Necomimi / 猫耳

Musician Ryūichi Sakamoto tries on a pair of Neurowear’s necomimi (“cat’s ears”), which responds to one’s emotional state.  They perk up when you’re excited or happy, droop when you’re sad or relaxed, and so on. According to Reuters, Neurowear says the necomimi will be available for sale in the spring, at a price of “several hundred

“Cobra Mist” by Mico (Mieko Hirota)

Very cool song by Mico (Mieko Hirota / 弘田三枝子) … the song and her singing style reminds me of Helicopter Girl.  In the 60s she was singing Japanese pop/”go-go” style songs, so this is quite a change.

Super Junior (슈퍼주니어) “Mr. Simple”

Catchy little ditty called “Mr. Simple”, which entered the Japanese Oricon charts at #2, from Korean boyband Super Junior. I was surprised to see one of the members is a bit on the chubby side–a first for a boyband?

The Wonder 3 / ワンダー3

I’ve never heard of Osamu Tezuka’s The Wonder 3 (aka The Amazing 3) before, but it seems to be one of the better animated series to come out of Japan in the 1960s. The animation and character design are more sophisticated, the characters have more depth to them, the storytelling is entertaining and crisp, and there’s even a

“Machine Civilization” by World Order

Music video from World Order (led by former martial artist Genki Sudō) entitled “Machine Civilization” with some cool and quirky choreography. It’s especially funny that nobody in the airport told the passengers and workers to either avoid the area or to ignore the dancers and cameras. I dig the crisp cinematography and location shooting; they

Hashimoto-San cartoon

I love Hashimoto-San.  Despite the fact the characters behave and speak in a slightly stereotypical manner, the series was created by Japanese-born Bob Kuwahara for Terrytoons.  Obviously he went to the trouble of making sure the Japanese cultural aspects were correct–Kuwahara didn’t randomly blend different Asian cultures and the characters have real Japanese names.  Kudos!

New Perfume Album: “JPN”

My favorite Japanese girl group, Perfume, has finally released a new album!  It’s called “JPN”, and features the singles “Fushizen na Girl”, “Voice”, “Nee”, “Laser Beam”, “Spice” … but not “Fake It”, alas!  Can’t wait to get this. I really like producer/songwriter Yasutaka Nakata’s pristine production style. The album debuted at #1 on the Oricon Daily Charts.