Jacob the Herniated Disc






A few weeks ago my back got very angry with me because I carried something too heavy. Backs are not good at verbal communications. So instead of my back just asking me to put the object down, it waited until the next day and then pouted. When I woke up my leg was numb and tingly and it was a kind of pain that makes you unable to think a full thought or do anything.

The doctor said it was a herniated disc also called pinched nerve. I was given some drugs called Neurontin, Robaxin,, and Vicodin, and also Prednozone, and a 2 injections into my back. The drugs made me think funny things.

The Doctor always asks me to rate my pain from 1 to 10, but I can't assign numbers to my pain. I have my own kind of chart.

It goes from Snuggly baby sleeping peacefully to Angry drunken man yelling all the time.
After 1 week, the pain in my back and leg changed from very angry drunken man yelling all the time, to annoying person trying to get my attention all day long and once in awhile becoming angry driver going too fast in parking lot.

I went into the MRI machine last week, which was very fun. If I can, I would like to move out of my apartment and into an MRI machine. It's small and narrow, so house cleaning will be easy. It makes lots of loud clicks and chirps which will keep mice and vermins away too.

I like the MRI music and wanted to mix it into a club dance track. Maybe Polo and I can do this.

At first the doctor told me I had a 10% chance of needing surgery. After he looked at the MRI results he said I had a 50% chance because Jacob the disc is bulging out so far. That made me sad, but I've never had surgery before, so maybe I should be excited.
Have you ever had surgery?
What level of pain was it? How long did it take to get back to Snuggly Baby Sleeping Peacefully?

Kiwi Smile Kiwi Valentine



I found these handsome Kiwis at a farmers market in Los Angeles. This picture is supposed to be me with a kiwi smile. I sometimes wish my mouth was made out of kiwi fruit, and my teetheses were little black kiwi seeds. If you kissed me, it would be fruity and sweet.



This is a fruity and sweet kiwi heart. This kiwi is bringing the world a message of hearty love and also vitamin C. He is very handsome. I like the idea of having a kiwi mouth, but I think a real kiwi heart would be too fragile. It would probably make your blood very tasty, and birds would always be pecking at your flesh trying to get the juicy kiwi blood that flowed inside. You would have to buy a peck resistant suit (which can get expensive). If you need a new heart I recommend to try baboon or piglet first...and use kiwi only as the last resort.

Everybody Dies Contest REsults



I had my first ever YouTube giveaway contest where Remi February, Victor (Gimmeabrekaman), and I each gave away a copy of Everybody Dies a Children's Book fro Grown Ups.

The end of the video is shot on my new Canon Rebel T2i.....so it has a very different look. I only have a 50mm lens..and it's not so easy to shoot myself with the camera, but I am looking forward to making some handsome videos with it once I learn how to use it.

We won a 2010 Japan Youtube Award. やった！




Takeo and I were recently nominated for the 2010 Youtube Japan Video awards for our video Scream of Slacker ニートの叫び。



I'm happy to say that thanks to all of you and your support we won the award. I would also like to congratulate Ericsurf6 and Ciaela who also won awards in the nature and How to categories.　　皆さん応援してくれて本当にありがとうございます。

We definitely could not have won without your votes, support and love. Thank you all so much.

Last year, I was also lucky enough to receive a youtube award for the video below "I Am Robot". I got a nice trophy in the mail from Youtube. Thanks so much for continuing to support me and my videos.

Open Day Book Gallery Show in LA starts January 6th



The Open Daybook is a book of 365 works of art from 365 different artists, each drawn on a different day of the year. The book is edited by David Earle and features work by David RAkoff, Miranda July, and me Ken Tanaka, and 362 other very handsome artists. You can read a review at thehttp://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/17/the-art-of-counting-the-days/ by Steffie Nelson.

Starting this Thursday evening (January 6th) many of the art pieces will be for sale and on display at LACE gallery in Los Angeles.
There is an opening reception tomorrow evening starting at 8pm, which I will be attending and signing books.

LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions)
6522 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90028




The piece on the right is mine and it will be on sale at the gallery. I can't remember how much it costs though.

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- 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

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.