Posted in: Japan must apologise for WWII until it is forgiven: Novelist Murakami See in context
Japan has apoligised enough times. China and South Korea use the WWII Japanese occupation as a diversion instead of fixing their own issues. Don't even get me started. Japan is the biggest charity and aid donor in Asia. The rest of Asia has moved on from WWII except China and South Korea, they ALWAYS bring it up. Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia also suffered from Japanese massacres but they moved on.
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Posted in: 8 out of 10 Japanese didn't know Feb 11 was National Foundation Day See in context
The Emperor's Birthday (December 23) is basically the de facto "national day" of Japan.
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Posted in: Hikaru Utada to marry Italian on May 23 See in context
Uatda Hikaru is Japanese-American, she was born and raised in New York, English is her first language. Her fiancé also speaks English, he works in London, UK.
I don't think there will be any language barrier in their relationship, both speak fluent English, for those concerned.
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Posted in: Quincy Jones to promote K-pop globally See in context
Is it just me or are the pro-K-pop comments getting thumbed up and pro-J-pop comments getting thumbed down? This is going to get thumbed down too.
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Posted in: NHK WORLD TV to start 24-hour broadcast in Los Angeles See in context
@Stephen Knight
NHK World has actually improved a lot. You can watch live streaming on their official website. I would say a good 80% of their reporters and hosts are fluent in English.
A lot of their shows are pretty interesting too and the formatting has vastly improved. I would say it's up there on the same level as with BBC World News in terms of format. They're also covering a lot more global issues but there is still room for improvement.
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Posted in: Quincy Jones to promote K-pop globally See in context
Ouch that was not a nice thing to say at all Quincy Jones. You just dissed the 2nd largest music market in the world... Japan has a lot of nice "Americanized" pop music too but they don't appeal to the Japanese because Japan likes their things their way not the "American" way.
Japanese music is getting a lot of hate these days it's really sad. I admire the Japanese music industry because they focus on local acts and on their own country, rather than trying to be something "else" (like K-pop, let's be honest, its basically American pop in Korean language, some of their producers are even American).
The Japanese music being self-reliant and focused locally should be admired not ridiculed. K-pop is getting praised for its efforts to spread globally because their own country has rampant piracy and music companies are not able to earn as much money in Korea alone.
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Posted in: Prince Hisahito - the future of Japan's monarchy See in context
The Japanese imperial family are ridiculously smart intellectuals. They all hold somesort of degree from Harvard or Oxford.
Seriously if they weren't royals being puppeted around like robots they would be genius diplomats, biologists, economists, etc.
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Posted in: Emperor, empress visit Fukushima See in context
The Emperor and the empress are very caring people. I hope their heirs and successors continue to be a good example to the public.
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Posted in: Has Japan’s K-pop bubble burst? Weakening yen hits major Korean record label hard See in context
Really? I just checked it out and it said "K-pop" grossed $3.4 billion in the first half of 2012. That's the first half, so the yearly figures are probably the double of that.
I have no idea where those figures of K-pop grossing $3.4 billion mean or where that came from. The data I provided is from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) which is the world representative of the music industry. The USA and Japan have always been the top markets.
IFPI list the US music market retail value at USD$4.8 billion while Japan at USD$4.4 billion. South Korea is listed at $300 million.
IFPI data is the type of data music executives around the world trust.
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Posted in: Has Japan’s K-pop bubble burst? Weakening yen hits major Korean record label hard See in context
Did my comment get deleted? I don't see it anywhere.
@ Michael Do First of all, Hyori Lee endorser of Swarovski, so what? That's nothing in comparison to winning Best Asian Artist at the World Music Awards (under the agreement of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) and selling out 5 Dome tours (each holding 50,000 people) and selling 35 million records. Namie Amuro also endorses Coca Cola and Vidal Sassoon and has been photographed by Karl Lagerfeld for VOGUE Japan.
J-pop does not cater to international fans because they don't need to. Don't you understand that? The Japanese music market worth USD$4.42 billion rivalling the USA's USD$4.44 means Japanese artists don't have the need to go international.
The South Korean music industry, "K-pop" is worth USD$300 million. Despite all of those "K-pop is international" slogan of yours it is no match to J-pop in overall music value.
J-pop is going to go international, you just have to be patient.There was talks amongst music executives last year for J-pop to go international within the next few years. The first step is setting up international fan clubs. The next step is the J-pop artists signing record deals with multinational record labels like Universal Music , Sony Music or Warner Bros. Unlike K-pop, the way Japanese music industry is doing it takes longer, they want to create a firm long-lasting base in the world music industry by making the right connection.
K-pop is one huge fad, it has no long-term worldwide longevity. It caters to teenagers. Japanese music even J-pop has so much variety and diversity it can cater to all people in the spectrum.
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Posted in: Has Japan’s K-pop bubble burst? Weakening yen hits major Korean record label hard See in context
K-pop is really not that big. Its a small market in North America. Only maybe some of the Asians here listen to K-pop, and only a handful are fans. You'll rarely find a non-Asian that listens to K-pop. Gangam Style is the only exception but everyone's tired of that song already.
Japan's music market is tied with the USA as the largest music markets in the world. The Japanese music market is valued at USD$4.42 billion and the USA music market at USD$4.44 billion.
There has been talks for J-pop to go international in the past year but its doing it slowly, there's been a major shift of Japanese artists working with Western producers. There's a development going on its just not as exaggerated as K-pop. People who work in the Japanese music industry are aware of their declining economy which is why there is a slow development to go international to make their music globally competitive. Its all very hush hush, that's how Japanese companies work.
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Posted in: Man, ex-wife die in apparent murder-suicide in Yokohama
Posted in: American tourist arrested in Japan on charges of pushing sexual services worker down stairs
Posted in: American tourist arrested in Japan on charges of pushing sexual services worker down stairs
Posted in: Swinton lashes out as she receives Berlin festival award