ASP News

When the Sakura trees in Japan blossoms, people gather together for Hanami – flower watching. It is an occasionally tradition where people meet up with family and friends to have a picnic while viewing the beautiful Sakura trees. Some people also wear the traditional Yukata at this occasion. On the occasion of the 200th anniversary [...]

Imagine you just created a new product, and you want to get this product out on the market as fast as you can. Your target audience – the fashion-hungering young people. Now, imagine the entertainment world in that country to be huge and popular. You especially want to hit the East Asian countries. The product [...]

If you have wanted to keep up with the beat of Japanese music, search no longer! The Oricon chart keeps you up-to-date with the hottest releases in the world of J-pop. Thousands of artists are featured, and it changes from week to week. Right now, number 1 on the Japanese Oricon chart is an artist [...]

Mucc ムック is a Japanese rock band formed in 1997. Their name is a bit interesting in the sense that it carries two different meanings. First, it’s inspired by a Japanese children’s TV-show, and furthermore they are known as “69” too, since 69 can be pronounced as “muku” in Japanese. Some would call Mucc a part [...]

“What the..?” you might think. Japan does have a lot of weird things… However, this is the name of a Japanese band I will now introduce you to. School Food Punishment is a new indie band and not a mainstream famous one. But their music is interesting and noticeable: electronic, spacy, sprinkled with some pop [...]

Japanese fans are something exceptional and fearsome and there are a lot of them. Tune in on some random popular J-pop song and they’ll all know the lyrics and exact dance moves. If you go a little further west to Japan you’ll find a country where the fans are at least the fearsome as the [...]

“Decora” you say, what is that? Let us enlighten you..! Decora is a Japanese word shortened from the English word “Decoration” and that is exactly what Decora is all about; decoration! Wearing as many accessories, toys and plushies as possible. You will be able to hear a Decora-chan coming a mile away – with all [...]

“Miyavi”. You might have seen this name before while surfing the net, or when you stumbled over a picture of a beautiful and freaky looking… man? Or maybe you have heard and seen some crazy fan-girls crying out his name while hugging a poster of this guy? Anyway, this guy is something quite special. He [...]

Soft, ”Lounge-like”, and laid-back music. That would be the keywords for this band. Some would characterize it as a bit punk or alternative rock, but it is also experimental and has a flow through its sound which just commands ”chill”. Anyway, Acidman is a Japanese 3-man rock band with several singles and albums on the [...]

Genre: Drama, Romance Millions of people were last fall brought to tears by the movie Koizora. The story of Koizora is nonfictional and was originally a “mobile phone novel” (ケータイ小説, keitai shosetsu) written by a young woman called Mika. Japan can easily be called the cellular capital of the world, where people use their cell [...]