JapanSugoi

Pretty Japanese singer,  gravure idol and actress Nao Nagasawa 長澤奈央 has that cute girl next door look that Azusa Yamamoto has.   The 27 year old Tokyo native who likes baking, calligraphy and golf started in showbiz in 2002 when she landed a role in Super Sentai series Sentai Hurricaneger (as Nanami Nono/Hurricane blue).

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“Bad Apple” is a fantastic piece of stop-motion animation from early 2010 from Nico Nico Douga user “shige-ruuu.”  The amazing video was made without using photo-editing software and was created using 6,566 still photos of printed bitmaps!  The images were captured with a webcam, and the effects were achieved by changing the camera position and adjusting the focus, brightness, zoom, exposure and gain.

The original stills and music come from the song “Bad Apple!!” (arranged by Masayoshi Minoshima, featuring vocals by nomico) from the Touhou Project 東方 game series.

Formed in 1980, The Street Sliders ザ・ストリート・スライダーズ were a classic Japanese rock and roll band whose sound and style were compared the to Rolling Stones.   The band consisted of Harry (vocals/guitar),  Ran Maru 蘭丸 (guitar/vocals), James (bass) and Zuzu (drums).  The band released 23 singles and 16 albums from 1980-2000 when they split up.

Tokyo Junk

Ready To Go / HARRY

Boys Jump the Midnight

Ōsama (王様), aka Ōsama Jirō (王様 治郎) is a 51 year old Japanese musician and guitarist from Nishinomiya in Hyōgo Prefecture.  Osama means King and the musician dresses in a goofy King costume and best known as a cover artist releasing albums covering Deep Purple, Rolling Stones, the Beatles,  John Lennon, Grand Funk Railroad, Kiss, Rainbow, Eric Clapton and even the Village People singing in Japanese.  The following is a promo clip from his 2005 release Kabutomushi gaiden (カブトムシ外伝) covering early Beatle’s hits.

Osama Jiro

Kabutomushi gaiden (カブトムシ外伝) Beatles 20005

singing live

NUDYLINE ニューディーライン is a Japanese gal group made up of two members, 25 year old I-RING アイリン (left) from Ibaraki prefecture and 26 year old NANA ナナ(right)  from Hokkaido. Their music ranges across many genres, from pop and hip-hop to reggae and dancehall. The sexy gals were just regular party gals going to the clubs in Shibuya before they were spotted and made into a group.

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SKULL CANDY are a 5 person band from Osaka who play energetic upbeat Jpop/ska music.  Consisting of vocalist Mari, guitarist Tatsuya, bassist George, Saxophonist Ayaka, Trombonist Usshi and 36 ミム on drums, the group was formed in 2006.

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Yumi Shizukusa 滴草由実 is a talented and pretty Jpop singer from Kagoshima Japan. The 26 year old who also goes by Shizuku (しずく).   Shizukusa Yumi won the “SUPER STARLIGHT CONTEST” audition organized by GIZA studio on April 2002 and since then has released 5 albums and 10 singles. Her last mini-album released in 2009 was Endless Summer which features a really nice music video.

Read more about Yumi  Shizukusa at her blog here

Yumi Shizukusa 滴草由実 Music Video for single Endless Summer

Nihon Madonna (or Madonna Japan) 日本マドンナ are Japanese 3 piece all girl teenage punk band formed in March 2009 comprising of  So あんな on bass,  Marina 19, まりな (gutiar and vocals)  and Satoko 17, さとこ (drums).

“ Physiology 生理 ” is the new single for Ninon Madonna’s new mini-album appropriately titled 月経前症候群～PMS～ released earlier this January.

Check out Ninon Madonna’s  official website and myspace page.

It wouldn’t be Christmas without someone covering Wham’s Last Christmas.   Jpop group Exile did a cover in 2008.  In our opinion their live version is much better than the studio version.

Last Christmas by Exile

Exile Perfect Live 2008 (with dancing santa girls!)

sing it karaoke version

Hifana ハイファナ are an amazing break beat duo who have added to the diversity of Japan’s music scene.   See the full write up of Hifana here.