Great Mazinga Robot selfie



I am very close friends with two giant robots, Great Mazinga and Raideen. Lately Mazinga is always trying to take my phone to play Candy Crush. This morning, I woke up and found this photo on my phone. It's his first selfie. I guess he is putting it on his Instagram page. Robots grow up so fast.

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The many Noels, a Ken Tanaka Christmas Carol.



Oh hello. Chirstmas is the most Christmasy time of the year. It's a time for singing Christmas carols. I can't go door to door to reach everyone in the world like Mr. Santa does, so instead I have posted my Christmas Caroling video. You can sing along, it's a very easy song.

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Ken Tanaka's Bucket List



One of my very handsome YouTube subscribers was kind enough to get me a special Christmas present...a free Skype session with a Life Coach. I told the life coach all about my life and the Smiths and the new version of my book Everybody Dies that I finally finished. She said I needed to focus on what I wanted in my life, and where I wanted my life to go. Her main suggestion was that I make a bucket list. She said it would help me visualize my life goals. So this Boxing Day morning I woke up and started my list.


#1 Melissa & Doug Sunny Patch Happy Giddy Pail

I'm not sure if my life coach will accept a pail at the #1 position of my bucket list. She didn't really explain the rules very much. If it's not okay, I will make a separate pail list. This pail is advertised as being "ready for dumping". I like a pail or a bucket that is always ready to do some dumping even if it is gloomy outside or it has other plans, or it is suffering from the flu or cholera. Also, this was the only bucket with a face on it. With the other buckets, I wouldn't even know which side to talk to or give a kiss to. I think Melissa and Doug really are bucket geniuses. What a happy pail!



#2 Rubbermaid Brand Neat and Tidy Bucket

This is a classic white bucket that I think is very useful and well shaped. I think many people have a bucket like this outside int their yard, filled with some rain water and earth and little baby mosquito larvae. It's a good bucket, friendly and not pretentious.



#3 Metal Bucket Party Accessory

This is a festive party bucket, for when you are throwing the kind of party that requires a number of colorful buckets. They are made of metal, which is refreshing, and they come in some of the colors of the rainbow (but not all...because some rainbow colors are not identifiable to the human eye). This would have been #2 but it was not quite as tidy as the Rubbermaid Brand Tidy Bucket,and tidiness if very important to me when I'm choosing a bucket. Very important.



#4 Carrand 94102 Car Wash Bucket - 3 Gallon Capacity

This bucket is not only handsomely grayish, it's also made for a very specific purpose. It's a car wash bucket. Please do not try to use this bucket for fence painting, vegetable gathering, floor mopping or as a party accessory. This bucket is only to be used for car washing. Do not use it to wash a dog either, unless the dog is in your car...then it is okay.



Well, I only got to #4 and it took me several hours. I felt a lot of pressure to choose the right bucket. I don't feel any different about my life yet, but my life coach did say that the changes wouldn't happen right away. I guess after you've made a list of buckets you have to wait a few days to feel the effects. One thing I did learn is that making lists is fun. I'm going to make a list of marsupials next. Who do you think will be #1?



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A son knows...




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Pre-Order the Harper Design edition of Everybody Dies with 16 new color pages.

Predictions for 2014





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Turkey blames himself



It's November 27th and Jacob Turkey knows he doesn't have much time left. Most of his friends and kin are gone already. He blames himself, and his plumage for making him look so tasty. Some will say that he is asking for it. "He shouldn't put on such vibrant plumage if he doesn't want our attention." they'll say. But, is it fair to judge a turkey by his dress? Can any of us, upon sight alone, know what is in the mind of a turkey? Perhaps it is time to try talking to our turkeys before we decide what "they want".
Jacob is a gifted conversationalist.
And.
If you lean in closely you can probably hear him gobble the words..."あとわずかだな。”


Pre-Order the new hardback HarperCollins edition of Everybody Dies: A Children's book for Grown-Ups.
http://www.amazon.com/Everybody-Dies-Childrens-Book-Grown-ups/dp/0062329642/ref=sr_1_1_bnp_2_har?ie=UTF8&qid=1385671838&sr=8-1&keywords=everybody+dies%3A+a+children%27s+book+for+grown+ups

How to improve your Japanese accent.

In this video I help my brother learn to speak better Japanese and improve his accent. My brother speaks very fine Japanese but his accent is a bit strong. You may have met him before in my videos #13, 28 and 48. This is the first time in a few years that we have done a video together.


Pre-Order the new hardback HarperCollins edition of Everybody Dies: A Children's book for Grown-Ups. http://www.amazon.com/Everybody-Dies-Childrens-Book-Grown-ups/dp/0062329642/ref=sr_1_1_bnp_2_har?ie=UTF8&qid=1385671838&sr=8-1&keywords=everybody+dies%3A+a+children%27s+book+for+grown+ups

Mandrill is interested in you.

This is Brett the Mandrill. He finds you fascinating. The drab color of your epidermis and fur. Your tiny baby teeth. Your dainty, thin eyebrows. Brett could watch you for hours. Brett the Mandrill is part of a new page for a book I am making. For more about Mandrills please visit Equatorial Guinea.

Pre-Order the new hardback HarperCollins edition of Everybody Dies: A Children's book for Grown-Ups. http://www.amazon.com/Everybody-Dies-Childrens-Book-Grown-ups/dp/0062329642/ref=sr_1_1_bnp_2_har?ie=UTF8&qid=1385671838&sr=8-1&keywords=everybody+dies%3A+a+children%27s+book+for+grown+ups

Japanese passover



I got to go to my first ever passover dinner. A Japanese woman I know married a Jewish American man and invited me to their home for Passover. She made this dish called Ikura Matzoh Brae which combines Japanese and Jewish tastes. It was surprisingly tasty. Ikura goes very well with scrambled eggs.

Passover is a long meal where you talk about stories of Jewish history and each thing you eat has some kind of significance. At one point someone hides a piece of matzoh and the others have to find it. I think this is called the Abbie Hoffman. According to Wikipedia , Abbie Hoffman is the author of "Steal this Book" and also "Hide this Matzoh". He was born in 1936 so this must be a recent tradition.

Ken Tanaka is Beautiful



Miwa Yokoyama is known in Hokkaido and all over Japan as being famous for Street Make. She does make up for people on the street. During her tour of the US she stopped at Royal-T maid cafe in Los Angeles, and I finally got a chance to be beautiful.

And last week, I posted this video of Remi and I at Comic Con, featuring some of the best and cutest Cosplay costumes that we saw at the con.



I had a great time at the con, and afterwards, Fangoria magazine did a review of my book Everybody Dies- A Children's Book for Grown Ups. You can check the book out at the website Http://www.everybodydiesbook.com

Redondo Beach Pier crabs and video games



Polo and I visited Redondo Beach Pier just south of Los Angeles and played some neato vintage video games like Michael Jackson's Moonwalker. Polo also shot some ghosts, but I kept trying to convince him that you can't shoot something that is dead.


After the games, we ate a few kinds of crab.



Nearby is also the tasty Japanese restaurant, Izakaya Bincho.


Here are some other videos with me and Polo for you to peruse.







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.

Kyoto



In this video I visit Kyoto. Kyoto is one of my favorite cities to visit. Kyoto is one of the few cities that was not bombed heavily during the war and so many more old buildings are preserved than in other Japanese cities. It is also the home to the most temples and shrines in Japan. You can wander around the streets of Kyoto for days and days and still make new discoveries.



This video was just posted but it is actually from the Summer. Kyoto is famous for its miserable Summers, and this year's was one of the worst. It was so hot that there were very few people on the street from 11am-4pm . Just walking a few blocks during mid-day made me feel like I would lose consciousness and go into a steamy Kyoto dream land.



Here are some other past videos I made about Kyoto in past years.



This one shows coffee shops of KYoto



This one has more images of kYoto

ACCEPTANCE




Acceptance.
Acrylic Ink on Rives BFK paper.

This is another piece of Scrap Art that I made yesterday. It's made from the paper that is left over after I trim the large sheets that I did my book illustration on. You can see more scrap art here


and here.

Or visit my website to see lots more. Http://www.kentanakalovesyou.com

Vid Con, the Youtube and Vlog convention in Los Angeles




This weekend is the Vidcon in Century City, Los Angeles. It's a Youtube and Vlogger convention put on by the Vlog Brothers. It goes from today, Friday, till Sunday the 11th and if you are a youtube fan you can watch footage live at
this link.



There are panels about youtube, new media and how to use new technology for videos and vlogging. There are also many performances and talks with famous youtube celbrities like Shane Dawson, Phillip Defranco and Michael Buckley. If you are not a youtuber, you've probablyy never heard of these folks, but they are very famous in the youtube world.


If you live in LA and are a youtuber, you should stop by. Even if you don't attend the actual talks, you can have fun just meeting people in the lobby.