E Mobile is a cell phone operator in Japan offering 3G/HSPA data services. As they used to offer only data service, they were not widely known, but now after teaming up with NTT docomo to offer voice service, they are becoming more popular.
Tomomi Itano (板野 友美 Itano Tomomi, born July 3, 1991) is a member of the Japanese idol group AKB48, as well as a soloist.
In Japanese culture, idols (アイドル aidoru) are (usually female) media personalities in their teens and early twenties who are considered particularly attractive or cute and who will, for a period ranging from several months to a few years, regularly appear in the mass media, e.g. as singers for pop groups, bit-part actors, TV personalities (tarento), models in photo spreads published in magazines, advertisements, etc.
A gang signal is a visual or verbal way gang members identify their affiliation. This can take many forms including slogans, tattoos or hand signs. Many of these, especially slogans and hand signs, have become part of popular culture.
“Haru Ichiban” (春一番, First Storm of Spring) is the ninth single release by Japanese girl group Candies, released on March 1, 1976. This was the group’s trademark song.
Yoshiko Tanaka (田中 好子 Tanaka Yoshiko, April 8, 1956 – April 21, 2011) was a Japanese actress. She was also famous as a member of the pop group Candies. While a member of Candies, Tanaka was known by the nickname “Sue” (スーちゃん Sū-chan). In 1991, she married golfer Kazuo Odate, and was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992. In October 2010, Tanaka’s cancer relapsed and she died on April 21, 2011. She was 55 years old at the time of her death.
(うなぎ) is the Japanese word for freshwater eels, especially the Japanese eel, Anguilla japonica. Unagi is often eaten during the hot summers in Japan. There is even a special day for eating unagi, the midsummer day of the Ox (doyo no ushi no hi).
Kabayaki (蒲焼) is a generic Japanese term for a dish of seafood which is filleted, boned and dipped in a sweet soy sauce-base sauce before broiled on a grill. In general, kabayaki refers to the dish made with unagi.
Hokka Hokka Tei (ほっかほっか亭) is a bento take-out chain with over 2,000 franchises and company-owned branches throughout Japan. Hokka Hokka Tei [was] the major brand name of Plenus Co., Ltd., which used to be engaged in office equipment sales before it changed industries to the food industry in 1980 [and then in 2008 split from Hokka Hokka Tei to form the HottoMotto bento chain in 2005.]
Taiko (太鼓) means “drum” in Japanese (etymologically “great” or “wide drum”). Outside Japan, the word is often used to refer to any of the various Japanese drums (和太鼓, wa-daiko, “Japanese drum”, in Japanese) and to the relatively recent art-form of ensemble taiko drumming (sometimes called more specifically, kumi-daiko (組太鼓)).
Suntory was one of the first Asian companies to specifically employ American celebrities to market their product. One of the most notable is Sammy Davis, Jr., who appeared in a series of memorable Suntory commercials in the early 1970s.
Samuel George “Sammy” Davis, Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American entertainer. Primarily a dancer and singer, Davis was a childhood vaudevillian, and became known for his performances on Broadway and in Las Vegas, as a recording artist, television and film star, and the only black member of Frank Sinatra’s “Rat Pack”. In the 1970s, he appeared in commercials in Japan for Suntory whiskey.
A blended whisky (or whiskey) is the product of blending different types of whiskies.
Lotte‘s current marketing slogan in Japan is お口の恋人ロッテ (o-kuchi no koibito Lotte), which is translated as “your palate’s sweetheart, Lotte”.
Dreams Come True (ドリームズ・カム・トゥルー, Dorīmuzu Kamu Turū) is a music duo from Japan, formed in 1988 that has sold more than 50 million records worldwide.
Ghana, known for its gold in colonial times, remains one of the world’s top gold producers. Other exports such as cocoa, timber, electricity, diamond, bauxite, and manganese are major sources of foreign exchange.
Kirin eventually, somewhat belatedly, in early 1996, gave in to consumer preferences and changed Kirin Lager to a less bitter, draft beer.
Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO) is an influential Japanese technopop band formed in 1978, and renowned as a major influence in popular music and for pioneering the technopop music genre. The principal members are Haruomi Hosono (bass), Yukihiro Takahashi (drums and vocals) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (keyboards). The band have reunited in 2007 for an advertising campaign for Kirin Lager which lampooned their longevity and charted No.1 on various Japanese digital download charts (including iTunes Store chart) with the song “Rydeen 79/07″, released on Sakamoto’s new label commmons.
Moog synthesizer (pronounced /ˈmoʊg/, rhymes with “rogue”) may refer to any number of analog synthesizers designed by Dr. Robert Moog or manufactured by Moog Music, and is commonly used as a generic term for analog and digital music synthesisers.
A Musical road is a road, or part of a road, which when driven over causes a tactile vibration and audible rumbling transmitted through the wheels into the car body in the form of a musical tune. [In Japan] there are three Melody Roads; one in Hokkaido, another in Wakayama (where, at 40km/h, a car can produce the Japanese ballad “Miagete goran yoru no hoshi wo” by Kyu Sakamoto), and a third in Gunma, which consist of 2,559 grooves cut into a 175 meter stretch of existing roadway and when driven over at 50 km/h, produce the tune of “Memories of Summer”.
Gunma Prefecture (群馬県, Gunma-ken) is a prefecture of Japan located in the northwest corner of the Kantō region on Honshū island. Its capital is Maebashi. One of only eight landlocked prefectures in Japan, Gunma is the northwestern-most prefecture of the Kantō plain.
The Epoch (Super) Cassette Vision was a video game console made by Epoch and released in Japan on July 30, 1981. Despite the name, the console used cartridges, not cassettes, and it has the distinction of being the first ever programmable console video game system to be made in Japan.
Epoch Co., Ltd. is a Japanese toy and computer games company founded in 1958 which is best known for manufacturing Barcode Battler and Doraemon video games. Its current Representative President is Road Yutaka Maeda.
イモ欽トリオ（いもきんとりお）は、日本のテレビ番組起源のコミックソングユニット。
Translation: Imokin Trio [was] an television comedy musical group [active between 1981 and 1983].
A life size statue of the Colonel stands in front of most [KFC] stores in Japan. Fried chicken is an especially popular dish at Christmas time and on Christmas Eve many families (who have made reservations weeks in advance), have their traditional Christmas dinner of Kentucky Fried Chicken at home. KFC is so prevalent in Japan that many Japanese unknowingly consider it to be a Japanese company.
Mariya Takeuchi (竹内 まりや, Takeuchi Mariya, born March 20, 1955 in Taisha, Hikawa, Shimane, Japan) is a Japanese singer-songwriter.
Translation: HitBit is the name of a personal computer series that Sony marketed during the 1980s. A “hit” is what Sony wanted, “bit” refers to the computer memory unit, and “[the] people.” The catchphrase used in television commercials and magazine advertising was “[the] people’s hit bit.” Seiko Matsuda was the spokesperson for this marketing campaign.
Seiko Matsuda (松田聖子, Matsuda Seiko, born Kamachi Noriko, 蒲池法子, on March 10, 1962) is a Japanese pop singer-songwriter. Born in Kurume, Fukuoka, she rose to fame in 1980 as a teen idol, making her debut with the song “Hadashi no Kisetsu”. Later in the same year, “Kaze wa Aki-iro” became the first of her 24 consecutive #1 hits in Japan.
