The Most Amazing One Camera, One Shot, No Editing Music Video Ever Made!

Sometimes, even the Japanese out do themselves. Today I'd like to show you a music video by a band named Polysics. Polysics are completely influenced by DEVO. The music isn't all that great but this one particular video is awesome. This video is just one camera and no editing. The entire video consists of one girl doing what's called "Top Rock" dancing.


Watching this you'll see why I think, when Devo's popularity waned, they should have done what over-the-hill American baseball players do: Go to Japan! They'd still be hugely popular here. Since Devo didn't come here to Japan... The Japanese made their own copy... 


Now, I really loved early Devo, don't get me wrong. But, in many ways, the Japanese version (copy) is better. Here's proof. Judge for yourself.


When it comes to what is known as B-Boying or Break Dancing, the Japanese are often disparaged as having no rhythm. Quite often, even I think this too. But, then again, I guess the Japanese are no worse than Caucasians (of which, explains why I'm a real loser when it comes to music and dancing; I have zero rhythm since I am half Japanese and half Caucasian!)

Scene from "I Me Mine" - See this awesome video below!

But then again, every once in a while, I see something that the Japanese do (usually a sort of copy) that really impresses me.


Today I want to introduce a Japanese Rock band called that Polysics. No, I am not that impressed with their music at all. I was a big Devo fan in their early days and the Polysics remind me of another Japanese band from the early 1980's called the Tokyo Plastics; so the Polysics do not strike as doing anything new at all.


But they did make a series of videos (with one especially) that really impressed me to this very day. The song is called "I, Me, Mine" and the original video for it has over 1.4 million views in Japan. This is great for a Rock band that is definitely considered a band with a cult following at most.

This guy also does a wild Michael Jackson in the second video!

The girl (and guy) in the video is doing what oldsters like me might call Breakdancing, or B-boying, but I gather that it is actually a sort of Top Rock or Freeze dancing. The girl is amazing. The most amazing part is that their are no cuts or edits in this first video. Watch it. This is awesome!

Here is a different version that I wish would have featured only the guy. He's great too! From about 1:09 he starts up with the hilarious Michael Jackson stuff.

Pretty cool, eh? It just goes to show that the Japanese are excellent at conceptualism. While they might not be so great at new ideas, they are sometimes masters making old ideas so much better.... And I would say that the girl dancing is very sexy... But I guess I shouldn't say I think Japanese High School girls are sexy. I save that for Andrew at "It's a Wonderful Rife".


I think these are the best songs and video Devo  NEVER made!

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This blog post was originally made in August of 2010, but the original video keeps getting deleted from Youtube. This one won't get deleted. Enjoy!




Keywords: Devo, Polysics, B-Boying, high school girl, Mike Rogers, Polysics, Marketing Japan, Mike in Tokyo Rogers, Break Dancing

Japan's Future and Nuclear Power?

Since the March 11 disaster involving the earthquake, tsunami and subsequent nuclear accident at Fukushima, I have been consistently stressing at least two important points concerning the nuclear situation in Japan.

First, when dealing with news about Fukushima, we can only deal with the facts and must resist the temptation to be prodded into panic by sensationalist and hyper-reactive "reporting" that is actually nothing but conjecture. And, two, the worst thing that could ever happen to Japan is for us to lose a cheap and clean source of energy. (For an example of wild conjecture, read this. For a great example of factual reporting see here.)


Interestingly, The Diplomat has a story that echoes my exact words:

Last month, thousands of Japanese took to the streets to demand an end to nuclear power in their country. For more than half a century, Japan had been in the uncomfortable situation of being both the only nation that has suffered an atomic attack, but also one of the countries that are most reliant on atomic energy. The disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, though, has made it impossible to ignore this seeming paradox any longer. The Japanese people, known more for their restraint and willingness to endure than for their propensity to express outrage and challenge the status quo, appear to have found their voice. 

A newly empowered public voice would surely be a positive in a country whose democratically elected leaders have waffled with impressive ambivalence through Japan’s troubles over the last decade. However, if this public voice portends a new reality for Japan, Japanese political leadership will need to find the sophistication and fortitude to respect the difference between democratic leadership and popular capitulation. Notwithstanding the immediate task of bringing relief to hundreds of thousands of tsunami victims, perhaps the most important and imminent test for Japan’s leadership in this new era must be to defy the people’s demands and work immediately to ensure Japan’s nuclear energy supply. 

You can read more at the Diplomat.

From reading the above I flatter myself and imagine that this writer is a regular reader of this blog as I have made the exact same points for months, most recently in mid-June. But most probably not. It is common sense that Japan, a country that has little or no natural resources, as well as an aging society and massive debt to GDP; a country that is one of the most over crowded nations on earth; a country that went to war over resources just 55 years ago, needs nuclear power to survive.


What other choices are there except reverting back to the way things were 45 years ago with Japan's energy needs by burning fossils fuels and pollution? That would be a terrible and completely impractical choice. 

We must find a way to make nuclear power safe as well as economical or the land of the rising sun is a country of the setting sun. Japan is supposed to be a leader of the world in technology. We have no choice but to pursue the creation of safe and controllable nuclear power... Even if it means risking a Godzilla type creature rising up from Tokyo Bay (of course, I am joking!) 


If Japan does not pursue creating the technology and will to create safe nuclear power then Japan's time in the sun has passed.