J-babe and friends live cross from Koen Dori..

Wandering past NHK this fine evening I chanced upon a BS TV crew filming a live spot for some concert they were broadcasting. As the live cross drew nearer and the talent rehearsed her lines, passers by were dragged in to join in on the song. By the time the final group of people that joined had hastily put down their Donkihote bags and stood with the group, there was about 10 seconds to go..

Funniest english

This is from 2000, and was my favorite part of Sanma no Karakuri Terebi back then. It was also just about the only thing I understood!

Jinnai Tomonori..

..is a comedian on a show called "Enta no Kamisama" (the gods of entertainment). He's the guy that does the presentation style sketches, really funny stuff. He's also married to the very desirable Fujiwara Norika! Here's another favorite (with subs):

もりざえもん

Morizaemon posts great youtube vids of Japanese comedy shows with subtitles. This dudes sketches are particularly funny..

笑う犬の冒険 Warau Inu no Bōken

Hilarious show.. Funniest thing I've seen on Japanese Tv ever!

いきものがかり and Tak!

Ikimono Gakari is a bit of a shooting star here at the moment, she's on a massive nation wide tour and has a lucrative tie in with AU for her new single. I probably wouldn't know her from a bar of soap but for the fact that my buddy (and sometime Shirts drummer) Tak is drumming for her on her tour. Tak had a break between TV show tapings yesterday and came over and programmed some drums for the upcoming Shirts shows, and at some stage showed me this youtube vid that they had taped for some music TV show last Monday.

Nova RIP

Nova has officially filed for bankrupcy. Needless to say there are many disgruntled students that forked out thousands for lessons that will not be taught. As teachers many years ago, we used to hate how the staff were trained to sell people dreams that weren't generally attainable ie. english conversation proficiency, they would easily slip into sociopath sales mode and put some unemployed dilbert into debt to get their precious branch numbers up. Not all staff were that blatantly heartless, just most... Around 4,400 english teachers have also found themselves unemployed and unpaid. There's a great (unfortunately unembeddable) NHK news item from yesterday here, and of all the crappy anti-Nova blog art being posted on Let's Japan etc. the only mildly humourous (and barely postworthy) were these:

Nova

Like so many others, I came to Japan to work as an english conversation instructor for what was then the biggest employer of foreign nationals in Japan, Nova. There were evident dodgy business practices, and daily frustrations with administration, but for my 2.5 years that I worked there, I learned a lot and had a great time. Seems that the bubble has really burst for them now, even my old school has closed.. :(

This video was from a month or two ago but the most recent rumblings have included: sudden school closures nationwide, the co-founder and highest level foreigner resigning, the losing of ALT dispatch contracts, teachers salaries being withheld and in some cases, rent not being paid on their apartments to the point where they are being evicted etc etc..

沢尻エリカ Sawajiri Erika

Sawajiri is regarded as a notorious actress in Japan. At the press conference for her new film Closed Note, she looked pretty darn unhappy. When reporters asked her questions, she barely responded. She is called "the Queen" and "Erika-sama" because she is infamous for her selfish behavior. Most of the Japanese media treated her impolite and arrogant manner as top news!

K1 slap vid..

Walking around in Odaiba, I was asked to slap this K1 fighter for a promo clip for Fuji TV. It was weird, but fun..