I haven’t played my DS in over a month and a half. Honestly, I just haven’t been in the gaming mood. However, I finally received my pre-ordered copy of Konami’s Suikoden Tierkreis for the DS and that broke my anti-gaming mood. Suikoden Tierkreis is the newest instalment in the series — a spin-off of some sort, making it drastically different from its console counterparts — but it still retains some similarities from the main series. More »

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The honorable and amazing Audrey Benten brings yet another Japan Nite this year to NYC and as per usual she doesn’t fail to deliver. My third year attending and the first one at the Bowery Ballroom, as the classic old venue The Knitting Factory is now closed at its former location down in Tribeca. Seven great bands came over, many new, a couple making another appearance this year, all astounded each and every fan that came out to the event as there was a little bit of everything for everyone. I am sure many people became new fans of the other bands as well and I was surprise at the amount of people who stayed until the very end. More »

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Epik High have broken free of their record label with the new album (and book) “Map the Soul!” On March 21, MapTheSoul.com went live and came to an abrupt halt when 300,000 Epik High fans bumrushed the site at once. Over the weekend, there was a massive server upgrade and overhaul to handle the traffic. Today, MapTheSoul.com will come back online! What did Epik High do while the site was down? They all got in the bathroom and made a little video for Ningin! (Yes, in the bathroom.) More »

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One thing I love about being a SoCal citizen is that my Kpop dreams are never too far out of reach. No, I’m not pregnant with Se7en’s child, but thanks for asking. Instead, I got to see Wheesung, Clazziquai, SS501, Jewelry and other Kpop sensations perform live at the Victory Concert held at the Nokia Theater in LA last night. For concert goers last night, the Victory Concert was held in honor of Korea’s win against Venezuela in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. More »

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DFSB Kollective is launching over 50 KPop artists on iTunes Stores worldwide this week. Based in Seoul, DFSB is a creative agency for artists and the first official iTunes Store content aggregator in Korea. DFSB’s roster of Kpop artist clients will be available for direct legal download this week in over 22 countries served by the iTunes Store. More »

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Thus another week here on Ningin ends. Hope you guys enjoyed yourselves with all the parties. Not only did Ningin’s Mia Lerda catch up with Se7en but tomorrow will be Utada time to shine. Remember! Utada album “This Is The One” is out online tomorrow. Or you can always buy the album, or both.

Also congrats to all the contest winners this week. A lot of contests were concluded this week and there’s still some left so no worries if you haven’t won yet!

Here’s this week’s wrap up. More »

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Japanese have a knack for making everything adorable and cute. Well these biscuits are no different.

They really do look too good to be real; however, even if they were real, I don’t think I could bring myself to eat something so cute. It’s like eating a puppy! Unfortunately, it’s not revealed who made these cookies or how but I’m tempted to learn how either way.

Here are my favorite ones! Check out Lethiachan for more photos. More »

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Square Enix is famous for their RPGs and The Last Remnant is no different.

Releasing in 2 days, The Last Remnant revolves around the character Rush Sykes who is a sweetheart that loves his family. So when his sister Irina is kidnapped, his attempt to save her leads him to being caught up in the middle of a global war involving the “remnants”. More »

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Title: Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence - FYI Artist/Composer: Utada Hikaru (Originally by Sakamoto Ryuichi) Album: This Is the One (Coming out digitally on March 24) Blurbs: Wow. Honestly, I don’t follow all the mainstream media stuff very well. I mean, I was aware of Utada releasing an English album, but I didn’t pay any attention to it. However, I managed to hear one of the songs from the album that’s been released in Japan already, and it’s like WHOHA. I was already a fan of the original song, but to hear her sing this, I was swept away. Okay, granted, I am not paying attention to the lyrics — I can barely make them out except for the FYI part — but something about the whole thing hypnotise me. It’s really a pretty song. If the entire album could be judged off of one song, I’d praise it and make it my new best friend. More »

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Comedian Stephen Chow may be funny (to some) in his movies, but dude is no fun to work with, at least according to some of the celebs who have worked with him before.  Acting and Kung Fu heavy-weight (no pun intended) Sammo Hung was reported to have called Stephen “inhumane” in his treatment of his coworkers. Veteran Hong Kong actor Law Kar-Ying once said Stephen was too “money-minded”. This time, the latest criticism has come from the vice-chairman of China Star Entertainment Group, Tiffany Chen, who disclosed Chow’s evil manners in an interview. More »

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Ah, Wonder Girls…what can I say about the Wonder Girls? It’s not really what I would like to say, but how I feel about them. I’m not good with words, but I will try to express my personal thoughts about them through text as best as I can (and hopefully not go overboard). Hopefully, by the end of this entry, most of you will have gained like (if not love…yet) and respect for them as well. More »

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I’ve never been that interested in Korean music. I consider myself first and foremost a Japanese music fan. Despite the fact that I would tell this to all my friends I still had people who would try and convince me to give Korean music a chance. Sure I would listen to Lee Hyori or KARA occasionally, but nothing really caught my attention. And then one day my friend sent me a link to a Korean music video called ‘Irony.’ I usually brushed off her suggestions like all her other Korean fads, but she eventually talked me into watching it by telling me about the rapper of the group, Hyun A. If ever I had a weakness it is Asian rapper girls. ‘Irony’ intrigued me more than any other Korean music had in a very long time. It was the perfect balance of peppy pop, dance/electronica, and urban-rap feel. More »

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Last week, as some of you may know, Caroline took me to the Wonder Girls JYP concert as an early birthday present. I have finally gotten around to writing it up. Here we go!

After waiting in line for what seemed an eternity, we finally got into the hall. The sound manager had a Mac and some pretty cool equipment. I just couldn’t resist taking a photo. More »

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Yes, it’s true I have an obsession with these girls! lol Who doesn’t?? I am always writing about the Wonder Girls on my blog and I enjoy it!

I still can’t believe that I saw them yesterday! I miss them *:(*

I found out about the Wonder Girls during spring ‘08 through a friend of mine. He told me “Hey check out this MV; ‘So Hot’, you’ll love it” and so I did…and BAMMM!! It began..my love for them hahahaha I was so impressed with the dancing skills, vocals skill and the overall presence they expressed!

Read the rest here. More »

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I was hesitant to post my entry for ningin’s contest over here since it isn’t really a personal blog, but then again, posting this here would allow me to reach out to more people, wonderfuls or non-wonderfuls or wonderfuls-to-be. So here goes…

2008-8-27: Yep, up till this date i clearly remember how i got to know wonder girls (that’s when my love for them started multiplying up till this day.) Youtube was the one that got me to know wonder girls. I wasn’t a kpop-fan, nor do i listen to any kpop then. But I’m really thankful that i clicked on that 120×90 pixel thumbnail of 5 girls in retro-colorful clothes out of curiosity.

Read the rest here. More »

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I arrived at Circle, the super-posh and happening club where Se7en was hosting his New York release celebration, just in time to meet up with our very own David Hou. We then were immediately escorted down to a makeshift greenroom by Pulse the karaoke lounge under Circle, were we made preparations for the eventful schedule. While Se7en arrived to a barrage of photo flashes he still worked some impromptu interviews with some lucky press. More »

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After watching Harry Kim’s documentary about street artist David Choe’s rise to fame, “Dirty Hands: The Art and Crimes of David Choe,” I had the opportunity to briefly interview him about the making of the documentary: More »

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Can you believe it? It’s almost the end of March! My my the year is passing by fast.

Anyways I hope you guys heard the recent Utada party announcement. Utada will be partying it up in NYC with all her fans for the digital release of her album. You not only get to meet her but possible win her album in addition to some promo goodies. Be sure to go out and support her!

Enjoi! More »

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A recent survey by Yahoo! that polled 1000 people in Japan between the ages of 15 and 59 on varying forms of media and their credibility revealed what we’ve known all along: Wikipedia came in third behind newspaper and radio, and unmistakably ahead of television. More »

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Haven’t partied with Utada yet? Here’s your chance!

With her album digitally dropping on March 23, Angels & Kings is hosting an album release party in Utada’s name. And yes, Utada will be there herself. So not only will she be there but you’ll be able to listen to the album, get free promo items and possibly win an advance copy. What more could you ask for? More »

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