Japanese Louis Armstrong and Memories of New Year's Past

This is what you used to see on New Year's TV programs in Japan in the 1980's: Japanese impersonators with black faces singing soul music.... They wouldn't even be any good at imitations, but if they had black faces and kind of sounded like the originals, then it was close enough...

Japanese Louis Armstrong - Watch more Funny Videos

Oh, how much this country has changed.... You don't see stuff like this anymore.

From today, December 29, 2010, most of Japan will be on holiday. I will be heading off to the in-laws home to learn patience.

They don't drink, gamble or smoke cigarettes.

One time, several years ago, I woke up on New Year's morning and started drinking beer. I had finished two tall cans of Asahi beer when my mother-in-law said to me, "Are you alright?" I brightly answered, "Sure!"

Like I said, these are people who do not drink at all, so they thought that drinking from the morning was extraordinary and that two tall cans of beer was a ton of booze. And here I had always thought the Japanese were heavy drinkers!

That night my wife (who doesn't drink either) complained to me about my drinking and told me not to drink so much in front of her parents.

OK. No problem. Whistling the entire way, I put on my shoes and walked about 1 kilometer down the hill to the 7-11. There, I felt like a university student again, as I bought cigarettes and beer and stood there smoking and drinking in the parking lot.

It was wonderful! What a lovely day!

I sat for a while and had a few more beers. I was feeling good! I stood up, with beer in hand, to walk over to the other side of the parking lot to look around. As I did, I took a huge swig of beer.... Just then, as I lowered the beer, dripping off my chin and wiping it with my sleeve, a car drove by, right in front of me, and the two people in the car were staring at me with mouths gaping wide open.

It was my parents in law. They looked like they had seen a ghost.

I lowered the beer immediately and tried to act nonchalant, but I was caught red-handed!

Oh, how embarrassing that was! I couldn't believe it!

My mother in law asked me not to drink in public and asked me if I wanted a ride home. What could I say? I got in the car, tail between my legs like a dog who pissed on the rug, and rode home, not saying a word.

The next morning when I woke up my wife told me that her parents told her last night that they were very concerned about my drinking problem. And wondered if I should go see a doctor about my problem...

I laughed... "Ridiculous!" I thought. I don't have a drinking problem! My in laws have a drinking problem...... And that drinking problem is me!!!!

Happy New Year!

Japan Makes World Largest Hamburger - 136 kilograms (299.2 pounds)

2010 was a pretty lousy year for Japan. China surpassed Japan as the #2 economy; the Japanese government allowed public debt to hit over 200% of GDP; Toyota recalled 10 million cars; I have lost count of how many prime ministers we had this year and the Yomiuri Giants didn't win the Japan Series.... Again!

Well, there is one thing that can can, er, stand proud about, sort of... Japan now has the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest hamburger in the world.

From Breitbart:

MIYAZAKI, Japan, Dec. 27 (AP) - (Kyodo)—A giant hamburger, which was created in the city of Miyazaki last year and weighed 136.2 kilograms, has been certified as the world's largest hamburger on sale by the Guinness Book of World Records, its producer said Monday.

The hamburger -- 92 centimeters in diameter, 44 centimeters in height -- was made during a beach event on July 4, 2009, by Phoenix Seagaia Resort, the operator of Seagaia resort facilities in MiyazakiPrefecture.

We're #1! We're #1! We're #1!  (Looks awful)

It aimed at making a hamburger that weighed more than 113 kg as the population of the prefecture stands at 1.13 million.

Phoenix Seagaia sold two hamburgers of that size to a corporation and a vocational school in Miyazaki at 150,000 yen each before applying for the Guinness record.

The giant hamburger was made from beef, pork and milk from Miyazaki Prefecture and 15 people were needed to work for around one week to complete it, the company said. 




Here is a video of last year's monster:

Enapo & Poni-Camp: Japan's Legendary Punk Queen!

Yesterday, Dec. 26, 2010 was the final free live show for 76.1 InterFM's BAM! for 2010 and it was a killer show!


The bands that appeared were:

PONI-CAMP

MATTER

RAT CHILD

Enapou of Poni-Camp

and more with DJ: Wakaan spinning the tunes. It was a great show and thoroughly enjoyed by all. And, yes, I do have a hangover.

I also want to say thanks to my good friend Rob Schwartz from Billboard magazine taking the time out to grace us with his presence. I introduced Rob to Enapo of Poni-Camp and told him that this was a legendary girl in the Japanese punk rock scene. I promised to send Rob some information on Enapo and then decided, "Hey! This is interesting enough for a blog!" So, Rob and all my other friends, welcome to Poni-Camp and Enapo! 

This is a great explanation that I found on Youtube and decided that this says it all. Enjoy!


ENAZOU (later changing her name to ENAPOu) was the guitarist for LOLITA No.18. With her years with the band, the band was produced by Joey Ramone (RAMONES), as well as Olga from THE TOY DOLLS. 


Lolita 18 - Rockaway Beach (with Joey Ramone)



Touring the United States and Europe several times, they were able to release off of BMG (Germany) and made their Europe debut. 

Lolita 18 "Love Your Money"

Enapo left Lolita 18 in 2001 and formed PONI-CAMP inviting RAY the ex-bassist of THE JET BOYS (at that time, his name was Suzuki) and NOBU NAKAJIMA from DOMINGOS and NINGEN-ISU. The three also perform as a backing band for PUFFY AmiYumi. On a TV show they appeared on with PUFFY AmiYumi, they were asked to put their bands name on the TV screen. ENAPOu quickly came up with PONI-CAMP.

The band started playing in 2005, and in this day and age where digital media is everything, their first recording was a cassette tape (3 tracks). As ENAPOu also is an illustrator, she designed the jacket art herself. RAY took care of the recording and the dubbing and packaging was done all the band themselves. A perfect example of a DIY release! Then in December of 2005, they released their first CDEP /(U.U)..[uu](7 tracks). They even took part in the save CBGB movement.


(Here is a video link to my favorite Poni-Camp song!)
Poni-Camp - First Step
http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/howto/watch/v163330495TXGXmhg

Poni-Camp (L to R): Ray, Nobu Nakajima, Enapo

As the guitarist for PUFFY AmiYumi, the very talented ENAPO played in the Macys Day Parade in New York and is a voice actress in hit anime TV shows like BECK and Oden-kun.

In 2006, following a great demand for their music, they did another cassette tape release. That led to their first full album release Lop-Eared POP STAR☆(12 tracks) in November of the same year.

ENAPOu sings in TEKIWANATAIN (words & music: Elvis Woodstock (Lily Franky)) the theme song of the anime Oden-kun and released a single through avex trax.

Oden - Kun To Enapou - Tekiwanatain Oden

 PONI-CAMP have been extremely active in playing shows with no show of slowing down. This is a band to keep an eye out for!!!


Also! Enapo plays guitar for Duncan's Divas. Duncan's Diva's features Duncan Redmonds, the drummer and vocalist for Snuff. Duncan's Divas covers J-Pop idol hits in punk rock versions and their 2008 debut album sold 90,000 copies!


Duncan's Divas - Present



Enapo and Poni-Camp are definitely a legendary Japanese Punk Band.... The world over!

Get Ready for More Flu Season Nonsense

It's just past Christmas here and that means it's time to crank up the booga-booga and scare people into thinking that flu is going to kill us all so that the pharmaceutical industry can sell us vaccinations we don't need and the mass media can do something to try to hang on to their ever dwindling audience.

I wrote before how I was a part of the propaganda machine for many years and realized what a farce it all is long ago here.

Sure, the flu is serious business but common sense and living right will take care of it for most people. The only people who might consider flu shots are unhealthy people or the aged. Wash your hands often. Eat right. Get plenty of rest and drink lots of fresh water. That's the best cold & flu prevention you can do.

But, that doesn't make for good ratings nor does it sell product... For that, we need our annual flu scare!

Kyodo News reports:

The influenza season is in full force in Japan with the number of patients reported totaling 6,758 at about 5,000 designated medical facilities across the nation last week, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases said Friday. The figure for the Dec. 13-19 period showed that the equivalent of 1.41 patients were reported at each facility, topping the barometer for nationwide epidemics of the equivalent of one patient at each facility, the institute said.

Now, let me point out how ridiculous this is. At 5,000 facilities, over the period of seven days, they only had 1.41 patients? They call this newsworthy? They call that. "The influenza season is in full force?" Gimme a break!

I can go to my local doctor at anytime and see his waiting room just full of people trying to get in to see him. I'd say it is an easy guess to figure that even at a small private practice like his, he sees at least 50 people per day... The government run hospitals have hundreds, if not thousands of patients a day.

1.41 patients over the span of one week is nothing.

Once again, we will be subjected to this constant bombardment of the dangers of some new flu and that everyone will need a vaccination.... Oh please!

Two years ago we were told that H1N1 flu was deadly... The total number of people in Japan who died from that? One.

Like I said, wash your hands often, eat right, sleep and get plenty of rest and drink lots of fresh water.

Japan's Government Determined to Bankrupt the Country!

This is just incredible. Japan just cross the rubicon a few weeks ago when our public debt went past 200% of GDP. Now, the government here has announced the new budget for 2011 and will actually increase our public debt once again.

As Yahoo reports:

TOKYO (AFP) – Japan's centre-left government on Friday approved a record 1.1-trillion-dollar budget for the next fiscal year that aims to boost the flagging economy but adds to a mountain of public debt.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan's cabinet backed the 92.41 trillion yen draft budget for fiscal 2011 which starts on April 1.

To finance the massive outlays, Japan aims to issue fresh bonds worth 44.3 trillion yen -- meaning that for the second year in a row new debt will be bigger than tax revenue, projected to raise just short of 41 trillion yen.

"I think it is not a normal picture," said Banri Kaieda, minister in charge of economic and fiscal policy, commenting on the state of public finances. "We must correct it as soon as possible."

Japan's public debt is already estimated at about 200 percent of gross domestic product, the highest level among industrialised nations.

The new budget is slightly larger than the initial budget for fiscal 2010, which stood at 92.30 trillion yen.

It will finance some of the spending pledges made by Kan's Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) -- which ended more than half a century of near-continuous conservative rule last year -- such as cash for families with young children.

The minister in charge of economic and fiscal policy says, "I think this is not a normal picture. We must correct it as soon as possible." Well, no kidding... But how do any of these fools propose fixing this disastrous situation?

With the same failed policies of the last 20 years that have devastated this countries finances: More deficit spending and so-called "stimulus." Insane.

Some people might think that this has nothing to do with them if they are living outside of Japan, but think again... Japan is just another of the big economic dominoes. When Japan goes, it will have a ripple effect that is felt the world over.... So is Japan before or after Europe or American states?

How much longer can Japan sustain this deficit until the day of reckoning comes?

Hope you own some silver or gold.

Merry Christmas! This is pretty funny!

Merry Christmas! This is pretty funny!

Merry Christmas to All Father's and Dad's!

Christmas is special because, if only for one day of the year, dad's will spend the day playing with their kids... It really is too bad that everyday can't be Christmas as they grow up so fast!....Think about it, dad's.