‘Honey it’s me’ – The cutesy virtual girlfriend iPhone application

On CherriiPOP, I have talked about virtual girlfriends before, they are quite popular in Japan where men carry around anime printed pillow covers. Now Lonely South Korean men who have trouble finding a girlfriend, can now receive phone calls from a virtual girlfriend via an iPhone application. They truly have an app for everything!

The ‘Honey, it’s me!’ was developed by Nabrix for iPhone was launched on November 30. This app has proven to be very popular; during it’s free trial period there were up to 80,000 downloads a day.

This is the first app where a virtual girlfriend named Mina, aged 22 will call the user several times a day to sweet talk. Her messages are all sugary like ‘Are you still sleeping? Time for breakfast!’ to ‘Good night, sweet dreams.’

A korean model has recorded the video and over 100 messages to warm up the hearts of single men.

It sounds like Mina is just toooooo sweet - that it is a little bit sickening. I think she needs to be a bit more realistic - to provide men with a more realistic experience of a relationship (or as real as it can be). Here is MY VERSION of the virtual girlfriend app.





After using my verion of the 'Honey it's me' app, I'm sure guys would enjoy single life more!

Mobile Phone argument causes delays for 70,000 Japanese train passengers

Did you know that it was considered rude to talk on your mobile phone on public transport in Japan? People talk on phones all the time in Australia, it’s socially acceptable – it’s interesting that in Japan it’s not the same.

A passenger in Japan was talking on their phone whilst on the train and a man reportedly chastised them for their bad behaviour and asked them to get off at the next station to continue talking on their phone. A heated row broke out between the men and the emergency alarm was set off. The two men were escorted to the police station and underwent questioning before being released without charge.

A 47 minute train delay was caused, affecting 70,000 passengers travelling on that line. It’s all a bit odd to me because this argument is over such an insignificant thing and it caused so much trouble for the public.

In Japan manners are regarded as very important on public transport and this fact is emphasised on numerous ‘manner campaign’ posters on trains urging passengers to behave considerately to others. Key words: ‘Behave considerately to others’, that man should have just let it go and let the guy talk on the phone, rather than causing such havoc.

Reference: Telegraph

Rain’s enlistment plans

Rain has been delaying his military service for a while now due to work and study commitments, but he has announced that he will enter the military in the second half of 2011. Before then he will be filming a Hollywood film! Not much information about this project has been released yet. I will keep you updated.

Also on New Years Eve, Rain will be performing a special concert ‘Adieu 2010 with Rain’ in Korea. I wish I could attend that concert, it would be so awesome to welcome in the New Year with Rain! I love Rain!

Fans you can expect lots of Rain before he joins the army!!

Aussies Love Oprah!!!

Everyone is so excited that Oprah is in Australia! Oprah is here to film 2 special episodes for her show at the Opera House next Tuesday. She arrived on Tuesday last week and has been travelling all over Australia with her lucky 302 audience members. On Friday – she spent a day in Melbourne!!! Melbournians came out in full force to welcome her at her only public appearance at Federation Square. When she addressed the crowd she commented on how friendly Aussies are. We love Oprah!

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have arrived in Australia to be guests on Oprah’s Aussie episodes. Prime Minister Julia Gillard will also be a guest on her show. I wonder what other surprises Oprah has in store for her fans!

Happy Birthday Princess Masako

Princess Masako turns 47 today! Happy Birthday! Love CherriiPOP

The medical team for the Crown Prince's household also released a statement saying Princess Masako, who continues to receive treatment for a stress-induced illness, is "steadily recovering," although she remains unstable both physically and mentally.

Source: Japan Times

Utada's farewell concert series in 2010

IMPORTANT NEWS! Utada's farewell concert series (on the 8th and 9th DEC) before her hiatus will be broadcasted LIVE on Ustream!

Her “WILD LIFE“ concerts are held,at Yokohama Arena. She wanted to farewell all her fans worldwide with this live broadcast.

Tune in via: Ustream channels: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/wl1 (700kbps) http://www.ustream.tv/channel/wl2 (300kbps). Concerts will begin on December 8th at 7:00 pm.

To celebrate her concerts, CherriiPOP have put together a special 'Best of Utada' Clip. Hope you enjoy it! Can you name all of her songs in the clip?

CherriiPOP Song of the Week - Hatsune Miku 'Po Pi Po'

Here is a cute song by artist Hatsune Miku. Interesting fact! She's 100% manufactured. Watch clip to find out more

CherriiPOP Youtube Channel and webisodes

Hi Everyone!!! I've been busy making webisodes for CherriiPOP, I hope you have been enjoying them. You can watch them direct at our youtube channel www.youtube.com/cherriipoptheshow


Cherriipop webisode 28Nov2010- Happy B'day Daniel Henney
I wish Daniel a Very Happy B'day. Plus, there is some cool footage of him meeting his fans and him at a VOGUE fashion photoshoot.




Here's the websisode for 23 Nov 2010
How to Send Daniel Henney a b'day msg and Utada talks about her break from music

CherriiPOP's First Webisode 16th Nov 2010 - Guangzhou Asian Game's Opening Ceremony, Kim Hyun Joong's performance and Utada Hikaru's New Abum News

Hey Everyone! Our live show broadcasts have ended for the year. During our off season we'll be making weekly webisodes! It will be a mini version of our show.

This week's webisode covers: The 16th Guangzhou Asian Game's Opening Ceremony, Kim Hyung Joong's performance at the Games and Utada's New Album: Singles Collection Volume 2. The long awaited album will hit the stores on Nov 24th (7 more days!!)

Odd Things I saw – 2010 WRAP UP

This is one of my favourite segments on the show. It’s a segment where I talk about Odd things I saw on holiday or in my everyday life. Our ‘Odd things I saw’ gallery has expanded during the year, I’m going to reflect on some of my favourite ones.

There are a lot of odd things in Japan, like cucumber flavoured coke? Cherry blossom flavoured Kit Kat! Their confectionary is far more diverse than our boring selection. We only have one flavoured Kit Kat, they have about 30! Another funny one is the Tokyo Tower mascot, it’s a huge long pink thing… yes… well you can have a look at the picture yourself. It looks like a pink crayon in overalls. Little kids hug it when they go on school excursions to Tokyo Tower. LOL

In Korea I saw some interesting stuff too. Deep fried bees, are you game enough to eat it? I wasn’t, but it was such a novelty to have a look at it.

My friend’s watch also made it on this segment. It’s no ordinary watch, it’s so much cooler than all the other watches in the world! It’s a binary watch!! It doesn’t have the normal hour and second hands ticking away. The watch face consists of numbers 1 and 0 running across the screen and you have to add them up to tell the time! Cool or Geeky? It’s a bit of both.

I have a new Odd Things I saw for this week. Triumph Japan, the bra company released a new high tech tourist bra. The inspiration for this bra comes from the tour guide’s uniform (Isn’t that an interesting source of inspiration for a bra), its more of a bustier than a bra. Features of the bra include: a display of sightseeing spots (that means you can put photos on the bustier), three buttons that you can press and it will emit audio greetings in 3 languages (English, Japanese and Korean). On the sides of the bustier are slots for tourist flag poles. If that doesn’t sound ridiculous enough, there is even skirt that is attachable to the bustier and it can flip up to reveal a map of Japan. Somehow I don’t think tour guides in Japan will be wearing these bustiers and skirts anytime soon. It is quite a funny story thought.

Let the games begin - 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou CHINA

The 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China begins today. It took 6 years of planning and billions of dollars in investment. After witnessing the Beijing Olympics, you can expect a spectacular Asian Games. Like the Beijing Games, the Guangzhou Asian Games have 5 mascots! The mascot design is based on a legend about five immortals who took five rams to Guangzhou, each holding an ear of corn in its mouth. There, the immortals prayed for an end to famine, then flew into the sky as the five rams turned into fossils.



Kim Hyun Joong along with other artists will sing the Game’s theme song at the opening ceremony.

Also, Kim Hyun Joong recently did an interview on CNN’s Asia Talk. I posted up the video on facebook so you can have a watch. The interviewer may be a familiar face to you! It’s Aussie Anna Coren, she use to host Today Tonight. Kim talks about his drama ‘Playful Kiss’ and how youtube help make it a success.

Piperoids – Paper pipe robots

Craft fans! I came across this cool Japanese papercraft called Piperoids. It’s were you build robots out of paper pipes. You can also build samurai warriors or cute little creatures.

Mr Tsunoda invented Piperoids, he wanting to ‘Teach values through handcrafts that use your hands and stimulate your brain’.
You can buy Piperoid kits at Amazon or Borders. They come with instructions on how to build your piperoid. Also on youtube you can check out a lot of home made instructional videos.

Important message for Daniel Henney Fans!

Daniel’s birthday is coming up and his management is putting together a special birthday book consisting of fan messages for him! If you want to be part of this all you have to do is take a photo of yourself with the message Happy Birthday Daniel and send it to danielhenneyfan@gmail.com. Remember to send in your name and where you are from.

2010 Highlight – Rain’s MTV win for 'Biggest Badass Star’

It has been a huge year for Rain, he made his comeback to the small screen starring in the TV action drama ‘Fugitive’, releasing new songs, his got concerts at the end of the year then his enlisting in the army next year! WOW! It seems that he squashes ten years worth of work in one year! Well one of the highlights of this year and probably in his career was winning his first MTV movie award for ‘Biggest Badass star’!!! He won the award for his role in Ninja Assassin!

He was up against tough competition for the award, the other nominees were Angelina Jolie (Wanted), Channing Tatum (GI Joe), Chris Pine (Star Trek), Sam Worthington (Avatar). Rain took home the golden popcorn.

That was a cool moment in 2010.

2010 Music Wrap up – Solo Endeavours, Comebacks and Good-byes

So much has happened in this year in the Music industry! Everything moves at a very fast pace in Asia. We saw a lot of group members go out and do there solo projects, many artists making their comeback after a few years absence and I mentioned earlier in the show many huge names are bidding permanent and temporary farewells to the business like Bao Han, Utada and Rain.

This year we saw huge Kpop artists return after a few years trying to break in to the American music scene. Yep! Boa and Se7en! Boa was absent for 5 years (I can’t believe it was that long) and she definitely made a spectacular comeback to KPOP releasing her new album ‘Hurricane Venus’. With her epic comeback she had a whole blonde look and a new sound. Se7en made a huge comeback as well, displaying a more mature look and showing up some new tattoos. Both of them didn’t quite get the response they were hoping for in America, but they are incredibly talented so I hope they can crack the market in the near future.

We saw a lot of popular band members go out and release their own solo singles like Taeyang from Big Bang, Ga In from Brown Eye Girls and heaps more. No, they didn’t leave the group! They have received a lot of success for their solo projects, with singles topping the charts. Taeyang’s MV for ‘I’ll be there’ was incredible; it has a bit of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ feel with slick dancing and zombies.

SMAP the ultimate boy band are still dominating the Oricon charts after nearly 2 decades in the business! Their single ‘This is love’ debut at number one and it goes to show they guys still got it!

The Best Bits of CherriiPOP – Wedding stories

There have been a lot of wedding stories covered on the show this year; they were quite popular stories on the show because I got a lot of comments about it. Here is a recap:




A few weeks ago I mentioned an interesting story about a Taiwanese woman marrying herself. She herself decided to put a ring on it. A wedding planner was hired and she invited her close friends and family to her wedding. I really admire that story because she is sending out a strong message to other 30 year old women that you don’t have to follow tradition and you should love yourself. Legally her marriage isn’t recognised, so in the future when she meets Prince Charming she can marry him without divorcing herself. It’s inspirational that she’s living life to her own rules!




On the date 10-10-10 this year, many couples around the world said ‘I do’, so venues were booked out in advanced. Why did so many couples choose this date? Well because it is an auspicious date since the day, month and year are the same. In Asia, people believe that when you get married on this date you will live a happy life together. In the past, the dates 08-08-08 and 09-09-09 were highly popular for weddings for the same reason. If you are planning to get married in the near future, then you might consider these auspicious dates 11-11-11 and 12-12-12.




The Last story is: A lot of adult Japanese men who have no luck in the love department have resorted to loving anime cartoon characters. These virtual girlfriends are printed images on pillowcases and these men will take their ‘girlfriends’ on dates to the movies, restaurants or special getaways. The men feel a lot of happiness in the relationship and feel that it is true love. Some men love their virtual girlfriends so much that they will marry them and have the whole wedding celebration as well. It’s a very interesting story and people who have an obsession with manga or anime characters are called ‘otaku’ in Japan.

AND temporary Farewells to Jpop and Kpop’s Greatest: Utada Hikaru and Rain.

2010 will also bid farewells to other HUGE Pop artists, Utada Hikaru and Rain! I know, all my favourite artists are leaving me! Utada and Rain are not retiring but they are bidding temporary farewells to their fans.



Utada announced on her website that she will be taking a break from the music industry for an indefinite period of time. She has grown up in the industry and she has felt that it is time to explore a different side of life. Before the end of the year, she is releasing new compilation albums (1 in Japanese and 1 in English). New songs will be included on her Japanese compilation album and this week she released the PV to her newly released single ‘Goodbye Happiness’. I love the Music clip to this song, it’s very kawaii (cute) and it will surely put a smile on your face. It’s a simple clip, the whole MV takes place in a typical Japanese bedroom and she is singing at the desk with cute puppets popping in to frame. I love her Music clips, it’s creative and unlike American artist MV’s it’s not sexual. Utada never wears sexy clothes and dances with topless male dancers, she said it’s not her style. I admire that she stayed true to herself and didn’t succumb to pressures to be sexy to sell records.




Rain!!! Will also be taking a break from the music industry to serve his compulsory military duty. Rain has been delaying his enlistment for a long time now due to work and study commitments. It has been announced that he will enlist the start of 2011. This year has been a big year for Rain, he made his comeback on the small screen, starring in the popular TV drama ‘Fugitive: Plan B’, released a new single, there are plans that he will star in one more movie and also he is studying a masters degree. In addition, on December 31 this year he will be holding 2 special concerts in Seoul! It’s been a jammed packed year for Rain.

It hasn’t been an easy year for Rain, he has been caught up in a lot of bad media coverage over J Tune’s embezzlement drama, gambling debts. The next few years won’t get easier while he serves in the military.

I look forward to Utada and Rain’s comeback in the future. I think after their break they will be back with so much creative energy and producing remarkable music.

2010 bids Farewell to VPOP Princess Bao Han

Vpop's princess Bao Han, one of the most loved and successful artist is retiring from the music industry at the end of 2010, after 18 years in the business. She made the announcement to her fans on her website through a heartfelt letter. During 2010 she has toured the world to farewell her fans in concert. She still has a few more scheduled concerts in the US, so you still have time to see her perform.

I have been a fan of Bao Han since her debut in the industry. She is vibrant, always re-inventing and challenging herself to bring something new for her fans. My favourite songs of hers include: Remember You Remember Me, Talk To My Heart, Thank You, First Love and so much more.

Although I have known about her retirement since last year I still can’t imagine the Vpop music scene without Bao Han. She has contributed a lot to the industry and been a significant Vpop artist. Her music has meant a lot to me and I admired her talent and creativity. It will take a while for me to fully accept that she has retired. I wish her all the best in the next chapter in her life! She will be missed deeply but her music will always live on.

The best bits of CherriiPOP in 2010

This is our season finale! Our last episode for the year so I thought I’ll take you down CherriiPOP’s memory lane… CherriiPOP made its debut at the start of the year on Radio Monash. The first show was quite a memorable one for me! I really wanted to make a great debut for CherriiPOP! I was quite nervous but really excited about the show airing. I made little memos for me to help me run the show and I also had 2 guests on the show to help make my debut.

Being the first CherriiPOP show, naturally I was telling everyone I knew to tune in! The show got off to a good start, I played some awesome tracks, presented CherriiPOP segments with lots of energy and I thought the show was going nice and smoothly. Fifteen minutes in to the show people started to call me and asked “Are you on the air yet?”. I said, ‘Yes? I am, aren’t I?”. Everyone said I wasn’t and some random guy was being broadcasted instead. So I started to panic and was trying to figure out why I wasn’t being broadcasted. The studio computer is a MAC and I’m a PC person, so I wasn’t that familiar with the Apple platform. That certainly didn’t help, but after 15 minutes I finally figured why I was not being broadcasted. The radio show before mine had put the online streaming offline! Usually it’s left online, well after I put it back online I was freaking out and had to re-start the show. This time it wasn’t as lively as the original, I was so sorry about the hiccup and apologising to the listeners.

My 2 guests on the first show, Linh and Lien are good friends of mine and they really help me calm down and put the show back on track. I was really happy they were there. I felt like the show’s debut totally bombed but everyone said it wasn’t that bad and encouraged me to do better for the future shows! Well I think I have improved and the show has too! I want to thank everyone for listening! I’m so thrilled that the show has been on air for one year now and I hope you guys have enjoyed listening.

Looking back, I think my debut show is quite funny because I was talking to myself practically for 15 minutes! Back then, after the show aired it didn’t feel funny at all, I felt so crushed because it wasn’t how the show was suppose to pan out. It is definitely an unforgettable moment for me.

CherriiPOP playlist for 5/11/10

Leah Dizon – LOVE U
2am – To love again
Jolin Tsai – Nothing left to say
Utada Hikaru – Goodbye Happiness
Leah Dizon – Softly
Gummy – I love you even if I die
Kylee – Everlasting
Leah Dizon – Fever
Rain - Pantech

Odd things I saw… Lockable Donut Case

Japan comes up with the coolest gadgets and knick knacks. I came across this cool accessory, it’s a lockable donut case.

Do you like to carry your donut in a lightweight case that will keep your donut fresh, tasty and not soggy? Well this ‘donut to go’ case can do exactly that. It’s got a ‘passive ventilation system’ basically little holes in the donut case so the donut doesn’t get soggy. Other features include a neat little handle so you can carry it around, and also a padlock so you can lock up your donut. Is the lock really necessary? Who is going to steal your donut? Well maybe someone that is super hungry but isn’t a dual locking system a bit much? And what happens if you lose the key? I guess you won’t have donut for lunch then.

Hefty fines for not clearing front yard snow

In Australia we are approaching SUMMER! I can’t wait for the sunshine! This year has been dreadfully cold, even now – and it’s spring. On the other side of the equator they are approaching winter.

A lot of countries experience heavy snowfall and in Korea, residents who do not clear the snow in front of their home may face a nasty fine of up to 1 million won (about 1,000AUD). Currently residents don’t face snow fines but The National Emergency Management Agency plans to introduce fines so residents feel a responsibility to clear snow on their property.

Other countries have already put in place snow fines, in the US people can face $50-100 fines, Germany more than 500 euros ($700 dollars).

Reference: Korea Herald

‘The Hills’ Japanese Style

‘The Hills’ is a reality TV show that revolves around 4 young women. The show documents their lives and all the drama in it. In almost every episode one of the stars is crying over something. A few months ago the series finale aired and the secret of the show was finally unveiled and everything was staged! Nothing was real, interesting isn’t it?

Well MTV International are planning on a Japanese version of the show that follows four young women who hang out in Shibuya and Harajuku, and are trying to make it in the fashion and entertainment industry as well. This sounds like a show I would be interested in, Shibuya and Harajuku are such exciting places to hang out. I wonder if the girls will hang out in hosts clubs?

If you don’t know what a host club is, it’s basically a club where woman go to buy conversation with young hot guys… They don’t really buy conversation per say, they buy drinks for themselves and their ‘host’ and they will chat throughout the night. It’s sort of like a pseudo relationship. They guys will prey on the girl a bit and she’ll keep coming back to see him. The host’s salary is commission based and it all depends on the amount of drinks he sells. Usually hosts don’t see their clients outside of the bar, so for her to see him for another date she has to go back to the bar and buy drinks.

Back to the Japanese ‘The Hills’ show, 12 thirty-minute episodes will start airing January 2011. The show is expected to air in Hong Kong, Korea, Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia.

As for the series name, maybe they should call it ‘Tokyo Girls’ or something that will capture the essence of Tokyo.

Kim Hyun-Joong to sing the Guangzhou Asian Games theme song

The Guangzhou Asian Games starts next week and it was announced that Kpop star Kim Hyun-Joong will sing the theme song. At the opening ceremony on November 12, Kim and four other artists will perform the Game’s official song ‘Sunshine Again’.

Kim won’t be singing in his native tongue, he will be singing the song in Chinese. That is quite impressive.

The Games will be broadcast across Asia, remember to tune in.

Ref: Korea Herald

Earn $31,000 in one hour! Working at Domino’s Japan

Would you like to earn $31,000 for one hours work? That is equivalent to a year’s salary for many people. You may think – this sounds too good to be true earning $31,000 in 60 minutes. Well, as unbelievable as it sounds Domino’s Japan is offering this one off pay to one lucky person.

Why are they doing this??? To commemorate Domino’s 25th anniversary in Japan and 50th in the world. This December Domino’s Japan will hire one lucky person to work for one hour at a rate of $31,000. Domino’s is keeping a lot of the details secretive at the moment BUT more details will be released on November 11. Another thing we do know is anyone over the age of 18 will qualify for the opportunity.

Domino’s has copped some flack for this marketing campaign with some stating that there would be better uses for the money such as increasing employee salaries.

Another interesting promotion they are running for their 25th anniversary is: anyone born on the September 30th this year – which is the date that the very first Domino’s store opened in Japan – will receive a free pizza on their birthday until they turn 25. That is pretty cool! The parents of the babies born on this date must remember to claim their free pizza for the first few years because the baby won’t be able to eat pizza yet! Lol!

CherriiPOP playlist for 27/10/10

Thank you for listening to our 3rd last show for the year!!!!! I hope you guys enjoyed the music and stories on the show. Here is our playlist. Remember to tune in next week for our 2nd last show for the year! I have special guests joining me in the studio


Jolin Tsai – Love Player
Zia – Crying Blowing
SG Wannabe – Sunflower
2pm – I’ll be back
Fripside – Belief
Yui – Rain
Davichi – Separating twice
SNSD - Gee

Odd things I saw… Micro homes in Japan

Japan’s economy is struggling at the moment and a lot of young couples who cannot afford the typical ‘cramped housing’ their parents live in or take out a substantial loan due to no job security are preferring to live in microhouses. These micro homes are the size of a shoebox! Actually they are about the size of a carpark! These homes are multi-levelled with each room (living room, bedroom) stacked on top of each other like lego. Inside everything is miniature sized with small closets that would horrify many women and a scaled down kitchen.

Commdesign sells custom designed homes for $171,000 to $214,000. Young couples don’t mind the lack of space because they can live in the city close to all the amenities they require.

What do you think of these micro homes? Some people might find it claustrophobic. I think I can live in it for a bit but I don’t think I can live in it long term. One of the upsides of living in a micro home is housecleaning will be a breeze.

I posted up photos on our facebook and twitter so have a look at some uber cool designed micro homes.

Reference: New York Times, Architecture

NIKITA finally premiered on GO!

The TV Show NIKITA starring action star Maggie Q finally premiered on GO! this week (Thursday 9:30pm). I have been anticipating for this show to air in Australia for months. I watched the first episode last night and I loved it! I always love a watching a chick kick butt on screen.

It’s very cool that they cast movie action star Maggie Q in the lead role. She’s a great actress and very tough chick, she does a lot of the stunts herself. She doesn’t mind getting a few bruises. I am a fan of the Nikita series in the 90’s starring Aussie Peta Wilson. The storyline focus has changed a bit because in the 90’s it focussed on her transformation in to a deadly assassin under the intense eye of the secret organisation. This new series focuses on Nikita’s life after she leaves the organisation and she takes revenge on them. The Nikita movie and series in the 90’s ended when she leaves the organisation, so the storyline for this new series will be completely new and exciting.

In the debut episode you see Nikita plotting and planning her revenge. It appears that she is working alone but in fact one of her allies is revealed. There are a lot of action sequences in this episode and its production is comparable to a blockbuster action film.

I can’t wait for the next episode and see how the story develops!

Utada on Twitter this week

Utada fans! Are you guys following her on twitter? She is a total twitter bug and she tweeted some interesting things this week. Last week on the show I mentioned that in addition to the release of her Singles Collection Volume 2, a best of English album will also be released. All her hit English songs will be released in a brand new album. Utada tweeted about this, unlike other artists that plug their albums Utada wrote:

The release of "Utada the best" is entirely against my will. I wish that my fans won't have to buy it. There's no new material in it. Monday, October 25, 2010 2:02:07 AM via web

It’s interesting that Utada doesn’t get the final say on this because she has a lot of control over her music career. I think her record label wants her to release it because she is going on an indefinite break from the music industry at the end of the year, so it would be meaningful if she would also release the best of English album.

Another interesting tweet she wrote during the week was:

Philippines, Finland, Vietnam, Austria, Germany, my my! I need to travel more! BTW Vietnamese is my fave Asian cuisine after Japanese :) Sunday, October 24, 2010 9:30:26 PM via web

It’s so cool to know that she enjoys Vietnamese food! I love Vietnamese food too well I am bias because I’m Vietnamese. Vietnamese food is fresh of full of flavour. My second favourite cuisine would probably be Japanese because I love sushi and sashimi a lot.

The superstar guitar prodigy from Japan

Yuto Miyazawa is not your ordinary 10 year old kid from Japan. He has an extraordinary gift, he is a guitar prodigy! The Guinness Book of World Records has honoured him with the title: Youngest Professional Guitarist. Yuto has the world at his feet! He has already performed in concert with his idol Ozzy Osbourne and appeared on the The Ellen show.

Yuto has already got a manager and has been doing some concerts in the US. It’s tough on Yuto because to play for a heavy metal audience he has to stay up late to perform. That isn’t common for a typical ten year old but Yuto enjoys playing in front of a crowd. He has a star presence on stage; engaging with the band and has the confidence to improvise.

His passion for Heavy metal is evident because he is a walking Encyclopaedia; he knows all about the history and legends in the area. Yuto also owns quite an impressive collection of guitars, currently his collection consist of 10 guitars.

Being such a young performer you may think that he had stage parents that pushed him in front of the spotlight, but that is not the case at all. They recognise his talent and are supportive of it. They maintain a relatively normal lifestyle. Yuto’s father works at a bank, his mother a housewife. Yuto goes to school and only tours during the school holidays.

Yuto was only 24 months when he first got his hand on the guitar and he loved it. Just shy of his fourth birthday he started guitar lessons.

Yuto says “My dad used to be better than me at guitar, but now he’s given up.”

Yuto is also a singer, currently his vocal talents are overshadowed by his extraordinary guitar skills. Songwriting is also another area he is interested in. Keep an eye out for this serious rocker!

If you haven’t come across Yuto’s ridiculous guitar playing skills you can find videos of him on Youtube! His a HUGE hit on YouTube.

Single Lady got Hitched to Herself

There was an interesting story about a Taiwanese woman this week. We all know Beyonce’s huge hit song ‘Single Ladies’. Part of the lyrics go ‘If you like it you better put a ring on it’. Well 30 year old office worker Chen Wei-Yih defied that song and she didn’t need a man to ‘put a ring’ on her hand, she did it herself and MARRIED HERSELF!

She hoped that by marrying herself other people will love themselves and not feel like failures if they were in their thirties and unmarried.

Chen really spoilt herself and planned a wedding for herself! She hired a wedding planner, photographer, banquet hall and sent out wedding invites to 30 of her friends. The wedding costs totalled to $5,700 – a very good price for a wedding! I wonder how much her dress would cost? She is also planning a honeymoon for herself to Australia!

She states that she is not against the traditional marriage, but she wanted to express a different idea within the bounds of tradition. She said “age 30 is a prime period for me. My work and experience are in good shape, but I haven’t found a partner, so what can I do?”

Chen’s marriage to herself has won a lot of supporters online. It was also reported that the ceremony isn’t legal and doesn’t recognise Chen as married. In the future if Chen meets Mr. Right, she will not have to divorce herself to get married. So that is good news for Chen. I can’t imagine how messy it would be for her to divorce herself, oh the legal battles and did she think about a pre-nup? LOLz

This story goes back to what I was talking about before. Self gifting and I think throwing yourself a wedding is a massive self gift! I wish her all the happiness in the world!


Reference: ninemsn

CherriiPOP playlist for 22/10/10

Hope you all liked our LADIES NIGHT themed show! Featuring the Best Female Vocalists and Girl Groups!
Bao Han – Niem Hon Vui
Bao Han – 99 Red Balloons
Elva Hsiao -抱緊你
Jolin Tsai – Nothing left to say
Utada Hikaru – Colors
Jessica (SNSD) – Sweet Delight
Son Dambi – Cry eye
Ayumi Hamasaki – Virgin Road
SNSD – Oh!

We have 3 more shows left! Remember to tune in on Fridays 7pm Melbourne Eastern time =D

Odd things My Friend saw… Fruit prices in Japan

Fruit in Japan is super expensive and only wealthy can afford it. The prices for fruit have lowered slightly over the past few years due to imports from China. Buying a piece of fruit will hurt your hip pocket greatly!

My friends took some photos of the fruit and the prices are unbelievably crazy!



box of strawberries 6,300yen = 80AUD



1 rockmelon 31,500yen = 397 AUD

Well a fruit salad will probably set you back a few thousand.....

The Solar Powered Toothbrush (Japan)

There are so many toothbrushes on the market today. Some fancy features of toothbrushes include rubber grips for your hand, angular bristles, tongue cleaner and of course the motorised toothbrushes.

Well the Japanese company Shiken is currently testing a cool and green toothbrush they invented. It’s a solar powered toothbrush that doesn’t require toothpaste! Sounds cool hey?

How does it work? The Soladey-J3X (Sounds like an anime character) toothbrush has a solar panel at the base that transmits electrons to the top of the toothbrush through a lead wire. The electrons react with the acid in the mouth, creating a chemical reaction that breaks down the plaque and kills bacteria. Interesting, I am a chemist and I really want to know what that reaction pathway is. Does that mean you don’t need to rinse after you brush your teeth?

These toothbrushes have been tested on nefarious bacteria cultures that cause periodontal disease. Results found all the bacterial cells were completely destroyed. Interesting! These toothbrushes don’t consume a lot of energy, which is good... However, standard toothbrushes don’t require any energy at all.

I can think of one major problem for these solar toothbrushes; what happens when you brush your teeth at night and there is no sunlight to charge your toothbrush? I guess the solution to that is: you have to resort back to toothpaste =P

Fines for picking up acorns in public, South Korea

It’s interesting reading about what you can get fined for in different countries. In Australia you will be fined for jaywalking. In Japan, shopkeepers will get fined if they don’t keep their shop front as in the pavement spick and span.

In South Korea, people who are caught picking acorns in national theme parks will be hit with a heavy fine or even time behind bars. A government organisation said these measures are necessary to improve survival rates of wildlife.

The Korea National Park Service will heavily monitor the grounds to ensure people don’t pick nuts, fruits or berries. People picking up a few handfuls will be fined 100,000 won (100USD). In more severe cases, people may face up to 3 years in prison or a fine up to 30 million won (~27,000USD).

During autumn, the acorn season wildlife such as squirrels and Asian Black Bears rely on oak as a major food source. Asian black bears are categorised as Level 1 on the Endangered Species List.

Ref: Korea Times

When you think the iPad/iPhone couldn’t get cooler

I am a bit of a traditionalist you could say; I like my tech gadgets to have physical buttons. But after reading all these innovative things the iPad can do, I kind of want to get my hands on one.

At the recent Tech exhibition: Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies (Ceatec), iPad self ordering menus were showcased. Restaurants can leave these iPad menus on the tables and customers can browse through the menu and photos and order everything by selecting it on the screen. I posted up a demo video on facebook so check it out and see how cool it is. However this is bad news for waiters and waitresses.



I came across a cool youtube video where a man is doing magic with the ipad! It’s very cool! You have to watch it! He makes real items appear in iPad… very clever video.



The final story I want to talk about is a really romantic iPhone story. Chad Clay from America is a technology geek and he came up with a really original way to propose to his girlfriend Vy Luong.

You know, iPhone ads are shot against a white background with a hand demonstrating all the functionalities of the iPhone. Funky music is played over the top. Well Chad decided to make his own iPhone ad with his own music that he composed. In his ad it started out like any other ad but then personal photos of him and Vy appear with romantic messages he writes for Vy and at the end of the video he proposes. It’s such a romantic video.



He made the video now where and how should he show Vy? He had quite an elaborate plan. Chad took Vy out on a date to the movies and they sat through watching the ads that appear on the screen. Then this iPhone ad comes up and Vy thought it was just another ad, but suddenly her pictures comes up and all these wonderful messages are displayed. When Vy was watching the ad she couldn’t believe what she was seeing, why was she on the screen then she finally saw the proposal and she got overwhelmed with emotion. Chad got down on one knee and proposed and Vy accepted. You guys have to watch the video it’s so admirable and romantic. That is such an original, clever, romantic way to propose. Guys take note and put some serious thought in how you ask one of the biggest questions in your life!

The BIGGEST CherriiPOP NEWS! VPOP Princess Bao Han ‘likes’ our Facebook page & sent us a message

We’re huge fans of Vpop Princess Bao Han at CherriiPOP! Bao Han has sent us a message on facebook and ‘likes’ our page! It is the REAL Bao Han! I’m over the moon!



Bao Hao has been touring the world to farewell her fans during 2010. She will retire at the end of the year. Remember to join her official facebook page and tell her how much you love her! What her music has meant to you!

Feeling hungry? You can now eat your train ticket

Everyday I catch the train to and from work and a lot of the time I get a bit hungry and want to snack on something. Well, railway passengers in Japan have some pretty cool snacks to snack on when travelling on the train: their train ticket. Yup! They sell edible train tickets, priced at 1,500 yen (18AUD). The ticket is made out of Nanbu-senbei cracker with edible ink printed on it. The ticket is 10 cm in diameter, so pocket size.

It’s a pretty cool train ticket, but as a cracker it is one expensive cracker! The shelf life of the edible train tickets are 3 months.

President of Aoimori Railway, Itaru Seki said: “It’s a commemorative ticket. I hope passengers will put it on display after riding our train”.

These crackers don’t make really good ‘commemorative tickets’ because they have an expiry date, so you can’t keep them for long otherwise they will get mouldy. I think if they wanted to make a ticket for keepsake they should have made a cool hologram plastic ticket. Well that is my thinking. Knowing me, I get hungry on the train a lot so the ticket will surely end up in my stomach during the trip.

Odd things I saws… Binary number watch

All the technology geeks will like this weeks Odd things I saw. Last Friday after the show I went to dinner with my close friends and we were sitting around waiting for our meals and I noticed my friends interesting watch from afar. It looked like it had little strokes lined up parallel across the watch. When you look at it up close it doesn’t look like a watch at all! It doesn’t have clock hands but it has the numbers 0 and 1 running across it with lots of tiny flashing lights. It was a binary number watch!

It was the first time I saw such a thing and it is definitely the coolest watch in the world!

What are binary numbers? Well its used in computer programming and I use to be pro with binary numbers. Remember in Matrix when the numbers 0 and 1 were running down the computer screen well that’s binary numbers. It’s coding and you need to add it up to get different numbers. That’s binary numbers explained in a nutshell. I’ll post a youtube video explaining what binary numbers is.

So basically to tell the time on these binary number watches you have to do some maths. That got me thinking, why would you want a digital watch when you can get a binary number watch and do some math to tell the time? Or why would you want to send an SMS when you can send Morse code? LOL! I’m just teasing, I think it’s geeky and very cool! It’s so ‘Big Bang Theory’ isn’t it? I bet Sheldon owns a binary number watch.

SBS Asian Double Feature Film for tonight 15/10/10

Every Friday SBS TWO airs 2 movies from Asian Cinema! If you love Asian Cinema, be sure to tune in. The movies on tonight are

9:30 pm - The Princess Blade (Japan).

Awesome Action movie. I watched it a few years ago! From memory it was a bit gory but I really liked the storyline.




11:10 - Confessions of Pain (HK)

This film stars 2 of my fave actors Tony Leung and Takeshi Kaneshiro. I tried watching it but I didn't find the story very interesting. I ended up not finishing the film. Let me know what you think of it

Utada Hikaru’s Talented Music Family!!

Utada Hikaru will also be leaving the music business at the end of the year. Unlike Bao Han, Utada isn’t retiring but taking a break. She’s a newbie to twitter, she only joined about 2 weeks ago and she has become quite a regular tweeter.

She tweets to her fans a lot. One fan asked what she likes to sing at karaoke and she said Disney songs and some of her own songs! Imagine going to karaoke with Utada! I’ll be too intimidated to sing in front of her! Because I’m so bad haha…

She also said sang some of her mum’s songs at karaoke. She said her mum was a famous enka singer.

Utada tweeted:
Enka has a very particular style of singing, lyrics are often very sad, and my mother didn't want it to influence my singing, or my life..’

Utada told all her followers to google her mum. Of course I did and her mum Utada Junko is very beautiful and she was very famous and successful Enka artist. Junko’s debut album ‘Woman in Shinjuku/'Star of Enka' All of Keiko Fuji’ topped the Oricon charts for an impressive 20 consecutive weeks.

I also found out that Utada’s father Teruzane Utada is also in the music industry, he is a record producer and manager. When he married Junko he managed her career. Utada Hikaru is the only child and of course Teruzane oversaw his daughters career as well.

The Utada’s have been a huge part of Jpop making Jpop history. They are one talented family!

Paris By Night 100 Concert - Las Vegas out on DVD

The DVD for Paris By Night 100 was released and I got my lucky paws on a copy.

For those of you who don’t know, Paris by Night is one of the largest Vpop international concerts that used to be based in France but is now based in the US. The production company behind the Paris by Night concerts is Thuy Nga and they have been staging concerts for nearly 30 years. This year, the year of the Tiger they celebrated their landmark 100th show. Congrats to Paris by Night for this AMAZING achievement!

Paris by Night is a huge part of the Vietnamese community around the world. Every one watches the shows. My family and I are huge fans of the show, I grew up watching the show. I have seen all 100 shows of Paris By Night. Every show gets bigger, better more elaborate. For their 100th show they staged a spectacular show that consisted of Vpop superstars and legends.

There were so many amazing moment in the show! It’s not surprising since it is a 4-5 hour concert. One of the standout moments was Bao Han’s performance singing ‘My Shining Star’. This performance was particularly significant because it was Bao Han’s final performance on Paris By Night. She was discovered by Thuy Nga when she was teenager and since her debut she has become the Vpop princess. After 18 years in the music industry, she announced that she will retire at the end of 2010 and PBN 100 would be her final appearance.



Earlier this year I mentioned that Bao Han announced on her website at the end of last year about her retirement and she said she will travel the world in 2010 to farewell all her fans.

During her last performance, images of her career were flashing on the big screens. She has gone through many transformations as an artist; exploring many sides of herself. Her final performance was one of her best performances in her career. When the song ended she was overcome with emotion and it finally hit me that she won’t appear in any more PBN! She did an interview after her performance and she tried to keep it together and thank everyone who have supported and guided her throughout the years. I started to get teary too! I wish her all the best for her next chapter in her life!

Bao Han has an official facebook page, I’ll post up the link so you can become a fan of hers. Remember to tell her how much you love her music!

You can get your own copy of Paris By Night 100 at their online store!

Commonwealth Games 2010 Week 2 and Wrap up

Delhi The Aussie Team have been absolutely brilliant at these Commonwealth Games. Many triumphs were witnessed.

One of these stories include Geoff Huegill’s gold medal win! His road to these Commonwealth Games is truly inspirational He retired from swimming in 2004, he gained some weight and lost his athletic physique. In 2008 he announced that he will return to competitive swimming so he worked diligently to lose the excess weight and trained to be an elite athlete again. To compete at this year’s game at the age of 31, he is considered quite the veteran in the sport. Maybe this win will make him eye the 2012 Olympics in London.

Another golden story from this year’s game is Sally Pearson’s. She got the fairytale ending that she deserved, winning the gold medal in the 100m hurdles event. Last week she won the gold medal in the 100m sprint event but after protest from the English team, she was disqualified of her medal due to a false start. What a nightmare for Sally to go through. It’s truly admirable that she overcame all that and was able to focus on her 100m hurdles event win the top prize.

Following the Commonwealth games was really exciting because Australia won gold medals everyday. Absolutely incredible! One of my favourite events is the Rhythmic Gymnastics and it was awesome to see that Australia won gold medals in this event at these games. That win reminded me of the Canadian Commonwealth Games in 1994 when Australia’s Kasumi Takahashi won an incredible 5 gold medals in the different Rhythmic Gymnastic events. She was just flawless in all her routines!

Did anyone stay up last night to watch the closing ceremony? You know I tried but like the opening ceremony I fell asleep and did not catch any of the action. So this morning I had to read about the event in the news and have a look at the photos. It looked incredible especially the laser show. On the news this morning I heard that they booked the European Laser company only last Tuesday! The Laser company somehow scrambled in the short period of time to put on a great laser show for the Comm Games. Kudos to them.

The Final Medal Tally Update


1 Australia G74 S55 B48 Total: 177
2 India G38 S27 B36 Total: 101
3 England G37 S59 B46 Total: 142

Ref: The Age

KMovie Review: 3-Iron

I’m always amazed by Korean movies: it’s bold, daring, fresh and innovative. The Korean film industry have produced many modern classics in the past decade like The Vengeance trilogy which includes ‘Sympathy for Lady Vengeance’, My Sassy Girl, Bittersweet Life to name a few. 3-Iron is also a modern classic, it’s quite a gem.

The saying ‘Action can speak louder than words’ is demonstrated in 3-Iron. The film makers set out an ambitious task of making essentially a silent film. Only one sentence is spoken throughout the film and you can imagine how significant that sentence would be in the film. Although the film lacks dialogue, it does not lack in content. A lot of emotions are conveyed in the two leading stars. There amazing and subtle performances draws you in to there world.

The plot is very interesting. It revolves around a young man who breaks in to people’s vacant houses and he stays there for the night. His not a thief, he just needs a place to sleep. He does his washing, cleans up the house then leaves and finds another house to stay. He has a bit of a shadow low key existence. One day he broke in to a house he thought was empty but finds out that it wasn’t and he meets a pretty lady. An interesting relationship develops between them two and she eventually becomes his ally.

This is a very fascinating film. I highly recommend you to watch it and luckily SBS are airing this film tonight! Tune in at 9:30pm on SBSTwo. Let me know what you think of it =D

Kimchi Crisis

Kimchi is a staple vegetable in the Korean diet and it’s always eaten with every meal. Koreans have a very spicy palette, they love chilli so much they put a huge amount of it in their cooking. I remember the first time I ate Korean food, it was so hot it felt like smoke was coming out of my ears. The kimchi side dish is spicy too, it contains lots of chilli as well but it is quite tasty.


Photo of a typical meal I ate in Korea. Look at all the little side dishes! This is for LUNCH!!!

The traditional kimchi making season has come under threat due to shortage of fresh vegetables! The shortage was caused by unusually heavy rainfall for the past few months. That has resulted in cabbage prices to skyrocket to 10,000 won (10AUD) per napa cabbage, which is four times the normal price.

The prices of other important ingredients in Korean diets like radish and garlic are also experiencing inflation.

Kimchi manufacturers have already raised the prices of their products. Even restaurants have started to charge for kimchi, which is usually a complementary dish in Korean meals.

The traditional kimchi making season occurs at the end of fall. Families will busily make kimchi for the winter. However, due to soaring vegetable prices it is expected to hit the nation right at the hip pocket.

A Korean restaurant owner said, “I’m not sure if I should start to charge kimchi or exclude it from the side dishes. I have never experienced such a shortage of cabbage in my ten years as a chef running this restaurant.”

Many housewives have decided to skip kimchi making season altogether due to the inflated prices.

The government have taken action due to this huge concern; they will lower taxes on some of the vegetables and import 150 tonnes of fresh vegetables from China. These actions will help stabilise consumer prices after they hit a 17 month high in September.

Ref: Korean Herald