Cyndi Lauper is in Japan right now doing a series of concerts. I saw her on the TV the other day as she did Time After Time, much like the following performance she did on TV in 2005.

27-year-old Japanese ex-porn (AV) actress Nao Oikawa (she retired from boinking in front of cameras in 2004) seems to have completed the move from blue movies to mainstream pop idol via a girl group named G3 Princess, which also includes Yumi Sugimoto and Rina Aizawa. Ms. Oikawa is the one on the right in the following video.

For a peek at a censored but very not-safe-for-work XXX video that spotlights some of Ms. Oikawa’s more salacious talents, click here.

The Peanuts, a female pair of Japanese twins (Emi and Yumi Ito), who were a major presence in the Japanese music world back in the ’60s, are planning to release a new album to mark the 50th anniversary of their debut back on 1959.

Here are a few of their better known songs in Japan.

If you are old enough, you might remember them as the duo who sang the original Mothra theme.

They even appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show.

1966: Pipeline

1990: Various

2008: Nara TV Commercial

On a recent trip to Tokyo, I was drinking in Golden Gai with a friend of a friend. The tiny bar played great song after great song, and all of it vintage Japanese rock. I mentioned how much I was enjoying learning about all the great bands from back in the day that never got any exposure in the US, but lamented that—Juain Cope’s book Japrocksampler not withstanding—finding a good English-language source for information on these bands was tough.

That’s when my friend told me about Jrawk. Run by an obviously knowledgeable and dedicated fan, the site intends to be nothing less than a repository (or database if you will) for Japanese rock music. It has interviews, album reviews, live show reports, and more, and all of the music covered is at least worth a listen. If bands like Flower Travellin’ Band, Nagisa Ni Te, or Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her is your thing, or if all you know about Japanese rock is Cornelius or Boris, you should really check it out.

(The site is pretty new, but it’s filling fast with content, so don’t let the sparseness deter you.)

It’s fair to say that when he “started playing that country gold” more than 50 years ago, there was no country and western scene in Japan. What there is today is largely down to his tireless efforts, and those of his friends.

Charlie Nagatani and his family also run a ’saloon’, Good Time Charlie, in Kumamoto city. When I spoke to him there recently, he was a busy man. But that’s his default setting - “He can’t stop,” his son told me, “He’s like one of those fish that has to keep swimming.” In between stints on stage, Charlie went around the tables chatting with every guest, many of whom are personal friends, all of whom are fans. And when not playing host, he was busily taking orders over the phone for tickets for ‘Country Gold‘ (more of which later).

I asked Charlie about how all this started.

“A friend of mine remembers when you used to play at the clubs on the US military bases when he was in the Army about 40 years ago, based at Brady Air Base, out in Saitozaki. When did you first get into C&W and how? When did you start playing C&W?”

Camp Brady reminds me of a good ol’ days and we used to go there often to perform at clubs way back in around 1968 as well as Itazuki Air Force Base, Sasebo Naval Station and Iwakuni Marine Corps Air Station. Well, on my 20th birthday one of my friends who used to work at Camp Wood US Army Base in Kumamoto presented me a Happy Birthday present and that was a country & western band. I first listened it and felt something strong in my mind. Soon I dropped out of studing at University and decided to start a band to be a country music singer. It was 1956 and country music changed my whole life. I felt it has something different compared to other music ( simplicity / sincerity / sadness) and moreover I loved its melody and lyrics.

Every time I’ve been to the bar, Good Time Charlie, he’s been there and played a set.

“How long has GTC been open? Do you play every night that you can?”

I’ve been running Good Time Charlie for almost 33 years and playing 7 nights a week except New Year’s Eve and January 1st.

The interior of the saloon is a country fan’s dream. The place is plastered from floor to ceiling with memorabilia, from photos of country legends, to vintage posters advertising the likes of Jim Reeves, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and Loretta Lynn. A cabinet contains gifts and awards, including the prestigious Jim Reeves Memorial Award, which he was awarded by the Academy of Country Music in 2005, “in recognition of outstanding contributions to the acceptance of country music throughout the world”. In an alcove hang thank you notes from presidents of the United States, and certificates denoting Charlie’s honorary citizenship of 33 American states.

But there seems to be a close connection with the state of Montana. How did that come about?

Regarding Montana, Kumamoto is a sister state with Montana so most of the Governors who visited Kumamoto come to my club to enjoy our performance of country songs from old to new and I was given an honorary citizenship by former Governor Ted Schwinden.

“So why is C&W so popular in Kyushu? I don’t think the following is that big in Tokyo, but what is your sense about the popularity of C&W in other parts of Japan?”

The reason is there are lots of country music fans in Kyushu, I was born and raised up here in Kumamoto and I really love my home town, so I wanted to remain local to spread it out to all over but it was so hard to keep it and very hard to let them know how wonderful the music is, although I know it’s easy to do it in big cities like Tokyo and Osaka. It took a long time to make country music fans around me but I always believe that country music is the best music in the world. Many American friends wonder about me because I was born in Japan and they all ask me why I love their country’s music culture so deeply more than anybody else in USA.

Country Gold is an open-air festival held every October against the stunning backdrop of Mount Aso, attended by up to 20,000 fans, and to which Charlie has attracted some of the biggest country and western stars. This year the festival (Sun. Oct 19) celebrates its 20th anniversary.

“How did Country Gold start? Was it planned or did it just sort of happen? Were you determined then to see it grow into the international occasion that it is today?”

When Former Prime Minister Hosokawa (he was our Governor before he became Prime Minister) built the world biggest out door stage at the foot of Mt. Aso called ASPECTA, he consulted me about doing a country music show there. I sent a letter to the CMA (Country Music Association in Nashville) saying that I’d like to open a country music festival in Japan so will you please introduce anyone who can help me plan it. Then I received a few letters from agents and I picked up one of them and started it and that was 1989 so this year will be 20th Anniversary! I can’t believe it. I thank Judy Seale who I picked up that first year and still she is working with me (20 great years and we are both getting old…). I’ve met many, many wonderful people through this great music in Japan and the States and it’s a treasure which money can’t buy.

Since news is slow today, here is a video of what I think is probably one of the very best Japanese songs ever written: Koibito yo by Mayumi Itsuwa (1980).

If you want to see one person’s translation of the lyrics into English, check out this version.

I caught this amazingly talented guy on an NHK special yesterday and was totally blown away. Get ready to hear the ukelele as you probably have never heard it before.

Magibon

Magibon is an internet personality on the video-sharing website YouTube.

As of August 8, 2008, Magibon leads YouTube Japan’s All time top list. Magibon is also a member of the Youtube Partner Program.

Magibon has been invited and flown to Japan by a Japanese Internet TV Station GYAO for a media appearance. She has been interviewed twice by the Japanese Weekly Playboy magazine.

Magigon on YouTube

Take a dip into the surreal and the avant-garde with the Taiwanese performance group - the Eyeball Love Globe group.

The Eyeball Love Globe performed at the Tokyo Design Festa this past May and have done so a few other times before being one of the popular re-occuring performances at the exhibition.

Eyeball Love Globe

the music for two of the segements is from Seven Cycle Theory:

Seven Cycle Theory

It’s also up for votes on Current TV:
Eyeball on Current TV - Register and Vote please!

Here’s a small slice of the music scene in Tokyo.

This vid is brief snippets of three bands I caught at Tokyo Design Festa.

Mimi-Unagi

Luxury

Tsubaki

Crazy Angel Company

Here’s a bit of a big band I caught at Tokyo Design Festa called Crazy Angel Company.

They have a lot of energy and it shows in their performance.

Crazy Angel Company

Heard this on an oldies program this evening, and it reminded me just how great Ozaki Kiyohiko’s music sounds, even though this super hit (Mata Au Hi Made) is already 30 years old.

From the amazing and talented Koharu and friend comes the following video of their Tokyo street performance.

If you missed our past posts on Koharu, here is a blast from the past.

More here.

The following is a look at a mostly foreign rock band, the Sushi Cabaret Club, based in Nagoya, Japan.

The members hail from Scotland, England, Australia, and Japan. They talk about their music, what brought them to Japan, what it’s like for bands in Japan, and what it’s like playing for Japanese audiences. They dispel a few myths like how easy it is for Western musicians to make it big in Japan as well. Also, few of their fans talk about their interest in the band’s music.

The Sushi Cabaret Club site

Here are two videos the band made themselves while they still had their first drummer:

Another video of singer/songwriter Kayoko Takamichi doing Open Your Eyes, a song from her Greener CD that we featured on Japan Talk #115 this week.

Here is a video of singer/songwriter Kayoko Takamichi doing Haru, a song from her Greener CD that we featured on Japan Talk #114 last Saturday.

Here’s a little avant-garde weirdness from Tokyo Design Festa.

She’s from Taiwan and was one of the performers at the Design Festa - vid coming up soon on that!

Music by SevenCycleTheory

Here is a TV commercial for zero-calorie Kirin Fire canned coffee that features the popular U.S. enka singer Jero. Apparently, the ad is going for a play on similarity between the Japanese pronunciation of the word “zero” and the name Jero.

VBS.tv is running an 8 part interview/tour with former Super Girl contestant, Yang Lei. VBS went to Shanghai, China to meet Yang in order to learn about the phenomenon that was the Super Girl, and ends up learning lot about current day China.

Super Girl is the Chinese equivalent to American Idol or the UK’s Pop Idol, only it’s limited to female contestants. The final episode of the last edition had an audience of over 420 million people, making it the biggest TV show in the history of TV. Over 1.2 billion votes were cast during the last edition of the Super Girl competition, making it also the biggest exercise in democracy in China’s history.

During the show contestants compete and campaign to move forward in the competition and the audience gets to “choose” or “select” (they’re not allowed to use the term “vote”) their favorite contestants. After the large response to the ability to vote, the Chinese government banned the show from continuing to a fourth season.

The above is Part 1 of the series. You can view the other parts here.

Caught a TV show last night that featured Japanese R&B singer Masayuki Suzuki, and it reminded me of the big 1980 hit he had with his group called Chanels called Runaway.