Japanese Music: Kanjani8 & Ryo Nishikido

Kanjani8

Kanjani8 is another Japanese boy band aside from KAT-TUN that I've come to love. I've only just discovered them this past week so I only know a few of their songs, but they make me feel lighter somehow. They have this fun and easygoing feel to them (although they look really serious in the photo). I feel uplifted when I listen to their songs and watch their videos.

Their song "Wahaha" I feel is going to be one of my favorites for a long time. As you can guess it's a song about laughter. I've been feeling down lately and this video has cheered me up a lot these past couple of days. I'll have to thank Kanjani8...

Ryo Nishikido

My favorite member of Kanjani8 is Ryo Nishikido. He's also an actor, and I began to like him after watching Ichi Rittoru no Namida. It was actually after watching Papa Doru, another one of Ryo's TV dramas, that I discovered Kanjani8.

Ryo-chan, as he is fondly called by his fans, also used to be a member of another Japanese boy band called NEWS. In fact, he was in both Kanjani8 and NEWS for some time. In 2011 he announced that he was leaving NEWS to concentrate on Kanjani8, stating conflict of activities schedule as the reason.

NEWS

This song "Code" is one of Ryo-chan's solos with NEWS. I just love it. It's a love song by the way. Translated, the chorus means: "I'll show you that I can protect every element that colors you. I'll be by your side no matter what. I will take away every little thing that saddens you, so let this love last a little longer... this love... this love."

Brr... the song gives me goosebumps. And he's so sexy in this live performance. Ooh... *melts* Ah, I've fallen in love with Ryo Nishikido. Hah!

Japanese Music: KAT-TUN

KAT-TUN ga daisuki.
I love KAT-TUN! :)

KAT-TUN is a Japanese boy band made up of five members - KAmenashi Kazuya, Taguchi Junnosuke, Tanaka Koki, Ueda Tatsuya, and Nakamaru Yuichi. They've released 6 albums and 18 consecutive #1 singles since their debut in 2006, and they'll be releasing their 19th single, Fumetsu no Scrum, tomorrow. Yay! I'm looking forward to it. :)

L-R: Junnosuke Taguchi, Koki Tanaka, Yuichi Nakamaru, Tatsuya Ueda, Kazuya Kamenashi

Once in my life, I would like to watch KAT-TUN live in concert. I'm telling you, they hold awesome concerts. In fact, they were the first ever and only artists to perform for eight consecutive days at Tokyo Dome with their Break the Records Concert Tour in 2009. Imagine this: Tokyo Dome has a seating capacity of 55,000 people, and they filled it with screaming fans for eight consecutive days. (Actually, the concert tour had more than eight shows, but only eight were consecutive.) Now that's what I call breaking the records!

Here's a TV show that featured KAT-TUN's latest concert tour, Chain, held in early 2012. It's in Japanese, but you can still see short video clips of the concert. Ah, I wish I could have been there. :D

Japanese Food: Monjayaki

Most people only think of sushi, sashimi, tempura or ramen when Japanese food is mentioned, but there are a lot of other Japanese foods besides these! Here is one I would very much like to try - it's called Monjayaki. The main ingredient of monjayaki is cabbage mixed with some meat, other vegetables, and a thin batter. It's cooked right at your table and you eat it straight off the hot plate with a small metal spatula. Yum!



Oishisou desu ne? [Looks delicious, doesn't it?] ^_^ This monjayaki looks delicious as well:



Monjayaki is said to have originated in the Tsukushima District of Tokyo, and many monjayaki restaurants can be found there. I'll have to go to Tokyo then. :)

Fresh Inspiration

I have just gotten some fresh inspiration to continue this blog. Thank you, everyone. :)

My dream to go to Japan is still strong in my heart, and I am happy to find people who have the same dream as me. Maybe we'll meet there someday. :)