59th Kouhaku – And The Winner Is…..

Another year gone and another Kouhaku Uta Gassen done and dusted. For anybody that managed to watch it – did you enjoy it? The all important question is which team won? The female team (red) or the male team (white)? It was the white team that triumphed again to win for the 4th year running.

Judging from reports it was a pretty good show with some saying the best performance came from debutants Mr Children. Perfume also did well and Girl Next Door.

What an incredible night for the youngest ever performer on the show. 9 year old Nozomi Ohashi captured the audience’s hearts with the theme tune to Miyazaki’s anime Ponyo On The Cliff By The Sea. Whilst the song may be silly but then again it’s a kids song, take nothing away from this little girl. She’s so cute. Mai Hagiwara held the record as the youngest performer from last year (she was 11 at the time) but that’s been smashed now.

There was a nice Hayao Miyazaki tribute in the show which included the performance by Nozomi Ohashi which is below

Hopefully in the near future I’ll be able to watch the entire show.

The Yorosen Controversy

No doubt most idol fans will have heard about the Yorosen rumpus that happened on the 4th December edition when C-ute were hosting this show with Saki being the teacher.

Unfortunately Adolf Hitler was named as one of the world’s greatest people and it didn’t help that the girls called him Hitler Ojisan (Uncle Adolf)! You didn’t expect anything else than for this to cause huge offence which it did. The show never mentioned about the atrocities he caused during WWII or anything like that, they just praised his ability to rouse a crowd with his speeches. In fact they even made fun of how short he was!

Surely the producers and researchers of this show knew who Hitler was and the things he did during the war. They can’t be completely stupid as to not know their world history. I’m not entirely sure if somebody has lost a job because of this mistake but TV Tokyo did make a public apology. It looked to me like the girls were clueless about Hitler.

If for some reason you haven’t seen the offending clip, here it is for you with English subtitles:

Japan Trip 2008 – Day 10 9/12/08

A return trip to Yokohama was my destination this morning. The last time I came here was during sakura season in 2007. Took the Minato Mirai line to Chinatown. Had a nice pleasant stroll around there and then onwards to Yamashita Koen. The views of the port weren’t good because of low cloud.  Had a good hike over from the park to the Minato Mirai 21 area. Looking at the Cosmo Clock reminded me when Welsh rockers Manic Street Preachers shot part of their video to the song Motorcycle Emptiness here all those years ago. I decided to go up to the observatory at the top of the Landmark Tower. It’s a shame that the views from the top was spoiled by the smog and low cloud. After more walking I went back to Akiba just for the AKB48 theater.

Yokohama's Chinatown

This time the theater was open and I could enter the place many Western AKB48 fans dream of visiting. There was a couple of wotas having a cup of coffee in the cafe and I had a look at the merchandise that could be bought in the small shop but the AKB48 t-shirt which I wanted wasn’t available. Looks like I’ll have to buy that online somewhere. Disappointed with that. So far I had been unsuccessful in getting a ticket to see the girls in action here but all I could do was carry on emailing every day and cross my fingers that my luck would come in. After gazing at the photos of each member on the walls in the corridor outside the theater I made my way down the elevator and onto my 3rd destination of the day – back to Nakano.

Looking towards the Minato Mirai 21 area from Yamashita Koen

I knew exactly what I wanted so up to the 3rd floor and Trio 2. Bought a AKB48 tour t-shirt and a Morning Musume Wonderful Hearts 2006 one plus some more photos. As I came out of Nakano Broadway the weather had turned for the worst and it was raining steadily. Got an umbrella but within 5 mins of landing in Shinjuku the bloody thing was destroyed by a gust of wind. What a waste of 300 yen!!

The Cosmo Clock

It was still raining in the early evening as I headed to Tower Records with my points card to buy some CD’s. I purchased Perfume – Game and Hikaru Utada’s Heart Station album with Koda Kumi’s Taboo and C-ute’s Forever Love singles. There was more CD’s I intended to buy before I going back home.

The view from the top of the Landmark Tower

On the TV tonight was a special celebrity edition of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. I spotted Kago Ai in the audience but why was she here and who was she supporting? Actually she was supporting her co-star in the play she’s doing  and plugging her Kago Channel DVD. She looked so cute tonight. She wore a multi-colored striped cardigan on top of a white t-shirt with shorts and red tights and boots.

The Yokohama Bay Stars stadium from the Landmark Tower

Tomorrow – a pilgrimage to a location associated with the anime Lucky Star.