This leaves me confused. I mean, I guess they could be catering to the American Vocaloid fans… I mean, she is still singing in Japanese (World is Mine is the song). And I couldn’t help but read the tag line in a deep dramatic voice:

The new 2011 Toyota Corolla and Hatsune Miku have two very important things in common – big dreams in a compact package.

Am I sad or happy that they are trying to sell ME a car?

Technorati Tags: Hatsune Miku, miku, real commercial, toyota, vocaloid, 公式が病気

This is an AC (Ad Council Japan) public service commercial about greeting others. Of course, the amazing animal-greeting combos and that exuberant 「ポポポポーン！」 make for something that is just begging to be remixed.

Shuzo, Hammer, and Aniki all make guest appearances in this one!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KYk2MIQs2w

This one showed up on Daruku’s tumblr.

And the ArigatoUsagi gets his/her(?) own anime!

And there’s even a site with a ポポポポーン soundboard!

Technorati Tags: AC, aisatsu, ArigatoUsagi, ネタ, CM, commercial, Konnichiwan, meme, neta, popopopo-n, popopopon, public service, 挨拶

Tsunami. Fire. Nuclear leaks. Nuclear power plant being inspected. Chance of leak. Oil Refinery Fire. 7th largest earthquake since mankind started recording them, largest for Japan. Phone lines jammed. Twitter okay. Snow falling on evacuees. Everyone working on building the Tokyo Sky Tree are OK. Onagawa-machi under water. Whirlpool. More tsunami. Softbank Safety Check (please put in loved one’s phone number if Softbank) Check DoCoMo. Building’s waving around like blades of grass. People outside of AKB48 theater in Akihabara. Cars and airplane thrown around. Two large aftershocks (6+) at 4:03am and 4:31am JST in Nagano/Niigata. Gut wrenching images. Possible nuclear melt-down. Map of epicenter and surrounding. Lucky (?) People. #1 Reactor has suffered a melt down. Being in that area for 1 hour will expose you to 1015 microsieverts, equivalent to “one year’s worth of normal radiation.” Wikipedia says you get 0.05 sieverts (50,000 microsieverts) in 1 year. Raised from 8.8 to 9.0. A very detailed post on what is happening at the nuclear power plants. Very detailed before and after images. #Japan is a now a featured tag on tumblr.

Embed is live TBS on Ustream. NHK on Nico (until 3/25). English coverage on Fuckyeahjapanese, NHK and Al Jazeera. Nico Live Emergency Broadcast.

Video chat rooms at Ustream

To all 2009 and 2010 JLPT registrants:

We are sending this message because the Japan Foundation, Los Angeles’ web and mail servers were unlawfully attacked. There is a possibility that your personal information including credit card number and date of birth were stolen.

The Japan Foundation and our web developer, Hampstead USA, are closely investigating this case right now. In the meanwhile, we recommend that you contact your credit card company immediately to inform them of this case and follow their suggestions in order to prevent any fraudulent charges on your credit card.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause.

So call your bank folks. I’m personally having trouble remembering which card I put it on.

If you are trying to register for this year’s test, their website says the following:

Important Message from the Japan Foundation, Los Angeles
Our website is temporarily unavailable. The Japan Foundation, Los Angeles, is working together with our Web Developer, Hampstead USA, to quickly restore access to our website. We understand that this is a critical time during the year, especially for those trying to register for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test and we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.

Please check back later, thank you.

Let’s hope it gets fixed by the deadline. However, this makes me not want to give them my credit card number again. What are they doing keeping the credit card numbers on the webserver anyway?

I may have failed last year’s test (1級 >ω<;), but looks like they fail at web security.

Technorati Tags: credit cards, crime, hacking, Japan Foundation, Japanese, Japanese language, Japanese language proficiency test, jlpt, Los Angeles, nihongo nouryoku shiken, 日本語, 日本語能力試験

The new episode of SYD is some first impressions based on photos.

On a side note, I love DaRC. DaRC, the head of YD operations for the last few episodes, isn’t someone I ever knew in Japan. I feel like I know him pretty well from all the videos, but really, all these people are totally unconnected to me. But, I there is a line of succession that runs between us. They took the YD mantle and ran with it. And each video they turn out makes me glad. I hope the tradition will continue for generation of JETs in Gunma.

Technorati Tags: BakaDaruku, blog, DaRC, interview, Japanese girls, Japanese interviews, shin yamato damacy, video blogs, yamato damacy

Part 1

(Part 2 and 3 after the jump!)

Part 2

Part 3

Hope to see everyone next year!

Technorati Tags: anime expo, anime expo 2010, ジェシー, jeshii, Nico Class, NicoDou, NicoNama, NicoNicoDouga, NicoNicoDouga 101, NicoNicoNamahousou, 公式生放送, 海外ズ

Yes, you can watch NicoNama while on the go. Yes, you can broadcast while on the go (I was able to do it on my old 2G, though it crashed halfway through. Check it out!). But no cruise. You can also just look for current iPhone broadcasts here.

While it is free, you have to have a Japanese iTunes account, but remember, you don’t need a credit card to make one.

Technorati Tags: app, ニコ, ニコ生, ニコ動, ニコ動画, 生放送, iPhone, iTunes, NicoLive, NicoNama, NicoNicoNamahousou

After the panel, I would love to hang out and if possible, do a video with anyone who is interested. Then we can head out to Little Tokyo for a good old fashioned オフ会 (ofukai, “Offline Meet Up”).

UPDATE: Holy crap! This panel is going to be broadcast LIVE on NicoNicoDouga! Or should I say, NicoNicoNamaHousou… in any case, because of that, we will now have a mini Costume Contest and a やってみた (“I tried”) contest for prizes! If you are interested in entering or just watching, leave a message below!

See you there!

Technorati Tags: anime expo, anime expo 2010, やってみた, class, contest, jeshii, karaoke, NicoDou, NicoNicoDouga, panel, prizes, yatte mita

I’ve been obsessed with NicoNama Cruise the last few days just cause of the wonderful randomness you get out of it. You don’t always have to understand Japanese, but it helps. And if there is a broadcast you like, you can visit that one with the button at the end that says 「この放送を見に行く」.

Sure, it isn’t quite as personal as chatroulette, but I will tell you now, there is a lot less male genitalia. Also, a cute Japanese girl comes up every once in a while. So give it a try!

Technorati Tags: ニコ生, ニコ生クルーズ, chat, Japanese girls, live chat, NicoDou, NicoNama, NicoNama Cruise, NicoNicoDouga, NicoNicoNama, NicoNicoNamahousou, webcam

If you are still feeling 明るい (akarui) after that, check out what the great folks at NicoDou have come up with based on this after the jump.

First off, we have a very well done MAD. Not exactly PG, but hey, this is meant for 20 year olds, right?

The dance is too much for people to not do:

The band version is amazing:

A classic NES version:

And a SHUZO version:

Technorati Tags: akarui, band, Coming of Age Day, dance, Go! Go! Election, Indian, ＧＯ！ＧＯ！選挙, MAD, nes, remix, seijin no hi, seijinshiki, shuzo, 成人式, 明るい, 松岡, 松岡修造, 修造