I’ve written posts before about the numerous unique flavors that Pepsi Japan has offered.
(Click here to see them.)
Starting on October 6th, for a limited time, Pepsi Japan will offer 「ペプシゴースト」 (“Pepsi Ghost“) for Halloween.
「ペプシゴースト」 (“Pepsi Ghost”)
They will be sold in a bottles with various original monsters on the labels. And, most interestingly, the bottles say that they’re 「ミステリーフレーバー」 (“Mystery flavor”)!
Would you (will you) try these once they go on sale?
Have you ever heard of the Japanese アニメ (cartoon) called 「妖怪人間べム」 (“Monster Man Bemu”)?
It’s basically about three kind 妖怪 (monsters) who want to be human. They learn that they can become human if they protect humans from other evil monsters.
The three kind monsters, 「べム」 (“Bemu”), 「ベラ」 (“Bera”), and 「べロ」 (“Bero”) are frightening-looking monsters but they are able to assume a humanoid form…but even so, they still look like monsters.
And for that reason, they aren’t accepted by most humans. Most people judge them by their physical appearance rather than their character. That is an underlying theme of this series.
This series originally aired on TV in Japan in the late-60’s…before my wife and I were born but we’ve seen re-runs of it.
A well-known line from this show is 「早く人間になりたい！」 (“I want to be a human soon!”)…it can even be heard in the show’s opening theme song.
Here is a YouTube clip of this show’s opening and closing theme songs:
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:
Today is 2010 October 17.
I came to Japan on 1990 October 17. Twenty years ago.
I was 20 years old when I came to Tokyo…so I’ve now lived half of my life here. Starting tomorrow, I will have been in Japan for “most of my life”.
Time goes by so fast.
In 2008 on this date I wrote a post that compared some of the differences between Japan in 1990 and Japan today.
Click here to read it.
Today is also the anniversary of the day that Yoshihiro Hattori was shot to death in America because he went to the wrong house by mistake on his way to a Halloween party.
Last year I wrote a post on the seventeenth anniversary of his death.
Click here to read a bit about his story in the post I wrote last year.
I can’t believe I’ve already been in Japan for twenty years. October 1990 doesn’t seem that long ago.
Unless that is, you look at I list of the music and movies that were released in 1990!
I checked on Wikipedia…and twenty years seems much longer now that I realized that in 1990 Macaulay Culkin was a cute kid and “Home Alone” was a new movie!
The top-ten movies of 1990 were:
1. “Ghost“…This movie was pretty good, I think.
2. “Home Alone“…This was one funny…but all the sequels (some with different actors in the lead role) were ridiculous.
3. “Pretty Woman”
4. “Dances With Wolves”
5. “Total Recall“…I like action and suspense movies, but this one was mediocre.
6. “Back To The Future Part III“…This is an excellent trilogy. Of course the first one was the best, but the two sequels were good too.
7. “Die Hard 2: Die Harder“…The four “Die Hard” movies are among my all-time favorites—and I recently heard that they’ll will be making “Part 5” soon. I hope so!
8. “Presumed Innocent“…Harrison Ford is a great actor who has starred in many excellent films!
9. “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles“…I knew about this comic book because in the liner notes of the excellent 1986 “Master Of Puppets” album by the heavy metal band Metallica it has in the “Thank you” list, among other things, “sushi, Absolut Vodka, Alka Seltzer, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles“.
Metallica is cool, this movie isn’t.
As a sidenote, there’s a similar story with the metal band Anthrax. On their 1987 “Among The Living” album there is a song titled “I Am The Law“. In the album’s liner notes it says that the song is inspired by the “Judge Dredd” comics. In 1995, Sylvester Stallone starred in a terrible movie adaptation of this comic series.
But I digress. Back to the list.
10. “Kindergarten Cop”
I was going to include a list of the music albums that were released in October 1990, too. But I’ve either never heard of most of the bands on that list or they’re albums by bands that I can’t tolerate.
There were a couple good albums released the time I came to Japan in October 1990:
“No Prayer For The Dying” by Iron Maiden
And the “Led Zeppelin box set“.
Today is the 65th anniversary of the atomic bombing of 広島 (Hiroshima, Japan).
And every year on August 6th in Hiroshima and August 9th in Nagasaki, there are peace ceremonies to remember those who died in the bombing and to hope for a future with no more nuclear weapons…or even war.
But today’s peace ceremony in Hiroshima and the one in Nagasaki on next Monday will be different because the American ambassador to Japan will attend the ceremonies…which will be the first time an American government official attended them.
A photo of the floating lanterns at the Peace Ceremony in Hiroshima a few years ago.
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In other news, a Japanese version of the Hollywood hit movie “Ghost” (that starred Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze) is due to be in theaters in Japan this coming November.
A promo poster for the original U.S. movie "Ghost".
The Japanese remake movie will be titled “Love And Soul” and will star Korean actor Song Seung Hun and Japanese actress Nanako Matsushima.
Song Seung Hun and Nanako Matsushima
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And also, the Japanese college national baseball team traveled to America to play the U.S. college national team.
The U.S. team beat Japan with a score of 4 – 2.
I’ve mentioned before that I like the Japanese manga and anime titled 「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」 (“Gegege-no-Kitarou“).
It’s about a group of 妖怪 (ghouls) who help humans.
I have a few of the manga, I watch the anime on TV sometimes, and my family and I went to see both of the live-action movies at the theater.
I also like the artist, 水木しげる (Shigeru Mizuki). His life story is fascinating.
I wrote a bit about him and the 「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」 (“Gegege-no-Kitarou“) on another post.
Click here read it.
Anyways, 田の中勇 (Isamu Tanonaka), the 政友 (“Seiyuu“)…”voice actor”…who did the voice of one of this show’s main characters–「目玉おやじ」 (“Medama-oyaji“) died last Wednesday.
He was 77 years old.
田の中勇 (Isamu Tanonaka), R.I.P.
I wrote a post last September about the death of the artist of another popular Japanese manga…Click here to read it.
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