Video: UFO’s Over Tokyo
A popular video on YouTube shows a “group of UFO’s” over Tokyo on May 8, 2011:
Hat tip to Leo, who noted in his e-mail, “I love the old lady going positively CRAZY in the background.”
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Categories: Odd / Strange
Coolest Marimba Performance Ever
An awesome marimba performance of Aram Khachaturian’s “Sabre Dance” & Dmitry Kabalevsky’s “Comedians’ Gallop” by T.J.P.P.A.L ( Tsutomu Jyutori Percussive Performers Art Lob ):
And, as a bonus, a clip of some little Japanese kids playing the same Kabalevsky piece:
And Mario songs on a marimba:
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Categories: Japanese TV
Wedding kiss confusion
Two little boys are told to give kiss the bride on her cheek, but one boy, 2-year-old Koichi, seems to not understand the meaning of the word “bride” (oyome):
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Categories: General Japan
Cat wants squid (not tuna)
A Japanese master offers his cat tuna, but the animal makes it clear that squid is preferable:
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Categories: Animal Videos
Where the hell is Matt? On Japanese TV!
Matt Harding of “Where the hell is Matt?” fame appears in his second Japanese VISA commercial:
Last time it looked like the Japanese actors may have been added to Matt’s generic dancing footage via blue screen, but this time they clearly filmed some scenes of this commercial for just for a Japanese audience.
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Categories: Foreigners in Japan
The Proposition
In anticipation of the upcoming election the Liberal Democratic Party (自由民主党) of Japan recently released this video on their Youtube site. The cartoon depicts a young man who looks like a young Yukio Hatoyama (head of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan 民主党) proposing to a woman. The young man promises that he can make her happy, so why not switch. He goes on to promise free expressway fees and support for education, child care, and elderly citizens. When asked how he will pay for all of this, the man snaps at the woman saying he’ll think about the details after they’re married.
It’s so cute when grown-ups fight.
Contributor Bio: I am a doctoral student of environmental anthropology currently living and conducting research in a mountain village in Nagano. In my research I explore modernity as it is expressed in a rural mountain community. Specifically I look at national management structures, as well as social discourses, related to forests and probe the impacts these have on local human communities. I have lived and worked in Japan for 5 years. My interests also include Buddhism, literature, music, and mountaineering. Read more at my personal blog: In the Pines.
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Categories: Politics