Winter 2008

A response to Brian's comment on pop idols.
Here is a J-pop singer who does not meet Japanese 'everyday,' ideal images but still in the main stream, pop-idol industry.
Ayumi Hamasaki - a high school drop-out who makes the highest income among the Japanese female celebrities.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayumi_Hamasaki
Of course, she has a fan club site like Sugimoto mentioned in his chapter. Amazingly, this is in English.
http://www.ayunation.org/

More links that I was unable to introduce due to limited time in our class.
Japanese Denny's (when you travel to Japan, please do stop by if you can. It is impressive.)
http://www.dennys.jp/dny/index.html

Japanese Bullet Train - Shinkansen
http://www.h2.dion.ne.jp/~dajf/byunbyun/types.htm

Japanese Food
http://www.noodlesandrice.com/

Japanese Funny TV Shows
1) Huge Groups
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wTyI9xqy7U

2) Chairs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRMkv30sFmU

3) Human Tetris
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84_QL1kEmH4

4) Pankun the monkey and James the dog
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dl8m00P62A

Read a chapter from Japan Pop!: Inside the world of Japanese Popular Culture, Pop Idols and the Asian Identity by Hiroshi Aoyagi and post your comment.
Due 11am 1/9/08.

"SMAP (Sports Music Assemble People) are a kind of Japanese version of the Monkees. Besides being the country's most popular boy-band (and J-Pop's best selling group ever), they also present their own variety shows, make commercials and frequently appear in trendy TV dramas. As members of the ubiquitous Johnny's Jimusho (Johnny & Associates) talent agency, they have a lot of clout behind them but still have lasted longer than most people expected." http://www.japan-zone.com/modern/smap.shtml

Research and post at least two Japanese table manners that others have not posted before you. Due is 11am 1/10/08.

http://www.cityofmobile.org/news_photo_archive/dsc02643.jpghttp://www.cityofmobile.org/news_photo_archive/dsc02643.jpg

Japan: The Taboo of Failure
Films for the Humanities & Sciences

If you have additional comments or questions, please feel free to post here.

http://www.amphi.com/~psteffen/fmf/pictures/classroom.jpg

If you are interested in finding more names in Kanji, here is a useful site.
http://www.jun-gifts.com/personalizedgifts/namelisttwo/namelisttwomain.htm

Read Popular Culture and Everyday Life by Yoshio Sugimoto and post your comment by 11am Wednesday 1/9/08.

Post three striking facts about Japan. Surprise me and everyone in our class!
This is a blog marathon. You can only post ideas that others have not posted yet.
Due is 11am on January 8th.

Please make sure to cite the source.

Also, post a useful or fun link related to Japan and a brief description of the site.

Happy New Year! あけましておめでとうございます。Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu.
Year 2008 is the year of the mouse or rat.

Images from http://kaden.yahoo.co.jp/download/sozai/?type=search&ts=1&p=%A4%CD%A4%BA%A4%DF