Satellite Young, a Japanese 80s-style synthpop duo, will represent Yaponesia in one of the semifinals for NSC 141.
The chosen song is one of the songs featured in the teaser above, but the Yaponesian delegation did not reveal which song was chosen until the show was broadcast. The selected song for NSC 141 was 'Break! Break! Tic! Tac!'
Please enjoy this retro throwback! 1
For the Christmassy feel of NSC 142, Yaponesia sent Japanese singer Ayaka Hirahara's pop adaptation of Gustav Holst's classic 'Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity' from his suite 'The Planets', accompanied live by a full orchestra.
MOOD ROBOT, from Los Angeles, California, is Alex Kazenoff and Ben Kazenoff, featuring Kelly Mickel on vocals.
L Y R I C S
You're running through my dreams
So I am trying to stay asleep
But when you look into my eyes
I know I'll be asking why
You're just a stupid cowboy
Boots on, guns out, saddle and all
You're riding far away from the things that make you small
Kick me down and watch me crawl
You're riding to the sun so it don't matter at all
You're just a stupid cowboy
You're always on the run
But you're never running out of luck
And your finger's on the gun
But you don't act like you give a fuck
You're just a stupid cowboy
Boots on, guns out, saddle and all
You're riding far away from the things that make you small
Kick me down and watch me crawl
You're riding to the sun so it don't matter at all
You're just a stupid cowboy
Boots on, guns out, saddle and all
Kick me down and watch me crawl
Boots on, guns out, saddle and all
Kick me down and watch me crawl
Hello! First of all, some personal news: our newborn daughter (our second child) was born this morning Yaponesia’s chosen NSC 193 entry will honour this arrival. More details later.
Secondly, I feel like doing a long overdue major update. Apparently the last time was 50 editions ago so what perfect timing!
Let’s just get straight into it:
NSC 144
Peter Asschenfeldt & the Colonels -
LOVE AND GLORY
This epic/rock/cheese/schlager entry, often mistitled as “LoveGlory”, was first discovered as a YouTube ad.
NSC 145
Cornelius - GUM
The artist, who also took part in Congratulations, regularly has songs and tunes that feature on Japanese morning children’s TV (as part of the programme “Designあ”)
NSC 146
Tessa Violet - HAZE
Yaponesia’s last silver medal placing was found while browsing popular YouTubers. She recently took part in NSC again for neighbouring Comino.
More will be updated every edition. The plan is to gradually fill out all our missing entries of the last 50 editions, whilst also updating our current entries, so stay tuned!
Hello! First of all, some personal news: our newborn daughter (our second child) was born this morning Yaponesia’s chosen NSC 193 entry will honour this arrival. More details later.
There’s a good old NSC tradition of sending entries named after the important people in your life. There’s also an often-used Yaponesian tradition of celebrating special occasions with a thematic NSC entry. So to mark the occasion of the upcoming birth of our daughter Emily, I went hunting for her name on YouTube. This beautiful song by Japanese singer majiko is the result. The lyrics are especially poignant as a message for a young daughter, so I recommend listening with YouTube English subtitle captions on.
After finding this song, Emily joined us on May 15th 2021. The perfect happen with the numbering for this entry - must be a new #sign.
We’re coming off the back of Yaponesia’s biggest drought; not something I mind too much (I still love NSC and always have time for it). I’m hoping to continue to update this here ol’ thread, providing you with more of the personal backstories and reasons for our various entries. In any case, hope you enjoy and good luck all in NSC 193!
Until then, I want you to make a promise with me, Emily...
Let’s have a little more retrospective. But this time going backwards from the most recent editions (just to spice things up!)
The theme for today’s trio of recent entries is that Yaponesia has been frequently outsourcing music in recent times. Partly because my own personal music source has pretty much dried up, but on a more positive note, it involves and engages the whole family
Results-wise, it hasn’t been so positive, but that’s just the standard Yapo experience these days
NSC 192
Erreway - QUE ESTÉS
A cute slice of childhood/noughties nostalgia, Argentinian band Erreway’s reality TV adventure also apparently caught on in eastern Russia at the time, which is where this suggestion came from.
NSC 191
Oh. - I’M IN LOVE
This artist was discovered, and thus selected autonomously for the very first time by my 1 year old son somehow getting Siri to recommend music by “Oh”. Oh. is Greek artist Olivia Hadjiioannou, with her song “I’m in Love”.
NSC 190
NiziU - STEP AND A STEP
Speaking of reality TV adventures, Yaponesia’s 190 entry also came recommended, after this 2020 hit series to find Japan’s first JYP-produced idol group from eager auditionees. Step and a Step is their official debut single.
Yaponesia’s 194 entry has also been placed into the trustworthy hands of our partner in crime. It’s time for our traditional artist return, so stay tuned to find out which former Yapo entrant is coming back for another attempt at these Natian olympics of music.
Dimash last represented Yaponesia to a respectable 4th place finish with Ogni Pietra (Olimpico) in NSC 173.
Famous for his vast vocal range and repertoire in different languages, this internationally acclaimed Kazakh star will now represent us again in NSC 194 with one of his Chinese songs, War and Peace.
So now that we're enjoying NSC 195, after Polo & Pan stormed to victory last edition, let's bump the Yapo thread, just in time to check out their humble NSC origins.
NSC 147
Hotei - CIRCUS
Tomoyasu Hotei first represented Yaponesia back in NSC 120, to a semifinal non-qualification. For NSC 147, he earned the annual second chance ticket to a PQ slot in Lacrea. There, he was able to score a glorious last place.
NSC 148
Polo & Pan - COEUR CROISÉ
Polo & Pan's NSC debut was actually not for Yaponesia in Natia, but for the nation of [fəʊnˈiːʒə] (Fonesia) in Alternatia. They failed to make much of a splash here, but would go on to greater things in later NSC reappearances. As I mentioned before, this post was originally going to coincide with a third P&P appearance for Yaponesia, but we're delighted to use this to celebrate again their 194 victory instead!
NSC 149
FURUTA ARATA - HALO HALO ONDO
Yet another glorious (would-be) last place, this time in the semifinal. I have a personal soft spot for this entry though, partly because it is SO Japanese. Go to any Japanese summer festival at this time of the year, and the celebrations are all like this; a perfect reminder for you while we're enjoying the Olympics there now.
Speaking of the Olympics, our 195 entry is a round-the-world celebration of its own. An update for that entry will come shortly; let's see how the semi results go first of all. Good luck everyone!
For the first time in a long while, Yaponesia is pulling out some international flavour for NSC 195, and we're not just talking about the world tour described in the song lyrics.
Fryars, real name Benjamin Garrett, was last seen representing Waloria in NSC 152, along with his wife Rae Morris, who herself has made several appearances in NSC; the first time being for Llama Republic in NSC 116. Her last, and most successful appearance was for Meilutya in NSC 154.
But now they've both come together in Yaponesia! And the reason I've selected this song is because I had a (very small) hand in the production of this music video!! Fryars's cousin is a friend of mine and asked me to provide the Japanese lyrics you occasionally see popping up in the video . So, just so y'know, that was me!
Anyway, thank you for the final qualification We hope you enjoy this song, all over the world.
Another historical update for our Yapo thread. This time we're entering last decade's dark age, the 180s (with one final total to show for). Going backwards again from the most recent point:
NSC 189
Uni - PREDATOR'S BALL
Last decade, I coincidentally started taking an interest in Sean Lennon's music (for no particular reason), and discovered many adjacent side projects together with his partner, Charlotte Kemp Muhl. This is the most recent of those to be featured, with 3 of them total in this decade. Uni is Kemp Muhl's project with vocalist Jack James and guitarist David Strange.
NSC 188
Hikaru Genji - YUUKI 100%
The opening theme to long-running children's anime "Nintama Rantarō", this anime and theme was actually a staple of my own childhood holidays visiting family in Japan. The programme still runs every day, with this exact same theme. Over the years, it's been sung by many many different groups (to the point where it's not even clear who exactly is singing in this video). But the original was by boyband Hikaru Genji, whom we have credited here.
NSC 187
The Claypool Lennon Delirium - BLOOD AND ROCKETS:
Movement I, Saga of Jack Parsons / Movement II, Too The Moon
This is the second Sean Lennon entry in the 180s decade, this time in collaboration with Les Claypool, forming the Claypool Lennon Delirium. This six-and-a-half-minute psychedelic saga was also our Congratulations entry for the decade, despite failing to qualify, remaining a well-earned place in Yapo history.
Our 196 entry is still to be decided. We are currently clueless, but will come up with something shortly (quite possibly again enlisting assistance from our family members)
Although I was clueless on what to send for the entire of this confirmation period, it was actually the concurrent Lost In Time & Space spinoff that led me directly to this gem. Tasked with the assignment of finding a song released in Cuba 2017, this piece by Cuban jazz pianist Omar Sosa ticks all the boxes.
Joined by the Senegalese kora player Seckou Keita, it's an instrumental that builds from a quiet motif from the exotic kora into a lively chant on the piano with vocals. Actually one of the main reasons I decided to opt for something different for the spinoff was to use something more "Cuban" there, and to present this interesting combination to NSC instead.
I don't have huge hopes in the results later tonight But hopefully some of you enjoyed this beautiful composition.
An update with three more from Yapo ancient history.
NSC 150
Kuricorder Quartet & Shione Yukawa - TAMEIKI NO HASHI
We scored a bronze medal in NSC's anniversary edition, with this quaint anime opening track. The anime (which I'm unfamiliar with) is Lillia, and Shione Yukawa is also known for singing in Studio Ghibli's soundtrack. This song, meaning The Bridge of Sighs, features recorders as the main instrument, as performed by the Kuricorder Quartet.
NSC 151
Alien Tango - I DON'T WANNA DIE
A fun and chaotic pastiche of cheery retro cartoons and styles, in a nightmarish ode to death. Spanish artist Alien Tango was perfect for this rare PQ, with video featuring Bimbo from the Talkartoon and Betty Boop series since the 1930s.
NSC 152
Ainu Rebels - e=katuhu pirka
A special entry from the indigenous Ainu people of Hokkaido. The song title, in the Ainu language, means 'You are beautiful'. The song achieved a solid top 10 position for Yaponesia.
While our next entry is still being selected, we have narrowed down a selection of songs, which also feature minority and indigenous languages from various countries. Hopefully, one of them will be our entry next edition in Vylkuzeme!
A band from the South Tyrol region of northern Italy, with an entry in the Südtiroler Deutsch dialect. This song was a planned entry in the 2020 Liet International contest (which has made appearances in NSC in the past, notably Zombira in NSC 60 and NSC 127). However, much like all other major events in 2020, the event was cancelled before taking place in May 2020.
A replacement contest was (apparently) held in October of this year, but Jimi Henndreck were not one of the 10 acts returning of the 20 originally scheduled. However, our NSC 199 entrant, also from Liet 2020, did (again, apparently) take part. More about that later though.
This entry failed to make much of a splash in the semifinals of NSC 197, but thank you to those who did enjoy it!
A jazzy adaptation of traditional-style Japanese singing, Saya Asakura sings this crossover of funk and "minyo", an ode to a river in her home prefecture of Yamagata. The original entry featured a recorded-under-lockdown video of the time, the above link has the more "official" music video, starting at 00:55.
NSC 185
Printed Circuit - MOBIRA
Printed Circuit has been a long-time legend of the Yaponesia's NSC scene, participating and winning back in the ancient noughties days of MSN NSC (with their old classic, My Butt Hurts). Finally given a chance in the main NSC spotlight, Mobira is a similarly ancient track, performed in this video live in Manchester.
NSC 184
The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger - XANADU
The last (or well, first) of the Sean Lennon-adjacent 180s trio for Yaponesia. This is an older song, the original project from Lennon and his partner, Kemp Muhl. No particular relation to the old NSC nation.
I'm starting to see a pattern here... If you continue to update your thread with 3 past entries per edition, your recapping of past entries is set to conclude with the announcement of your 200th entry. At this point you will have gone through all entries except NSC 168. So is your anniversary entry related to your 168 entry??
P.S. THANK YOU FOR LINKING MY BUTT HURTS! I always have the hardest time finding that video.