Yoshi Didn't Podcast

After some small talk, Aiko Tanaka, Rick Hall and I jumped into the meat of our conversation about Ms Ikumi Yoshimatsu, the first Japanese woman to win the Miss International title - and her ordeals after she refused to signed with a mob-connected talent agency in Japan. Watch her brave public speech at the link below. We also spoke of the importance of “gai-atsu” (foreign pressure) and briefly discussed Jake Adelstein's Japan Times piece. I sincerely urge all of you to join the petition to fight and punish stalkers in Japan.

Here's Jake Adelstein's article about Ms. Yoshimatsu and her stalker problem:
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/02/01/national/war-against-stalkers-broadens-its-aims

I hope you will sign and support Ms Ikumi Yoshimatsu's petition!
http://www.change.org/petitions/stalker-zero-end-the-japanese-culture-of-silence-toward-crimes-against-women

Please follow Rick Hall @toestubber, and Aiko Tanaka @aikotanaka.

The heroes...

Ikumi Yoshimatsu, Norio Nishikawa (lawyer) and Jake Adelstein at her press conference; please watch:
http://youtu.be/gism4R57Tkg?t=8m38s

Denmark never ceases to amaze me. Their incredible hospitality, a great sense of humor and the humane pragmatism to deal with the terrible problems of drug addiction. I just love Denmark! So much so that, even though I am not known for my passion for music, I found myself blown away by the wild musical output of Nicholas Kvaran aka Nick Coldhands! (My friend Unnar Theodorsson was kind enough to introduce us.) Nick is an old school hip-hop DJ and producer. Earlier in his career, he was heavily involved with the musical group, Den Gale Pose (abbreviated DGP). They performed all over Denmark, and later reinvented themselves as Madness 4 Real in Los Angeles in the early ’90s. This is where the young Nicholas Kvaran was dubbed Nick Coldhands by the legendary Easy E! Please have a listen to the ever-talented Nick as he recollects those fascinating times.

Here's some translated info on The Gale Pose and Nick's colleagues:

This week we are delighted to feature Ms. Charlotte Steggz! She is a blogger, translator, standup comedienne and kawaii cat-lover. Originally from the UK, she lived and studied in Japan; young Charlotte was intrigued by Japanese culture, and this fascination exposed her to many adventures through her knack for learning languages. So much so that, after deciding to exit the Land of the Rising Sun following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami disaster, she moved to Frankfurt, Germany and became a translator for videogame behemoth Nintendo!

Charlotte's blog (currently exploring the enchantment of Germany): 
http://sherbetandsparkles.wordpress.com/

Fun-loving sex kitten Proxy Paige is back again! This time we talked about Proxy's experiences with her friend Dave's website,gloryholeswallow.com, and discussed other colorful characters in the adult business. Enjoy!

Support Proxy's project:
http://offbeatr.com/project/proxy-infiltrates-europe-56347973241

Please enjoy the new episode of Yoshi Didn't podcast, this time with Professor Sean Tilson. Sean is a postdoctoral fellow at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, Sweden. By the way, KTH, the MIT of Sweden, is also the alma mater of Dolph Lundgren! Yes, that Lundgren! (Lundgren as Ivan Drago [to Rocky]: "I must break you.")

Anyway, never mind about my digression. Sean’s a terrific mathematician and fun conversationalist. We met right after my standup show at the Big Ben club in Stockholm. Get ready for some calculating conversation with Sean on subjects ranging from Detroit to homotopy theory!

Follow Sean on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sean.tilson

Pls support fun loving Proxy Paige's project!
http://offbeatr.com/project/proxy-infiltrates-europe-56347973241

My comedy compatriot and friend, Jonathan Wolff Cohen, is our guest this week on the Yoshi Didn't podcast. He was instrumental in acquiring my previous guests (Episode 55: Michael Lodberg Olsen and Episode 56: Joergen Kjaer) in Denmark; Jonathan was able to get Mr. Olsen on the show because he’d previously volunteered helping the addicts of Istegade Street via Olsen's "Illegal" organization.

I first met Jonathan through our mutual comedy buddy Jason Rouse (Episode 35) as Jonathan produces many great comedy shows in Denmark and Sweden. We talked about his "Jewish" upbringing and early years as a poor man's Walter White in Northern Denmark (he was a teenage crime lord back then). Anyway, please enjoy the show and follow Jonathan!

Jonathan's Twitter:

Let’s welcome another fantastic guest to the show - my longtime friend and very talented comedian, Rosie Tran. If there's a group of people who can endure torment and take it with a smile, it's the delightful Vietnamese! Rosie exemplifies that: Tough, kind and shrewd.

One thing I’ve learned about Rosie is that she can do anything. She has accomplished so much in the ten years I've known her: Rosie’s a successful standup comedian, actress, scriptwriter and savvy investor (did I mention she's Vietnamese?). She also managed to earn a Master’s degree somewhere in that busy schedule. We talked about her family, and I was stunned to learn of Rosie's gentle dad’s unusual profession during the Vietnam war.

Rosie is the proud mother of two puppies (Mitzi & Jamie) and wife of the poor man’s Liam Hemsworth, aka Andrew Voorhees. Please follow her twitter account and especially her podcast show:

Check out our first episode of 2014, my conversation with standup
comedienne and actress Aiko Tanaka. Originally from Tokyo, she is a
familiar face on the comedy scene in Los Angeles.

Here she tells us the very amusing story of why she first moved to

This week we explore the Swedish comedy scene with Sweden's best male standup comedian, Al Pitcher, a Kiwi from London. After seeing him perform at Upsala University (where he murdered the audience), I asked Al if he wouldn’t mind doing my podcast.

He turned out to be exactly the guy Adeel Faqih (@AdeelFaqih) told me he was - a very funny, professional and gracious man. He spoke of his childhood in England and about growing up in New Zealand. We discussed some of his earlier struggles in standup and his surprising career in Sweden. I especially like Al’s idea about taking pictures of the town in which he is performing that night then sharing them with the audience, who are delighted and amused by his observations. He also told some interesting anecdotes about his friendship with John Oliver in the UK. Please enjoy this episode and follow Al!


Al's website: