In which Orac inexplicably annoys his readers while he is on his way home

Post author By Orac
Post date March 8, 2009
15 Comments on In which Orac inexplicably annoys his readers while he is on his way home

Sadly, the meeting’s over, and I’m winging my way back home as this very post shows up on the blog for your edification. Because it’s Sunday and, more importantly, because I’m too tired to produce anything substantive, I leave you with this bit of Asian weirdness sent to me by my sister. It left me scratching my head:

My sister informs me that this is actually a parody of this band:

Wow. This is just…incredible.

You know, I really have to get back to serious blogging about medicine and science. I can hear my traffic plummetting after this. Oh, well. Perhaps people more in the know than I could explain to me just what the heck’s up with these videos, and I’ll get back to the medicine and science tomorrow.

By Orac

Orac is the nom de blog of a humble surgeon/scientist who has an ego just big enough to delude himself that someone, somewhere might actually give a rodent's posterior about his copious verbal meanderings, but just barely small enough to admit to himself that few probably will. That surgeon is otherwise known as David Gorski.

That this particular surgeon has chosen his nom de blog based on a rather cranky and arrogant computer shaped like a clear box of blinking lights that he originally encountered when he became a fan of a 35 year old British SF television show whose special effects were renowned for their BBC/Doctor Who-style low budget look, but whose stories nonetheless resulted in some of the best, most innovative science fiction ever televised, should tell you nearly all that you need to know about Orac. (That, and the length of the preceding sentence.)

DISCLAIMER:: The various written meanderings here are the opinions of Orac and Orac alone, written on his own time. They should never be construed as representing the opinions of any other person or entity, especially Orac's cancer center, department of surgery, medical school, or university. Also note that Orac is nonpartisan; he is more than willing to criticize the statements of anyone, regardless of of political leanings, if that anyone advocates pseudoscience or quackery. Finally, medical commentary is not to be construed in any way as medical advice.

To contact Orac: [email protected]

View Archive

15 replies on “In which Orac inexplicably annoys his readers while he is on his way home”

What is that, the Japanese Menudo?

From what I can tell by limited googling, “Genji Starlight” was a popular 1980’s Japanese boy band. Many of their videos on YouTube show them on rollerskates.

Like Orac says, the first video appears to be a band called “Shikibu Love” and a parody of the “Genji Starlight”, which shows the singers on stilts instead of rollerskates.

“Genji Monogatari” (or “The Tale of Genji”) is a highly acclaimed classic work of literature in Japan dating from around the 11th century. Its author was Murasaki Shikubu, a noblewoman. The names of these bands are undoubtedly a nod to this classic and its author.

Yeah. Exactly what Paul said.

They’re wearing American flags, though. Did we inflict boy-band “culture” on Japan? Our guilt is great.

When it comes to Japanese pop music, there is no such thing as parody.

I couldn’t work out at first why the parody group was using stilts until I realised the originals were on (some sort of) skatesâ¦ No, I’ve no fecking idea what’s going on, but a least a small bit of it makes sense. Sortof.

Nothing surpasses the awesomeness of the “Yatta!” video.

It is a parody. They’re all comedians, and this is the idea of the guy in blue. He got really popular in Japan last year for his routine where he counts to 40 and “turns into an idiot” on every number with a 3 or a multiple of 3, (which you can see here if you’re interested. I think it works even if you don’t know Japanese.)

The band that’s being parodied is actually called Hikari Genji (Starlight is a song title). There are lots of these kinds of groups, but they usually dance, not skate. They’re big, big business in Japan.

Wow. I’m having serious flashbacks here. It’s like I fell into a timewarp and emerged in 2001, when Yatta! was everywhere. Someone stop me before I start belting out “All your base” lyrics.

They’re like The Osmonds, only with props!

Come to think of this, maybe these guys were single-handledly responsible for the Japanese economic collapse in the 90s. Maybe the Japanese looked at this, realized that this was what all that hard work and industrial planning inexorably led to, and they collectively gave up?

Ow. Japanese boy-bands. I should have known the cancer would metastasize. Is radical surgery called for, or should we stick with radiation and chemotherapy ?

I was in Japan when Hikaru Genji first became popular. Not only are they hilarious in themselves, in that “who-takes-this-stuff-seriously” boy band way, but the parody is spot-on funny, from the name of the group (named after the Heian-era author who wrote the book in which Genji Hikaru was the protagonist) to pogo-stick choreography, to the (hard to believe, but true) even more banal lyrics.