Archive for 'Entertainment' Category

Kamen Rider’ restaurant in operation in Ikebukuro Tokyo

A restaurant based on themes from the TV hero series “Kamen Rider(仮面ライダー）” or Masked Rider in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro district is commemorating the 40th anniversary of the first airing of the series.

Families with children watching the current series and middle-aged former fans have been visiting “Kamen Rider the Diner” — an official restaurant operating through next spring in collaboration with the TV program. Read the rest of this entry »

“K-ON!” live event in USJ Osaka

A special live performance event of a popular anime series “K-ON!” (http://www.tbs.co.jp/anime/k-on/)was held at USJ  (Unversal Studios Japan http://www.usj.co.jp/e/)  in Osaka on this Nov.27th. The five popular voice actors,namely, Aki Toyosaki,Yoko Hikasa, Satomi Sato,Minako Kotobuki,and Ayana Taketatsu, playing the parts of the five main characters of the work appeared wearing the characters’ costumes on the open-air stage in front of the zealous audience of more than 5,000 most of whom were huge fans of the work or the actors.

Read the rest of this entry »

The first cosplay nationwide contest in Russia held

The first nationwide contest of cosplay of Japanese subculture in Russia was held  on Nov. 20-21 and a girl group of 23-year-old girl and 25-year-old girl won the grand prix.  This event was a program of  “J-FEST”, a promotion event of  various aspects of contemporary popculture of Japan, such as music, anime, fashion,and so forth hosted by the Japan Embassy in Russia.http://www.j-fest.org/

More than enrusiastic 800 people visited the J-FEST ,which was beyond the capacity of the venue in Moscow. At the cosplay event , 30 groups that had passed the preliminary contest out of 80 groups showed their Japanese popculture-related costumes. The winners were given tickets to take a travel to Japan, which made them quite happy and excited as they are interested in the anime and its related  cosplay culture’s “mecca” in Japan.

The 24th TIFF TOKYO held

The 24th TIFF TOKYO  (Tokyo International Film Festival)was held Oct.23-30  at TOHO CINEMAS and Cinemart Roppongi in Roppongi Tokyo.http://2011.tiff-jp.net/en/

Both foreign and Japanese movies and related staras and staffers were invited.”Untouchable” from France won the Sakura Grand Prix and Award for  Best Actor.

AKB48 CAFE & SHOP AKIHABARA open,and the second “out of Japan” sister group of AKB48, “TPE48″ is launching

A new and the second “AKB48 CAFE & SHOP” opened just in front of  Akihabara station Tokyo on Sep. 29th. http://akb48cafeshops.com/wp/akihabara/

At the cafe consists of four sections, namely “Theater”,”Cafe”,”Private room”,and “Shop”.  At “Theater”, you can enjoy buffet style meals with movies of AKB’s concerts on a large screen. At “Cafe”, you can enjoy special dishes created by AKB’s members ,which are to change from month to month. And “Private Room” whose capacity is 16 people is equipped with DVDs of AKB.  In addition, at “Shop” you can buy original items related to AKB.

Sometimes AKB’ members make “surprise” visits to the Cafe& Shop, which  makes customers amazingly happy.

And here is another new information concerning AKB48 project. On this Oct. 1st,  AKB’s management announced it is going to launch a project of a new sister group of AKB48. The new group is “TPE48″,  which is to be based in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan.  Further details of the project will be noticed to public at the end of this year, and the new group is expected to start theatrical performances around the summer in 2012.

TPE48 is to be the second sister group of AKB48 out of Japan, following JKT48 which I wrote about here before.http://www.tenkai-japan.com/2011/09/12/jkt48-project-launched/

Mao Inoue, Arashi to host ‘Kohaku Uta Gassen’

Actress Mao Inoue (井上真央） and pop group Arashi （嵐）have been chosen as the hosts of NHK’s popular New Year’s Eve program “Kohaku Uta Gassen” (Red and White Song Contest).

Mao Inoue

Inoue, 24, who starred in this year’s NHK morning drama series “Ohisama,” will represent the Red team (women), while Arashi will represent the White team (men).

Poster of “Ohisama” NHK drama

The 62nd “Kohaku Uta Gassen” will be aired from 7:15 p.m. on Dec 31 and is expected to be a little more somber than in previous years out of respect for the victims of the March 11 disaster.

EVANGELION STORE opening in Harajuku

“NEON GENESIS EVANGELION”, one of the most popular anime work series both in Japan and the world, is going to open its first “real ” or “physical” store of related items, “EVANGELION STORE” in Harajuku Tokyo on this Nov.23rd. http://www.evastore.jp/real/index.html

So far, that store chain has widely and successfully developed popular items and goods related to the anime work and prosperous as an online store chain. http://www.evastore.jp/pc/

The name of the new real store is “EVANGELION STORE TOKYO-01 ” , jointly operated by GroundWorks (http://gworks.biz/) and MOVIC (http://www.movic.jp/index.html), both of which operate the online store chain as well.

The location of the new store (1-8-23, Jingumae, Shibuya-ku,Tokyo) is in the quite popular and well-known area of  cosplay and subcultural fashions as well as a traditional Japanese culture where Meiji Shrine, one of the most popular Shinto shrines is located.  The area is popular the young and old or even foreign tourists with interesting harmonized atmosphere of  old and new aspects of Japanese culture.

This first real Evangelion Store is to be two-storied, whose first floor is featured with apparel an fashion sorts, and second floor is of  various kinds of Eva’s items expected to meet  requirements of  both ordinary fans and great lovers of the anime work series. The first floor also includes an event hall where various events of Eva series are to be hosted, such as some special events to promote the new anime movie “Evangelion new theatrical version:Q” which is planned to released in autumn 2012.

The management say they intend to enhance  more firsthand communications with fans and expect the fans to view and touch the items to feel the attractions more intensively. The store plans to host special presale events of related items  occasionally.

 

Nadeshiko Sushi celebrating its first anniversary

“Nadeshiko Sushi” that I wrote about here before (http://www.tenkai-japan.com/author/kawamura/page/4/)  hosted its one year anniversary party on the Oct. 1st.

Nadeshiko Sushi(http://www.nadeshico-sushi.com/) was visited by about 40 attendees to the party at that night, all of whom had bought a special ticket to join it in advance…including myself !     

Read the rest of this entry »

Hello Kitty shop offers dance-club atmosphere

A Sanrio character shop opened in Tokyo’s Shibuya area in late September featuring a cool club vibe.

Club KT Shibuya, located in fashion building Shibuya 109, targets teenagers and sells about 1,000 items of merchandise mostly related to its Hello Kitty character.

Customers can browse everything from variety goods and cosmetics to accessories and compact discs as they listen to music and watch dance videos in shop decorated with mirror balls and spotlights.

Club KT Shibuya also has a DJ booth equipped with the latest turntable and mixer. “DJ Hello Kitty,” wearing headphones and a black dress, entertains customers at events, most held on weekends, and is often joined by guest DJs.

View Shibuya109 in a larger map

Spa Resort Hawaiians in Iwaki, Fukushima partially reopen with admission fee 50% discount

“Spa Resort Hawaiians”, a popular spa resort in Iwaki City in Fukushima Pref. reopened on this Oct 1st for the first time in 200 days, since the huge earthquake and tsunami disaster in Tohoku on March 11th. http://www.hawaiians.co.jp/english/index3.html

This time the resort partially reopened with ,such as the four spa facilities including a huge open-air bath and a part of accommodation facility.  The main facility called “Water Park” and a new hotel under construction are scheduled to be open in the next January.

Just before the opening time 10:00am, there were more than 200 people standing in line to wait for the reopening.  And a special reopening ceremony was hosted by the operation company  Joban Kosan Co.,Ltd..  At the ceremony, the famous hula team of this resort, Hula Girls of 28 members  performed a special hula show.

The team leader Maluhia Yukari said, “Now we finally have this day because  you have always given us warm encouragements and supports. “

 

And the president Kazuhiko Saito made a speech saying, “We would keep exerting every effort co-operating with local communities to make our resort more pleasant than it was before the earthquake disaster. Before the disaster we used to served 380,000  overnight guests and  1.5 million one-day visitors a year. We aim to regain the same level number of visitors before the disaster in three years, primarily implementing endeavors to dispel damages caused by harmful rumers. ”

Yu Aoi, a popular young female actor who played a main character of a movie “Hula Girl”(/フラガール) (http://blog.excite.co.jp/hula-girl/) that described the back story of this resort in 2006, and  Shizuyo Yamazaki , a popular  vaudevillian who played a part in the movie as well , attended the ceremony.  Aoi said,”Though I am not from Fukushima, still I feel as if this place were my real home. I really would like to come up with what I can do and carry them out to help peoeple here.”, while Yamazaki said,”I am very happy for every one here gives us such a warm welcome.”. 

 

 

The admission fee of the resort is half- priced during the partial operation period as follows;

Adult(a junior high school student or older) : ￥1500  (normally:￥3150), Child (an elementary school pupil):￥800(normally: ￥2000), and   Infant ( a 3-year-old or older and younger than a Child  kid):￥500 (normally:￥1400), and there are some other discount rates for groups and the disabled.

Upon the grand opening scheduled in the next January, the fee prices are to be resumed to the normal ones.

Originally, the resort was founded in order to reinvigorate the area which once had been prosperous with mining industry and had become deteriorated after the total closure of the mines. The project of the spa resort was dramatically successful and led that area to  flourishing again. That historical back story and success were described in the above mentined movie. Therefore, people hope the resort “again” will work as a messiah  to save the area or whole of Fukushima which is now suffering from the radiation problem and other aftermaths of the disaster. I do hope that will work to bring good rebuilding and prosperity again soon as well.

 

“Suzuki Sensei” won the best TV Drama Award of NAB AWARDS 2011

 NAB(The National Association of Commercial Broadcasters in Japan ) (http://www.nab.or.jp/index.php?What%20is%20NAB%3F) announced the winners of  NAB Awards 2011 on this Sep.15th.  “Suzuki Sensei” (/鈴木先生, A Teacher Suzuki)  (http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/suzukisensei/) aired this April-June won the Best TV Drama Award of  NAB Awards this year.

The story of the TV work is about a young teacher at a junior-high school who suffers from daily common troubles caused by his students ,and how he makes efforts and solve the problems using his ideas and passions. Suzuki is no hero and quite a banal guy but has  unique approaches of education over his students and settles things steadily one by one.  Suzuki’s ideas and thoughts at scenes are explained by his own monologue,which makes this work a unique one with sepcial atmosphere.

“Suzuki Sensei” originally is a popular manga work of  Kenji Taketomi having been serialized in a manga magazine “Manga Action” since 2005, and won an excellent manga work award of  Japan Media Arts Festival held by the Agency for Cultural Affairs in 2007.

A fight song for tsunami victims ‘Let’s return to home’

[From Ohfunato City-my stricken home town]

- East Japan Great Earthquake & Tsunami Disaster-

 

‘LAWBLOW’ send a song from Ohfunato City 

A song ‘Let’s return to home’ composed and sung by a music group ‘LAWBLOW’, is steadily getting popular as a fight song for tsunami victims who try to recover from the disaster. ‘LAWBLOW’ is consisted of Mr. Kazuya Satomi (25) and Mr. Jun Sugawara (32) both are based in Ohfunato City.

Mr. Sugawara had worked for a swimming school but lost his job after the tsunami. Mr. Satome lost his scallop nursery at the tsunami and was forced to work for removing rubbles at the stricken site.

‘Let’s return to home’ as a title and repetition phrases in this song prayed for earlier return to a normal living condition. A life-sized message touches our heart, ‘Although, we lost our past, we will be able to create our future.’

The song was composed and started on air at local TV and radios in April, such as on the program ‘Songs for Everybody in Iwate Prefecture’ broadcasted by NHK Morioka Station. Response from the audiences was very quick.

LAWBLOW’s new album including ‘Let’s return to home’ has been available since July. A promotion video shooting was taken in Ohfunato City. On the video, residents of the stricken city, including fishermen, construction workers, senior high school students and kindergarteners, sing the song together with the stricken streets in the background.

‘LAWBLOW’ has been on live concerts mainly in Morioka City and Sendai City.

＜Reference＞

http://www.kyodonews.jp/

View Ohfunato City in a larger map

Dragon Quest Ⅰ,Ⅱ,and Ⅲ are put in one game software of Wii to be released on Sep.15th

 ”Dragon Quest”, one of the most prevalent and popular video RPG series now is celebrating its 25th anniversary, and in one of the relevant momorial events, Nintendo will release “reprinted editions” of the first three games- Ⅰ，Ⅱ,and Ⅲ in one game software of  Nintendo Wii on this Sep.15th.   http://www.dragonquest.jp/25th/

 The original Dragon Quest Ⅰwas released as a Nintendo Famicon(FC) games in 1986 and Ⅱwas in 1987,and Ⅲwas in 1988. And Those three games were also released as reprinted editions of Nintendo SuperFamicon(SFC) game softwares in 1993 (ⅠandⅡ) and 1996 (Ⅲ).  Most of the game series’ works have been reprinted in several game machines even other than SFC, such as MSX, PlayStation and so forth.  

This newest “Wii edition” of  Ⅰ,Ⅱ, andⅢ in token of the 25th anniversary includes  both the three games of the original FC editon’s design and those of the SFC edition’s design.  The  original FC editons of Ⅰand Ⅱ 24-25 years ago did not have the saving system of the game data and they had so-called “the Spell of Rebirth/魔法の呪文”(password) to resume playing the game  after a switch-off.  However, a player can choose either the password system or the game data saving system with this Wii editon. And You could use even an old, old password 25 years ago, which will stimulate the nostalgic emotion full of  zeal of the huge fans who led their childhoods in those days and now are adults.  　

The Wii edition will also include reprinted edition of  a set of guidebooks that totally sum up to 130 pages , and only for the first pressing ones- a “Small Medal/ちいさなメダル”（a special small token coin）in its real scale. 

“JKT48″ project launched

 A new group of “48s” -AKB48 and its other sister groups is now announced to be created at the end of this year.  The name of the new group is “JKT48″- which represents “Jakarta”48 -actually the group will be based in Jarkarta ,the capital of Indonesia. http://www.jkt48.com/index-jp.html

JKT is to be the first AKB48′  project’s group outside of Japan. That is the symbolic movement of the energetic momentum of the project currentlyhaving five groups,namely,AKB48(based in Akihabara Tokyo),SKE48(based in Sakae Aichi),NMB48(based in Namba Osaka),SDN48(Akihabara Tokyo),and HKT48(based in Hakata Fukuoka).  Now the project’s members have become the top female young idols of Japan, and the project has made up its mind to spread the activities to the international market beyond the borders.

  The  dead line of the first stage (documentary exam)of the first audition of JKT48 is this Sep.16th, and the final stage is going to be done on this October 9- 10th to select the first members out of  the candidates who will have passed the first and the second stage.  An applicant must be a female 13-18 years of age and a resident in Indonesia.

The management says,  it expects JKT to be a unique group making much of  Indonesian culture and society to start its career from Jakarta to Indonesia nationwide, and to the world.

Tokyo Disney Sea celebrating its 10th anniversary

 Tokyo Disney Sea celebrated its 10th anniversary on this Sep.4th.http://www.tokyodisneyresort.co.jp/en/tds/index.html 

There had been about 13,000 visitors standing in line before the Sea was open, and all of them were welcomed by about 1oo staffers clad in special costumes. Then the special memorial ceremony was hosted by the management and chairperson of the operating company of  Tokyo Disney Resort ,Oriental Land Co.,Ltd., Toshio Kagami gave a speech saying, “We would like to make smiles using our Disney’s magic  in order to make Japan in the bright future, overcoming the damages of  the earthquake disaster”, and no sooner did president Kyohichiro Uenishi show up with Mickey Mouse and Minny Mouse shouting the declaration of “Be magical !”  than  the Prometheus Volcano  in the central area suddenly erupted, which was  followed by a lot of applause.

The memorial event called “Be Magical!”  is being held in the Mediterranean Sea area with  flashy dance performances.

The memorial events will be hosted twice a day in principle except for special periods such as the Christmas week  until March 19th 2012.

In fron of Aquasphere in Disney Sea Plaza, now there are special memorial “Magical Hat” monuments having the shape of  giant sorcerer’s hats.

Tokyo Disney Resort  underwent a sharp decrease in the gross sum of the revenue since the earthquakeand tsunami disaster in March, however, the revenue and the number of visitors both have been increasing since this July, which clearly shows the recovery from the financial damages  caused by the disaster slowly but steadily.