Apologies for the lack of updates so far this week, which is due to a combination of internet problems and the fact that we haven't done much of interest. Chris is back in the lab working hard to get some results and the weather has been awful so I haven't ventured out much. Above is how the RIKEN campus looked yesterday after heavy snowfall all over the greater Tokyo area. We've also had rain, and today gale force winds have hit the area.
Instead I've decided to stay in the warm and catch up with the Japanese music charts via an excellent TV show called 'u la la'. It isn't in English but that doesn't matter. The show is hosted by an excellent presenter called Shelly (presenters at home could learn alot from her) who discusses the music charts and has J-Pop stars on as guests. Today's guests were a boy band who sounded alot like the B-Sharps, Homer Simpson's barbershop quartet. Shelly then calls a shop assistant in the Shibuya HMV via video phone to talk about what's hot today - he says that today people are buying the 2008 Grammy compilation with Kanye West and the Amy Winehouse album.
What's surpising about J-Pop is that alot of it is actually quite dull, especially the boy bands. Exile are the most popular boy band this week and sound just like Westlife, and let's be clear about this - this is not a good thing. The other surprising thing is the massive popularity of Radiohead over here, who are top of the single and album charts right now and are the soundtrack in shops, restaurants and bars all over the city. The best thing about Tokyo Top10 though was Misia, who probably compares most to Gwen Stefani - thanks to the wonders of teh interwebs you can view her amazing 'Royal Chocolate Flush' video right here:
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