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Tatsuya Shimabukuro to perform in Hawaii’s Okinawan Festival!
I blogged about Tatsuya Shimabukuro’s debut album several months ago and now I’m elated to hear that he’ll be performing at this year’s Okinawan Festival (Honolulu, Hawaii). He’s set to perform on Saturday, August 30, as part of the ROK segment as one of the winners of their Miuta Taisho competition. BBtv has footage (video…
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It’s an all-Okinawan bon dance in Paia, Maui
I’ve heard about this all-Okinawan bon dance from Norman Kaneshiro sensei and it’s finally great to actually see footage of it (nifee to lyonashiro for uploading). Pretty cool stuff.
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GANGA ZUMBA’s 2nd album out on 8/20
Kazufumi Miyazawa’s (THE BOOM) latest project, GANGA ZUMBA, will be releasing their 2nd, self-titled album, on 8/20/08. The album will feature 13 tracks including the clip above, “Ashiato no nai michi.” The project commemorates the 100th anniversary of Japanese immigration to Brazil. Kazufumi’s (think “Shima Uta“) world-inspired pop rock for GANGA ZUMBA features Argentine-born singer…
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AKI to leave MAX!
AKI (27), the youngest and newest member of the J-pop group MAX, made her intentions known that she’ll be leaving as of this month. She did hint to the members and staff of MAX last year of leaving, rather graduating, from the group to pursue a solo career as a singer-songwriter. AKI joined the group…
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It’s eisaa time!
Random Eisa Originally uploaded by subajogu Ah, we’ve been in bon dance mode here in Hawaii for a couple of months now and our brothers and sisters in Okinawa are beginning to heat up in their eisaa performances. Here are a few of my favorite Flickr finds: 1-Series John’s Photostream annya_okinawa’s Photostream Sugajogu’s Eisa Flickr…
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Live blogging at the Okinawan Festival
Not sure if I’ll even have time to do this (I’m one of the performers for the festival), but I’m hoping that this’ll be the first year that I’ll be live-blogging from the HUOA Okinawan Festival. The festival, the 26th, will be held at Kapiolani Park (Honolulu, Hawaii) from Saturday 8/30 to Sunday 8/31. More…
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Airi Taira to be Kanna in “20th Century Boys”
Director Yukihiko Tsutsumi’s ’20th Century Boys’ movie trilogy has officially revealed its heroine. Toho announced on Sunday that the role of Kanna, the niece of the protagonist Kenji (Toshiaki Karasawa), will be played by 23-year-old actress Airi Taira, who was selected by audition from a pool of around 3,000 hopefuls. Although Kanna’s part in the…
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Utage Restaurant & Lounge
One of the great things about running a blog is that you meet people (via comments, email and IRL too) from all-over the world. And, at times, old friends from right in my backyard. My friend Tadashi (who rocked a pretty mean guitar back in the day) has a restaurant called Utage Restaurant & Lounge…
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Desktop: Beni Arashiro for Mizuno
Just in time for the Summer Olympics, singer/actress Beni Arashiro is featured in two wallpapers from Mizuno for their Crosstic line of athletic wear. There are four different wallpapers to choose from with Beni featured on two of them. Grab the wallpaper over here. (Via 壁紙fan!)
Karakui 