Japan is More Than Just Anime

March 13, 2015

If only I could ramble about how strict Japanese government towards copyright, it could reach into a few books without conclusion so maybe I won't do that and save the conversation when I met METI people. But now I just want to say how I want Japanese Actors, Actresses, Movies, Dramas, and Idols more recognised



Japan is More Than Just Anime

I am an avid fan of Japan and I bet all of you know about it. I do read manga and wanted to be mangaka as well, and I know how powerful anime and manga are for Japanese Culture expansion. HOWEVER, How I wish that there is more room for Japanese Dramas and such


Everytime I said to people that I love Japan, they quickly assume that I am an otaku who only watches anime and read manga and listen to Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. Well, that's kinda wrong since my preference about Japan is not only that. Not all about Japan is unique in fashion or speaks in high-pitched voice. Majority of the people there are quite normal and what's popular overseas whether it's anime, visual kei music, manga, and harajuku fashion are not popular in Japan. When I was younger my tendency went to that sub-culture however as I grew older [around 17 years old], my preference also changed and I begin to love what Japanese people love too such as their male-idols or actors lol



Anyway the urge writing this post is bcos I was hooked up with J-Dramas again. I stopped watching J-Dramas during the end of my high school - early university age and converted to K-Dramas. The reason is simple, it's EASIER. A lot of websites provides korean dramas, with either english subtitles or indonesian subtitles or other countries' languages, updated pretty quick, and a lot of people talks about it. It's pretty accessible and we don't have to look for it because it is provided for us in a simple click. Basically why need to look for difficult things if we have the easy contents provided right?

How about Japanese Dramas? 

Japan is very strict about copyright issue and even has punishment for anyone who uploads their contents to the world. You don't believe it? I was WTF when I read 40 people arrested for uploading contents online on Arama -__-  This explains why there are less and less websites and fansubs to spread the love. However there's still some hope and if you dig in pretty good, you'll still enjoy the content and know the latest informations. So let me tell you some of my frequently visited websites to know about Japanese News / Dramas / Celebs : 

Tokyohive : I visit to know about upcoming dramas / movies, dramas rating [to let me know which one is popular in Japan], upcoming singles / album from artists, etc. Basically it's kinda like allkpop. What I love is the section about their upcoming dramas. Japanese Drama is separated into season mostly, and they always feature all the new dramas on each season 

Aramajapan : Similar like Tokyohive, however I check both sites since some of the informations provided are different

Maji De 2CH : Used to be active, but now totally dead. But if you haven't read it, just read cos it's good to know what Japanese People think. It's basically a translation for Japanese Forum where a lot of Japanese chats and gives comments 

Minus Kakugo : The new Maji De, different owner though. I check it on daily basis

Rocket News : Any interesting or unique informations about Japan that is updated many times per day. It's always fun to read Rocket News ^.^ I also know a lot about unique cute cafes or places to visit that is not under any tour itinerary from them

Tsunagu Japan : to read about Japanese Travel Tips and some other fashions and such too

JDramaCity : I hope I won't get sued like them but well, here's where I usually download most of the dramas.. They also have provided the soft-subs which you can download separately on d-addicts. 

Arashi On : Livejournal is the key in fact, and you have to join communities to know and download all the things for your own personal use only. Since I am a fan of Arashi, I mostly only follow their activities and Arashi-On is the master group on Livejournal to download all Arashi files. If you like other idols, you can browse through live journal to download for your own personal use only

If you don't know where to start watching the dramas, maybe you can start from any dramas that wins award? Here is the list of Japan Television Drama Awards which contains the list from the beginning. Since it wins award, of course it's the top notch


My favourite recently are : N no Tame Ni, Date, Marumaru Tsuma, Gomen ne Seishun, Ouroboros


I will keep reminding and spreading the news but I hope you'd start loving and knowing that Japan is more than just anime and manga ^.^


See you guys on my next post!





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28 comments

  1. I didn't know that Japan had strict copyright laws. I just started watching K dramas on viki as I wanted to watch some Asian soap operas. I noticed there weren't many Japanese shows but never guessed the reason. Thanks for the tip about watching the award winning shows and top rated ones. There are so many dramas that it's hard knowing where to start. I just go for the latest ones and the ones I think will be interesting.

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  2. i love JDrama so much... And i love Gomen ne Seishun and Ouroboros too :D

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  3. My recently favorite drama are maru maru tsuma, utsukushiki niwa and oniichan gacha.
    I usually download from doramax264 because the file size is more smaller than jdramacity :D

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  4. I love Arashi! they're so funny. It's been a while since I've properly watched their shows though. I used to prefer watching jdramas because they're so much shorter than korean ones.

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  5. hahaha... kalau aku dibanding Kdrama lebih suka sama Jdrama. Karena terkadang cerita Jdrama lebih orisinil dan karena episodenya nggak banyak-banyak, jadi ga capek nontonnya. Btw have you watch "Nobunaga Concerto" too? Itu juga bagus menurutku. Shun Oguri yg jadi lead male nya.. ^^

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  6. hahaha... kalau aku dibanding Kdrama lebih suka sama Jdrama. Karena terkadang cerita Jdrama lebih orisinil dan karena episodenya nggak banyak-banyak, jadi ga capek nontonnya. Btw have you watch "Nobunaga Concerto" too? Itu juga bagus menurutku. Shun Oguri yg jadi lead male nya.. ^^

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  7. hahah thank you for sharing the handy links ^^

    www.acyhoz.blogspot.com

    X

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  8. You're very much welcome!! These are websites that I always read :)

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  9. Yeah already watched and blogged about it before! I LOVE IT :D
    Not a fan of Oguri Shun idk why, but I think he's a great actor. I like Osamu Mukai more at Nobunaga Concerto lol

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  10. Yes J-Dramas are shorter but the storyline is more compact. It's usually only around 10 eps since they only air it for 1 season. Like I said, there's a cycle of new dramas in each season. Most of popular dramas just get sequel or movies as additional eps :)
    Please start watching them again lol

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  11. oh yea I almost forgot about doramax264. I sometimes download from them or stream it [when my internet is shitty lol], but I don't want to link streaming website because it's kinda illegal as they get money from ads :x

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  12. Ouroboros fansub kinda gets delayed T_T I am following Second Love too atm by Kamenashi but the story is kinda boring lol;

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  13. Yes the strict copyright laws makes we can't upload or download freely, hence usually the J-Lovers community is kinda secretive at LJ and we only download it for personal use, not for public sharing like Korea. K-Pop is supported by their government and they give everyone free access about it to spread their culture more, how I wish Japan would learn from them :(


    However once you know these links, should be ok. Reality Shows and such would be difficult to download unless you join LJ Community, but as for dramas and movies should be easier. The only difficult task is to find the fansub. If you like popular actors with many overseas fans [mostly Jhonnys] then the chance to watch their dramas are bigger since it means more people willing to work on the sub :)


    Yes, just see the last winning dramas from the link and check them out. J-Dramas within 1-2 years at first, then you can start browsing others. good luck!!! ^^

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  14. I agree! that's why they're great. I don't have to watch 16 hours plus to get to the end of the story (and then sometimes the pay off is not worth the wait lol). I'm watching them! I just finished watching Kyou Wa Kaisha Yasumimasu! Ayase Haruka dramas are usually always very good. I need a new one to watch though. I'm trying to divide my time with watching kdramas and also tw dramas..! I'm a dramaholic!

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  15. Most of the time when I watch K-Dramas, I fast forward it because they take so much frames just to convey some things. I think the camera and lightings used by korea are better than japan, but the editing and time-management is a win for japan lol
    Kyou Wa Kaisha Yasumimasu is a big LOVE! But I don't like how she has to go with the young guy. I like Tamaki Hiroshi moreee :"( and if I were the character, I'd just go with the stable guy considering my age lol


    Go get : N no Tame ni, Nobunaga Concerto, Date, Ouroboros, Gomen ne Seishun, Marumaru Tsuma, Second Love, Nobunaga no Chef. These are pretty new dramas that I love :D

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  16. Waiting for the subs is really tiring >.<

    I love kame part *he's so sexy OMG* but as you said it's kinda boring. Maybe Second Virgin is better than that *the writer is same as SL*. But we don't know coz Second Love is still on going.

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  17. your post is always informative! thanks for sharing :D

    cheer, michelle ~ http://livedreammagic.blogspot.com/

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  18. my current fave jdrama is Date.. it's so funny a love story of a hikikomori and a kinda robotic-personality woman.. recommended~
    btw I feel you about Japan's strict copyright.. they should be more lenient to spread their awesomeness.. their tv shows and dramas are entertaining and really good.. too bad it doesn't get as much exposure like kdramas.. I used to watch oshareism and meringue no kimochi at youtube/dailymotion but It's getting harder to find tv shows now..
    anyway thanks for minus kakugo link.. I was disappointed when majide2ch is dead and got no daily fix of the jp gossip.. so yay for a new website~

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  19. Hope you'll find the link useful :)

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  20. Yes I was sooooo disappointed as well when majide is dead, but glad that minuskakugo is here :)
    My current fav is Date too! At first I thought it would be second love, since hey, 2 of the main chara are beautiful. But storyline and acting wise, Date wins. I am a fan of Anne after Gochisousan but never realise she's this good in acting 8D


    Yesterday I watched KAT-TUN kiss kiss kiss PV that was uploaded on YT, within 24 hours, it was deleted because of copyright issue lol oh my..

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  21. Haha , but the fans are doing that voluntarily so maybe we should be grateful lol that's why usually I mostly watch when it's finished / last season drama cos I can't wait T_T I only watch current drama that I think will get sub weekly lol Considering Ouroboros gets Ikuta and Oguri, I thought it'd be fast :x


    Yea right!! Kame is not as beautiful as Pi or else imo, but i think he's so sexy :d

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  22. I concur! Usually I forward the parts where it gets melodramatic and everyone is depressed. I really enjoyed Full House but I had to forward those parts where they are crying (it didn't make a difference in my understanding of the storyline!). But totally agree, the production budget is a lot better in Korea!!!! the visuals tickle the senses!


    Tamaki Hiroshi....yessssss. I was wishing they had him in more scenes because I totally would have gone with him! He's an excellent smoulderer if I ever saw one! The other guy is cute but yeah, he's not Tamaki!


    OOOh thanks for the recs, I do want to catch up with Toma Ikuta! I haven't seen him in anything since Maou!!!!

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  23. AHH YES . BUT DO YOU KNOW WHAT WORSE? When I say "I want to go to japan!" ALL THEY SAY IS JUST "WHOA DO U WANT TO BE A PORN ACTRESS LOLOLOLOLL0L0LOL0OOL0L0L" which is reAAAAlly annoys me, and all thing they know about japan is only = Anime, and Ikkeh Ikkeh Kimochi (uuugh)

    Adventure of P-Chaaan!!

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  24. i really love japan :')

    http://somethingrealserious.blogspot.com

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  25. I love this post! literally I'm going to japan in 2 weeks and I am beyond excited, I love the way you stand up for what you believe in and I do believe that japan is more than just anime. follow for follow?:)

    xoxo

    http://hilarynirvana.blogspot.com/

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  26. Oh yea yea that one too! The stereotypes about Japan are only Anime, Porn, and weird people lol But it's more than that..

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