New X-Japan song

I wrote a post about the Japanese heavy metal band X-Japan (they were simply called “X” when I first came to Japan).

I was surprised by the negative comments that post I wrote received from a number of X-Japan fans overseas!  The post is here, by the way.

Well, X-Japan has released a new English-language song via i-tunes.
It’s currently available to for download in America and Europe.
The price is £0.79 (which equals about US$1.27 (or ¥102)).
(Click here if you want to download it from i-tunes.)

It will be available for download in Japan and Asia on 2011 July 13.

The song is titled “Jade“.

Here’s the video for the song:

Also, X-Japan is currently on a short world tour.
They just played a concert in London on Tuesday (July 28) and then they play a few more shows around Europe.
Then on August 13 they’ll be in Osaka, Japan and on August 14th they’ll play in Tokyo.
From there, they’ll play some shows in Central America.

(News and images are from the official X-Japan website).

One coin cola at McD’s

Last Friday, McDonald’s in Japan began a campaign for the hot weather of summer.

From now until Thursday, 2011 August 18, all 炭酸ドリンク (carbonated soft drinks) will only cost ¥100 (about US$1.24) for any size (small, medium or large).

So, if you’re in Japan and you like Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero, Canada Dry, Fanta Grape Soda, or 「Qoo すっきり白ブドウ｣ (“Qoo White Grape Soda” with 20% juice) you can buy any of them at McDonalds for “one coin”.

Personally, I like the ¥120 (about US$1.49) free refill hot coffee at McDonald’s Japan. Actually though, I get the coffee even cheaper! I often pick up some McDonald’s discount coffee tickets for only ¥50 at one of the many “discount ticket shops” in Japan.

Japan brought back the steam locomotive

Have you ever visited Japan? Even if you haven’t, maybe you’ve heard about Japan’s excellent, clean, safe, affordable, extremely punctual and high-tech public transportation system.

Especially in big cities such as Tokyo, there are train and subway stations and bus stops all over the city.

The trains, subways, and buses are on time to the minute. They’re very comfortable…upholstered seats, air-conditioning in the summer and heated in the winter.

The fare can be paid with the swipe of a convenient IC-card.

And, of course, the trains and subways are electric. It’s been that way for decades. Japan hasn’t used the steam locomotive (SL) for a long time.

But, for something fun to do this summer (especially for families with young boys) and also to show support to Fukushima, Japan Railways (JR) will offer the chance to ride on a steam locomotive train.

This is only temporary (for the summer of 2011) and also the trains will only run in the countryside area of 群馬県 (Gunma Prefecture), north of Tokyo.

Have you ever ridden on a steam locomotive? If you’re able to visit Gunma, Japan this summer, this is your chance.

Famous fathers in pop culture

Today is 「父の日」 (Fathers Day).

My wife and daughters made a delicious Mexican dinner and gave me some new clothes for a Fathers Day present.
Wonderful gifts!

For my Fathers Day blog post, I thought I’d mention the first five famous fathers in pop culture that I thought of, whether they are fictional or “real”.

So, here’s my list (in no particular order):

—Homer Simpson—

The cartoon father figure of the American TV series “The Simpsons” is a selfish, clumsy, overweight, accident-prone father of three.
He works in a nuclear power plant but treats his responsibilities with the same importance as he does with everything else in his life…not much.

Despite all of his flaws, his family always supports him.

—Archie Bunker—

If you lived in America during the ’70s, then you surely know who Archie Bunker is.
He was the father figure on the popular (during the ’70s) American TV sit-com series.

On the surface, he seemed obnoxious, impatient and un-accepting of anyone different from himself. But, as much as he tried to hide it, he actually had a good heart and would stand up and help others.

—Ozzy Osbourne—

This is the only person on my list who isn’t a fictional character…but in many ways Ozzy Osbourne’s life has been “stranger than fiction”.

He was the original lead vocalist of the English heavy metal band “Black Sabbath” but had even more success as a solo artist after he was fired from the band he helped form.
He was infamous during the early years of his solo career for such antics as biting the heads off of a dove and a bat (on two separate occasions) and urinating on “The Alamo”, a landmark in the U.S. state of Texas (which got him banned from that state for over a decade).

In the early 2000’s, he (and most of his family) became more famous for their reality show on MTV titled “The Osbournes” about their unconventional family life.

—Baka-bon-no-papa—

The Japanese cartoon 「天才バカボン」 (“Tensai-Bakabon“) is actually named after the son, who is a foolish boy…but his father, simply called “Bakabon’s papa” is even dumber than his son and has become the most famous character in the Japanese comic book and TV cartoon series.

—Darth Vader—

The scene where Darth Vader revealed that he was Luke Skywalker's father.

Darth Vader has always been my favorite Star Wars character. He made a big impression when I was seven years old and saw him for the first time.
It was also quite a shock when I was ten and Darth Vader said “Luke, I am your father!”.

—-
What famous pop culture fathers can you think of?

(And, to my own father…Happy fathers day.)

Panic Face

When I was a kid in America I used to watch a TV show called “Candid Camera“.
This show put ordinary people in awkward or funny situations and filmed the results with a hidden camera.
After the victim’s humorous reaction, the host would reveal the prank with the show’s tagline “Smile, you’re on candid camera”.

Japan has a similar program that I enjoyed watching that was titled 「パニックフェイス」 (“Panic Face), but has been renamed 「パワフルフェイス」 (“Powerful Face“).

Americans like TV variety shows and game shows that have ordinary people as contestants or guests but in Japan, having established celebrities on the shows is more popular.

So, “Panic Face” (“Powerful Face”) has a celebrity (usually a comedian) as an unsuspecting victim and the point of the show is to see the victim’s “Panic Face”…or shocked expression.

Here are a few funny episodes that I watched on TV when they originally aired here in Japan…

This one has a celebrity in his dressing room preparing for his appearance on TV…when “ghosts” appear in his mirror and room:

This next on has two “magicians” mimicking two actual famous Japanese magicians who appear in the dressing room of a comedian and demonstrate a few of their “tricks”:

And this one has a “police officer” doing a “Jack Bauer” and commandeers the private cars (bicycle) of three comedians:

Japanese surgeon’s dream to become an astronaut finally came true

Have you heard the news about 古川聡さん (Satoshi Furukawa)?

He was born in Yokohama and graduated from the prestigious 「東京大学」 (University of Tokyo)　with a medical degree in in 1989 (at the age of 25).

From 1989 until 1999, he worked as a 外科医 (surgeon) in various hospitals around Tokyo.

Then, in 1999 (at the age of 35), he was accepted by the Japanese Space Agency for astronaut training for the potential chance to work at the International Space Station.

Ten years ago, in 2001, Dr. Furukawa successfully completed his training and was certified as an 宇宙飛行士 (astronaut).

Dr. Satoshi Furukawa, surgeon / astronaut

Since becoming certified as an astronaut, Dr. Furukawa has spent the past ten years working for Japan’s Space Agency and he completed training at Russia’s cosmonaut training center and also at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Texas.

Well, two days ago (2011 June 7), at the age of 47, Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa finally saw his dream to work on the International Space Station come true.

Dr. Furukawa of Japan, Sergey Volkov of Russia, and Michael Fossum were onboard a Russian rocket that launched on June 7 from Russia and will dock at the International Space Station sometime today (2011 June 9).
The three astronauts (cosmonaut) are scheduled to work on the space station until sometime in 2011 November and then they’ll return home.

Patch for the current ISS mission of astronauts Furukawa, Fossum and Volkov

Buy a KISS car to help Japan

The English car company Mini Cooper has teamed up with the American rock band KISS to help Japan.

...meets...

The car company has painted four of their “Mini Countryman” cars with KISS make-up (one car for each of the original KISS members’ make-up) and they are currently being auctioned for charity via e-bay.

The auction ends at 4:00PM on 2011 June 8 (PST in the U.S.) (which is 8:00AM 2011 June 9 in Japan), so now is your chance to bid if you want one (or more) of these cars.
The current bid (when I wrote this post) is US$30,200 (about ¥2,421,834) for the cheapest one (the “Ace Frehley” design) and US$31,300 (about ¥2,510,047) for the most expensive (the “Gene Simmons” design).

All proceeds from the auction of these cars will be donated to UNICEF to help the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in northern Japan, as well as victims of other disasters around the world.

Here’s a picture of the cars (all of them are autographed by the current band members of KISS, incidentally):

I’m a big fan of KISS, but some the merchandise they release is too “over the top” for my taste (ie: the “KISS Casket“).
I can’t imagine myself driving around in one of those cars…but if I had to chose one—I think the “Gene Simmons / Demon” design is the best of the four.

It is very generous of KISS and Mini-Cooper to do this to help people in need.

How about you? What do you think of these cars?

Live from Tokyo…it’s Saturday Night!

What to write this blog post about…??

Well, yesterday (Saturday, 2011 June 4), the Japanese version of the long-running American late-night comedy sketch TV show called “Saturday Night Live” debuted on Fuji TV here.

"Saturday Night Live, Japan"

I watched it and it’s similar to the U.S. version. Just like the American “Saturday Night Live”…it’s nothing special enough for a blog post.

—

Also, I was reading this month’s issue of the Japanese heavy metal magazine “Burrn!“…

In the back of the magazine, there was an ad for a charity album for the earthquake / tsunami victims in northern Japan. It will be titled 「ワン・フォー・オール,オール・フォー・ワン~東日本大震災チャリティ・アルバム」 (“One For All, All For One…Sendai Earthquake Charity Album”).
And it is due to be released on 2011 June 22.

I couldn’t find a picture of the album cover online…but the picture in the magazine ad was of the Japanese flag. A similar album cover to the earlier Sendai charity album titled “Song For Japan“.

But, unlike that album, the “One For All…” album will have songs by heavy metal artists such as Sonata Artica, Fair Warning, Gotthard, Edguy, Soilwork, Riot, Harem Scarem and others.

Not enough info about that album is available yet to make an interesting blog post.

—

Better than either of those stories is seeing my very cute turtle 「ルンルン」 (Lun-Lun) leaning on her favorite concrete block to dry off after a swim in her pool yesterday afternoon:

Isn’t she cute? She’s a 「草亀」 (“Chinese Pond Turtle”).

Do you have a pet? Have you ever had a pet turtle? If you want a turtle, I recommend the 「草亀」 (“Chinese Pond Turtle”)…they are very friendly and easy to care for.

Selfless heroes

Maybe you’ve heard that two members of the original Fukushima 50 who have been working inside the nuclear plant since the day it became damaged have been exposed to amounts of radiation well above the limit that the government set for the emergency workers.

It is for reasons such as this that Mr. Yasuteru Yamada, a 72 year old retired engineer, and a group of other retirees have announced their desire to replace the current younger workers in the damaged nuclear plant.

Yasuteru Yamada

The group consists of retired men with a variety of skills and knowledge that would be helpful in repairing the plant…such as retired engineers, university professors, military, crane operators, construction workers, welders and so on.

Mr. Yamada said that it’s not right for young people still have many years ahead of them, and may have or want to have small children to raise, to risk their lives when he and the other retirees who have decades of related knowledge and experience and have already lived most of their lives are willing and able to do this dangerous work.

I was impressed with their selfless willingness to sacrifice themselves to help others. Most of his group signed up without hesitation as soon as they learned about this group.

“We shouldn’t leave a negative legacy for the next generation.”
— Yasuteru Yamada