Photo by me at a Circle K. SMAP “We Are SMAP” Long-time-coming theme song “We Are SMAP” might mark a turning point in J-Pop history. Since the early 1990s, the Johnny’s-concocted boy band has dominated the Japanese pop scene, hitting Oricon gold with many singles and albums during that stretch. They’ve hosted multiple TV shows…including…
Man, remember when links to Susan Boyle’s performance on that Simon Cowell show in England clogged up your Twitter feed? Good times. Well, the saps in SMAP recreated the historic YouTube moment on TV the other day. Watch a guy cosplay as Simon Cowell below. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8l_Y970ypg&hl=en_US&fs=1&] (Via Japan Probe)
Takuya Kimura, better known as the dude with long hair in boy band SMAP, stars in an ad for Windows 7. Much to the joy of folks who frown on boy bands, Kimura spends most of the commercial being hurled into a building. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rdJvy3BFwU&hl=en&fs=1&] (First spotted at Japanator)
A blog focused on discovering the music landscape of Japan wouldn’t be complete without at least a mention of SMAP. I’ve had the chance to listen to a decent amount of SMAP tracks (and have even more to sort through, though I’m in no rush…) and for the most part they aren’t very good. Since…