JapanSugoi

Top-Gear is a famous BBC show about cars.  In one episode filmed in Japan, host Jeremy Clarkson previews a Nissan GTR and has a race with the Top Gear crew Richard Hammond and James May across Japan

Jeremy Clarkson drives the Nissan while the crew use efficient and on time Japanese public transport including the shinkansen 新幹線 bullet trains. The finish line is a Mt Nokogiri in Chiba prefecture  where there is a Buddha for road safety. See who wins this fun race.

via Gaijin No Sekai

Still don’t understand how the the sub prime situation led to the global financial crisis?  It’s a complex issue but luckily Japanese TV has gravure idol Haruka Namami 名波はるか to help explain the effects.  For her help explaining the whole situation in a bikini, she got to promote her DVD Grind-H.

Ken Shimura does his style of comedy like no other.  His dirty old man (oyaji) character is trademark and he often performs these skits with lovely Japanese av idol Mihiro Taniguchi. The following comedy clips show a parody of Oscar winning movie Departures and a classic golf instructor skit.

Mihiro and Ken Shimura Comedy skits

parody of Departures

golf instructor

Mihiro sexy angel

Saturday night is a classic pop song by the Scottish band Bay City Rollers from 1976 which has very popular in Japan and the song has been “Jpop-ized” and covered 5 times in Japan. Japanese comedian Gorie released a 2005 cover called  “Pecori Night” (same music different lyrics) which was the 48th best selling single that year.

The song was also covered by Japanese producer Yoichiro Ito - Akakage,  Japanese boy band Arashi (borrowing the chorus and replacing the lyrics) with their song Carnival Night Pt. 2,  Japanese band JAM Project used the Saturday Night chant rhythm in their song “March of Rescue Hero” and Japanese band TOKIO used elements from Saturday Night in their song “Kanpai!!”

Recently the lead singer of the Bay City Rollers Les McKeown appeared on SMAPxSMAP to sing Saturday Night.  Les has a connection with Japan through his Japanese wife Peko.

Pecori Night by Horie

Arashi Carnival Night pt2

Bay City Rollers 1976 Saturday night original

Cute little dogs jumping rope on Japanese TV is entertaining to some people. Add in some Japanese celebrities like  Suzanne スザンヌ, Yukina Kinoshita 木下優樹菜 (from Jpop group PABO)  and actor Yusuke Kamiji 上地雄輔 かみじ ゆうすけ  and you get a few more people entertained.

Japanese salarymen have it tough.  They may be expected to be at work at 8.30am and with many facing a crowded 1.5-2 hour commute by train, this means getting up early even if they had a late night of drinking with the boss the previous night.

Single Japanese salarymen who aren’t married or have nice Japanese girlfriends that make them breakfast, need to do everything themselves and some have perfected the art of the 5 minute wake up and go.  Japanese comedian Tomonori Jinnai shows us on Japanese TV just how to get up, eat breakfast, get dressed and get ready for work in just five minutes.

Fans of talented Japanese actress Haruka Ayase 綾瀬はるか will be happy to know that she appeared on the Moonlight Orchestra TV show (TBS) last August joining hot babes - Becky, Misako Yasuda, Azusa Yamamoto and Jun Natsukawa to show them she knows how to make delicious Hiroshima style  okonomiyaki.