Featured, The Tatami Critic, Uncategorized
Kunoichi: Ninja woman falls short of other Takeda films
I will fully admit that I’ve been on a Rina Takeda kick lately, having watched Karate Girl and then rewatched High Kick Girl. I even downloaded a weird drama that she guest stars in, that I haven’t watched yet. Both are excellent films, leaving me wondering, can I get enough Rina Takeda? Yes. Thanks to [...]
Featured, Stop for Jpop
Stop for Jpop: The Rooms’ guitar-driven sound
J Geeks has featured a wealth of shoegaze and post-rock acts, ranging form the very heavy to barely mellow. So it’s nice to shake things up once in a while. Three-piece act The Rooms, with their guitar heavy pop-punk, harken back to the days of basement-band, fast riff driven rock. Nothing wrong with that. Vocalist [...]
Featured, Monday manga, Uncategorized
Monday Manga: Shinryaku Ika Musume, the funniest, worst invader ever
Last fall, a short, cute, blue-haired girl appeared everywhere I went in Japan, just begging me to ask “Just who is this blue-haired girl?” Shinryaku Ika Musume quickly found her way into one of my shopping bags, via the particular manga anthology phone book she happened to be featured in. The images I was assaulted [...]
Featured, Stop for Jpop, Uncategorized
Stop for Jpop: Check out the new video for Yuyake Lamp’s Tenkyu
In anticipation of May 15′s release of Yuyake Lamp’s third album, Tenkyu, the band released a preview for the final song, Same Song. And if the song is any indication, fans are in for a treat! The song is creative and original, using some uncommon instrumentation in a somewhat post-pop fashion. But ever present is [...]
Featured, Stop for Jpop, Uncategorized
Stop for Jpop: Yuyake Lamp’s next album is like a musical story book (updated with music)
Many people consider an album to be a work of art, but Yuyake Lamp’s newest album looks like it will take that idea literally. Book of Tenkyu, due out May 15, combines art and storytelling with Yuyake’s signature jpop. Book of Tenkyu, which means Heavens in Japanese, is also a play on words, since it [...]
RECENT VIDEOS
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- Stop for Jpop: The Rooms’ guitar-driven sound
- Stop for Jpop: Check out the new video for Yuyake Lamp’s Tenkyu
- Stop for Jpop: Yuyake Lamp’s next album is like a musical story book (updated with music)
- Stop for Jpop: Plastic Girl’s new album Ekubo rocks
- Stop for Jpop: Caucus’ alt-rock guitar-pop sound
- Stop for Jpop: The 70s jazz/jpop fusion of Minuano
Monday manga, Uncategorized
Monday Manga: Witchcraft Works
Posted on 30 April 2012
Whenever I take a trip to Japan, I generally have a specific list of manga or light novels I’m looking for, and dutifully pick up at one of the many Book Off stores in Japan. If you haven’t been there, just about every manga volume is about 100 yen or so. But every so often [...] Continue Reading
Japanese learning, Uncategorized
All about kawaii — this exhibit shows it’s more than anime girls
Posted on 28 April 2012
Anyone who’s watched anime for more than 2 milliseconds is likely familiar with the Japanese term kawaii, meaning cute or adorable. But how many people know the term has been around for more than a 100 years? A new exhibit at the Yoyoi Museum in Japan explores the origin of all those cute little “kawaii” [...] Continue Reading
Stop for Jpop
Stop for Jpop: Plastic Girl’s new album Ekubo rocks
Posted on 25 April 2012
From the energetic, guitar heavy opening track Love is Fun, from Plastic Girl in the Closet’s latest album Ekubo, fan’s of the band’s mellow, rock sounds know they’re in for a treat. The band’s third full-length album comes out today (4/25). PGIC, which features both male and female vocals, is part of the Total Feedback [...] Continue Reading
Monday manga
Monday manga: Mahou Sensei Negima!
Posted on 23 April 2012
The manga world is full of stories that take place in the junior high and high school setting. You would think authors would grow tired of it, but it’s something a Japanese audience can relate to, since the school structure is so central to Japanese culture. Because so many manga scenarios play out in this [...] Continue Reading
Japanese learning, Uncategorized
Five reasons why you should tweet in Japanese
Posted on 21 April 2012
Here’s one of those rare instances when two problems combined cancel themselves out. One: Where to go to get some practice writing Japanese, maybe connect with some Japanese people or other learners of Japanese? Two: Every time I try to write something on Twitter, I run out of room. Okay, so I’m stretching a little [...] Continue Reading
Stop for Jpop, Uncategorized
Stop for Jpop: Caucus’ alt-rock guitar-pop sound
Posted on 18 April 2012
There’s something energetic about the opening track, Modern Boy, from Caucus’ Going for a Lonesome Dream EP — the clean guitar riff that leads to a fuzzy distortion and a howling lead riff sounds just right. Caucus has a guitar-pop sound that calls to mind early to mid 90s alternative rock in America – sort [...] Continue Reading
The Tatami Critic
Monday manga: Gundam: Ecole du Ciel
Posted on 17 April 2012
Most manga fans are familiar with Gundam, the excellent mobile suit franchise which takes a good hard look at war and its many consequences. But they might not be familiar with Ecole du Ciel, which takes a unique take on the franchise. From Mangahelpers (authored by me): Earth Federation Mobile Suit Academy student Asuna Elmarit [...] Continue Reading
Japanese learning, Uncategorized
Is Japanese one of the hardest languages to learn?
Posted on 14 April 2012
Japanese is among one of the hardest languages to learn for native English speakers. That was the conclusion of a study done by the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute. The study concluded that Japanese, along with Chinese, Korean and Arabic would take 2,200 to learn. On the other end of the spectrum, Spanish [...] Continue Reading
Stop for Jpop, Uncategorized
Stop for Jpop: The 70s jazz/jpop fusion of Minuano
Posted on 11 April 2012
Minuano’s release Aru Haru no Kobito is one of those rare albums where the cover art just somehow really fits the musical style of the album. In the case of Minuano, that style is a soft Fender Rhodes-based fusion of Jpop and jazz piano. The result? A sound as mellow as a Sunday afternoon. Throw [...] Continue Reading
Uncategorized
The many uses of miso
Posted on 06 April 2012
It’s not just for soup you know! Anyone familiar with Japanese culture knows the wonder that is miso soup. It’s a Japanese food that most westerners like, has good veggies and many varieties (including the miso itself, which comes in red and white varieties). But it turns out miso paste has far more use that [...] Continue Reading
Stop for Jpop, Uncategorized
Stop for Jpop: Hoover’s Ooover
Posted on 21 March 2012
Hoover’s Ooover’s short-length EP Timer is one of those albums that easily earns a place in any listening rotation. The red-covered album, which is available on itunes, pulls you in instantly with the title track, a high energy tune that stays in the mind long after it’s played. Hoover’s Ooover is one of those bands [...] Continue Reading
Uncategorized
One year later – remembering Japan as it rebuilds following 3/11
Posted on 11 March 2012
It doesn’t seem like it was that long ago that my Facebook feed was filled with the confusion, fear and buzz that followed in the wake of the tsunami and earthquake that rocked northern Japan on March 11, 2011 — one year ago today. I remember the apprehension I felt, wondering if the many friends [...] Continue Reading
The Tatami Critic, Uncategorized
Retro-view: Madoka Magica bends the rules of the magical girl genre
Posted on 09 March 2012
If you’ve watched anime for more than two seconds, you’ve probably already come across the magical girl genre. You know the routine: average tween-aged girl, turns into a magical girl with princess outfit, usually has some little cat-like companion that speaks and guides her, fighting the bad guy of the week. But what if turning [...] Continue Reading
Stop for Jpop, Uncategorized
Stop for Jpop: The dark ambiance of Lemon’s Chair
Posted on 07 March 2012
The terms shoegaze and post-rock embodies a surprisingly large range of music in the genre they describe. It can range from cute tunes that nearly fit the pop category all the way to dark soundscapes that haunt the imagination. Lemon’s Chair clearly falls into that latter category, drawing on darker examples of 90s alternative and [...] Continue Reading
The Tatami Critic, Uncategorized
Watch episode 2 of Busou Chuugakusei Basket Army
Posted on 05 March 2012
The first Busou Chuugakusei Basket Army episode was intriguing, if not light on details. Were we’re given bits and pieces, shown some pretty powerful images in a non-linear storytelling format. With that, episode two of the promising series tells the tale in a somewhat more straight-forward manner: The episode is a somewhat of a let [...] Continue Reading
Uncategorized
Why every J Geek needs to visit Mitsuwa Marketplace
Posted on 03 March 2012
Being a Japanophile in the heart of Wisconsin, I admit I was somewhat embarrassed to learn that a large Japanese market (a Japanese mini-mall, essentially) was only about 4 1/2 hours drive away and I knew nothing about it. I’ve been to Japan three times, yet failed to visit this mecha of J-culture practically in [...] Continue Reading
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J Geeks is…
... me! I'm B.C. Kowalski, a journalist and geek of all things Japanese in the Midwest. I've spent years studying Japanese, went to Japan several times and I love reading anime, manga and watching dramas in Japanese.
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