www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKEdqFLrENs

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNelOp6-tio

There must be something in the air… Burning rubber?! Luka and DaRC are out at 日光 (Nikko) Circuit interviewing people out for a drift tournament. It’s pretty much 10 minutes of awesome cars. You can watch the second video if you just want to see cars being awesome without the interviews, but I really liked the part where they ask people about what kind of upgrades they’ve done.

Let’s roll!

Don’t forget all the other eps. of Shin Yamato Damacy: Ep. 1, Ep. 2, Ep. 2.5, The Mountain, Ep. 3

Technorati Tags: 180sx, AE86, しげのエフェクト, カローラ, スカイライン, スープラ, ソアラ, ドリフト, マークII, ラーメン, ローレル, blogs, C34, cars, Corolla, 群馬, DaRC, Dr. Luka, drift, drifting, DrLuka7, 頭文字D, FC3S, gaijin, gunma, Initial D, interview, JDM, Laurel, Luka, Mark 2, Nikko Circuit, R32, R33, R34, racing, Ramen, S13, S14, S15, shin yamato damacy, Silvia, Skyline, Soarer, SR20, Supra, tochigi, Turbo, video, vlogging, Zip ties, 日光サーキット. シルビア, 栃木

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTW1kV6MlfM

RANDOM!

Technorati Tags: blogs, DrLuka7, gaijin, interview, Luka, random, shin yamato damacy, Takasaki, video, vlogging

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6k2Hhkbdx_g

Japanese Version:

Speaking of Luka, looks like I totally missed the upload of a brand new production of Shin Yamato Damacy! “The Mountain” is a search for gold atop… The Mountain. That’s the name! Really, my guess is that it is filmed on 妙義山 (Myogi-san), which really is the scariest mountain EVAR. Yes, it is also a famous ハシリヤ course, but the hiking is also freaking epic. This is the only mountain I’ve ever climbed that gave me nightmares.

Anyway, there a really awesome tie-in to something else in here, but I won’t ruin it for you. Check it out! There is also a Japanese Dub on both ニコ動 and YouTube.

Technorati Tags: ザ・山, blogs, drift, friends, gaijin, gunma, hiking, Mt. Myogi, racing, shin yamato damacy, The Mountain, video, vlogging, 外人, 妙義山

Really, this is the best English language guide to the process I’ve ever seen. For those of us used to resumes, no matter how bilingual we may be, writing the 履歴書 (rirekisho) is a hair-from-roots kind of adventure. The rule of thumb I’ve always heard is that if you have any desire to work in Japan at all, get used to making a 履歴書. Also, in my experience, Japanese companies in the US will swoon when you bring this in with your resume. It saves everyone from that awkward silence when the interviewer guy is trying to decide whether to speak to you in English or Japanese and proves you are in it to win it.

Anyway, go read it. And read it well.

Technorati Tags: blogs, employment, jobs, jobs in japan, John Turningpin, links, resume, rirekisho, 履歴書

I’m excited to find this blog because they have a lot of good ミク stuff (way more than I do), including a link to this awesome 初音ミク cosplay. At the same time though, I’m a little sad. I was hoping that ミク was relatively unknown in the English speaking world. And now I know better.

I was kind of like when I first saw a friend put up a 東方 Project character on their AIM icon. It shocked me. “Whoa, they know about 東方 too?!” But, really, I think it is just that I’m late entering this game. The two year hiatus from JP culture has made me feel like a total n00b!

Oh well. I should swallow my pride and you should go check out Miku Fan for more Vocaloid goodness.

Technorati Tags: blogs, cosplay, fans, girls, Hatsune Miku, Internet, Japanese girls, miku, mikufan, mikufan.com, music, project shrine maiden, touhou, vocaloid, 初音ミク, 東方

There is also a torrent link for the avi files on that main page. So feel free to download those. I have my torrent seeding as we speak and will try to keep it up as much as I can.

Sorry again to all the old fans… I shouldn’t have taken so long to do this! But it is getting done, albeit slowly. Makes me wonder when I’ll actually get around to digging out the old footage for the lost episode(s). Hmmm…

[Update] Hmmm… comments don’t seem to be showing up for the pages… I’ll have to fix that. ><;

[Update] Comments work! Now to import the comments from the old site!

Technorati Tags: blast from the past, blogs, jeshii, rahman, video, video podcast, yamato damacy

The way it works is that you choose a language you are trying to learn. Then you write entries in that language, and native speakers will come along and correct it. The BEST thing about it is that people really do come along and correct your entries. Withing 2 minutes of my first posting, someone had make some corrections.

While that is the sweet part, it is also bitter. You sit there and really see how much you SUCK at the language you are trying to learn. This is not a site for people who can’t take constructive criticism. You just have to swallow your pride and learn. That’s what’s so awesome about it.

And then, you can also go and correct others entries. When you make corrections, you can cross out, make bold, or change the color to blue or red to emphasize your points.

Another AMAZING feature on the site that I noticed is that is has the same functionality as rikaichan built in! I don’t know how many languages this works for, but at least Japanese has it.

I already have 3 friends. Yay! I think the funniest part is that the OLs correct my Japanese differently that the サラリーマン (sarariiman) do. The OLs seems to just do little mistakes, where as the サラリーマン seems to cross out my simple Japanese and add 漢字 (kanji) compounds.

Anyway, I’m in love with this site. This is now my Japanese blog of choice.

Go ready my Lang-8 blog!

Technorati Tags: blogs, Internet, Japanese language, learning, sns, social networking, study, 勉強, 日本語

So here is the round up of galleries so far:
- @nifty has probably the best set so far.
- Yomiuri’s Gallery. They say they are introducing the booths themselves, but when you see the thumbnails, you’ll know the truth. While this Capcom girl is probably my favorite, I gotta say, this Square Enix chick is hot!
- Kotaku‘s collection seems like it was taken with an iPhone. But they are posting newer, better pics all the time on their flickr stream.
- Jiji.com’s collection so far is pretty fetching.
- Joystiq has yet to post an obligatory babe collection. For shame.

Technorati Tags: コンパニオン, blogs, booth babes, Companions, conventions, events, games, girls, Japanese girls, photo gallery, photos, tgs, tgs08, tgs08girls, tokyo, tokyo game show, Tokyo Game Show 2008

The Norton Fighter!

Oh man… Japanese marketing at its best.

しょこたん (Shokotan, Realname 中川翔子, Nakagawa Shoko) is known throughout the JP world as the most prolific blogger ever. Apparently, that’s how she rose to fame in the Akiba crowd, posting numerous times throughout the day.

Anyway, Norton Antivirus now has her and Norton Fighter (some sort of ultraman/power ranger-like hero) as their image characters. It’s so obviously targeted at the otaku crowd, it’s not even funny. On the website, there is even a “live” video from her room. It’s actually really, really weird videos of her and the Norton Fighter interacting… very strange.

And some obligatory videos:

In this one, she is listening to some disembodied voice talk about the benefits of new norton:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDz9wNqPvuc

And then this one is like an interview about here computer experiences:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDSfjEUeNXw

I admit it. She’s cute and her casual speaking is all too appealing, but I’m still not installing Norton! ><;

Technorati Tags: Akiba, Akihabara, anti-virus, アキバ, blogs, 秋葉原, girls, hero, Japanese girls, models, norton, otaku, technology, video

So, for those of you without an account, there is a pretty good guide on how to sign up and watch videos over at Asiajin:

English guide for Nico Nico Douga, part 1: How to register

English guide for Nico Nico Douga, part 2: How to use

And if you already have an account, here is your reward:

Technorati Tags: blogs, nicovideo, translation, video