Melt Banana - Lefty Dog (Run Caper Run)

Melt Banana finish up their UK tour in Brighton on Monday night. And they've released a music video for Lefty Dog (Run Caper Run) from their latest album Fetch which was released earlier in the year. The video is as equally manic as their noisy punk pop grindcore goodness.

Momotaro (Episode 1)

Following on from last month new Pepsi Next Zero Momotaro campaign featuring Shun Oguri (小栗旬) is the second install. Check it out here, Episode 1:

Here is Episode 0 for those that haven't seen it yet.

As I said last time, I would have loved to have seen this as a feature length film.

Oishinbo

I posted recently about Asano Inio's newest comic, Dead Dead Demons D-D-D-D-Destruction, in a recent edition of Big Comic Spirits. In that same issue a chapter long running manga series Oishibo (美味しぼ), written by Kariya Tetsuya (雁屋哲) and drawn by Hanasaki Akira (花咲アキラ), has taken all the head lines. Several characters in the comic experience nosebleeds that are attributed to exposure to nuclear fallout from Fukushima. There was public outrage over the unverified health risks linked to Fukushima by the manga.

There is a good run down of the whole saga at Rocket News 24.

I'll my own 2 cents, and say that I've lived here in Fukushima for 8 years, including the 3 years since the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear accident, and I'm unaware of any such illness or health concerns.

If anyone is looking for further reading on the impact and health effects of the Fukushima incident check out these links:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2014/05/04/cancer-and-death-by-radiation-not-from-fukushima/
http://deepseanews.com/2014/01/all-the-best-scientifically-verified-information-on-fukushima-impacts/

SA

SA (or a.k.a. Samurai Attack when travelling overseas) are a Japanese punk band that formed in 1984, but it wasn't until 1999 until they released their first full album. They have support Rancid on Japanese tours, and have also done several overseas tours including SXSW. They are currently touring around Japan in support of their 7th studio album, The Show Must Go On.

SA's website: http://sa-web.jp/index.html

Ping Pong

The anime adaptation of Taiyo Matsumoto's (松本太陽) 1996-97 manga series Ping Pong (ピンポン) began airing on Japanese TV last month. Ping Pong was the follow up to Matsumoto's Japanese Academy Award winning Tekkonkinkreet (鉄コン筋クリート), the anime adaptation is being directed by Masaki Yuasa (湯浅正明) famous for his work on family favourite Crayon Shin-chan (クレヨンしんちゃん), and more recently The Tatami Galaxy (四畳半神話体系).

There was also a film adaptation in 2002 directed by Fumihiko Sori (曽利文彦) which was nominated for several Japanese Academy Awards, starring Yosuke Kubozuka (窪塚洋介), Arata Iura (井浦新), and Shido Nakamura (中村獅童).