News Sushi #62: Morsels of News from Japan and Beyond
News Sushi #62 And we keep serving News Sushi!
Editor Note:It is Friday and that means it is time for the World Famous, soon to be Intergalactic Famous, News Sushi from our very own, Hamish Downie. Hamish brings us a decidedly different slant on Pop Culture as viewed through the lens of a non-native living in Japan.
Thank you Hamish, for your insights.
My Partner and I recently binge watched a new show on Netflix, “Rilakkuma & Kaoru” over the Golden Week holiday (and beginning of the new era). The show is done in a style that calls back to the great stop motion houses, but like Latika, it’s so smooth that you are never sure if it’s CGI or not.
Trailer:
Making of:
If some episodes were a bit of a downer, the point of the series is to reflect the bittersweetness of life. I really only knew the Bear character, “Relaxing Bear” is where the name comes from, from being one of those fad characters we have here in Japan.
It’s popular enough that people use it as food decorations:
But, in my mind, it had been overtaken by the lazy egg, Gudetama…
side note: it’s hard for me to look at the yolk of any egg now and not see a very lazy Gudetama. Everyone’s spirit animal on some days!
So, I was a bit surprised that Netflix decided to make a whole series around the character, but now I see that there’s a whole mythology with the very ordinary Kaoru (mostly a male name, but is actually unisex), trying to go about her life in the city, while her family in the country want her to come back, and she tries to find meaning in life. It’s a simple show, but it’s actually really quite deep. I recommend it.
I feel so much better about life now that I’ve completely given up matching my socks.
— Rosemary Slade (@rosemaryslade) May 1, 2019
Did you know that there was a keyhole shaped tomb in Osaka that rivals the Pyramids?
Together with the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor in China and the Great Pyramid of Khufu in Egypt, this hidden gem in Osaka is one of the world’s largest tombs. https://t.co/bsit11akX0
— Donny Kimball (@donnyjkimball) April 26, 2019
News Sushi favourite Andrea Van Scoyoc has a micro visual poem for us:
Another News Sushi favourite, Felicity Tillack is on holiday at the moment…
Eww! now for something a little happier…
So apparently it’s ‘weird’ to refer to a matcha latte as ‘hot Shrek juice’
— Christof Bogacs @ Deadbeats on KS now! (@weeklygeek) April 23, 2019
Runaway Japan!
Japan- based Model and Actor Dean Newcombe has a new show on NHK, which you can check out below!
Did you know Janet Jackson made commericals in Osaka, speaking the local dialect? Here’s her old commercial from Japan:
Finally, some Quirky Concept Cars from Japan
1969 #Toyota #EXIII concept; some believe its intended powertrain was a gas turbine. pic.twitter.com/ligjX5Ed8Q
— Quirky Rides (@QuirkyRides) April 21, 2019
That’s it for this week! See you again!
