dannychoo.com - Danny Choo : Anime, Figures, Idols, Gundam, Otaku and Events from Japan

Caramell Trooper

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:37:00 +0900

OK, I know the Caramelldansen thing has been around for a while but for some reason it has only recently started to infect the Japanese.
I think most of the Caramelldansen variations have been uploaded to NicoNico but if you have a look at YouTube you can see that many have been uploaded only recently.

Was out n about with idol comrade Amano Ai (her bikini photos here) and had 30 mins before the next meeting so decided to make good use of the time to throw together this vid.

If you would like to share this video, do feel free to send folks directly to youtube or use the embed source in the player.

By Danny Choo on 2008/03/10 10:37

Valentines Day in Japan

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 05:27:00 +0900

Have heard of chocolates being given to idols but never expected to receive chocolates *from* an idol ^^;
This is Ayumi Hotta from the Primaries giving me some valentines chocolates last Monday - to the folks who asked what was in the orange bag in the 4 hours in Akihabara article - now you know ^^;

So whats Valentines day like in Japan?
Just like Christmas in Japan, Valentines day is all about the monies.
The beginnings of Valentines day in Japan started in 1936. A chocolate maker called Morozoff Limited put an ad in a magazine for "Valentine Chocolate." Valentines day then traditionally became a day where women would give chocolate to men. 25% of Japans annual chocolate consumption is consumed around Valentines day.

To make more monies from Valentines day, the Japanese invented "White Day" as an excuse for men to buy candy to give to women in return for the chocolate that they received - theres even an official White Day site.

The reason its called "White Day" is because the color of sugar (white) is the main ingredient for candy which was traditionally given on White Day - source from Wikipedia. These days however, one does not have to give candy and can be white chocolate or marshmallows but not bukkake.

The term "Giri Choco" is used to describe chocolate that is given as an obligation - like to ones superiors or boss. If you are managing ladies in Japan and receive chocolate from them then its probably not because she likes you but because she expects a pay rise come next evaluation season.

White Day takes place one month after Valentines day on the 14th of March.

And this is what I got from Ayumi. Tasted lovely! Hope Ayumi doesn't mind that I shared these with my wife ^^;
Going to let White Day take advantage of me and get Ayumi-chan some chocolate.

Whats valentines day like in your region? Did you give or receive anything for valentines day? Are you spending it with somebody or plan on spending it being ronery with yourself in Mc Donalds?
If you are going to be ronery, don't forget that there are plenty of gorgeous girls who are willing and waiting for you here.

By Danny Choo on 2008/02/15 04:27

Primaries

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 04:09:00 +0900

At the begging of yesterdays 4 hours in Akihabara, I bumped into two of my idol comrades Ayumi Hotta [堀田あゆみ] (girl in blue) and Shiki Mochizuki [望月紫葵] - together they are known as the "Primaries" [プライマリーズ]. We decided to go do a bit of dancing in Akiba.

Was meeting up with some of the blog dinner mob at the same time - Lisa from Wired Magazine and Tokyo Mango, Aoki from Drikin, Nobi from Nobilog2 and Aoyama from Buru.jp. Decided to do the group-photo thingy.

You may recognize Ayumi from the YouTube Neta Battle.
Folks who are interested can get Shiki-chans gravure DVD from Amazon and you can see them both regularly on Dance Shuffle which is broadcasted on Kanagawa TV.

The girls tell me that they are still deciding what their uniform should look like and that todays gear is experimental - do you have any suggestions that I can pass onto the girls? Or do you like it as it is?
I'm personally quite fond of it ^^;

One more pic before we hit the streets.

We decide that the front of Radio Kaikan is a good spot.

The girls start to dance to a track that is still in production.
I then join in after looking like a prat ^^;
Footage of me dancing with the girls will appear on YouTube soon but all I have for now is the short clip that I took below on the Xacti.

By Danny Choo on 2008/02/14 03:09

Tokyo Dance Trooper with NIKK

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 00:48:00 +0900

The video shot in Shibuya at the end of last year - photo coverage in this article.

If you would like to share this video, click on the "menu" button on the player to grab the embed code. If you are sending this to a friend/foe or submitting to a social bookmarking site, use the link below and direct folks to YouTube instead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0JZO0wga94.
For those who cant be bothered to watch the video - a few shots below.

Wondering which video you prefer - this or the previous Shibuya Dance Trooper one. Also, if you have any requests for locations or music for the future videos let me know ^^;

By Danny Choo on 2008/01/13 23:48

Shibuya

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 02:10:00 +0900

Photos from the YouTube Neta Battle event that took place at the end of last year.

Met up with a few ex colleagues at Microsoft who now work for Google.
When I worked for Microsoft I was surprised that there was a whole group dedicated to "beating Google." Wasn't sure if I should talk about it but it seems like this info was already on the internets.
If you could work for Microsoft or Google, which would you choose?

The event took place at Shibuya 109.

Koji who now leads marketing at Google does an opening speech.

Gamaru Choba performs pantomime.

Vending Machine Red attacks trooper.

Trooper strikes back by grabbing Vending Machine Red's goolies.

A few shots at a crossing.

The Elevator Girls.

Strong Machine 2.

Strong Machine 2 is the dancer in I My Me Mine and does a load of other commercials and wot not.
Here we demonstrate how clean our hands are.

Visiting the changing rooms for the artists. When the girls were changing I put my helmet on and told them my eyes were closed.

Dance master Nikk and MC Gow.

Video of the event in this previous article.

Ayumi Hotta is quite a cutie.

MC Gow looks a bit like Sandra Bullock.

Some of the Dance Nuts girls - their performance can be viewed here.
Can your nuts dance?

Then its off with Nikk to dance around Shibuya.

Outside Tower Records. Also bump into member AndyH while filming.

More dancing (prancing?) at Inokashira Dori in Shibuya.

Dancing in Center Gai. Video will be uploaded soon ^^;

By Danny Choo on 2008/01/11 01:10

Tokyo Street Performance

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 08:18:00 +0900

Click through to see what this means in English...

Even though theres a sign clearly stating that the "act of vending/performance is strictly prohibited," you'll still often see folks doing these "acts" in Shinjuku on Sundays when the streets are closed off to vehicles.
I've seen people selling baby rabbits, parading their pet monkey, and the occasional band.

The temporary ban on vehicles is known as Hokousha Tengoku as explained previously in this article (includes a nice pair of eyes).

I plan to do the next dance in Shinjuku and was thinking of ideas until reader Sean sent in the following video - I believe that its my destiny to do the dance that this woman is doing. Shes also doing it right in the same location as these photos.
The main theme of this article is actually this video and I thought I'd throw in the stormtrooper pics taken in Shinjuku for good measure ^^; Have a look - it could be the first time you've seen somebody "dance" like this ^^;

Might as well take a look at the rest of the photos taken.

My body starts to twitch when I don't wear armor for a while so I wear it to go shopping.

Was in Shinjuku looking for some pouches to stick on the armor.

I read in a few comments that quite a few of you are coming to Tokyo in December. Remember to drop me a line when you are over and maybe we'll go shooting the next video together ^^;

By Danny Choo on 2007/11/16 07:18

Shibuya Trooper Uncut

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 22:42:00 +0900

And just why do I have a snap of the official Star Wars blog header at the top of this article?

Because the Tokyo Dance Trooper video has been featured again! Wonder if it will make it to the top page of starwars.com like last time ^^;

Many of you wondered about whether there was any music playing while I ws dancing - indeed there was and you may have made out an iPod in my hand.
T'was a bit awkward as I was the only one who could hear the music. I need to build a speaker into the armor so that others can hear the music too which would make it easier for them to join in.

Below is the video with some uncut scenes including one of me running across hachiko crossing - was going to include this in the original but didnt sync well with the music. I left the original sound in and removed the music too.

And the original version below which has gained 171,082 in just a few days. Thanks to all who featured this vid on their site. And thanks to all for watching too ^^;

Below: official Star Wars blog.

Below: Most viewed music video in Japan for that day.

Below: Made the top favourite for that day.

Below: Two clips from the behind-the-scenes video.

By Danny Choo on 2007/11/02 21:42

Shibuya Dance Trooper

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 00:28:00 +0900

Shot straight after the YouTube Mix party. Hector and I walked down to Shibuya from Omotesando and had planned to shoot at different locations.
Unfortunately something totally unexpected happened...

During the first dance attempt in the Hachiko crossing, the strap that holds the cod piece down snapped and I had an elastic strap dangling in the wind between my legs - t'was so embarrassing!

Quickly retreated to a quiet spot where I used tape in the utility belt to hold down the strap. This meant however that later dance sessions severely restricted leg movement. This also meant that we didn't get to shoot as much as we wanted. I didn't get to do the running man!

If you would like to share this video, click on the "menu" button on the player to grab the embed code. If you are sending this to a friend/foe or submitting to a social bookmarking site, use the link below and direct folks to YouTube instead.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=t7X9MQi7uOU.
For those who cant be bothered to watch the video - a few shots below.
I asked a few people already and many of them much prefer the previous Akiba Dance Trooper. Which do you prefer?
If you have any crazy ideas of what you would like to see next, let me know - does not have to be dancing ^^;

By Danny Choo on 2007/10/29 23:28

YouTube Mix

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 12:49:00 +0900

UPDATE: video located here.
Following up with an extended report on yesterdays YouTube Mix party - starting off with girls!
My fave out of this selection of lovely lasses is the one on the far left of this photo - yum yum.

The bash was held at Velours in Omotesando - rather snazzy venue. Outside they had this itasha YouTube wagon.

The main reason for the party was to thank the users who generated the most viewed content for YouTube Japan. We also met up with the folks behind Nike Akibaman and Vending Machine Red.

The entrance greeted us with a drinks bar - luckily they had non alcoholic beverage. I cant drink at all due to my asthma. Besides, I dont particularly like the taste of alcohol.

These girls went round during the evening taking video clips of the attendees.

Decided to lark around on the stage before Steve came on.

The lower half of the armor was in pieces by the time I got home due to aggressive dancing ^^;

Forgot who these two girls are but they also generated hundreds of thousands of views with their content.

The man Steve Chen.

Then its time for more girls. Girls are used to promote just about anything under the rising sun. For some reason, I don't think its a bad idea.

All these girls were the best pick out of a few universities. I didn't come across gorgeous girls like this when I was in university.

Aha! The reason this photo is the wrong way is because my script didnt recognize the EXIF information taken by Hectors camera.
All is not lost as Hector will upload this pic the right way up together with even more pics - keep your eyes peeled on Kirainet this weekend.

The lady in the middle is to my sensory taste buds liking.

These YouTube player frames were all over the place.

Now, Is she pointing at the logo on her T-shirt or her right...

toe?

Time to leave for more work in Shibuya.

And here are the goodies that we got. The USB dongle enables me to upload upto 1GB of high quality video (per file) to YouTube. The dongle has to be attached to the computer at the time of uploading.

And some more goodies. A YouTube coffee flask made just for the event, a waist warmer and a cloth bag for groceries.

You can see more coverage at the following which include some other shots of me:-

Hiniku

Gigazine

Live Door (load of videos)

SS Nikki

BCN Ranking

And a video here

And more at Kirainet.com this weekend.

BTW, was fibbing about the USB dongle - its only a 1GB memory stick ^^;

By Danny Choo on 2007/10/27 11:49

Steve Chen

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 15:18:00 +0900

Hector and I were invited to a private party held by YouTube called "YouTube Mix" a few hours ago in Omotesando.
There we had the opportunity to mingle and mix with a load of folk in the industry and listen to YouTube's up n coming promotion plans.
This first picture is of me with a wonky brow (because I dropped the helmet), Hector and the co-founder of YouTube - Steve Chen.

Another snap with Steve below. Listening to him talk about the early startup days at YouTube gave me that warm tingling feeling as I thought about my company Mirai Inc and how business is booming for me at the moment - the future is incredibly exciting. Look forward to sharing it with you.

Quite knackerd at the moment from the YouTube party and a session of video shooting of Tokyo Dance Trooper in Shibuya which is why I'm going to keep it short tonight.
Leaving you with some idols who were part of YouTube's promotions. More photos and video footage on this event from Hector and I probably tomorrow night.

By Danny Choo on 2007/10/26 14:18

Uchimizu

Sun, 05 Aug 2007 23:12:00 +0900

Uchimizu refers to the action of sprinkling water on the streets in the summer and has been a tradition in Japan for many many moons. The water keeps the dust low and cools off the immediate area. You can read up more on this tradition somewhere here.

The Uchimizukko Daishugo event has made this tradition more interesting by getting legions of maids to do the watering. Video included after the jump.

The pink maid in this pic wearing glasses was my fave out of the lot.
BTW, just added this image to the Wallpaper pool.

12.30 infront of Akiba station. Organizers are prepping for the event.

Holy water used to cool off the streets.

Maids getting ready for action.

More maids.

Was interviewed by a few TV crews but forgot which channels ^^;

These are called Oke which are filed with water.

There is a bridge above the event space but is glassed off to prevent people jumping I guess.

Dance Vader

Sun, 22 Jul 2007 00:16:00 +0900

Shot the day after Tokyo Dance Trooper in Harajuku. The above shot is of Hector and I harassing, erm, I mean dancing with some school girls. Video after the jump.

Didnt really plan this one too much and just went to Harajuku to see what would happen.
Hector was Vader while I wore the trusty ol trooper armor. After watching this vid, you can get yourself along to Hectors site to see the "behind the scenes" video and photos.

This time round, we brought along some portable speakers so that people who were dancing with us could actually hear the music. In the Dance Trooper video, only I could hear the music on the iPod ^^;

You can also see in Hectors video that we were actually dancing (or attempting to) to the same Earth Wind and Fire "lets groove tonight" tune. Didn't want to have the same soundtrack in the final video so replaced it with a tune that had the same tempo.

If you want to share this video, you can find the embed code at YouTube.
By Danny Choo on 2007/07/21 23:16

starwars.com

Wed, 04 Jul 2007 23:49:00 +0900

I got a message yesterday from Lucasfilm regarding the Tokyo Dance Trooper video...

And the good news is that they loved it! Apparently the video is doing the rounds at Lucasfilm and they told me that they blogged it at the official Star Wars blog.
I couldn't contain my happiness. Then I thought "hang on..." and checked out Starwars.com to discover that I was on the top page (still there for now). At that moment I blacked out from excitement ^^;

Below: According to Technorati, the Dance Trooper vid was the second most blogged about video in the world (yesterday) ^^;

Below: My moment of fame ^^; Wonder if Mr Lucas himself has seen the video yet.

Below: Sneak preview of Dance Vader Episode I. This time we dragged people off the streets of Harajuku to dance with us.

Below: Behind the scenes of Dance Vader. Hector and I getting geared up - Photos and video by my wife ^^;
300 yen for 25 mins of parking is petty - the norm in Tokyo is 300 yen for 30 mins.

By Danny Choo on 2007/07/04 22:49

Tokyo Dance Trooper

Sun, 01 Jul 2007 23:32:00 +0900

Taken yesterday at Akiba.
Thanks to Hector (kirainet.com) for taking the video. Hector and I are going to head out soon for a meeting and then on to terrorize the locals in the Vader and Trooper outfits ^^;
Video clip after the jump.

I wish YouTube would start to monetize by allowing less compression for paid accounts or something...
Please excuse the dodgy dancing ^^;

If you want to share this video, you can find the embed code at YouTube.
Coverage of the 6.30 demo later this week.
By Danny Choo on 2007/07/01 22:32

Densha Vader

Sat, 09 Jun 2007 22:02:00 +0900

Was out n about with Hector who runs Japan blog Kirainet (he was also on blog tv) and here are a handful of pictures we took on the trains. Vader is a bummer to snap due to the blackness - the SLR thinks there is nothing there when you aim ^^; The complete opposite of a Stormtrooper ^^;

Hector will be uploading more pics to his blog (his blog is in English too) after he has finished fixing Technorati. Speaking of Technorati, their catch phrase is "Zillions of blogs (some of them have to be good)" which makes it sound like most of them are crap. hmmm.

Update: Hector has the pics up now.

For those who don't know, Densha (電車(でんしゃ)) means "train".
Having lived for most of my life in London, it was a welcome relief to come to a place where the trains are so spot on that you can set your watch by them (which I always do). I guess I'd rather be crushed on the train than having no train at all as was the case of London.

Back then, I would head for the underground station not knowing whether the trains were running or not. Occasionally I would get the "The Circle Line is closed today. Please find an alternative method of travel".

The best bit about the underground trains is when they change drivers. This process takes 10 mins where the previous driver gathers his newspaper (the Sun), packed lunch and tea flask. The new driver then sets his newspaper, tea and lunch in position, adjusts his seat....

The driver change process in Tokyo is instant and you can normally watch it happen at Shinagawa station on the Yamanote line - done within 15 seconds.

A few more pics of the armor at IT Media. Was at the Sblog Dinner where Japans top bloggers (including Kogure-san who runs Netaful - Alexa rank 10,124) and folks from the IT industry gather together to network/share ideas etc. IT Media had the MacBook Pro on the day of release and brought it along to get the opinions of the bloggers.

By Danny Choo on 2007/06/09 21:02

Timeless Movie Props

Mon, 04 Jun 2007 23:38:00 +0900

EDIT: Not got much time to deal with constant mails from the seller and I apologize for getting some of my readers involved in this. Thus this review is going to turn into a glowing review ^^;

For those who are considering buying this helmet - its not designed to be worn. It does not say that on the original auction description page however.

The armor looks fine when you look at it from a distance but when you are close up you can start to see that the surface is not so "sharp and clean with no uneven surfaces. But hey I'm happy.

I'm still happy with the armor despite the blobs.

A few blobs on the helmet is trivial - looks great to me!

The glue showing through looks great too.

The cape from time to time covers these marks on the chest armor so its fine. It really is ^^;

Did I mention that the helmet looks great despite some blobs?

Looks like too much paint here with a dry drip. But it looks great.

Danny says...

.... --; It looks great.

Hmmm. This helmet is unique.

As you can see, I am really happy with the quality.

Fantastic.

Brilliant!

Sugoi zo! (thats great!)

The cape came with a cool piece of string. This is great because I needed some of this to hold up my tracksuit.

Velcro to hold the shoulder bells in place.

The buckle is a bit rough around the edges but looks great.

Velcro to hold the buckle in place.

Cool stickers.

More cool stickers. Looks great.

This great quality armor can be found on ebay by seller x_t_r_m who also runs Timeless Movie Props.

By Danny Choo on 2007/06/04 22:38

Darth Vader

Sun, 03 Jun 2007 01:10:00 +0900

Got the armor to a wearable state and went out to give it a test drive. And theres me thinking that Vader was going to be much easier than a Stormtrooper ^^;
Vader beats trooper hands down in terms of difficulty!
The leather suit ensures that you become a walking oven and the heavy helmet ensures that you cant see as the lenses steam up in no time ^^;
Anyway, time for some lovely cold udon to cool off.

But despite the difficulty, school girls seem to like Vader as much as Stormtroopers ^^;
There were quite a few in this place lining up for pics. School girl uniforms in Japan look so much better than the ones back in the UK.

Took photos with just about everybody in the restaurant ^^;

Using the force to open an automatic door...

Colonel Sanders gets a bollocking for growing alien chickens.

Need to improve my photoshop-lightsaber-effect ^^; That Force FX Lightsaber is awesome.

Vader needs his regular dose of Tachiyomi (whats Tachiyomi?).

Photographing Vader is tough as there needs to be a lot of lighting in order to see him! No lighting and all you end up seeing is a dark blob like in this picture.

Will post a how-to-dress-up and review of the parts and how I modified the suit to be wearable.
The armor looks respectable from a distance but some of the armor looks like it has been chewed on by a dog - photos and details soon.

Now I need to modify the armor more based on the test drive. Shoulder bells, cape, cod, Saber holder and shoes need mods.

By Danny Choo on 2007/06/03 00:10

Vader Haircut

Wed, 30 May 2007 23:47:00 +0900

Vader: Its time for my haircut.
Planet Staff: But my lord, you dont have any hair - it was all burnt off on the lava planet Mustafar remember?
Vader: You have failed me for the last time.
Planet Staff: ....

The armor is not completely ready and still have a ton of mods to do. Will do a post on the process of Vader armor modding soon.

Just a quick BTW, for those who read or are studying Japanese, in case you have not noticed, I also write all my posts in Japanese too. I also have a Japanese RSS feed - so if you are studying, you may want to have a peek.

By Danny Choo on 2007/05/30 22:47

Vader Wannabe Stormtrooper

Sat, 28 Apr 2007 00:55:00 +0900

Always wondered what a Stormtrooper would look like with Vaders head. Know I know ^^;
Keeping it short today as I leave for Akihabara in a bit to bring you coverage of something interesting ^^.
But I do have an off-topic question re your browser of choice. I can see browser stats in my log but that includes casual visitors (users who come/getbored/leave) - I'm interested in knowing what browser regular readers choose. I personally use Firefox but QA in Safari and remote access into a windows machine to do QA on IE6/7 and FF.
By Danny Choo on 2007/04/27 23:55