Aitai (会いたい) by Pokota【ぽこた】

I listened to Pokota's covers long time ago but it was always the same few songs. Occasionally I discover new covers that I like from him BUT THIS COVER is different! This song is practically made for him to sing.

From today onwards, Aitai is my favourite Pokota cover.

There are a few others that seems to be more famous on youtube, such as Cendrillion (a duet with Hatanan) Easily one of his best work.

Dancing Samurai is also very popular.

He was even the one who sang it live during the live concert. Song starts at 4:14 if you're not interested in hearing him trying to sound sexy :) pretty successfully too.

Okies, time to head back to doing assignments :(

How to get Japanese phones in Singapore

It's that time again! My 21month recontract period for the phone is up, so it's high time to start looking around for a brand new shiny phone!

Turns out that the recent ones are all pretty ugly. I have a few requirements that phones like iPhone will not satisfy. In desperation, I turned to looking at overseas phones for the first time and Japanese phones look damn good indeed. Okay, so maybe I'm bias. I only liked the Japanese designs so far.

And it seems that there's a lot of people looking for these phones as well. So if you're new to this, how do you start your research and get these elusive phones?

First of all, if money is an issue, it's time to stop looking. Currently, a price offer of $700 is not uncommon. That being said...

Here's a few helpful resources I came across:

DarkMirage's Post - Importing a Japanese Phone

Summary: There's a lot of insightful background information there. Always bear in mind that some of the information is outdated when reading (It's a 2006 post) but it gives a rough background of the situation of phones in Japan and how they make their way here.

Hardwarezone SubForum

Summary: If you're in Singapore, the blogger also recommends a person called "Kuro" on HWZ in the "Exotic & Other Phones" subforum as a reliable dealer for such phones. As of this writing, I don't see much trading going on with him though. I haven't contacted him either since I'm still undecided on what phone I want. I see other dealers there that have some mention of successful good trades and a ton of information worth sifting through.

Softbank Mobile Phones

Summary: On hardwarezone, there are two main brands - Docomo and Softbank. Bear in mind though that not all phones models displayed can be used outside of Japan. It's a nice site to go "window shopping" and note those you like and then research further on from there.

There's one piece of good news I found if Sharp phones are what you are eyeing - models ending with SH. They have released an official statement on their corporate site that confirms their plan of releasing their phones globally. Exactly where and when is not stated. China was the only one mentioned in that statement. Their phones have already made it to US so far. This news was released in 20 May 2011 and there have been no further details since.

Alright that's all for the informative part. I myself am eyeing a Sharp AQUOS Hybrid 007SH which is a very new release. No mention of it (or any other Sharp phones) in Singapore so far... The hype is all in the US -sigh- Personally, my SE Aino is doing fine and I like it so I think I can wait pretty long to see how this plan of Sharp plays out.

This is the white model of the Sharp AQUOS Hybrid 007SH =)

Let's hope Japan picks us as one of the privileged countries!

Super Junior Kibum's image then and now

Yep, definitely changed a lot. No longer has baby face. Or rather he does but the overall look erm... Doesn't look fresh. Can also tell that he got slightly chubbier. But no probs. If he really is set for the 5th album, the stylist will do something about it.

Also when I was trawling through forums, there was a poll on the sentinents of his return. More than half the response were that he a dispensable member of SuJu. The responders were not intentionally negative, just that most felt that SuJu is fine with or without him and that they're still happy to see him back.

The 5th album according to Heechul is to be expected next year. Till then, we can only wait. Even if only for a confirmation of his return.

Super Junior Kibum rumoured to return for 5th album

Heechul on his twitter has confirmed a 5th album for Super Junior. That's not big news. The big news is that Kibum who suddenly went M.I.A. since for 2 years since 2009 is returning for it. This is pretty old news but till today SM Entertainment has not released official statement yet.

The source of the rumours were from Korean ELFs who were waiting outside SuJu's dormitories. According to them, Kibum was spotted moving back to the dorm where he told them that he would be joining SuJu for their 5th album.

I was pretty happy to receive the news at first and I really don't want to be negative but the news is now old... Combined with the lack of concrete evidence, the potential of the rumour is now leaning towards just that - a rumour.