100,000 hits

I started this blog eighteen months ago, and last night my blog reached 100,000 hits!

The first month I started this blog (2008 March), it got only about 20 hits a day…but the number steadily climbed.

These days my blog gets between 700 – 850 hits a day. At that rate, it’ll get another 100,000 by next January.

My blog's monthly stats for 2008 March - 2009 August

Sometimes I’m surprised by the search engine terms that people have used to find my blog.

Such as:

• IKEA logo (I have a post about IKEA in Japan. And their logo is on the page. Click here).
• McDonalds logo (It’s on this post).
• Gene Simmons (He’s the bassist in the rock band KISS. I have a number of KISS-related posts. This post shows his photo and a video of him performing a song written exclusively for a Japanese movie).
• Detroit Metal City (This is the Japanese movie that Gene Simmons cameos in).
• Death Note (I have this post).
• Rock And Roll Over (I did two interviews with the artist of that KISS album cover. Here and here).
• Godzilla (Maybe this post will interest you).
• Octopus (I have a post about octopi with too many legs. It’s here).
• John Lennon shot (I wrote a post about it on the 28th anniversary of that tragedy).

How did you find my blog? With a search engine? What were you searching when you found it? Did you find, on my blog, what you were looking for?

And, if you have a blog, what search engine terms do people use to commonly find your blog?

上野

Next Friday, my youngest daughter will go on a school trip to 新潟県 (Niigata Prefecture) on the other side of Japan for a four-day ski-trip.

Her sisters both took the same field trip when they were in the sixth grade…and they both had a great time.
I’ll worry a bit when she goes on this trip (just as I did when her sisters went), but I’m sure she’ll have a good time.

Today, we went to 上野 (Ueno, Tokyo) to get some things she needs for her trip.

After we finished shopping, we went to a カラオケ・ボックス (Karaoke box)…which is a place that has many small, private rooms where you can go to enjoy food and singing karaoke without strangers being able to see or hear you.

Our Karaoke room

Here are some photos that I took around 上野 (Ueno, Tokyo) today:

アメ横 ("Ameyoko") in Ueno

Here’s a video that I took of this corner:

Some more photos I took of the area:

上野の「たぬき小路」

Tommy Lee Jones does TV commercials for "BOSS Coffee"

「若狭屋」 (“Wakasaya Sushi”) restaurant

「立入禁止」 = "Do Not Enter"

Sometimes men need to stay in a cheap hotel for a business trip (or because they missed the last train of the evening)…this type of place is popular for them—A Capsule Hotel with sauna and “Pachinko parlor“:

Capsule Hotel

ちょうちん (Paper lantern) for a 「うどん」 (noodle) restaurant

One of the oldest buildings in 上野 (Ueno, Tokyo) is the old shopping center 「聚楽」 (Jyuraku) will be demolished soon. So I took a photo of it:

上野の「聚楽」

Last Friday, the DVD for the movie “Detroit Metal City” went on sale. There are two versions…the regular DVD of the movie and another version that includes a bonus “making of the movie” DVD.

KISS bass guitarist, Gene Simmons, makes a cameo in the movie and plays on one song on the soundtrack.

I wrote a post about this movie. Click here to see it.

Here the DVD promotion poster:

"Detroit Metal City" DVD promo poster

It was a fun day. The highlight was listening to my daughters sing カラオケ (Karaoke). 🙂

デトロイト・メタル・シティ

First of all, I should mention that I’m a fan of the American rock band KISS (have been since the late 1970s), and that’s why this interests me.

On the 1976 KISS album “Destroyer“, there’s a song titled “Detroit Rock City” (although the band hails from New York City, their first sold-out headlining show was in Detroit, Michigan…this song is a tribute (of sorts) to the city).

In 1999, KISS released a movie also titled “Detroit Rock City“. It starred Edward Furlong (best known for his part in Terminator 2). This movie is basically about the adventures of four teenagers trying to get tickets to a sold-out KISS concert in 1978.

(This was actually KISS’ second movie. In 1978, they released a not very good television movie titled “KISS Meets The Phantom Of The Park“. This movie was about the band battling a disgruntled amusement park employee who kidnaps people to create evil robots in their likeness. Seriously.)

So what does any of this have to do with a blog about Japan? (Besides KISS’s 歌舞伎 (Kabuki) style make-up and their use of Japanese written characters (especially 「力」 (Chikara = power))).

Well, a new Japanese movie is being released here about a timid teenager from the countryside in Japan who moves to Tokyo to become a pop-star, but ends up leading a heavy-metal band that wears 歌舞伎 (Kabuki) style make-up.

The title of the movie is 「デトロイト・メタル・シティ」 (“Detroit Metal City“).

(The writing on his forehead says 殺 (murder)).

Due to the make-up and the similarities in titles, of course I immediately thought it was KISS inspired.

But I didn’t know, until I saw on TV today, that Gene Simmons (KISS’ bass guitarist) was in the movie 「デトロイト・メタル・シティ」 (“Detroit Metal City“).

(Here’s Gene Simmons in KISS make-up)

(And here he is on the set of “Detroit Metal City” in Tokyo)

Here’s a video of Gene Simmons performing a song in the 「デトロイト・メタル・シティ」 (“Detroit Metal City“) movie: