Yesterday, I found a nice alternative to watching my local news to get the weather for the day. NMA.tv was already famous with their outrageous animated dramatizations of recent news events. If you have yet to watch them, you can find them all on their YouTube channel. Along with those animations, they also have beautiful ladies to bring you the weather while dancing around and waving flags.

Personally, I love the videos, especially the one that has been embedded featuring today’s weather girl, Mini. Their uniforms are very cute. I would have like to have seen them report the weather wearing something more revealing, but what can you do. They also have a Facebook page that you can become a fan of and check out more photos of the beauties as well. You can find that link below at the end of this article.

Links:
Weather Girls @ NMA.tv | Facebook Fan Page

The China Lover

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.

The agent makes a pitch to the director

As I said above, she wanted to be a star. But her films were in actuality propaganda pieces. Yes, even in 1940, the terms ‘win the hearts and minds‘ was in full use; nearly 30 years before this term was used by the United States in their efforts in Viet Nam. The roles she played under the name of Li Xianglan were all about Chinese girls falling in love with Japanese men. This was part of the propaganda plan that the Japanese used to help the Chinese to begin thinking of the Japanese occupation as beneficial and paternalistic.

But there was a lot of pressure on her. She found it difficult to live under an assumed identity. She chafed about having to act Chinese when she was really Japanese. As the pressure mounted, Yamaguchi realized she’d never be a star in  her own right. She also realized that she was a political instrument, though she hadn’t realized it at first. She threatened to quit. She was told to forget those notions and get back to work. When again she threatened to quit, she was told no chance. Back to work and shut up.

making nice to the military

But the Chinese were not fooled. When one particular role showed Ri Kouran as a Chinese woman was being beaten, belittled and abused by the Japanese character, a huge controversy arose.  The Chinese resentment about the Japanese rapidly and publicly increased. When Japan was ultimately defeated in WWII, the Japanese plans for China were publicly reviled as simple global aggression. Li Xianglan/ Ri Kouran/Yoshiko Yamaguchi was arrested by the Chinese and charged with treason and collaborating with the Japanese. She was on trial for her life. She ultimately revealed that she was in fact a Japanese and not a Chinese National and was cleared.

A promo image for the TV Series

But that’s not even close to the end of her story. After the war, Ri Kouran relocated back to Japan and relaunched another film career. She caught the attention of Hollywood and came to the USA and starred in a few films. She even did a Broadway musical in New York. She would later marry the famed Japanese-American architect Isamu Noguchi.

A scene from within a movie from a scene in the TV drama

When that marriage floundered in the middle 1950′s they divorced and Yamaguchi went back to Japan. Once more she launched another career, this time as a TV News anchor and talk show host. She became successful in this phase as a crusading TV journalist. This lead to her marriage to a Japanese diplomat Hiroshi Otaka.

Ri Kouran at a live performance meeting an old friend from the audience

In 1974, she was elected to the Japanese Parliament and she served for 18 years (3 terms). This was certainly a thrilling life. One that a film writer or novelist did not create. nor even dream of creating, yet, Yoshiko Yamaguchi actually lived it.

Buruma’s novel is this same story told through the eyes and ears of three different and separate men who came into contact with her at various stages of her life. Buruma’s book has a ctreative and interesting structure to it. One woman’s story as told over a 50 year period,  by three separate men is not something you read very often.

But the story of Yoshiko still has more to it. A Japanese tv mini-series called Ri Kouran was produced and aired in February 2007. All of the images, other than book jackets and another TV production, are of Aya Ueto and are from the DVD made from the Japanese TV series production.

Meisa as Kawashima with Ri Kouran as a supporting character

There was In fact, a second tv series involving Yamaguchi that was produced and that aired in 2008. It was called Dansou no reijin. Meisa  Kuroki starred as Yoshiko Kawashima, a woman in the military during the Japanese occupation who befriended Ri Kouran.

Ueto looks gorgeous in the period costumes, and I simply could not resist sharing them. The Youtube below is a music video of the Ueto song Namida no Niji which will show you some small segments from the Ri Kouran TV show mixed with the new music.

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.

Links:
The Social Network Official Site | IMDB
Brenda Song @ Beauty Boutique
Malese Jow @ Twitter
Crystal Hoang @ Model Mayhem
Yoko Okumura @ Wix
Tessa Sugay @ IMDB

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.

Stats:
Birthdate: February 25, 1985
Birthplace: Gifu Prefecture, Japan
Measurements: 88-58-88(cm) / 34½-23-34½-(inch)
Height: 1.65 m (5’5”)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown
Blood type: O

Links:
Minase Yashiro @ Beauty Boutique
Wikipedia
[YS WEB] Vol.358 Minase Yashiro [QUEEN OF THE SEA COLLECTION!!!!] @ Really Cute Asians

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.

Nicole is of Filipino, Hawaiian & Russian descent, was born in Honolulu, and is best known as the lead singer for the Pussycat Dolls. Below is a sample video that I found to give a preview for those who have never watched the show before. And speaking of Hawai’i, you should also check out Carrie Ann Inaba who serves as one of the judges on Dancing with the Stars, was also born in Honolulu, and is a mature beauty as well.

Links:
Nicole Scherzinger Official Site
Wikipedia | Dancing with the Stars site

I saw this bit of news regarding Chrissie this morning on Kineda and noticed that only one person on the site has left a comment about her. I hope this one gets more comments because Chrissie is drop-dead gorgeous. Andi if you haven’t acquainted yourself with Chrissie in a while, today is a great day to do so.

Links:

Chrissie Chau @ Beauty Boutique
Article @ Kineda | FHM Taiwan 100 Sexiest Women in the World | FHM Taiwan @ YouTube

I don’t get the opportunity to watch much television these days, but I might have to start watching Stargate Universe after finding out a couple of days ago that Ming-Na is a part of the cast.

Ming-Na is one of those few actresses that I need to check out whatever she is in because not only is she talented, but beautiful as well. She now stars on Stargate Universe as Camile Wray who is a human resources officer and part of a group that becomes marooned on an ancient starship on an unknown course that is billions of light years from Earth.

Ming-Na is also the first Asian American actress to play a lesbian character on cable or network television. So not only does her character have to deal with possibly never returning home, but also leaving behind her partner Sharon played by Reiko Aylesworth.

Below, I embedded the trailer and two other videos. I used to watch Stargate when it first became a syndicated television series back in the 90′s, so I will give this new series a try. New episodes air on Friday, April 2 on SyFy. You can also watch some episodes online via their website, so if you are interested, be sure to check it out.

Links:
Ming-Na @ Celebrity Channel
Ming-Na @ IMDB
Ming-Na @ Twitter
Stargate Universe @ SyFy
Stargate Official Site

Speaking of Asians and the Olympics, should pole dancing become an Olympic sport? If it means that I would be able to check out Mai Sato, the current world champion in her sport on national television, absolutely.

There’s video of her in action after the break, but I don’t know why anyone would be against making pole dancing an official event. Who wouldn’t want to watch women work the pole? Plus, think about the ratings the sport would get if it is televised nationally and internationally. If figure skating and curling can draw millions of viewers worldwide, so could pole dancing. Hopefully, it makes it in someday.

Links:
International Pole Dance Fitness Championship
Lu Pole Dance Studio (Art Flow Tokyo) @ YouTube

After coming across the above video, I figured it was a good time for the readers here to become reacquainted with Mai Nishida who is a luscious Japanese beauty. And what better way to become reacquainted with her than by starting this post off with a video of her taking a shower.

Stats:
Birthdate: March 23, 1989
Height: 158cm
Measurements: 88/58/81
Hometown: Kyoto
Blood type: O

Sample Photos:

Link:
Mai Nishida @ Beauty Boutique

Source: Kotaku

Since the first time I watched Kill Bill Vol. 1, I have been mesmerized by Chiaki Kuriyama (栗山千明). There’s just something about her that makes me drop my jaw when I look at her.

While browsing around Kotaku today, I saw a post on a new commercial that she did for DMM to show their disc-based television and movie rental service for the PlayStation 3, which is basically the same service Netflix is offering here here in America, minus the hot Asian celebrity ad campaign.

There’s a link to Kotaku’s article after the break where you can check out the DMM.com commercial. For this post, I decided to include some video that I found on YouTube where you can better look at Chiaki.

Chiaki also has a thread in Celebrity Channel that could use some attention. I will have to start adding pictures to it soon, but also make sure you check that thread out as well.

Links:
Kill Bill Actress Showing How PS3 Movie Rental Works @ Kotaku
Chiaki Kuriyama @ Celebrity Channel
Chiaki Kuriyama on a Making of Morinaga Aloe CM @ YouTube