A Bathing Ape or BABE is one of Japan’s most famous clothing companies, founded by Tomoaki Nagao (called “Nigo”) in 1993 who is also the DJ of the j-hip hop group Teriyaki Boyz.
Title: Meru Puri
Author & Illustrator: Matsuri Hino
Genre: Shōjo
Volumes: 4 volumes
Publisher: Hakusensha
Year: Serialized from August 2002- September 2004 in Lala
Licensed by: Viz Media (English)
Official Summary (Viz Media):
All high-school freshman Airi Hoshina ever wanted was to someday live in a cozy home with a loving husband, and find joy in the little things in life. As a result, she makes it her daily mission to get to school on time because school legend has it that the longer one’s non-tardy streak is, the better boyfriend one will find. But just when her daily routine is working like clockwork, an occurrence of fairytale proportions threatens to disrupt her grand plan.
On the way to school one morning, Airi drops her mirror—one that had been passed down to her through generations—and suddenly finds herself in a bizarre situation. Never in her wildest dreams did she expect to meet Aram, a little boy from a magical kingdom, to have emerged from the mirror in the short time it took her to track it down!
During the mid-90’s, one of Japan’s main controversies involved a group of young girls who would cause trouble around the country. These teenagers would usually do radical things such as skip classes, smoke in public, pollute the environment by throwing their cigarette butts everywhere and even seduce middle-aged men into financing for their whimsical expenses. Subsequently, they also had their own unique and scandalous fashion sense that distinguished them from the rest of the youth. These kinds of girls are known as Kogals.
Kogals are known to be the first kind of gal (or gyaru) that scaled Japan. They are the ones who have paved way for other kinds of gals now, such as the Ganguro Gal and Hime Gal, to enter the Japanese fashion scene. The clothes and the characteristics of the Kogals have been the basis for these new subcategories that is why Kogals are hard to obliterate from the minds of the Japanese until today.
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Hashiguchi Takahashi, the mangaka of the epic cooking/baking comedy, Yakitate Japan!, is now set to work on a new project. Hashiguchi-sensei’s new work is called 最上の命医 (Saijou no Meii) and will be focused on the medical field, mainly on pediatrics with patients ranging from babies to 15 year-old teens. The manga will be serialized in Yakitate Japan’s former magazine, Weekly Shounen Sunday. The magazine describes the manga as a little more serious than Yakitate Japan.
Title : Ghost Hunt
Genre : drama, comedy, horror, mystery, psychological
Production : J. C. Staff
Episodes : 25
Vintage : 2006 - 2007
Before I saw this anime, I had read the manga first. I liked watching it very much. I’ve noticed that Japanese creators love to make anime involving ghosts and haunting. In fact, there are more than four titles to make up for that. Either way, this anime is one of the very few that follows the manga accordingly. The graphics are also impressive. The anime is very enjoyable and not that scary, because there are a lot of humorous scenes, although in later episodes there are times when you get a little jumpy but that is all there is to it.
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Have you ever abbreviated Japanese into “Jap?” It’s more common in writing, but it is actually a very derogatory ethnic slur against the Japanese. Unfortunately, a large number of people use it without noticing. A High School Japanese program in my area calls its courses “JAP10”, “JAP20”, and “JAP30”, and the program at that school is not taught by people of Japanese ethnic origin. There are two other High School Japanese programs in my city, both taught by actual Japanese, and they are abbreviated “JPN.”
A Japanese man I know, who immigrated about 7 years ago now, learned English when he came. The teacher would call him a “Jap,” but not in a mean way because nothing was meant by it – it was just an easier way to say “Japanese”. Of course, my Japanese friend found it offensive, and went up to the teacher and said that calling him a “Jap” was almost as bad as calling a black man a “nigger”.
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