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Comedian Yoshio Kojima to make film debut – oppappii!
Popular comedian Yoshio Kojima (Kumejima, Okinawa) will be making his film debut in the SF love/comedy flick “Kami-sama no Pazuru (Puzzle)” which will hit theaters in Japan on June 7, 2008. The film will be directed by Takashi Miike and stars Hayato Ichihara (“Check It Out Yo!!“) and Mitsuki Tanimura. Not sure where Kojima’s going…
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Tokyograph On Another Award For Aragaki Yui – International Wota
Sorry, I’ve been out of the loop for much of the week as music duties have kept me busier than usual. Our most-talked about actress for 2007 (and it looks the same for 2008), Yui Aragaki, has added yet another award to her mansion-sized trophy room. Her prize this time? I guess it can’t get…
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Yui Aragaki leads ouendan in next film – Tokyograph
Rising actress Yui Aragaki, who recently picked up several film awards, has been cast in her next project. She will star in Kensaku Watanabe’s ‘Fure Fure Shojo,’ which is scheduled to open this September. Aragaki plays Momoko, a high school bookworm who longs for the type of romance found in the novels she reads. One…
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Golden Arrow Awards: Aragaki wins big – Tokyograph
The 45th Golden Arrow Awards, which cover a wide range of media, were handed out on Monday. The biggest story was the Film prize won by young actress Yui Aragaki, who starred in her first three movies last year. This is her sixth major film award during this awards season, though the previous ones were…
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Nakama continues reign as CM queen – Tokyograph
Video Research Ltd. has released its TV commercial data for 2007, which revealed that for the third year in a row, actress Yukie Nakama is the ‘CM queen’ of the Kanto region. Nakama, whose work includes ads for KDDI, Daihatsu, and Lotte, racked up more than 54 hours of TV time with over 12,000 commercials…
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Happy Sanshin Day!
The following is from a 1993 Okinawa Times article: Keeping tradition alive Did anyone hear the sound of sanshin on March 4th, or perhaps someone may have played it? The sanshin is a fretless 3-stringed musical instrument very much intertwined with Okinawan traditional music. March 4th was Sanshin Day, which the Ryukyus Broadcasting Corporation has…
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Quick review of Namie Amuro’s “60s 70s 80s” single
Continuing onto 2008 with a very successful 2007, Namie Amuro’s new Triple A-Side single (to be released on 3/12/08), “60s 70s 80s,” is simply amazing so far. The first song, “New Look,” (PV below) samples The Supremes’ hit song from 1964 “Baby Love” to great effect. Hearing the original on the radio yesterday, I found…
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melody. blogs release date for her forthcoming album ‘Lei Aloha’
J-pop artist and Karakui.com favorite, melody., blogged the release date of 4/9/08 for her upcoming album, “Lei Aloha.” According to her blog post, the theme for “Lei Aloha” is kizuna (bonds) and it will be melody.’s 4th album following 2007’s “READY TO GO!” The album will feature 14 songs (track titles are already up on…
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O-Reggae goes SOUTH!
Okay, I admit, that’s a pretty silly title for a blog post. Heh. Anywho, Okinawan reggae duo SOUTH released a new album on the 22nd titled “Walking Up.” The 7-track album will feature their style of reggae dubbed (get it?) “Okinawan happy reggae.” The freshly released “Walking Up” follows their debut album “Peace-Full-Piece” from 2006.…
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TBSK: The next HY / HandMC?
Sorry about the abbreviations in the title folks but can you name all three bands? We’ll start with the popular indie band HY — since that’s what they go by — who are representing their hometown, Higashi Yakena, with pride. (Btw, it’s the band’s choice to remain indie.) Next is the uber-popular J-mixture band HIGH…
Karakui 