S.)

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Wacky foreigners in DMM commercial

Chiaki Kuriyama is joined by a trio of wacky foreigners in this commercial promoting DMM.com/DMM.tv’s content downloading service:

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

New Studio Ghibli Teaser – The Borrowers

The teaser/trailer for Studio Ghibli’s upcoming anime film, The Borrowers:

Miyazaki is not directing the next film. 36-year-old animator Hiromasa Yonebayashi is making his directorial debut with this project. The film will open in the summer of 2010.

The original, Carnegie Medal-winning 1952 novel revolves around the “little people” — 10 centimeters (about 4 inches) tall — who live underneath the floorboards of an English country house. (The Japanese title literally means “the little people under the floor.”) 14-year-old Arrietty and the rest of the Clock family live in peaceful anonymity as they make their own home from items “borrowed” from the house’s human inhabitants. However, life changes for the Clocks when a human boy discovers Arrietty. Ghibli’s adaptation will transport the setting from 1950s England to the Tokyo neighborhood of Koganei in 2010. (Koganei in western Tokyo is the home of a number of Japanese animation studios, including Ghibli itself.) – ANN

[via Snow]

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• Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Dog looks like Prime Minister

This puppy looks like Prime Minister Hatoyama. Also, Yasuo Tanaka looks like Marie Antoinette:

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Japanese commercial offends Maori group

Some people are angry in New Zealand because a Japanese commercial used the haka dance without permission and made it look and sound like “crap”:

The Japanese commercial for Coke Zero, features popstar Namie Amuro alongside what advertising agency copy describes as “a troupe of studs from Kiwiland in the traditional Maori haka dance”.

The men are actors wearing jerseys similar to All Black kit, but without the silver fern, and their movements appear to be from the Ka Mate haka.

Ngati Toa are considered the custodians of Ka Mate. Spokesman Te Ariki Wi Neera said an advertising agency had approached the iwi through the New Zealand embassy in Tokyo.

“We told them that if they wanted to use Ka Mate they needed to talk to us first. They declined to engage when they saw we were serious about protecting it.”

He had not seen the ad, but was unimpressed after hearing it described: “We would have been happy to work with them, but it sounds like crap.”

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)