BEAMS Japan has announced its participation in the 3.11 Fukkou ni Yorisou Project on the crowdfunding service READYFOR to help raise money for restoration efforts in places that are still affected by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. The apparel brand has created the Bakabon Family Charity T-Shirt, the proceeds of which will be used as a return to supporters of the project. READYFOR launched the project on April 14, 2021, the proceeds of which will be donated to six groups working to restore Tohoku.

From the READYFOR Project page

READYFOR launched back in 2011 as Japan’s first crowdfunding service. In the past 10 years, 1,529 crowdfunding pages have been set up for restoration efforts of the Tohoku earthquake, which have brought in over 1 billion yen.

The charity tee by BEAMS Japan is available in nine sizes.

When the Great East Japan Earthquake struck Japan back on March 11, 2011, RADWIMPS immediately set up a donation project called Itoshiki. The band offered support to the relief effort in collaboration with other fellow musicians, creators, and actors. Almost every year since then, on March 11, the band has written and released a new song to show support to areas that were devastated by the disaster together with a music video made by Japanese videographer Daisuke Shimada.

On this year’s March 11, the 10th anniversary of the disaster, RADWIMPS dropped a new almost entitled 2+0+2+1+3+1+1= 10 years 10 songs.

RADWIMPS – “Aitai”

The album includes eight songs the band has already put out there to date as well as two other songs: Kakurenbo which serves as the main theme for the Japanese drama special Anata no Soba de Ashita ga Warau which covers the 10th anniversary of the earthquake, and Aitai, a new song that RADWIMPS released a video for on their YouTube channel.

The new album will be released in three editions, two of which are coupled with a DVD and Blu-ray respectively which include the video projects RADWIMPS made together with Shimada.

Proceeds made from the album will be donated towards further relief effort across Japan including the Japanese Red Cross Society, local governments, and more.

Japanese comedian Naomi Watanabe uploaded a music video parody of Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande’s song Rain on Me. The original song was released on May 22, 2020 and features on Gaga’s latest studio album Chromatica. It went on to reach No. 1 on weekly charts across the globe, and its music video has over 160 million views on YouTube (as of July 2020).

Lady Gaga “Rain On Me with Ariana Grande” Official Parody

Naomi Watanabe explained that she felt incredible power from Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande when Rain on Me dropped back in May. She described the “motherly presence [of Gaga] that greatly envelops me.” In the parody music video, Watanabe plays the part of Lady Gaga while comedian Yuriyan Retriever takes up the role of Ariana Grande.

The music video was shot after the state of emergency was lifted in Japan. It was directed by Daisuke Ninomiya, who has worked on many music videos for many big artists in Japan such as Daichi Miura and Sandaime J Soul Brothers. It was shot in collaboration with makeup artists, stylists, and manicurists who are close with Watanabe. The music video plays up Watanabe’s iconic comedy while still managing to be as thrilling as the original music video.

Speaking about the music video, Naomi Watanabe said: “I thought it would be amusing to shoot this video as close as possible to the original, and because I like parodies, so we really went all-out with the little details.”

The music video parody received praise from Lady Gaga’s production team for its quality. It currently has 2.5 million views on YouTube (as of July 2020). Check it out and be sure to compare it with the original.