Hello again from Japan, the country where toilets wash and dry your butt for you — we have one of these in our house, actually.
To Japanese singers, America is the “holy land, and every musician dreams of succeeding there. Dozens have tried and failed — Matsuda Seiko being the most famous — but except for Pink Lady, who’s single Kiss In The Dark spent three weeks on the top 40 in 1979, no Japanese singers have ever made much of a splash. Denpa Shonen, the Japanese TV show that followed comedians as they hitchhiked from the bottom of Africa to the top of Europe, is trying to change that: they want to help to make Kahala Tomomi a star in America. The former girlfriend of master Japanese music producer Tetsuya Komuro (who gave us such great lyrics as get chance and luck” and “Body feels EXIT”) and best-selling singer in her own right, she fell on hard times emotionally and professionally when she broke up with TK. Her new plan: to debut in America. Each week on Denpa Shonen, the camera follows her around as she goes to record companies in Los Angeles, asking in terrible English if she could please talk to a producer about a recording contract. She sings her own songs at Japanese karaoke boxes to make demo tapes, or outside record companies with a portable karaoke set. If you’re in the Los Angeles area, keep your eyes out for her and tell her we said “ganbatte kudasai” (do your best).
There was an interesting drama on TV last week, which got one of the highest viewer ratings of any drama in history — 29%. Called “Tale of One Hundred Years, it told the story of three generations of women, in the Taisho (prewar), World War II and modern eras. Each character was played by popular Japanese actress Matsushima Nanako (see a profile of her at http://www.topidols.com/nanako_matsushima/profile.htm), so that the grandmother, mother and daughter were all portrayed by the same woman. The drama played close attention to how the lives of Japanese women have changed in the last century — in the Taisho era, for example, it was illegal for a woman to cheat on her husband, but not illegal of the husband did the same thing. The third part of the drama was filmed almost entirely in the U.S.
We’ve got loads of cool new items for you this evening, including:
- First, some killer back from the dead” photobooks, including two copies of Ikegami Misa’s wonderful 3rd photobook, Yoshioka Chihiro’s dynamite nude photobook, Picasso’s great “Costume Viper, and more
- Also for photobook fans, the lovely hardcover photobook of idol Kawamura Risa, age 15
- For magazine fans, we’ve got even more popular classic backissues of Urecco from as far back as 1993 — cool
- We have some supremely lovely videos in stock, including four dynamite classic AV videos by the dynamite Fubuki Akira and the sizzling Yoshino Sally — see them on the Videos (Classics) page
- For DVD fans, we have not one, but TWO super Miura Aika erotic DVDs in stock: Aika Loves You 3, a super collection of some of her best previous AV performances, and an all *new* production, the 120 minute Destruction by Lewdness”!
- Manga fans will love the new offerings we’ve posted, with some absolutely fantastic new erotic manga that are destined to become popular at J-List
- For JPOP fans, we have some great new singles and albums, including some hard to find items — and check below for a great announcement about our JPOP CDs
- We’ve got more “wacky items from Japan” for you — plug extenders which fold neatly out of the way (in brilliant iMac “skeleton” colors!)
- By popular demand, we have 10 more units of the popular “ashi-fumi board, which presses the pressure points on the bottom of your feet for a wonderful massage feeling
- How do Japanese high school girls keep those outrageously tall socks from falling down? With socks glue, of course! Now you can buy your very own socks glue, on the Fun Stuff page
- Finally, dumb cornball joke broken finger” and “nail through the finger” gags to amuse your friends.
Announcing J-List’s *FINAL* JPOP sale! We want to say thanks to J-List’s loyal JPOP fans for your continued interest in our selection of bargain-priced JPOP CDs. JPOP CDs typically cost $12 and up for singles, $30 and up for albums, so our low-priced selection has always been popular. We’re going to treat you to one, massive final sale on our JPOP singles and albums. For the rest of the month, buy any TWO Japanese music CDs and get the third free. Help us clear out all our stock of already ridiculously cheap JPOP CDs!
