More Pics From Kawaii-Kon

Overview of the 2012 Kawaii Kon

Still working through the 100+ pictures we took of this past Saturday's Kawaii-Kon and decided to continue uploading "All the Pics fit to Print", or rather, More Random Stuff from the 2012 Kon...

2012 Kawaii Kon pics

2012 Kawaii Kon pics

2012 Kawaii Kon pics

2012 Kawaii Kon pics

"Come At Me, Bro!"

2012 Kawaii Kon pics

2012 Kawaii Kon pics

2012 Kawaii Kon pics

Costumed Couple and A Girl and Her Teddy Bear

Sailor Jupiter hanging at the Game Room

A Photobombing Pumpkin and a Forlorn Fairy

2012 Kawaii Kon pics

 What kind of visions will we see at the next Kawaii Kon? Heaven only knows, 

but trust you're in good hands with Kawaii Kon Guards like this sturdy fella:

The Sexy As Hell Iijima Naoko

The smolderingly HOT Iijima Naoko

With the new year just beginning, it’s time to replace all those 2011 calendars with spiffy new 2012 ones, and while shopping for a few to adorn my workspace wall, it occurred to me that I hadn’t seen any Japanese stores here selling any j-entertainment calendars for quite some time now. This was quite an eye opener for me, because once upon a time, the interest in j-pop, j-dramas and entertainment was so huge here in Hawaii, there were multiple places to purchase calendars, including Hakubundo, BunBundo, Iwase Books, and all three Tower Records!

While my calendar purchases had always leaned towards my j-pop artist faves like Reiko Miura, Morning Musume and MAX, the very first j-related calendar I ever hung upon my wall was one given to me by the j-pop buyer of Tower, a poster-sized calendar featuring a model named “Naoko Iijima”. Naoko Iijima? Well, I had no idea who this girl was, but I knew one thing: SHE WAS STEAMING HOT AS HELL!

1996 Naoko Iijima Calendar!

1996 Naoko Iijima Calendar!

For that entire year I enjoyed this salacious beauty gracing my workspace corner, and my adoration for this curvy beauty would only increase when one day perusing through the WANI BOOKS catalog, found out she’d released a bunch of Shashinshuu as well! Shashinshuu?! I wasted no time ordering THOSE, and upon receiving THOSE beauties, my lust for this sexy vixen would be bumped up to the next level! 

My Workspace in early 1996

I remember picking up my Naoko Iijima Photobooks from BunBundo and stopping by to visit some co-workers at my job nearby, and it was hilarious watching all those guys huddled around the Naoko Book, OOHING and AHHHING over each turned page! And they had great cause to celebrate, too! Check these scans out and see what I mean!

From there Naoko became a fixture in my gallery of hot models; little did I know that in a few months I would soon begin to see her in some of my favorite Japanese dramas as well! As I recall, the first shows I saw her in were bit-parts in dramas like Mahiru No Tsuki, Jinsei wa Jojo Da, and a great part in the awesome Karasawa Toshiaki/Nakayama Miho show Oishii Kankei, before heading out to a fun turn in the highly wacky Tomoko To Tomoko. My sexy li’l gravure idol had made the move to mainstream, where she would remain for years to come! By the time I saw her as a single mother in Otosan, she had changed a bit from the young sex kitten in that calendar of mine, and turned into more of an adult contemporary star. Well…

While going through my old calendars one day, I came across those dusty old Naoko Iijima one-sheets, and I gotta say, I was taken aback- I had forgotten how frickin’ GORGEOUS she was! I made it a point to dig up my old shashinshuus, scan some of my favorite ones, a task indeed as the calendar pages were all 16x20! Ahhh, but it was worth it and I just HAD to share! Experience the awesomeness that is Naoko Iijima!

The Akanishi Is Coming, The Akanishi Is Coming

Local Press Coverage of Jin Kanishi’s upcoming performance at the Hawaii Theater in the TGIF section of the paper. Not sure if the text is hyperbole or if he’s really THAT popular here, but I do hope this opens up avenues for other J-pop acts that I really love to come down...

Perusing the article, I had to laugh when reading the lines: “His Song Test Drive is loaded with suggestive lines like “We Can Take it Slow, and I’ll bring you up to speed”… Hey, that wasn’t how it happened with the former Ms. Satsuki Shimabukuro, now, DID IT? LOL. (and BTW, about that, in the interview he states he’s “Super Happy” about the marriage and that it “gives him motivation to work Hard”.  No word on Meisa’s career, fml! 

My Favorite Dramas Right Now!

Hungry! and Riso No Musuko

Out of the seven or eight dramas I’m currently watching, the two that have leapt ahead and become MUST SEE favorites are the Suzuki Kyoka/Yamada Ryosuke comedy “Riso No Musuko” and the culinary drama “Hungry!”…These are shows that continue each week to remind me of why I love Japanese dramas to begin with- great storytelling, great characters, and most of all, FUN!

Takimoto Miori with Osamu Mukai in Hungry!

Suzuki Kyoka and Yamada Ryosuke in Riso No Musuko

When the shows both began, it was clear that the odds were in Hungry's favor (what with my mad crush on super-cutie Miori Takimoto), but now that we’re just about past the halfway point for both dramas, I have to say that the lead has clearly gone to Riso No Musuko. Though “Hungry!” probably is the “heavier” of the two shows with the more serious tone, Riso No Musuko has been blowing my mind with it’s totally wacky, imaginative and “out-there” ideas!!

Crazy, But Magic Power! Duelling in Riso no Musuko

Ah, but the two shows both satisfy even sides of the coin- Hungry! has the drama, atmosphere and romance of classic shows like Oishii Kankei or Lunch No Joou, and then I’ll be in the mood for a light, fun (and yes, heartfelt) show like Riso No Musuko, which harkens back to shows like “Seigi No Mikata”, “Heaven Cannot Wait”, or even the recent “Yuusha Yoshihiko To Maou No Shiro”! Forget the rest, these are (at least in MY opinion) the BEST!

A Genki Grocery Run in Hungry!

Naka Riisa is Curvy

Watching Hachi-One Diver , it has come to my attention that through all this time I've watched her on dramas and specials, I've never realized how amply endowed cutie actress Naka Riisa is! For reals, y'all, and I'm not even talking about that famous cleavage shot of her in the maid outfit, which I'm 99.9% convinced isn't even her (as they never show her face in the shot):

No, the scenes I'M talking about are the ones where Riisa and Junpei Mizobata are facing off in the Shoji Players den...She's not wearing anything alluring like that cosplay maid outfit, rather a mostly reserved and sensible shirt and blouse, but MAN!It was THERE that I set eyes on those awesome curves of hers...

CRAP, Willya look at that, those things are straining to GET OUT! WHOA! If I didn't know of Riisa's wonderful assets THEN, well, I surely know NOW! Poor Junpei..musta been hella hard to concentrate on his game with THOSE distractions in front of him! LOL!

Favorite J-Pop Singles: Oda Yuji / Over The Trouble

Back in the early days of J-drama online trading, (ah, those confusing times back before the advent of instant file-sharing!) one of the main reasons I began that venture was to get my hands on a copy of the 1994 drama OKANE GA NAI. This was primarily due to the fact that I was high on a mad crush for actress Naomi Zaizen at the time, and was dying to see her in this drama that I’d missed catching in its initial airing.

Starring Oda Yuji as Hagiwara Kentaro, a good-hearted but totally dirt-poor guy trying to eke out a life with his two younger brothers in a dilapidated shack on the docks, Okane Ga Nai tells the tale of his “Forrest Gump/Chauncey the Butler” rise from janitor of a huge law firm to the top as one of its directors.

Oda Yuji as Kentaro

with Zaizen Naomi and the Kids

With its emotional stories full of heart-felt lessons, this show was a winner from the get-go, a drama well worth starting up that j-drama trading site, I must say! And one of the best things about the drama was not only its absolutely wonderful theme song “Over The Trouble”(sung by Oda Yui himself), but the visuals accompanying the song made it one of the very best ending credits OF ALL TIME, in my opinion!

"Over The Trouble"Theme Song By Oda Yuji:

As the show is about a very poor Oda struggling from day to day, the credits offered up a fantasy “dream sequence” of sorts, showing the fantasy Oda dreams up of how it will be like once he “makes it” in the world! 

Beginning with Kentaro rolling into work via chauffeured limousine, he pulls up the front lobby and makes his way into the building, but not before stopping to pick up a penny! Among the greeters, it's worth noting that one of the girls (in pink) is none other than Maiko Kikuchi, a young actress who would later go on to steal my heart as the high-maintenance sister Reiko in “Futarikko"!

Maiko Kikuchi in Okane Ga Nai

Going up the escalator, he makes his way to the top floor, and it’s here that I really love the visual: it’s one LONG, continuous shot from the moment he enters the office til he sits behind his executive desk, and every time I watch this, I marvel at how many times they must have shot this thing before they got it just right!

This clip comes at the end of the first episode, where Kentaro, as one of the firm's janitors, has found an important document one of the junior clerks had accidentally thrown into the trash. Using this clout, he returns to the company duked out in a cleanly pressed suit, and offers to trade the documents for a chance to meet the guy's higher ups! And then the song kicks in and we go into the credits...

Okane Ga Nai Ending Credits:

I love the little touches like the penny in the piggy bank and his stopping to show a maintenance woman a tip on how to clean the glass windows, all the things that remind us he’s still gonna be the humble, loveable guy he is. And when he finally gets to the main office and slings off his coat, the beatific smile on his face gestures to the camera as if to say “Wouldjya BELIEVE It? ME!! An Executive! HA!”

Definitely one of the best from what I consider the “golden era” of Japanese dramas. Oh, and Naomi Zaizen was great in it, too! Not that I had any doubt, but she was soooo cute and YOUNG looking in this one…I was much more used to seeing her as a harried older woman, in shows like IIHITO or OMIZU NO HANAMICHI!

Zaizen Naomi in Okane Ga Nai

J-Drama Femme Fatale: Wakamura Mayumi

Mayumi Wakamura in Rebound

One of the things that kept me going through the so-so Aibu Saki drama REBOUND (where Aibu donned that famous fatsuit) was the stellar performance by sexy actress Mayumi Wakamura as Saki’s viciously fierce “Devil-Wears-Prada” boss Ran Morinaka at her Fashion Magazine job EDEN. From her first appearance I was drooling over this svelte cougar of a woman, and watching her tear her employees to shreds (metaphorically speaking, of course) was sheer joy to behold!

The Peon and the Queen: Nobuko and Morinaga

Mayumi as Ran Morinaka

At first reminding me of a mature MEGUMI, Mayumi plays one of those older femme-fatales along the likes of Maho Toyota or Yumi Aso, with a steely gaze as sharp as a cat on the prowl, and rocking that “Aeon Flux/Agent 99” bob Hairstyle that always conveys “Don’t Mess With Me!” AHAHA!

Tearing her subordinate a new one: Mayumi as Ran Morinaka

"Your Explanation Better be a Good One.."

Heads Are Gonna Roll!

Though hard-as-nails, they hint at a thoughtful side to her, and they continued to expand her character throughout the drama so that by the end, you’ve come to love and respect her, as does Aibu Saki’s character Nobuko, as well! She’s simply a hard-driven career woman that simply loves fashion and all that that lifestyle entails.

Realizing how admirable her boss is: Nobuko looking in on Morinaka 

Thoughtfully at Work: Career Woman

Building this statuesque pillar of a woman didn’t stop them from putting her into the most zanily demeaning of situations, however, and I must confess a certain thrill watching her getting delirious trying to polish off an entire platter of pastries. Gastronomically engaging!

LOL

Above and Below: Attempting to kill an entire platter of Pastries

Ahahaha, how I loved this scene! Nobody looked quite so sexy when  just about to toss their cookies as Mayumi did here, and though  emotionally scarred sweets-wise, she even made time at the end of the series to dramatically eat a slice of Apple Pie, a wonderful capture that I've posted up in my still ongoing Tabemashou! Site!

Looking over at the Tokyohive site, looks like Mayumi will be appearing next in the new Emi Takei mystery drama "Wo No Higeki"...Can't wait to see what she'll look like in this one!

Wakamura Mayumi eating an Apple Pastry

J-Drama Clichés: Those Bullying Arm-Crossing Girls

Futatsu No Spica

You want a drama with trios of girls running around a school bullying all the weaker girls beneath them? You got it! J-Dramas are positively lousy with trios (or, occasionally, quartets, but never more than quintets) of girls running the hallways, all of them dramatically crossing their arms in a superior way to make the oppressed feel even more helpless!

Hana Yori Dango 

Cat Street

Deep Love

Yasuko To Kenji

No, seriously, what’s up with all that arm-crossing? Tends to look quite wonky after a awhile, and if there’s one thing that Hana Kimi did well was take this oft-used cliché and turn it into one of the most hilarious spoofs with poor Mayuko Iwasa and her group of cohorts (with a young Mirei Kiritani, no less) getting the short end of the stick in every situation, AHAHAHA! 

Hana Kimi

Fujii Mina eating Crispy Pork With Tomato Sauce