3 posts tagged “j-music”

Rock band GLAY held an unprecendented live house performance yesterday, August 23, at O-EAST in Tokyo's Shibuya.

It has been 4 year's since the group's last live house was in Hakodate in 2003. Yesterday's performance was attended by 850 people, and tickets were sold out in 10 minutes. 

An excited TERU (36, vocals) said "This live house is really wonderful. I just want to let it all out and not think of anything." The crowd likewise literally rocked the place, shaking the floor with their jumping. The group performed 18 songs, including hits HOWEVER and Glorious and their new single "ASHES-1969" (due for release in October 31).

This live house is due for broadcast on NHK in November. - Translated for and by www.Japinoy.com. Please credit/link back when reposting elsewhere. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.

Learning Japanese through anime, drama and songs
Written by: Maneki Neko

The Japanese pop culture trio of invaders, anime, drama and music, brought more to foreign shores than just plain entertainment. It brought in a heightened awareness and general interest in the Japanese culture. More and more people of all ages and races are becoming hooked on this J-culture trio. I myself got into the whole Japanese thing through watching Astroboy, Voltes V and Candy Candy when I was young; eventually, I 'graduated' into J-music and drama. The immensity of genre in J-entertainment ensures that there is always something for everybody. The popularity of anime, drama and music shows no signs of abating, indeed.

Consequently, this interest sparked a larger interest in the Japanese language. Recent years have seen an increase in enrolment in Japanese language courses both in and outside universities. In fact, majority of my former and present classmates have been influenced by a common love for J-entertainment.

So how do we, as students, benefit from J-entertainment? First and foremost, this is an extremely fun and soft-sell avenue for encouraging learning. It is a very fun way to learn the language. It's so fun that you don't even realize you're already learning! Slowly, you begin to pick up words, then phrases, then sentences until you start expressing yourself in simple Japanese. The 'fun' aspect of it actually makes the Japanese skill acquired easier to retain. Also, because your study is coupled with entertainment, anime, drama and music are actually a very affordable and convenient way to learn! Study Japanese while singing along with Utada on your iPod. Pick up new words as you follow the adventures of Naruto, your favorite character. Japanese children actually began studying their language by singing songs. Guess what? I learned how to conjugate verbs in the -te form by singing a song that sounds like "Santa Claus is coming to town". Situations in anime and drama are actually visual aids that help retain the things you learned. Kind of the stuff our teachers used back in grade school.

Read the complete article at Japinoy.com

All about Yamashita Tomohisa (Yamapi, 山下 智久)

Born in Chiba in April 9, 1985, Yamashita Tomohisa is an accomplished actor and singer. Known to fans as Yamapi, Pi or Tomo-chan, he began his career at age 11 when he joined Johnny's Entertainment as a member of Johnny's Juniors.

His JE groups/acts are B.I.G., Four Tops and NewS and almost immediately went into the world of acting. At age 15, he received an award for 'Best Supporting Actor' in the series Ikebukuro West Gate Park.

At around 2002, he and three other fellow Johnny's Juniors were chosen to form Four Tops and they became the hosts of Shounen Club. In 2003, the group NewS was formed, and Yamapi was named the leader.

He and KAT-TUN's Kamenashi Kazuya formed the unit, Shuuji to Akira for their dorama, Nobuta wo Produce. Their single Seishun Amigo was the best selling single on the Oricon Yearly Single Rankings for 2005.

The following year saw Yamapi with yet another hit dorama, Kurosagi and a corresponding single called Daite Senorita. Later in the year, he became a member of Kitty GYM then reunited with NewS on New Year's Eve.

Whew, busy guy, isn't he??

For his entertainment credits as of this year, click HERE