Archive for January, 2011

The Greatest Perfume Fan in the World

Allow me to post about my appreciation for one of the newest YouTube celebrities on the net, Frank Evins (Perfume444). Frank is a diehard fan of the Japanese pop group Perfume, and his bizarre January 12th video birthday message to Kashiyuka (Yuka Kashino) has become an internet sensation:

Here is his bio:

PERFUME 444 CHANNEL IS NOT ABOUT PEOPLE SEEING ME…ITS ABOUT ME THANKING PERFUME FOR ALL THAT THEY HAVE DONE !!!

I have been to Japan in 2003 and 2005.. I play Drums so did 2 small tours in Japan. I LOVE JAPAN !!!! I miss it so much. The Japanese People are so kind and wonderful. I really feel like my soul is Japanese. About Perfume… I got into Perfume in early 2006. I was looking for Japan stuff on youtube, all kinds of music from Japan and I found Perfume. The song Akihabalove was the first one I heard. I fell in love with that song and the girls. I watched the beehive cam on youtube and watched them grow up. So my love for them is like a father daughter love. Not sex because they were so young at the time. Even now I still see them as big kids, NOT sex objects. Anyway…about the Music… I was hooked, It was so different then anything I heard before. my all time favorite song is Seventh heaven…It all ways makes me cry. I also love Secret Secret , Foundation, computer city, Macaroni, Edge , ” jenny in a bad mood ” wonder 2, Polyrhythm,Baby cruising love , Vitamin Drop, yes Its heard to pick just one song. A-Chan is my favorite. If I was 20 yrs old I would want to marry her. But Im not ! Im 55 yrs old. But perfume music makes me feel happy and young I wish I could find some one like A-Chan. She is the most beautiful person I have ever seen. her heart and sole are heaven ! The person that marries her will be the luckiest person on earth.

And an introductory video:

As he video spread around the internet, Frank attracted a lot of trolls who left comments mocking and insulting him. In response, he posted a video announcing that he would stop vlogging on YouTube. However, an outpouring of support from fans convinced him to stick with it:

After a tearful message of gratitude, he is now back to making cheerful videos expressing his love for Perfume:

Some random screen captures:

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Japanese TV Reports About the BBC’s A-Bomb Humor

In the previous post about the BBC apologizing for making jokes about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there wasn’t much information about how the Japanese media depicted the incident. Here is a medley of Japanese TV news coverage about it, from a video clip that is one of today’s most popular clips on YouTube Japan.

This clip includes reports from News 23 (TBS), News Watch 9 (N-H-K),　Kansai TV, JNN (TBS), and News 7 (N-H-K):

TBS News 23: They show old footage of Tsutomu Yamaguchi talking about how he experienced two hells. They also interview his daughter, who thinks that it is “unforgivable” for someone to make jokes about her father’s tragic life. One of the news anchors wonders if similar jokes would have been made if the victims were British people.

News Watch 9 (N-H-K): They play the same clip of Yamaguchi talking about his hellish experience, as well as another of him crying as he tells his story to junior high school students. Yamaguchi’s 2006 trip to New York, where he spoke out against nuclear weapons, is also mentioned. Yamaguchi spent his whole life trying to spread awareness about the seriousness of atomic weapons, and N-H-K describes the BBC’s jokes as “trampling” on Yamaguchi’s goals. His daughter is shown saying that those who turns the atomic bombing into a topic of humor must not understand the feelings of the hibakusha.

KTV: They also describe the BBC as having trampled all over Yamaguchi’s lifelong goal. When they subtitle one clip form the BBC, Yamaguchi’s name is written in katakana script, as if to emphasize the bad pronunciation of the British host. Yamaguchi’s daughter tells them that she hates the idea of her father’s tragedy and the suffering of a-bomb victims in general being made light of as something unlucky or lucky.

TBS / JNN : Pretty much the same as the other reports, but this one includes a clip of Yamaguchi stating that the only thing that could really be said about his experience was that it was hell.

News 7 (N-H-K): This report aired before BBC’s apology, so it didn’t contain much information. However, it did have Yamaguchi’s daughter stating that she doesn’t like the idea of having people from a country with nuclear weapons talking as if “luck” had anything to do with what happened to her father.

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

New Fashion Trend: Belly Warmers for Men?

An NTV reporter visits a department store and Tokyo to see belly warmers (haramaki) for men, which are supposedly one of this year’s popular new fashion items:

Some of the belly warmers have colorful designs, and one is also marketed as being also useful as a neck warmer or hat.

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

Chimpanzee House Cleaning

The tree house constructed for performing chimpanzee Pan-kun is now three-years-old, and apparently it was so poorly built that it needs some renovation and repair (even though Pan-kun doesn’t actually live in it). Here’s a video of Ken Shimura and Pan-kun cleaning the house and getting it read for its overhaul:

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

Ginkgo Trees Protect Shrines & Temples From Fire

Ever wonder why many shrines and temples in Japan have Ginkgo trees planted on their grounds? Apparently it is because the leaves of the ginkgo bilboa are fire resistant:

On last night’s episode of “Sekai Ichi Uketai Jugyou,” they showed how gingko leaves retain more moisture than the leaves of other trees. When gingko leaves are exposed to fire, they are far less flammable:

One famous temple that has benefited from its ginkgo trees is Tokyo’s Senso-ji:

When fires laid waste to most of Tokyo following the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, Senso-ji survived, apparently thanks to the barrier provided its ginkgo trees. In post earthquake photos, its pagoda stands out among the wreckage.　　(Unfortunately, the trees could do nothing to protect the temple from being wrecked by the massive firestorm unleashed by the infamous March 10, 1945 American bombing raid. )

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

Scamming Paid Parking Lots

How can you tell that a country doesn’t have a lot of violent crime?

Check the evening news. If they devote 15 minutes to tracking down people who don’t pay for paid parking, you’re probably in a country without much violent crime:

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