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New year get-together and fellowship dinner
Happy New Year to the Okinawa Minyo Kyokai Derek Ichiro Shiroma Kenkyusho and Jane Kaneshiro Sozan Kai who will have a New Year get-together and fellowship dinner this Friday night at the Jikoen Hongwanji Mission. I’ll be there and I’m hoping to see some of you there too. 🙂 (Nifee deebitan for the invite, Derek-sensei!)
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PV for BENI’s upcoming single “Kiss Kiss Kiss”
BENI’s new single—and her 2nd since going solely by her first name—won’t be released until April 8, 2009, but luckily, her record label has released the PV of the single on their official YouTube page. The new single, titled “Kiss Kiss Kiss,” sports BENI in a short bob-style hairdo (which I really like, BTW) and…
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Center for Okinawa Studies Conference 2009
“From Aza, through Sanzan, Loochoo, and Ryukyu, to Okinawa, to Uchinanchu Diaspora—Where is Okinawan Studies Headed?” March 19th – March 21st, 2009 Hawaii Imin International Conference Center, East West Center, HawaiĘ»i The first COS Okinawan Studies conference will feature scholars from UH, the US mainland, Okinawa and Japan and will examine ways in which the…
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“Gokusen” goes to the big screen – Tokyograph
The popular drama series ‘Gokusen’ is getting a movie version this summer. After three highly-rated seasons, the film will be the last time that lead actress Yukie Nakama plays the role of the teacher Yankumi. The third season of ‘Gokusen’ aired last spring and ended with a successful 22.8% average rating. The movie takes place…
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Meisa Kuroki represents Armani – Tokyograph
20-year-old actress Meisa Kuroki has been chosen as the Japanese face of fashion brand Emporio Armani for 2009. She is succeeding actress Aoi Miyazaki, who served the same role last year. This year’s campaign is being photographed by Takaki Kumada. Advertisements will begin running in the April issues of major fashion magazines, along with newspaper…
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Monpachi’s albums hit the iTunes Store! Buy now!
If there’s one album you should own that represents the indie punk scene in Okinawa, it’s Mongol800’s (or affectionately known as Monpachi) 2001 album “MESSAGE.” The album contains a couple of their most popular songs: “Chiisana Koi no Uta” and “Ryukyu Aika,” but the album in its entirety is absolutely awesome. If you’re into rock,…
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Yanawarabaa to release 10th single on 4/22
For their first single of 2009, girl pop duo Yanawarabaa will be releasing “Takaramono” — their 10th single — on April 22nd. “Takaramono” follows the November 2008 release “Purezento (Present).” (Via bounce.com.)
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Meisa Kuroki’s got sexy
With her debut album “hellcat” set for release on April 8th, Meisa Kuroki is *ahem* heating things up with her latest PV for the song “Bad Girl.” Personally, I think the image fits her and it doesn’t seem like she’s forcing it upon herself. Now, say, if this were to have been Gakky’s image for…
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Bassist Yo Yasuda’s BeatMaster iPhone/iPod touch app
Currently based in Okinawa, professional bass player Yo Yasuda has played with a number of artists like Syakari, Siori, and Namiko. Although that should be enough to be of interest to our pop culture blog, he’s gone and done something to really excite us: introducing the BeatMaster app for iPhone and iPod touch. According to…
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Meisa Kuroki plays female Oda Nobunaga – Tokyograph
Actress Meisa Kuroki has been chosen to star in the play ‘Onna Nobunaga,’ based on the book of the same name by Naoki Prize-winning author Kenichi Sato. The story, set during the Sengoku period, is based on the premise that Oda Nobunaga was actually female. Kuroki will of course play the role of Nobunaga. Kuroki…
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