The other day walking around Akihabara with Danny we stumbled with a group called Ai Madonna. It’s an otaku group, they perform live art drawing manga on their clothes, skin and various combinations. More information and pictures in their official site.
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TrackbackDoraemon became the Japan’s anime ambassador. I wonder if “dorayakis” will become popular all around the world.
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Comments rss TrackbackMy friend Flapyinjapan, who studies in Japanese University sent me this video where their cheerleaders are trying to cheer up their mates and also their teachers I guess 
Comments rss TrackbackThese are my new “Sleeing Japanese” pictures, I started this collection some years ago and it keeps growing faster and faster.
Some of the previous pictures where used in this interesting article about The Art of Extreme Sleeping .
She was half-asleep, but I swear she had her eyes closed while they crossed the street with the bike!
There are two guys sleeping in this one.
Comments rss TrackbackYosuke Yamashita played a piano on fire during almost 10 minutes!
You can watch the full-length video here.
Via Sankei and Pinktentacle.
Comments rss TrackbackPierre Taki is a the leader of a group called Denki Groove, whose members are Takyu Ishino and himself. Both are pretty funny, but the one who does the weirdest stuff is Pierre Take, they both create really strange and surrealistic music videos.
Comments rss TrackbackA really weird house is what I found the other day while wandering around Tokyo.
This is the house from the other side of the street
If we aproach you can see a fighter piece!
It seems he/she also likes trains and boats.
Mickey Mouse clock no top of the vending machine.
Stitch stickers.
Batman stickers.
Train posters.
It seems it’s a piece from a XF-2
And below the plane piece there was a cage with pigeons.
Mousepads for free! These had even the price sticker on them (300 yen), but on the paper is written that you can take them for free.
Perspective from the other side.
A fighter, a pigeon cage, freed mousepads, stickers, flowers… Surrealistic? While I was taking the pictures nobody was on the street, silence all around me, I could only listen the “guruguru” made by the piegons. And then, I listened how a zeppelin was flying just on top of my head! I felt like I was inside a Haruki Murakami novel.
Comments rss TrackbackGoemon is the Japanese “Robin Hood”. He was a ninja who stole money and gold from rich people and gave it to poor people. I’m reading a book about his life and the most interesting thing is how he died. The legend says that Toyotomi Hideyoshi(One of the most important feudal lords in the history of Japan) troops killed Goemon’s wife, and he decided to avenge his wife death trying to assassinate Toyotomi.
Goemon entered into Toyotomi’s room at night while he was sleeping. But when he was almost next to him, ready to slay Toyotomi, he knocked a bell off the table. The bell’s sound alerted the guards and woke up Toyotomi. He was sentenced to death by being boiled alive together with his son in a caldron (troglodyte style?). Goemon was mighty and brave enough to keep his son outside of the boiling water the maximum time he could. Some versions of the legend say that the son survived, he was forgiven by the people who witnessed the inhuman effort made by his father in order to save him.
Goemon dying and keeping his son alive.
Bath tubes/ofuros with caldron shape are called goemon-buro in Japanese in reference to the Goemon’s death legend. I’ve never bath in a goemon-buro but there are some of them in traditional onsens. If you are very interested in bathing in a caldron/goemon-buro you can buy it via web or you can even build one yourself.
This is how a goemon-buro works
There are many movies and novels based on this legend. But most of these books and films are only available in Japanese. What crossed borders and became a world-wide phenomenon were the Goemon video games, I specially remember the SNES and N64 versions.
Links (Japanese but with interesting pics)
Comments rss TrackbackJapan is the country in the world with more suicide cases per capita and Tokyo is the city with more suicides in Japan. Some days ago I found this ad inside a train. It is a campaign organized by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in order to try to reduce suicide cases. The ad says: “Life is important”, “In this life there is many people important/who needs you/who waits for you” and “Let’s help to reduce suicides in Tokyo!”. I wonder what would think a person who is gonna commit suicide if he/she sees this ad… I’m sure there are more effective ways to reduce suicides (A really big problem in this society).
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