www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk9nyjS39gE

…then you take your favorite character from anything (東方, Vocaloid, IdolM@ster) and strip her down to her underwear and make her run on a treadmill…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBW4afE3GDQ

…AND THEN you just move into the realm of the absurd…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1EQ57OoYMA

Go check out ○○がトレーニング if you like what you see.

UPDATE: They just keep coming, so I’ll just keep putting the good ones after the jump.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhx0t7kbSP0

BTW, I love Cirno.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2_UPIUUWM0

Shuzo version. Had to be done.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSdZRDhkuxc

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkWLWfZs0k0

Even the Excitebike one is getting remixed!

Technorati Tags: 8bit, anime, チルノ, ○○がトレーニング, Charger Girl, Cirno, eva, excitebike, 霊夢, Faito ippatsu! Juden-chan!!, girls, Hatsune Miku, Idol Master, Idolm@ster, Idolmaster, Ju-den Chan, Matsuoka Shuzo, miku, nicovideo, nintendo, rei, Reimu, touhou, training, underwear, vocaloid, 春香

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWRWfD-LH40

ティッシュ姫 is an amazing bass player (although no match for the guy from Ninja Academy!) who plays your typical ニコ動 selections, from ハルヒ stuff (hence the costume) to 初音ミク songs. ティッシュ姫 has gotten pretty big recently, from playing bass for a commercial to being in this video for メルト with slick production values.

But, even more than the music, there is one nagging question everyone asks, from ２ちゃん to Yahoo! Answers…

Is ティッシュ姫 a guy or a girl?

The official answer is 「姫」 (“Princess”) apparently. A good majority of the net is on the side of thinking it is a dude, but there is a small core of firm believers who say that ティッシュ姫 is a chick. The one side will say “look at his hands!” and the other will say “look at her thighs!”

I’m going to stay out of it, as I’m of the belief that it doesn’t matter either way. The mystery is part of the fun.

For some more ディッシュ action, check out more videos on ニコ動 or YouTube.

Technorati Tags: ティッシュ姫, メルト, bass, bass guitar, cross dressing, girls, Japanese girls, Japanese guys, music, nicovideo, school uniform, Tissue Hime, Tissue Princess, transvestite, video, 初音ミク

I hope she wasn't inspired by the colors of autumn...

Well, a 14-year old girl living in 東吾妻 got arrested for setting fire to her house. Wow. Apparently she needed an anger release. Very glad to hear no one was hurt in the incident. Sad to hear the house was burnt down. Funny thing is, I betcha I know the girl’s English teacher!

Anyway, I don’t normally like to post about JP crimes since it gives a skewed view that Japanese people are crazy. But I’m making an exception because I love hearing about my old digs… even if it is about the local teenage arsonist… @.@;

Technorati Tags: arson, 群馬, fire, girls, gunma, higashi-agatsuma, Japanese girls, odd, teen angst, teenagers, wtf, 東吾妻

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

For those unfamiliar with 紅白歌合戦 (Kouhaku utagassen), it is a yearly show on New Year’s Eve where the red team (mostly female music artists) goes up against the white team (mostly male music artists) to put on the best performance. Really, it is just a giant music show with a meaningless contest, but it is fun nonetheless.

I haven’t rooted for the red team in a long time due to the overabundance of Hello! Project shit that has been clogging it, but with しょこたん performing last year, I had to take pause and think about my priorities. (Speaking of しょこたん, she doesn’t seem to be on the list this year, despite 中日スポーツ quoting her as wanting to go really bad…)

Now, with Perfume on the red team, coupled with the fact that no team has won more than three in a row ever, I’m putting my money on red this time.

But the white team has quite the lineup this year… Mr. Children, Porno Graffiti, EXILE… It’s going to be a good show.

Technorati Tags: しょこたん, ポルノグラフィティ, 紅白, 紅白歌合戦, electronic music, electropop, exile, girls, Japanese girls, kohaku, mr. children, perfume, porno graffiti, shokotan, ystk, 中川翔子

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbs6poMd6jE

This is a funny little video clip where 坂下千里子 (Sakashita Chihiro) and アンタッチャブル山崎 (Antacchaburu Yamazaki) visit 小林由佳 (Kobayashi Yuka)’s house in search of something to bring back. 山崎さん is fixated on her ヌーブラ (nuubura), but then 由佳ちゃん (Yuka-chan) wallops him one.

由佳ちゃん was the 3rd place karate champ at some point, from what they are saying. All I can say is don’t mess with karate girls.

Technorati Tags: アンタッチャブル山崎, ヌーブラ, ユカちゃん, comedy, cute, 空手, girls, idol, Japanese girls, karate, Kobayashi Yuka, new bra, nubra, punch, Sakashita Chihiro, Untouchable, Untouchable Yamazaki, video, 坂下千里子, 小林由佳

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

Tex-Mex isn’t unknown in Japan. While I lived there, I craved Mexican food really bad as a native Angeleno. I found a few places here and there that claimed they served tacos. And there are some El Toritos in various parts of Japan (three in Tokyo, one in Yokohama, one in Osaka, and the odd one in Ibaraki… not that I would know from personal experience or anything… no…). Really, the best thing is to just fork out the money for the ingredients in a semi-ethnic area of Japan (they do exist) and make it yourself.

But, this place is 一石二鳥 (isseki nichou). Not only do you get Mexican food and tequila (oh boy!), but also scantily clad Japanese girls dressed in some sort of fantasy Native American/Cowgirl/bikini outfits! (By the way, you have to visit their site and see the anime versions of their models…)

I really want to visit this place just because I really, really cannot imagine what it must be like. It must be oh so post-modern and bizarre! I mean, generally, at a maid cafe they say things like 「おかえりなさいませ、ご主人様。」 (“okaerinasaimase, go-shujin-sama.”, Welcome Home Master) What are they going to say here?! 「はやくもどってきてね、パートナー！」 (“hayaku modotte kite ne, paatonaa!”, Ya’ll come back now, partner!)

Technorati Tags: Akiba, Akihabara, アキバ, bar, cowgirl, 秋葉原, food, girls, hostess bar, Japanese girls, maid cafe, mexican food, tequila, tex-mex

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

The only problem? She is the Minister of Birth Rate Decline. The official “Special Missions” (特命) that she is in charge of are counter plans for birth rate decline and gender equality.

Lisa over at TokyoMango pointed out:

The job title “minister of declining birth” is kind of horrendous—it takes a lot of power out of her hands already by defining what her role as the person in charge of gender is. Women don’t get to choose their path in life, they just need to have more babies. That’s kinda how that title resonates with me.

Now, Yuko Obuchi is married and has a 1 year old boy. My guess is that appointing her is a 作戦 (sakusen) to show women can have children and hold careers as well.

I don’t think that directly translates to struggling middle class folk, not to mention, there really seems to be more issues with the declining birth rate than just the traditional “career” vs. “family” argument.

In any case, I wish her all the luck in her position and with her tasks. Oh, and by the way, maybe one way to combat the declining birth rate is to make immigration easier. I’m just saying.

Technorati Tags: children, girls, government, gunma, society, Yuko Obuchi, 小渕優子