I am surprised no one mentioned the WBC, although a number of members posted about it. Here in SoCal, we had a double interest: both Dodgers and Angels were on the US team, and of course Shohei played for Japan and was the star of the whole thing. Here are some highlights of Japan beating Mexico in the semis and then the US in the finals. if the video does not show watch the video here start at 2:04 to see Shohei lead the 9th inning comeback. if the video does not show watch the video here start at 2:13 to see Shohei (in relief) shut down the US in the 9th to secure the win for Japan.
Here's a fan-taken video from after the final: if the video does not show watch the video here Tomochin can be spotted near the end at 9:12 (and in the thumbnail!) and I think she's with former Nogizaka46 member Eto Misa (they're each married to players in the Japan team).
It was almost the only thing the fans in Miichan's fanclub were talking about the last few days .... including Miichan Even though Team Kingdom NL has performed pretty well in the past (fourth in the previous edition), baseball is pretty much a fringe sport in the Netherlands and the real talent comes from the islands in the Caribbean (hence Team Kingdom, those islands are not part of The Netherlands, they are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, two different entities, well .... some smaller islands, like Saba are special municipalities of the Netherlands, it's complicated ) The big sports are football, field hockey and ice (speed) skating, those get 90% of the TV coverage, rest goes to swimming and cycling, baseball only gets screentime when they win something (ow, and there is of course Max, who we all seem to have to hail as some kind of hero even if he's a tax dodger and lives in Monaco (and wasn't even born in the Netherlands ) )
Japanese Yakult pitcher Takahashi Kuiji’s wife is AKB48’s Itano Tomomi. The 31-year-old Itano Tomomi married Takahashi Kuiji, who is 6 years younger, in 2021. His daughter was born in October of the same year. The wife of Seibu Lions infielder Sosuke Genda is Misa Eto of Nogizaka 46, the two married in 2019 and have a son. In addition, Rakuten Golden Eagle pitcher Hiroki Matsui’s wife is actress Anna Ishibashi. She also gave birth to a daughter after marriage. The sister-in-laws all have children , made a special trip to Miami, the United States to cheer for the hard-working gentlemen on the field, and they all went to the field to share the joy of winning the championship after the game. Misa Eto and her husband Sosuke Genada https://tw.news.yahoo.com/wbc棒球經典賽-日本最正大嫂團-女神板野友美-全家應援-樂歪-064603645.html
https://www.tokyokinky.com/local-council-election-candidate-former-nurse-sex-worker-porn-star/ The SJJ48 party is having Yoshikawa Hasumin, a former nurse, sex worker and current AV actress as candidate in Setagaya City Council election.
looking for new breakfast treat? Try Cup Noodles Breakfast with maple syrup, pancake, sausage, and egg flavors. https://www.foodandwine.com/cup-noodles-releases-breakfast-instant-ramen-flavor-7373277 https://thetakeout.com/nissin-cup-noodles-breakfast-pancake-ramen-review-2023-1850283172
kinda late, but what Sakura is in Japan, is 'De Keukenhof' in the Netherlands, in respect to it only being there for a short period of time. other difference is that it's mostly for tourists, but around this time of the year the off-ramp of the highway from Amsterdam to The Hague is blocked with touringcars full of tourists wanting to see the tulips. And no, it's not a period for Dutch people to contemplate the fleeting of beauty or ichi-go ichi-e btw, if you ever visit the Netherlands and decide to buy some tulip bulbs for you garden en you live somewhere where you have no winter, then tulips will only flower once. if that's the case the trick is to take the bulbs out of the ground an toss them in you freezer ... then plant them again in spring, they should flower again, like more plants they need frost as a trigger (kale for instance tastes better if it has endured some frost)
is anyone else watching Coachella on YT? They are showing six stages live. https://www.youtube.com/@Coachella Right now I am waiting for Blondie to start on the Mohave stage. I know she is old, but then so am I. P.S. BlackPink will be on the Coachella stage at 9pm Pacific Time on Saturday. You can find full lineups here (in a not very good image of the full days with one column per stage) https://deadline.com/2023/04/coache...s-bad-bunny-blackpink-frank-ocean-1235325863/ and here (but with all the stages mixed together) https://pitchfork.com/news/coachella-2023-lineup-and-schedule-all-the-set-times-you-need-to-know/ Bad Bunny is still to come tonight Bad Bunny (11:25, Coachella)
Lisa, best known for singing Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba) theme song, has just given birth to her first child Maybe we know that she's a forgiving wife, she decided to keep her to marriage tho her husband cheated her. Hope her husband learn from his mistake Congratulations for the family
One final story from my trip to Japan - one day last week I was approaching Shibuya Station when I noticed a small group of young ladies handing out some sort of flyers. Usually when you see that in Tokyo the flyers are about maid cafes and I assumed this was the same, however one of the girls came over to me and handed one to me so I smiled at her, politely took it - and immediately forgot all about it! I've just been finishing unpacking at home when I found the flyer (somewhat squashed unfortunately) and I took a closer look: On it is the name Kimito Towani and a quick Google search revealed that it's a 6-member idol group which debuted about a year ago: https://plus-p.jp/talents/kimitowa/ The member who gave me the flyer and who appears on it is called Sato Maaya. On the back is the details of their next gig, a 1st Anniversary show, which was on Sunday when I flew home so I couldn't have gone anyway. (It looks like they very recently released some music videos on their YouTube channel). However it reminds me of the early days of AKB48 when they used to hand out flyers in Akihabara. Maybe I might try and go and see the group on my next trip.
Remember when Reiko Yukawa blamed AKB48 because Jpop isn't going global & lose to KPop? Now tell this granny that what she was dreaming of now comes real, Jpop going global Yes it's not AKB48 but Yoasobi, their new single "Idol" gets international successes. As I posted this, the song ranked 2nd on Apple Music global chart. On Spotify, it peaked at 8th on Global top 50. Even beat some KPop artists such as Blackpink's Jisoo's debut solo single Yukawa san should've realised that what she was dreaming of is now real. Indeed not AKB48 but at least, Yoasobi is also a Jpop artist though AKB48 and Yoasobi are 2 different kinds of artists, AKB48 is an idol group, Yoasobi is a duo of a vocalist & a composer Yukawa san should give an appreciation
Searching for Atarashii Gakko in Stage48 keeps bringing me to this thread (including a post about them which I made back in 2015!) so here's a new CM with the group for ABC MART x NIKE GAMMA FORCE: if the video does not show watch the video here
Beijing Heart Virus This clip from Fujian (福州市) not an AKB48 song. Fuzhou is lit. across the straight from Taiwan underground idol scene looks fun!
J-MELO host May J. has announced she's pregnant with her first child: https://www.nikkansports.com/entertainment/news/202305120001126.html
Associated Press is somehow hailing Shukan Bushun for their brave reporting of the Johnny's deceased owner's scandal https://apnews.com/article/johnny-kitagawa-sexual-abuse-allegations-c26767e89ae1a09b9230f3e697ca3e1a
if the video does not show watch the video here Yoasobi's new banger "Idol" (Oshi no Ko theme song), breaks the record of fastest MV by a Japanese artist to reach 100 million views on Youtube
