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AP Bank Fes
AP Bank is a Japanese non-profit organization dedicated to renewable energy and environmental projects, founded in 2003. AP Bank's seed money was provided by record producer Takeshi Kobayashi, musician Kazutoshi Sakurai and composer and musician Ryuichi Sakamoto. It channels its finance to small-scale sustainable projects that would otherwise struggle to receive loan funding. Beneficiaries have ranged from a recycling program in the far south of Kyushu, Japan, to the construction of an eco-resort in the Marshall Islands. AP Bank holds its own festival since 2005. ''AP Bank Fes'' raises awareness about environmental issues such as recycling and global warming, with all profits from the festival going to fund more projects at AP Bank. History The concept for AP Bank arose out of a series of seminars in 2002 by the members of composer Ryuichi Sakamoto's ''Artists Power'', a project started in 2001 by Sakamoto and Takuro of Glay to engender more financial responsibility amongst musi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Takeshi Kobayashi
(born June 7, 1959), is a Japanese keyboardist, lyricist, composer, arranger, and record producer. History Kobayashi started his professional career in the late 1970s. After working in the backing bands for singers such as Yosui Inoue, Misato Watanabe, and Anri, he came into prominence as a musical collaborator for the Southern All Stars frontman Keisuke Kuwata's eponymous 1988 solo album. Although his own leader albums failed to receive public attention, Kobayashi garnered commercial success in collaboration as producer or songwriter with other artists. As an arranger of his own composition "Anata ni Aete Yokatta" co-written and performed by Kyōko Koizumi in 1991, Kobayashi won the 33rd Japan Record Awards for Best Arrangement category. In 1992, he undertook the production work with the Japanese pop-rock band Mr. Children on their debut album entitled ''Everything''. The producer and the band have gone on to record together to date, achieving mainstream success with cumulat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saitama, Saitama
is the capital and the most populous city of Saitama Prefecture, Japan. Its area incorporates the former cities of Urawa, Ōmiya, Yono and Iwatsuki. It is a city designated by government ordinance. Being in the Greater Tokyo Area and lying 15 to 30 kilometres north of central Tokyo, many of its residents commute into Tokyo. , the city had an estimated population of 1,324,854, and a population density of 6,093 people per km² (15,781 people per mi²). Its total area is . Etymology The name "Saitama" originally comes from the of what is now the city of Gyōda in the northern part of what is now known as Saitama Prefecture. "Sakitama" has an ancient history and is mentioned in the famous 8th century poetry anthology '' Man'yōshū''. The pronunciation has changed from Sakitama to Saitama over the years. With the merger of Urawa, Ōmiya, and Yono it was decided that a new name, one fitting for this newly created prefectural capital, was needed. The prefectural name was chan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, which is mostly funded by its 1,000 member companies – typically global enterprises with more than five billion US dollars in turnover – as well as public subsidies, views its own mission as "improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas". The WEF is mostly known for its annual meeting at the end of January in Davos, a mountain resort in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland. The meeting brings together some 3,000 paying members and selected participants – among whom are investors, business leaders, political leaders, economists, celebrities and journalists – for up to five days to discuss global issues across 500 sessions. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kill Bill
''Kill Bill: Volume 1'' is a 2003 American martial arts film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Uma Thurman as the Bride, who swears revenge on a team of assassins (Lucy Liu, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, and Vivica A. Fox) and their leader, Bill (David Carradine), after they try to kill her. Her journey takes her to Tokyo, where she battles the yakuza. Tarantino conceived ''Kill Bill'' as an homage to grindhouse cinema, including martial arts films, samurai cinema, blaxploitation and spaghetti Westerns. It features an anime sequence by Production I.G. ''Volume 1'' is the first of two ''Kill Bill'' films made in a single production. They were planned as a single release, which Tarantino split into two films to avoid having to cut scenes. '' Volume 2'' was released six months later. ''Kill Bill'' was theatrically released in the United States on October 10, 2003. It received positive reviews and grossed over $180 million worldwide on a $30 million budget, ac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, Black comedy, dark humor, Nonlinear narrative, non-linear storylines, Cameo appearance, cameos, ensemble casts, and references to popular culture. Other List of filmmakers' signatures, directorial tropes associated with Tarantino include the use of songs from the 1960s and 70s, fictional brand parodies, and the prominent Framing (visual arts), framing of women's bare feet. Tarantino began his career as an independent filmmaker with the release of the crime film ''Reservoir Dogs'' in 1992. His second film, ''Pulp Fiction'' (1994), a dark comedy crime thriller, was a major success with critics and audiences winning numerous awards, including the Palme d'Or and the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. In 1996, he appeared in ''From Dusk till Dawn'', also writing the screenplay. Tarantino' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chara (singer)
, better known by her stage name Chara, is a Japanese singer, actress and video jockey. She debuted in 1991 with the single ''Heaven''. She is known for her song " Swallowtail Butterfly (Ai no Uta)", the theme song for the 1996 Shunji Iwai film '' Swallowtail Butterfly'' in which she starred, her 1997 hit single "Yasashii Kimochi", and her collaboration with Judy and Mary vocalist Yuki, "Ai no Hi Mittsu Orange". Chara later formed a band with Yuki, called Mean Machine. Early life Chara grew up in Kawaguchi, Saitama. She started learning the piano from age four, and starting composing songs in elementary school. In her first year of elementary school, she performed a song she had written, , at a school piano recital., accessed through She originally received her nickname ''Chara'' in junior high school, after a teacher called her this. She was so well known by this name that even some of her friends did not know her real name. She continues to use this name as she believes i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
J-pop
J-pop ( ja, ジェイポップ, ''jeipoppu''; often stylized as J-POP; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively also known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in traditional music of Japan, and significantly in 1960s pop and rock music. J-pop replaced ''kayōkyoku'' ("Lyric Singing Music", a term for Japanese popular music from the 1920s to the 1980s) in the Japanese music scene. J-rock bands such as Happy End fused the Beatles and Beach Boys-style rock with Japanese music in the 1960s1970s. J-country had popularity during the international popularity of Westerns in the 1960s1970s as well, and it still has appeal due to the work of musicians like Charlie Nagatani and venues including Little Texas, Tokyo. J-rap became mainstream with producer Nujabes and his work on ''Samurai Champloo'', Japanese pop culture is often seen with anime in hip hop. Other trends ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swallowtail (film)
''Swallowtail Butterfly'' (スワロウテイル ''Suwarōteiru''), is a 1996 Japanese crime film directed by Shunji Iwai, starring Hiroshi Mikami, pop-singer Chara, and Ayumi Ito. The film was shot on hand-held cameras using jump cuts and other visual techniques. It covers a wide array of themes and genres, from social realism to coming-of-age to crime. A theme song for the film under ''Yen Town Band'', titled "Swallowtail Butterfly (Ai no Uta)", gained first place on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart of October 7, 1996. Plot The film is set in Tokyo at an unspecified point in the near future when the Japanese yen has become the strongest currency in the world. This attracts an influx of immigrants, legal and illegal, to work in the city. The immigrants give the city the nickname . The Japanese natives, however, despise the nickname, and in retribution call the immigrants by the homophone , anglicised as "Yentowns" in the film's English subtitles. The story centers around a sixt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shunji Iwai
is a Japanese film director, video artist, writer and documentary maker. Life and career Iwai was born in Sendai, Miyagi, Japan. He attended Yokohama National University, graduating in 1987. In 1988 he started out in the Japanese entertainment industry by directing TV dramas and music videos. Then, in 1993, his TV drama, ''Fireworks'', brought him critical praise and the Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award for his portrayal of a group of children in the town of Iioka. In 1995 he went on to start his career in feature films, starting with the box-office hit ''Love Letter'', in which he cast pop singer Miho Nakayama in dual roles. ''Love Letter'' also launched the movie career of Miki Sakai who won a Japanese Academy Award as 'Newcomer of the Year' for her portrayal of Itsuki Fujii as a young girl. Iwai collaborated with cinematographer Noboru Shinoda to produce a film praised for its evocative winter cinematography. ''Love Letter'' made an impact in other east Asian c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yamagata, Yamagata
is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Yamagata Prefecture located in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 248,772 in 103,165 households, and a population density of 650 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Yamagata is in the southern portion of the Yamagata Basin in southeast Yamagata Prefecture. The northern and northwestern parts of the city are flatland, and the eastern part of the city is occupied by the Ōu Mountains. The city includes Mount Zaō within its borders. The Mamigasaki River passes through the city, and the Tachiyagawa River forms the border between Yamagata and Tendō. Neighboring municipalities *Yamagata Prefecture **Tendō, Yamagata, Tendō **Kaminoyama, Yamagata, Kaminoyama **Higashine, Yamagata, Higashine **Nanyō, Yamagata, Nanyō **Yamanobe, Yamagata, Yamanobe **Nakayama, Yamagata, Nakayama *Miyagi Prefecture **Sendai, Miyagi, Sendai **Kawasaki, Miyagi, Kawasaki Climate Yamagata has a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Farm Aid
Farm Aid is an annual benefit concert held for American farmers. History On July 13, 1985, while performing at the Live Aid benefit concert for the 1983–1985 Ethiopian famine, Bob Dylan made comments about family farmers within the United States in danger of losing their farms through mortgage debt, saying to the worldwide audience exceeding one billion people, "I hope that some of the money ... maybe they can just take a little bit of it, maybe ... one or two million, maybe ... and use it, say, to pay the mortgages on some of the farms and, the farmers here, owe to the banks." He is often misquoted, as on Farm Aid's official website, as saying "Wouldn't it be great if we did something for our own farmers right here in America?" Although his comments were heavily criticised, they inspired fellow musicians Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Neil Young to organise the Farm Aid benefit concert to raise money for and help family farmers in the United States. The first concert w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jason Mraz
Jason Thomas Mraz (; born June 23, 1977) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He rose to prominence with the release of his debut studio album, ''Waiting for My Rocket to Come'' (2002), which spawned the single " The Remedy (I Won't Worry)", that reached the top 20 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart.Jason Mraz: Chart History The Hot 100, ''Billboard''. Retrieved May 25, 2014. His next two studio albums, '' Mr. A-Z'' (2005), and '''' (2008), peaked in the top five on the [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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