An Eternal Thought in the Mind of Godzilla

MARUI - The Dish

Ok. The cat is out of the bag. As I hinted at before, I’m now doing work for Japanese fashion and department store Marui. Here are the details. But first, from Wikipedia…

“Marui Co., Ltd. (株式会社丸井 Kabushiki-gaisha Marui) (TYO: 8252) is a Japanese retail company which operates a chain of department stores in Tokyo. They are best known for their women's fashion and accessories.
In 2003–4 the company generated US$2.75 billion in revenues. Its president is Tadao Aoi.”

Think Japanese street fashion: Harajuku, Shibuya (below), etc.

Marui will be launching an English, French, and Japanese language e-commerce site on December 1st, 2007. They will begin by selling girl’s brands of the FRUiTS and Kera variety such as Super Lovers, Sexy Dynamite London, and Baby, The Stars Shine Bright in addition to offering other stuff from Japan like metal accessories, lacquer ware, household goods, designer bags, wallets, new items reflecting traditional culture and such. Some of these are really cool. Orders will be taken with Visa, Mastercard, and Paypal with an 8-day return policy.

I’m down for this because Marui is doing what the anime industry should be doing: making their products directly available to international customers. Faux “J-fashion” brands such as tokidoki and Gwen Stefani's Harajuku Lovers are the clothing equivalent of Original English Language manga, except that they seem to be selling really well down at the mall. Marui (and myself) hope to balance things out by making the real thing accessible to the folks who want it.

I’m doing general consulting on this project and rewriting the site text here and there. In addition, I’ll also be contributing a series of weekly columns. The first one will be an interview with Brian Flynn, the owner and president of toy-design-clothing brand Super 7. Kera magazine will also be supplying exclusive English language content, and there will be large sections devoted to music and pop culture as well, so even if you aren't a clothes horse there will still be some interesting stuff to look at (along with maybe a few references to Counter ESPY and the Taishomei).

I’ll be sure to start yelling about this with the links once the site goes live in a few days. In the meantime, spread the word, put some pennies in a piggy bank, and start planning your outfits in advance with the help of my 2007 book Japanese Schoolgirl Inferno: Tokyo Teen Fashion Subculture Handbook. I just had to plug it.

More From Men's Knuckle

gay oyaji karaoke love song

Can anyone hook me up with some more Seibu Keisatsu (crazy '70s TV cop show, below)? All the cool Japanese clips are disappearing from YouTube.

Wild Party - Limitless Quality

Ok. Another month, another issue of Men’s Knuckle, Japan’s number one “New Outlaw & Lifestyle Magazine” and the publication of choice for discriminating gyaru-o, center guys, host club employees, and their admirers. The cover model, as per usual, is Ryoma who is now insisting that everyone call him “DJ Ryoma” for some reason. More about him inside…

It’s finally winter (summer belongs to sister publication men’s egg), thank god, which means that it’s time once again for big down jackets with fur collars in addition to distressed dark wash jeans and pointy toe boots. “Tokyo Knuckle Style” has been pretty monochromatic since the beginning, but this year, the palette has been opened up to include a new color…GOLD! Spend the rest of the day marveling at Ryoma’s “Rider’s Down Jacket”, from Gennaro, priced around $321.90.

In a magazine filled with sneering people with crazy clothes, Naotaka’s jacket with its segmented bulb sleeves (by Slow Wear) gets my vote for outfit of the month. Goes well with mir and frankincense, I guess…the dusted-out Allman Brothers look on the right is cool too.

One of the big features this time out is “what have the models got in their designer handbags?” Let’s have a look inside…

Hairspray, styling water, two packs of Marlboro menthols, host club matches, sunglasses and shit, and Ozeki One Cup sake (also a favorite with homeless winos). Ryoma carries a full-on girly curling iron inside of his…

The usual club reports reveal that gals (of the female variety) often come to Men’s Knuckle sponsored events in Shibuya. News you can use.

But this issue soon takes a surprisingly domestic turn from the nampa-centric “love ‘em and leave ‘em” PUA philosophy espoused in the past. Take for instance this ad for a team up between Disney and Seil (part of the Silver Bullet cartel), which depicts a happy family of club rats and their progeny decked out in “goka na” Tinkerbell, Minnie Mouse, and Little Mermaid hoodies. (Click the links for a better look)

And later in the issue, “DJ Ryoma” shows us a collection of Family Print Club pictures that were probably taken in a game center in Shibuya at 3am.

Can you really “Age Age Every Night” and change diapers the next day? Is this the “New Outlaw & Lifestyle” that Men’s Knuckle is promoting to the readers?

For the sake of future generations, let’s hope so.

Hydropolis

Just a brief note here to congratulate Jan Kurotaki on the recent release of her first US book, Everybody Cosplay. She wrote a chapter in my 2004 tome Cruising the Anime City and later penned a column for Animerica before moving on. I haven’t seen her in a while, but here's a pic I took of her a few years back prancing around Shibuya.

Doo Wap Dance

Sheena & The Rokkets - The Greatest (2003)

Sheena & The Rokkets debuted in the late seventies as a new wave act that flirted with disco, punk, and pop fronted by a femme fatale vocalist who was equal parts Debbie Harry and Ronnie Spector. I’m not so wild about their later material (over produced, boring) but the first half of this hits and rarities collection remains as alluringly sexy and as subterranean as ever.

Track 6

So it Goes on the Comedy Show

Cymbals - Anthology (2005)

I don’t know much about the Cymbals except that they excelled at a jazzy, breezy hyper-melodic post Shibuya-kei sound and they did the right thing and broke up before their management made them do any anime themes. This is their "selected best" collection and it's almost unbearably joyful.

Track 1

Yuke! Shonen Times

Chiisana Superman Ganbaron - Original Soundtrack (1977)

Fkosan, my great and true tokusatsu chum in Japan, tipped me off to this one via his iPod: the recently reissued soundtrack to the obscure show Little Superman Ganbaron (third in the series after Red Baron and Mach Baron). The requisite songs about how great our hero is are OK, but the real draw are the out-of-control instrumentals in which banks of wheezing Moogs and farting synthesizers conjure up the sense of confusion an entire generation of Japanese boys must have felt growing up in those short pants during the seventies. Remastered in 20-bit sound.

Track 2
Track 10

I can cook Teppan yaki better than, Benihana!!

Fukumi is so awesome. She’s this wild girl from Okinawa who truly knows her shit. Here she is cosplaying as The Black Lizard probably at the Marine Corps Ball.

I got a girl named Sue I said, she knows just what to do

Coatea from The Feminine at Club Heavy Sick in Hatagaya. About a month or two back.

I forget the name of the band that came after, but they were good too.

They played "1970" by the Stooges.

King of the Party Jack

THE COLTS - ROCK’N ROLL COASTER YEAH! YEAH! (2004)

The Colts (formerly The Mack Show) are the current torchbearers of a proud tradition of purely nostalgic Japanese rock and roll that began with The Cools, Carol, and a bunch of other greaseballs from the seventies who inexplicably tried to summon up the spirit of young Elvis, Gene Vincent, and the Silver Beatles (“Pete Forever, Ringo Never”) irregardless of whatever else was happening around them at the time. As the 5,6,7,8’s recently showed everyone, Japanese retro rock still can still deliver the goods when given the right vehicle, but post-punk garage records tend to be made fast and cheap. You can tell that the Colts pay as much attention to their production as to the really important stuff like leather jackets, vintage Levi’s, and pomade-assisted hairdos. The result is a total racket, suitable for a sock hop or Shinjuku Red Cloth, complete with pounding original tracks and covers of the Ramones’ “Do You Remember Rock and Roll Radio?” (the Colts certainly do) and “Rock and Roll Is Here to Stay”…by which they mean Japan.

Collector's note: Limited edition release came with a green flexi-disc, just like real American rock and roll records in the ‘50s.

Track 9

Peking Duck

Haruomi Hosono - Tropical Dandy (1973)

In between leaving Happy End and founding YMO, Haruomi Hosono indulged his Robinson Crusoe fantasies in a slew of solo LPs that have since become staples of City Pop. With the sound of waves crashing and birds chirping bridging the tracks, the exotica flavored Tropical Dandy plays like Leon Redbone and Van Dyke Parks (who produced the last Happy End album) soaked in rum and then set adrift in the Tokyo Trader Vic'€™s. So relaxing.

Track 2

Disco Emperor

Leopaldon – Cake or Girl? (2000)

Before they invented the "Dasai Gaijin" phenomenon, Tokyo underground DJ unit Leopaldon – named after Spider-Man’s giant robot – made an astonishing debut with this hilarious, hyperactive, head-spinning remix of Asian trash culture that plays like “Paul’s Boutique” injected with Kawasaki disco speed. Items thrown into the shredder include old enka songs, 8-bit TV games, recordings of Jackie Chan press conferences, lots of dialogue from Kamen Rider Amazon and the Japanese dub of Jim Belushi’s The Principal. The sheer amount of un-cleared samples led to the record quickly being withdrawn, but it’s very much worth seeking out (as are Leopaldon’s later records) if only to answer the burning question, "Which do you like better, cake or girl?"

Track 3

Do you remember, a love so tender?

Southern All Stars – Young Love (1996)

Southern All Stars have been around forever and have released way too many records. As a result, it's easy to take them for granted. The dictionary definition of mainstream music in Japan, they’re a dependable hit-making machine for a good reason: band leader Keisuke Kuwata can write hooks to rival the best of them. I guess any one of their records could have won me over, but Alvin Lu handed me a copy of this, their 11th LP, and it did the trick. Young Love overflows with big J-pop moments that echo the Beatles (note the Walrus string arrangements), Elvis Costello, and late period XTC, without ever blowing it by aping them outright. Sometimes, millions of Japanese people can't be wrong.

Track 1

Linear Motor Girl

Perfume - Complete Best (2006)

Do you like “Discovery” by Daft Punk, you know, the one with all the Leiji Matsumoto videos? So does whoever is producing Hiroshima-based idol act Perfume. Based on the sleeve alone, you have a right to be deeply skeptical, but rest assured, the songs on this singles collection are killer electro pop by any standard. With titles like “Computer City” and “Monochrome Effect” cues are taken from Kraftwerk and other techno gods and then hooked to irresistible J-pop savvy. That Perfume is a nearly virtual idol group aimed at web addicted otaku only adds to the magnitude of the whole package. Even music critics in Japan are calling out the comparisons to YMO and lovingly embracing them…just like little sisters though, right?

Electro World (Album Version)

Everybody laughed when I told them I'm in love

Pizzicato Five - Couples (1987)

P5’s very first LP was a front to back siege on the A&M soft rock sound of the sixties; think Roger Nichols, Burt Bacharach, and the Lovin’ Spoonful. Minus Nomiya Maki's trademark pipes – Mamiko Sasaki does vocal duty here – and Konishi’s usual DJ tricks, they’re almost an entirely different band. More aligned with the Odd Couple theme than with the Shibuya-kei movement that followed, the results could be dangerously corny for some. But for those who played this CD obsessively during their first visit to Japan (raises hand), Couples is less a set of songs and more like a big cozy City Pop soundtrack for Tokyo itself, full of bittersweet breakups, sleepy people, dumpy office clerks in love, and magical connections.

Track 3
Lyrics

Chocolate Disco

My new Otakool column in today’s Japan Times...

Remix this: anime gets hijacked
Fans defy copyright by ripping footage then 'synching' it to music

Anime music videos, anyone?

L\ikre a Magck

Papa wa rock n roll star

Scanch
Gold
(1994)

Making a career out of pilfering the glam rock songbook means that Rolly Teranishi (house guitarist on the name-that-tune style Heavy Metal San€ TV show) will probably never win any awards for originality. Even so, his old band Scanch was able to connect the dots between Gary Glitter, Zeppelin, Queen, and LA hair metal, with wry lyrics that elevated the music above mere homage/rip-off. The best songs on Gold, one of Scanch'€™s middle-period LPs, sound like Redd Kross covering Wizzard-era Roy Wood. In short, music by rock geeks for rock geeks.

Track 11

109

Super Express 109
Hachiro Aoyama
(1975)

The soundtrack to Toei’s big budget all-star disaster movie, available on US DVD as “Bullet Train”, features lots of odd electronic bleeps, wild guitar, widescreen Morricone vistas, and J-blaxploitation funk, all of it just waiting to be plundered for samples and breakbeats. Isn't that the whole point of music, anyways?

Main Title
Track 18