An American Robot in Redondo

I found this handsome robot in the bathroom of the Redondo Beach Pier near Los Angeles.
I like to know that there are robots all around us. It is a comforting feeling.
Some people might worry that a robot like this will be an invasion of privacy, but not me.
I just hope that nobody mistreats this robot.
He has a difficult job.

LA rain storm, flooding, and double rainbow

Los Angeles has been flooded with rain the past few days. There has been more rain in 2 days than the city usually gets in a whole year. The city roads, and streets are not built to handle rain, so there has been lots of flooding. Just driving a few kilometers can take a very long time.

After the rain stopped yesterday, there was the most handsome rainbow I've ever seen...a beautiful double rainbow. I will name him Jacob. Have you ever seen a double rainbow?

Everybody Dies- Book Contest

Remi February and Gimmeabreakman from YouTube have been kind enough to help me do this contest to give away 3 copies of my book, Everybody Dies- A Children's Book for Grownups. All you have to do to participate is subscribe to my channel and make a comment.

Everybody Dies- A Children's Book for Grown Ups

Today I announced the release of my new book, Everybody Dies- A Children's Book for Grown Ups.
The book is available at http://www.everybodydiesbook.com


I spent the last year making this book. It is 24 full color pages, 8 x 10 inch paperback. It's made to help grown ups deal with their fear of the inevitable fate that is waiting for all of us (even very cute snails).

I will make a bigger announcement on my main channel soon.

The books will arrive to me early next week, so I don't know if I can get them out to people by X-mas. Maybe I can get them to people who live in the WEst Coast of US....otherwise they will take a while longer I think.

I also have lots of shirts and posters available.

http://www.zazzle.com/kentanaka/gifts?rf=238059221311592649235999079762620462

There is a facebook page too.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/EverybodyDies/161663873870805

Help us win 2010 Youtube Japan Award

Takeo and I were nominated for the 2010 Youtube Awards for our song "Scream of Slacker".
Watch the above video to see how to vote. IT's very easy. You don't need a youtube account.
If we win, I think it will be posted on the Youtube Homepage and we will get some fun prizes,
and a nice trophy for Takeo Kun. He really needs a handsome trophy.

Also, please vote for my friends ERicsurf6 and Ciaela and their videos. You'll learn all about them in the above video.

Here is the original video of the song if you haven't seen it.

Wiener Morning

This is the third in a series called How to Speak Fluent Japanese by Speaking English....it is the sister version of How to Speak Fluent Japanese Without Saying a Word.

In this video, Remi and I teach you the word "Morning" (mooningu), which is often used on menus for Western style breakfasts.


Here is lesson 1 , perfect for Chirstmas


Here is Lesson 2 with Polo

Ken Tanaka's Hot Mate

Remi February (she is very handsome) joins me in this video about Japanese hot mate. I found my hot mate at a local super market. Where did you find your hot mate?

Tokyo Youtube Gathering and Awa Odori

I just posted a new video from our Tokyo YouTube gathering this summer. It took place at the very handsome Inokashira Park in Kichijoji and many YouTubers came.

After the gathering, many of us headed over to Koenji for the Awa Odori festival. Awa Odori is a famous dance festival that takes place in Tokushima, Japan...but there are satellite festivals all over the country.

It's a celebration of Obon, a summer holiday when you can reconnect with the spirits of your ancestors who temporarily come back to Earth in a ghosty form.

This video also talks bout our upcoming concert. Polo, Takeo and Teruko and I will play 2nd Street Jazz in La on Monday the 13th. See my earlier blog post for more info.

New Hopey T-shirts $6.00 off today also "Regular Style" and cancer is stupid

Hopey the Hopeful Giraffe T-shirt from Zazzle.com

Introducing Hopey the Hopeful Giraffe T-shirts. This has been my most requested design for a t-shirt, but because of the colors it is too hard for me to silk screen myself. I set up a print on demand account at Zazzle and now you can order Hopey in many brands, colors and styles...even for babies. They have a special deal now where if you order today and use this code "JINGLESALE28" at checkout, each t-shirt is $6.00 off....and you get free shipping if you order more than $35. The offer expires at 12am tonight (Los Angeles time).



Cancer is Stupid Shirt from Zazzle.com


This is another often requested design. I made this upset squirrel for my friend who is fighting with Mantle Cell Carcinoma...a very stupid kind of cancer.


Lastly, this design of dogs enjoying each other is also available.





Regular Style! Shirt from Zazzle.com


There are also two designs (t-shirt and poster) promoting my new book. Since I haven't announced the book yet (I'm waiting to receive copies from the printer first), I am not going to show those shirts yet. However, if you are curious, you can easily find them by looking at my account on Zazzle.

Ken Tanaka Band live in Los Angeles Monday 13th

This coming Monday 13th, I will be performing a live show at 2nd Street Jazz in Los Angeles.
366 E 2nd St
Los Angeles, CA 90012

The show goes from 9-11pm and I think we will go on around 9:45. Tickets are $10. PLease make sure you tell them you are there for Ken Tanaka when you buy your ticket.

I will be playing about 20-30 minutes and probably doing 6-8 songs with Takeo, Polo and our new guest vocalist the very handsome Teruko-Chan. Three of the songs are brand new and we've never played them for an audience before.

You can hear Teruko singing a song from Urusei Yatsura here.


Here are some of the songs you can hear.

Tokyo-77 Loves You, Goodbye

Tokyo 77 is a small diner in the Culver City neighborhood of Los Angeles. It is hidden away in an alley behind a bank and a public parking lot, and the average person walking down the street would never even know it was there. The restaurant is owned by a very friendly and handsome Japanese family. They serve mostly American diner style food with some Japanese dishes like Oyako donburi on the menu as well.

Walking into Tokyo 77 feels like traveling back in time. There are headshot photographs on the wall from American TV shows from the 70's and 80's.





The breakfast menu has three full breakfast set items for $2.75, and almost everyone eating there has been a customer for ten years or more.
In some ways it reminds me of going to a restaurant in Harmonica Yokochoo in Kichijoji, Tokyo....and being time slipped back into the Showa era.




Tokyo 77 opened 30 years ago. After three years, they moved into there current location. Many regulars have been customers for so long that they still refer to the current location as "The new place", even after 27 years.


I had not been to Tokyo 77 for many months, then a week ago I had a dream that Tokyo 77 was closing. Two days later, I took my friend Polo there for breakfast. There was a sign on the door saying " After 30 years, We are Closing. December 18th will be our last day."

It was just like in my dream. I have never had a dream that comes true before. I have had dreams about flying bears, and monkey cats who become friends and let me ride on their backs through the starry skies and together we eat juicy sweat Magalore Fruits. But those dreams didn't come true. I wish this dream hadn't come true either. I will miss Tokyo 77 very much.
Tonight I will try to dream that they are not really closing and that it was just a joke. Maybe that dream will also come true.

Fall Leaves

Today I posted the last song I will post from my June 12th jam session with Polo. We posted 6 total songs that we improvised.
This song sounds much sillier in Japanese than the English translation shows.
It's a pretty silly song.

Yesterday Polo and I went to his recording studio to work on some new songs along with our special guest female vocalist. We will be performing a 30 minute set live in Los Angeles on Monday 13th at 2nd street Jazz in Little Tokyo. I will make a full announcement about that next week.

We had so much fun making music yesterday. I couldn't stop smiling. The songs that we are making now are quite different from the improvised ones because they have drums and electric guitar too.