Facebook is a Failure as a Marketing and Sales Tool - Here's Data!

Marc Sheffner posts an incredibly interesting article at the Searching For Accurate Maps blog about how Facebook is actually a losing proposition when it comes to marketing and promotion. 

Actually, I suspected so. I'm glad Marc put up some real numbers for people to get into.


Please refer to End of Facebook?

Ad Age, a six-week study of Facebook’s Fan pages showed a mere 0.45% of fans engaged in any way beyond clicking “Like.” This indicates that Facebook fan bases and actual engagement aren’t the same thing.

The average engagement for the 10 brands with the largest fan bases (like Harley Davidson, Nike and Porsche) was 0.36%. The highest engagement was in the alcohol category and the lowest in laundry detergent, social platforms and apps.

In other Facebook marketing news, my colleague Brian Croner reports that “world famous Sun Valley Ski Resort here in Idaho, invested their entire $950,000 ad budget in Facebook advertising in 2011 and it bombed. It bombed so bad in fact, they fired their marketing director. Last year they had more snow than they knew what to do with and still couldn’t pack the hotels after using FB exclusively.

Read more at Accurate Maps. 


Looking at how badly Groupon is dropping, refer to Groupon Shares Fall Off a Cliff, Down 42% Since IPO, Facebook had better IPO as soon as possible because I suspect that the actual value of these social networks could be close to zero. I already know that Facebook is losing money. 


Don't forget that, just a few years ago, Myspace was the King of Social Networks... Today? They closed their office in Japan last month.


Could Facebook be a few years behind Myspace?

What a Difference a Few Decades Make - More on Japan's Coming Collapse - The Energy Crisis

In yesterday's article Japan's Collapse Will Be Absolute and it Cannot be Stopped - Here's Some BIG Reasons Why I wrote that Japan is now entering the so-called Perfect Storm that is going to ruin this country and there's no way out. 

Our debt situation is past fixable state. The March 11 disaster of Tohoku has put the entire country in a situation whereby we are set to turn off all our nuclear power plants in the summer of 2012 (good timing while oil prices have passed $100 a barrel and the saber rattling gets louder near Iran)... The Japanese public, in their usual confused state, as well as the decrepit Japanese political class are even entertaining the idea of shutting the power plants off permanently. This entire mess has lead to a situation whereby Japanese electrical power companies have stated that they want to raise the power costs to manufacturers. Zerohedge writes in: A New Beginning in Japan: Glimmers of False Hope:

TEPCO, the bailed out owner of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, is trying to shove rate increases of 17% down the throats of its commercial customers—while rationing power at the same time. 

Continuing in another quote from yesterday's article: Japan Inc. is losing money left and right as it it without a massive increase in costs. Please refer to Times of India Sony, Panasonic forecast deeper losses:

Japan's biggest makers of phones, televisions and chips say they'll lose about $17 billion this year, about three-quarters of what Samsung Electronics Co will spend on research to lengthen the lead over its competitors.

Sony Corp more than doubled its annual loss forecast for the year ending March 31 as it announced a new chief executive officer, while Panasonic Corp and Sharp Corp predicted the worst losses in their histories. Their combined losses compare with the $22 billion that Samsung, Asia's largest consumer- electronics company, said it will invest in capital expenditures.

These two Japanese giants are going to lose in one year nearly what one Korean competitor will spend merely on R&D? Folks, it doesn't take a genius to figure out what's going to happen to these entities when they are hit with a 17% increase in operating costs. At least three big things will happen. One, the manufacturers will pass on increased costs to you, the consumer, which will ultimately decrease sales for them and increase the cost of living for you. Two, this increase in cost of living will decrease sales and hurt production and profitability further (thereby actually depressing tax revenues for the government in spite of raising taxes). And three, they will move factories overseas where it is cheaper to operate.


This energy problem and the problems Japan faces lay plainly at the feet of the government... Namely government interference with all areas of the economy and public life... An interference that expands daily. If the government didn't get their hands in ruining the economy, Japan could have shaken out all this bad debt we had in the late 80s at the end of the so-called bubble and started building a solid economy... But we didn't. The Japanese government bailed out the banking industry and gave rise to the word, "Zombie Banks." We still have them.


A the economic problems grow inexorably larger as the population ages and the energy problems peak.


Diego.a a regular reader to this blog sends in some very interesting observations on this situation. They basically boil down to, "How in the world could it be that Japan has fallen so far, so fast in just these thirty years?" Of course, I'd have to answer, "...Just look at government interference. The more the government gets involved, the more messed up things get."

Diego.a writes:

Remember the 1980s/1990s when people were Americans were scared of Japanese companies buying up the world? 

Losing the War with Japan:

(The description on the video of "Losing the War With Japan" reads as follows:

PBS documentary, which first aired in 1991, titled Losing the War with Japan. It examines Japan's economic challenged to the US, which reached its peak in the late 1980s to early 1990s. A key argument in the documentary centers on the manner in which Japan achieved its economic rise, which was through state-led industrial development based on "predatory capitalism" and America's need to respond in kind. )

Diego.a continues: 


Now, thanks to the state, you have blackouts in 21st Century Japan.

Things are so bad, China may end up with the first practical thorium reactor . That is nuts! 


(More on LFTR/thorium power plants.)

Fukushima immune? China bets on 'safer nuclear fuel':

Oh what a difference a few decades make. Seriously, when you consider Diego.a's words, it is appalling that the Japan of the 21st Century has been so ineptly mismanaged that blackouts are going to become a part and parcel of life in this country.


That people still ask, "Why doesn't the government do something?" Just makes me scratch my head. Hasn't the government already done enough to make things worse? We certainly don't want them doing anymore.


If big government were the answer to our problems then the Soviet Union would have been a very successful country. But it wasn't.


We are now witnessing the results of two lost decades, going on three, of government interference in the Japanese economy. It's pretty easy to see how well they've done.

Japanese People Going Crazy Like Americans - Is it the Food or the Water? Japan Gulps American Fast Food

Japan is going nuts, my friends. What I mean by that is Japan is becoming more and more like the USA day by day and it's not good. I've said for a long time that Japan was thirty or forty years behind the USA and I stand by that statement. Several decades ago, America was generally a good place to live, had good industry and service was done with a smile. 

Today, Japan still has good service with a smile and industry... But for how much longer?


I even remember when McDonald's had the campaign in the USA that burgers were a dollar but the smiles were free. Not anymore in the nuthouse that today's USA has become. I lived in the USA as a kid in the sixties and seventies. I think it was the golden age of the richest country in history. Those days are long gone. 


Unfortunately for Japan, as I said, I believe my axiom holds true: Japan is thirty or forty years behind the USA... Today Japan is now heading into some very bad times and I don't see a way to avoid them. Please refer to: Japan's Collapse Will Be Absolute and it Cannot be Stopped - Here's Some BIG Reasons Why.


Like a rash that at first starts off small and slowly spreads, the symptoms of Japan's decline have started to appear and are unmistakable for those who are alert enough to notice them. 


Things are happening in Japan today that were unheard of just a few years ago. Did you know two women got into an altercation at a pub yesterday in Nishi Arai (Adachi ku, Tokyo) that resulted in one of the women dying? It hasn't hit the English language news services in Japan as far as I can see but here's a Japanese link from Yahoo Japan. What happened was that it seems two women went separately to a pub. There, for some reason, a argument broke out between them. Soon the argument turned into into a fist fight with one woman using a beer mug to hit the other woman in the face and over the head. When the woman who was stuck by the beer mug collapsed to the floor, the other woman jumped on her and began kicking her repeatedly while she was on the ground. 


The collapsed woman was taken to a hospital where she died.


Now, if this were the United States, we'd all say, "Ho-hum. So what's new?" But in Japan? This is unheard of. To prove that this is not an unusual occurance in today's USA, I went to Youtube and searched "Fight at McDonald's" I got over 5,500 results. "Fight at Chuck E. Cheese" resulted in over 15,700 results. "Fight at restaurant" received 8,530 results (and climbing)...


To compare with Japan, I searched "Fight at restaurant"（レストラン 喧嘩）and found 76 results. None involved people fighting. The top video was of some pigeons fighting over food. 


What is the cause of this? Scoff now, my friends, but I am convinced that it is all a part of the Zeigeist of the times and has much to do with the food and water people consume. Now, it's come to Japan. The rise - and current dominance - of the western diet and fast food culture in Japan will result in more crime, dissatisfaction, clinical depression, medical maladies and an more unhealthy populace in general. And, "unhealthy populace" means not just physically unhealthy, but mentally unhealthy too. 


Some people will argue this but it's laughable to think that eating chemicals and processed, unnatural foodstuffs won't cause all sorts of problems. Think about this: Do you know why homeless people generally go crazy after about two months on the street? Well, it should come to no surprise to learn that homeless people do not eat well and consume lots of fast food. Just add two and two and you'll get four. 


I was just telling a friend of mine yesterday that, 15 or 20 years ago, you never saw very fat Japanese people. But you see them now. I find it not just a coincidence that, as the Japanese increase vastly their intake of  western food they become more and more obese like Americans.


This chart is a bit dated but we can compare it with what I'm saying: 15 ~ 20 years ago, you rarely ever saw a Japanese person who was fat... Sumo? Yes. Obese people? I mean really fat people like you see in the USA? No. This chart compares the obesity rate of many countries around the world including Japan:

Country by country comparison of obesity

As you can see, twenty years ago, in 1990, about 2.5% of the Japanese population were considered obese... Trust that there aren't that many sumo running around so we can figure that this rate is pretty true. Compare that with the '88 ~ '94 rate of the USA that was about 24%. 

By the mid-1980s the American inspired fast food fueled boom was deeply entrenched in Japan amongst an entire generation of young people. Those twenty-year olds of 1980 are now 50-year-olds today... Gee, I wonder how that has affected Japan's obesity problems? I'm not exactly sure about that and have no data but it is common knowledge that today's Japan is beginning to have an obesity problem too. 

I do have anecdotal evidence in the fact that the word, "Metabo" became a common word in the Japanese vernacular over these past 5 years. "Metabo" is short for "Slow metabolism." It is the lame excuse that overweight people use for being fat as in,

Fat person: "Oh, I am getting over-weight. It's that darn slow-metabolism!" 

Me: "No. It's not your slow metabolism. It's because you eat too much junk like a pig and don't exercise."

Of course the obesity problem in Japan is nowhere near the crisis porportions of the USA but judging from the chart below, we might get a good idea where we're heading.

The next chart give us clues. It is an interesting chart on the exponential growth of obesity in America. I haven't any chart like this for Japan with regards to up-to-date information, but while Japan is still decades behind the USA in the overweight department, Japan is growing exponentially too... Thank you McDonald's!

But it's not just obesity and all the health problems that follow the American diet wherever it goes around the world. I've mentioned mental health problems. I submit to you that insanity also follows along with the Standard American Diet (SAD).


The SAD diet is chock full of chemicals and preservatives. People think eating that hamburger is just food that goes right through you and out the other side. Wrong! Thinking that way is just plain ignorant. That food doesn't go though you folks, it goes in you and is processed by your body. It becomes you.


They don't say, "You are what you eat" for no reason. Eat junk, become junk. 


And on that note, did you know that cancers and heart diseases were unheard of diseases in Japan and Asian countries before the 1950's? Yep. It's true. There's even a movie about it. It's called Knives Over Forks. Here's a trailer.

Over the years, I've heard many anecdotal stories about America going crazy and have told my fair share myself too. The noticeable thing is that these stories get more and more common and wilder and wilder. I've often wondered if it was fluoridation of the water or the poisoning of the food. Let me guess though, it's both. It's everything. It's all the crap that people ingest in their food, water and air.


Everyone knows about the fights and insanity going on in America... Now that we have fast food in Japan on every street corner, Japan is indeed becoming more and more like the United States.


This isn't turn out good. Just look at the USA to see what's going to happen... 

Japan's Collapse Will Be Absolute and it Cannot be Stopped - Here's Some BIG Reasons Why

Truly this country is in a position whereby there will be no way out. The government has dragged us into a cesspool of debt and there will be no fix. The nuclear disaster has put the nation is a position whereby political populism has taken the driver's seat over cool-headed reasoning. 


Japan can't last like this for much longer. I hope I'm wrong about this but I think it looks like our situation is impossible to fix. And I do not exaggerate when I say "impossible to fix." Some will scoff at this but I ask you to read on and see what conclusions you come to. Let me know if you disagree. 


Please keep in mind these three important points as you read on. I think these three make a poisonous cocktail:


*Japan's debt to GDP is too high
*The energy crisis will much further ruin the employment and the economic situation here
*The energy crisis will also cause a hollowing out of Japanese industry


The only good news is that there will be no sales tax increase as prime minister Noda will be, as I've already predicted, out by September 1st at the latest. I seriously doubt that he can last that long. The other good news is that more Japanese fathers will be spending time with their kids as they will be out of jobs.


But first up, about that sales tax problem and our soon-to-be ex-prime minister. From an article that ran at Testosterone Pit in Feb: Unpopularity Contest at the Edge of the Japanese Abyss:  

In a Kyodo News telephone poll over the weekend, Noda’s approval rating dropped to 29%, down 6.8 points from January, and down a dizzying 50 points in less than six months. The disapproval rating jumped to 55.2%. Only Taro Aso fell faster. But at the current trajectory in the prime-ministerial unpopularity contest, Noda might beat his records soon:

Looking at the graph above, you'd see how Noda's popularity was just crashing in his first 5 months in office. Interestingly though, he got a minimal reprieve last month in March 2012. His popularity actually went up 2.5%!:

While not in the least bit scientific, I have projected Noda's popularity with the black arrow. I think this is being quite generous considering the fact that his cabinet actually publicly presented their plan to increase the public tax burden. Please refer to: Japan's Noda Government Passes 200% Tax Increase - Look For Noda to Be Out by July, September at the Latest. Either way, if my guess is correct, Noda will hit the 20% area in late June or early July. Then it's curtains for his administration. If he can survive until September it will be a miracle.

But that's not the whole story here folks. We're not talking about getting rid of another prime minister.... Actually, it won't matter who prime minister is. Japan's political situation is much like the United States: There is no one who even has the hope of repairing the situation. At least the USA has Ron Paul. In Japan, we have no one.  

We're talking about several factors combined to make a political situation that cannot be fixed. The whole story involves the bleak future this country is heading for. Raising taxes will not remedy our debt burden. I've mentioned before that we need massive cuts in government spending - cuts which we will never receive.. Throw on top of this the energy situation in Japan and how that will lead to absolute disaster on our horizon.

Folks, this summer could be the beginning of the end for Japan as a modern day economic powerhouse. I do not make this statement lightly. Like I said, read on and see what conclusions you come to...

Japan has no natural resources and energy. We are on a course to shutdown all of our nuclear power plants this summer. Great! You say? Really? How great will it be when industry finds that it is no longer economical to do business and run their factories and plants in Japan? What's going to happen to your rosy life and happy existence when the Japanese economy hollows out and industry leaves for greener pastures in other countries?

People are going to criticize me for writing this and saying that I am hysterical but all I can say is that I have seen this happen with my own eyes in another country before. It happened in my country. The causes of the hollowing out of the economy were different, but the end result was the same: In the United States, industry left for better shores in the 1980s (they all went to China and India) and we are seeing the results of that today... 

All one needs to do to see what that hollowing out has done to the middle class in America is to get on an airplane and fly to, say, Detroit to see what is left of industry there. It's not rocket science, but where's there's no industry, there are no jobs.

That is the future we are heading for in this country and I see no way out. Zerohedge writes in: A New Beginning in Japan: Glimmers of False Hope:

TEPCO, the bailed out owner of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, is trying to shove rate increases of 17% down the throats of its commercial customers—while rationing power at the same time. Power shortages will spread across most of Japan this summer as the last of 54 nuclear power plants will be taken off line in a few weeks. While pressure is building to restart some of them, public distrust and resistance run high, particularly after revelations seeped out about the nuclear industry’s controlling relationship with its regulators. Japan Inc. at work. The conspiracy had squashed stiffer regulations for nuclear emergencies. Five years later, the people of Fukushima paid the price. For that fiasco, the emails that documented it, its deadly and ongoing impact, and the anger it caused, read... A Revolt, the Quiet Japanese Way.

But it’s a two-edged sword. Shortages of up to 20% this summer are expected to strangle the highly industrialized Osaka area, and companies are shifting production overseas. Now a panel of the Osaka municipal and prefectural governments floated a plan for the city of Osaka to demand that Kansai Electric Power shut down its nuclear power plants permanently. Mayor Toru Hashimoto has come out in support.

Catch that part about a 17% rate increase for commercial customers? Are these people nuts? Japan Inc. is losing money left and right as it it without a massive increase in costs. Please refer to Times of India Sony, Panasonic forecast deeper losses:

Japan's biggest makers of phones, televisions and chips say they'll lose about $17 billion this year, about three-quarters of what Samsung Electronics Co will spend on research to lengthen the lead over its competitors.

Sony Corp more than doubled its annual loss forecast for the year ending March 31 as it announced a new chief executive officer, while Panasonic Corp and Sharp Corp predicted the worst losses in their histories. Their combined losses compare with the $22 billion that Samsung, Asia's largest consumer- electronics company, said it will invest in capital expenditures.

These two Japanese giants are going to lose nearly what one Korea competitor will spend on R&D? Folks, it doesn't take a genius to figure out what's going to happen to these entities when they are hit with a 17% increase in costs; two things. One, they will make you pay for those costs and; two, they will move factories overseas where it is cheaper to operate.

I am a bit surprised at Osaka mayor Hashimoto supporting an idea that's going to wind up putting a large part of his constituency in the unemployment line. I thought he wasn't too interested in populism.... Guess I was wrong.

I think he'll be singing a different tune around autumn of this year. In fact, I predict that he'll be changing his mind real quick and getting off his populist duff when people are out of work. Funny that. Politicians seem to want to talk about jobs and getting people back to work is usually a very populist issue when everyone is broke... Testosterone Pit reports in A Revolt, the Quiet Japanese Way:

...people are opposing the almighty nuclear industry at a local level. Every time a nuclear power plant shuts down for scheduled maintenance, people in the area come out against restarting it. Thus, of Japan’s 54 reactors, only two are still generating electricity. And both are scheduled to be off line by April. With harsh consequences for industry and manufacturers.

And another setback for Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, the sixth ineffectual prime minister in six years. Like his predecessors, he is stumbling down a steep slope in approval ratings. When they drop into the low twenties, he will be axed, and a new sacrificial lamb will be stuffed into that slot. For the fiasco that is sending Noda to replacement hell while the economic and fiscal fundamentals are falling apart, read.... Unpopularity Contest at the Edge of the Abyss.

Under pressure from Japan Inc., Noda suggested that some of the reactors should be restarted. And the arm-twisting with the resisting public got a little tougher on Friday, when METI Minister Yukio Edano predicted that Japan would face a power shortage this summer of 9.3%. Last summer, power shortages were largely limited to the Tokyo area and northwestern Japan. This summer, they would hit Kansai, the huge and highly industrialized Osaka area, where shortfalls could peak at 20%.

Industry and households would have to cut back drastically—a Third-World problem that will send more manufacturers overseas. 

It seems to me that there are no good options at this point for Japan. The people are so against nuclear power that they might be able to close the nuke plants for a while, maybe even permanently. I figure that's going to be one of those good examples of "Be careful for what you wish for, you just might get it."

Japan's financial and energy situation is a wreck... It's not even a slow motion train-wreck anymore... If Japan can make it to the New Year (2013) without some sort of devastating financial chaos, it would be a total and complete miracle.... I don't think that can happen.

Even if Clark Kent were the next Japanese prime minister, he couldn't fix this mess.

Thanks to Everyone for a Wonderful Hanami 2012

Thanks to all my wonderful friends who helped make our Hanami party 2012 such a wonderful day!

Photo by Osamu Arai

I hope the rest of 2012 sees you and yours healthy and prosperous. May all your dreams come true!

Quite Coincidental Results of Miss Universe Beauty Contests, Games and Sports After Japan Disasters

Now, that the Miss Universe Japan contest is over and my dear friend Andrew over at the "It's a Wonderful Rife" blog picked the winner (the guy does have good taste!) I have an observation that I'd like to share with you.

sexy Japanese girls

This observation comes from years of working in the mass media and in marketing. It is an observation on something that happens so repeatedly I am surprised that it seems that few others notice it.

In the seminal George Orwell book, 1984, the protagonist Winston Smith is at his office working. He gets up from his desk and heads to the restroom. There he is greeted by his boss. His boss asks Winston if he saw the 'big game' last night. Winston answers in the negative. Then the boss says something like,

"Wow! That was an exciting finish to a very exciting game! That's the best script we've written in a long time!" 

"I wouldn't kick any of them out of bed for eating sembei!"

I think most people can already get what I am implying here. What I want to say is not a negative comment, nor a positive one. I am merely making  an observation as to the way things are and run in this world.

It doesn't matter if it's sports, or elections, news or even beauty pageants; if big money is involved you can bet that a big factor of "entertainment" and "drama" is indelibly tied into the result.

Let me give you some recent examples:

Japan suffers the worst natural calamity in centuries.... That year Japan's Women's Soccer team wins the world championship for the first time in their history...

A year later, the winner of the Miss Universe Japan 2012 beauty contest comes from the prefecture that was worst hit by the earthquake and tsunami...

In 1995, Kobe was devastated by the Great Hanshin Earthquake... Quite coincidentally, I'm sure, the Kobe baseball team, the Orix Blue Wave, won the championship in 1995 and 1996.

There's a ton more of examples like this... Remember a few years back when Japan and Korea hosted the 2002 World Cup and Korea met powerhouse Spain? Yeah, Spain lost to Korea. In the final 10 minutes of the game, three goals by Spain were called back. Now, I'm not saying that game was "fixed" per say... But, face it folks, the World Soccer League is a business like any other. The Asian countries all had lots of money and any business knows that expansion into Asia is a smart and profitable move... The league knows that the local leagues must succeed and do well at home. This, of course, made for a situation whereby the league tries to arrange, how do you say? Better and more accommodating conditions for the Japanese and Korean teams.   

I think Japan finished in the top 8. Korea finished in the top 4. Neither of them have ever been in the top 16 (32?) before or since. You judge for yourself what that implies.

And don't think for a moment that this is confined to Japan and soccer... It happens in the USA and Europe for ALL major sports events. The bigger the money involved, the more corrupt the results will be. Please refer to Sumo is Fixed Like All Other Pro Sports

Take the example of CBS who used to do the Superbowl every year. CBS sells commercial time on the Superbowl for tens of millions of dollars. CBS wants to sell 4 or 5 hours of this commercial time to a sponsor.

If the games are blowouts and 70% the viewers turn off their TVs before the first half ends, sponsors are very upset. When sponsors are upset, the TV stations are very upset. Why? Because, if games are boring and people tune out, if this happens too much and too often then sponsors won't want to spend big money next year because they fear the same thing will happen.

If the sponsors don't pay big money, then who doesn't make big money? The league and team owners.

If you are an American, you might remember the Denver Broncos getting to the Superbowl in the early 1980s. They got blown out two years in a row. The games were basically over 1/2 way through the second quarter. The viewers turned their sets off. There haven't been any blowouts since then. Is it any wonder why?

Like I said, pro sports are a big business. The leagues have a product to sell. That product is supposed to be an exciting sports event that last for 4 hours and is profitable to their mass media partners too. When the game is over after 45 minutes, there are some very unhappy sponsors and media partners.

The league cannot afford to have that.

Now, many people will get angry at what I am saying here... But it's true. 

The girl who won the Miss Universe Japan Beauty Contest is a very beautiful girl and she deserves to win... I'm not taking anything away from her. But don't think for a moment that she didn't get special attention because of where she's from. I think it would be foolish to entertain the thought that she didn't.

In the case of this Miss Universe contest, the folks who run these contests also have concerns about public image and Corporate Social Responsibility. They also don't want to be seen as exploiting women so they want to put the best face forward and show that their contest is good and beneficial for society. Miss Miyagi winning this contest brings much good publicity and business to that devastated area. 

Miyagi needs good news, no?

It's good that Miss Miyagi won the contest but don't think for a minute that the disaster, pain, suffering and memory of March 11 didn't help the give the judges more consideration of her over the other girls.

The contest is, after all, run like a business.

Grim Dylan All Girl Grunge / Punk Band from UK - Cool Japan "Images" Used in Cool Rock Videos

Grim Dylan is an excellent new all girls grunge / punk band from Derbyshire in the UK. 

Here's what their bio says about them:

Grim Dylan is a female trio from the Midlands.
A manifestation of pounding drums, gravelly guitar riffs, melodic vocals and alternating bass lines. Grim Dylan kicks, shoves and pushes to the forefront of the angry girl punk scene. 

With a rapidly growing fan base and distinctive styles of writing these girls refuse to be silenced.

You can also download three of their songs for free at Reverb Nation! 

http://www.reverbnation.com/grimdylan 


I mention Grim Dylan today because we have been playing them a lot on the radio here in Japan and the reception from fans has been excellent. Also, while not an official video, a fan of theirs made this promotional video using scenes from the movie Sucker Punch. These scenes show that, in spite of the bad news of the 3/11/11 disaster, Japan and images of Japan, are still considered quite cool for young people. Enjoy!

Check out Grim Dylan's Myspace page here: http://www.myspace.com/grimdylan