2007 January

Hey, gang:
I just thought of another “zu ni” phrase that’s pretty cool. (See my post below for V1 + zu ni.)
V1+ zu ni + irarenai / iraremasen
Can’t help but [verb], just have to [verb]
The “irarenai” part of the phrase is from the verb “iru” (to be, to live), and it’s in the V1+rareru (for -eru/ […]

…you can try these manners out in your local sushi bar…probably once.
Perfomed by the Rahmens from the Mac ads. I’ll update a little later with some language-y stuff.

UPDATE: Obviously it’s a pretty dry sense of humor. They make fun of the silly “exacting” rules (made up for the video) in Japan’s society, as well […]

OK, you might know that the word for stinky is
臭い / くさい / kusai
Kusai is a “true” adjective, which means you can conjugate it:
kusai = is stinky
kusakunai = is not stinky
kusakatta = was stinky
kusakunakatta = was not stinky
Now that’s pretty straight forward, but the fact is, you can use “kusai” in a lot of different […]

These Glico dudes must have bucks, ‘cuz they just keep the commercials coming.
Here’s a Pocky CM (you might recognize Harajuku Station and the bridge). Click the pick to see the vid (it’ll take you to the Pocky page with the CM).

And here’s the “Making of…” footage for the CM, which to me is more interesting:

The […]

…is always the best option…
But if you can’t…well, this vid won’t help you save yourself, but you might learn a little Japanese.
Tony Jaa (famous Thai actor and Muay Thai artist) and some random dude I don’t know.
Action Demo With Tony Jaa - video powered by Metacafe
Here’s a few Japanese phrases you can look for […]

…but a good effort.
From Kasou Taishou (costume/ skit contest) a few years back.
How To Fake A High Jump - video powered by Metacafe
You Japanophile types (no, that’s not s’posed to be an insult) probably already know, but the whole black clothes ninja outfit thing comes from a long tradition in Japan of bunraku (puppet shows).
You […]

Konnichi ha
Continuing the tradition from my old blog….Sunday Music Vids:
Mr. Children
しるし/ Shirushi (”Signs”)
#1 Single this week

千の風になって / Sen no kaze ni natte (One Thousand Winds)
Masashi Akikawa
#2 Single this week
The words to the song have been translated from an anonymous poem that became well known in the mid-90s.
The poem read by the dude at the beginning […]

[UPDATED: See bottom of post for more…]
Japanese TV commercial for the House of the Dead vid game:

Haaahaaaahaaaa. Whooooo boy. Hahahahaha. Haha.
Ha.
Get it?
この冬日本全国に悪寒が走る
Kono fuyu, Nihon zenkoku ni okan ga hashiru
This winter, a cold chill will sweep through Japan.
Ha ha ha ha. I’m gonna start cryin’ here…
Oh. OK. Ya kinda gotta know…
悪寒 / おかん / […]

Completely random vid. Nike….gotta love ‘em.
If you’ve ever been to Akihabara, you probably recognize some of the stores (KFC, Ishimaru, etc.).
If you’ve never been to Akihabara, the deal is that you can find pretty much any electronic device ever created in the world ever (even some that haven’t been made, yet) within a 1 square […]

OK, actually this is a pretty cool cm…blast from the past style.
I’m led to believe that the cm is from the 1960s, and I’m a retro fan, so there.
Here’s the CM

A lot of the Japanese on this cm is actually kinda worthless, but there’s one thing I wanna point out to you, ‘cuz it’s used […]