Category: Japan

Cameron Diaz Struts The Copacabana For SoftBank

[Cameron] Diaz has publicly admitted she is deeply germophobic and habitually rubs doorknobs so hard before opening doors to clean them that the original paint fades afterwards. Along with her floors, she says, she washes her hands “many times” each day and uses her elbows to push open doors. “I’m not scared of germs. I’m just aware of them…I’m not into other people’s fluids unless I know them really well.”

Copacabana is a 1978 disco song, sung by Barry Manilow, and written by Jack Feldman, Barry Manilow, and Bruce Sussman. It is also known as At the Copa after the first few words of the refrain. It debuted on Billboard magazine’s Top 40 chart on July 7, 1978, and peaked at #8. It peaked at #42 in the UK the same year 1978. A remixed version of the song peaked at #22 in 1993.

Samsung 707SC product page (English)
Samsung 707SC product page (Japanese)

Maruha Cat Food Sento

Sentō (銭湯, Sentō) is a type of Japanese communal bath house where customers pay for entrance. Traditionally these bath houses have been quite utilitarian, with one large room separating the sexes by a tall barrier, and on both sides, usually a minimum of lined up faucets and a single large bath for the already washed bathers to sit in among others. Since the second half of the 20th century, these communal bath houses have been decreasing in numbers as more and more Japanese residences now have bathrooms.

At the wall on the far end of the [bathing] room is usually a large picture for decoration. Most often this is Mt. Fuji … but it may be a general Japanese landscape, a (faux) European landscape, a river or ocean scene.

National Geographic Geisha

Geisha (芸者, Geisha) are traditional, female Japanese entertainers, whose skills include performing various Japanese arts, such as music, singing, and dancing. They also engage their clients with light conversation.

Gion (祇園 or 祇をん) is a district of Kyoto, Japan, originally developed in the middle ages, in front of Yasaka Shrine. Geisha in the Gion district do not refer to themselves as geisha; instead, Gion geisha use the local term “geiko.” While the term geisha means “artist,” the more direct term geiko means specifically “a woman of art.”