and Yutaka Taken...huh?Geez, despite camping myself in front of the TV whenever an episode of Jap-serial Beach Boys gets aired, I don't seem to be able to get the leads' names down pat. Week after week, I make it a point to glue my blinkers to the gogglebox, and quite frankly, it's not for the plot. Sure, I confess, I'm hooked on the pretty boys. And that's no crime once you've checked out the sun-kissed good looks of the dynamic duo in the popular Japanese serial. Trust me, brazen skin, sun-bleached tresses and sloppy, faded cargo pants have never looked better.
Then there're other faces to worry about: similarly distracting eye-candy good looks, with equally tongue-twisting names! As highly popular serials like Tokyo Cinderella Story, 101 Proposal, Love Generation and Heaven's Coins are being aired in various parts of Asia, countless picture-perfect Japanese celebrities are beginning to flood the Asian consciousness with their pop idol good looks. We're certainly hooked, as one simply can't get enough of these oft fairytale-inspired serials. And may we add - the better looking the cast, the better?
Not to be outdone, J-Pop (short for Japanese Pop) Music Videos scores just as high when it comes to the teeny-bopper quotient. Drool-licious singing pop princes and princesses are being dished out at a rate faster than you can say Do-Re-Mi. Okay, so I'm kind of exaggerating. But what is true is that J-Pop newcomers like Utada Hikaru and Ayumi Hamasaki are certainly making ripples over the Asian airwaves. So are veteran songwriting artistes such as Chage & Aska, whose radio-friendly ditties like 'Say Yes' and 'Meguriai' - which are incidentally also serial theme tunes - have earned them a credible repute in the region.So who else are the Pop Idols, big in Japan, and elsewhere? We'll make some introductions!
by Asta Wong
Noriko Sakai: Jap-drama's favorite tragic heroine (2001-02-08)Introductions to Japanese Pop Idols: Forewords (2000-12-08)2 (11285)
