Yeah I really admire that aspect of Japanese too. The devotion and seriousness, though maybe that's why there're so many geeks/otaku in Japan too ^^;;

Oh Lisa Ono, yeah I've heard several of her portugese/bossa nova albums (got copies from Seat actually ^^;;). She sound very authentic (total copy of Astrud Gilberto), though it's really nothing special nor particularly outstanding if were to compare to actual Brazilian stuffs. A bit too authentic actually, it'd be nicer if she has incorporate a bit of Japanese flair for unqiueness sake. As for me out of the Bossa Nova female artists, I like Nara Leao the most~~ (I like Astrud Gilberto too of course, but a bit too mainstream and EVERYBODY likes her..so...) I'm discovering Gal Costa at the moment. ^^;;

Freda | January 24, 2005 03:54 PM

since you guys are talking about japanese ppl mastering other cultures specialties, i wonder if you guys ever heard of lisa ono? i really like her music.

tina | January 24, 2005 03:29 PM

I remember you mentioned the hotdog guy before, but no he is not heard in Japan. Maybe other Japanese can beat him easily so he stays in US? ^^;;;

seat | January 24, 2005 01:50 PM

Japanese people are simply extremely devoted/obsessed/hard-working, whatever they fall in love with. The level of devotion comes close to be like a region almost, and it lasts for a life time. I really admire that~~~

seat | January 24, 2005 01:47 PM

Oh there's also the famous hotdog guy, I wonder if you heard of him in Japan ^^;; There're these National hotdog eating contest in America and this skinny young Japanese guy (from Japan) sweep the champions beating out all those big American guys for the past couple years in a row. Every year he won it made news. There's a funny cartoon series about a midwestern rural all-American town, in one of the episodes they mention about it too. How the country rednecks were all "oh we need to reclaim the title from the Japanese, hotdog contest is our pride, it represent Americanism" blah blah ^^;; They practiced hard but still lost...haha...

Freda | January 24, 2005 10:22 AM

Compare to other ethnic group (esp. Asian) Japanese is relatively smaller group in LA I think. I notice that a lot of Japanese chefs led famous restaurants (that're not necessary Japanese food) over here. I guess it's the way Japanese people often master skills aboard at foreign countries. It's like in recent years how Japanese taken over the world of samba music+dance (these Japanese girls won the championship of samba dance competition beating out all the native people). I once read an article talking about authenticity when there're these Japanese musicians who made very good raggae/samba/music from other culture...interesting phenonmenon.

Freda | January 24, 2005 10:15 AM

What? That is too expensive!! Even if they had foie gras etc. they would be even more expensive~~~The Tuna steak looks good though.

Maybe Japanese population in L.A. is large?? You've got a Little Tokyo there so the Japanese community should not be small.

seat | January 23, 2005 12:58 PM