Fashion Designing star Yamamoto Yohji and Adidas have teamed up to make Y-3, a brand of clothing that combines Adidas’ street sensiblility with Yamamoto’s elegance and style. The project was started in 2003, but it coming to full fruition now, as celebrities worldwide are supporting it.

Yamamoto Yohji was born in Yokohama in 1943. 25 years later he graduated from Bunka Fashion college and started his own fashion line. In the mid-80s, Yamamoto, Kawakubo Rei, and Miyake Issei made Tokyo into the fashion capital of Asia, as it is today. Yamamoto has long been a star in the international fashion world, but if you’re as out of touch with that as I am, you may know him for his costume designs in Kitano Takeshi’s Brother, Dolls, and Zatoichi. He often works with Kitano, along with many other directors, both Japanese and not. His latest costume work was on Kitano Takeshi’s “Takeshis’” in 2005. His Y’s line has outlets all over the world, including Belgium, France, Italy, Hong Kong, and the USA.
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What could be better than watching someone change into a bikini within one minute? Japanese TV at its finest. LOL.

Source: TV in Japan

Yamanbas move over, here come the Kegadoru girls. What can old mountain hags do against vulnerable, injured girls?

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Indeed, Japanese fashion doesn’t fail to amuse me. The diversity in taste and genre simply blows my mind away. To those who don’t have a predilection for heavy make-up, if you think the Ganguro trend is over the top, then you’ve got to see the Yamanba girls. Considered a spin-off of the ganguro trend yet a statement in itself, the eponym of the trend is the “yama-uba” — a character in old Japanese ghost stories.

Yamanba’s primary fashion monikers are 4-6 inch platform boots, micro-mini skirts and tops in vivid hues of yellow, pink, purple, blue, green and orange. Their unique style of make-up and hair, however, is what really sets them apart from the crowd. Deep, artificial-looking tanned faces are offset with white eye shadow, white lipstick and bleached white hair. (Imagine a negative image on a roll of film.)

Quoted from AsiaWeek

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Title : Gravitation
Genre : drama, comedy, romance, shounen-ai
Production : Studio DEEN
Episodes : 13
Vintage : 2000 - 2001

This was my first BL anime. At first, I didn’t know that it had a BL theme and when I saw the first episode, I was speechless. I found myself liking it so I decided to see the whole series. It’s a funny series, with a lot of fluff elements but at the same time you find there is a lot of drama and mystery. Well, the truth is I was completely drawn to this anime by the bishies, but the whole story was quite interesting too.

The story follows the young energetic singer, Shindou Shuichi, and his band, Bad Luck, on their journey to success as the best band in Japan. Along the way, Shindou falls in love with the famous romance novelist Yuki Eiri. Yuki is a very distant and mysterious person and Shindou finds himself attracted by his personality. Shindou fights to make his relationship with Yuki work but the blond has secrets from his past which continue to haunt him and is a person unwilling to open up.
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Almost everyone has probably seen a Maneki Neko, even if they don’t know what it’s called or what it means. They’re those cats that are often seen in Asian stores, sitting with one paw raised. “Maneki Neko” literally means “beckoning cat”; in Japan, waving with your palm facing outwards is a beckoning motion.

As with most legends, the Maneki Neko’s has many versions, but all are basically the same. A cat appears before some figure, appearing to beckon, saving them from some unfortunate occurrence. The story first popped in the late Edo period (late 1800’s), and is accredited to various emperors and samurai depending on who tells it. The “original” story is that a nobleman saw the cat on the side of the road, beckoning, and went towards it. Doing this saved him from a trap that had been laid for him ahead, and cats became a sign of luck.

Maneki Neko is often seen in shops, partly because it is “beckoning” customers into the shop, but also because the cat is believed to bring in customers, and therefore wealth, because it is lucky. Thus, Maneki Neko can often be seen holding a coin, or as a piggy-bank.

The “Maneki Neko Cult” has even evolved into different colours of cats. The most popular is a white cat with brown spots, which is considered the most lucky, but there are also pure white cats for purity, black cats for dispelling evil, red for good health, gold for wealth, and green for academic achievements. There are even pink cats (though they are not traditional) which are associated with love.

The Maneki Neko are often seen in Anime, either in their actual form, or as a reference (one of the most known is Meowth from Pokemon).

For all of you writing University Exams soon, this Maneki Neko is for good luck!

It’s getting close to the end of the year, and I don’t want to put the grand recommendation post off much longer. So I’ll do it next week. Hah! Anyway, I’d like to feature an artist this week!

Hata Motohiro is currently my #1 favorite male artists in the JPop world. Besides having an amazing amount of raw vocal talent, I can hear him improving with every release, which to me means a lot. His voice for those who have not tried him is a mixture of Suga Shikao in vocal tone and quality, with the power of K or Ryohei behind it. He has consistently impressed me with each new release, and writes the majority of songs himself.

He was signed onto Augusta after the release of his Indies album (which has proved elusive to find, to my disappointment), the label which also boasts musicians like Suga Shikao, Yamazaki Masayoshi, Hajime Chitose, and Sukima Switch. His most recent release was his first major full-length album.

With regards to a sample, because of the relative low amount of releases to choose from, my pick is not really a full sized album; think of it as a Best MiniAlbum. Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” bit to find this week’s release list and a short review of some of the newest as well.

Voice of Glass and Steel: SD’s HATA MiniBest! 01. Synchro (Single Ver.) 02. Kisetsu ga Warau 03. Uroko 04. Milk Tea 05. Aoi Chou 06. Shikisai

01. Synchro (Single Ver.) (Watch Synchro PV @ Youtube)
His first major release, the first song of his I’ve ever heard, and of course the song that got me hooked. I still remember the blown away feeling I had at listening to this. He’s still a bit rough in this song in that you can hear that he hasn’t gotten much vocal training yet, but it also makes the song a bit endearing.

02. Kisetsu ga Warau
My favorite song off the Bokura wo Tsunagu Mono minialbum. It is much slower than Synchro, but really a beautiful song. I love the soothing, mellow feel of it.

03. Uroko (Watch Uroko [Live] @ Youtube)
If I thought Synchro blew me away, this one actually made me sit down and cry. The song is absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful. Yes, it translates to fish scales in English. No, I don’t care how ugly that name sounds. The PV is amazing as well, but I’m linking you to a live. With this song, Hata reached a whole new level. His voice is smoother and more polished, more powerful, and his singing more emotional than ever.

04. Milk Tea
A B-side off the Aoi Chou single, this is a pretty, smooth song in the same vein as Kisetsu ga Warau. I really enjoyed listening to it, and for all its slow pace, it makes me feel happy.

05. Aoi Chou (Watch Aoi Chou PV @ Youtube)
Aoi Chou is in a somewhat different vein from the rest of his songs, and took a few listens for me to get used to it and actually enjoy it. Now, it is one of my favorites, and I love how the change of background instruments and beat make for a slightly more rock-ish feel to the song.

06. Shikisai
Having this song at the beginning of his first major album, CONTRAST, was the best decision Hata or Augusta could have made. Or whomever devised the track order. Anyway, this song is an awesome and upbeat introduction to the album, with a great chorus and a catchy tune. It took me three or four listens to get past this song to hear the rest of the album, that is how good it was! (Okay, that isn’t really hard to do with me. Still.)

Links for the Interested:
Hata Motohiro Official Website
Hata Page at wiki.thePPN: Hata Community on LiveJournal made by yours truly!
Hata Motohiro Fanlisting for all its worth…
Hata at Last.fm
Lyrics:
–Fantasii-Lyrics Hata Page
–Cori-chan’s Hata Page

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December 22, 2007 is the start of the roadshow of the Boys Love film Takumi-kun Series ~Soshite Harukaze ni Sasayaite~. The movie was adapted from the manga series Takumi-kun Series by Ooya Kazumi who is also known for her work Oasis Project. Takumi-kun Series is only one of the many boys love films released recently.

As with the other BL films (it’s starting to be a trend, believe me), the film stars actors who have performed or are connected to musicals, specifically The Musical Prince of Tennis. The cast list is as follows:

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Janet Jackson, Destiny’s Child, Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna, and many other leading ladies of music have pioneered a style of R&B and Hip-Hop which some call “Diva Music.” This style has been a staple in the American music industry for decades now, but it is just finally making it’s way to the land of the rising sun. New artists like May J, Foxxi MisQ, Kato Miliyah, and Aria are building the bridge for “diva” music to enter Japan.

December seems to be the month of the diva, because May J and Aria both have new highly anticipated albums out, while other female artists are breaking into this genre with new singles.

May J, who just released her single “Do Tha’ Do Tha,” started her career out as a pop singer with the single, “All My Girls,” but the mini-album that was released with the song showed May J’s true colors, as most of the album consisted of R&B and Hip-Hop. May J, who has worked with Verbal, Ken-U, Zeebra, Rhymester, and many others, is looking to push R&B to the top of charts with her new album, Baby Girl.
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I love Hello Kitty. I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned this to even my closest friends but I used to collect Hello Kitty dolls when I was younger. But then I grew up and though I still think Hello Kitty’s such a cutie, I’m way past my Hello Kitty-mad phase. There are some girls (and boys???) though, who never get over their Hello Kitty craze. If you’re one of them, how about a Hello Kitty-themed wedding?!

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