[JAPAN] Interview with Quruli (English)
July 27, 2007 by KNDY · Leave a Comment
In a recent interview by Daily Yomiuri’s Kiyokawa Jin, the latest interview is with the band Quruli.
An excerpt from the interview, “Trying to put the magic back into music…Making lasting songs that will be listened to forever…In an age when music is consumed as just another commercial product, Japanese rock band Quruli make a specific point of pursuing their ideals. Ideals they say are unchanged from the time they started out.”
“The band recorded their latest album, Tanz Walzer (Dance a Waltz), during a 4-1/2-month sojourn in Vienna. Already known for the innovation of their ideas, through which the unusually talented band have stimulated the music scene, what are they asking of the world now?”
No tag for this post.[KOREA] ANNA TSUCHIYA rocks Korea
July 27, 2007 by KNDY · Leave a Comment
As part of her stop of her World Tour, ANNA TSUCHIYA (23) performed in front of 3,500 people at the “2007 INCHEON PENTAPORT ROCK FESTIVAL”.
ANNA TSUCHIYA performed a total of 9 songs and donned her latest hair color - purple. Her next stop is in Taiwan.
No tag for this post.
[JAPAN] Yaida Hitomi gets married
July 27, 2007 by KNDY · Leave a Comment
According to Mainichi Shimbun, singer Yaida Hitomi announced on her Website that she has gotten married.
According to the article, “Yaida, 29 — nicknamed “Yaiko” — said that she met her 30-year-old hubby through a mutual friend.”
“He’s a warmhearted man from Tohoku (a region in northern Japan),” she said.
No tag for this post.[OFF-THE-HOOK] It would be great to see AAA at Pacific Media Expo…
July 27, 2007 by KNDY · Leave a Comment
Ughh…I missed AAA’s performance at Otakon. Damn! And this group is really becoming my favorite J-Pop group right now. <we still plan to interview them soon but awaiting a few things from Avex>
But I would like to see them come to Los Angeles… <Mike, hint! Hint!>
Otakon proved that a J-Pop group can do well in America! Well, it helps that they were at one of the largest anime cons in the country too.
Hope they bring a good balance of J-Pop and J-Rock at the upcoming event in November in Los Angeles.
Photo from Matsuura-san’s blog
Anyway, Taka e-mailed me to let people know to visit PMX’s forum and let the folks know who you want to come to PMX and perform this year.
No tag for this post.J!-ENT: Frequently Asked Questions
July 27, 2007 by KNDY · Leave a Comment
Frequently asked questions we receive over the years and to help those who are curious about certain things in regards to J!-ENT:
- Why do you use “Hamasaki Ayumi” when it’s Ayumi Hamasaki?
For J!-ENT, we use the family name first, first name second like they do in Japan. I made this decision back in the mid-90’s because while learning Japanese, I noticed the Japanese friends and associates I would communicate with, would have an easier time communicating via names if I used the family name first.
I know it may be confusing for non-Japanese that J!-ENT does this but it’s a practice that we have done for over a decade now. So, headlines or our articles or things I reference will use the family name although news sources will more than likely use the first name/last name order. Hope this makes sense.
- How come on Japanese sites, there are no images for Johnny’s Jimusho artists or groups. Especially when it comes to the music?
In Japan, Johnny’s Jimusho has a strong control over their artists and their images. So, many Japanese companies in Japan must follow the rule of not featuring the artwork of Johnny Jimusho talent. So, for J!-ENT when you see the top albums or CD singles, the Johnny’s Jimusho talent will not have a cover and companies have used a generic image.
- There is a written quality difference between what you have on your articles and on the blog reviews. Why is that?
On our PDF’s, those are mostly interview-based and we try our best to do a lot proofing. But for the content we provide for the blogs, such as reviews, the reason why we stopped doing the PDF reviews is that some reviews that are given to us by our reviewers, do not fit the template on PDF’s, so the blogs allow for more things to be written.
Whereas in our interviews we were much more strict, the music reviews we actually are a bit more passive towards a writer, especially if they want to write in their own style and not worrying about us copy editing their work. We’re a bit more laid back in those instances.
- Why are you reviews limited to certain companies?
For DVD’s and music, we do not review illegally downloaded material but what is provided to us by companies. And there are only so many companies that have interest in North America and who they want to bring to North America. Sure, it may be limiting to us but so far, we’ve been in good place to establish strong relationships with several companies for our reviews and yes, we do miss out on a lot of releases by the other companies but fortunately, the companies we deal with are among the bigger ones in the industry that they have many artists or many titles that keeps us busy no matter what.
- I don’t understand why you guy’s don’t capitalize with your site. No message boards? Also, you guys cover everything instead of just Japanese entertainment. Isn’t that bad?
I think that’s the beauty of J!-ENT. A lot of us involved are professionals in our own careers but we have been doing this for so many years because of our passion for the things we are interested in. We are interested in many things and we always say that we do what we want for J!-ENT. We love people coming to the site and having the same interests. But there are many sites out there that have communities and message boards, that do a great job with it, no need for us to go there.
I know it’s a bit weird since J!-ENT came from the whole BBS years back in the early 90’s and we are known for our message boards back then but we feel there are sites who do a great job doing it now. Which is totally cool with us.
- Why does this site interview these people and you guys don’t?
A lot of these sites along with us get offered to interview certain artists by a label or company. And we are known to turn down a lot of them. But our interviews are pretty long, many pages and not web-based. We have a pretty good idea of how we like our articles and how we do things.
Nor do we feel we need to interview everyone and feel we need to churn out as many interviews as possible. If anything, why do an interview and then find out everyone is releasing an interview with that same artist. Nah. Not our thing!
- How do I join the J!-ENT Press team?
We’re always looking for good people but read this section and then decide if you really want to be part of the press team.
We learned the hard way of how we bring people into J!-ENT. Some are in it for the passion of the music or to enhance their work portfolio but there are some with other intentions that we just don’t want the headache of having to deal with that. So, we have been a pretty closed and only letting very few people in. It works better for us this way.
But in the beginning you start with easier duties and gradually the duties will improve to possibly leading to interviews and other areas.
There is always this misconception that it’s glamorous that we interview artists but there is a lot of work involved. Especially when it comes to reviews. We used to have so many people interested in being reviewers but once they do it, they realize that deadlines were not to their liking and that they were not interested in all forms of music but just a certain genre and writing about people or music they were not familiar with, was just too difficult.
So, it’s not easy as one would think. If you are one that can embrace all kinds of music, especially various genres when it comes to films or animation and even video games, then that’s great. But then you get to the other part, realizing that covering this niche especially when there is no true (or strong) distribution of it in your country region, there is no budget for advertising (especially for International marketing) from a company and knowing that you are going to do a lot of written work and know you are doing it for free.
Everyone starts out enjoying the fact that they get a free product for review but when deadlines come and that passion becomes work, free can only go so far for some people and they realize, they want to get paid.
- What other sites are on J!-ENT?
We have quite a few older sites, some that are commonly updated and some are not. Here are a couple of sites on J!-ENT that you can find:
- Dorama
- Early guide to Japanese Music
- Fashion
- Karaoke
- Purikura
- Romantic Interlude - The Web Drama -
No tag for this post.[KOREA] American films do well in Korea causing concern for Korean film critics
July 26, 2007 by KNDY · Leave a Comment
Chosun recently featured an article of the success of US films “Spider-Man 3″, “Harry Potter”, “Transformers” and “Die Hard” but several film critics in Korea are concerned.
According to the article, “The success of American movies in Korea is a big concern for Chungmuro, Korea’s Hollywood, but more distressing is the diminishing number of moviegoers in general. Last week’s figure of 2.07 million was down by 603,000 from the previous week, and most people went to just two movies. Bruce Willis’ return as an action hero made it to the top, pulling in 859,300 moviegoers nationwide over the weekend, but it was no way near the éclat of the boy-wizard who rounded up 1.4 million fans last week. According to a recent report from CJ CGV, the total number of moviegoers for the first half of this year was 72 million, down by 10.8 percent from the year before.”
“That’s a big drop after a nearly 10-year upward trend that began in 1998. “Movie fans’ habits are changing rapidly with many of them watching films on portable devices or on cable TV,” said movie critic Lee Sang-yong. “There’s a diminishing need to actually go to a theater unless it’s to watch a visually stimulating movie.”
No tag for this post.[JAPAN] Machida Kou files an assault and battery report against musician Hotei Tomoyasu
July 26, 2007 by KNDY · Leave a Comment
Former INU vocalist and prize winning writer Machida Kou (45) is accusing musician/singer/producer Hotei Tomoyasu (45) for assaulting him.
Machida filed a report to the police alleging that on June 14th, he and Hotei got into an argument the day after the two have hung out with a few friends.
Machida says that Hotei hit him and he received damages in the face and upper body.
According to the article, Hotei apologized but Machida says its hard for him to accept and feels betrayed by his old friend.
With an investigation now pending, the question is will Hotei will be arrested?
Photo courtesy of Sankei Sports
No tag for this post.[JAPAN] Is KAT-TUN’s Akanishi Jin dating Kato Rosa?
July 26, 2007 by KNDY · Leave a Comment
The tabloid FRIDAY aims their latest target on a probable relationship between KAT-TUN’s Akanishi Jun (23) with actress Kato Rosa (22) in their upcoming publication to be released on Friday.
The tabloid says that Akanishi was at Kato’s home and stayed at her home. Kato’s agency says that she was having a party with friends over.
The tabloid goes on to say that Kato Rosa was supposedly in a relationship with actor/singer Tamaki Hiroshi (27) which her agency has denied as well, saying that the two are only friends.
Photo courtesy of Sankei Sports
No tag for this post.[JAPAN] UA goes environmental with new album release
July 26, 2007 by KNDY · Leave a Comment
In a recent interview for JapanToday.com, Dan Grunebaum recently interviewed singer UA who is releasing a new album.
Featuring an excerpt from the interview, Grunebaum writes, “A wish to reclaim one’s audience is of course a good motivator to get back to more approachable territory. “It’s been 10 years since I debuted, and during that time I’ve always recorded for myself,” she explains. “This was the first time I made an album with the hope that it would be heard by many people. I finally got used to the idea.”
“But her attempt to reach out wasn’t simply in hopes of returning to her platinum status of a decade ago. It turns out that a move UA and her son made three years ago from Tokyo to the countryside, where she now grows her own rice, provided the background.”
Photo courtesy of JapanToday.com
No tag for this post.[WORLD GROOVE] Listening to MONKEY MAJIK - “Sora wa Marude”
July 26, 2007 by KNDY · Leave a Comment
GROUP: MONKEY MAJIK
ALBUM: Sore wa Marude
CATALOG #: AVCD-23314
LABEL: binyl records
RELEASE DATE: July 25, 2007
WEBSITE: www.monkeymajik.com
TRACK LISTING:
- Sore wa Marude
- No Snow in December
-
光朝
- Picture Perfect
- Sotsugyo, Soshita Mirai e
- Change
- Futari
- LONG SHOT PENNY
- Pretty People - Japanese ver.-
- Negai
- Smile
- MAYBE
- I Miss You
- BONUS TRACK: Around The World + Go!
- BONUS TRACK: Gandara
One of my favorite artists is Jack Johnson. I love the melody and the awesome music that he is able to have with just his acoustic guitar. I was looking for an artist and group like Jack and I somewhat found it with the band MONKEY MAJIK.
MONKEY MAJIK is a band that sings in English in Japanese and features a good balance of acoustic guitar, drum and bass. But an integration with awesome melodies and also cool vocals, great unison among the Plant brothers and the guys can rap as well.
And if there was a band that definitely can transcend well with a career both in Japan and outside of the country is definitely the guys of MONKEY MAJIK.
The group features the Plant brothers Maynard and Blaise from Canada (both do the vocals and acoustic guitar), tax on drums and DICK on bass.
Their latest album “Sora wa Marude” features 13 tracks of awesome music with collaborations with SEAMO (on “Sotsugyo, Soshite Mirai e”), m-flo (on “Picture Perfect”) and the Yoshida Brothers (on “CHANGE”) which add to the freshness of the music offered by the group.
The album also includes four CD singles “Futari” (3rd CD single, rel. October 2006) up to “CHANGE” (sixth CD single, rel. April 2007).
I have to say that MONKEY MAJIK is quickly becoming one of my favorite groups from Japan right now. Their latest album is highly enjoyable and because the songs feature quite a good balance of English and Japanese, I guess for me, it has that Western feel because of the usage of English in their songs.
I really enjoy the collaboration songs such as “Sotsugyo, Soshite Mirai e” which the group jam with hip hop artists SEAMO and features the group rapping as well.
“CHANGE” features shamisen and I just found it cool how it integrates with the group’s rock music. This track features more of a rock sound as the electric guitar is used but to hear the shamisen playing integrated into the song is just very cool!
“Picture Perfect” is the group collaborating with m-flo and another cool song featuring verbal and the Plant brothers singing and rhyming.
And also a good dose of slow jams such as “Futari”, “Smile”, “I Miss You” and also two bonus tracks included like a new version of their 2nd hit CD single “AROUND THE WORLD+GO! Sora”
I’ve been listening to this album over and over for the past few days and it’s an album that features great music, very good vocals and one of the best albums I have heard this year.
Highly recommended!
Tags: MONKEy MAJIK, Sora wa Marude
