Japan Update!

Culture:
Japan is in the middle(or end) of a Korean "boom". There are Korean models and actors and singers flooding the airways here with their television dramas and movies. It all started with the "popular" Korean TV drama "Winter Sonata" and quickly became popular mostly amongst middle aged and elderly women. Some say that the Korean boom is being perpetuated by TV stations in order to sell posters and DVD's. I personally think so too. Many young Japanese men and women actually dislike the new-found fame surrounding People like Yon sama. For copyright purposes please search yourself.
"Owarai-boom" re-energizes a once popular Japanese style of comedy. One of those is man zai. Man zai is normally preformed by two Japanese men who's jokes are biased around purposefully messing up their act and having the senior of the two hit the other and call him names for messing up. I don't get it either. Through this "Owarai-boom" you can't turn on the TV between 7-12 at night and not see it.
American hip-hop/rap has also begun a new wave of fashion and music in Japan. It is not weird to see Japanese boys and girls, as an attempt to emulate rappers style, darkening their skin and wearing "ghetto" clothes(although it's considered "ghetto" style it's still rather expensive) and jewlry. Can you say "Jigger"?
Um... There is a lot more but responding to specific questions is easier.

Technology:
Japan's portable music industry is shifting from it's focus on MD players to Mp3 players because of it's high storage capacity. Cell phones are also shifting their focus from internet capabilities to video calls and mp3 capabilities. Japan will always be a leader in technology so even if I write about the new stuff that comes out it'll be out-dated by the time that you read it.

politics:
I can't possibly cover all the news that's coming out of here but I'll just sum it up in a bunch of article titles that I will make up. Just to give you a taste of what is going on in Japan.
Russian ship crashes on coast of Hokkaido, company refuses to take responsibility. Anti-Japanese sentiment heightens in Korea over old island feud. Japan urges China to improve anti-Japanese history. etc...

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