Videos similar to "But We're Speaking Japanese".

With our video "But We're Speaking Japanese" going viral a lot of people have been sending me similar videos to watch. Here are two interesting ones. The first is a BBC comedy sketch from Big Train called "Do You Speak English".


This second one was sent to me by one of the creators and is a similar situation to our video but in Korea instead of Japan.

In just two weeks, my book Everybody Dies: A Children's Book for Grown Ups, from HarperCollins, goes on sale in bookstores. You can order now at Amazon with the link below! Or Click here to go to the website.


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Dog Bite!


A while ago a very angry dog jumped out and bit me on the knee. Where were you then #herocat ...where were you then?

I was walking across the street talking on the phone to cartoonist Lonnie Millsap. A woman was walking with a medium sized dog who had a cone around his neck. As he passed, Mr. Dog suddenly jumped out and bit me knee. It left a very pretty purple and pink work of art (mixed media) on my knee. I don't expect hero cat to always be around to save me, but he could have at least sent a card or texted me to say he was sorry he couldn't be there to stop the bad dog. #dissapointed #letdown #kenTanakaStillLovesYouHeroCat



In just two weeks, my book Everybody Dies: A Children's Book for Grown Ups, from HarperCollins, goes on sale in bookstores. You can order now at Amazon with the link below! Or Click here to go to the website.


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Godzilla Meets White Samurai


Next week the new Godzilla movie comes out. Godzilla will be in American in this new version and , according to the internet, some Japanese Godzilla fans are complaining that Godzilla has gotten too fat. That's probably just because of the larger sized portions he is served in American restaurants. I got fat too when I first came to Los Angeles from Shimane.

In any case, I don't think a giant reptile monster should be judged by his weight, but rather by the strength of his character. I got a chance to work with Godzilla in this video , sponsored by Daizen Mineral Water, the wettest water in the world. I found him to be very kind and gracious with a keen sense of humor. I did get a little uncomfortable when he started to talk about how much he hates Mothra (Mothra is an old family friend).

This video was made at the YouTube Space LA where Legendary Films (I guess they are the ones who made the new movie) built Godzilla sets and allowed us to film on them and also use footage from their movie trailer. I hope you enjoy this video, and please make sure to wash it down with a gulp of cool, refreshing, Daizen brand mineral water.

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Motorcyle Pooch is ready to ride.

  

 

 

This is my newest friend. His name is Miho. By his name, you might think that he is a Japanese woman but he is actually a male dog. I always think of him as Jacob the dog though.  Jacob is a motorcycle enthusiast and also a World War 1 flying ace.  A lot of dogs like to have flight goggles hanging from their necks just to look cool (especially in Brooklyn). It's nice to see a dog who actually puts his goggles to use.   I met Miho (Jacob) outside of a farmers market in Los Angeles.  Sadly, due to his advanced age (he is a world war 1 survivor after all)  he is now dependent on a human to drive hi around on his motorcycle. 


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Dazien Water Commercial

Dazien the Wettest Water in the world commercial.

The very handsome people at the Daizen Mineral Water Group are sponsoring my book Everybody Dies: a Children's Book for Grown Ups.  So I agreed to help them shoot a commercial for their ultra-wet water. It stars actor May Ishikawa.  That's her above. She is very handsome.   We shot this using a Phantom Slow Motion Camera.  It captures footage at 1000 frames per second (30 frames per second is the standard for a video camera).  Everything is beautiful when it's that slow.  Please live the slow life.

The video was shot at the YouTube space Los Angeles. David Takeo Neptune directed it and is also making a music video featuring the slow motion footage.  I'm sure it will be very handsome. I hope you will watch it.

Nest of the Daddy Long Legs

I am doing some paintings for my new show at the Pasadena Museum of California Art, which will also be  a book release party for "Everybody Dies: A Children's Book for Grown Ups".  This piece was done in Acrylic ink on Gessoed paper. 

 

This was not a planned painting, I just kept laying on paint until it started to look like something.  Have you ever seen a nest of daddy long legs spiders?  The huddle together and look like one solid mass of black, but if you poke at them the big ball of blackness breaks up into hundreds of tiny little spider friends. 

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New Improvised Song "Autumn Leaves"

We recorded this video a few years ago and I never put it up. It was improvised and written on the spot. I think that we were thinking of actually writing the full song after this, but we never did. It seems to be a song about a man falling from the top of a building like an autumn leaf falling from a tree. I hope he landed on something soft and squishy.

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New Video: Ken and Stella go to Pasadena


Actor Stella Choe from "What Kind of Asian are You?" and I took a trip on the Los Angeles Subway to the Pasadena Museum of Art. I'll be having an art show at the museum on June 8th as well as a book release party for the new HarperCollins version of Everybody Dies: A Children's Book for Grown Ups.
In this video we visit shoe Wiz and also talk about Japan's "Dog Wiz" store. You can see the video about Dog Wiz below.

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The Hollywood Pitch

David and I collaborated on this comedy video celebrating the world of insurance, screenwriting and the oscars.


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Ken Tanaka Loves Me.




My friend Jacob the polar bear sent me this valentine card today. On the back it says "Ken Tanaka loves me". Jacob said this is a picture of him thinking about how much I love him. And it's true I do love him with all of my heart and even some of your heart as well. Actually I Love every polar bear in the world but Jacob was the only one to send me a nice Valentine like this. I do not begrudge the other polar bears. I know that most of them are busy right now trying to eat as many seals as they can before it gets too hot. Bless them all, Every single one.

A while ago, another friend of mine named floppy dog maybe this video about how he met his lover, Also named floppy dog. I played the song for his video.


I love you all on Valentine's Day. But I love you just as much every other day of the year.


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Superbowl XLVIII Seahawks vs Broncos. Jacob vs Jacob. Comic





This Superbowl cartoon was my first ever single panel cartoon. It was my attempt to do a New Yorker style comic. I actually did this cartoon a few years ago but for this new version I re-did the color. This was a very clairvoyant cartoon. Although it was done in 2011, you can tell that the father is rooting for the Seahawks to beat the Broncos. I guess I just had a feeling about who would play in Superbowl XLVIII. Here is the old version of the cartoon. Which one do you like better? Or if you don't like either....which one do you hate more?

The boy in this comic is named Jacob. The father is also named Jacob. Since Jacob and Jacob appeared on my blog two years ago I have done several more Comics like this. I'm trying to do enough to publish a book of comics like my hero Lonnie Millsap (http://www.LonnieMillsap.com. My HarperCollins book Everybody Dies: A Children's Book for Grown Ups comes out in May, so maybe this will be my second book, or my third, or maybe my eleventyfirst.

Here are a couple of comics you may have forgotten.





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Professor Jacobs first day of school (pennyflop)




It's Prof. Jacobs first day teaching at Smithfield primary school. He's been anxious all week. I understand how he feels but I bet when he goes he'll find the oven was off.... Or maybe his house will be on fire.

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Turtle's Day Planner Cartoon



I over heard these two turtles talking and here was there conversation. When I say "overheard" I mean I listened to them through an NSA wiretap.

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Cooking Without Dog, How to make AvoKama (Avocado Dynamite) and fun with EmmyMadeInJapan and RunnyRunny999



My friend RunnyRunny999 from YouTube is famous for his cooking videos. He teaches you how to make simple Japanese foods. KatMcdowell is a very nice singer and guitarist from New Zealand. She is half Japanese and speaks very handsomely. Runny is visiting from Japan and we got together at TasteMade studios in Los Angeles to make Cooking With Runny.

People often ask me if I am the host of the popular Japanese YouTube cooking show "Cooking With Dog". That is a silly question. The voice of Cooking With Dog is a small grey poodle named Francis. He looks nothing like me. Plus, he is a dog. I don't understand why someone would mistake him for me.

In this video we make AvoKama....which American Japanese restaurants sometimes call Dynamite.



A few days later Runny and I met up with EmmyMadeInJapan another famous YouTuber who makes nice videos about eating foods from different countries. People send her packages of foods from their homeland and she gets to eat them. I once sent her some milk from my family's dairy in Shimane, but she said that she didn't drink it because it was a bit sour when she got it...plus...all the maggots.
We had a fun time at the Los Angeles farmers market.


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Love Thy Vermin




This cartoon is based on a famous quote by gandhi "The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated."

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Paramore's Hayley Williams wearing my "We Just Call It Regular Style" t-shirt. and new shirt designs.







Someone recently sent me this link to a site called StealHerStyle.com . It shows (as seen above) Hayley Williams, singer for the band Paramore wearing one of my t-shirts. This is the "We just Call it Regular Style" shirt. It's from a painting from my first art show at Billy Shire Fine Arts.

I have just made two versions of the shirt available on RedBubble.com as well as prints and ipad/iphone cases.



Here is the black print version.



Here is the full-color version. I'm sure that both shirts will look very handsome on you and all your friends, and also everybody you have ever met before.


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Raideen is a crab. The shocking truth.







My friend Raideen the robot is part crab. Here is the proof. Here is a profile of his head side by side with a well-steamed crab.

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Zombie Birdwatcher Cartoon






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