The Twitter Japan blog releases a list of top hashtags for each week. Tweet Beat investigates the buzz behind the hashtag.
Fresh tunes from 2PM and B1A4
Aside from #ozzfest (aka #オズフェス) Japan 2013, which took place over the weekend at Makuhari Messe in Chiba featuring artists from Black Sabbath to Momoiro Clover Z, the other big music trends this week were all written in Hangul as K-pop fandom continues to flourish.
Korean boy band 2PM‘s music video for # 이노래를듣고돌 (“Come Back When You Hear This Song”), released on May 5, was followed by one for #하니뿐 (“A.D.T.O.Y.”) on the 11th. Both track are off their third album, “Grown,” which came out on the 13th.
2PM wasn’t the only Korean boy band trending last week. B1A4 (a name which distractingly resembles paper sizing lingo, but means “Be the one, all for one”) held a live streaming event on May 8 that got people talking about their just-released 4th mini album #이게무슨일이야 (“What’s Happening?”).
Sunday Morning on TV Asahi
Sunday morning TV trended as usual as fans of tokusatsu (“Kamen Rider”) #wizard and (“Juden Sentai”) #kyoruger tweeted up a storm during #sht (“Super Hero Time”). Even though these shows are aimed at kids you can always expect a flurry of activity from adult fans when they are on. By the way, do you know the other two that bookend “Super Hero Time” to make up #nitiasa (short for “Sunday Morning Kids Time,” the unofficial nickname of a two-hour programming block)? The current schedule includes (“Doki Doki”) #precure and #battlespirits (“Sword Eyes”).
Pro wrestler Kenta Kobashi retires
After a career spanning 26 years that included overcoming both injury and kidney cancer, pro wrestler Kenta Kobashi has retired. A commemorative fight, #finalburning, took place at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo on May 11, but you can bet it will trend again when the six-hour “complete” version with documentary footage added airs on May 26.
Kirin is currently collaborating with Disney to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Disneyland. Not only are they giving away a grand prize of a 30-night stay for four at the DisneySea Hotel Miracosta, year-long passes to both parks and a resort giftcard worth a million yen, but each flavor of their popular Gogo no Koucha (“Afternoon Tea”) features a different character on the package: the straight tea has Mickey Mouse; lemon has Winnie the Pooh; and milk has Donald Duck.
Recently, an observant fan noticed there are different numbers on each bottle and decided to investigate. To his delight he found 60 numbers on the the straight tea version and 18 on the lemon tea and milk tea. His interest piqued, he bought all of them and took photos of each in sequence.
Although it is hinted at on Gogo no Koucha’s site, only a clever and dedicated tea drinker would go to all this trouble. By lining up each “frame” in video form, he revealed short animations of each character.
When Finance Minister Taro Aso set off for a G20 meeting earlier this year, he did it in style, sporting a natty felt hat, pulled rakishly down over one eye. No sooner had he stepped out in public in this getup than Twitter was abuzz with comments celebrating the finance minister’s “gangster style.”
Now the outfit has even been immortalized on “Gang Style” t-shirts, sold by Osaka-based brand t-shirts Trinity. The t-shirts have been a big hit, inspiring the company to bring out Taro Aso “gang style” sweatshirts and tote bags.
The t-shirts are only ¥2,980, but if you’d like to get your hands on a hat similar to the one Aso wore, you’re going to have to shell out quite a bit more. Business Media reported that sources close to Aso have said that the hat is probably made by Italian brand Borsalino. The company itself says that a hat in a similar style to Aso’s retails for around ¥90,000. It seems that gangster style comes at a hefty price!
Here are the latest Pulsations, links to fresh stories and visuals about Japan, shout-outs to fellow bloggers, and highly clickable stuff that we think you might enjoy.
In no particular order, they are . . .
Darth Vader: Attack on Nagoya, Japan: The big guy and his stormtroopers still seems to be lost in Japan but he also appears to be closing in on his target — Tokyo Disneyland.
The Story Behind the Hand: Robert Parent, a self-described “Army brat,” shares his story of attending a Buddhist kindergarten in Iwakuni.
Photos from the “Lost in Translation” hospital: Attracting a big buzz on Reddit, these candid shots from a recent-day patient give us candid peeks of Tokyo Medical University Hospital, 10 years after Sofia Coppola shot her cult classic.
As everyone knows, Google Street Views lets you wander around 3D visualations of remote locations, giving you that You Are There sort of experience. Last year, the Street Views team traveled to Fukushima’s Namie-machi, making it possible for everyone to experience Japan’s no-go zone.
Straying from the usual Street View approach, the Google team actually went inside a building for this expedition. One of them is Ukedo Elementary School, and the images of its abandoned school rooms are heartbreaking.
“We love Ukedo elemantary School and we will be back”
Namie-machi was evacuated right after the explosion of the Fukushima No. 1 power plant. The location, which suffered heavy damage from the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami, is now a ghost town.
Fortunately, all 77 students Ukedo Elementary school, located 500 meters from the coastline of Fukushima, were evacuated safely.
“You guys can accomplish anything,” reads the whiteboard.
Messages, probably written by students or teachers before leaving the area, can be seen written on the school’s whiteboard.
“Congratulations to the new graduates.”
This last photo shows the school gym with a banner hung to to celebrate graduation day.
One day in March, in a shopping arcade in Tokyo’s Asakusa, two tap dancers, along with a human beatbox, broke into a song and dance routine. A few minutes later they were joined by more dancers, including a moonwalking and miming salaryman. Just as they were hitting their groove, a housewife swooped in and tried to break it up. “Let me show you how its really done!” she scolded, and proceeded to lead the dancers. Before the innocent bystanders knew what hit them, more than 200 dancers had joined in on the act.
The large-scale flash mob event, titled TRF EZ DO Dancercise, was the work of Exabody, a company that offers dance courses aimed at people who want to lose weight. Exabody hired 11 pro dancers and the rest of the participants were volunteers. With the blessings of the Asakusa City Hall, the event organizers used nine cameras to document it and speakers were installed to amplify the music.
Whether it goes viral or not, remains to be seen. Judging by the appearances of pedestrians and unsuspecting shop-owners, though, the event was success in at least putting a smile on people’s faces.
It’s come to our attention that some truly bizarre looking creatures are being served up in seafood restaurants in Shizuoka lately. Ever since a new deep sea aquarium opened up in Numazu just over a year ago, deep sea seafood has been all the rage in the area. Monkfish, scorpionfish, lumpsucker and rosy seabass are being served up as sushi, sashimi or simply on a bed of rice, in local restaurants.
Pioneering this local trend has been Uoshige Shokudou, a restaurant that serves up a weird and wonderful deep sea sashimi platter that varies according to the season. The most expensive item on the menu, costing between ¥10,000 to ¥15,000 ($101 to $151), is the Japanese spider crab that lives at depths of 600 meters.
Can’t afford prime real estate in Aoyama Cemetery? Have we got a deal for you.
With graveyards often located on the outskirts of cities, visiting the family grave to perform memorial services can be somewhat of a mission for busy families. But new businesses have now eased the burden for many with new “graveyards” built within office blocks conveniently located in cities. Nowadays these crypts can even be visited virtually by those who are physically unable or too busy to make the trip.
Syunkei-ji high-tech crypt offers virtual memorial services for busy relatives
The high-tech graveyard business is growing, according to a recent article in the Yomiuri. Scheduled to open its doors in 2014, a six-story crypt just five minutes’ walk from Shinjuku Station will offer 7,000 spaces to store the ashes of loved ones. Built on prime real estate, the project indicates that it is potentially more profitable to rent out space in a building for “burial” slots rather than for offices or apartments. A similar crypt opened in 2009 in Machiya in Tokyo’s Arakawa Ward has now filled 70 per cent of its 3,400 capacity.
Two kinds of new-school cemeteries are now crowding the final resting place market. The first is the simple “coin locker” variety where remains are stored in a slender box that family members can visit. The second is more high tech. Activated with an electronic key card, a robotic arm retrieves the funereal urn of a loved one from a storage shelf and places it in a special booth. Relatives can perform memorial services in peace as photos of loved ones are displayed on the screen above them.
Burial slots in these buildings go for far less than a plot in a traditional cemetery and have the added convenience that family members can get to them easily and even fit in a spot of shopping or some lunch afterward. Those too busy to get there can take advantage of virtual memorial services offered by organizations like Syunkei-ji. When you log in to make your visit, a priest chants sutras as you pray for your relative from the comfort of your own home.
In a final resting place side-note, visiting old school graveyards has become a popular pastime for some Japanese, as has the hobby of visiting the graves of celebrities. Enthusiasts trade info on the web , take guided tours offered by volunteers and consult books such as “Tour the Graves of Celebrities all over Japan.”
A team of volunteer guides at Zoshigaya Cemetery in Toshima Ward, Tokyo, show visitors the graves of famous people such as writers Natsume Soseki and Kafu Nagai. According to Asahi Shimbun, visitors come from as far away as Shizuoka. They’re not only interested in seeing the graves, but are also drawn to the peaceful environment of these old-fashioned graveyards.
