A very interesting post on the “jimusho” in Japan by Neo Japon Is Me (neojaponisme). I belonged to several jimushos while etching a living from television, print and film (one). Mostly the experience was good until the money started rolling in and the jimusho did not dole it out. When I was relegated to earning some cold, fast Yen as an extra on television shows or commercials, the transaction was straight forward… show your foreign face for X amount of time and receive X amount of yen.
When I regularly appeared …

Here’s a humorous video by Kelsey in Japan. She describes herself as “rather fond of having fun” and recently blogged about 25 Random Things About Me…in Japan, one of which is her being semi-obsessed with Hard Gay. Although he’s not on TV much recently, Kelsey really loves it when he does his dance thingy and shouts “Fu-hoo!”

Check out the video and please feel free to comment. There are probably a few scenes that would never make it on air in various countries. Also, be sure to show Kelsey in Japan some love …

Many BT’er know that I love comedy and have a pretty thick skin but I just received an email/rant asking me why I took umbrage to the Tunnels and DJ Ozuma’s Yajima Beauty Salon CM campaign and follow-up PR stunt. You can read my previous posts on the subject but the bottom line is that I am tired of having certain performers or corporations in Japan continue with their BS ways of trying to dis’ on the DL. Maybe they think that no one will complain about it.
Japan Sugoi reports on Japanese …

Tunnels and DJ Ozuma are back for more shadiness but I guess one way to revive a career is to do something out of the box or attempt to push the buttons of others. Click here for the original story on Yajima Beauty Salon. It may help to familiarize yourself with this CM before reading the post below. 
Many thanks to James at Japan Probe for posting this:
“Fuji TV has shown me that Yajima Beauty Salon, the comedy group that impersonates black women from Nevada, can do more than just sing. A clip from …

The talented and sometimes funny owarai duo, Tunnels, have recently hooked-up with DJ Ozma (former Kishidan band leader) to form and produce a temporary female trio called Yajima Biyoshitsu (Yajima Beauty Salon). The female trio is actually the three men in drag. Here is the official website.
The Yajima Biyoshitsu new song ties into a new Lotte chewing gum commercial (the CM schedule can be found here) starring actress Masami Nagasawa. The debut song, “Nihon no Mikata – Nevada Kara Kimashita,” debuted on TV the day before and saw a reportedly 14,000 chaku-uta (ringtone) downloads in the hour after its premiere, …

Remember the yo-yo? It was the rave back in day. Anyway, this guy, Black, is pretty entertaining! He even puts one of my favorite comedians to the test. Gotta love those Japanese TV shows.

Here is an interesting video on eating sushi in Japan. The video is in Japanese with English subtitles. Note that the subtitles are not an exact translation of the spoken Japanese and thus can serve as a great resource to help you practice your translation skills.
Gambatte!

A friend of mine was stuck on stupid when he commented on the “submissive” Japanese woman. My favorite Japanese comedian, Shimura Ken, shows wears the pants in the house.