# Obscure 1990s Japanese pop video **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 9, 2007, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-1990s-japanese-pop-video/391546 "2007-02-09T20:55:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-1990s-japanese-pop-video/391546/1 "2007-02-09T20:55:58Z")
OK, this is a long shot. Back in the early/mid 90s I saw an amazing video, late at night, from some obscure Japanese pop band. I didn’t manage to record it, and I only saw it once and didn’t catch the name of the band. My memory of it may therefore not be the best. It had a left/right split screen, with one side in reverse action. As it began, on one side was a woman taking off her makeup, but in reverse. On the other side was the same woman putting on her makeup. Then she’s walking upstairs backwards then getting out of a taxi backwards, and in the other frame she is walking downstairs and getting into a taxi, which arrives at a club; in the other one, the woman is leaving a club backwards, and so on. Eventually, [spoiler]you realise that it is in fact the same film in both frames, and in the reverse video, every forwards action has an almost-perfect reverse action. And in the middle of the song, the videos cross over, so the backwards woman in the club arrives at it while the forwards woman leaves it. And if that isn’t amazing enough, it was all done in _a single shot_.[/spoiler] A staggering piece of video making, and I’d love to see it again if it’s on the web. I don’t really know what to search on, so I ask the SDMB: ring any bells for anyone? ---
**Author:** ![zeno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zeno/32/15040_2.png) [@zeno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zeno)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-1990s-japanese-pop-video/391546/2 "2007-02-09T21:35:10Z")
Band: Cibo matto. Great video. I _think_ it may be called “sugar water”. I will check when I get home. I know I’ve seen it on youtube so you could try it out over there first. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-1990s-japanese-pop-video/391546/3 "2007-02-09T21:40:58Z")
WOW! I never expected any results at all. Google reveals all. I love clever stuff like that - no need for big bucks, just brilliant thinking. It’s very rare. Thanks so much. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-1990s-japanese-pop-video/391546/4 "2007-02-09T21:49:51Z")
Here is is: [Sugar Water](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq7N5sQN-hI). And in a damning indictment of my own imagination and memory, it’s **way** cleverer and weirder than I remembered. How on _earth_ did they work that out? That’s verging on genius. ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-1990s-japanese-pop-video/391546/5 "2007-02-09T21:56:20Z")
Not actually that obscure. One of the best videos ever, IMO. It used to get a ton of play on MTV2, back when MTV2 used to show videos. We are making sugar water shower ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-1990s-japanese-pop-video/391546/6 "2007-02-09T21:58:20Z")
Ah, but it was obscure for me because I lived in no-MTV land at the time. We have MTV now. But it doesn’t, of course, show any music videos any more. ---
**Author:** ![zeno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zeno/32/15040_2.png) [@zeno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zeno)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2007, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-1990s-japanese-pop-video/391546/7 "2007-02-10T16:42:04Z")
The video was never in steady rotation, but it had a big cult reputation ---
**Author:** ![Flip\_Pancake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f1d935/32.png) [@Flip\_Pancake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flip_Pancake)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2007, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-1990s-japanese-pop-video/391546/8 "2007-02-10T20:55:29Z")
A bit more about the video and its director, Michael Gondry [here](http://www.director-file.com/gondry/cibo.html) . ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2007, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-1990s-japanese-pop-video/391546/9 "2007-02-10T23:41:35Z")
Oh! I hadn’t realized it was by the same guy who brought us Eternal Sunshine, as well as two of my other favorite music videos: Daft Punk - Around the World and Foo Fighters - Everlong. ---
**Author:** ![zeno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zeno/32/15040_2.png) [@zeno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zeno)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2007, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-1990s-japanese-pop-video/391546/10 "2007-02-11T00:56:39Z")
Check out [another](http://youtube.com/watch?v=Rn6nqd-nCko) of M Gondry’s famous work.