The thing that got me into anime (after mostly eschewing it for years) was the OP for “Oshi No Ko”, “Idol”, by Yoasobi. I didn’t even encounter it on its own at first, I saw a music youtuber analyzing it, and thought it was so amazing I listened to it, and have probably listened to it hundreds of times since. It’s amazing, not just because of the music, but because of how real it is. When I first got into Japanese media, it was through Morning Musume, which is an idol… Read More »Idol
Last night I had a dream about Japanese. I was sitting across from a bunch of idols. Don’t ask how it happened, it was a dream, dreams don’t have to make any sense at all. I didn’t think any of them spoke English, and my (now dead) father was sitting next to me. I was struggling to put together even a basic sentence, so I said something like “watashi no haha chotto baka desu”. Of course, in my waking state, there’s so much wrong with that sentence. In my dream… Read More »Silly Japanese Dream
My first real introduction to Japan and Japanese was through idol culture. Morning Musume, to be precise. So it’s no surprise that I’m unusually knowledgeable about the subject. I can name quite a few idols from Morning Musume, AKB48, Sakura Gakuin, and a few others besides. And those that I can’t name, I might be able to recognize. I know about the scandals of both Sashihara Rino and Minegishi Minami, and how they resolved. I know why those scandals occurred in the first place, and I understand some of the cultural… Read More »Idols
I have always found idol culture in Japan interesting, but partly because I sought to understand it. I found this video which helped a little. These are several members of AKB48 who were in a contest with a bunch of Korean idols, and found themselves so lacking in comparison it seemed to completely wreck them. I’ve often wondered how well the Japanese idol culture (in general) prepares the girls for a life in media. They’re not great at dancing (better than me, for sure, but not great objectively), they’re not… Read More »When Reality Attacks