After missing Music Station last week (gasp!), I’m sad to announce this week’s edition will be rapid fire as I need to pack for a brief vacation. Sorry! But most of these songs speak for themselves. Carly Rae Jepsen “Call Me Maybe” At long long long last, one of 2012’s best pop songs is going…
Oh sweet, sweet justice. I came to Japan in the summer of 2009, and only a few months later Kentucky Fried Chicken rolled out the Double Down, a fast-food sandwich also accurately described as the moment Western culture peaked. KFC replaced the bread in a sandwich with two pieces of fried chicken, a genius/mortifying idea…
December already? Well, let’s make the remaining bits of 2011 count by…listening to J-Pop together. KAT-TUN “BIRTH” [youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlYS7Vve26M”] KAT-TUN seemed quiet for a while, yeah? Well, here they are again with something called “BIRTH” which an astute person would assume signals a change in style, a fresh start, an escape from the womb-like chambers of…
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2x0mw9B8ig”] The popularity of Ashida Mana works like a Chinese Finger Trap – at first, you have no idea how the dang thing works (“what’s the big deal, she’s just an adorable seven-year-old kid given a stupidly catchy albeit annoying song?”) then you realize the solution is way easier than you ever could have imagined…
So I stayed up way past my bedtime on a Sunday night to watch the Women’s World Cup Final and not only was treated to the best game of soccer I’ve ever seen…and that’s not some weird jab at the sport, it genuinely was the most thrilling match I’ve ever seen, albeit that’s a small…