Somehow, Hiroyuki Sanada gives me the impression as the Asian Robert Deniro.
You might see his face randomly on the TV and certain movies, but he’s actually a well known and respected public figure in the Japanese world of entertainment. You’ll be astounded to see his performance in samurai dramas and movies, and the world got to see the best of him from ‘The Last Samurai’ and also through ‘Sunshine’ which he co-starred next to big names like Tom Cruise and Asian martial art superstar babe, Michelle Yeoh. You’ll probably caught …

People called her ‘The Queen of Pop’, the ultimate ‘The Dancing Queen’ and now even as ‘The Queen of Hip-hop’. With the groovy songs and complicated dance moves, Namie Amuro is really a superb singer who has lived up to her titles, even though there were jumps between her genre of music. Anybody who have seen her on stage would know what I mean. Her performances were always energetic, non-stop dancing with lots of difficult moves (try that with live singing as well) and great showmanship that earns five thumbs …

This is the first post of Japanese Actors/Actress and that would cover one of my favorite and very talented Japanese actresses of all time – Nanako Matsushima. She was entitled with the Best Actress Award several times on the Television Academy Awards in Japan which was held annually. The first time was in the year 1999, and later she made it onstage again in the 2000, 2002 and 2003.
Nanako Matsuchima was born on October, 1973 in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. She is a Libra with blood type A. On February …

It’s time for another top Japanese artiste / band profile. This time, it’ll be on L’Arc~en~ciel, or most commonly known among the Japanese fans as ‘Laruku’, since pronouncing their full band’s name properly is pretty difficult, even for me. L’Ar~en~ciel means Rainbow in French, in Japanese, Rainbow is pronounced as ‘Niji’. Laruku have been around for almost 18 years and they consist of four members:-
Takarai Hideto or more commonly known as Hyde, born on 29th January 1969 in Wakayama, Japan. The lead singer and main lyricist of Laruku and also …

SPEED’s back in action! They’ve reunited back after 8 years of solo career for each members – certainly a very good news for their fans worldwide. They made it out when they are still so young and hype. SPEED is a Jpop girl group that was formed in 1995 and it their youngest member was only 12 at that time, bringing mostly songs of Pop and Ballad genre. They are the only girl group whose was chosen by Japanese people nationwide through a public vote. All four members are former …

If you happened to have watched Blood: The Last Vampire and stayed till the end of the show, there is a high chance that you would probably find yourself enjoying the theme song called ‘I am XXX’ sung by a very popular Japanese band – Glay.
When it comes to Japanese rock music scene (or more commonly known as Jrock), Glay deemed as one classic commodity. This band can be claimed as one of the most respected music band in Japan, a veteran in their own arena, if not legendary enough. …

Japanese Music Artiste Profile: Tokyo Jihen
Tokyo Jihen is a band created by Shiina Ringo after leaving her solo career, which consist of Shiina Ringo herself as the main vocal and support guitar, Seiji Kameda (bass), Toshiki Hata (drums), Izawa Ichiyou (keyboard), Ryosuke Nagaoka a.k.a Ukigumo (guitar), former member Masayuki Hiizumi (keyboard) and another former member, Mikio Hirama (guitar). The main genre of music that they play are rock and jazz – quite a combination to begin with. Tokyo Jihen, if translated simply means ‘Tokyo Incidents’.
Ironically, I was first introduced to …