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There is a young American guy who sensationally made a hit in enka world in Japan.
His name is Jero(Jerome Charles White, Jr.).
He's from Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh.
His father is an African-American and his mother is half-American half-Japanese.
His grandmother is a Japanese, and he's been familiar with enka since childhood.
He tried to practice enka for his grandmother, then he gradually got absorbed in enka himself.
He came to Japan for the first time when he was 15.
He studied abroad in Japan for 3 months while he was in University of Pittsburgh and he decided to become an enka singer at this time.
After graduation in 2003, he came to Japan again and worked as an English teacher in Wakayama prefecture, then he changed his job as a computer engineer in Osaka prefecture.
While he was working, he tried to join singing contests.
In 2005 he won the first prize at Karaoke contest and was recruited as a potential singer by Victor Entertainment, and he passed an audition.
Judges say "He's polite, and sings well whatever song is requested."
He was trained for 2 years, and finally made his debut with his first song "Umiyuki".
In 2008 he joined "The red and white singing contest" which is the national most famous TV program of a year, which proves a participant to be a well-known singer in Japan.

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Uwasa no onna


Umiyuki


Showa Karesusuki (duet)

"Winter Sonata" is something ladies, especially middle-aged ladies, used to be crazy about before.
It's a TV drama series that was on NHK channel before.
In Japanese it's translated as "Fuyuno Sonata".
As I already wrote, Japanese people like to abbreviate words, especially name of popular thing or person.
So "Winter Sonata" is usually called "Fuyu Sona".
This drama has made 2 Korean names quite famililar in Japan.
One name is Bae YongJoon, Korean actor who is known as a guy wearing glasses.
The other is Choi Jiwoo, Korean actress who is called "the queen of tear".
(She cries a lot in the drama)
Ladies started to call Bae YongJoon "Yon sama", and it spread all over Japan.
"Sama" is a suffix in Japanese language, and it's used when you call someone you respect or worship.
Winter Sonata is a love story that is called "pure" romance.
Brief summary of its story is, a high school boy acted by Bae YongJoon fell in love with a calssmate girl acted by Choi Jiwoo.
They were happy together, but one day the girl was informed that the boy died in car accident.
Then 10 years passed and the girl was engaged but still didn't forget the boy.
One day a guy who looks exactly the same as the boy appeared.
The story became complicated after the guy appeared!
If you're interested in what was happening next, just get the DVD and watch it!

Here's How To Speak Japanese Like A Diplomat!

Hikaru Utada is so called "a genius" composer & singer who launched her 1st song at age of 15 and succeeded.Her 1st album "First Love" were sold the most than ever and the record hasn't been broken yet.
Her albums are all "million saller".
She was born in New York, USA and now she's living in Japan.
Her parents are Japanese and her mother used to be a famous singer as well.

More about Hikaru Utada

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First Love


Colors

Takuya Kimura has kept being placed 1st in "guy girls want to sleep with" ranking for years.
He is a member of a pop group called "SMAP".
SMAP is one of the most popular group in Japanese showbiz world.
Especially the popularity of Takuya Kimura is a building towering above its neighbors.
He is a singer as a member of SAMP, and he's also an actor in TV dramas and movies.

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On TV we often see beautiful ladies who used to be guys these days.
For example, Ai Haruna(Right) and Ayana Tsubaki(Left) are popular TV icons.
They both suffered from gender identity disorder and took sex reassignment surgery.
Now they're performing on TV as ladies like actress and fashion model.
If they don't say anything, we must take them for real ladies.

Hidetoshi Nakata is a multi-talented celebrity.
He's one of the greatest Japanese soccer players.
He used to belong to Italian soccer teams below:
* Perugia Calcio SpA
* Associazione Sportiva Roma 1927 S.p.A.
* Parma Football Club SpA
* Bologna Football Club 1909 s.p.a
* ACF Fiorentina SpA

He always appeared in the big soccer games like World Cup.
What's cool about him is he learned Italian and could answer the interviews in Italian himself without an interpreter.
He retired from soccer in 2006 and began to travel all over the world.
Then he founded the foundation "TAKE ACTION".
The foundation's theme is "One thing for the earth".
He plans charity soccer matches and income is donated for charitable work.
He's also a FIFA goodwill envoy and an executive of the big sweets company "Tohato".
He's a real cool person.