A rundown of the top-ten stories thus far in 2010 in the fuzoku trade @ The Tokyo Reporter

Talk about a total education in Japanese terms… yutori sedai, hitozuma, and my favourite : hazure fuzokuten.

The Jakarta Globe says : Indonesians Love Porn

I can’t resist a good vending machine…. Especially a banana one.

Amil Banaan, Chief Inspector of Sulu provincial police, says Wu was under the name Peter Go to hide his illegal status in the country before he was kidnapped by a terrorist organization,the Abu Sayyaf. The police said the Abu Sayyaf abducted Wu in 2008, from his appliance store in Jolo township that he had opened after immigrating from China. The police claimed that no people were hurt during the fight between them and the Abu Sayyaf that took place during the rescue operation. The Abu Sayyaf group is on the US government’s list of foreign terrorist organizations and is well known for staging kidnappings for ransom in the Southern Philippines.

source : Wikinews

Stumbled across some interesting stuff this morning. First of all :

Espresso Blux – The natural combination of samurais, and coffee @ JapanTrends.

China’s largest electronic music festival Intro 2010 @ Acupunture Records.

Today’s collection of items offers a little something for everyone, well maybe not everyone….

@ Pink Tentacle : This mysterious Okiku doll needs a haircut.

@ Chinasmack : These people just can’t resist the urge to pole dance in public.

@ Danny Choo : Danny gets his own TV show on Tokyo MXTV.

@ YeinJee’s Asian journal : A video compilation of the Top 20 Japanese horror movies.

Girls’ Generation dominated 2009 with their mega hits Gee and Genie and now they’re setting off a whole new K-pop craze with their second full-length album Oh!.

I really love this post at Pink Tentacle about Yokai Daizukai. Yokai are a class of preternatural creatures in Japanese folklore ranging from the evil oni (ogre) to the mischievous kitsune (fox) or snow woman Yuki-onna. Some possess part animal and part human features (e.g. Kappa and Tengu). Y?kai generally have a sort of spiritual or supernatural powers. Yokai that have the ability to shape-shift are called obake. From the 1960s on, manga artist Shigeru Mizuki popularized many types of y?kai in his works (e.g., the titular one-eyed y?kai protagonist in Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro). Lafcadio Hearn’s collection of Japanese ghost stories entitled Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things includes stories of yorei and yokai such as Yuki-onna.

Gentlemen, brace yourself for an upcoming Indonesian film that might tempt you more than any other: It will feature famous Japanese porn star Maria Ozawa, better known as Miyabi.

Scheduled for release at the end of this year, Menculik Miyabi (Kidnapping Miyabi) is a movie that will probably attract a lot of hype this year.

Written by witty blogger Raditya Dika, the comedy tells the story of a man so obsessed with Miyabi that he plans to kidnap her.

Production house Maxima Pictures are still pulling the necessary strings to cast the 23-year-old Japanese star, movie producer Odi Mulya Hidayat said, as quoted by newsportal detikhot.com on Thursday.

“It’s not easy to invite her here and we have to pay her a lot to star in the movie,” Odi added.

But excited male audiences should calm down and rein in their imaginations: Miyabi won’t be doing any scenes of the type she is famous for.

It will purely be a comedy, just with an occasional shot of Miyabi’s face here and there.

As a woman of distinctive beauty created from the mix of genes from her Japanese mother and French-Canadian father, Miyabi has risen into global stardom since she started appearing in porn movies in 2005. – JP From the Jakarta Post

Muslim chief: Japan porn star should not be in Indonesia film
Asia-Pacific News from Monsters and Critics

Sep 18, 2009, 9:24 GMT

Jakarta – An Indonesian Muslim leader on Friday criticized an Indonesian production company for inviting a Japanese adult video star to appear in its new film, a report said.

Indonesian media reported Thursday that porn star Maria Ozawa, also known as Miyabi, was to visit Indonesia next month for the shooting of a film titled Menculik Miyabi, or Kidnapping Miyabi, to be produced by Jakarta-based Maxima Pictures.

‘I suggest they not use the porn star, even if the film is not pornographic,’ Amidhan, chairman of the Indonesian Council of Muslim Scholars, was quoted as saying by the Detik.com news portal.

‘It could give Indonesia a bad image for inviting a porn star,’ said Amidhan, who like many Indonesians goes by one name. ‘It is as if there were no other stars at home.’

In the film, the character played by Ozawa is kidnapped while visiting Jakarta by three Indonesian university students who are infatuated with her, according to the Okezone.com news website.

Women activists welcome Miyabi’s arrival
Sun, 09/27/2009 10:30 AM | Headlines

INDONESIA: Women activists say that Japanese porn star Maria Ozawa, better known as Miyabi, should be allowed to come to the country as there are no legal problems that may hinder her arrival here.

“For me, if anyone has met all the legal requirements, then he or she should be allowed to enter the country,” Muslim scholar and woman activist Siti Musdah Mulia told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

“If she is actively involved in the porn film industry, then it is none of our business.”

Ozawa, who started her career in porn at the age of 18 in 2005, will star in an Indonesian comedy movie titled Menculik Miyabi (Abducting Miyabi).

The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) has opposed Ozawa’s trip to Indonesia. – JP from the Jakarta Post