tokyographers

Just letting you all know that I’m going to fall behind on some of the lesser parts of the site, like the Daily Japan posts, the box office rankings, and also the information database. Right now, I’m in the process of overhauling the site and giving it a new look, as well as a new backend. This should hopefully make it easier to eventually integrate everything into a single site, rather than having the main site so separate from the blog, the forum, and the Links site. Anyway, look forward to that in the near future (if things go well).

In other news, Ai Otsuka’s newest album is off to a good start! It debuted at #1 on the daily rankings, at more than double Tokyo Jihen’s “Variety” (another album I’ve been looking forward to). Go Ai-chan!!

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Daily Japan 2007.09.26

Thursday, September 27th, 2007

Yu Yamada, Yu Aoi, and Kaho promoting PIXUS printers (Yahoo! Japan Video News, Oricon, Sanspo, Sports Hochi, Nikkan Sports)

Shun Oguri, Takayuki Yamada, Meisa Kuroki, and others at a press conference for the completion of “Crows ZERO” (Yahoo! Japan Video News, Oricon [2], Sponichi)

Erika Sawajiri promoting the Sony Ericsson W53S (Yahoo! Japan Video News, Sanspo)

Yu Shirota, Ryo Kimura, and others promoting “Heat Island” by walking around Shibuya (Yahoo! Japan Video News)

Manami Honjo in a new CM for Pokka Corporation (Yahoo! Japan Video News)

Takashi Tsukamoto at an event for Noriko Sakai’s fashion brand “PP rikorino” (Oricon)

Hiroki Narimiya making a guest appearance at a preview event for the Edith Piaf movie, “La Vie en Rose” (Oricon)

A wrap-up event for “Fuurinkazan” (Oricon, Sponichi)

Natsumi Abe in “FAR AWAY,” her first time chairing a play (Oricon, Sanspo)

Mikie Hara in her new DVD (Sanspo)

Yuna Ito promoting Lux Super Rich Shine (Sanspo)

Author Hitomi Kanehara with director Yukio Ninagawa (Nikkan Sports)

Masato Wada and Mai Shinohara at a press conference for “Shigeshoshi” (Sanspo)

Posted in Daily Japan | No Comments »

Daily Japan 2007.09.24

Tuesday, September 25th, 2007

Norika Fujiwara in a CM for Tsumura BathClin (Yahoo! Japan Video News, Sanspo, Sponichi)

Erika Sawajiri as “fountain pen ambassador” (Yahoo! Japan Video News, Oricon, Sanspo, Sponichi)

Manami Higa serving as a PR police officer for the day (Yahoo! Japan Video News, Sanspo, Sponichi)

Dreams Come True closing their Wonderland tour (Sanspo, Sponichi)

China Fukunaga and Sayuki Matsumoto at Tokyo Game Show (Mantan Web)

Yuri Morishita at Tokyo Game Show (Mantan Web)

Yukie Kawamura promoting her new DVD (Sponichi)

Ami Tokito celebrating her 20th birthday (Sanspo, Sponichi)

Sowelu performing at Studio Coast (Sanspo)

Tetsuji Tamayama promoting the DVD release of “Freesia” (Sponichi)

Yu Shirota at an event for “Heat Island” (Sponichi)

Erika Sawajiri at a new CM announcement for Sony Ericsson’s W53S (Oricon, Nikkan Sports)

Sei Ashina at a special presentation for “Silk” at Toronto International Film Festival (Oricon)

Posted in Daily Japan | No Comments »

Daily Japan 2007.09.22

Sunday, September 23rd, 2007

Naomi Nishida and others at the opening of “The Longest Night in Shanghai,” where she announced her pregnancy (Yahoo! Japan Video News, Oricon)

Cast and staff on the set of “Kamisama no Puzzle,” directed by Takashi Miike and starring Hayato Ichihara (Yahoo! Japan Video News)

Shota Matsuda and Yu Kashii promoting the Sony Cyber-Shot (Yahoo! Japan Video News)

Aki Hoshino at the Tokyo Game Show (Yahoo! Japan Video News)

Akina Minami at the Tokyo Game Show (Yahoo! Japan Video News, Oricon)

Mirai Shida at the Tokyo Game Show (Oricon)

Meguru Ishii and the other cast members of “Keitai Shoujo” at Tokyo Game Show (Mantan Web)

Nakano Fujoshi Sisters at Tokyo Game Show (Mantan Web)

80 PAN!, Aira Mitsuki, Saori@destiny, Chinatsu Miyabi, and Hikari Suzuoto at a concert (Oricon)

Erika Sawajiri at an event for “Closed Note” (Sports Hochi [2])

Mai Kuraki at the Asia Song Festival (Sanspo)

Ayano Tachibana promoting her new DVD (Sanspo)

Posted in Daily Japan | No Comments »

Daily Japan 2007.09.20

Friday, September 21st, 2007

A Shiseido promotional event called “Tsubaki Hills” (Yahoo! Japan Video News)

Ryunosuke Kamiki, Erika Toda, Kazuki Enari, and Taka and Toshi at a PR event for “Arthur and the Minimoys” (Yahoo! Japan Video News, Sponichi)

Yoshiki at an event for “Catacombs” (Yahoo! Japan Video News, Nikkan Sports, Sports Hochi)

Masami Nagasawa promoting an Epson printer (Yahoo! Japan Video News, Sanspo, Sponichi)

Aki Hoshino at the Tokyo Game Show (Mantan Web, Oricon)

Shoko Nakagawa at a talk event and performance for her new anime song cover album (Oricon)

Nana Eikura, Toshiyuki Nishida, and Naoko Iijima at a press event for “Hitomi” (Oricon, Sanspo, Sponichi, Nikkan Sports)

ManaKana at a release event for their new single (Oricon, Sponichi)

Yuko Takeuchi at an event for “Closed Note” (Sanspo, Sports Hochi)

Kurara Chibana, Anna Tsuchiya, Mona Yamamoto, and Kaori Manabe at a diamond jewelry show (Sponichi, Sanspo, Sports Hochi)

Yoshimi Asada at a press event for “Baby’s Breath” (Sports Hochi)

Posted in Daily Japan | No Comments »

Fanta CM “AMVs”

Friday, September 21st, 2007

I love the way people are remixing and mashing up various parts of pop culture. For example, take these awesome Fanta commercials from Japan, which have been circulating around the internet for some time (this batch has English subtitles):

I love these just on their own. But some anime fans have attempted to recreate the commercials using footage from a particular show, set against the commercial’s audio. The beauty is in how unexpected some of these scenes can be, and how closely they can capture the feel of the original ads sometimes.

I’m surprised there aren’t more of these, and not all of the ones out there are that great. But even the bad ones have some gems in them.

Here are a few for your viewing pleasure:

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya