Japanese Entertainment News & Info HERE!

whitedove

Japan Post yesterday announced a new service that allows you to make your own original postage stamps using photographs. Actress Yonekura Ryoko (31) appeared at an event to promote the service, posing for a photo with company president Ikuta Masaharu. She touted the "warmth" of hand-written letters and cards over their increasingly popular electronic alternatives. Using the new service, to be officially launched on September 1, customers can bring a photo to any post office and have a sheet of ten \80 stamps printed for \1200. The photo part of the stamp measures 4cm square and has a perforated edge so it can be removed from the main stamp. A similar product was launched unsuccessfully in 2003, shortly after Japan Post became a privatized company, which had the stamp and photo separated. The company hopes to sell 1.5 million sheets within this year. Also yesterday, Yonekura appeared at a PR event for the stage version of her popular TV Asahi drama series "Kurokawa no Techo". Based on a novel from the late 70s, it has been dramatized several times over the years. The TV version starring Yonekura ran in 2004 and 2005. She will be making her stage debut in the new production, scheduled to open at the Meijiza theater on October 3.

whitedove

1) Sukima Switch - Garana
2) Southern All Stars - Dirty Old Man -Saraba Natsuyo-
3) Mihimaru GT - Itsumademo Hibiku Kono Melody/Magical Speaker
4) Tackey&Tsubasa - Ho!Summer
5) Kumi Koda - 4 Hot Wave (I'll Be There/Ningyo Hime/Juicy/With Your Smile)
6) Tohoshinki - Sky
7) ELLEGARDEN - Salamander
8) Ai Otsuka - Yumekui
9) SID - Otegami
10) Aoi Teshima - Teru no Uta

whitedove

1) Various Artistes - Beautiful Songs -Kokoro de Kiku Uta-
2) Bonnie Pink - Every Single Day -Complete Bonnie Pink (1995-2006)
3) Every Little Thing - Crispy Park
4) MONGOL800 - Daniel
5) Daniel Powter - Daniel Powter
6) Shogo Hamada - The Best of Shogo Hamada Vol.2
7) Shogo Hamada - The Best of Shogo Hamada Vol.1
8) Stacie Orrico - Beautiful Awakening
9) Christina Aguilera - Back to Basics
10) 10-FEET - Twister

whitedove

After being formed for 4 years and debuting for 2 years, the title of Kanjani8's first countrywide tour has been decided. It will be called "Kanjani8 1-st National Tour", consisting of 36 performances in 11 cities.

In addition, 2 more performances have also been added to "Shibutani Subaru with Ohkura BAND" on 17 September, making the overall number of shows as 7. This show is a private show where fans get to send in their ballots and coupons to the shows were distributed. Due to the overwhelming number of ballots received by Johnny's Entertainment, 2 more shows have finally been added. Still, it's reported that close to 10,00 fans still not hitting the tickets for this private show.

The 1-st National Tour will begin on 9 September in Sendai.

whitedove

1) TOKIO - Sorafune/Do!Do!Do!
2) Sukima Switch - Garana
3) Southern All Stars - Dirty Old Man -Saraba Natsuyo-
4) KEN - Speed
5) Kome Kome Club - E-Yo
6) ELLEGARDEN - Salamander
7) MUCC - Utagoe
8) Kumi Koda - 4 Hot Wave (I'll Be There/Ningyo Hime/Juicy/With Your Smile)
9) Tackey&Tsubasa - Ho!Summer
10) Fumido - Aishiteru

whitedove

1) aiko - Kanojo
2) Various Artistes - Beautiful Songs -Kokoro de Kiku Uta-
3) Bonnie Pink - Every Single Day -Complete Bonnie Pink (1995-2006)
4) Various Artistes - Tokyo Friends The Movie Music Collection
5) Every Little Thing - Crispy Park
6) Daniel Powter - Daniel Powter
7) MONGOL800 - Daniel
8) Paris Hilton - Paris
9) Christina Aguilera - Back to Basics
10) Tata Young - Temperature Rising

whitedove

Miyake on stage with Korean actress


  


Miyake Ken, 27, a member of one of the hottest Japanese boy band V6, said that he wanted to do a film with Korean horror film star Kim Kyu-ri someday. The coveted singer and actor visited the country to attend the special screening of his new film "Vanished (Oyayubi sagashi)" at the CGV Multiplex in Apgujeong-dong, southern Seoul, on Monday. Kim, the star of such hit horror films as "Nightmare" (2000) and "Bunshinsaba" (2004), also joined the event at the request of his agency Avex Entertainment, which is one of the largest Japanese record labels.

"I'm a V6 fan," Kim told reporters after giving a bouquet of flowers to Miyake to congratulate him on his new film. "I've seen the film and was moved especially by his detailed inner acting."

The "queen of horror films" went on to say that she wanted to work with him someday, and the Japanese star instantly bought the idea. "She is so beautiful, and I'd love to do a film with her someday," he said. His remark generated various jealous reactions among some 300 young female fans filling a screening room of the multiplex. "Are you jealous?" he said in awkward Korean, appeasing them with his trademark sweet smile. Japanese reporters from seven different media covered the event with 25 local reporters, reflecting Miyake's immense popularity in Japan. "As a V6 member, I've visited Korea a few times before, and I've found the country is always in my mind," Miyake replied, asked why he decided to do such an event in the country, although the exact opening date of the film is yet to be discussed.

Formed in 1995, V6 was a brainchild of Johnny Kitagawa, the legendary producer of such popular Japanese boy bands as SMAP, KinKi Kids and Arashi. What makes the band so unique among Kitagawa's many other creations is that they are composed of two smaller groups: Twentieth Century and Coming Century (to which Miyake belongs).

Besides the age difference - which can be gleaned from the self-explaining team names - the former is usually associated with being on stage in plays and musicals, whereas the latter is more often in television dramas. Leader Sakamoto Masayuki (Twentieth Century), 35, the oldest and also the tallest member of the group, is especially famous for his roles in musical dramas such as "Footloose" and "The Boy from Oz." Nagano Hiroshi, 33, and Inohara Yoshihiko, 30, two other members of Twentieth Century, also played the leading roles in the Japanese version of the hit musical "The Producers," which was selected as the No.1 musical of 2005, by a famous Japanese musical magazine.

Among the younger members, Okada Junichi, 25 is currently making waves in the Japanese film industry with successive hits of "Kizarazu Cat's Eyes Nihon Series," "Tokyo Towers" and "Fly Daddy Fly." Morita Go, 27, has shown talents in acting through such television series as "Lunch Queen No Joou" and "Perfect Bride."

Based on a Japanese novel with the same (Japanese) title, "Vanished" is about Takeshi (Miyake), a pure-hearted lad with a dark childhood memory, who, with his friends from his elementary school years, tries to find the missing thumb of a dead girl, which means both blessings and curses in the film. "The film delves into the realm of mystic horror, but also is about something we can experience anytime in our daily life," Miyake said.

The film was released in Japan on Saturday, and is scheduled to open in Korea later this year.

([email protected])

By Lee Yong-sung

Source: http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SIT ... 30/200608300018.asp

katt

Japanese boy band to perform in Seoul



Sept. 1, SEOUL, South Korea -- A popular Japanese boy band, "Arashi," plans to hold concerts in Seoul in November, according to Japanese reports on Sept. 1. Cultural exchanges between the Asian neighbors have recently accelerated as South Korea has gradually lifted most its ban on Japanese pop culture. Korea was a Japanese colony in the early part of the 20th century.(Yonhap)

Source: Yonhap News
http://english.yna.co.kr/Engservices/5500000000.html

-------------------------------------------------

Japanese Group Arashi to Give Concert in Korea

The popular Japanese idol group Arashi will give its first concert in Korea November 11 and 12 at Jangchung Stadium in Seoul.

Japanese sport dailies reported September 1 that Arashi, which gave the last concert of its "2006 Arashi Summer Tour" August 31 at Yokohama Arena in Japan, will become the first among all artists managed by its agency to give a solo concert in Korea.

The Sankei Sports reported that Arashi plans to draw some 14,000 viewers to its concerts in Seoul. The newspaper also hailed the five-member band for gaining unprecedented popularity shortly after its debut in 1999 and emerging as a top-class pop group in Japan as well as creating a vast fan base in Korea.

The Sports Hochi wrote that Arashi decided to perform in Korea when the band visited Korea July 31 in time for the release of its new single album and was impressed by the heartfelt welcome given by its fans at the airport. At the time, some two thousand fans greeted the band in the lobby of Incheon International Airport by singing Arashi抯 hit songs in Japanese.

Arashi's album "Arashic," which was released in Korea July 20, topped Korea's prestigious weekly music charts in the third week of July, while all 10,000 copies of the album were sold out on the first day of its release, unprecedented for a Japanese pop album.

Prior to its concerts in Korea, Arashi will visit the country September 22 to participate in the Asia Song Festival to be held in the southwestern city of Gwangju.

Source: KBS Global
http://english.kbs.co.kr/sconten ... /1413300_11684.html

whitedove

w-inds. Performs At 2006 MTV Mandarin Awards



Taiwan - The much anticipated outdoor musical event, the MTV Mandarin Awards @ Taiwan was held on Saturday, September 2 with J-pop group w-inds plus top Mando-pop artists from Greater China including A*Mei, F.I.R., Fish Leong, Gary Cao, Jay Chou, Vivian Hsu, JJ Lin, Show Lo, Machi, Mayday, Nan Quan Mama, Wilber Pan, S.H.E., Nicolas Teo, Jolin Tsai, TANK, TWINS, Cyndi Wang, Michael Wong, Kenji Wu, Rainie Yan and more at Taipei Chung-Shan Football Stadium.

Hosted by MTV Mandarin VJs Andy, Linda, Issa, Pink, the unprecedented stellar line-up of Mando-pop artists brought the 70,000 strong audience to their feet with five hours long of live performances. The MTV Mandarin Awards @ Taiwan will premiere on MTV Mandarin on September 9 at 5pm.

The night started off with JJ Lin's "Cao Cao" and a rousing sound of taiko played by JJ himself along with six dancers. JJ then performed two of his hit songs "Sa Rang Hae Yoh" and "Sign Waves." Kicking off the second act, dancing diva Jolin Tsai put together a flawless performance with her renditions of "Dancing Diva," "Attraction Of Sexy Lips," "Mr. Q," and "Pretence," working the crowd into a frenzy.

Wilber Pan continued to keep the audience high his electrifying performance of "Reverse The Earth" and "Telegram." Then, TWINS gave a show-stealing performance of their songs "Around The World With 80 Dollars" and "The Missing Piece." It was the first time that Twins performed in public after Gillian Chung was violated by indecent photographs published in a magazine. Their fans showed their support by singing along to their song "You Are The Bravest."

After such a moving act, new prince of romance Gary Cao melted the audience with his beautiful song "Superwoman." To keep the momentum going, F.I.R. wowed the audience with their energetic performance of "Flight Tribe," "Every Day And Night" and "Get High." Next, Mayday filled the stadium with blissful sound and sang "Lov-ing," "Motor Rock" and "Stubborn," making everyone jumping to the beat.

The night continued with Kenji Wu performing "Big Tongue," "Stephen Chow" and "Regular people." Michael Wong showcased his talent and performed hits "Courage" and "Commitment" while Vivian Hsu rewarded her fans with "Hen Hen Ai," "Smiling Eyes" and a debut performance of new single "Mermaid." Fans were also treated to a stunning performance by S.H.E., who impressed them with special remixes of hits "Once Upon A Time" and their new single "Ring Ring Ring" followed by a medley of "What Has Happened To Us" and "Electric Shock." Another frantic moment occurred when TANK performed "Give Me Your Love" and Fish Leong gave a heartfelt performance of medley "One To One," "Quiet Summer" and "Sadly, It's Not You." Rainie Yan showed off her beautiful voice when performing "Ambiguous," "Only Want To Love You" and "Meeting Love."

The night could not get better when J-pop sensation w-inds. took the stadium by storm with their hits "Shiki," "Trial," "MC" and ruled the crowd when they performed "Boogie Woogie 66" for the first time ever.

Continuing the night with great performances, Machi gave a blistering performance of a medley of their hits. Then, Cyndi Wang captivated her fans with "Smile Of A Rainbow" and "I Do" followed by Nicolas Teo, who performed "Who You Think Of When Lonely." Show Lo kept the audience hyper with his poignant hit songs while Nan Quan Mama performed two of their new singles joined by Jay Chou who rewarded his fans with his latest single "A Thousand Miles Away."

The night drew to a climactic close with Taiwan? pride A*Mei performing hits including "I Want Happiness?,
"Don't Simply Say," "You Give Love A Bad Name," "Bored," and "Chinese Girl."

Filmed before a live audience of over 70,000 music fans, the show will premiere on MTV Mandarin on 9 September at 5pm and will be broadcast on MTV SAM and MTV China 24-Hrs Channel on 23 September.

Taiwan Tourism Bureau (TTB) is the proud presenting sponsor of the MTV Mandarin Awards @ Taiwan in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore, and is supporting the event for the first time.

-- News Desk

Source: http://www.mtvasia.com/News/200609/04013752.html

whitedove

Actress Sawajiri tops weekly entertainment rankings with hit single 'Taiyo no Uta'

[img][/img]

Actress Erika Sawajiri appeared in the top-ranked story of the MSN-Mainichi Interactive's entertainment section for the week from Aug. 25 to Sept. 1, an article on the rocketing sales of her debut song "Taiyo no Uta."

Sawajiri, who appeared in the film "Pacchigi" and the television drama "1 Rittoru no Namida" (1 liter of tears), is steadily gaining attention as an actress. In the TBS drama "Taiyo no Uta," she plays the role of singer/songwriter Kaoru Amane, who has a disorder called xeroderma pigmentosum (XP), preventing her from being exposed to sunlight.

Sawajiri came out with the debut single "Taiyo no Uta" under the name Kaoru Amane, and it was coupled with another song for release on Aug. 30.

Before the tune was officially released, it was distributed as a downloadable file for mobile phones, and racked up 500,000 downloads. At 200 yen per download, that means the song has already raked in profits of 100 million yen.

Sawajiri is scheduled to appear in a TBS music program on Sept. 9, and as the drama draws to a close, she looks likely to gain even more fame.

Source: http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/en ... a00m0et008000c.html

whitedove

Talent Uehara releases new book



Ex-SPEED's Takako Uehara has released a book edition of her blog, much to the delight of the roughly 600 fans who gathered in Tokyo for its launch.

"Yuntaku Nikki" is the book of the mobile phone diary the 23-year-old performer kept from Nov. 13, 2004 to April 16, 2006.

Though it contains essays related to her private life and 322 photos -- including shots of the celebrity wearing kimono and without make-up -- it doesn't make any mention of her marriage plans.

When asked if she will make any important announcements such as marriage on her blog, she said, "I have no intention of doing so at all."

Uehara's book is supposed to give a glimpse into the private side of a young woman who has grown up in front of Japan's cameras. (Mainichi)

Source: http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/en ... a00m0et011000c.html

whitedove

KAT-TUN's Kazuya Kamenashi has won the 23rd Best Male Jeanist Award.

Previous winners have been SMAP's Takuya Kimura (1994-1998), SMAP's Tsuyoshi Kusanagi (1999-2003), KinKi Kids's Tsuyoshi Dohmoto (2004). Both Kimura and Kusanagi were inducted to the Hall of Fame.

Source: http://www.best-jeans.com/jeanist/index.shtml

whitedove

1) GYM - Fever to Future
2) Kaoru Amane - Taiyou no Uta
3) Orange Range - Un Rock Star
4) TOKIO - Sorafune/Do!Do!Do!
5) L'Arc~en~Ciel - The Fourth Avenue Cafe
6) Sukima Switch - Garana
7) AAA - Let It Beat!
8) Southern All Stars - Dirty Old Man -Saraba Natsuyo-
9) Kome Kome Club - Kimi wo Hanasanai
10) ELLEGARDEN - Salamander

whitedove

1) Shonan no Kaze - Shonan no Kaze -Riders High-
2) aiko - Kanojo
3) Hideaki Tokunaga - Vocalist2
4) Beyonce - B'Day
5) Various Artistes - Beautiful Songs -Kokoro de Kiku Uta-
6) Bonnie Pink - Every Single Day -Complete Bonnie Pink (1995-2006)
7) Various Artistes - Black Jack Best Album
8) Every Little Thing - Crispy Park
9) Daniel Powter - Daniel Powter
10) MONGOL800 - Daniel

[ Last edited by  whitedove at 8-9-2006 03:56 PM ]

whitedove

SMAP celebrates 15th Anniversary



On the 15th anniversay, the SMAP members were especially energetic and jumped up from 30 feet wire for the SMAP's song "Take Off".

SMAP now has held 467 shows and admissions are around 8,340,000 to date. Even though Nakai's left foot was injured and could not dance, the fans were still very passionate. Shingo said that he looks forward to 20th and 30th year anniversary and would conitnue to celebrate with the fans. He even joked that even if SMAP has only him left, he would still continue. Kimura at once stopped him from talking nonsense.


Source: http://www.takungpao.com/news/06/09/11/UL-620614.htm

Credit: http://z2.invisionfree.com/la_creme_d_asie

[Special thanks to kimurafans for the news!]

whitedove

Actress Ueto Aya (22) was reduced to tears when talking about her role in the show "Taiyo no Fune". A follow up to a 2004 production at the Nippon Budokan, the 1-billion show is directed by and tells the story of fashion designer Yamamoto Kansai (62). Ueto's tears started when she talked about how moved she had been by the family bonds between the veteran showman and his daughter, actress Yamamoto Mirai, and her relationship with her husband, actor Shiina Teppei. The cast of 2,000 includes Matsuoka Masahiro (29) of the Johnny's group TOKIO as the young Kansai and such major names as former wrestler and politician Antonio Inoki (63) and actress Kudo Yuki (35). The show's theme song is by Nagabuchi Tsuyoshi (49). The production will be held on January 13 & 14 at Tokyo Dome.

Source: www.japan-zone.com

whitedove

Fans lift J-culture over language barrier

By PATRICK MACIAS
Special to The Japan Times

Global interest in Japanese entertainment continues to heat up. Quite literally.

A scanlator who goes by the name of DDRtatsujin is part of a community of fans whose love of Japanese manga drives them to take each page, scan it into their computer, then translate the material from Japanese into English and upload it to the Internet for a wider audience.  

Hardcore manga fans around the world are taking their Japanese comics off the shelf and putting them into the microwave.

"They do that so the glue melts, which allows them to take apart the volume page by page so they can be scanned easily," explains Jonathan, 21, a journalism student at West Virginia University who did not want his last name published.

Why would folks do that to their precious and costly imported comic books? Because they are "scanlators," a growing community of fans whose love of Japanese manga drives them to take each page, scan it into their computer, then translate the material from Japanese into English and upload it to the Internet for a wider audience to enjoy for free.

But it is not just Japanese comics that have proven ripe for amateur translations. Homemade English versions of anime shows and Japanese television series (such as "Densha Otoko [Train Man]"), along with plenty of clips featuring comedian Razor Ramon HG -- Hard Gay as he styles himself, are increasingly popping up on the Internet via blogs (www.tvinjapan.com to name one), file-sharing programs known as torrents and especially the phenomenally popular YouTube site.

A little Net surfing is all it takes to suddenly find translations of everything from feature films -- like last year's hit "NANA" -- to annotated versions of ancient Shinto myths (found at www.sacred-texts.com) readily available.

There are also subbed music videos by girl-group Morning Musume and boy bands like SMAP. U.S. followers of these acts often use the Internet to trade clips and communicate with like-minded fans in Asia in places like Taiwan and South Korea, resulting in translations that are truly international affairs.

Japanese-to-English translations of both professional and amateur varieties are nothing new. But the Net allows publishing, archiving, copying and distribution on an unprecedented scale. As a result, more Japanese pop culture is spread across the globe than ever before.

Even though suburban shopping malls in Middle America are filled with officially licensed J-culture items (manga and anime, especially), Japanese companies that own these products are not keeping up with increasing global demand. Followers want the latest thing from Japan now! The fan translation phenomenon not only fills the gaps, it also shortens the time it takes for Japanese pop culture to journey around the world.

Manga fans in particular, addicted to page-turning narratives, often complain about the agonizingly slow speed at which officially translated products are released abroad when compared to Japan. In the race to keep up with new story chapters, doled out in weekly and monthly doses in Japan, a scanlator doesn't even need to put his manga in the microwave. A razor blade is the tool favored by the scanlators over at Ignition-One (manga.ignition-one.com), which offers free downloads of Japanese comics subtitled in English. As of March, the site, which operates on a monthly budget of $117, paid for by donations, boasted 435,768 individual downloads.

Among the 50 titles that Ignition-One has translated is Naoki Urasawa's "Pluto", which was awarded the 2005 Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize, one of Japan's top honors for comics. The site also hosts English versions of boxing saga "Hajime no Ippo [aka Fighting Spirits]" and "Jojo's Bizarre Adventure", both well-known in Japan, but not as famous abroad.

That's fine with West Virginia's Johnathan, who runs the Ignition-One site. "The entire reason I joined the scanlations community is to promote manga that I was interested in and, coincidentally, that no one else would translate," he says. "I simply want to share what I love and, as an scanner and as an editor, enjoy the manga I'm interested in to its fullest extent."

It's this fervor for Japanese pop culture that has led to a boom in fan translations, with anime and manga leading the way. Some 537 scanlations groups, which range from one-person operations to multiple members scattered across the globe, are listed by www.manganews.net, a major hub for keeping track of new scanlations.

whitedove

"Caterpillar" of Caterpillar's Nest (caterpillar.voiea.net) is a 25-year-old Austrian college student in Vienna. His site is home to English translations of manga you probably won't (or wouldn't want to) find on the shelves of a chain bookstore anytime soon, such as the erotic and grotesque work of the notorious Suehiro Maruo. Says Caterpillar, "I started doing scanlations because I wanted to read certain manga and I knew they didn't stand a snowflake's chance in hell of ever getting an official English translation."

Aided by personal computers and the Internet, fans are able to become "ministudios." They get to choose exactly the manga they wish to read, and with the help of volunteers with the right language and computer skills, they can produce works that rival professionally translated comics for quality and accuracy. American publishers, in hopes of reaching the mass market, sometimes tone down the sex and violence in Japanese products. Fans pride themselves on creating work closer to the original creator's intentions.

But to some, even within the anime and manga fan community, scanlations are digital-age piracy, pure and simple, and do nothing but take away profit from publishers and artists. A lot of money is potentially at stake. The U.S. market for English translations of Japanese manga driven by publishers such as Viz Media, Tokyopop, and Del Ray was estimated by the comic industry news and analysis Web site ICv2 to be worth between $155 million and $180 million at retail in 2005.

Says Johnathan, "There's no denying that scanlations are illegal no matter how groups might spin it. But I wouldn't consider it like the advent of the MP3 format, where sharing music damaged the music industry. I legitimately believe that scanlating manga encourages domestic publishers to license manga."

Jason Thompson, a professional freelance editor who has worked for several major U.S. manga companies, claims that "although few or no American manga publishers ever mention them, scanlations have become extremely important to the American manga scene. They're a way of gauging a title's popularity. If the scanlations are popular, you know that a title has a fanbase."

"AK of Troy," owner and main translator of the site Toriyama's World (www.toriyamaworld.com) named after Akira Toriyama, creator of the much-loved "Dragon Ball" series, says, "I don't think scanlating affects the sales of the books when they are eventually licensed because the best-selling series in the U.S. are also the ones that were scanlated the most."

An unspoken agreement seems to exist between scanlators and manga publishers. When a series is officially licensed for English-language publication, scanlators are expected to police themselves. For instance, when three of Toriyama's World's most popular manga offerings -- "Bleach", "Fullmetal Alchemist" and "Naruto" -- were due to be released in officially licensed editions, the site took their scanlations offline. But pockets of stubborn scanners refuse to give in.

That could soon change. While manga scanners still enjoy relative freedom, anime fansubbers are being directly threatened by Japan's anime industry.

Fansubbing, an activity that predates the advent of manga scanning, originally helped to spread the gospel of anime in English-speaking countries in the 1980s and '90s; lean years for imports of Japanese pop-culture products abroad. At first, tapes of amateur-subtitled anime were traded in person at anime clubs or sent through the mail. Now anime fansubs reach thousands daily through peer-to-peer clients on the Net such as BitTorrent, Usenet groups, or through Internet Relay Chat channels.

Daryl Surat, a freelance contributor to U.S.-based magazine Anime Insider, says, "There is a widespread idea among many fans now that 'anime should be free," as if to suggest that anime isn't a commercial product. The amount of anime fans [in the United States] seems to have increased, and yet sales of anime DVDs here are down."

On Aug. 22 this year, Bandai Entertainment Inc. issued a press release in America for their highly anticipated upcoming title "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex -- Solid State Society". The film, budgeted at $3.6 million, has already been licensed for a 2007 U.S. release. That hasn't stopped several fansub groups from announcing their intentions to translate "Solid State Society." Within days of the film's Sept. 1 debut screening on Japanese TV, raw untranslated footage, which usually proves irresistible to fansubbers, was already popping up on the Internet.

Bandai's August press release read like a declaration of war: "The creation of translated versions of 'Solid State Society' is considered an unauthorized derivative and constitutes infringement of the intellectual property rights in the work as well as unfair competition." Ken Iyadomi, Bandai's president, is quoted as saying, "We are prepared to take legal action against fansubbers and illegal download and other distribution sites if this notice is ignored."

Surat believes Bandai is in the right to defend their intellectual property.

"But I question the effectiveness of such a measure," he says. "Even the Recording Industry Association of America and Motion Picture Association of America are unable to do anything to curtail the unauthorized online distribution of their works due to peer-to-peer distribution networks set up outside of the U.S. Still, 'Ghost in the Shell' is one of the most popular anime franchises in the U.S., so its financial success is virtually guaranteed regardless of how many people fansub it beforehand."

"John," 24, head of the fansub group Anime Classic (www.l33t-ninj4.net), thinks that continued global interest in Japanese pop culture might lead to some solutions if Japanese companies step up to the plate. "If Japan wanted to wipe out the fansubbers, all they'd have to do is open a site like Bandai Channel up to foreign viewers, slap on some simple translations, and charge 200 yen an episode."

Perhaps the next generation of digital playback technology will force Japan to open up even more to the international market. Most Japanese DVDs are currently "region-coded" to work only on Japanese players, but future video releases on the new HD-DVD and Blu-Ray formats are expected to work on U.S. machines. While this may be great news for consumers, it may bode ill for fan translators. "They could start wiping out the fansubbers if [Japan] began to put English on their releases and brought prices down enough to be competitive. Will it happen? Who knows?"

Patrick Macias is the author of "Otaku in USA" (Ohta Shuppan) and "Tokyoscope: The Japanese Cult Film Companion" (Cadence Books). He can be found at www.patrickmacias.blogs.com

Source: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fa20060907a1.html

whitedove

Actress Inamori Izumi (34) is to be the first female lead in the 29-year history of samurai drama series on TV Tokyo. A PR event was held in Tokyo yesterday for "Chuushingura - Yozeiin no Inbo", which will air over 10 episodes on Tuesday afternoons from January 2. Inamori plays Yozeiin, the wife of Asano Takuminokami, in a new take on the famous Chuushingura samurai story of loyalty and revenge. She and other cast members visited the Sengakuji temple in central Tokyo where ronin (masterless samurai) Ako Roshi, a central character in the story, is interred. Chuushingura is a staple of traditional theater and has inspired dozens of movies.

Source: www.japan-zone.com

whitedove

1) Kaoru Amane - Taiyou no Uta
2) Kigurumi - Tarako Tarako Tarako
3) TOKIO - Sorafune/Do!Do!Do!
4) GYM - Fever to Future
5) w-inds. - Boogiewoogie66
6) Kaela Kimura - Tree Climbers
7) Beat Crusaders - Tonight Tonight Tonight
8) Mariya Takeuchi - Henshin/Synchronicity ~Suteki na Guzen~
9) AI - I Wanna Know
10) AAA - "Q"