The band's name is Jyoubachi. In Japanese it is: 女王蜂 That translates to "Queen Bee" but George Williams, the top Vee Jay in Japan tells me that he doesn't think the Japanese name is queen bee... Oh well, if George doesn't know then I don't know who would.
Jyoubachi
From what little I know about this band is that they are fronted by a trans-sexual lead singer. Their online biography mentions nothing of this and says:
Ziyoou-vachi is a 4-piece rock band from Japan. They
formed in Kobe in 2009, and after playing together for about a year they were chosen to play on the extremely selective "Rookie a Go-Go" stage at Japan's mammoth Fuji Rock festival. Their performance there caught the ears of Japan's rock fans, but what really brought them to prominence was a landmark gig at a secret party held by the fashion brand Hysteric Glamour last November. After that night, they became the talk of Japan's fashion cognoscenti.
In March of 2011, they started selling their first
self-recorded CD-Rs at live shows. Those discs, "The
Mad Princess" and "The Wrath of the Royal Family",
quickly sold out, and allowed the band's label Ziyoou
Records to release their next recording "Witch Hunt"
nationwide. And now they'll put out their major-label
debut on Sony Music Associated Records in Fall 2011.
The night she announced their decision to sign with a
major, bandleader Avu-chan decided to share the
band's reasoning, which was basically that they'd "get to wear way more awesome clothes" and "push to even further levels of excess." That should give listeners some clue as to what sort of debut to anticipate.
The song I've picked for you today is called 待つ女 (Woman in Waiting)
Jyoubachi - Woman in Waiting
The shooting and violence reminds me of the Dead Weather's "Treat Me Like Your Mother" but it is different and fresh enough not to bother me with too much similarity. I hate it when I can say, "This band reminds me of (this or that) band."
Last night I was a drag queen. I dressed up as a woman. From that experience, and what I learned in just a few hours of "being a woman," I can safely say that I think all men should dress up like a woman for at least one day in their life. It will do much to diffuse the battle of the sexes.
Even though last night wasn't actually Halloween, it was the night of most of the Halloween parties in Tokyo. I dressed up as a woman. I have always wanted to dress up like a woman (ala Monty Python) last night was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream.
I never want to do that again.
ARE YOU A BOY? OR ARE YOU A GIRL?
After just a few hours of getting prepared, going out, trying to socialize with people and then coming home completely and totally exhausted, I have come to have a much better understanding and sympathy for the fairer sex. Frankly speaking, being a woman sucks.
I don't mean that in any derogatory way towards women. I just think that if I say, "It's great to be a guy" that reeks of braggadocio. No. I mean, women have to put up with way too much sh*t. I couldn't do it. I don't mean that I don't want to do it. I probably just couldn't be a woman. It's far too much work.
Besides taking an hour to get all prettied up to go out (and trust me, I did the absolute minimum) it was a major production just to get out the door and go anyplace.
Hell, guys can just sleep in their T-shirts, get up, slide on some jeans and we're out the door. I do that all the time. Women? Nope. It took a good 20 minutes to get the dress on right. It took 5 minutes just to get the nylons on (for some reason, you have to put those on or the high heels won't fit correctly)...Then, when I did get the nylons on, they kept slipping down my butt and making me feel uncomfortable. So I kept pulling them back up until I ripped a hole in my left leg stocking! God, those tear easy!
Horrors! What's a proper drag queen to do with a hole in his stockings? What do women do all their lives with this sort of problem?
Ken Nishikawa (L) Mike Rogers (R)
Drag queens 10/28/11
Then, after the dress and nylons were on, it was time for the makeup. Like I said, just the minimum as I was getting really impatient with this stuff so the ten minute makeup applied by my wonderful wife was quite sufficient, thank you. I can't imagine spending a few hours, like many women do, getting ready to go out on a date.
Calculate it, guys. The girl spends three hours showering, blow drying their hair, putting on makeup, getting dressed in the latest (expensive) fashion, finishing touches, putting on nail polish, all for what? Going out on a date with a loser like you? A date that ends in two hours?
She spends ¥10,000 (about $110) on makeup and stuff to go on a date with you and you take her to a cheap-assed restaurant or the game center? On top of that, if the date goes well, all you want to do rip her clothes off and ruin her makeup?
Doesn't seem to balance the books very well, does it? Doesn't seem like a very good deal for the girls.
After my friend, Ken, and I put on all our makeup, wigs and dresses, we went out. We caught a cab and thank god for that! How in the hell do women walk all day in high heels? We didn't walk a total of 5 minutes and my feet were killing me! I didn't walk a total of 150 meters (150 yards) last night and I got a blister on a toe on my left foot that broke and now I have a blister on my right small toe. My feet were killing me last night. They still hurt this morning!
Funnily enough, I don't want to dress in drag ever again. But, like I said, I think all men should do it for one night in their life at least. Why?
Because, we all know that women get the sh*t end of the deal in life. They have to bear the pain of childbirth; they are generally weaker than men and their men often beat and abuse them; they go through painful monthly cramps due to menstrual periods; they can't get paid as much as men do at the workplace... The list goes on and on...
And that's not all! Not only do women have to put up with the above list of tortures in life, they live longer than we do so they have to put up with it longer than we do! For what? They have to go through this sh*t of dressing up and looking nice everyday of their life just so their men can abuse or ignore them!?
That really sucks!
Not me. Not anymore. I have a much greater appreciation for my wife and daughters and what they have to go through everyday. From now on, I am going to be much more appreciative of them and their looks. They spend hours on trying to look their best and we men are too fricking stupid to spend two seconds saying, "You look nice. I appreciate you!"
I will never be impatient anymore when my wife or daughters want to shop. I will be more appreciative of the women at work too. I will compliment them all when I see they've gotten their hair done.
From cross-dressing for just a few hours, once in my life, I have a much better understanding of what women go through.
I will now always appreciate and be more sympathetic towards them...
I will always thank god that I was born a man. Being a man means I can be a slob and, if I so choose, dress like a woman... Not that I'd ever want to. It's way too much work.
Guys, appreciate your women and what they go through.
*Seriously, guys, try dressing in drag with high heels for just one night and you will understand exactly what I am talking about. The world will be a much better place if all guys dress in drag on Halloween. But... It won't happen. Dressing like a woman is much too much work for most men.
One might think that the title of this post to be the script for some outrageous movie plot ala Rocky Horror Picture Show or even some modern day Japanese Horror Splatter film. But it is not. This is a story about a very sick ethnocentric and very narcissist society.
Oh, how things have changed in the USA, and most assuredly not for the better. (Be prepared, for this is, once again, a strong critique of my native country. If you don't want to read more of my reasoning why the USA has gone stark raving mad, then stop reading right now.)
I went to Jr. high school and high school in a town on the west coast. I suppose we were the typical schools with typical school problems. As a junior high school student, I spent most of my time trying to avoid getting beat up by the jock meathead white kids and the Mexican kids.
The white kids generally left me alone because they thought I was white. The Hispanics usually left me alone because they thought I was half-Mexican. I allowed them all to think whatever they wanted as long as it allowed me not to have a bloody nose, bashed up head or ripped shirt.
I can say that my strategy worked, for the most part, pretty well, throughout my school years. I don't recall ever having my a*s used as a soccer ball.
The first day, while sitting in front of the TV and watching the local news with my dad, I struggled to keep my eyes open (it wasn't just jet-lag either)... Suddenly, the news caster came on and scowled. He proclaimed, "The trial of the murder of a transsexual Jr. high school student in Oxnard that has captured the attention of the entire world... Up next!"
On to a commercial about some processed foods that make American kids fat and unhealthy.
I sat up. Did I just hear what I thought I heard? I asked my dad. He concurred. "Transvestite jr. high school student? Murder? Captured the world? What!?"
I complained. I said to my dad, "This country has gone nuts. Besides that, people in this country are so ethno-centric that they think the entire world revolves around what is going on in West Los Angeles. Well, I work in the news in Japan and I have never heard of this story before. So trust that no one else has either. And I certainly doubt that most people around the world have (as if, for example, brown-skinned men, women and children in the middle east who have the USA and her NATO allies bombing their houses and killing their brothers and sisters 24/7 don't already have enough to worry about and would actually care (or even comprehend) a story about some kid shooting another kid who dresses like a woman in a city called Oxnard of all places! Absurd!)
CHATSWORTH, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Ventura County Superior Court Judge Charles Campbell has declared a mistrial in the Brandon McInerney murder case.
The jury was unable to reach consensus despite Campbell ordering the panel to reconvene.
McInerney was being tried for murder with a hate-crime enhancement in the shooting death of classmate Lawrence King in 2008.
McInerney, then 14, shot King twice in the back of the head in a classroom at E.O. Green Junior High School.
The prosecution alleged McInerney had planned to shoot King over unwanted sexual advances, and said that McInerney had white-supremacist leanings.
The defense contended McInerney had a violent upbringing in a rough household and that he snapped when King, who was gay, made repeated comments to McInerney.
McInerney, now 17, was tried as an adult.
The nine-woman, three-man jury panel said the last vote resulted in seven in favor of voluntary manslaughter and five for first- or second-degree murder.
The trial was moved to Los Angeles County due to media coverage.
At 15, Lawrence King was small—5 feet 1 inch—but very hard to miss. In January, he started to show up for class at Oxnard, Calif.'s E. O. Green Junior High School decked out in women's accessories. On some days, he would slick up his curly hair in a Prince-like bouffant. Sometimes he'd paint his fingernails hot pink and dab glitter or white foundation on his cheeks. "He wore makeup better than I did," says Marissa Moreno, 13, one of his classmates. He bought a pair of stilettos at Target, and he couldn't have been prouder if he had on a varsity football jersey. He thought nothing of chasing the boys around the school in them, teetering as he ran.
Intelligent commentators about this story should have a problem knowing where to even begin; Hate crime? White-supremacist leanings? 15-year-old showing up for school in women's accessories? 15-year-old gay? Murder? Junior High School!?
Read that last one again: Junior High School!?
SEX PISTOLS - NO FEELINGS
I seen you in the mirror when the story began and I fell in love with you, I love yer mortal sin Your brains are locked away, but I love your company I only ever leave you when you got no money I got no emotions for anybody else, you better understand I'm in love with myself, myself my beautiful self I've got no feelings, no feelings, I've got no feelings for anybody else except for myself
The day after seeing this story for the first time, some of the kind nurses came over to attend to my father. Once again, the TV was on. Once again, this news story aired.
My father said something stupid like, "They ought to let that kid go! He was teased by the transvestite."
The lady he lives with made some sort of remark about how he is a murderer and must pay.
I tried to hide my face as I rolled my eyes. It reminded me of the great writer Thomas Pynchon's quote from Gravity's Rainbow: "Get people asking the wrong questions and you don't have to worry about the answers."
The chief nurse, who is married to a Japanese American looked at me and asked me what I thought of all this.
I hesitated to answer. It's been my experience that, nowadays, it is very difficult to deal with most Americans and it is often best to keep one's opinions to one's self. Not all, but many of today's Americans are quite the opinionated group, especially on subjects they know little about.
Confucius say: "Never argue with a fool, he may be doing the same thing." And, "The only person to argue with a fool is a bigger fool." I try to, as much as I can, keep my mouth shut. It usually makes me the most intelligent person in the room. Please refer to the Value of Silence at Meetings.
But, once again, I digress.
The nurse asked me again. I did something stupid. I opened my mouth. I said my opinion. Here's what it was concerning this mess:
1) Whether or not this boy should be guilty or innocent is, I think, looking at the symptoms of the problem and not the cause of the problem itself. I cannot comment on this one particular case. I do believe that this is a microcosm of a bigger problem. And that problem is that the USA today has become a sick society full of sick people because of big government policies that have eroded societies' morals and the family structure. It's amazing how bad things have gotten in the 27 years I've been gone.
Years of government programs that put people on the dole have created an entitlement society whereby people all think they deserve something for nothing. Nobody deserves anything and life owes no one anything. Yet, these social welfare plans have destroyed the family system. We have little crime in Japan for many reasons, but one big one is that, in many houses, the grandparents still live with their children and those children's children. How many households in the USA still have three generations living together in them and learning about responsibility and caring for each other?
2) This has lead to a situation in the USA where people are not wont to examine their own shortcomings and failures and are always interested in other people's problems and worries. Anyone can watch TV here for one minute and see that. People in the USA should take a cue from Japan and mind their own business.
3) On that note, what difference does it make to you or me whether or not Johnny and Ronnie want to get married? Who cares? It's not your business or mine if two men or women want to marry. It most certainly is not the business of the government to make laws concerning such either. Are people happy paying such high taxes so that these clowns in government can spend their time legislating what kind of behavior goes on in someones house?
And that goes for many other things too. Take abortion, for example; if some woman wants to get an abortion (I like to think no one wants to get an abortion, but some feel a need too) then what business is that of yours and mine? It's none of our business and none of he business of the central government either. An abortion is the business of that woman and her god and, hopefully, her husband or boyfriend.
Items 1, 2 and 3, above (among other things) have all contributed to make this country a politically correct nightmare that has no common sense and no basis in reality. That brings me to number...
My local friends in the area tell me that there are dress codes, but when it comes to sexuality or morality, school officials are afraid to enforce. Never mind the problems when kids insult the our political leader. In that case, school officials know they won't get sued as America in 2011 is a fascist dream come true.
But a guy dressing like that character named Klinger (the transvestite played by Jamie Farr) in the TV show MASH? No way. He is untouchable. We wouldn't want to hurt any one's sensibilities, you know.
I could go on and on about what I see are the problems. But I won't. I won't because it doesn't matter. For America in 2011, the debate is not heard, nor is it even desired.
The people are running around confused and wondering, "What's happened to our beautiful country?" The power's that be are satisfied with the situation as it is. When the people spend their time debating the wrong issues and asking the wrong questions, then, you can be sure, that the people will always be getting the wrong answers. And that's, in a nutshell, what's wrong with America today.
Finally allow me to show off my skills as a poet with this rendition of an old English favorite about the Duke of Buckingham, George Villiers, who is rumored to have highly suspect morals. I have updated it for today's modern American society. Enjoy!:
George Porgie USA (Version 2011)
George Porgie pudding and pie,
Kissed the boys and made them cry,
When the boy came back next day,
George Porgie had two bullet holes in the back of his head
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UPDATE: Like I said, this entire episode reminds me of some insane horror movie. I have told several Japanese people about this incident and they were all incredulous. I mean, really, in any sane society, people wouldn't believe it. Some of my Japanese friends didn't want to believe it, but they know I wouldn't lie to them.
The problem is that it is real and people in the USA are living it.
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NOTES: In Japan, a story like this, might only be a movie like this one. This is a gory splatter film entitled Vampire Girl versus Frankenstein Girl. Heck, it's a Saturday morning and don't really want to leave you all feeling like a bummer so here's something that might digust you or make you chuckle. Anyway, I think it will make an impression.
At first, it might be disgusting and disturbing to watch but if you can stand it, watch for a moment and you'll realize how ridiculous this is (kind of like Monty Python). The first time, this made me feel ill. Now, when I watch this, I laugh:
This film is definitely worth a few laughs and the main actress, Yukie Kawamura is a goddess. Here's a cheesecake photo for you guys!
Wow! Yukie Kawamura! I'm in love (for the first time this week!)
Here's another trailer. Pretty funny stuff (cool music too!):
