World Order -- Boy Meets Girl

 

Welcome to the last few days of February. The temperature roller coaster has been continuing here in Toronto so we had a wind chill factor of -23 C on Saturday but by this coming Thursday, we may be up to +14 C. Whatever the meteorological case may be, our winter will likely end up as one of the warmest that we've had.

It's been a few years since I posted anything up for the song-and-dance group World Order starring former MMA athlete Genki Sudo（須藤元気）. I do remember when I first found out about them via their December 2014 song "Have A Nice Day" and more importantly, their performance as besuited automatons enjoying a disjointed stroll through areas such as Shibuya.

Now, I've gone even further back. In fact, I've dipped into their very first album "World Order" from July 2010 and realized that Sudo and the gang did a cover of trf's "Boy Meets Girl". I don't think that it eclipses the 1994 original by the techno song and dance group that Tetsuya Komuro（小室哲哉）built but it's still nice to hear the cover version and watch the guys doing their distinctive choreography while picking up some women during an evening encounter. Plus, you get to see a bit of what salaried workers in Japan do after they punch out of work. "World Order" managed to reach No. 82 on Oricon.

Ahhh...happy to find my favourite remix of "Boy Meets Girl". Man, was this a popular song back in the day!

World Order -- Censorship

 

Long time no see, World Order. Glad to see that Genki Sudo（須藤元気）is back at the helm for this song-and-dance group with the robotic and geometric choreography.

Watching the video for their 3rd and most recent digital download single "Censorship" from September reminded me that there is a national election in Japan on Halloween tomorrow. I was slightly tickled by Sudo and the gang in their sober suits making like politicians in the Diet., especially when they pretended to be sleeping during Parliamentary speeches (that's virtually a pastime among the guys in the Lower House). The even more hilarious thing is that Sudo has been a member of the Upper House representing the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan since 2019. Yes, we are seeing Japan's funkiest politician making his moves in the video. Incidentally at the same time, Eriko Imai（今井絵理子）, formerly of the 90s group SPEED, also became Parliamentary Vice Minister of the Cabinet Office in the same year for the governing Liberal Democratic Party.

All of the World Order tropes are accounted for: the technopop melody by Sudo and Ryo Shimamoto (lyrics are by Sudo and Takashi Watanabe), the Vulcan-like demeanors, the trademark World Order walk and the liberal usage of Tokyo neighbourhoods and structures to enhance their dancing. It's a wonder that the Japan Tourism Agency hasn't used their services to encourage inbound travel once the pandemic is past.

World Order -- Exodus

I've got no idea what this abstract art located just outside of Landmark Tower in Yokohama is called, but it sure looks like the artist likes his roller coasters.

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1iJ411i79B/

The reason that I've put up the photo as tonight's thumbnail here is that it shows up in the music video for World Order's "Exodus". In fact, a lot of Yokohama gets displayed during the band's famous robotic choreography for this particular instrumental that was released in 2019. Not quite as epic as "Have a Nice Day", the very first video that I got to see by the group, I also miss Genki Sudo's（須藤元気）presence in there as well.

Still for anyone seeing World Order for the first time here will be quite impressed by the moves. I've been reading in the YouTube comments that they ought to be in the Opening Ceremonies for the Tokyo Games. Well, now that the Olympics have been postponed until the summer of 2021, they might be able to get some practice time in.

World Order -- Have A Nice Day

It was definitely nice getting back to Tokyo again in late 2014. As I've said before, the city is a great place to take a walk during the year...excepting the dog days of summer. There are a lot of interesting neighbourhoods and because of the somewhat more relaxed zoning regulations, even the local areas can be packed with flavour. Walk along the sidewalk, you can come across a dry cleaners squeezed in between a tonkatsu eatery and a toy store specializing in Gundam figures.

But just to divert from the conversation a bit, the above fellow is former mixed martial artist Genki Sudo（須藤元気）. I was never a fan of MMA but his face rings a bell and I figure it's because he has also been a fairly familiar face on Japanese television as a tarento. I guess I can also call him a Renaissance man of sorts because he is also an actor, a singer, a choreographer, an author, a representative for an English conversation school and even a sommelier. My impression is that in all likelihood I've seen him participating on that Arashi（嵐）game show "VS Arashi".

What I hadn't been aware about was that Sudo had also created his own unique band called World Order in 2009. I caught one of their videos today and it was for their December 2014 song "Have A Nice Day". Their schtick was that the former MMA fighter and his crew made like sober-suited automatons doing some cool and comic routines in some of the famous areas of Tokyo. It's tourism with a twist! And any video showcasing parts of the megalopolis will always be welcome with me.

Sudo wrote and composed this nifty technopoppy tune, and although I think it needs the video to be really fun, I was kinda reminded of Denki Groove（電気グルーヴ）since those fellows also have a sense of humour with their music and videos as well.

I have read the comments from YouTube that World Order ought to have their time in the sun (or under the stars) at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Opening Ceremonies. That wouldn't be a bad idea at all. However, Sudo resigned as the lead vocalist back in October 2015 and is now helping World Order on the production side of things. Perhaps, though, he can be persuaded to put on the suit and glasses one more time for the team.