Speedo man, whose real name is Yoshio Kojima and stage name is "Choi Suberi," is one of three comedians from "Hexagon" that formed the musical group Suberaz. In Japan it's common for variety show celebrities to form musical groups and normally the albums, bolstered by the shows that launched them, are enormously popular. But Suberaz's tanked, reaching only 28th on the Japanese billboard chart. And that's what brought us all together at Point Barrow one cloudy afternoon.

As punishment for the poor sales of their CD, the three were sentenced to perform their single at "one of the coldest place in the world" - which, producers thought, sounded like Point Barrow, the peninsula outside Barrow that is the northernmost point of the United States. Choi Suberi, along with bandmates Keisuke Okada, a.k.a "Dada Suberi," and Yoku Hata were presented with a backpack, a canteen of lukewarm water, a used handwarmer and 10,000 yen (about $106) and set forth to Alaska to put on a show.