As you may have seen in the news, torrential rain has caused massive flooding in parts of western Japan, leading to the loss of more than 100 lives, with many thousands more devastated, and evacuation orders for some 2 million people.
We deal with several manufacturers in the region. One of them, Marugo, is based in Okayama, among the hardest-hit areas. They have informed us that their factory is safe, but that we should expect delivery delays.
This will affect some of our customers, and we will keep you updated of any delays to individual orders. We apologize for any inconvenience, but we hope you will join us in keeping the people of western Japan in our thoughts.
Tatsuya Yamaguchi (46), a member of the veteran “boy band” Tokio, was recently in tears as he announced that he was quitting in the wake of a sexual assault scandal. After a meeting with Johnny Kitagawa, the ageing head of the hugely powerful and influential Johnny’s Jimusho (Johnny & Associates) talent agency, the other four Tokio members held a press conference on Wednesday to formally apologize to the victim and her family. Group leader Shigeru Joshima (47) said that the members met on Monday night. While Yamaguchi presented a letter of resignation and said he would leave the group immediately, no formal decision was made at the time.
Yamaguchi was referred to prosecutors in April on suspicion of forcibly kissing a 16-year-old high school girl, who he had met through work, at his Tokyo home in February. But after the girl reportedly agreed to a settlement, she withdrew her complaint and the indictment was dropped. According to his lawyer, the star was drinking alone on the day of the incident and invited the girl to his home in the evening.
Remaining Tokio members hold press conference
Johnny’s Jimusho has had plenty of practice dealing with scandals over the years, and moved swiftly. All mention of Yamaguchi, who was the band’s bassist, has been removed from the agency’s website and the Tokio profile photo now includes only the four remaining members. Although ostensibly a band, the members have been regulars on TV variety shows since they debuted 25 years ago. They are due to release a 25th anniversary album later this year.
Interestingly, the case has been variously described as one of sexual harrassment, “indecent assault” (Japan News), “forced indecency” (Arama Japan), “sexual misconduct” (Washington Post), and the somehow trivial-sounding “kissing scandal” (Japan Times).
Yamaguchi divorced his wife and mother of their two sons, a former model, in 2016. He has reportedly had a worsening problem with alcohol, and is said to have been working from a hospital for the last few months, to “give his liver a rest.”
We’d like to wish all visitors to Japan Zone a very Happy New Year of the Dog in 2018!
2017 was an up and down year for us at Japan Zone but we’re really looking forward to the year ahead. 2018 is a year of the Dog in the 12-year Chinese zodiac, and specifically a “Brown Earth Dog”, which means it should be a good year in all respects, but it will also be an exhausting year.
You can read more about the Chinese zodiac (also very popular in Japan) here.
“That’s ZENtertainment!” is non-verbal performance for people of all ages and nationalities. The world-famous performance group SIRO-A presents their amazing mix of cutting edge technology blended with traditional Japaneseculture. A brand-new entertainment fully packed with dance, comedy, illusion and acrobatics will be sent out to the world from Asakusa, Japan!
■It’s Fast Entertainment!■
The show only lasts for 30 min. and costs only 1,200JPY per person! You can enjoy the show as you enjoy McDonald’s or H&M. We offer 6 shows a day, you can come to theater wherever you are free, in between shopping and sightseeing.
■Headline Acts■
・”Ninja” projection-mapping battle
・”Geta” tap dancing
・”Kanji” Shadow puppetry.
・ Percussion performance with “Buddhist altar fittings”
・ Interactive sessions with audience
■Important Notice■
・Our service is available in English. We welcome tourists from abroad!
・Take photos during the show! Help spread the word on your social media.
[Show Dates and Times]
March 9th (Thu.) – 12th (Sun.)
11AM/1PM/3PM/5PM/7PM/9PM
* No show at 9PM on the 12th (Sun.)
[Venue]
ASAKUSA ROCK YUMEMACHI THEATER. Website: http://yumemachi.jp/ (Japanese only)
[Entrance Fee]
1,200 JPY/person
*Drink fee: from 500JPY/Person
*Group Booking Discount
You can get a ticket at 1,000JPY with a booking of 4 or more persons.
We’d like to wish all visitors to Japan Zone a very Happy New Year of the Rooster in 2017!
There are many reasons to want to put 2016 behind us, but no doubt there are many things to look forward to in the year ahead. 2017 is a year of the Rooster in the 12-year Chinese zodiac, and specifically a fire rooster, and people born in this year (the last one was 1957) are described as “trustworthy, with a strong sense of timekeeping and responsibility at work.”
All three of my kids were born in Japan, but the youngest has always had the strongest affinity for Japan’s popular anime characters. As a toddler, his world was filled with Anpanman and his weird array of bread-themed superhero buddies. In recent years he’s been obsessed with Pikachu and the 739 other “pocket monsters” that populate the Pokémon universe. Even though they’ve been around since 1995, well before my kids were born, Pikachu and friends have ridden the wave of anime’s global boom and managed to stay relevant and popular. Along with Hello Kitty, they are known worldwide on a par with Disney’s most famous characters.
At school, my son and his friends collect, trade and battle with their bulging packs of Pokémon cards. All very analog and 20th century and relatable to what I did as a kid. But the times have changed, and my case for refusing to let my son have a smartphone has just got a lot harder to defend.
Pokemon Go integration on a smartphone
An augmented reality smartphone game created by the San Francisco based Google-spin-out Niantic Labs – a joint-venture between Google, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company – Pokémon Go has been getting big headlines worldwide recently (both good and bad). Its popularity has been such that release in the UK had to be postponed for fear of it literally breaking the internet.
Although created and owned by The Pokémon Company, Pikachu & Co are generally associated with Nintendo, who published the original Pokémon games on their Game Boy platform. And there seems to be hope that Nintendo is finally in a position to reverse the steady decline in its fortunes since it enjoyed a massive revenue boom in 2006-2009, and that’s thanks to the little yellow monster. Nintendo’s market cap has risen from US$20 billion on July 6 to US$31.5 billion on July 13, 2016. The Pokémon Company has estimated the world market for its characters at US$48 billion.
But back to those bad headlines. They generally relate to cases where smartphone users get so caught up in the augmented reality that they walk (or skate!) into accidents. Or the game is used by criminals as a trap to lure unsuspecting victims with the promise of rare characters at a certain location. There’s no such thing as bad publicity, of course, so these incidents will just be added to the long list of Pokémon-related controversy – some ridiculous examples of political correctness, like the manji (reverse swastikas) and six-pointed stars on cards, or “Pokémon evolution” upsetting creationists; and others more real, like the flashing images in a 1997 TV episode that caused epileptic seizures in hundreds of Japanese kids.
One thing is for sure – Pikachu, Squirtle and pals are back in business, and business is good.
Studio Ghibli have done it again! For the third year in a row, Japan’s most famous anime studio has got a best animated film Academy Award nomination, this time for Omoide no Marnie (When Marnie Was There). This year’s nominations were announced in Beverly Hills last week and the awards ceremony will take place on Feb. 28.
Based on a 1967 children’s book by British writer Joan G. Robinson, it tells the story of 12-year-old orphan Anna (voiced by Takatsuki Sara), who lives unhappily in Sapporo with her foster parents. While visiting a coastal resort to recover from an asthma attack, she meets Marnie (Arimura Kasumi), a mysterious, blonde-haired girl who Anna had seen in her dreams. “Marnie…” will be up against Anomalisa, Boy and the World, Pixar’s Inside Out, and Aardman’s Shaun the Sheep Movie.
The English-dubbed version features such Hollywood talent as John C. Reilly, Kathy Bates, Ellen Burstyn and Vanessa Williams.
Directed by Yonebayashi Hiromasa and Nishimura Yoshiaki, it was released in Japan in the summer of 2014. It is the fifth Japanese animated film to be nominated for the award, all of which came from Studio Ghibli. But so far only the first, Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away) in 2002, has come away with the Oscar.
After sending the Japanese entertainment world into a flurry last week with reports that they were to split, the five members of boy band/supergroup SMAP appeared together live last night on the Fuji TV SMAPxSMAP show to apologize. Contrary to last week’s reports, they said they planned to continue with the Johnny’s Jimusho agency that has managed them over their almost 30-year career. But while each member issued a separate brief, formal apology to fans and sponsors, there was no clear statement that they would continue as SMAP. Dozens of reporters and scores of fans waited outside the Fuji TV studios late last night hoping for some clarification, but the confusion continues.
One woman in her 30s, a fan since her teens, said, “I wanted to see the show, convinced that they would definitely not split up. I came to Fuji TV hoping I might get a chance to meet them in person. I’m happy that they are not going to split just yet.”
It has been reported today in the Japanese media that SMAP may have come to the end of the road. Members Nakai Masahiro (43), Inagaki Goro (42), Kusanagi Tsuyoshi (41) and Katori Shingo (38) are said to be leaving Johnny’s Jimusho, the agency that launched them nearly 30 years ago, with only Kimura Takuya (43) planning to stay. No date has been announced but the decision is reported to have come after the chief manager who oversaw the group at Johnny’s decided she was to quit the agency. The group made their debut in the late 1980s and have remained among Japan’s most popular cultural icons for more than two decades.
SMAP (only in Japan can you find a group named Sports Music Assemble People!) was formed as a group of teenage backing dancers to other established boy bands and went through several lineup changes before their “official” launch in 1988. That 6-man lineup included Mori Katsuyuki, who left in 1996 to become a racing driver. In spite of an admitted inability to actually sing, the remaining members went on to have a series of million-selling singles, sell out dome concerts, and appear in countless TV dramas and variety shows. Their endorsements of a multitude of commercial products made sure that their faces were everywhere to be seen across Japan. Kimura was perennially voted the country’s most popular male star, even after his marriage to pop star Kudo Shizuka. No doubt all five will remain familiar faces across the spectrum of entertainment media.
Congratulations to Japanese comedian (or should that be comedienne?) Kotani Yuriko, who has won this year’s BBC Radio New Comedy Award. The final was held last Friday live on BBC Radio 2, and broadcast live from the Comedy Store in London on the show of veteran DJ Steve Wright. Kotani beat five other finalists, chosen from 750 audition tapes, eight regional heats and two semi-finals, with votes being cast by listeners via social media.
After her win Kotani said, “I’m speechless… This is so wonderful!” She will take home £1,000 and development support from the BBC radio comedy department, with the chance to appear in slots across the BBC. Previous winners and finalists include such successful stars as Rhod Gilbert, Sarah Millican, Alan Carr, Lee Mack and Josie Long.
Watch Kotani’s winning comedy set in the video link below.
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