The China Lover is the 2008 novel by Ian Buruma, a Dutchman now living in New York and teaching at Bard College. I’ve included the novel as the introduction to this article because the book jackets cover art are really eye catching.
The subject of the novel, or maybe it should be called a historical-fiction book based on real life events, is Yoshiko Yamaguchi who was also known as Shirley Yamaguchi, Li Xianglan, and Ri Kouran. Yoshiko was born in Manchuria in 1920 to Japanese parents.
Following the Sino-Japanese War. The Japanese had set up a puppet Manchurian government. By the late 1930’s, she’d grown into a very pretty and talented young woman who soon caught the eyes of the Japanese working there. Yamaguchi wanted more than anything else to be a singer and a movie star. The Japanese believed they had struck gold with this talented young woman, because she was fluent in both Mandarin and Japanese. Her movie career began and her career seemed to be fast tracked. But there was a problem.
Yamaguchi, was asked to pose as a Chinese girl by her Japanese handlers. Though born in China, and raised in China, she was Japanese. She was even given a Chinese name, Li Xianglan, to attract the Chinese audiences.
While watching Jersey Shore last week on MTV, I caught the trailer for The Social Network. The movie is the story about the founders of Facebook and releases to theaters on October 1st. While watching the trailer, I saw someone who I thought was Brenda Song who I am a big fan of. When I went to check the cast list, I was surprised to see that she is indeed in the movie along with a few other Asian hotties: Malese Jow, Crystal Hoang, Yoko Okumura, and Tessa Sugay.
I was set on going to seeing The Social Network after watching the trailer. Knowing that these beauties are also in the movie is an added bonus. I hope the reviews are good once the movie critics publish their reviews for it.
Five people, all twenty-somethings, are active in the workplace as well as members of the digital world. Somehow, via Twitter, or some other social network which they’ve used to communicate, they ultimately agree to meet. This is how the 11 week Japanese TV series called Sunao ni Narenakute begins. I’m not sure what the title actually means – but the tag-line of the series is - It’s hard to say I love you, and that is a pretty good description about what will follow.
Basically, over the life of the series, which ran this year from mid-April through June 24th, we will learn some in depth info about the five lead characters. We watch as they struggle with their problems like: their aversion to commitments, their lack of confidence, their unwillingness to either express the truth or to face it.
If that sounds kind of grim and disturbing to you, you can rest assured that the series is not completely or only about bumps in the road, it only seems that way. The cast is youthful, attractive, and their problems/issues are not too remote for most of us to identify with or relate to. As they’ve agreed to meet for the first time in the opening Episode, I’ll give you a little thumbnail sketch about each of them to help you decide if you’d like to watch this series.
I haven’t looked at photos of Minase in a very long time which is a shame because she is such a cutie, plus she is in one of my all time favorite photos for a gravure model. Just recently, I became reacquainted with her when I saw this post. So if you are like me and haven’t checked out Minase in a while, here’s your chance to do so.
Shinzanmono is a Japanese TV Series that just ended its run last Sunday night, June 20th. Broadcast on Japan’s TBS Network, this show was definitely prime time as it aired on Sunday nights at 9:00 PM. The 10 episodes of the series can most simply be described as a detective story. The crime was a murder, and it took place in the Ningyo-cho neighborhood of Nihonbashi, Tokyo. Of course the series was shot in the very neighborhood being portrayed.
I think shinzanmono means something along the lines of ‘new neighborhood people or person’, which is what Detective Kaga Kyoichiro is in Ningyo-cho. Kaga was just tranferred to the Nihonbashi precinct, is placed in charge of the case. With virtually all of the residents of the neighborhood’s main shopping street, harboring one secret or another, they will all emerge as suspects, Detective Kaga must use his keen sense of deductive reasoning to uncover the truth about these people as well as solve the case..
Much of that is from the synopsis provided on the d-addicts.com website. But it really doesn’t do the series justice. Calling it a detective show is truly an over-simplification. Unlike American detective shows where the detective solves a new crime each week, this series focuses on just the one case. We, much like Detective Kaga, are in the dark. Though we witnessed the murder in the opening episode, and have seen snippets of it, in flashbacks, in every episode that followed, we still have no idea. This is a literal, “Who done it?”
When I saw this bit of news this morning, I couldn’t believe it. But not only does Anri Suzuki have a doctorate in history, but as a way to apologize for the Japanese invasion of China, she has been offering free sex sessions to the Chinese students who are studying in Japan. While focused on the Japanese invasion of China, Anri was shocked to learn about her country’s past, so she’s atoning for those past wrongdoings by offering sexual compensation.
If I was a Chinese student studying there, I would take her up on this offer in a heartbeat. You’d be silly not to. But I hope that this bit of news brings some attention to the readers here who are also unaware of the Japanese invasion of China, which is a history that doesn’t get much attention and when the Japanese government has repeatedly try to deny and remove from textbooks.
If it means that I could now watch someone like Mika Kayama (formerly known as Arisa Oda) or Yuma Asami in 3-D, then I would have to seriously consider a new television purchase. But S1 has two new 3-D releases of Mika and Yuma to coincide with the release of Sony’s 3-D Bravia television in Japan on June 19th.
I can easily see 3-D pornography fueling the sales of new 3-D televisions. Porn has fueled sales and spurred development in other technological areas, and I still don’t see movies and games that are in 3-D as being enough of a driving force to get someone to go out and drop a load on a new electronic purchase. But if more JAV releases start to come out in 3-D, it could really get people to buy a new TV and help drive down costs so that they become mainstream. And if you want to continue this discussion within the forum, there’s also a thread you can visit by clicking here.
I usually don’t watch shows such as Dancing with the Stars, but I would check it out from time to time if I am flipping through television channels and it happens to be on. And if I would have known early on that Nicole was competing on the show, I would have watched the show from the beginning of this season. Good thing that the episodes are available online to watch.
But the times that I was able to catch Nicole on the show live, she was simply amazing. She may have had a slight advantage over her competition with her background as a professional dancer, but congratulations goes out to her and to her partner Derek Hough for winning this season’s competition on May 25th.
Currently airing on Japan’s Fuji TV Network is the lively and entertaining Tsuki no Koibito or Moon Lovers. It just started a few Monday’s back on May 10th, so it’s 3rd episode has already aired today, the night of the 24th in Japan.
The lead role of Rensuke Hazuki is played by the Japanese superstar, Takuya Kimura. He’s the CEO of the Regolith Corporation. Under his guidance, Regolith is about to pass the Mastpole Company, and become the number one brand name in interior design.
Simply described, he is in the furniture business and he’s very smart about it. So he’s successful, rich, and ambitious for more, much more.
Calling all action film fans. Especially if you favor or love the Hong Kong style which basically hasn’t a lot of dialogue, and is often quickly paced.
Beast Stalker is a 2008 release and about the worst thing I can say about it is that the title is a bit misleading. Dante Lam previously co-directed, with Gordon Chan, the excellent Beast Cops in 1998. That film was nearly unanimously acclaimed, so using ‘Beast’ in this title might be an attempted marketing ploy for knowledgeable film folks.
Nevertheless it has all the style and chops that Lam is noted for – gritty and tense situations which are amped up by a jittery hand held camera, strong characters who are both good and bad, and some very fine use of lighting and slow motion.
The story is a bit hum-drum as it starts: A well connected criminal is convicted and being driven to prison. His gang engineers a way to spring him out of that car. Then a massive multi-car crash occurs involving a number of vehicles. One car is the one in pursuit with Sgt. Tong (Nicholas Tse, Hong Kong’s version of Johnny Depp). Another is the car driven by Prosecuting Attorney (what we call an A.D.A. in the States), The third car is the one driven by Hung (a hoodlum for hire played by Nick Cheung). And of course, the first car with the convicted but escaped criminal. Read more…
The China Lover is the 2008 novel by Ian Buruma, a Dutchman now living in New York and teaching at Bard College. I’ve included the novel as the introduction to this article because the book jackets cover art are really eye catching.
