2012 Emperor of Japan’s New Year Address

On January 2 the Japanese Emperor makes 5 appearances with members of the Imperial Household to give a short (emphasis on short) speech welcoming the New Year.

Although the Japanese Imperial system goes back well over a millenia, the tradition of making public addresses to gathered crowds only dates back to after WWII.

I’ve been to the New Years Address about 4-5 times now. The interview footage is from the 2009 and 2010 speeches.

This year however was different than previous years and the Emperor made direct mention to the Earthquake of March 11th and the continual suffering of those directly affected by it.

Tokyo Decadance: White and Yellow – Japanese Earthquake/Tsunami Aid Event

Tokyo Decadance that wild melting pot of subcultures hosted its monthly event this March. Normally the March event is to celebrate White Day March 14th which is the opposite of Valentines. On Valentines, girls give boys presents and on White Day the boys return the favor.

This year however the day before the originally schedule event there was a massive earthquake 80 kilometers off the northeast coast of Japan which caused destructive tsunamis which wiped out whole towns and caused enormous destruction and loss of life along the northeast coast of the Tohoku region.

Tokyo Decadance was postponed for two weeks and renamed White and Yellow. White for the original White Day and Yellow for support of Japan. Yellow is a positive color in Japan. A percent of the party’s profit was donated to the Red Cross.

There wasn’t as many people out as usual events but there was still a good showing. Kaya was there singing a duet. We had great music played by DJs like Rina Nekko, we had a seppuku (ritual suicide) simulation with lightsaber, a lightsaber dual between an angel and a gaijin samurai, and as always cute sexy girls.