Photos of Tokyo Skyline

The other day I went to Apple HQ in Japan. It is on the 40th floor of the Mori Building skyscraper in Roppongi.

I love going there because you can almost get a 360 view of Tokyo.

I remember when I first came to Tokyo about 35 years ago.....

I worked in Shinjuku at the 55 floor Mitsui building (it's in that grouping of big buildings in the middle there)...

From that building too, you could see every direction from the center of Tokyo... 

I thought two things: 1) Japan has lots of earthquakes but they build the high skyscrapers. And 2) Tokyo is the only city in the world where you can see buildings all the way to the horizon no matter which direction you look at it.

Amazing.

London, Raindance Film Festival & Kim Jung Un Photo Dump

I have been in London for the 25th Annual Raindance Film Festival where our film, "Ghostroads - A Japanese Rock n Roll Ghost Story" was selected (Thanks Raindance!)

I have been here working every day. Basically, I have been promoting the film so I haven't had time to go out sight seeing... But I have taken a few photos...

Hope you enjoy them.

I didn't do any sightseeing in London. I was busy promoting the movie.... I did, though, ride the bus (unfortunately three times). Here is a photo of Big Ben I took as we drove by...

I never, ever, thought I'd get to walk on the red carpet... But I did on Sept. 25, 2017...

My movie partner, Ken Nishikawa fulfilling a life-long dream of having a film show at Raindance in London.

Ken in front of a fruit and veggie stand near Brixton Station. We stayed in a great place in Brixton.

I saw this cool art on a wall near Leicester Square. Warhol would have approved. Kim Jung Un probably not so much.

London is cool. Even Elvis Presley was touring when I was there.

Just arrived at Heathrow. In the tube on Sept. 20, 2017.

Snickers has an interesting way of promoting in England.

Of course, I made friends with the local police. On the left is a policeman who saved my life when a drunk guy attacked me. Thanks, Constable Porter!

That's me with "Ironman." I stood for about 4.5 ~ 5.5 hours every day with a sandwich sign promoting the film... Across the street was this guy selling discount movie tickets.  I had to take a break every hour. This guy? He stood there like a rock, hardly moving, holding tickets high above his head for hours on end. I couldn't believe it. Hence, the name, "Ironman."

With the founder of Raindance Film Festival, Elliot Grove. Elliot is a really nice guy.

Sandwich sign man. I did this every day for eight days straight. Man! That's a tough job. My back hurt, my knees hurt and I was accosted by drunks. Who says that Sandwich sign man isn't a dangerous job?

But, when our premiere show sold out.... Sandwich sign man was redeemed. It all paid off. Thank you, Raindance. Thank you, Elliot and Suzanne! Thank you, god!

Inside the Raindance program is our film.

Me at the Raindance office on Sept 20, 2017.

Finally, tonight, I might get another dream fulfilled... I was asked to be the host of the Q&A session for John Lydon (AKA: Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols) for the film "The Public Image is Rotten" (The film about P.I.L.)

Mike Rogers interviews John Lydon of P.I.L. (AKA: Johnny Rotten - formerly Sex Pistols) in London Sept. 30, 2017. 

Folks! Your precious photos on Facebook are not safe! Social Media is a Loser for Storing Online Photos. Can't Beat Grandma's old-fashioned Photo Album.

Yep. Social Media platforms such as Myspace, Facebook, etc. are losers for storing your photos and precious memories. If you think those precious photos of your child's graduation or your vacation, or the party or the wedding are safe on a Social Media platform's photo album space are safe, well then, guess again!

Thank god I did move many photos to "Photo Dump of Rock Stars I've Met"... But still, there are a hundred more (at least) gone forever.... I'm kicking myself. Folks! Your precious photos on Facebook are not safe! (If the link above doesn't work: http://modernmarketingjapan.blogspot.jp/2012/04/photo-dump-of-rock-stars-ive-met-in.html)

I produced a very popular FM radio show in Tokyo called "Good Morning Garage" on 76.1 InterFM and we had many famous guests on the show over the years. The list is quite long. I had put p the photos of us and those guests on Myspace so that the fans could enjoy them too. Guess what? They're gone!

Myspace went and deleted all the photos we had on our Myspace Good Morning Garage Fanpage (photos since 2006).... Hundreds of photos of us and artists and fans etc.... All gone. They didn't even send us a notice warning us they were going to do that. 

I hate Myspace.

Check it out. Poof! And like the South Park episode at the bank, "...and it's gone!" 

Don't believe me. Check it yourself: https://myspace.com/goodmorninggarage/photos... 

We had hundreds of photos there. Many, now, are lost forever. 

The photo with Jean Jacques of the Stranglers (by the way), Jimmy Page, Joey Ramone are some of the many that are lost forever.... Seriously, hundreds of photos.... 

It's my fault though, I guess it'll be the same on Facebook later on when that crappy service goes bankrupt too. 

We need a better way to take care of our old photos. 

In a way, this kind of reminds me of owning paper gold versus physical gold; if it's not in your hands, then you don't own it....

I guess it's pretty darn hard to beat the old fashioned photo album (that grandma likes so much) for not losing photos. 

Destroying My Blog - I Don't Want to Be Dishonest Like Getty Images

The Internet was supposed to be this wonderful playground for us all to explore and make friends... But it isn't that at all. It's full of traps and minefields that one must be ever mindful of. If you blog, you must be particularly careful as, if your blog becomes popular (and that is the point of blogging, right?) then you will become a target.

Recently, I've destroyed my daily pages views numbers. A few weeks ago, I got a particularly nasty email from a lawyer representing Getty Images (insert booing here) who claims that they want to sue me for use of their images (well, no... That's not right. They want to sue me for use of one image). This is the trap.


Why is it a trap? Well, I guess I must be confused, but if you have something that you want protected, but you don't protect it, then you are negligent if someone else comes along, picks it up and borrows it. 


I certainly didn't steal it. They still have it to use as they wish.


Say you left a baseball bat on a baseball diamond and some kids came along and started using it... Then you come along and then you think you can claim that they owe you money for rental fee? Ha! 


If you go to Google image search and search for some particular picture (all blogs are nicer with pictures) then you will see lots of pictures that are watermarked, "Getty images" or the like. Many aren't. In fact, after I checked, you'll see the exact same images that have the Getty Watermark and some that don't.


Being stupid (or thinking like most people would think) then if they aren't watermarked, they aren't copyright protected. WRONG! You could get sued. As I was threatened with. I think that Getty's way of doing business is quite distasteful and disturbing (I can see them asking that you delete - but aggressively and threateningly - like Yakuza - screaming at you over the phone over court? And for one image on a freaking blog!???)

Two men playing Chinese Chess. This looks exactly like a Getty Image...

But it's not. I took it. Use it all you want!

So now there are no photos on this blog at all unless I or my wife or friends took them. No Getty Images at all... My company will never use Getty again and I will make sure our designers at the media and broadcasting section never do again either...


I think Getty is sneaky and dishonest... I do know that their way of doing business is very bad business and they are getting tons of complaints from people all over Japan. I don't like it. I especially don't like their lawyer (who talks with an Osaka Yakuza accent) screaming at my wife (who has no idea what they are talking about) over the phone. Sure, it's nice that someone is out protecting the rights of artists (well, hell, they're getting paid to do so)... But the tactics are deplorable.


Getty Images in Japan is run by a bunch of a*sholes... Poor public image will ultimately result in very bad business. You'll see, Getty. (Here is the horrifying story of someone who has dealt with this in Japan. Use Google translate: http://blog.livedoor.jp/kiku0319/archives/4314460.html)


That also means that if you see an image you like on this blog, then use it as you wish. Just call it my little war with Getty. Over time, I will have thousands of images (and I hope that you will do the same if you are a blogger) that people can use freely as they wish.

Businessmen at Tokyo intersection at lunchtime (use this photo free!)

Blogs need photos. It's no big deal to take your own as I do from now on. Please use any images on this blog as you wish.


This has also caused me to go through this entire blog and delete every single photo that I didn't take (and even some that I did because I wasn't sure)... That means the cheesecake photos of the sexy Japanese girls won't be appearing anymore.


And that brings me to the next part of this missive; I've written many times that this blog is an exercise and study in how the Internet and Google search works. I've pretty much figured most of it out until Google comes out with a new algorithm for its search engine.


And that's where I've destroyed my blog page views!


They say that 70% of all Internet users are guys. They also say that 70% of all Internet surfers surf porn. Well my research bears this out!


Before the hassle with the photo Nazi's at Getty Images (insert booing here) this blog consistently rated between 7,000 ~ 9,000 page views a day, every day. Now after deleting all the photos of sexy girls, as well as a few hundred others, where do we stand?


I'm down to about 2,000 a day... (But the number has been steadily rising these last 2 weeks.)


That's OK, though. This blog is about Japan, marketing and the media.... Guys sitting at their computer and looking at hot girls and masturbating are not exactly my target audience...


I mean, I don't look at this particular blog for that, I don't expect that my readers do either.


I've also found out how to turbo and "double" my page views simply by using a different format for the blog, but I find that sneaky and dishonest too. That's why I am now back to the old format (sort of) that I used for the first 1.5 years of this blog's existence.


Sexy Japanese girls photos and others do not exist on this blog site anymore. I do not use sneaky blog templates that double or triple my page views. I've bled lots of page views (readers?) because guys don't come here to masturbate to photos anymore.

Unless, of course, you like long, hard things like subway trains in tunnels (use this photo free!)

Making a blog and using tools to drive people outside of my target audience to this site is dishonest and sneaky.


I don't want to be dishonest and sneaky. I don't want to be like Getty Images. I don't need people masturbating to the images on this site.


If my writing can't make them feel good or feel like masturbating, then maybe my writing isn't good enough for 9,000 readers a day. That's OK. 


At least it's honest.

-----

Read the follow up to this article: Why Getty Images Cannot Sue You For Damages in Japanese Court and Win; Why Japan Doesn't Allow For Damages Claims in Court  

Photos of Solar Eclipse Over Japan

Schools were closed for a half day to day in Japan to allow the students to see the full solar eclipse over Japan... Needless to say it is a very rare event... That the skies were cloudy in May in Japan, on the other hand, is not a rare event.

Photo by Michio Hashimoto

My son and the other neighborhood kids were out watching the total eclipse.... Me? I was hungover and still in bed....Quite unenthusiastic about the entire thing really... What? No re-runs?  

Being born in the 50s, I had always thought these things only happened in black and white...

Photos of Japan's Top Sexy Actresses and Models for April 2012

SORRY GUYS! ALL PHOTOS REMOVED DUE TO PHOTO NAZIS AND COPYRIGHT PROBLEMS!

WARNING! PERHAPS THESE AREN'T SAFE FOR WORK!!! 

(Well, if you work at Victoria's Secret Catalogue, they're safe. If you work at the Baptist Church on the corner, they are definitely not safe!!!)

Kawamura Yukie (川村 ゆきえ)

Yesterday I put up a blog about how women in Japan were having problems finding enough eligible men for dating and marriage. At dating events in Japan, that ratio of women to men at some of these big dating events is about 7 women for every three men attending the events. It's gotten so bad for male attendance that a big company that runs these sorts of dating services told me that they are allowing eligible men in for free!


Incredible! If you want to read more on that, please refer to Japan's Dating Services Extremely Short on Men?! - Prearranged Marriages Making a Comeback in Japan!?


Anyway, in that article I put a couple of photos of some awesome girls in there and the peanut gallery started to complain that they wanted to see more sexy Japanese girls. Well, who doesn't and who am I to deny?


Once again, these photos are for research purposes only and, as my good friend Mark Davis wrote, "Another good reason for young American men to move to Japan. It's nice of you to try and help out Japanese women by advertising their plight of not enough eligible men. Your public service is inspiring Mike."


Yes, Mark. I know. And thank you for your kind words. You don't know how hard it can be looking at these pictures - of course, by myself.


Also, note, this is, in a way, my service to you guys who don't have Japanese fonts on your computer nor are you able to access Japanese sites so easily. I will place these girls names in Roman alphabet along with their names written in Japanese. If you see a girl you like, then just copy and paste her name (that's written in Kanji - without the parenthesis), into a search engine (Google, Youtube, etc.) and wallah! You're there in her living room!


Enjoy!

Diana Okuai (奥愛ディアナ)

Diana Okuai (奥愛ディアナ)

Yuri Hamada (浜田由梨)

Natsumi Ikeda (池田夏希)

Natsumi Ikeda (池田夏希)

Nanako Kodama (児玉菜々子)

Sayuki Matsumoto (松本さゆき)

Minami Matsuzaka (松坂南)

Minami Matsuzaka (松坂南)

Tama Mizuki (水樹たま)

Tama Mizuki (水樹たま)

Hitomi Kitamura （北村ひとみ) 

Yuki Mogemi (最上ゆき)

Airi Nagasaku (永作あいり)

Airi Nagasaku (永作あいり)

Anri Sugahara (杉原杏璃)

Anri Sugahara (杉原杏璃)

Anri Sugahara (杉原杏璃)

Wow! I don't know about you, but this has been a gala day! As Groucho Marx would say, "That's good because I don't know if I could handle more than a gal a day!"


See you in June!


(To see Feb 2012 Top Sexy Japanese Actresses and Models click here). 
(To see the top sexy Japanese actresses for Dec. 2011, click here). 

Photos of Japan's Top Sexy Actresses and Models for February 2012

WARNING! PERHAPS THESE AREN'T SAFE FOR WORK!!! 

(Well, if you work at Victoria's Secret Catalogue, they're safe. If you work at the Baptist Church on the corner, they are definitely not safe!!!)

Here's the second edition of Japan's Top Sexy Actresses and Models. I am putting this up today because part one was so popular and this blog is just about to hit one million reads. That's not one million readers, mind you, but one million reads. That's not bad for a blog that is only about 18 months old. I also am anxious to get past the one million mark as this bothers me and I want to hurry up and get the "anti-climatic" ("-climatic" get it?) part over as soon as possible so here are these cheesecake photos.


(To see the top sexy Japanese actresses for Dec. 2011, click here). 

This time I am putting the girl's names written in Japanese and English so that if you want to search for images or videos yourself, you can just by copying and pasting their names from here.

"Thank you Global Warming!" as my friend Kevin Riley would say!


Enjoy!

Saaya Irie 入江紗綾

Arisa Taki 滝ありさ 

Ai Shinozaki 篠崎愛

Mai Nishida 西田麻衣

Minase Yashiro 八代みなせ

Momo Nakajima 中島もも 

 Shizuka Nakamura 中村靜香 

 Asami Tada 多田あさみ

Yuri Murakami 村上友梨 

Rui Kiriyama 桐山瑠衣 

Reimi Tachibana 立花麗美 

Japan is heaven!

(To see the top sexy Japanese actresses for Dec. 2011, click here). 


(To see the top sexy Japanese actresses for April 2012, click here).

Photos of Japan's Top Sexy Actresses and Models for December 2011

WARNING! PERHAPS THESE AREN'T SAFE FOR WORK!!! 
(Well, if you work at Victoria's Secret Catalogue, they're safe. If you work at the Baptist Church on the corner, they are definitely not safe!!!)

It's a Sunday morning so it's time for some entertainment...


My good friend in the states who wishes to remain nameless asks that I post the names and photos of the girls who I think are the most beautiful and sexiest in Japan today... I reckon that he wants to know the exact names - in English - so he can do his own, er, "research." OK. This blog is about Japan. Japan has tons of extremely sexy women.... I also hear that 70% of Internet surfers worldwide are men. I am a man. I blog. I need readers, so here is a shameless attempt to get more readers, er, "viewers . 


(Some people ask me, "Mike, are you doing this for the money?" And I answer, "Why, yes. How did you know?")


So, without further ado. Here's the first edition of Japan's Top Sexy Actresses and Models. I guess, from looking at these cheesecake photos, I should make this a regularly scheduled blog post. Ahem...

Mikie Hara

Arisa Taki

Haruka Ayase

Aya Kikuchi

Ai Shinozaki

Nonami Takizawa

Arisa Taki

See Feb 2012 Top Sexy Japanese Actresses and Models here: http://modernmarketingjapan.blogspot.com/2012/02/photos-of-japans-top-sexy-actresses-and.html

Ai Shinozaki

Sora Aoi

Aikawa Mina

And, of course, my current favorite, Yukie Kawamura who starred in the "classic" splatter film, "Vampire Girl versus Frankenstein Girl."

Of course, I say that Yukie Kawamura is my current favorite, but you wouldn't kick any of these girls out of bed for eating sembei (rice crackers).

See Feb 2012 Top Sexy Japanese Actresses and Models here: http://modernmarketingjapan.blogspot.com/2012/02/photos-of-japans-top-sexy-actresses-and.html

Taking Photos With Famous People in Japan

I've written before somewhere how it's so easy to meet the rich and famous in Japan. It happens all the time here. It happened to me again twice in the last three days. Please refer to: Meeting the Rich and Famous in Japan? No Problem!

Since I've been in Japan, I've met many extremely famous people, multi-millionaires and world famous politicians... Just to name a few...

I've met Richard Branson, George H. W. Bush (Daddy Bush), Yoko Ono, Elvis Costello, Siouxsie Sioux (not well known by most, but I am a big fan), at least 7 Japanese Prime Ministers and a bunch of other countries prime ministers - so many - that I can't remember. Along with the some many others that I've met who I can't remember either.

If you want to see photographic proof of some of those, go to this link.

Remember Prime Minister Mori? He was the one who went to the US and met then US president Clinton. Mori messed up his English and tried to say, "How are you?" but, instead said, "Who are you?" To which Clinton said, "I'm Hilary's husband." Mori then replied, "Me too!"

Funnily enough, some friends who have lived here for years asked me how it is possible that I pull this off every time and get my photo with these famous people? So now, lucky you, "chaser of the stars"! I'm going to share my secrets! And it's all for free! Today's blog post is how you can meet the rich and famous in Japan and get your photo taken with them each and every time. 


It's all so simple.

First off, let me show you my latest trophy. This is a photo with me and Beat Takeshi taken on Friday night, September 30, 2011 at Tennozu. Beat Takeshi is arguably the most famous Japanese in the world.

Me with Beat Takeshi Friday, Sept 30, 2011

Wikipedia says:

Takeshi Kitano (北野 武 Kitano Takeshi, born January 18, 1947) is a Japanese filmmaker, comedian, singer, actor, tap dancer, film editor, presenter, screenwriter, author, poet, painter, and one-time video game designer who has received critical acclaim, both in his native Japan and abroad, for his highly idiosyncratic cinematic work. The famed Japanese film critic Nagaharu Yodogawa once dubbed him "the true successor" to influential filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. With the exception of his works as a film director, he is known almost exclusively by the name Beat Takeshi.

It's not the first time I've seen Beat Takeshi at Tennozu. The first time I saw him I didn't expect it so I didn't have my camera ready. I knew, if it happened again, I would make sure my iPhone camera was on and ready to go.

I've shown this photo with me and Beat Takeshi to many friends and they were all blown away. This photo was even shown to many who work in the same building where this photo was taken (TV Tokyo Tennozu Bldg.). I think Beat Takeshi shoots some sort of comedy show there sometimes. Even those who have seen him from a distance and even work there are so much in awe of the guy, they would never in a million years ask to take a photo together. Me? Nah! Not me. You only live once, gotta go for the gusto!


I say invite the guy over for a Happoshu! (cheap beer)

But back to the story: How to take photos with people like this? Well, actually, even though he is probably the most famous Japanese in the world, appearing in TV and movies over decades, a person like Beat Takeshi is one of the easier people to take photos with. Seriously.

Why? Well, bear with me for a minute here, it's a tad bit complicated....

Beat Takeshi, like most Japanese, cannot speak English as well as he should. 


I say, "as well as he should" because, I mean, after all, Beat Takeshi's photo is on every train in Japan advertising an English school for Japanese. Think about that! I guess that about 100 million people see his face everyday going to school, work, shopping or just riding the train to where ever it is they want to go.

BEAT TAKESHI SPEAKING ENGLISH 

IN TV COMMERCIAL - JUST WATCH A FEW

SECONDS AND YOU'LL KNOW WHAT I MEAN!

Before I go on, let me tell you that I am a big fan of Beat Takeshi. He is one of the funniest guys in the world, I think. He also directs great movies. He won the Best Director and Film Award at the Venice Film Festival in 2003 for Zatoichi... Beat Takeshi is no slouch.

Beat Kitano's (Takeshi) Zatoichi 2003

Also, dear reader, just because this is one of those "WTF!?" stories that I love to write, don't think I am making fun of Beat Takeshi. No way. I am making fun of the absurdity of life in general. 


Anyway, like I said, Beat Takeshi is everywhere in Japan. He is a hero. He is super-popular. The guy makes millions and millions of dollars doing what he wants. He lives the life we all only dream of... And, like I said, his face is on posters everywhere for an English school in Japan.

Train poster

OK... So, you see a guy like Beat Takeshi. You have your camera ready (always have your camera ready when walking around Tokyo!) You want to take your photo with him. What do you do?


Think about it! He has a public persona to keep up. He is raking in mega-bucks doing ad for an English school. He has to keep up appearances. You want to take your photo with him? THEN HELP HIM TO KEEP UP THOSE APPEARANCES!!!! Walk up to him and start speaking English to him just like you would to a native English speaker! While the rest of the Japanese are standing around thinking, "What did this guy just say?" It gives him the chance to hold a conversation with a REAL foreigner, in front of everyone, and impress upon them that he CAN actually speak English.


This allows him to feel good!


The conversation with Beat Takeshi the other day went like this:


Speaking very quickly in friendly and normal tones of voice (like you are meeting an old friend again after all these years), you exclaim, "Hey! Wow! I can't believe it! Beat Takeshi. Wow! I love your work! I can't believe I'm meeting you here like this (continue talking very quickly so that no one else can get a word in edgewise). May I take my photo with you?" (Hold up camera in front of his face so that he gets the drift of what you just rambled off. Remember to talk really fast like those exclusion clauses you hear at the end of car commercials on the FM radio in America).


He will be shell shocked and have no idea of what you just said. No problem! 


It's no problem because it is difficult English for a Japanese to reply, "Oh, I'm so sorry, I am very busy at the moment and must head off to my next appointment. So, please don't feel offended, but I must pass this time."


It is, though, so much easier for them to say, "OK!" "OK!" is probably the most widely known English word in the entire world. It is much easier, faster and less of a hassle for a Japanese to say "OK!" than to go into a long diatribe as to why you are a jerk and thy can't be bothered.

With actress Honami Suzuki 10/1/11 (don't even try to "dumb gaijin" stuff

with her. Not only is she beautiful she's smart and speaks 

perfect English!)

So, instead of refusing me, and thereby looking like he can't speak English, he said, "OK!" He immediately put his arm around my back and we posed for the photo.


I helped him to feel good about it because even after the photo was taken, I rambled on for a few moments about how I loved Zatoichi and used to watch his TV show and had even appeared on the show once about 24 years ago, on and on, blah, blah, blah...


He replied, "OK!" then we shook hands and he walked off. He walked off, I had my trophy. He showed all his people that he can hold a conversation with a foreigner and everyone was happy!

See? Once again, in conclusion..  It's simple to take photos with famous people. Just walk up to them and start blabbing in English. It's much easier for a Japanese to say, "OK!" than for them to say, "Er, I'm sorry. I'm a bit busy now and running late." The second they say, "OK!" You got your arm around them and are posing... 

It works every time... It works because you have the English advantage. They don't...

Wait a minute, come to think of it, this even worked with Arnie Schwarneggar and president Bush in Tokyo too... Oh, but wait, neither Bush nor Arnie can speak English well either!