A school girl poses with Satoshi Watanabe as he performs a rap song in front of an optical store in a shopping district of Tokyo. Watanabe began rapping four years ago at different branches of the eyeglass chain store he works at after a manager suggested he try new ways to boost sales. According to Watanabe, the act managed to improve sales initially and he has managed to retain a few loyal customers who remember his act.
© Japan TodayMaking a spectacle of himself
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Pump24
herefornow, you can only hear him for just a few mere meters, not down the street. Hardly the definition of a public nuisance. Your effort to educate me was wasted. Find an island...
USARonin
I liked him better when he did the 'silver statue' thing.
Seppinho
I prefer Ken Watanabe. But hey, looks funny.
mokgohan
His cover tunes include Beastie Boys' Lookin Down The Barrel Of A Gun,
Tupac Shakur's All Eyez On Me and Can't C Me,
Snoop Doggy Dog's You Betta Recognize,
OutKast's When I Look in Your Eyes and Buggface,
De La Soul's Eye Know,
Eminem's Business,
and then he finishes with Public Enemy's Don't Believe The Hype
herefornow
Pump24 and bicultural -- wow, thanks for the pop-psycholgy advice. I'll certainly take it to heart. But, Pump, maybe you should think before you post.
Pump24
I agree, chill out Herefornow, or find a nice deserted mountain to live on. He is bothering no persons public rights...not more than any other street vendor does. He`s not the best, but he certainly is fun! Made me stop once for a few moments.
bicultural
Take a chill pill, dude. Have you ever seen this guy's act? It's really funny and he's actually not that bad of a rapper!
combinibento
What's the name of his group, the Four Eyed Peas?
Smorkian
@shogun36
I wonder if she is just demo-ing them off the rack? It is a glasses shop. They are hideous, so I hope they aren't her real ones!
Smorkian
Yeah, but if it's your right to want it quiet and mine if I want it noisy, and if the shop keeper wants to sell his goods that's his right (he's part of the public), and somebody else wants something else....
Anyway, this is fun character for the city. I love seeing things like this, and street musicians, buskers...
herefornow
One of the things I like least about Tokyo -- the over-powering noise polution from all the shop workers out front on the sidewalks screaming or using megaphones/amplifiers. My word, does the shop's right to sell their goods trump the public's right to some level of manageable noise? The sidewalks are public property by the way, so this, IMO, is a really un-warranted invasion of the public's rights.
Wolfpack
What? That guy has lived the hard life - raised by a single mother in drug infested public housing just trying to survive life on the streets. Snoop Dog's lame rhymes ain't got noth'in on this dude.
cactusJack
Give me the Beastie Boys any day.
BurakuminDes
Dr. Dre - he aint.
shogun36
UNFORTUNATELY this is not a trend, it is not a recent thing, and it will never go away.
I don't know when it started, but I remember back when the Charlie's Angels movies started coming out and Ayumi Hamasaki started wearing them, they became very popular. Apparently that has not died down.
It's a mystery why women still wear them or ever wore them, really. NO ONE looks good in them, NO ONE.
As for the girl in the picture, she needs to change those frames.
MrDog
Golf claps
ultradodgy
This dude has been at the Shinjuku store recently - awesome.
ratpack
Anything is better than the enormously high pitched squeals coming from the girls standing out the front of some stores.
bentheredonthat
he seems to be making a spectacle of himself
nath
Used to love hearing him on the corner in Akihabara. That store is gone now and replaced by a Sega game arcade.
This dude is fun to watch. Ya-su-i Me-ga-ne, so-da-ne, me-ga-ne
ExportExpert
He is pretty good, heard someone rapping as i was walking down a street in shinjuku a couple of weeks ago, when i got to the street corner outside the glasses shop it turned out to be this guy.
He seems to enjoy doing it too so good on him, all power to you Satoshi san.
meloveulongtime
this is lame on so many levels....why try to be something you are not???
Alphaape
How about lowering prices. That usually works. Also, isn't it the job of management to come up with ideas on how to generate more revenue?
globalwatcher
Can I see this on youtube in US? Thanks.
Smorkian
Yeah, he used to rap outside Labi in Akihabara a few years ago. He's great. Good to see he's still around.
papigiulio
@kujiranikusuki: WOW can I touch you. ;)
Sure let em rap, what I dont like is the new huge megane all girls are wearing nowadays. Seems like a trend and me dont like this trend.
kujiranikusuki
I KNOW THAT GUY!!! I met him when he was rapping at a cell phone store in Akiba! I have the pictures on face book to prove it.
HonestDictator
"~YOU wanna see bet-tah, you wanna see bet-tah, ~see the whole world and a T to the let-tah! ~boom boom shikka boom~" I can only imagine the words coming out of his mouth heh.
Gurukun
I guess it doesn't work anymore.
tokyovistor
If customers feel inspired and enjoy his performance. Too many stores stay close one another, so the owner needs to do something to attract customers to stop by his or her store. I heard a lot of human voices to attract passersby walking past stores in Tokyo.