Not so long ago, being a Japanese idol singer was purely a domestic gig, with even the biggest stars of the genre remaining more or less unknown outside their home country. But thanks to the spread of Japanese pop culture around the world over the last decade and a half, that’s not really the case anymore. These days, it’s not uncommon for J-pop idols, especially those with an anime connection to boost their foreign exposure, to make appearances overseas.

Now, in a case of animated art imitating life, the high school idols of Love Love!, Japan’s biggest current idol anime hit, will be heading abroad as the upcoming Love Live! theatrical feature has been announced for international release.

It’s been almost a year since Love Live! wrapped up its second 13-episode TV season. The franchise hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down, though, as fans still continue to buy merchandise and turn out in droves for related events, including this month’s Love Live!-endorsed Kanda Matsuri festival .

Still, it’s been a long time since fans have had any new anime to watch in the saga of the animated would-be teen idols. Their patience is about to be rewarded on June 13 with the opening of the franchise’s first theatrical feature, Love Live! The School Idol Movie, across Japan.

When licensed for overseas release, many anime movies go straight to Blu-ray or DVD, and even when a theatrical run is in the cards, it often comes far after the one in Japan. For example, Studio Ghibli’s latest film, When Marnie Was There, came out in Japan last summer but is only now arriving at theaters in the U.S.

So the international community of Love Livers, as Love Live! fans have taken to calling themselves, will be happy to know that their wait will be far shorter, as Love Live! The School Idol Movie’s, website has been updated with release dates for 13 territories outside Japan starting as early as August.

▼ Promotional image for the Love Live! movie

Currently, the official list of overseas premiers and dates is:

Australia (September)
Bruenei (Early October)
Hong Kong (August 6)
Indonesia (October 21)
Korea (early August)
Malaysia (October 1)
New Zealand (September)
Philippines (October 1)
Singapore (October 8)
Taiwan (early August)
Thailand (late August)
U.S.A. (September 12)
Vietnam (Early October)

To celebrate, Emi Nitta, voice actress of Love Live! character Honoka Kosaka, recorded this special message for foreign fans.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fqQbbxRzy4&w=580&h=357]

According to the website, Australian screenings are currently planned for Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, and Sydney, and venues in Auckland and Wellington in New Zealand. The U.S. release will be handled NIS America, which previously licensed the Love Live! TV series, with showings expected in Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. And while American Love Livers are no doubt disappointed that they’ll have to wait a few weeks more than their counterparts in Asia to see the movie, you have to admit that it’s appropriate timing to premiere Love Live! The School Idol Movie just about the time summer vacation ends.

Related: Love Live! The School Idol Movie Countdown Website
Sources: Inside Games via Jin , Love Live! official website
Top image: Love Live! official website
Insert image: Love Live! official website

Recently, we’ve been bringing you updates on controversial pick-up artist and dating coach Julien Blanc who has attracted anger around the world for purportedly purveying aggressive attitudes towards women. After a video was posted online of him appearing to harass women in Japan by pushing their heads towards his crotch, several campaigns were set up against him by activists in America, Australia, Britain, and Japan. These campaigns have so far been successful in helping to raise awareness of the “pick-up seminars” hosted by Blanc through his company RSD (Real Social Dynamics). Now, Blanc has broken his silence to offer an apology to those he has offended, which campaigners have rejected for its seemingly disingenuous nature.

In the interview for CNN , the 25-year-old Blanc began by initially offering “an apology to anybody I’ve offended in any way”. He went on to say that “My intentions were never bad. I agree it was a horrible attempt at humor and, unfortunately, a lot of it just got put out of context”.

The interviewer, Chris Cuomo , followed up with a question we’d all like an answer to: “If you want this (apology) to be meaningful for you in any way, you’d better own this stuff that you’re doing… you’ve apologized because you got caught or because you feel sorry?” to which Blanc responded: “I feel horrible, I mean, I’m not going to be happy to feel like I’m the most hated man in the world. I’m overwhelmed by the way people are responding.”

When questioned about an infamous tweet sent from Blanc’s twitter account referring to a chart used to help victims of domestic violence identify patterns of abuse as a “checklist,” Blanc had this to said: “This here is not something that I teach, either… this is so far in the opposite direction of what I teach that I stupidly thought mocking it would be funny.”

Jen Li , the campaigner behind the #TakeDownJulienBlanc hashtag and the original petition on change.org , has tweeted a response to the video:

Lmao @ CNN this is an AWESOME interview. NO SLACK!!! cnn.com/video/data/2.0…

—
Aggresive Asian (@JennLi123) November 17, 2014

Chris Cuomo also tweeted his opinion of Blanc following the interview, calling him “a successful purveyor of problematic behavior.”

.@ michael91141804 #JulienBlanc is 25. Not 15. He is not "some kid". He is a successful purveyor of problematic behavior

—
Chris Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) November 17, 2014

You can watch the interview on CNN.com or via this YouTube clip:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPT5dFHK3wo&w=560&h=315]

At the end of the interview, Blanc hinted at his plans to continue his lectures, stating: “I’ll definitely be more careful in the future… I’m also re-evaluating everything I’ve put out and everything I’m going to be putting out.”

Here’s an update on the Japanese campaign to deny Julien Blanc a visa . The campaign has exceeded its quota of signatures and, according to the campaign creator Queen Jackal, the petition was submitted to Japanese immigration on November 10. Blanc has also recently become a topic of discussion on Japanese television, as this compilation of various Japanese news programs shows:

Elsewhere across the globe, there is now a campaign to keep Julien Blanc out of Canada as well as one to keep him out of Singapore and one seeking to deny him entry to Brazil . He has reportedly backed out of plans to hold seminars in Korea this December. He has also been featured on numerous news websites around the globe including The Independent and Time.com .

Source: CNN.com , Buzzfeed
Images: screenshots via CNN.com

It’s a stereotype about Japan that most people are familiar with – the Japanese work hard, give their lives to the company, and stay at work until after the boss has gone home. It’s a country where karoushi, or death from overwork, is a commonly-used buzzword. While some people might argue that the Japanese don’t actually work any harder than those in the west, it certainly seems that they’re working longer hours than the rest of us.

But as a consequence, how much sleep are they getting?

Here’s what we imagine a day in the life of your stereotypical Japanese salaryman might look like:

6:00am: Get up early to a nourishing breakfast of steaming hot rice and miso soup lovingly prepared by your wife (or, in the case of Japan’s growing number of single herbivorous men, perhaps slurp down the cold remnants of last night’s cup ramen). Shower, dress, etc.

7:00am Ride the crowded subway, packed in like box sushi (sushizume).

8:30am Arrive at work early enough to make sure you’ve already been working for 10 minutes by the time 9am actually rolls around.

9:00-5:00 Work.

5:00-7:30 Overtime (paid if you’re lucky).

7:45-10:00 Drinking party with immediate coworkers.

10:30 Stumble onto last train. Nap. Wake up in time for your stop. Stumble to bed.

…and repeat.

It’s no wonder, then, that the Japanese in Tokyo sleep an average of only 5 hours and 44 minutes per night, according to data collated by Jawbone . Let’s compare that figure to the Australians, who sleep a wombat-tastic 6 hours and 48 minutes a night average in Melbourne. Lest we accuse our Aussie friends of slothfulness, however, it should be kept in mind that people in Brisbane are practically up with the lark – rising at an average of around 6:29 am each morning. But that’s still not early enough to beat the Tokyo salaryman or OL (office lady) – they’re up at around 5:00 am! But why do Tokyoites rise so early? Well, it might have something to do with the fact that most people have a long commute from the suburbs via public transport. As well as factoring in the time spent squeezed into a train carriage, commuters also have to put in quite a bit of legwork as well, averaging 8,293 steps as part of their daily grind!

For comparison purposes, here’s that same graph, showing the sleeping and walking habits of New Yorkers – it seems The City That Never Sleeps actually averages 6 hours and 47 minutes – around an hour more than the folks in Tokyo!

So what do Japan’s twitizens think of this lack of sleep?

▼ “Japanese people really do work too much, don’t they?”

【悲報】世界で“最も寝てないのは日本人”と判明、平均睡眠時間はなんと・・・ bit.ly/1z5YrEK 日本人は仕事しすぎですよねホント

—
ひばっち (@pendulum115) October 14, 2014

▼ “Japanese people work themselves to death! So how come we also have such a long life expectancy?! lol  (⌒▽⌒) hahaha lol”

【悲報】世界で“最も寝てないのは日本人”と判明、平均睡眠時間はなんと・・・

死ぬまで仕事の日本人！ その日本人が1番の長生きなんですけどねwww (⌒▽⌒)はははw jin115.com/archives/52047…

—
XBOX ONEのぶっち (@nobuhiro49) October 14, 2014

▼ “Japanese people barely sleep and do the most unpaid overtime. As a result, you get lower productivity and poorer work performance.”

【悲報】世界で“最も寝てないのは日本人”と判明、平均睡眠時間はなんと・・・ : オレ的ゲーム速報＠刃 jin115.com/archives/52047… @ Jin115 さんから

睡眠時間が短く、労働時間がサビ残込で一番長い日本。
その割には生産性は高くなく、品質も低下する一方。

—
Five-seveN (@fiveseven) October 14, 2014

▼ “Then why not change the labour laws? Do something about the politicians?”

“@ Jin115 : 【悲報】世界で“最も寝てないのは日本人”と判明、平均睡眠時間はなんと・・・ jin115.com/archives/52047… ”

なら労働基準法を変えれば？政治家をなんとかすれば？

—
ObserverP (@Observer_P) October 14, 2014

▼ “I don’t think this is all down to working longer; I think we just have a lot more opportunities to go out and enjoy ourselves.”

"@ Jin115 : 200RT : 【悲報】世界で“最も寝てないのは日本人”と判明、平均睡眠時間はなんと・・・ jin115.com/archives/52047… "

寝てないのは働き過ぎよりも、色んな遊びが充実してるからだと思う

—
おじ (@oji__) October 14, 2014

So, what’s to blame for this state of sleeplessness? Is it a byproduct of commuting culture, socially-mandated unpaid overtime, after-work drinking, or something else? All we know is that the Japanese are going to bed later, spending less time asleep, and getting up earlier than anyone else – and for those of us who love our sleep, those are some sad statistics!

Sources: Jawbone , Livedoor News
Images: Wikimedia , Jawbone

Ronald McDonald towers over distraught men and women in floral wreaths, who reach out desperately to touch his glowing, Christ-like figure.

A 17th-century Simon Vouet painting is reimagined with a female figure from a 1960s comic-book, who shields herself from Father Time’s anger as Ned Flanders looks on laughing.

Welcome to the world of Notre Chauvet. Drawing on their training in traditional painting to combine classical elements with figures from pop culture, brothers Jo and Graeme Hagan create brash, dystopian visions that are as colourful as they are dark.

The Hagan brothers began releasing work as Notre Chauvet earlier this year, in a marked departure from the traditional impressionist style of their previous work. The group takes its name from the Chauvet cave in Southern France, which contains the earliest known cave paintings in the world. They see themselves, therefore, as carrying on a 40,000-year-old tradition: that of collaborative art.

Working in oil paint, as well as other materials such as gold leaf and silver foil, Notre Chauvet mash together two styles of illustration that could not be more different: stylised comic-book art, and Renaissance depictions of the human form.

▼ ‘Death of Father Time’

▼ ‘The Becoming’

▼ ‘Illusion of Lying’

▼ ‘Split Decisions’

Other paintings are firmly in the world of 2-D animation. Pikachu is surrounded by a crowd of cartoon characters, from Batman to the Pillsbury Doughboy.

▼ ‘Pikachu’s Nightmare’

In W.A.L.T. (or “We All Love Terror”), an army of Mickeys have black empty space for eyes. Brains, blood and colourful vomit decorate the manic scene. It’s not pleasant, but its unpleasantness is transfixing.

▼ ‘W.A.L.T.’

In their paintings of 20th-century icons, it’s not only Disney characters who wear costume and masks. Disguise is a recurrent theme: Shirley Temple becomes a facepainted clown; Marilyn Monroe, a prostitute juggalo.

▼ ‘Insane Clown Prozzie’

▼  ‘Shirley’s Surprise’

At times, it’s hard to know if these juxtapositions are rallying against their subjects’ iconic status, or subscribing to it.

▼ ‘Lord Shakur’

▼ ‘Fame’

Under clothing label Death Suite , the Melbourne-based artists have also released some limited edition T-shirts featuring their designs.

▼ Who knew Winnie the Pooh getting his brains knocked out could look so cool?!

You can follow Notre Chauvet on Instagram , where they post updates, as well as some stunning images of their work in progress . Check it out!

All images: Notre Chauvet
Sources: Artist Database , Notre Chauvet Website