Hot cub singer: Hata Motohiro

My husband recently introduced me to this adorable Japanese cub singer, Hata Motohiro (秦基博). This song is called「夏はこれからだ！」(Summer has begun). It’s a perfect song for a cold winter day. I feel like he’s singing directly to me.

Here’s a great fan site. I am going to try to learn the lyrics!

こんなふうに毎日がダラダラと過ぎていく
ああ　またフサギ込んでしまうのかい?

そんなときは気持ちばっかクルクルと空回り
ああ　まだくすぶっているのかい?

目を閉じて僕といこう
誰もいないとこへ　秘密のあの場所へ

そこで裸足になって fallin’ love
露(あらわ)になった parts and hearts
恥ずかしがってハニかんでるサマーデイズ

そして重なり合ったメロディー
確かめ合ったハーモニー
ちょっと待った　ちょっと待った
夏はこれからだ!

散々な結果なんて早々と忘れちまえよ
ああ　また悩み込んでしまうから

しくじってしまうことって誰だってあるものさ
そう　またやり直せばいいんだよ

手を引いて連れてゆこう
素晴らしい世界へ5秒後の未来へ

僕らどこまでだってゆける
いつまでだって飛べる
その気になって見渡したらパラダイス

だから涙拭って no more cry
そして笑って smile on smile
やっぱそうだ　やっぱそうだ
愛は今からだ!

冷たい水の中でゆらゆら揺れる太陽
乾いた風の音にざわざわざわめく胸

hey!! boys & girls
涙の痕を隠せ　砂浜のファンデーション
オテントサマがくれた季節も
暗い顔じゃつまんねえゾ
楽しんだもん勝ち　It’s all right
青い空の下じゃみんな同じ
海も山も夏色に染まっていく
サマーオブラブ

気付かせて　すぐそこにあるものを
新しい世界を　美しい未来を

僕らどこまでだってゆける
いつまでだって飛べる
その気になってはばたいたらバタフライ

だから涙拭って no more cry
そして笑って smile on smile
きっとそうだ　きっとそうだ
僕らこれからだ!
愛は今からだ!!
夏はこれからだ!!!

Sho: double spread

His family must be so proud!

Sho: Front or back?

My reader poll: Do you prefer Sho from the front or from the back? Comments appreciated!

Sho shows (almost) all on an・an

Arashi’s Sakurai Sho bares (almost) all in anan magazine’s special “male body” issue. Sho is one of the most popular members of the Johnny’s boy band Arashi, a Keio graduate from a wealthy family, and now a night-time newscaster on Zero presenting serious news, including the current state and history of Japan-US relations. The husband thinks Sho aspires to become Prime Minister one day, which would be a great triumph for the boy band creator Johnny.

anan is a young Japanese woman’s version of Cosmo. The magazine focuses on sexuality, appearance, polls, and men, men, men. This must be one of their sluttiest issues ever. There are taxonomies of the 8 male body types portrayed by comics and tarentos (all variations of skinny and boyish, except the normal sized “Big Boy” and the one fatty), photos of athletes and professional wrestlers, and a pictorial about how you might imagine young men at work without their clothes.

Dear readers, do you think Sho showing his skin will help or hinder his political aspirations? And, before I get any complaints, despite the fact that Sho is made up, waxed, and air-brushed to look barely legal (or younger), he is in fact 27 years old. I think he looks a bit like a Ken doll, plastic and a bit sexless.

What do you say? Should I post more images from this pictorial?

JR Characters (3 of 3)

Enough long discussions and outre-looks. Here’s a pleasing image of more prosaic fashion on the JR Nakano platform. The hair may be diminutive, but the men’s handbags certainly aren’t! Ah, Nakano, you are so loveable!

JR Characters (2 of 3)

Riding the Yamanote with an American friend who has lived in Japan the past four years, I was telling him about how San Francisco’s homeless population, thousands of people with high rates of mental illness, drug addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder, make street life so unpleasant for all but the wealthiest neighborhoods. It’s common to see people shooting up, defecating, and ranting. When a homeless man spat on my husband’s face, I think he never wanted to live in San Francisco again.

Then my friend pointed out this guy sitting behind me. Clearly he was homeless and sleeping in the train that continually circles the city. I was amazed by his hand-quilted pants. For a person with few material resources, he has the vision to create an art project of his own pants: safety pins and thread holding hundreds of fabric scraps, and even wrappers and face masks.Very high-fashion, and clearly expressing creativity and dignity in spite of his hardship.

There is no end to people watching in Tokyo’s JR trains and metro.

JR Characters (1 of 3)

JR Nakano station is always a people-watching pleasure. Less self-conscious than Harajuku and less desperate than Shibuya, Nakano’s station attracts the hip, the funky, and the downright strange. This is the first in a 3 part series of JR characters.

I love how nonchalant is this lady wearing a sparkly pink top, fluorescent blue skirt, several handbags, and a hat that will not stop. Japanese are so polite that no one stared, and I was the only one who immediately pulled out my camera.

The hat is a marvelous creation. Perched on top of the main quilted, multi-patterned hat, which nearly obscures her (?) face, there is a blue sequin mini-hat, pink butterfly wings, many feathers, a stuffed lady bug, and an over-sized candy inside a rolled up wrapper.

What other objects do you think would go with this hat?

Could this be true?

Via Bryan Boy‘s Twitter stream (and his retweeting), I came across this alleged outtake from Madonna’s W magazine photo shoot with her young Brazilian boyfriend. I don’t know if it’s true, but her outfit and his body do match the published photos, including the one below.

If you need to see more of Jesus’ shaved crotch, click here (NSFW). My conclusion is that Photoshop, make-up and trusted photographers are a lady’s best friend.

Why do Japanese love rainbows?

Japanese love rainbows! I made this rice bowl for the husband’s sister, and gave it the rainbow treatment because I heard she likes them.

Except perhaps for small town Christian children in the lost part of Amerika, every Amerikan associates rainbows with gays. Not in Japan. Just like men’s plucked eybrows, back-combed hair, outre fashion, and overall vanity, rainbows are not marked as other, different, or marginal.

Why do Japanese love rainbows?

Here’s the backside of the rice bowl.

This is one of my first pottery wheel ceramics. The only reason it looks mostly symmetrical is that my teacher/father-in-law helped me a lot!

Random Nakano men

Who are these well-coiffed young men hanging outside the Nakano JR station? Nakano is perfect for people watching.