Japan's Air Guitar World Champ

[Captain Japan]

Japan Wins AIR GUITAR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS; SENTENCED Guitarist Among Judges Sep. 9, 2006
Blabbermouth.net

Japan's strong presence produced a world champion and this year Ochi "Dainoji" Yosuke gets a chance to spread the gospel of air guitars.

Yosuke outplayed the other skillful contestants with his simplistic but extremely classy air guitarring.

The five finalists who had made their way from the qualifying round on Thursday were challenged by Michael "The Destroyer" Heffels, the reigning champion, and the winners from national competitions....more...

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An extremely entertaining YouTube vid of the clinching performance is here.

[Taro Toporific]

An extremely entertaining YouTube vid of the clinching performance is here.

Linked to that Air Guitar was almost entertaining YouTube video "triple kids". (Numa Numa Kid + Star Wars Kid + Angry German Kid)

[Kuang_Grade]

I guess I'm more old school, as I favor the hardboard guitar vs the air guitar, as seen near the end of possibly the best craptacular video of 80's...Judas Priest's Breakin the Law
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYn5hxeFt10

[sillygirl]

Linked to that Air Guitar was almost entertaining YouTube video "triple kids". (Numa Numa Kid + Star Wars Kid + Angry German Kid)

Numa numa is worth losing your rag....!

[Taro Toporific]

Japan's air sex world champion licks himself into shape
Mainichi Daily News - Sept 21, 2006
..."Air sex was originally invented by guys who couldn't get girlfriends, but desperately want to have sex," J-Taro Sugisaku, the self-professed creator of air sex.... Let me reiterate: Air sex can be dangerous.". Japan's reigning air sex world champion is a feller who goes by the name of Cobra....

[Mulboyne]

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I wasted 57 seconds looking at this so now you can too.

[Kuang_Grade]

On a related topic, does anyone know how well the Playstation 2 game "Guitar Hero" is doing in Japan? Given the popularity of music sim arcade games in general, and "guitar freaks" in particular, I would think it might be quite popular. The first version of the game was released in the US last year and was moderately successful at the start but has become quite well known and popular among gamers over the last 9 months or so with a second version released last month.. Even the wall street journal has written about how real rock stars enjoy playing it.
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB116277707759314102-cKPNcc1a743_xak43LNLlyfBXl8_20061113.html?mod=blogs

For those curious about the actual game play, this video shows a rather devoted fan who has custom modded two controllers into one unit so he can play a 2 player version of the game by himself...it really starts to rock out around around the 1.30 mark..no explaination for the pizza slice outfit

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[Captain Japan]

Air guitar champ fans out the hits
Japan Times

On Sept. 8, Yosuke Ochi walked out to the spotlight in front of approximately 3,000 screaming fans to perform at the 11th Annual Air Guitar World Championships in Oulu, Finland.

The 100-kg comedian pointed to his imaginary band mate with a confident nod as a bass kicked in, turned around as speakers began playing guitar chords from "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" by Aussie rock-band Jet, and demonstrated his mesmerizing air guitar skills with rock-god aspect.

With his amusing presentation and what organizers exalted as "extremely classy air guitarring," he became the first Japanese to be crowned world champion of the competition.

"To be honest, I have zero knowledge of the instrument," the mock ax-master confessed in a recent interview. "I don't know a single guitar chord."...more...

[Greji]

Air guitar champ fans out the hits
Japan Times

Am I wrong, or did he tell the reporter: "...."I was confident that Japanese comedians have a better sense of humor than those overseas. It made no logic to change our style to entertain the international crowd," Otani said...."

???

[Taro Toporific]

Japanese man remains air guitar champion
Associated Press -- Sun Sep 9, 1:08 AM ET.
OULU, Finland - A Japanese man out-"played" challengers to win the Air Guitar World Championship for the second consecutive year at a contest in northern Finland. Ochi Yosuke received the highest score from a panel of judges in the final late Friday at the Teatria rock club in Oulu, near the Arctic Circle
...more...

--Video of this year's finals (terrible camera work and editing)---
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--2005 of his Hello Kitty air guitar--
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[b]Japan Wins AIR GUITAR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS]

[IkemenTommy]

That trophy guitar he got as the award looked pretty sick.

[Taro Toporific]

[floatr][/floatr]

That trophy guitar he got as the award looked pretty sick.

The "custom-made Flying Finn electric guitar worth $3,400" he won looks mega-kool but he won't be able to use it as reported in the Japan Times in 2006.

Air guitar champ fans out the hitsJapan Times--Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2006
..."To be honest, I have zero knowledge of the instrument," the mock ax-master confessed in a recent interview. "I don't know a single guitar chord."...

[Taro Toporific]

Reigning champ Yosuke "Dainoji" Ochi plucks defeat from American Craig "Hot Lixx Hulahan" Billmeier who takes the gold!

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Japanese man remains air guitar champion
Associated Press -- Sun Sep 9, 1:08 AM ET.
OULU, Finland - A Japanese man out-"played" challengers to win the Air Guitar World Championship for the second consecutive year at a contest in northern Finland. Ochi Yosuke received the highest score from a panel of judges in the final late Friday at the Teatria rock club in Oulu, near the Arctic Circle
...more...