As for me … here are some movies that I’ve had the misfortune of enduring:

Lost In Translation
2001
The Shining
Forrest Gump
サンシャイン 2057 (Sunshine 2057)

Have you seen any of those?
What did you think of them?

What are some movies you hated?

I wrote the first post on 2008 March 26.

As of today, my blog has gotten about 1,600,000 hits … that averages to about 895 hits per day over the five years – - but that’s not really accurate because my blog averages 1000 hits a day now, but less than 50 a day when I first started it in 2008.

Thanks to all my site’s visitors … especially you! Please leave a comment!

Anyways, I found out about a new movie about post-WW2 Japan titled “Emperor” starring Tommy Lee Jones as U.S. Army General Douglas McArthur.

Do you know who Gen. McArthur was?

He is very well-known in Japan.

General McArthur was in charge of the U.S. military  during the war against Japan … and also during the occupation of Japan after the war ended.

Japanese people respect McArthur because he respected the Japanese people.

Tommy Lee Jones is also respected in Japan.
He is known to everyone here as the “face” of Suntory’s Boss Coffee.

  In the Boss Coffee TV commerials, Tommy Lee Jones acts and sounds like a Japanese man.
He’s an excellent actor.

Have you seen the movie “Emperor” ?

Starting last October 23rd (2012), Pepsi Japan started selling 「エナジーコーラ」 (“Energy Cola”) for a limited time in cans with an image of fire and Darth Vader from the Star Wars movies.

Energy Cola contains five ingredients that are meant to boost energy:
Royal jelly, argenine, asian ginseng, guarana extract and caffeine.

And in late November (2012), they began offering their NEX cola in bottles with images from the Japanese マンガ (manga comics) called “One Piece“.

Which would you choose?

It’s about a man who was a ruthless killer in the American “old west” (played by Clint Eastwood) who, after having a wife and kids, changes his ways and becomes a farmer.

But his wife dies of smallpox and he finds himself financially struggling to provide for his children..so he takes “one last job” as a hired killer / bounty hunter.

One of my favorite scenes from the movie is when Clint’s character sees his friend’s murdered body displayed in front of a bar as a “message” to all potential bounty hunters…he walks into the bar and shoots the bar’s owner.
At which, the sheriff says “Well, sir, you are a cowardly son of a b***h! You just shot an unarmed man! “
And Clint’s character replies “He should have armed himself if he’s going to decorate his saloon with my friend. “

Well, I just learned that a Japanese remake of “The Unforgiven ” is being filmed.

It is due to hit theaters in Japan in the autumn of next year (2013) and will be titled 「許されざる者」 which means “The Unforgiven” in Japanese.

It will star the internationally famous Japanese actor 渡辺謙 (Ken Watanabe) who worked with Clint Eastwood when he starred in the movie “Letters From Iwo-jima “.

I’ll tell you a few secrets for saving money in Tokyo.

First of all, today is 子供の日 (Children’s Day).
Admission to city zoos is free today. But, be warned, free admission to a zoo in a huge metropolis on a warm day that is also a public holiday means that the zoo will extremely crowded.

Visitors to Japan complain that movie tickets and pizza are too expensive in Japan…and they are—if you pay full price.

For pizza, Shakey’s Pizza has all-you-can-eat specials that range in price from about ¥800 to ¥1,900 depending on what day and what time you go (lunch time on regular weekdays is cheapest).

And Domino’s Pizza has specials often in Japan. Currently they are offering a “Buy one get one free” deal if you pick up the pizza yourself (rather than getting it delivered).

Domino’s Pizza Japan “Buy-One-Get-One-Free” for pick-up orders.

If you go to a movie theater in Japan, you shouldn’t pay the full box-office ticket price.
On the first day of every month, it is “Ladies Day” at the movies in Japan. Women can buy a ticket for only ¥1,000. Some theaters offer discounts on Wednesdays, too.
For men, and on other days, you should buy movie tickets from a チケット・ショップ (“Ticket Shop”) that are found all around Japan.

Ticket Shops sell movie tickets at a discount.

Thay also sell tickets for amusement parks, concerts, sporting events, museum admission, trains, McDonalds coffee, and a number of other things.

You should always try a discount ticket shop before you buy any type of ticket in Japan.

Tickets in a チケット・ショップ (Ticket Shop) in Japan.

Does your country have money-saving techniques such as these that “locals” know about?

That campaign was to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the release of the first Star Wars movie in Japan.

Well, in about two weeks the new Star Wars 3-D movie will be in theaters in Japan.
In honor of that, Pepsi Japan is once again giving away Star Wars character toys with the purchase of Pepsi NEX.
This time the toys are made by Panson Works.

It’s a zombie-comedy.

I also wrote another post about the movie “Zombieland“.

And recently we have begun watching an American TV series that became available on rental DVD not long ago.
Maybe you have already seen this show (if so, don’t tell me what’s going to happen! ).

The show is titled “The Walking Dead” and it’s about the struggles of a group of survivors in a zombie-apocalypse.

Do you watch this show too? Do you like it?

I like it so much that I placed an order on Amazon.com for the comic that the TV series is based on.

A panel from "The Walking Dead" comic books.

Please check them out and leave comments to let me know what you think.

The new page is here.

At this year’s ceremony, the Emperor presented awards to novelists, historians, scientists and actor 大滝秀治 (Hideji Otaki).

Japanese actor Hideji Otaki

Mr. Otaki has acted for over sixty years and has starred in numerous Japanese movies. But, for me, his greatest role will be as the grouchy father in the Kincho bug spray TV commercials a few years ago.

There’s one commercial in particular that I like. In this one, he asks his “son” what’s so special about Kincho bug spray and as his son begins to explain, he yells 「つまらん！お前の話はつまらん！」 (“Boring! What you say is boring!”).
I have always liked that commercial.
Here it is:

(On the subject of Culture Day awards, my wife’s late grandfather received a medal from the Emperor on 「文化の日」 (Culture Day) a number of years ago for his fifty years of service as a volunteer in the Tokyo Fire Department.)

Does your country have any ceremonies similar to Japan’s Culture Day awards that honors citizens’ contributions to the country?
And are there actors in your country like Hideji Otaki?

KISS...still the hottest band in the world!

Ever since I was a kid I’ve always liked monsters.

When I watched the Disney cartoon “Peter Pan” as a child, for example, I didn’t care for Peter Pan or any of his friends. They were too “regular”.
Unlike Peter Pan with his pansy outfit and little knife, Captain Hook had a sword and a sharp hook instead of a hand.
(Admittedly though, Peter Pan could fly, which would be fun and Hook didn’t dress much better than Peter Pan.)
Captain Hook was the first movie character that frightened me…and even at that young age I enjoyed being frightened a bit.

Who cares about a practical prosthetic when you can have one that puts the fear of god in people?!

When I was a bit older, I saw Star Wars for the first time.  I was only seven years old when the first movie in the series was released, so I was a bit too young to fully understand the story.  But I still  enjoyed it a lot.  Especially when “Darth Vader” made his entrance!
Luke Skywalker was the hero…but Darth Vader stole every scene in was in.

The "Dark Side"

And of course I’ve always like the “traditional” monsters…Frankenstein’s Monster, The Werewolf, and Dracula.

And when I came to Japan, I learned about 妖怪 (Japanese monsters).

"Ge-ge-ge Kitaro" is Japanese cartoon inspired by traditional Japanese monster and ghost stories.

Even my favorite superhero character has always been “The Incredible Hulk“. He’s anger-incarnate. A huge pissed-off monster! The coolest of the superheroes.

Hulk will smash even Superman

Even the music I listen to reflects my interest in monsters.
I like heavy metal music. There’s a reason that the soundtracks to many horror movies are full of heavy metal music…heavy metal is to music as horror is to movies.

If you’re not interested in heavy metal, you may not know that that genre of music is further divided into sub-genres.
The sub-genre of metal music that I like the most is “Shock Rock“. It’s just as visual as it is musical. Shock Rock artist—such as KISS, W.A.S.P., Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie and Lordi—often look like monsters.

Alice Cooper

Anyways, as I mentioned at the top of this post, KISS will be releasing a new album soon.  The last time they they released a new album was about two years ago…it was titled “Sonic Boom“.

As I mentioned, KISS‘s new album will be titled “Monster“.  It’s an excellent album title…I can’t believe they haven’t used it before!

So far only five song titles have been confirmed by the band.  They are: “Hell Or Hallelujah”, “Born To Be A Sinner”, “Out Of This World”, “Are You Ready?”, and “Wall Of Sound”.

I’m looking forward to getting this album.