Tag Archives: Japan

ShonenKnife_Black_140302_photocredit_Akira-Shibata

Shonen Knife – power-trio pop from Japan

Here’s what you may need to know…

01. “When I finally got to see them live, I was transformed into a hysterical nine-year-old girl at a Beatles concert”, said Kurt Cobain of this veteran outfit, currently celebrating their 35th (!) anniversary.

02. The band came together in 1981 after founder member Naoko Yamano fell in love with the music of the Ramones. A deal with pop tastemakers K Records happened in 1985, which saw career album Burning Farm released Stateside.

03. The following three decades saw them tour with Nirvana on their Nevermind launch jaunt, as well as with Sonic Youth and the Breeders. They’ve played Lollapalooza and Reading, recorded sessions for the late, great John Peel, and even cut a tune for The Powerpuff Girls.

04. They’re hitting Ireland as part of their European tour next month. See them at Whelan’s in Dubland on the 30th, at Belfast Cathedral Quarter Arts Fest on May 1st, and in Cork’s Crane Lane Theatre on May 2nd (in a free show!).

Verdict: Broadsheet caught them in 2014 when they were on tour. Nirvana connection and their history aside, they are a savage live proposition. Get to ’em if you can.

Shonen Knife

Photo: Akira Shibata

1

Yes, deadly.

But they need your help.

Andrea ‘Batcat’ Magnorsky writes:

” I know you generally don’t do this. But we are an Irish Game Developer and we got selected to show our game at the Tokyo Game Show, turns out it’s expensive to get there so we are doing limited pre-orders and we are half way there, can you help? The thing is our game is set in a crazy version of Feudal Japan, it’s called Onikira: Demon Killer [a 2D slide scrolling beat em up]….”

Pre-order HERE

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjhTbePvyXc

From ‘Hand’ – a 35 part online series by Gucci Japan focusing on handmade crafts. Here, the fine art of Japanese parquetry (razor-thin slices of mosaic applied as a decoration to wooden boxes) is demonstrated by Noboru Honma.

Aesthetically pleasing, yes. But come a little closer…

According to Gizmodo’s Jesus Diaz, this video – viewed at full screen with headphones in  – will generate an Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR), to wit:

…a perceptual phenomenon characterized as a distinct, pleasurable tingling sensation in the head, scalp, back, or peripheral regions of the body in response to visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and/or cognitive stimuli.

Do let us know how you get on. Chompsky’s chewed the minijack off the office earbuds.

colossal

spiderman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPX-FX0KStE

…back in 1978, the [Spiderman]  Japanese live-action television series was produced by Toie Company under license from Marvel and lasted for 41 episodes. The series revolved around Takuya Yamashiro, played by Shinji Todō, a motorcycle racer who is given spider-like powers after an injection of blood from the last surviving person of the Planet Spider.
Like any self-respecting Spider-Man, Yamashiro can shoot webs, but what separates him from his American counterpart is the fact that he gets his own giant robot.

Meet The Japanese Spiderman (TIME)

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