Lady Kaga

In 2008, when U.S. president Obama was campaigning for the presidency, a small town in western Japan called 小浜 (Obama) was taking advantage to the similarity in their names in an attempt to draw tourists…they were especially hoping that Barack Obama himself would pay a visit to Obama, Japan (but he still hasn’t).

Well, there is another small town in western Japan that is trying to capitalize on a similarity in the town’s name to that of an American celebrity.
加賀 (Kaga) is a town near 日本海 (the Sea of Japan) that has many 温泉 (hot springs), temples, shrines and traditional Japanese culture.

The name “Kaga” is similar to “Gaga” (as in “Lady Gaga”, the American pop star). When the two names are written in Japanese カタカナ (katakana) characters, they’re even more similar…「カガ」 (“Kaga”) looks quite like 「ガガ」 (“Gaga”).

The town of Kaga gets many tourists from 「関西地方」 (the “Kansai” region) in western Japan, which includes 「大阪」 (Osaka)…but not so many from 「関東地方」 (the “Kanto” region) in eastern Japan, which is where Tokyo is.

So, Kaga has recently begun a new tourist campaign on TV in the Tokyo area in an attempt to attract more tourists from this area.
This new TV ad takes advantage of the similarity in name to “Lady Gaga”, and shows a number of women who work in the tourism industry in Kaga and calls them 「レディー・カガ」 (“Lady Kaga”).

Here’s the ad:

Supposedly, Lady Gaga is scheduled to come to Tokyo sometime next month. Maybe she’ll she the ad on Japanese TV while she’s here…and take a trip to Kaga!

Songs For Japan

A number of American and European pop musicians have contributed songs for a charity album for the victims of the recent disaster in Japan.

The album is titled “Songs For Japan“.

 

"Songs For Japan" album cover

I assume that all of the artists that appear on this album are famous…but I personally have only heard of a few of them (and I like even less of them).

The musicians and track listing on this album are as follows:

01. John Lennon “Imagine”
02. U2 “Walk On”
03. Bob Dylan “Shelter From The Storm”
04. Red Hot Chili Peppers “Around The World”
05. Lady Gaga “Born This Way”
06. Beyonce “Irreplaceable”
07. Bruno Mars “Talking To The Moon”
08. Katy Perry “Firework”
09. Rihanna “Only Girl (In The World)”
10. Justin Timberlake “Like I Love You”
11. Madonna “Miles Away”
12. David Guetta “When Love Takes Over”
13. Eminem “Love The Way You Lie”
14. Bruce Springsteen “Human Touch”
15. Josh Groban “Awake”
16. Keith Urban “Better Life”
17. Black Eyed Peas “One Tribe”
18. P!nk “Sober”
19. Cee Lo Green “It’s OK”
20. Lady Antebellum “I Run To You”
21. Bon Jovi “What Do You Got?”
22. Foo Fighters “My Hero”
23. R.E.M. “Man On The Moon”
24. Nicki Minaj “Save Me”
25. Sade “By Your Side”
26. Michael Buble “Hold On”
27. Justin Bieber “Pray”
28. Adele “Make You Feel My Love”
29. Enya “If I Could Be Where You Are”
30. Elton John “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me”
31. John Mayer “Waiting On The World To Change”
32. Queen “Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)”
33. Kings Of Leon “Use Somebody”
34. Sting “Fragile”
35. Leona Lewis “Better In Time”
36. Ne-Yo “One In A Million”
37. Shakira “Whenever, Wherever”
38. Norah Jones “Sunrise”

This album costs US$9.99 and is available from i-tunes exclusively. All of the money from this album will be donated to the Red Cross of Japan to help the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in the Sendai area of Japan.

Click here if you want to buy it.

Foreign celebrities messages to Japan

Lady Gaga, the American singer arrived in Tokyo yesterday to promote a new album or perform a concert.

I’m not a fan of Lady Gaga. I’m not sure why she came here exactly. I wouldn’t have given her arrival here a second thought…until I saw what she did to her arm and purse.

Before her flight landed in Tokyo, Lady Gaga had someone (probably a Japanese passenger on the same flight) write on her arm and her white handbag (that was probably an expensive designer brand) in Japanese カタカナ (“katakana“) script.

And then she paraded through Japan’s Narita Airport showing off her bag with 「アイ　ラブ　スモール　モンスター　　東京ラブ」 (“I love small monster. Tokyo love“) written in black permanent marker on it, and her arm with 「アイ　ラブ　リトル　モンスター」 (“I love little monster“) written on it.

Whatever that’s supposed to mean!!

Many foreign celebrities come to Tokyo and show off tattoos, or T-shirts with Japanese writing.

“I love little monster” written on your arm or 「一番」 (“Number One“) on your T-shirt is just as ridiculous in Japanese in Japan as it is in English in a “western country”.

「一番」 ("Number one") T-shirt