Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
Every consumer of Japanese pop culture knows about AKB48. The Akihabara based troupe has simultaneously become an object of both scorn and adoration throughout the years. Some of you may have half-jokingly predicted that at least one of its members would slut themselves out by way of Miley Cyrus after “graduation.” To those that did, you weren’t that far from the truth. Rina Nakanishi announced her departure from the group on October 5, 2008 due to health concerns. In June, 2010, she claimed that she would no longer be an entertainer on her fan club site. Not long after that, she adopted the stage name, “Rico Yamaguchi,” and took time from her retirement to do this: She released a nude photo book appropriately titled “Departure” and starred in videos with Alice Japan and Soft on Demand pornographic labels. What’s even more amusing than this is that a music station replayed old clips of the pop group and blurred out Nakanishi’s face. It looks like Ms. Nakanishi has become another unperson in Japanese Big Brother’s culture of consumer control.
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The stories never end, and here’s yet another recovery question. Is it possible for a town to move? Futaba is in the Fukushima prefecture but wants to simply take it’s name, move in entire political base, population, and rebuild elsewhere. It’s a concept that’s hard to understand. Can a town of 7,000 just find new land and move? It seems easier for them to just migrate to another town but instead, the officials wish to relocate. We’ll venture to guess this won’t happen, but the sentiments of what ‘home’ means to people resonates, especially in a place where the location has been passed from generations. It’s not a bunch of apartments. (Washington Post – Futaba)
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B.D. Wong plays George Huang, the nuts and bolts psychologist for the show, Law and Order Special Victims Unit. He breaks down the motivations of the sick and perverted and figures out why they commit a crime in order to catch them. Sometimes he even helps out the folks on his own force. It’s amazing in this day and age that there’s a stigma to getting help from a guy like Huang. It means your mind is weak or you’re a wimp, but in the end, he’s there help. Yes, Huang is just a figment of a writer’s imagination, but B.D. does play it like a champ. He’s no computer whiz, but he also doesn’t get to hoist a gun, he’s sort of in the middle, helping battling crime with his intellect. Perhaps one day a show with a character like him will work, but for now, there’s no way. Guns win. (cmcforum – B.D. Wong)
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Six swimmers took on the Japan Sea waters and swam to Taiwan. Japan Sea is notorious for being rough, and in the history of Japan, ancient attacks by China were all thwarted by the body of water. However these six made it to Taiwan, to thank the nation for their Japan Earthquake relief efforts. Before you imagine that the short swim to San Francisco for a prison break on Alcatraz Island should have been easy, the six Japanese swimmers did swim in relay and it was over two days. (msnbc – Swim to Taiwan)
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Zak Sally remembers Dylan Williams of Sparkplug. It’s here.
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