Posts Tagged ‘drama’

A Japanese terrorist mastermind

On Saturday night, a new drama/comedy called “Karei Naru Spy” aired on NTV. It’s main storyline revolves around the wacky activities of Japan’s new super secret spy agency. The show is not particularly great, but it does have its amusing moments.

The main villain in the series is a Hitler/Kim Jong-Il hybrid known as “Mr. Takumi.” Here’s a video of him dealing with a butler that dares to tell the evil terrorist that he is mistakenly referring to octopus as “shrimp”:

And here is a scene showing one of Mr. Takumi’s henchmen blowing up a military truck in Pakistan (amusing for its low budget special effects):

The series is up on d-addicts, but English subtitles have yet to be released.

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• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
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Contest: Win free tickets to “Honiefaith”

I am pleased to inform Japan Probe readers that the Tokyo International Players will be once again offering readers of this site an opportunity to win free tickets to one of their stage products.

This time, the free ticket will be to the Sunday, June 7 matinee performance of “Honiefaith,” a production based on the events surrounding the murder of 22-year-old nightclub hostess Honiefaith Ratilia Kamiosawa:

When a Filipino hostess’ dismembered body is discovered in a Tokyo coin locker, Manila newspaper reporter Victor Balmori is dispatched to Japan. Balmori is looking for a story, he finds a nightmare.

Written by long-time Tokyoite Monty DiPietro, “Honiefaith” is a three-act play about people pushed into extraordinary circumstances demanding difficult choices. The premiere of “Honiefaith” at OUR SPACE in Hatagaya, opens the Tokyo International Players’ new “Second Stage” series, and is being directed by TIP president Jonah Hagans.

Jonah Hagans (director): “I’m very excited to be working directly with the author on a production, this is the first opportunity I’ve had to build a piece up from the very beginning. ‘Honiefaith’ involves so much interpersonal dynamic — the challenge for me working with the actors has been developing the connection to the character and each other, and bringing out the genuine emotion and feeling to maximize the play’s impact.”

Monty DiPietro (playwright): “In the spring of 2008 I read a news report about the death of Honiefaith Ratilla Kamiosawa, and began imagining characters and their reactions to the tragedy. The ideas became notes and the notes became a script. I’m honored that TIP is producing ‘Honiefaith’, watching Jonah and the cast bringing the story to life has been thrilling, and a little terrifying.”

“Honiefaith” is based on real events. Some scenes contain violence that may not be suitable for small children.

To enter the contest, your readers should send an e-mail to “tip.contest@gmail.com“, with

• “JapanProbe.com” written in the subject line
• Your name & telephone number in the body of the e-mail

At 6:00 pm on Monday, June 1, a random selection of one e-mail will take place and the winner will be notified telephone. A pair of tickets will be waiting under the winner’s name at the theater, to be picked up 20 minutes before curtain.

For more information (and ticket purchasing info), check out this link!

• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
• Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)

Win 2 free tickets to a production of “The Homecoming”

Black Stripe, an English language theater group in Tokyo, wants to give some free tickets to a Japan Probe reader! The two free tickets will be to their latest production, Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming:

After eight years in America, philosophy professor Teddy (Dean Charles) returns to his family home in working-class London with his wife Ruth (Rachel Walzer). The visit brings the all-male household’s simmering distrust and bitterness to the boil. In no time, Teddy’s tyrannical father Max (Tim Harris), his chauffeur uncle Sam (Ian Platt) and his brothers — the smarmy Lenny (Ian Martin) and would-be-boxer Joey (Chris Parnam) — are immersed in a gloriously perverse stew of lust, seduction and betrayal.

With its brilliant dialogue, dark humor and persistent air of menace and sexual tension, The Homecoming is regarded as one of Pinter’s finest and most important works. It has garnered a Tony Award, the Whitbread Anglo-American Theater Award, and the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award. Revivals on Broadway and London’s West End in 2008 continue to shock audiences more than 50 years after the play’s 1965 premiere.

Arguably Britain’s greatest living playwright, Harold Pinter won the Noble Prize in Literature in 2005.

Says director Walter Roberts: “Pinter’s dialogue has influenced many — David Mamet and Quentin Tarantino to name two. The characters in The Homecoming are, without exception, extremely bitter, vicious and violent. They vocalize and act out the worst attitudes and characteristics of human nature, which are normally suppressed or not communicated. But there is nothing in the play, no matter how vile and extreme, that is not true to how people think and behave — or at least how Pinter believes they would behave if they gave vent to their baser impulses. Does any of this sound familiar?”

The play will run from July 4-6 in the Azabu-Juban area of Tokyo. Information on exact showtimes and ticket prices can be found on their official blog.

If you’re like to enter the random drawing for free tickets, please send an e-mail to wintokyo1@yahoo.com containing the following information:

• “Japan Probe Giveaway” as the e-mail subject
• Your name and telephone number
• Which show you want to see (July 4, July 5 matinee/evening, July 5 matinee/evening)

Entries will be accepted up until June 30th. The winner will receive a notification via e-mail on July 1st.

Update (July 1st): The contest is now over. Congratulations to Simon M. – we hope that you and a friend enjoy the show!

NHK Attaches Fake License Plate to Private Car, Car Drives Off

N-H-K was filming a drama yesterday in Chiba Prefecture, and to create the illusion that the story was taking place in Okayama, they attached a fake paper license plate to the front of a car in the background of one of the films they were filming:

After some filming, they took a break. When they came back to remove the fake license plate, they found that the car had driven off!

If you find this attached to your license plate, please call N-H-K and yell at them for their idiocy:

English in Japanese Dramas

I don’t watch many Japanese dramas, but I did manage to catch part of an episode of one called Asakusa Fukumaru Ryokan last week. It is a drama about a Japanese style inn in Tokyo’s Asakusa district and its employees.

It just so happened that the episode I found myself watching was one focusing on a new member of their staff who helps them learn basic English to communicate with their foreign customers. Here’s a clip of some the the English scenes:

The new worker impresses her co-workers when she is able to talk to foreign customers, after which she teaches a few basic phrases to them. I guess a lot of it was meant to be cute comic relief, especially with the one woman who can’t answer the foreigners’ follow-up question. However, if it was kind of painful for me to watch because the actress playing the English-speaking staff member delivered her English lines so badly (would it have been so hard to get one of those foreigners on the set to coach her to speak her lines without the feel of strained reciting of katakana English?).

Later on in the episode she starts getting close to one of the foreign guests, a white guy who can speak Japanese. It looked like some sort of romance was developing between them, and the other Japanese characters seemed to have nothing but positive things to say about it. Having my fill of drama for the day, I ended up changing the channel before the episode was over.

“Korea depends on Japan for its creative juice”

The Chosun Ilbo has a very interesting article up about how a great many new Korean dramas and movies are based on Japanese works, noting that the “Japanese Wave” has more staying power than the now ailing “Korean Wave.” Here’s an excerpt from the article:

Among the domestic films released this year, blockbusters like “200 Pounds Beauty,” “Highway Star”, “Black House”, “Kidnapping Granny K” and “Lovers Behind” were all based on Japanese sources. Last year and this year, as many as 21 films were produced in Korea using Japanese source material, a significant rise compared to just five from 2001 to 2005. In other words, Korea depends on Japan for its creative juice.

The biggest strength of the Japanese Wave, then, is creativity. In Japan, popular comics or novels are often made into dramas and movies, creating a kind of a synergy effect. In Korea, hit dramas like “Winter Sonata” and “Daejanggeum” rarely venture into other media. Japan also boasts a rich variety of material for its dramas and movies. Stereotypical Cinderella stories dominate Korean dramas but are almost non-existent in Japan. Instead, bizarre yet brilliantly creative stories of ordinary individuals entertain Japanese viewers.

“Japanese dramas and movies don’t just appeal to the sentimental,” says Yun Ji-won of the LG Electronics’ Life Soft Research Institute. “People don’t get easily bored with Japanese dramas because they portray the life story of an individual in a serio-comical manner unlike Korean dramas that are more or less the same as each other.”