(the) Road to the Deep East

Amazingly, not only guns or drugs, modern yakuza trades pantie and bra.

Osaka Police arrested 4 yakuzas including 48 year-old boss of the group and committed them for trial. According to yahoo news, these yakuzas swindled 1400 bra and panties (about 1 million yens) of a retailer under the name of a fictitious company, and sold them for the 20-30% of the cost.

(article from yahoo news)
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20080629-00000936-san-soci

The oyabun(boss of yakuza group) testifies that the person whom he accommodated with money did it himself, so this incident must be what is called 'ハメる' in yakuza term. Namely, his rival group tricked him.

This incident also connotes that yakuzas can take part in our daily life easily in Japan. At least, it's sure some yakuza related people sold a bra to somebody.

And another news infers that yakuzas have already found their way into the Web.

-
Last Thursday, a mysterious person who calls himself Takashima from Masaki Corp. asked the administrator of 2channeler to delete a thread because the thread was filled with slanders to the company. However, this 'company' was actually the yakuza group in Fukui prefecture.

'This group is bad because they don't think of young members important'
'So, the branch members don't trust the executives'
'They make too many rules for proper members(*直参, zikisan)'
'But nobody follows them because proper members because zikisans are so lazy'

(original thread from 2channel)
(the thread a yakuza requested to delete it)
It is also amazing that some people in 2channel knows about the internal problems of a yakuza group and these comments are precise and can irritate the yakuza group like this.

Yakuzas are selling panties and seeing 2channel - this is not from the fabricated news from WaiWai or Mainich, but the part of the truth of this country.

It seems the influence of yakuza on the Web is not as strong as in reality, though. The request was rejected soon because it is not sufficient for the requirements to delete the thread from 2channel, but just in case, you'd better watch out. Yakuzas may be reading your blog to steal your pantie.

J-CAST is reporting a very touching, but a little weird news regarding Japanese most famous female singer, Hamasaki 'Ayu' Ayumi.

http://www.j-cast.com/2008/06/29022614.html
--
According to this article and her official blog, last fall, while Hamasaki was staying in Los Angels for recording, the 'elder sister' of Hamasaki passed away. The news was brought by her mother from Japan, but Ayu's staffs didn't tell it to Ayu because they thought she must be shocked and wouldn't be able to continue her work anymore in America.

Ayu explains, " I didn't know anything , and said to friends 'I didn't get any mails (from her sister) recently?'" But Ayu didn't didn't have a grudge against her staffs. 'I guess it was very hard to keep the secret.

She went to her elder sister's house as soon as she returned to Japan, but when she arrived at her house, her body had already been burnt to ashes. She was so shocked so that she just squatted down and couldn't stand up again for hours. It took a long time for her to accept the reality.

To make the matter worth, in the year end of 2007, it turned out she lost her hearing of her let ear. But after a mental conflict, she overcame her trauma, and she promised her 'elder sister' to continue singing. .

And she concludes before the end of her concert tour on her blog, speaking to her elder sister in heaven. 'Watch me to the end , sister!!'

--
It's a little touching tale, but when I read the article first, before I was moved deeply, I felt some anger against her agency, avex. Why didn't they tell the news to Ayu promptly??' If I were in the same situation and it turned out the organization I belong to conceal the death of my family member for a commercial reason, I'm sure I'll curse the organization forever, and kill them all.

However, after a research, I found a point to defend avex staffs.

Hamasaki doesn't have any sisters or brothers. She is an only child. According to her fans, the person Ayu calls 'elder sister' (姉貴, Aneki) is one of her close friends, so her fans can understand that she is not talking about her actual 'elder sister.' It is still against our ethics that a company doesn't tell one's friend's death, but it's rather than the case of one's family member.

But then, another question occurs to me. Why Ayu's mother told her death to staffs, not telling Ayu directly? Some may say it's because she is in America and her mother didn't know where she is, but Ayu said herself that she complained about the lack of mails from her elder siter, or her friend. It suggests she could receive mails from Japan in Los Angels. Why didn't her mother sent phone-mail to her directly??

Now I have to conclude , this story is not 100% truth. But I won't say she is telling a lie. It must be true that one of her sister died young, and she was shocked by the news. But it looks there are too much dramatized points.

And we should recognize, avex thinks this is a beautiful tale and allowed to Ayu to tell it publicly. One thing I can say is when you think your family important, you shouldn't join this company. Even when your wife died, the news may be concealed for a business reason.


[UPDATED]
J-CAST revised the article, and in the current version, it is clearly described that the person who died was 'a friend whom Ayu adores like a real sister.' And J-CAST also deleted the part 'the mother notified the staffs.'

So, the news article became more moderate than before, but the point avex staffs didn't report her friend's death to Ayu for a business reason still exists, then I still have to think, avex , or Japanese music industry, is a money-mad asshole.

Ex-Morning Musume member Kago Ai who was confined to her home for smoking in her minority 3 years ago, smoked again. It seems it was a famous movie star in Hong Kong Star Sammo Hung who put temptation in her way.

According to her blog, the story began when she had a diner with staffs of the movie she appeared on, the director, the producer, and some Hong Kong stars, Smmo, Venness Wu, and the person Kago calls 'Cherry Neesan.' (I'm not good at Hong Kong stars' names.)

Then, Sammo offered her a cigarette and Kago couldn't resist to this temptation.. She also challenged to the cigar, but she couldn't smoke.

Kago apologizes to fans on her blog: 'I smoked a little. I'm sorry, everybody. Although I promised (not to smoke again) before I left Japan. When I think of it, I'm kakkowarui. I hate myself.'

--
Just like some young American stars can't stop cocaine , it seems this Japanese star is addicted to tabaco.

... but anything wrong??

When she smoked first, she was 17 years old, but now she is 20, has already reached at smoking age in Japan. And she is also over the smoking age in Hong Kong (18). She doesn't violate any laws from any countries. This is just a typical story of nicotine addicted people, and we know well, including patients of alcoholic dependence, we don't have no means to cure them of this disease.

But there is one thing I could learn from this article. Kago-san, you don't pretend to be an idol girl anymore. Live as you like.

It's too painful and ridiculous that she apologizes to fans everyday: 'I'm so sorry, I drank a beer last night...' 'I smoke this morning... but it was rather than before. Just one roll of cigarette.' , forever.

Now it is rumored that she will be tagged with her ex-co-worker in Morning Musume, Goto Maki, and organizes a duo named 'L&L'(Lady and Love). And it is also rumored then they left the current agency and moves to avex trax. (According to the article from Tokyo Sports days back.)

If they move to avex, it's sure they don't have to behave like Morning Musume members any more. ' I'm virgin!! I don't smoke!!' I don't produce any unko!!'

Of course, they should watch out when they talk about a rotten womb of women over 30 years old then, but they will be able to behave more naturally.

And speaking of avex, it is very good at copying foreign music. Now Gomaki's brother became a gangsta robber, and Kago is a kind of addicted person. I t seems to me they can copy Lindsey Lohan well.

JRA(Japan Racing Association), which operates publicly-managed horse racing in Japan, announced that it will use an ’Engrish’ nickname for maiden races.

Make Debut ** (**=name of the race track)

Japan has been using the translated kanji races for maiden horses, shin-ba (新馬, can be re-translated ' new horse'). JRA expects that this nickname will make shin-ba race 'more understandable' or 'friendlier', but I don't think so.

We can see a lot of Japanese use some weird katakana English words to make the sound of the words better, but this is one of the worst examples. It doesn't make sense both in Japanese and English, and most importantly, Kakkowarui!!


But why did JRA have to choose such a terrible nickname?

To tell the truth, before JRA nicknames maiden races as such, other local associations have already used more kakkoii English names. For example,

Fresh challenge (Hokkaido)
Future(Iwate)
Fresh Gold(Nagoya)
First Try(Hyogo)
Elite Story(Fukuyama)
Rookie Stage(Saga)
Strong Horse(Arao)

I liked 'Elite Story' and 'Rookie Story.' But as you see, there were no names left for JRA, anyway

Why didn't JRA used 'Maiden race' in katakana? There are some grade races of English names directly imported from America or other countries. (Hanshin Juvenile Fillies, Asahi-hai Futurity Stakes.)

It may be because the word 'maiden' is not so popular word excluding iron one and rosen one in Japan.

Then, I'd like to advocate some kakoii English-Japanese words.
.
Virgin Challenge(ヴァージンチャレンジ）
'Virgin' is more popular than 'maiden' as katakana words in Japan, so it is more understandable than 'maiden race' One problem is 'virgin' is mainly used for women in Japan, so it may be regarded as filly's limited race. And when somebody says, 'she lost 'virgin challenge', it becomes ambiguous and people can't understand whether the horse won or lost actually.

Strawberry Summer Challenge （ストロベリーサマーチャレンジ）
'Strawberry' is used to explain the sweet feeling of the first experience. Originally, it was 'lolita strawberry summer challenge', but 'lolita' was censored by anti-child porn law.

Debut Stage (デビューステージ）
This phrase is used as katakana English often, so if JRA wants to adhere to 'debut', this 'debut stage' is better and can explain the meaning of maiden race more. Debut Stage Hakodate, Debut Stage Tokyo... it still sounds like a name of an apartment building, but still has a part of kakkoiiness of English words.


Just like when they Nara citizens saw Sento-kun (bizarre mascot of Nara city) first, some people who thought 'Make debut' nasty may protest against JRA. The best solution is... Use 'shin-ba' again

As many blogs or news reported, an ex-Morning Musume member, Ogawa Makoto returned from New Zealand and appeared on Hello!Morning after one and half years.

While she was in New Zealand, she went to a local dance school, and also got a certification to teach children English. And she marked score 730 at TOEIC(Test of English for International Communication).TEST.

TOEIC's name is very popular among Japanese and people from some Asian countries, but many native speakers must be unfamiliar to. Then, how well can she understand English?

It has an official 'proficiently scale', and it explains the people who got over 730 are : 'capable of communicating appropriately in most situations.' (LEVEL B). And this 'LEVEL B is also the minimum requirement to promote to a middle manager in IBM Japan.

And here are some stats.

The average score of all examinees is around 570.
The average score of student majoring English is 495.
The average score of all university student is 498.
The average score of Office workers working in oversea department is 670.

Different from TOEFL test, this test just measures how well the person can listen and read English, but it is still amazing score. It's higher than average of all university students who major English and some professionals who use English everyday at their office.

We can conclude:

The probability that Ogawa Makoto can understand what you said is higher than that of Japanese office workers in your country, and it is just as well as IBM Japan executives.

Many Japanese university students study abroad recently, and there are some students who can't mark this score even after he studied two years, because he just communicated with Japanese boyfriends or girlfriends in the United States.

The result indicates, different from other lazy studens' or tarento's cases, Makoto's study in New Zealand was a kind of serious one and she worked very hard. Then now I'm VERY interested in how Akanishi-kun from KAT-TUN , who studied in Ameirca for 6 months is like.

*By the way, how the 'LEVEL A' is like?

Within his/her own realm of experience, the individual is capable of sufficient understanding and can typically respond with appropriate expressions even about topics outside his/her field of specialization. Although speech is not equivalent to that of a native speaker, the individual has a strong grasp of vocabulary, grammar, and structure and the ability to use the language relatively fluently.

... For some reasons, I know the person who barely belongs to this 'LEVEL A' well, and I can't agree enough with this definition.

Karoshi is one of the most popular Japanese endemic disease. Every year, many Japanese work overtime without any allowance, just to show their loyalty to their company, and die of a heart failure or a stroke . It was at its peak during 1980s and the number of Karoshi decreased with the stagration of Japanese economy, but still a certain number of Japanese die of Karoshi.

And now, an Internet magazine, Cyzo warns the possibility of Karoshi of an idol boy, Sakurai Sho-kun from Arashi.
http://www.cyzo.com/2008/06/post_620.html

According to this article, Sakurai kun broke his right thmb during a rehearsal for his concert held at Nagoya Dome on June 1st. Regardless of this fracture, he appeared on the show on Jun 1st as it was scheduled. He performed with a flesh-colored cast and reported his injury to his fans. The next day, he appeared on a TV news show and answered 'Dijobu-desu!(It's alright!)' to the anchor person.

For the time being, his injury looks to be not so serious. However, fans rumors; 'I can't believe tough Sho-kun had a broke bone so easily. Johny's (the agency he belongs to) makes him work too much!!'

A professional Johny's watcher explains his schedule. "Currently, he appears on 4 weekly regular TV show as a member of Arashi, (the group he belongs to) and another weekly one as a solo. In addition, he has just finished his movie 'Yatta-man'. And from the next month, he will host the broadcast of Beijing Olympic. Hence, he has to go to the concert by different flight from other members, and back to Tokyo soon after the concert. Even he had a free time, he travels oversea for his hobby. He should control his schedule."

After Arashi finishes the concert tour in July, they will host a 24zikan TV show , the TV show literary continues for 24 hours in August.

Cyzo concludes, "All the members of Arashi have already been in the middle of their twenties, and won't be able to work as such anymore. There are lot of elder personw who belong to Johnys who fell sick for overwork. They should control themselves without relying on the agency."

--
I'm a kind of person who don't care about the creature which belong to the same sex as me, so I didn't know this idol boy was busy as such. So, is this Sakurai-kun's injury the sign of the first Karoshi of idol boys in Japanese history?

I don't think so.

Certainly, there is a kind of fracture called 'fatigue fracture' which athletes sometimes have, but it is caused by moving the same bone heavily in the exactly the same way again and again. It doesn't mean human beings can break bones when they are fatigued.

I guess the Johny's fans who rumors this 'Karo'(overwork) theory misunderstood the definition of 'fatigue fracture.'( called 疲労骨折 in Japan. ) If there were such a disease, we could have seen a lot of salary-men who ride on a train with plasters or crutches on Marunouchi line.

And Sakurai-kun looks kinda busy, but I don't think his load is not as heavy as Karoshi casualty who works extra 200 hours every month. At least, he can still have enough time to enjoy trips to Thailand or China. If he tells that 'I gonna Karoshi!! By the way, I went to Thailand for vacation last week' to the nearly-Karoshi zombies who work in Toky , it's sure he'll be killed. .

According to yahoo news, a famous music producer widely known as Beyonce's father, Mathew Knowles, admired Japanese R&B singer who made his major debut with last February, Shimizu Shota.
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20080605-00000048-spn-ent

According to the article, Mathew Knowles usually receives a lot of promotional samples sent from Japan every month, and he listened to his debut single, 'Home', and liked it.

Then, he thought of starring Shota with Lyfe Jennings, and produced the collaboration work from Lyfe and Shota. This song 'Midnight Train' will be included in Japanese edition of Lyfe's latest album, Lyfe Change.


Shota visited America and appeared on a show to introduce Japanese culture 'Japan Day' held at Apollo Theater last Sunday. Then Shota met Mathew in person for the first time, and Mathew admired him: "He has a wonderful voice, or should I say, I was amazed. He has a characteristic voice, and when I listened him first, I couldn't believe he is a Japanese. He is gifted."

--
When a foreigner admires Japanese, especially, when Japanese media report it, we should think it includes 80% of lie. As Marty Friedman wisely says, when a foreign famous star says 'I like sushi.' Japanese media reports the person LOVES Japanese culture. And we should notice at the fact , this album from Lyfe Jennings is released from SONY MUSIC, where Shota also belongs to.

However, I still believe Beyonce's father was amazed by Shota, and said 'I can't believe he is Japanese'. (It's a bit humiliating phrase, though.) Shota has a certain talent which not so many Japanese singers have.

For example, listen to this clip.


This cover of Ne-Yo's So Sick is the one which Shota posted two years ago when he was still a singer wannabe goes to Caless music school.He called himself 'Amezi', then, and there are some awkward points , but he is still amazing. If I were him, I would have said, 'He can't be Japanese!!' - if I hadn't known about other Japanese singers like Hirai Ken or Kubota Toshinobu.

Anyway, it's a good new one Japanese talented singer - who is still 19 years old could have such a connection with American famous music producer somehow. I think one of the problem of Shota's music is, the track is not as good as his vocal. Then I wish Beyonce's father will hellp him out somehow.

It looks ZEEBRA's problem was solved somehow. ZEEBRA posted a new video comment, and he told that he visited MTV Japan yesterday(June 3rd) and talked with one of the executives of MTV. And he comments this is the 'final chapter'

zeebra Live & Direct Part III

The person whom he talked with was the person from 'higher' level he hadn't expected. This person may be the president of MTV Japan. And it seems they talked about the future of MTV VMAJ, and the executive said MTV will take his opinion into its consideration.

In the first clip (link to the mirror), he disrespected MTV Japan in rap music style, but in this video clip, he didn't do it and just talks, very naturally. Only the hip-hop point of this video comment is his last phrase, “ZEEBRA the illskill, peace yo!!” Maybe he was drunk when he posted the first clip, and when he saw his own clip after he woke up, he thought it's a bit embarrassing.

--
It's an amazing result.

Usually, in Japanese society, this kind of appeal isn't effective, and accuser always be attacked by other people, just like many people criticized ZEEBRA on youtube's comment section. And the company won't take the message seriously, or hire a yakuza, and the accuser kills himself in a mysterious way.

I thought even if ZEEBRA wouldn't be killed, he may not be able to appear on MTV Japan again. But as far as judging from this situation, ZEEBRA and MTV JAAPN amended their relationship, and ZEEBRA may be invited to the MVAJ next year again.

Maybe it could be possible because it was between hip-hop artist and foreign capital music company, not between a musician and Japanese company. If Japanese company were told, 'Fxxk SONY MUSIC' or something, I think it won't be forgive the artist forever, but it seems MTV Japan was enough generous, and understood the gimmick of ' ディス'(disrespect) in hip-hop music world well.

It was an entertaining trouble, anyway. I wish ZEEBRA will do this again when he has something to say to Japanese society/system. It'll become the start of genuine Japanese hip-hop as a political music.

ZEEBRA, one of the most important hip-hop artists in Japan disrespected MTV Japan, on Youtube. (the clip has already been deleted.)



To make the story short, it seems he visited MTV Japan Video Music Award yesterday, and he was ignored by the executive of MTV Japan at the ceremony. Then he flew into a rage, and posted this video clip on youtube, with a comment, 'fxxk MTV Japan', from his home.

--
今までどんだけマジ日本の音楽業界　色んな奴らが本気でやってたと思ってんだよ？
(Don't you know a lot of many people have been working in music industry seriously)
You don't know shit, man?
You talk to the fucking sponsors,
All the bull shit rap you wanna push
誰が状況を作ってるんだよ？ (who creates the situation?)
誰が音楽業界を作ってるんだよ？(who establishes the music industry?)
誰が音楽をやってるんだよ？（who plays the music?)
That's the musician, motherfucker!!
スポンサーと話す時間があって俺と話す時間が無いんだったら
(If you have enough time to talk with sponsors and you don't have time to talk with me,)
Fuck you all, bitches!!

As far as I can remember, this is the first case that a famous musician post a comment on youtube in Japan , and popular Japanese rapper shows his ' free style' on the Web. And it is also really rare case that Japanese musician criticizes a company. So, no matter how this clip makes people (*including me) especially English native speakers laugh, I'd like to appraise his challenge highly.

*I thought he is kakkoii a week ago for his collaboration with DOUBLE, 'platinum date', but now I have to think he is dasai when he pretends to be an Afro-American gangsta. It's okay to use the essense of rap music in Jpaanese pop music, but this kind of beef doesn't match Japanese culture, I think.

By the way, who dose he mean, 'All the bull shit rap you wanna push?'
ZEEBRA was nominated in 'best hip-hop music clip' section, and the winner was ING from Rip Slyme.

http://www.mtvjapan.com/vmaj/news/2008/05/mtv_video_music_awards_2008.html



As you can see, this promotional video is almost the commercial film of VAIO from SONY. So, this award might be a kind of fixed one, and the executives of MTV Japan had already decided the winner before they nominated ZEEBRA's "Not Your Boyfriend feat. JESSE(RIZE)." And they didn't talk to ZEEBRA even at the ceremony at all, just talking with Rip Slyme and the officer from Sony. Certainly, if it were so, it's humiliating and it's natural ZEEBRA gets angry like this.

But it's just my thought. I wish ZEEBRA post another rap comment on youtube again, and explains a little more, and whom he is attacking on.

[Updated](Jun 3, 2:00AM)
The first clip from ZEEBRA was deleted, and now, ZEEBRA posted another clip titled 'Zeebra Live & Direct Part II'.

He introduced his recent collaboration work with another rapper, Tsurugi Momotaro titled 'Mite Guy', and in the end of this clip, he writes a suggestive message.

The world is different now.
We have our power,
Peace to all the creators & revolutionaries.

It seems he realized he became so famous and can't disrespect authorities as he used to dowhen he was young.

Or, if this sequel of 'beef' was the gimmick to promote this song, I have to admire him.

AKB48 starts its branch in Nagoya.

(article from Oricon news)
http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/music/55084/full/
According to this article, this idol group which performs regularly at a department store in Akihabara opens another theater in Sakae, Nagoya.

This new theater is set at a shopping mall named 'Sunshine Sakae'. New members who perform in Nagoya will be selected from audition in the future, and then new group 'SKE48' will be started. For a while, it seems some AKB48 members will be sent for the show in Nagoya.

--
I visited Sakae, Nagoya four years ago, so, when I heard of the news, I had to think, 'Why Sakae?'.

It's a kind of business town and center of Nagoya City. There are some shopping malls or department stores, but never be the city like Akihabara, the city for otakus. So, this new group seems 'Marunouchi 48' or 'Ginza 48' to me. At least, it's sure if otakus gather there for the concert, they will be stood out.

It has already started its official site(www.ske48.co.jp) and the annoying producer is explaining that this is 'the first launch to the national market. So, in the future, they may have another branch groups in another city. Umeda48(Osaka), Susukino48(Hokkaido), Tenzin48(Fukuoka)... and so on. But why can they become so adventurous?

To tell the truth, it seems AKB48 and its agency got a new sponsor. It's Pachinko company, Kyoraku.

As many knows, Pachinko industry is the largest amusement industry in Japan. Pachinko (or Pachi-slot) is now becoming unpopular recently, but its annual income is almost 30 trillion yens. It's ten times larger than home video game industry. Some may not believe, but we have to say Pachinko is more popular than Nintendo Wii in Japan.

This shopping mall, where the new theater will be set is owned by Kyoraku, and it seems some branch companies of Kyoraku will take an initiative regarding this project. And The winner of the audition for SKE48 has to belong to the agency which deals some Pachinko-related business.

http://www.pyp.co.jp/information.html

So, when somebody wants to attend to the audition, they should watch out. Many will get confused for 'AKB48' and 'Akimoto Yasushi' brand, but this audition of SKE48 is not the road to the entertainment business in Tokyo, but the road to the Pachinko industry. I wish this fact is widely known, and many girls will be rescued before they are treated like the revenue from Pachinko industry.

The details will be cleared at the press conference on June 5th, and I wish some media will point out this problem ... but it'll be hopeless in reality. Pachinko industy is another darkness of Japanese society as well as Yakuza, so nobody can't resist as long as living in Japan.