Txbullnettle comments

This is Rachel Tackett's idea of "reporting"??? Really??? The bias in this article is really quite something. If people are interested please Google "The truth behind Heavy Rotation" and read Mika Ninagawa's interview about why she made the MV that way.

In regards to the video listed here. AKB has a new show called Eizou Center, where members post videos on AKB's official channel in a contest to get the most views. Every week Eizou Center covers the results. The first week Umeda Ayaka did a dance cover of Perfume and made quite an impression. This video wasn't about being scandalous and if this offends the Rachel Tackett's delicate sensibilities I really don't care. I also recommend that this article be moved to the oped section of JT since this is blatantly an opinion piece and "reporting" is nowhere to be found here.

^ Two of the Indonesian girls are of Japanese descent, and speak Japanese fluently. At AKB's Tokyo Dome concert two members transferred from AKB to JKT as part of a new "overseas" study program. So far, JKT has only done covers of AKB releases, but I really like their sound.

The picture for this article is from AKB's Washington DC concert. I was there, and it was awesome. When you buy the government bonds they should offer limited edition collectibles and fans will probably snap them up.

A couple of things, first I've never heard of asexual people. Maybe I've just led a sheltered life, but when I hear the term "asexual" I think of organisms capable of reproducing on their own. I had no idea that "asexualism" was a thing, so I suppose he accomplished what he set out to do?

My second thought... He had his goods severed, frozen, cooked, and consumed. You know how you hear about amputees experiencing phantom pain in lost appendages? Do you think that he. . .?

One of Iron Man's arch-nemeses was a super villain known as The Mandarin. In the comics he discovers alien technology and attempts to take over China and the world. I'm assuming location shoots in China mean he'll be introduced in the next movie. The special effects have been the most entertaining aspect of the Iron Man movies so far. I hope this one has a decent story.

"Clue" was hysterical and Tim Curry was brilliant in it, and I'm pretty sure it became profitable once released on VHS and later DVD.

I enjoy a lot of Liam Neeson's films so I might rent it for a dollar at Redbox for his sake and for the chance to see some neat special effects (Like watching fireworks).

Personally, I'm kind of interested in the "Risk" movie. That has the potential to be mildly interesting or hysterically bad. A global war for world domination, but with 18th century weapons' and technology and war strategies. If done with modern or futuristic weapons and armies it will just a World War III apocalyptic thing, and might as well be the sequel to "Battleship".

Correction: Atsuko announced her graduation, but the date is still undecided. She remains a member of AKB until her graduation concert.

Correction #2: Acchan is THE MOST popular member as the last senbatsu sousenkyo had her placed at #1 with nearly 140,000 votes.

Based on current demands Atsuko is also reported to have only 5 days off from work this year, that seems a bit much... Ganbatte Acchan I wish her the best in her future endeavors.

Minami Takahashi, 20, was the only member of he group to know beforehand, she said. “Please accept her decision. AKB48 is not the ultimate goal in life,” Takahashi told the audience.

The whole concept of AKB was for members to develop a fan base that would support them in whatever field they go on to after, whether actress, singer, seiyuu, or so on, and was never meant to be the ultimate goal for the girls. It is supposed to be a proving ground for girls who want to be involved in the entertainment industry. Akimoto Yasushi has talked about this in depth.

Takahashi Minami, aka Takamina, is coming to Washington DC in two days and my sister and I are excited to see her in person.

When I first started learning Japanese and went to the internet looking for Japanese music TV shows, Jpop was particularly easy to find. Because AKB is so popular their programs and music are all over the internet, and for someone with basic Japanese skills their shows are pretty easy to understand. Personally, I could do without the photobooks and other means of "over-sexualization," but I enjoy the overall experience of being an AKB wota. A wide variety of events done for fans, and the use of Google+ towards reaching international fans make following AKB fun.

As a fan of AKB, I do enjoy the odd article about them, but fan sites routinely have better news than what JT offers. Hearing about AKB and other groups holding concerts and raising money in and for Sendai is definitely news worthy. The group coming to Washington DC for the Cherry Blossom Festival is also worth reading about in Japanese Entertainment News. However, the majority of JT headlines involving AKB are about commercial endorsements and members attending movie premiers. There have been some genuinely significant events that JT never reported, while others such as AKB partnering with Google+ aren't reported until over a month after the fact.

The issue comes down to relevancy, and most of what is seen here tends to be insignificant fluff belonging in a side note of someone's blog, not a featured article.

This is a strange story, and a definite lapse in judgment by the professor. However, I wish there was more information. I would like to know if the teacher had addressed the necessity for caution and the importance of staying calm in the midst of "craziness," leading up to this incident. Perhaps he felt his warnings hadn't reached his students, or he was intending to talk about this after surprising the class. It could be that he just had a nutty moment, but I feel like there's something more to this story considering the setting and the subject he was teaching.

A fine of $125,000 seems a bit on the lighter side. Especially when you consider how lucrative the fishing industry is and how strong the yen is at the moment.

@tmarie While I do oppose poaching and abuse of the environment. I would say that calling this murder, and decrying the cruelty of the these beautiful creatures a bit on the strong side. Have you ever watched Shark Week or any other documentary about sharks? Sharks are cool, fun to watch, and serve a valuable purpose in their environment, but they are also terrifying hunters. A shark's normal day involves tearing things apart crippling and maiming many different forms of aquatic wildlife in there questing for food. I disagree with driving a species to extinction and wasting a lot of good meat for a few fins, but I'm not to distraught considering that the natural world is typically far crueler than what man inflicts on it.

*grr...my numbering messed up because I had to copy and repaste when it didn't load right.

Many Asian people make vee signs when taking pictures, this isn't unique to Japanese culture.

I grew up near a military base, where there were many Filipino people, and while they usually had chairs if the number of bums exceeded the seats available floor cushions would be brought out. I've also been in Chinese and Korean homes where floor cushions were available. So once again, this isn't exactly a unique aspect of Japanese Culture.

Barley tea is amazing, and I can sit and drink a whole pitcher. However, I fail to see how opening the door to find...tea is in anyway confusing. If there were something that might border on confusing, it would be green tea flavored candy, bread, ice cream. However, opening a fridge and finding a cool, refreshing drink seems perfectly normal and understandable to me.

Slurping noodles is probably the only thing on this list that is actually confusing. I have an American friend who after living in Japan for over twenty years, took some clients to eat at a Japanese restaurant here in the States. He was chowing down on some soba and noticed his clients were giving him some strange looks. He was slurping and didn't realize it. So, yeah, this could cause potential confusion.

As far as sniffing is concerned, EVERYBODY DOES IT AT SOME POINT. How is people sniffing considered ever, to be a cornerstone of a culture (exaggerated sarcasm intended).

Really? So no English speakers have ever been heard talking with the listeners saying things like, "hmm," "mm-hmm," "I see," or whatever other verbal cues which signify due attention is being given to the speaker. I'd be willing to bet that many languages offer similar "Aizuchi." The only thing particularly unique to the Japanese might be the guttural eminences from the throats and mouths of the listeners.

If we want to get into confusing how about talking about animal sounds... wanwan and nyannyan. You have to understand some Japanese at least to know what those mean.

Jackie Chan did this over thirty years ago to make himself more appealing to western audiences. I personally don't care one way or the other, but at least Madam Riri recognizes this one as Asian not just Japanese.

I'm a 28 year old guy, and I don't know what this is or why it should/shouldn't impress me. Will Google later.

I worked at a hotel resort and we had a large business convention with Korean companies. The Korean businessman bowed just as much as Japanese people I've been around. However, given the close proximity of these two countries I'm willing to let this slide as something potentially, "Confusing about Japanese culture."

I'm unable to read Kanji, but who is Madam Riri and why do we keep getting these kinds of articles? I love reading about Japanese history and culture, but nearly everything in this article could be gleaned from the forward of a travel guide. I will join some of the others commenting here in asking for an article about what Japanese people find strange about different cultures. I would be interested to know what Japanese people think other places and people are like. Considering the slew of articles we've been getting about foreign opinions of Japan, it's only fair that we get to see the other side of the coin and read about Japanese opinions of foreign places. That's my point of view, anyways.

As a group there performances are supposed to give people energy and make them happy. They've held numerous performances throughout Tohoku and given presents in addition to the donations they've made already. Considering they are "national idols" it's no wonder they didn't donate anonymously, more of leading by example.

It's been a few days since the last comment but I'll add something here, in regards to being "stared at." I read an article some years ago about Robert Redford, and the reporter was walking down the street with him and was surprised that Mr. Redford wasn't being recognized. He commented on it and Mr. Redford asked, "You want me to be recognized?" Robert Redford than simply changed his demeanor; he straightened his posture a bit and changed is expression a little and within a minute people started stopping him and asking for autographs.

What does this have to do with anything? @American Foreigner If you have a surly attitude and seem angry and defensive, Japanese people might be suspicious of you. Your attitude effects how people treat, perceive, and respond to you. Honestly, all of your posts seem to display nothing but contempt for Japanese people. People looking at you bothers you? Really? Maybe with a slight attitude adjustment, some humility, and respect for a very old culture you might have a little easier time of it.

When I was doing home-stay in Japan, I stayed in a little suburb outside Tokyo and during my travels through that town I didn't see any other non-Asians. I had people looking at me, but I grew up in Texas and always try to make eye contact with people anyway. Whenever someone was looking at me, I would just give them a big smile. Most of the time I would get a smile back, but a few times people looked away. I had many Japanese people stop to talk to me, and I like to think it's because I try to maintain an open and approachable body language.

I was in Japan doing home-stay for a while, and got a crash course on many things Japanese I've been reading and heard about over the last several years. I have many Japanese friends here, so I was pretty familiar with much of the culture already. The biggest adjustment for me was coming back to the states and thinking things looked so dirty.

Before going to Japan, I could count on one hand the number of times I've taken public transportation. Growing up in Texas out in the country there was never much use for buses or taxis. Public transportation was extremely easy to navigate throughout Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka. The few times I wasn't sure where I was going I had people stop and help me.

My biggest surprise there was the bathrooms... There were bathroom shoes in all the homes I visited, and I discovered the joys of fully automated toilets!!! :-D

@American Foreigner, I understand being cautious but whenever I hear someone talking about isolating his wife and children from family an alarm starts screaming, "CULT!" in the back of my mind. There's no good reason for not letting kids learn another language, and many excellent reasons for learning other languages have already been listed here. To be perfectly honest, the flaws in Japanese society that are often discussed on this forum seem to embody the very argument being made against discovering a new culture. I'd even be inclined to say that you, American Foreigner, very strongly resemble the supposed 'monster' you're attempting to protect your kids from in the first place. Like that old saying goes about the one-eyed horse that was so scared of falling off a bridge on its blind side that it ended up falling off on its seeing side.

Hitching a ride?? This is obviously an escape attempt. . .

This is showing up here now??? AKB partnered with Google+ back in mid-December; I was expecting to see this a month ago. . .

Through Google+ they've already streamed a live concert, an AKB family kouhaku and there were some really great performances. Anyways, Aki-P has a page too and he frequently posts interesting and humorous comments. The interaction between the members is sometimes pretty funny. This certainly helps make AKB more accessible to the international fan base, and as someone trying to learn Kanji it's fun trying to translate the posts and follow along with the latest news.

Flying Get wasn't one of my favorite songs, but I really liked "Dakishimecha Ikenai" the Under Girls' coupling track for that release. After watching a live streamed concert on Google+ I'm interested to see what Yasushi Akimoto is going to do in 2012, to make AKB more accessible to international fans.

I hope everyone has/is having a wonderful and happy new year. Please be safe/Kiyotsu kete kudasai!!

Guys, it's definitely Mariko Shinoda, she's distinctive because she's the only one in AKB1000000 who doesn't squeal and act like a child.

Off the top of my head, I'd put Akimoto Sayaka, Masuda Yuka, Sato Natsuki, and Matsui Sakiko in the not often squealing league. I would say Takahashi Minami, my oshi, is pretty mature too.

However, concerning the topic at hand...Why is Mariko in the movie poster? Does she do a voice in the dubbed version or something? Does she potentially have a part in an upcoming movie with Justin Timberlake? I'm wondering if this will make some kind of sense when the image is officially revealed to be her.

I've been an AKB fan for several years, but regarding this I think, "Sore ga chotto..." would be apt. The site's homepage was up October 30th I think, but the links didn't become active until today. I found out about this due to the different AKB forums which I follow and participate in. I've actually been checking JT all day waiting for this story to break, and now it's here.

Personally, I find the picture morphing thing funny since I have fond memories of Conan O'Brien's segment on the Late Night Show, "If They Mated", where he would take celebrities who were rumored to be dating and morph there pictures together in interesting and humorous ways. However, the context of the AKB site, regarding baby making, is little bit outside my personal comfort zone.

That being said, there are three typical reactions that I've observed from other fans. One, general feelings of distaste often combined with the second reaction. Two, Aki-P is trolling fans the way he did with Eiguchi Aimi of the Glico commercials. Three, fans are more interested in combining members' faces in the morpher rather than their own. On a personal level, I'd be interested in seeing the imaginary love child of Oshima and Kojima Haruna.

At the end of the day, this is going to get a response, and probably a fair amount of backlash from the JT posters. I certainly can't blame people for having such a reaction, but considering that Akimoto Yasushi-san likes to raise public awareness now and again maybe this will end up with a positive spin. We read reports of babies being abandoned and abused on here fairly frequently. There's the potential for using the shock value of this to raise awareness of a problem. Who knows? I might be projecting wishful thinking on this whole thing after all, and I will say that during the report on JIJIPRESS Oshima Yuko looked rather sheepish during the interview.

LOL...this comment is probably a lot more involved than this article really deserves. I guess we'll just have to wait and see the end results of this whole thing. I hope everybody has/is having a fantastic week.

Night of the Earning Dead...I think George Romero has a title for his next zombie movie. XD

How is Einstein's estate earning money? Does someone get royalties every time e=mc^2 is used?

Since the article implies she's a single mother, I can understand her anger especially if her son gave her some kind of attitude when confronted for the second offense. While I'd be inclined to say what she did was excessive, the article doesn't say the boy is suffering from any internal or permanent injuries. Furthermore, this kid will be known to his "yankee" friends as the one who was subdued and beaten by his mother. Good luck to this kid trying to be tough from now on. While this "beating" has the potential of going wrong, it also has the potential of being the turning point in this kid's life to straighten up and get his act together.

The more I think about it the more I respect this lady. It definitely seems that her desire was to destroy her son's arrogance and wasn't done with any of the maliciousness we often read about those who abuse, maim, and even kill their children.

Best of luck to this lady and her, hopefully reformed, son.

Message to JT staff-san, Team K isn't a sub-unit. No Sleeves, Watarirouka Hashiritai are sub-units Team K is one of AKB's official teams.

Oshima Yuko is hysterical, best of luck to her.

@Humantarget,

After making a comment of my own and reading the comments of others, the issue is not that Mr. Mike doesn't like going to the movies. I certainly enjoy the freedom of watching a movie at home and being able to get up at any time to eat or...you know. The point of this article besides the seeming disdain for Japanese movies is that Mr. Mike doesn't want to trouble himself to explain the "finer points" of American cinema to his Japanese date.

It’s natural, then, that trying to explain a concept from a film to someone not versed in your country’s pop culture language can often feel like running in circles. I’d rather just avoid the whole thing and talk about events that actually happened in our respective real lives.

Based on the context of the article, and in light of the previous article, Mr. Mike doesn't want to be bothered to do anything that he finds troublesome. Talking about his "pop culture's language" is just too daunting a task. When the sum of Mr. Mike's written experiences are taken together, we can infer the likelihood that he does not want to invest his valuable time into people when it's an inconvenience for him.

However, I'm also beginning to draw another conclusion. Mr. Mike dislikes Japanese movies because of low production values but on the other hand, enjoys Japanese variety. He insists on only speaking Japanese when he can, but has difficulty talking about vague cultural cues and would prefer to talk about real life events.

I'd almost, almost be willing to speculate that Mr. Mike, for all his expensive university training, still is challenged when attempting to express or understand abstract ideas. This would explain his dislike for Japanese movies (complex) and like for variety (simple). Movie plots and cultural cues (complicated) vs. real life experiences (simpler).

I've seen my fair share of Japanese, crappy movies, but the Japanese movie Okuribito (Departures - as most English speakers would know it) is in my top ten of amazing movies. Mr. Mike you seem to enjoy generalizations to an insane degree. You generalize American movies as better productions (when many of them aren't, not every movie looks like Avatar) and Japanese movies are poorly made (without too much work, I just thought of 8 movies that look great). I'm not going to judge the whole of Japanese cinema based on "Machine Girl" and "Hard Revenge Milly". (Older titles I know, but the "exploitation" filming style is still prominent in many new releases)

In your previous article, you were an anthropologist discussing your findings on the Japanese race based on the seconds it took you to read an English text message. This time you're a dating guru offering some sage advice, "Don't go to movies because you might have to talk about them afterwards." (Noticing a recurring them in your articles - I don't want to speak in English, I don't want to go to movies and talk about them. For someone who purports to be a journalist, you spend a lot of time complaining about communicating.)

Perhaps, if you wouldn't find it too much trouble, you could abandon your "field studies" and use your Japanese skills to find things to do...in Japan. Then, when date night rolls around you could tell Aki-san about how you discovered something you think she might like.

A little less negativity is all I'm asking for Mr. Mike...I hope you have an excellent weekend!!!

That was, "I'll only talk to you in Japanese." *

Mr. Mike, I can understand word limits but you could have added one or two sentences that would have clarified many things.

Sentence #1. We had been friends for two years, but recently she was trying to communicate in English every chance she got. (or some other proof that she was free loading English lessons off of you)

Sentence #2. After inviting her to a get together with some other friends, her response was a refusal in the form of a massive block of English text. (or something to the effect of the replies content)

The subject of this article is not the hordes of drunken salarymen descending on you every time you go to a bar, but rather the premise was a long time friend sending you a text, in English, in response to a personal invitation.

I have been studying Japanese independently for two years, and while it's still horrible I understand quite a bit. I have made quite a few Japanese friends here in the states and am looking forward to my first trip to Japan later this year. That being said, I sometimes commit the mortal sin of sending texts and emails in Japanese to my Japanese friends who have excellent English skills. While I do get the benefit of practice, taking the time to write something meaningful in Japanese (while sometimes broken) demonstrates to my friends that they are worth my time. Mr. Mike, you invited a supposedly good friend to hang out with other friends, and instead of firing off a quick answer in Japanese (which after two years she knows you speak well) she took time to craft a response in English demonstrating her true feelings to a foreigner.

No matter what culture you come from there's a virtue known as graciousness, and instead of even considering the time and effort "Yuko" put in to her reply the essential response was, "I'll only talk to you in English." If "Yuko" was a good friend, she deserves more than a trite apology. She deserves a letter detailing your personal idiocy and regret for allowing a single text to ruin a two year friendship. When we hurt those closest to us, don't they deserve the time and effort it takes to mend those relationships?