I just learned that a drama based on the popular manga-form essay "日本人の知らない日本語" (Nihonjin no Shiranai Nihongo, i.e. "The Japanese Japanese People Don't Know") written by 海野凪子 (Umino, Nagiko) and illustrated by 蛇蔵 (Hebizou) will be airing on YTV/NTV (or RAB in Aomori) on Thursday nights from 23:58-24:38 starting July 15th (this week!). You can check out the official Japanese website at http://www.ytv.co.jp/nihongo.
!! I'm excited!! I really enjoyed the books so I have high hopes for the drama as well. The time slot is rather unfortunate (why so late?!) but I rarely go to bed earlier than 12:30am anyway, so I'll just have to make sure that I do all my bedtime preparations before the show starts so I can go to sleep pretty much right after it finishes.
This is shaping up to be a good summer, television wise, with Hotaru no Hikari 2 on Wednesday nights (22:00-23:00) and now Nihonjin no Shiranai Nihongo on Thursday nights. ^_^
Showing posts with label tv. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tv. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
HnH2 "PR Spots"
There are 3 extremely short "PR Spot" videos available to watch online for the upcoming Hotaru no Hikari 2 drama (NTV, Wednesdays 10pm starting July 7th): http://www.dai2ntv.jp/drama/himono2/
Aaaah! Now I *really* want to buy the DVD Boxset for the first series... *SIGH* But I'm doing a fair bit of traveling in the summer/fall so I know I need to save my money... And besides, I've already watched the entire series thanks to Tsutaya's 100yen rentals...
But I still want to own the DVDs!! And even though I don't really have the time, I also want to re-watch the series before the new one starts--only 3 more weeks!
Aaaah! Now I *really* want to buy the DVD Boxset for the first series... *SIGH* But I'm doing a fair bit of traveling in the summer/fall so I know I need to save my money... And besides, I've already watched the entire series thanks to Tsutaya's 100yen rentals...
But I still want to own the DVDs!! And even though I don't really have the time, I also want to re-watch the series before the new one starts--only 3 more weeks!
Monday, May 24, 2010
Hotaru no Hikari 2 drama!!
I am so excited! I just found out that there will be a second season of one my favourite manga/drama series airing this summer! ^_^ (Official Japanese homepage: http://www.ntv.co.jp/himono2)
Given the way they ended the first series it's a given that the plot is bound to diverge quite a lot from the manga. But to me that's not a bad thing. I actually prefer series that differ significantly from the original over adaptions that simply condense the original stories to make them fit into a movie/series time frame. For example, I really liked the Lemony Snicket: A Series of Unfortunate Events movie (which was based on the first three books of the series), but didn't particularly like the Harry Potter movie series (which was pretty much just a dramatization of the books).
It will be airing Wednesdays at 10pm on Nippon TV (RAB Aomori) starting on July 7th. =D
Can't wait!!
(This news makes me really glad that I decided to sign on for another year! If I went back to Canada in August as originally planned, I'd only be able to watch about half of the series!)
Given the way they ended the first series it's a given that the plot is bound to diverge quite a lot from the manga. But to me that's not a bad thing. I actually prefer series that differ significantly from the original over adaptions that simply condense the original stories to make them fit into a movie/series time frame. For example, I really liked the Lemony Snicket: A Series of Unfortunate Events movie (which was based on the first three books of the series), but didn't particularly like the Harry Potter movie series (which was pretty much just a dramatization of the books).
It will be airing Wednesdays at 10pm on Nippon TV (RAB Aomori) starting on July 7th. =D
Can't wait!!
(This news makes me really glad that I decided to sign on for another year! If I went back to Canada in August as originally planned, I'd only be able to watch about half of the series!)
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Real Clothes
So I started watching a new J-drama called Real Clothes a few of weeks ago. (It airs every Tuesday at 10pm on Fuji Television.) The basic premise is that a dowdy salesperson, Amano Kinue gets transferred from bedding to the women's clothing section of a major department store, Echizenya. Jinbo Miki is the newly hired supervisor of the women's clothing department and she has big plans for the renewal/revival of the department store. Having no interest in clothing, Kinue struggles to find her place in this world of elite fashion.
I really enjoy the show because I feel like I can relate to Kinue. (She also happens to be 26 in the story!) At the beginning of the first episode, she is traveling in Paris with her boyfriend, Tatsuya. Although he tells her she should buy some nice clothes since they're in France, all she's interested in is eating various foods recommended in her guide book! When she first meets her soon-to-be-new-boss, Jinbo Miki, Miki looks at her with disdain and declares: "If you wear boring clothes, you will have a boring life."
Kinue's attitude towards clothes reminds me of how I was, probably right up until almost the end of university. Even as a child, I rebelled when my mom wanted to put me in pink frilly dresses. I was always more for comfort (those frilly dresses were itchy!) than style. Then I became super self-conscious about my weight/appearance in junior high and high school, so I only wore black clothes. (I did branch into grey towards the end of high school, though.) I lost weight in my first two years of university because I was living in residence and had to cook for myself (i.e. no meal plan), so around that time I started buying more clothes in different colours--mostly reds and various brown/beige tones.
But I was also buying a lot of manga/anime at the time, and moreover had started getting into hockey, so I preferred spending money on those things rather than clothes. Apart from my (very basic and plain) clothing for work--I'd worked summers and part time at Scotiabank since I was 17--I pretty much only had t-shirts and jeans, plus sweatershirts/hoodies for colder weather. When I started work full time I did go on a bit of a clothes shopping spree, but I still stuck with very plain clothes--still predominantly black--and went for practicality/comfort rather than style. Unlike Kinue, I wasn't thinking "I don't like clothing/fashion" but I did feel like I couldn't be bothered with it.
But, just as Kinue has been developing an appreciation for clothing over the past few episodes, I've started to find the fun in being a girl and "dressing up" since coming to Japan. At one point in the first episode, a co-worker of Kinue's tells her that she likes working in the women's clothing department because she enjoys seeing the happiness on customers' faces when they look in the mirror and realize that they've found that perfect article of clothing. In the second episode, when Kinue asks another co-worker what she should do to improve in her job, the co-worker tells her all she needs to do is to like clothing/fashion more. Still yet another co-worker tells her later on that the first step she needs to take is to find one thing (fashion-related) that she likes--a favourite colour, silver accessories, one piece of clothing that makes her feel happy, etc.
As I said, I've never disliked clothing/fashion, but I've never really found clothes shopping enjoyable before. I always thought it was kind of a pain being a girl. I mean, when guys need to "dress up" all they need to do is put on a suit and tie and they're done, but girls have so many more decisions to make/things to consider--dress, skirt, or pants? flats or heels? accessories, hair, make-up, etc. etc. Unless it was for work or a semi-formal event, I generally couldn't be bothered to do more than throw on a t-shirt and jeans.
I think that one of the "one thing"-s that made me feel happy was the yukata I bought in August of my first year. At the time I didn't know how to put it on by myself, but when I was able to wear it during Aki Matsuri (thanks to the help of a nice older Japanese lady), I felt a little different--more feminine, maybe. And this year in particular I've been finding a lot of shoes and clothes that I really like--especially pants. Having lost a fair bit of weight since coming to Japan, I've been noticing that the pants I brought with me are pretty loose now. For example, I used to be able to get away without using a belt, but my pants would sag dangerously low now if I went without one.
I've always had the idea that Japanese pants are designed for super skinny girls only, so I'd never bothered trying on any pants (exccept at the GAP in Sapporo) in Japan. But recently I tried some on at Uniqlo and was pleasantly pleased to discover that I could find ones that fit! I needed to get them shortened, but even in Canada pants were generally too long for me, so that wasn't an issue. Besides, at Uniqlo they can hem pants for you for free (if you don't mind visible seams) in about 15 minutes!
So yes, I went on a second Uniqlo shopping spree (the first one being about a month ago) on the Monday when I had the car accident. (I was driving from Uniqlo to Powers U, in fact, when the accident happened). I bought two pairs of dress/work pants, two pairs of jeans, and three v-neck sweaters. The mother of one of my Kirita first year students was working at Uniqlo that day and actually rang up my sale, so I was a bit embarrassed to be "caught" spending so much in one shot, but oh well... (By the way, this is a picture of me clothed almost entirely in clothing from Uniqlo! In case you're wondering, the socks and necklace are the only things not from Uniqlo. Furthermore, with the exception of the black turtleneck--which I bought last year--it's all stuff I purchased from Uniqlo within the last two months! @_@ I'm crazy, I know--and my budget is completely out of whack now, too...)
I still prefer simple styles, but I'm branching out a bit at least. I still haven't figured out how to wear the "Japanese-type" top I got from Chambre, but I was really happy to discover that the "Sawako-image" one piece dress and parka (hoody) that I ordered simply because it was related to the Kimi ni Todoke anime/manga actually didn't look too bad on me! (Well, I did send a picture of myself in it to a friend to ask her opinion about how it looked on me before I wore it in public, but anyway...)
Apart from the burgeoning interest in clothing, another thing about Kinue I feel I can relate to is her stage in life. In the most recent episode (episode #3), her boss, Miki, asks her about her direction in life: what she intends to be/where she wants to be five years and ten years in the future. Kinue realizes at this point that she hasn't really thought about her future in such terms before and is unable to answer.
Watching the show, I was also thinking "Where do I want to be five years and ten years in the future?" I really have no idea. I know that I want to be working somewhere where I feel challenged by the work and where I feel like I'm making some sort of contribution to society, but I haven't a clue as to what type of job that would be.
Until recently I would've at least been able to say that I definitely planned on living/working in Toronto or Mississauga, but now even that's in question. Maybe it's just my natural dislike for change, but recently I've been thinking about what it'd be like to come back to live in Towada permanently... There's probably only a 2% or less chance of me actually doing so, but the fact that I'm considering it all just goes to show how completely up in the air my plans for the future are.
Another long held "plan" for my future that has come into question since I moved to Japan is my belief that I would never ever get married. I've always thought that the whole relationship thing is just way too much trouble and that I would be much happier staying single, but actually living on my own for the first time I've realized that there are some benefits to being able to share your daily life with someone. I've said it before, but for one thing, moving into my apartment and having to assemble various pieces of furniture--bookshelf, dish cabinet, etc. etc.--on my own really made me think about how handy it would be to have a guy around... Well, assuming said guy happens to be good with such things... =P
I still believe that I'd be perfectly happy staying single, but I'm no longer completely resistant to the idea of possibly getting married in the future. Even just a few months ago if someone asked me about whether I planned/wanted to get married, I'd immediately say "Not for me. NO WAY." But now it's more like, "Most likely not--but you never know."
So yeah, my time in Japan has definitely been a huge learning/growing experience for me so far. I wonder what the next nine months have in store for me...?
[Edit: The Real Clothes theme song "きっと大丈夫" ("Kitto Daijoubu" loosely translates to "definitely all right/OK") is sung by Sakazume Misako and can be found in her "love note" album.)
I really enjoy the show because I feel like I can relate to Kinue. (She also happens to be 26 in the story!) At the beginning of the first episode, she is traveling in Paris with her boyfriend, Tatsuya. Although he tells her she should buy some nice clothes since they're in France, all she's interested in is eating various foods recommended in her guide book! When she first meets her soon-to-be-new-boss, Jinbo Miki, Miki looks at her with disdain and declares: "If you wear boring clothes, you will have a boring life."
Kinue's attitude towards clothes reminds me of how I was, probably right up until almost the end of university. Even as a child, I rebelled when my mom wanted to put me in pink frilly dresses. I was always more for comfort (those frilly dresses were itchy!) than style. Then I became super self-conscious about my weight/appearance in junior high and high school, so I only wore black clothes. (I did branch into grey towards the end of high school, though.) I lost weight in my first two years of university because I was living in residence and had to cook for myself (i.e. no meal plan), so around that time I started buying more clothes in different colours--mostly reds and various brown/beige tones.
But I was also buying a lot of manga/anime at the time, and moreover had started getting into hockey, so I preferred spending money on those things rather than clothes. Apart from my (very basic and plain) clothing for work--I'd worked summers and part time at Scotiabank since I was 17--I pretty much only had t-shirts and jeans, plus sweatershirts/hoodies for colder weather. When I started work full time I did go on a bit of a clothes shopping spree, but I still stuck with very plain clothes--still predominantly black--and went for practicality/comfort rather than style. Unlike Kinue, I wasn't thinking "I don't like clothing/fashion" but I did feel like I couldn't be bothered with it.
But, just as Kinue has been developing an appreciation for clothing over the past few episodes, I've started to find the fun in being a girl and "dressing up" since coming to Japan. At one point in the first episode, a co-worker of Kinue's tells her that she likes working in the women's clothing department because she enjoys seeing the happiness on customers' faces when they look in the mirror and realize that they've found that perfect article of clothing. In the second episode, when Kinue asks another co-worker what she should do to improve in her job, the co-worker tells her all she needs to do is to like clothing/fashion more. Still yet another co-worker tells her later on that the first step she needs to take is to find one thing (fashion-related) that she likes--a favourite colour, silver accessories, one piece of clothing that makes her feel happy, etc.
As I said, I've never disliked clothing/fashion, but I've never really found clothes shopping enjoyable before. I always thought it was kind of a pain being a girl. I mean, when guys need to "dress up" all they need to do is put on a suit and tie and they're done, but girls have so many more decisions to make/things to consider--dress, skirt, or pants? flats or heels? accessories, hair, make-up, etc. etc. Unless it was for work or a semi-formal event, I generally couldn't be bothered to do more than throw on a t-shirt and jeans.
I think that one of the "one thing"-s that made me feel happy was the yukata I bought in August of my first year. At the time I didn't know how to put it on by myself, but when I was able to wear it during Aki Matsuri (thanks to the help of a nice older Japanese lady), I felt a little different--more feminine, maybe. And this year in particular I've been finding a lot of shoes and clothes that I really like--especially pants. Having lost a fair bit of weight since coming to Japan, I've been noticing that the pants I brought with me are pretty loose now. For example, I used to be able to get away without using a belt, but my pants would sag dangerously low now if I went without one.
I've always had the idea that Japanese pants are designed for super skinny girls only, so I'd never bothered trying on any pants (exccept at the GAP in Sapporo) in Japan. But recently I tried some on at Uniqlo and was pleasantly pleased to discover that I could find ones that fit! I needed to get them shortened, but even in Canada pants were generally too long for me, so that wasn't an issue. Besides, at Uniqlo they can hem pants for you for free (if you don't mind visible seams) in about 15 minutes!
So yes, I went on a second Uniqlo shopping spree (the first one being about a month ago) on the Monday when I had the car accident. (I was driving from Uniqlo to Powers U, in fact, when the accident happened). I bought two pairs of dress/work pants, two pairs of jeans, and three v-neck sweaters. The mother of one of my Kirita first year students was working at Uniqlo that day and actually rang up my sale, so I was a bit embarrassed to be "caught" spending so much in one shot, but oh well... (By the way, this is a picture of me clothed almost entirely in clothing from Uniqlo! In case you're wondering, the socks and necklace are the only things not from Uniqlo. Furthermore, with the exception of the black turtleneck--which I bought last year--it's all stuff I purchased from Uniqlo within the last two months! @_@ I'm crazy, I know--and my budget is completely out of whack now, too...)
Apart from the burgeoning interest in clothing, another thing about Kinue I feel I can relate to is her stage in life. In the most recent episode (episode #3), her boss, Miki, asks her about her direction in life: what she intends to be/where she wants to be five years and ten years in the future. Kinue realizes at this point that she hasn't really thought about her future in such terms before and is unable to answer.
Watching the show, I was also thinking "Where do I want to be five years and ten years in the future?" I really have no idea. I know that I want to be working somewhere where I feel challenged by the work and where I feel like I'm making some sort of contribution to society, but I haven't a clue as to what type of job that would be.
Until recently I would've at least been able to say that I definitely planned on living/working in Toronto or Mississauga, but now even that's in question. Maybe it's just my natural dislike for change, but recently I've been thinking about what it'd be like to come back to live in Towada permanently... There's probably only a 2% or less chance of me actually doing so, but the fact that I'm considering it all just goes to show how completely up in the air my plans for the future are.
Another long held "plan" for my future that has come into question since I moved to Japan is my belief that I would never ever get married. I've always thought that the whole relationship thing is just way too much trouble and that I would be much happier staying single, but actually living on my own for the first time I've realized that there are some benefits to being able to share your daily life with someone. I've said it before, but for one thing, moving into my apartment and having to assemble various pieces of furniture--bookshelf, dish cabinet, etc. etc.--on my own really made me think about how handy it would be to have a guy around... Well, assuming said guy happens to be good with such things... =P
I still believe that I'd be perfectly happy staying single, but I'm no longer completely resistant to the idea of possibly getting married in the future. Even just a few months ago if someone asked me about whether I planned/wanted to get married, I'd immediately say "Not for me. NO WAY." But now it's more like, "Most likely not--but you never know."
So yeah, my time in Japan has definitely been a huge learning/growing experience for me so far. I wonder what the next nine months have in store for me...?
[Edit: The Real Clothes theme song "きっと大丈夫" ("Kitto Daijoubu" loosely translates to "definitely all right/OK") is sung by Sakazume Misako and can be found in her "love note" album.)
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Busy but happy
It's been a crazy but crazy good few weeks for me!
Summary:
Oct. 4: Japanese dance performance
Oct.5: "aisatsu" with Rika-sensei (Nihonbuyo teacher)
- baking thank-you cookies for some of the people who gave me flowers (plus a few friends)
Oct. 6: taiko to confirm that I could bring my brother to see a practice on Thursday
Oct. 7: apartment cleaning & Nate's arrival in Japan
Oct. 8: Nate's visit to Kirita JHS
- getting his Kyoto, Hiroshima & Tokyo train tickets at JTB
- trip to Towada Jusco
- movie night at home (Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence) since taiko practice was canceled due to the typhoon - quick dinner at Marumatsu
Oct. 9: Kitazono ES (just me--Nate got to sleep in/lounge around a bit)
- lunch at Oirase Soba
- Oirase Gorge/Lake Towada tour
- quick office visit
- Sakagami's drinking house
- first episode of "My Girl" drama
Oct. 10: TOKYO!! Square Enix Character Goods Shop Show Case
-Taikokan
- Edo-Tokyo Museum/Sumo Arena (exterior pictures only!)
- monja-yaki in Tsukishima
- Shibuya (Hachiko statue, shopping at Shibuya 109 and Tower Records)
Oct. 11: Ghibli Museum!!
Odaiba: Miraikan, Fuji Television (exterior pictures only), Aqua City Mall, sushi in Decks Tokyo Beach restaurant
- Tokyo Tower
- National Diet Building
Oct. 12: Asakusa: Kaminari Mon (gate), Sensoji, Asakusa Jinja, Chingodoji
- Ginza: Uniqlo, Sony Building; lunch at Wendy's
- Tokyo Station: Character Street (Shonen Jump Shop, etc.), resting at Cafe Tame, buying omiyage, seeing Nate off to his platform, going home
Oct. 13: early morning omiyage drop-off to office
- Kirita
- dance practice for Nov. 3 performance (it doesn't seem to end...^^;;)
- grocery shopping
- Otomen drama
- first episode of "Real Clothes" drama
Oct. 14: Sawada ES (morning); Kirita JHS (afternoon)
- clothes shopping at Uniqlo
- delivery of the "Sawako-image" one piece and dress & parka!!
- uploading photos of Nate's trip to Japan to FB (see the album here)
And the rest of this week looks to be just as good:
Oct. 15: Kirita JHS (I forgot to mention, but the past two weeks we've been preparing for the school festival, so I've been at school until 6pm or later most nights, but it's so much fun I don't mind at all!)
- taiko practice
Oct. 16: Horanai ES
- dance practice for Nov. 3 performance
- dinner w/ a friend
Oct. 17: dance practice for Nov. 3 performance (4pm ~)
Oct. 18: Kirita JHS School (Culture) Festival!!!!
Oct. 19: Daikyu!! (Substitute day off since I'm "working" on Sunday at Kirita ^__^)
I'll write more details about Nate's visit (and other things) soon. ^___^ For now, off to class! (So glad I finally got added to the school network!)
Summary:
Oct. 4: Japanese dance performance
Oct.5: "aisatsu" with Rika-sensei (Nihonbuyo teacher)
- baking thank-you cookies for some of the people who gave me flowers (plus a few friends)
Oct. 6: taiko to confirm that I could bring my brother to see a practice on Thursday
Oct. 7: apartment cleaning & Nate's arrival in Japan
Oct. 8: Nate's visit to Kirita JHS
- getting his Kyoto, Hiroshima & Tokyo train tickets at JTB
- trip to Towada Jusco
- movie night at home (Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence) since taiko practice was canceled due to the typhoon - quick dinner at Marumatsu
Oct. 9: Kitazono ES (just me--Nate got to sleep in/lounge around a bit)
- lunch at Oirase Soba
- Oirase Gorge/Lake Towada tour
- quick office visit
- Sakagami's drinking house
- first episode of "My Girl" drama
Oct. 10: TOKYO!! Square Enix Character Goods Shop Show Case
-Taikokan
- Edo-Tokyo Museum/Sumo Arena (exterior pictures only!)
- monja-yaki in Tsukishima
- Shibuya (Hachiko statue, shopping at Shibuya 109 and Tower Records)
Oct. 11: Ghibli Museum!!
Odaiba: Miraikan, Fuji Television (exterior pictures only), Aqua City Mall, sushi in Decks Tokyo Beach restaurant
- Tokyo Tower
- National Diet Building
Oct. 12: Asakusa: Kaminari Mon (gate), Sensoji, Asakusa Jinja, Chingodoji
- Ginza: Uniqlo, Sony Building; lunch at Wendy's
- Tokyo Station: Character Street (Shonen Jump Shop, etc.), resting at Cafe Tame, buying omiyage, seeing Nate off to his platform, going home
Oct. 13: early morning omiyage drop-off to office
- Kirita
- dance practice for Nov. 3 performance (it doesn't seem to end...^^;;)
- grocery shopping
- Otomen drama
- first episode of "Real Clothes" drama
Oct. 14: Sawada ES (morning); Kirita JHS (afternoon)
- clothes shopping at Uniqlo
- delivery of the "Sawako-image" one piece and dress & parka!!
- uploading photos of Nate's trip to Japan to FB (see the album here)
And the rest of this week looks to be just as good:
Oct. 15: Kirita JHS (I forgot to mention, but the past two weeks we've been preparing for the school festival, so I've been at school until 6pm or later most nights, but it's so much fun I don't mind at all!)
- taiko practice
Oct. 16: Horanai ES
- dance practice for Nov. 3 performance
- dinner w/ a friend
Oct. 17: dance practice for Nov. 3 performance (4pm ~)
Oct. 18: Kirita JHS School (Culture) Festival!!!!
Oct. 19: Daikyu!! (Substitute day off since I'm "working" on Sunday at Kirita ^__^)
I'll write more details about Nate's visit (and other things) soon. ^___^ For now, off to class! (So glad I finally got added to the school network!)
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Off to an awesome start!
(Be warned! This is an even longer post than my usual rambling ones! =P)
For a while I've been wondering if I made the right decision to stay in Towada instead of traveling somewhere (overseas or within Japan) for this five-day weekend (a.k.a. "Silver Week"). But things have gotten off to such an awesome start that I'm really happy that I made the choice to stay put!
Friday night was bowling followed by all-you-can-drink and all-you-can-eat-yakiniku with everyone from the Board of Education (our section plus the general affairs, sports & recreation, lifelong learning and culture sections). It wasn't my best game by any stretch of imagination, but considering that I think it's a great thing if I make it past 70, my scores of 99 and 88 were more than satisfactory. The yakiniku afterwards was nice, too, since it's been a while since I've had meat for dinner. =P (Yes, I've been back on my "too-lazy-to-cook diet" of raw veggies for dinner recently.)
Then today I went to Aomori City with a coworker-friend (Muranaka-san whom I mentioned in my Aki Matsuri post). We went to the Michinoku Traditional Wooden Boat Museum in the morning, had lunch in the 14th floor restaurant at Aspam (great view of the sea!), checked out the Youkai (Japanese demons/spirits/monsters) at the Aomori Kyodokan (Culture Museum), and coffee/tea & desserts at Patisserie & Cafe Chandola.
The Boat Museum was right by the water, so before going in we stopped to take a look and to breathe in the sea air. Living in the middle of Aomori Prefecture, I always forget that Japan is an island and that it's not that far for me to go to the sea/ocean. It was also interested to see lots of old men out fishing; I didn't think they would be able to catch anything that late in the morning (10am-ish?) but apparently fish are still out at that time.
I didn't know what to expect of the Boat Museum (other than seeing different boats), but it was pretty cool to see fishing gear--like three-pronged spear-like things for getting uni (sea urchin) and wakame (seaweed) collecting things. (I didn't take any pictures inside the museum, but I'm sure you can find some online! =P) It was also neat walking through a wooden boat that they made (and sailed to Hokkaido, I think) using old time methods, as well as a Chinese junk used in a drama.
Lunch at Aspam was good. We actually had "dessert" before lunch, in the form of hotate (scallop) soft serve ice cream!! It was pretty salty and the more you ate the stronger the scallop taste got, but it wasn't weird-tasting enough to prevent me from finishing it. =P Then we went up to the 14th floor restaurant for a proper lunch. Even though Friday's kyushoku (school lunch) was curry, I ended up going for the seafood curry set. ^__^ It was tasty, but really filling. The nice thing about the restaurant was that we could choose to sit at a counter looking out to the sea. With my natural habit of eating quickly combined with all my practice gobbling down kyushoku, I usually finish my meals in about 10-15 minutes, but the atmosphere was so relaxing it even slowed down my eating pace! For once I managed to enjoy a leisurely meal. (I'm sure the interesting conversation(s) I was having with Muranaka-san also helped to slow me down.)
After lunch it was onto the "main event." When I talked with Muranaka-san at the enkai (party) after taiko for Aki Matsuri, he mentioned the youkai exhibit going on at the Kyodokan. Thanks to manga like xxxHolic, Hyakki Yakou Shou, Natsume Yuujinchou and Mononoke I've gotten to know a little bit about Japanese demons/spirits, so I was really interested in checking out the exhibit.
And I'm really glad I went because I was able to see lots of interesting pictures/displays. For example, there was a series of images hyaku monogatari (100 stories), an Edo period game where people got together at night, lit 100 candles and told 100 "ghost" (I use the term loosely, here) stories--blowing out one candle with each store. When they finished telling the stories, apparently some sort of creature/ghost would appear. The one thing I didn't understand was why people would want to summon a supernatural creature, but various online sources suggest it was used as a test of courage. I'd actually read about it in xxxHolic before, but I didn't really get what it was all about until today.
There was also a set of scrolls depicting people who had died undergoing judgment and receiving punishment according to their sins in life. Apparently the scrolls were linked to Buddhist belief and were shown to children as cautionary tales, i.e. "if you do bad things like this, this is how you'll be punished". I thought it was interesting because it reminded me of Dante's Inferno and the various circles of Hell.
They also had some extremely creepy tengu (bird-like creatures with long beaks/noses) "mummies"--they were far too real-looking for my comfort!
Apart from the exhibit, there was also the permanent collection which had ancient stuff (pottery, axeheads, etc.), wildlife and "olden time" clothes/housewares, etc. from all over Aomori Prefecture. It was especially interesting to see a Japanese person's depiction of foreigners who came to Japan. Oh, and there was a chart of Tsugaru and Nanbu ben words for body parts which I thought was pretty awesome!
When we finished at the Kyodokan, we went to the main street to look for a place to have coffee. We found a shop (Chandola) right away, but when I looked at the menu and all the desserts offered I realized that I was still pretty full and suggested that we keep walking. I wasn't hungry, but I did want to find a coffee shop or someplace where we could drink tea/coffee and chat. (I guess I felt like I wanted a slightly more casual atmosphere than Chandola seemed to have.) The next shop that we saw was already closed, though, so we ended up going back to Chandola.
I (re-)learned then that I have very little self-control when it comes to sweets. Despite all my protests of not being hungry, I ended up ordering a chocolate parfait along with my Darjeeling tea (the picture was just too tempting!) And it was delicious. The vanilla ice cream had what I presumed were real flecks of vanilla bean, and the chocolate ice cream was also good. Plus there was mango and raspberry sauce--yum! I was also quite impressed that they had a glass-covered tea light to keep the tea warm, and that they brought a timer to the table with the tea so you'd know when it was done steeping!
In a rare instance of my "separate stomach for desserts" failing me, however, I only actually managed to eat about 1/2 to 2/3 of the parfait and had to rely on Muranaka-san to finish it off for me. ^^;;
After that it was back to Towada!
It was a really fun trip, but I felt a bit bad because I was the one who asked him if he wanted to hang out over the long weekend but he was the one who ending doing all the driving and planning for the trip. ^^;; He also paid for everything--except for the hotate soft serve. @_@ We actually had a minor tussle over the Chandola bill (which I had managed to grab slightly before him but didn't move out of his reach fast enough), but I ended up giving up because I felt like it was better to gracefully accept his kindness than to insist on having my way. (But I'm definitely doing the treating the next time we hang out!!)
That aside, though, it really was a great day. I really appreciated getting to see things I wouldn't have ventured out to see on my own. Plus I learned a lot--not just from the places, but also from our conversations. For example, somehow we got to talking about the Governor General of Canada (hereafter GG), and I realized that I really didn't know much about the position: only that the GG was the ambassador for the Queen and that the function was mostly ceremonial. I remembered Adrienne Clarkson, but I blanked on the current GG's name--well, I thought it was "Michelle", but it's actually Michaëlle Jean. I also told Muranaka-san that the Prime Minister picked the GG, but actually, the PM only recommends a choice, and the Queen actually does the appointing.
But really, I had no idea that the role of GG included such a lofty responsibilities as being the "guarantor of responsible government" and "Commander-in-Chief" of Canada (although, again, "Commander-in-Chief is pretty much a title that only requires "honour[ing], recogniz[ing] and encourag[ing] Canadian troops." But at least I was right about the GG welcoming foreign dignitaries and promoting Canadian culture.
Other than that, I also learned from Muranaka-san that the origin of "unlucky 13" is from the Last Supper. Since Jesus plus the 12 disciples made 13 at the dinner table, it became a superstition that 13 people at a table would result in one person's death within the year. There are other opinions, but Nathaniel Lachenmeyer, author of "13: The Story of the World's Most Notorious Superstition" suggests that most of the other origin stories are the result of people going back and imposing the superstition on older stories; the Last Supper story is the one that was generally known/accepted when the superstition was first recorded.
I think Muranaka-san is a good influence on me because he likes history and enjoys studying. I like history, too, but I've been too lazy to study. After talking with him, though, I feel like I want to start doing some studying of my own again--Canadian or Japanese history, or just something! Got to keep my brain active!
Anyway, after coming back from Aomori I had a bit of time to relax at home before going to Hide-san's house for conversational Japanese practice. I got lots of advice for good places to go eat while Nathan's in Japan. ^__^ So it was pretty much a full day of speaking Japanese for me (which is good because I don't really study on my own). Well, admittedly when I was really stuck for an explanation in Japanese with Muranaka-san, I ended up saying things in English (and usually he could understand) or using my dictionary, but it was mostly Japanese. =P
When I came back from that (and grocery shopping) I noticed a white envelope sticking out from my mailbox. I didn't think I was expecting anything, but when I got to it I found the xxxHolic/Tsubasa Chronicles drama CD I'd sent away for in the summer! (I could get it by sending in stamps I collected from the special manga/DVD editions of xxxHolic 14-15 and Tsubasa Chronicles 26-27!) And the great thing is that the booklet has the script, so I can actually figure out what exactly they're saying!
Then when I woke up this morning, instead of just checking the weather on TV (like I usually do), I ended up surfing randomly for a bit. And I found a show called Top Runner (or something like that) interviewing Oguri Shun!!! <3 They showed clips of his early work, like his debut in the 1995 NHK drama Hachidai Shogun Yoshimune. When talking about the drama, Oguri Shun said that he thought that if Shogun Yoshimune had ruled longer, Japan might be a country more like Canada!
He explained that although he didn't know much about Canada, when he visited, he saw that Canada had both English and French (languages and culture) and he thought that made Canada a country more open to different peoples/cultures. So he thought that if Yoshimune had ruled longer, Japan might've had a greater influx of foreign culture/learning and would be a more international country now. (Shogun Yoshimune relaxed the rules restricing the importation of foreign books into Japan and started rangaku, Western studies.) Go Canada!
So yes, my long weekend is off to an awesome start so far! And I still have the Kirita Jinja Matsuri (shrine festival) this afternoon, plus all of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to look forward to!
For a while I've been wondering if I made the right decision to stay in Towada instead of traveling somewhere (overseas or within Japan) for this five-day weekend (a.k.a. "Silver Week"). But things have gotten off to such an awesome start that I'm really happy that I made the choice to stay put!
Friday night was bowling followed by all-you-can-drink and all-you-can-eat-yakiniku with everyone from the Board of Education (our section plus the general affairs, sports & recreation, lifelong learning and culture sections). It wasn't my best game by any stretch of imagination, but considering that I think it's a great thing if I make it past 70, my scores of 99 and 88 were more than satisfactory. The yakiniku afterwards was nice, too, since it's been a while since I've had meat for dinner. =P (Yes, I've been back on my "too-lazy-to-cook diet" of raw veggies for dinner recently.)
Then today I went to Aomori City with a coworker-friend (Muranaka-san whom I mentioned in my Aki Matsuri post). We went to the Michinoku Traditional Wooden Boat Museum in the morning, had lunch in the 14th floor restaurant at Aspam (great view of the sea!), checked out the Youkai (Japanese demons/spirits/monsters) at the Aomori Kyodokan (Culture Museum), and coffee/tea & desserts at Patisserie & Cafe Chandola.
The Boat Museum was right by the water, so before going in we stopped to take a look and to breathe in the sea air. Living in the middle of Aomori Prefecture, I always forget that Japan is an island and that it's not that far for me to go to the sea/ocean. It was also interested to see lots of old men out fishing; I didn't think they would be able to catch anything that late in the morning (10am-ish?) but apparently fish are still out at that time.I didn't know what to expect of the Boat Museum (other than seeing different boats), but it was pretty cool to see fishing gear--like three-pronged spear-like things for getting uni (sea urchin) and wakame (seaweed) collecting things. (I didn't take any pictures inside the museum, but I'm sure you can find some online! =P) It was also neat walking through a wooden boat that they made (and sailed to Hokkaido, I think) using old time methods, as well as a Chinese junk used in a drama.
Lunch at Aspam was good. We actually had "dessert" before lunch, in the form of hotate (scallop) soft serve ice cream!! It was pretty salty and the more you ate the stronger the scallop taste got, but it wasn't weird-tasting enough to prevent me from finishing it. =P Then we went up to the 14th floor restaurant for a proper lunch. Even though Friday's kyushoku (school lunch) was curry, I ended up going for the seafood curry set. ^__^ It was tasty, but really filling. The nice thing about the restaurant was that we could choose to sit at a counter looking out to the sea. With my natural habit of eating quickly combined with all my practice gobbling down kyushoku, I usually finish my meals in about 10-15 minutes, but the atmosphere was so relaxing it even slowed down my eating pace! For once I managed to enjoy a leisurely meal. (I'm sure the interesting conversation(s) I was having with Muranaka-san also helped to slow me down.)
After lunch it was onto the "main event." When I talked with Muranaka-san at the enkai (party) after taiko for Aki Matsuri, he mentioned the youkai exhibit going on at the Kyodokan. Thanks to manga like xxxHolic, Hyakki Yakou Shou, Natsume Yuujinchou and Mononoke I've gotten to know a little bit about Japanese demons/spirits, so I was really interested in checking out the exhibit.
And I'm really glad I went because I was able to see lots of interesting pictures/displays. For example, there was a series of images hyaku monogatari (100 stories), an Edo period game where people got together at night, lit 100 candles and told 100 "ghost" (I use the term loosely, here) stories--blowing out one candle with each store. When they finished telling the stories, apparently some sort of creature/ghost would appear. The one thing I didn't understand was why people would want to summon a supernatural creature, but various online sources suggest it was used as a test of courage. I'd actually read about it in xxxHolic before, but I didn't really get what it was all about until today.There was also a set of scrolls depicting people who had died undergoing judgment and receiving punishment according to their sins in life. Apparently the scrolls were linked to Buddhist belief and were shown to children as cautionary tales, i.e. "if you do bad things like this, this is how you'll be punished". I thought it was interesting because it reminded me of Dante's Inferno and the various circles of Hell.
They also had some extremely creepy tengu (bird-like creatures with long beaks/noses) "mummies"--they were far too real-looking for my comfort!
Apart from the exhibit, there was also the permanent collection which had ancient stuff (pottery, axeheads, etc.), wildlife and "olden time" clothes/housewares, etc. from all over Aomori Prefecture. It was especially interesting to see a Japanese person's depiction of foreigners who came to Japan. Oh, and there was a chart of Tsugaru and Nanbu ben words for body parts which I thought was pretty awesome!When we finished at the Kyodokan, we went to the main street to look for a place to have coffee. We found a shop (Chandola) right away, but when I looked at the menu and all the desserts offered I realized that I was still pretty full and suggested that we keep walking. I wasn't hungry, but I did want to find a coffee shop or someplace where we could drink tea/coffee and chat. (I guess I felt like I wanted a slightly more casual atmosphere than Chandola seemed to have.) The next shop that we saw was already closed, though, so we ended up going back to Chandola.
I (re-)learned then that I have very little self-control when it comes to sweets. Despite all my protests of not being hungry, I ended up ordering a chocolate parfait along with my Darjeeling tea (the picture was just too tempting!) And it was delicious. The vanilla ice cream had what I presumed were real flecks of vanilla bean, and the chocolate ice cream was also good. Plus there was mango and raspberry sauce--yum! I was also quite impressed that they had a glass-covered tea light to keep the tea warm, and that they brought a timer to the table with the tea so you'd know when it was done steeping!In a rare instance of my "separate stomach for desserts" failing me, however, I only actually managed to eat about 1/2 to 2/3 of the parfait and had to rely on Muranaka-san to finish it off for me. ^^;;
After that it was back to Towada!
It was a really fun trip, but I felt a bit bad because I was the one who asked him if he wanted to hang out over the long weekend but he was the one who ending doing all the driving and planning for the trip. ^^;; He also paid for everything--except for the hotate soft serve. @_@ We actually had a minor tussle over the Chandola bill (which I had managed to grab slightly before him but didn't move out of his reach fast enough), but I ended up giving up because I felt like it was better to gracefully accept his kindness than to insist on having my way. (But I'm definitely doing the treating the next time we hang out!!)
That aside, though, it really was a great day. I really appreciated getting to see things I wouldn't have ventured out to see on my own. Plus I learned a lot--not just from the places, but also from our conversations. For example, somehow we got to talking about the Governor General of Canada (hereafter GG), and I realized that I really didn't know much about the position: only that the GG was the ambassador for the Queen and that the function was mostly ceremonial. I remembered Adrienne Clarkson, but I blanked on the current GG's name--well, I thought it was "Michelle", but it's actually Michaëlle Jean. I also told Muranaka-san that the Prime Minister picked the GG, but actually, the PM only recommends a choice, and the Queen actually does the appointing.
But really, I had no idea that the role of GG included such a lofty responsibilities as being the "guarantor of responsible government" and "Commander-in-Chief" of Canada (although, again, "Commander-in-Chief is pretty much a title that only requires "honour[ing], recogniz[ing] and encourag[ing] Canadian troops." But at least I was right about the GG welcoming foreign dignitaries and promoting Canadian culture.
Other than that, I also learned from Muranaka-san that the origin of "unlucky 13" is from the Last Supper. Since Jesus plus the 12 disciples made 13 at the dinner table, it became a superstition that 13 people at a table would result in one person's death within the year. There are other opinions, but Nathaniel Lachenmeyer, author of "13: The Story of the World's Most Notorious Superstition" suggests that most of the other origin stories are the result of people going back and imposing the superstition on older stories; the Last Supper story is the one that was generally known/accepted when the superstition was first recorded.
I think Muranaka-san is a good influence on me because he likes history and enjoys studying. I like history, too, but I've been too lazy to study. After talking with him, though, I feel like I want to start doing some studying of my own again--Canadian or Japanese history, or just something! Got to keep my brain active!
Anyway, after coming back from Aomori I had a bit of time to relax at home before going to Hide-san's house for conversational Japanese practice. I got lots of advice for good places to go eat while Nathan's in Japan. ^__^ So it was pretty much a full day of speaking Japanese for me (which is good because I don't really study on my own). Well, admittedly when I was really stuck for an explanation in Japanese with Muranaka-san, I ended up saying things in English (and usually he could understand) or using my dictionary, but it was mostly Japanese. =P
When I came back from that (and grocery shopping) I noticed a white envelope sticking out from my mailbox. I didn't think I was expecting anything, but when I got to it I found the xxxHolic/Tsubasa Chronicles drama CD I'd sent away for in the summer! (I could get it by sending in stamps I collected from the special manga/DVD editions of xxxHolic 14-15 and Tsubasa Chronicles 26-27!) And the great thing is that the booklet has the script, so I can actually figure out what exactly they're saying!Then when I woke up this morning, instead of just checking the weather on TV (like I usually do), I ended up surfing randomly for a bit. And I found a show called Top Runner (or something like that) interviewing Oguri Shun!!! <3 They showed clips of his early work, like his debut in the 1995 NHK drama Hachidai Shogun Yoshimune. When talking about the drama, Oguri Shun said that he thought that if Shogun Yoshimune had ruled longer, Japan might be a country more like Canada!
He explained that although he didn't know much about Canada, when he visited, he saw that Canada had both English and French (languages and culture) and he thought that made Canada a country more open to different peoples/cultures. So he thought that if Yoshimune had ruled longer, Japan might've had a greater influx of foreign culture/learning and would be a more international country now. (Shogun Yoshimune relaxed the rules restricing the importation of foreign books into Japan and started rangaku, Western studies.) Go Canada!
So yes, my long weekend is off to an awesome start so far! And I still have the Kirita Jinja Matsuri (shrine festival) this afternoon, plus all of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to look forward to!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Good timing
Or possibly bad timing from my wallet's (not to mention my budget's) point of view!
I randomly decided to head to WonderGoo today to check out manga and DVDs. Turns out two of my favourite series had tankoubon (i.e. graphic novel/trade paperback editions, as opposed to anthology magazine installments) released recently: 君に届け Kimi ni Todoke (hereafter referred to as KnT) #9 and 幸せ喫茶三丁目 Shiawase Kissa San Choume #14.
In front of the stack of KnT #9 books was a small sign advertising the start of the KnT anime!!! Unfortunately the scheduling is terrible: it airs on Nippon Television on Tuesdays from 24:59-25:29 (i.e. Wednesdays from 00:59-01:29), starting on Oct. 6th! @_@ And of course it has to be that Wednesdays are usually the days I visit an elementary school in the morning before going to Kirita in the afternoon. *sigh* I'm torn between not wanting to miss the chance to actually watch an anime series as it's airing (rather than waiting for the English DVD releases) and not wanting to be a zombie at work.
Knowing my lack and discipline, though (not to mention taking into consideration the fact that I often sleep between 1am and 2am anyway), I expect that I'll be watching the show for the first couple of weeks at least.
I also saw that the recently published (came out 9/12!) Margaret Betsuma anthology had KnT furoku (extra, promotional items): a comic cover and a promotional DVD for the KnT anime! Naturally, I had to buy that as well. (Yes, advertising promotions pretty much always work on me--and I'm also a sucker for "special/limited editions.")
And from looking through that, as well as the small promotional insert inside KnT #9, I learned that there's an online clothing store selling a poncho/sweater thing that the main character, Sawako, wore in volume #7! The store is also selling a "Sawako-image" one-piece dress & parka (hoody) set!
Because, as I said, I'm a sucker for advertising, I've already pre-ordered the "poncho" and I'm just waiting a couple more days (for the start of the next billing period for my credit card) before I order the one-piece set. And I fully recognize that I'm being a little crazy considering that I recently commented (in a forum) on how I think Japanese women's clothes are really cute on Japanese girls/women, but I don't think they really suit me. o_O;;
But yeah, chalk it all up to my desire to make the most of the fact that I'm living in Japan--while I still can. After all, I'm not going to be able to get all these "limited edition" things (or even the regular releases of manga tankoubon/manga anthologies) once I move back to Canada.
Apart from the KnT stuff, I also learned while I was browsing manga in WonderGoo that a Kobato (one of the newer CLAMP series) anime will also start from 8pm on Tuesday, Oct. 6 (on NHK-BS2).
And a drama series for My Girl by Sahara Mizu (a touching story about a man left with a daughter he never knew he had when an old girlfriend passes away) is also starting in October! It will air every Friday night at 11:15pm on TV Asahi starting from Oct. 9!
I'm really excited about all these shows! It's really too bad that they're all starting in October (while I'm still crazy busy), but I'm sure I'll manage to find the time to watch even with work and all the various other obligations. ^___^
I randomly decided to head to WonderGoo today to check out manga and DVDs. Turns out two of my favourite series had tankoubon (i.e. graphic novel/trade paperback editions, as opposed to anthology magazine installments) released recently: 君に届け Kimi ni Todoke (hereafter referred to as KnT) #9 and 幸せ喫茶三丁目 Shiawase Kissa San Choume #14.
In front of the stack of KnT #9 books was a small sign advertising the start of the KnT anime!!! Unfortunately the scheduling is terrible: it airs on Nippon Television on Tuesdays from 24:59-25:29 (i.e. Wednesdays from 00:59-01:29), starting on Oct. 6th! @_@ And of course it has to be that Wednesdays are usually the days I visit an elementary school in the morning before going to Kirita in the afternoon. *sigh* I'm torn between not wanting to miss the chance to actually watch an anime series as it's airing (rather than waiting for the English DVD releases) and not wanting to be a zombie at work.
Knowing my lack and discipline, though (not to mention taking into consideration the fact that I often sleep between 1am and 2am anyway), I expect that I'll be watching the show for the first couple of weeks at least.
I also saw that the recently published (came out 9/12!) Margaret Betsuma anthology had KnT furoku (extra, promotional items): a comic cover and a promotional DVD for the KnT anime! Naturally, I had to buy that as well. (Yes, advertising promotions pretty much always work on me--and I'm also a sucker for "special/limited editions.")
And from looking through that, as well as the small promotional insert inside KnT #9, I learned that there's an online clothing store selling a poncho/sweater thing that the main character, Sawako, wore in volume #7! The store is also selling a "Sawako-image" one-piece dress & parka (hoody) set!
Because, as I said, I'm a sucker for advertising, I've already pre-ordered the "poncho" and I'm just waiting a couple more days (for the start of the next billing period for my credit card) before I order the one-piece set. And I fully recognize that I'm being a little crazy considering that I recently commented (in a forum) on how I think Japanese women's clothes are really cute on Japanese girls/women, but I don't think they really suit me. o_O;;
But yeah, chalk it all up to my desire to make the most of the fact that I'm living in Japan--while I still can. After all, I'm not going to be able to get all these "limited edition" things (or even the regular releases of manga tankoubon/manga anthologies) once I move back to Canada.
Apart from the KnT stuff, I also learned while I was browsing manga in WonderGoo that a Kobato (one of the newer CLAMP series) anime will also start from 8pm on Tuesday, Oct. 6 (on NHK-BS2).
And a drama series for My Girl by Sahara Mizu (a touching story about a man left with a daughter he never knew he had when an old girlfriend passes away) is also starting in October! It will air every Friday night at 11:15pm on TV Asahi starting from Oct. 9!
I'm really excited about all these shows! It's really too bad that they're all starting in October (while I'm still crazy busy), but I'm sure I'll manage to find the time to watch even with work and all the various other obligations. ^___^
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
The perils of aging
OK, so the title is a bit over-dramatic, I know, but I've been forced to think quite a bit about aging recently.
Going home this summer I really felt "Wow, I've gotten old." I remember the first time I came back to Canada from Japan (for Alan & Liz's "Excellent Adventure") I had no problem staying up 'til the wee hours of the morning and then getting up early to meet someone for breakfast. Similarly, I never once considered giving up supervising the all-nighter in favour of taking shifts.
Not so this year. Going into camp I already suspected that I might not be able to handle the all-nighter on my own. Then on the actual night, I ended up having to take a nap from around 11pm-1am to get energized for the rest of the night.
Recently, too, I've been in a state of near-constant fatigue. Last week there were actually two nights when I felt so exhausted I actually showered at 10pm and was asleep by 11:30pm! And it wasn't that I just decided to sleep earlier, it was that I was actually falling alseep at the computer and knew if I didn't put myself to bed properly I'd end up sleeping sitting in my chair (resting my head on the backrest of my sofa)!
It was quite shocking for me since I've always been a night owl. No matter how tired or sleepy I was during the day, if I made it to 10pm, I usually perked up and would stay wide awake until 12am or later.
And I've always been able to sleep very late but still wake up at the appropriate time in the past, but recently my body's been rebelling and showing me that I can't act like a high schooler/university student anymore--not sleeping, not eating properly, etc.--without paying for it later on.
This past Saturday, I slept around 4am and ended up waking up late for my Japanese dance rehearsal! I was supposed to be at the Bunka Center at 9:30am, but I woke up at 9:15am and so didn't make it there until nearly 10am!! It was somewhat mortifying because it was a full group (about 12 of us?) rehearsal, so everyone had to wait for me!! @_@;;
And I guess with all the stuff with my dad's surgery and ongoing recovery--and the consequent lifestyle changes--I should really know by now how important it is to take care of your health. My eating habits have improved a bit--still eating lots of locally grown produce!--but I really haven't improved my sleeping habits at all. ^^;;
Ah, it's hard to deal with the changes that occur with aging!
On a completely random note, one of the reasons I stayed up so late on Saturday was because I was watching TV. After watching Otomen (a J-drama based on a manga of the same name about a seemingly "manly man" high school student--he's captain of the kendo team, for example--who secretly loves girly things like baking and sewing), I happened to catch a bit of a program talking about special dog "hair designs."
It was INSANE!! People spend hundreds of hours getting their dogs' hair cut and dyed in the most outrageous fashion! One of the tamer designs they showed was the "panda." The salon that was featured in the program charged 10,000 yen (~$100) for this cut & dye job! (And it takes about 2 hours!) Unfortunately I wasn't able to find a photo of it, but the craziest one was a "flamenco" design. This poor toy poodle had most of its fur dyed red like a flamenco dress. The fur on its head was also fluffed out like a crazy big perm. That cut/dye job took 6 hours and cost 20,000 yen (~$200)!! I just can't believe that people would do such things to their pets!
Monday, April 27, 2009
Really wishing my Japanese was better...
As mentioned a couple of times previously, I'm currently watching a Japanese medical drama called "Godhand Teru" on TV. The first two episodes I watched, I thought "Well, I'll just keep watching because I like Hiraoka Yuta" (the lead actor).
This week's episode (episode 3), though, was pretty interesting, and it really made me wish my Japanese and/or medical knowledge was better.
...
Not that I think anyone reading this is likely to care, but just to be safe...
**SPOILER WARNING**
...
...
...
...
...
So yeah, the central plot of this week's episode was that the ace pitcher from the last Koshien tournament (the BIGGEST deal in Japanese high school baseball, and followed widely across the country) had fibrosarcoma in his right thumb and the doctor in charge of his case--a highly skilled young surgeon completely antagonistic towards Teru and his bumbling--advised that the only way to deal with it was to amputate his thumb. Of course, doing so would also put an end to his dreams of a future in baseball.
Teru wanted to find a way to deal with the tumor that would allow the patient to continue playing baseball. Despite much research and agonizing, the scheduled surgery date came and it seemed like there was no other way but to amputate when Teru's desire to protect the boy's dreams for the future enabled him to enter "god hand" (i.e. genius surgeon) mode and he came up with autotransplantation as a solution...
And that's where I couldn't really follow the specifics. In the closing scenes, they showed the boy with his right thumb sewn into his side and they explained that it was being naturally healed inside his body, but I can't figure out how it works, specifically. I mean, I get the general idea (from the show and from a cursory web search on "autotransplantation"), but it bugs me that I can't get a logical picture of the theory/process in my head.
Any med people who can help me out with this?
[Edit May 27, '09: Watched the fansub and learned that what happened was they cut open his thumb and extracted all the affected cells. Only by making sure they removed every bit of tumorous flesh could they be sure it wouldn't spread to other parts of his body. While they were removing the tumorous cells, they discovered it had spread to his tendon. So that's when Teru had to go into "god hand" mode (again) to cut away only the tumorous parts (very difficult) from the tendon. Then they sewed his thumb into his abdomen because there are a lot of fat and blood vessels to aid self-healing--that's the autotransplantation, transferring fat tissue from his abdomen to his thumb.]
This week's episode (episode 3), though, was pretty interesting, and it really made me wish my Japanese and/or medical knowledge was better.
...
Not that I think anyone reading this is likely to care, but just to be safe...
**SPOILER WARNING**
...
...
...
...
...
So yeah, the central plot of this week's episode was that the ace pitcher from the last Koshien tournament (the BIGGEST deal in Japanese high school baseball, and followed widely across the country) had fibrosarcoma in his right thumb and the doctor in charge of his case--a highly skilled young surgeon completely antagonistic towards Teru and his bumbling--advised that the only way to deal with it was to amputate his thumb. Of course, doing so would also put an end to his dreams of a future in baseball.
Teru wanted to find a way to deal with the tumor that would allow the patient to continue playing baseball. Despite much research and agonizing, the scheduled surgery date came and it seemed like there was no other way but to amputate when Teru's desire to protect the boy's dreams for the future enabled him to enter "god hand" (i.e. genius surgeon) mode and he came up with autotransplantation as a solution...
And that's where I couldn't really follow the specifics. In the closing scenes, they showed the boy with his right thumb sewn into his side and they explained that it was being naturally healed inside his body, but I can't figure out how it works, specifically. I mean, I get the general idea (from the show and from a cursory web search on "autotransplantation"), but it bugs me that I can't get a logical picture of the theory/process in my head.
Any med people who can help me out with this?
[Edit May 27, '09: Watched the fansub and learned that what happened was they cut open his thumb and extracted all the affected cells. Only by making sure they removed every bit of tumorous flesh could they be sure it wouldn't spread to other parts of his body. While they were removing the tumorous cells, they discovered it had spread to his tendon. So that's when Teru had to go into "god hand" mode (again) to cut away only the tumorous parts (very difficult) from the tendon. Then they sewed his thumb into his abdomen because there are a lot of fat and blood vessels to aid self-healing--that's the autotransplantation, transferring fat tissue from his abdomen to his thumb.]
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Another fast update
Still haven't had time to don't feel like writing a real post yet. But I do have a bunch of pictures I've uploaded to Facebook!
Tokyo in Transit
Anaheim Days 1-2
Anaheim Day 3, LAX
Hanami
Towada Yosakoi Part I
Towada Yosakoi Part II
Other than that, the quick update on my life is:
- work is busy
- my apartment is a disaster zone (again/still)
- I enjoyed a BBQ in Chuo Koen (even though it was windy and rather cold) with the Towada, Shich, and Noheji ALTs, plus a few rounds of Mafia at Bryan's place on Thursday (April 23)
- I'm going to Hiroshima for Golden Week (May 2-5)
- the Kirita Sports Festival is May 17th
- I'm going to Sai Mura (FINALLY) on the weekend of May 23
- I recently finished watching the Tantei Gakuen Q (Detective Academy Q) anime--I enjoyed it, but the live action drama was better
- Along with Godhand Teru (see my previous post) on TV, I'm also currently watching Hotaru no Hikari on DVD; unfortunately I've only been able to get discs 1 and 2 from Tsutaya so far--seems like discs 3 & 4 are perpetually out... (HnH also happens to be the series I'm proof reading scanlations for at J-SiS.)
- Like many others, I changed to summer tires a couple of weeks ago and moved all the winter stuff (winter wipers, snow scraper, shovel) out of the car and thus was woefully unprepared for driving home through the SNOW after watching the Yosakoi Festival
And, on a completely random note, here's a little something I bought towards the end of February. Isn't he cute? Any suggestions for a name?
Tokyo in Transit
Anaheim Days 1-2
Anaheim Day 3, LAX
Hanami
Towada Yosakoi Part I
Towada Yosakoi Part II
Other than that, the quick update on my life is:
- work is busy
- my apartment is a disaster zone (again/still)
- I enjoyed a BBQ in Chuo Koen (even though it was windy and rather cold) with the Towada, Shich, and Noheji ALTs, plus a few rounds of Mafia at Bryan's place on Thursday (April 23)
- I'm going to Hiroshima for Golden Week (May 2-5)
- the Kirita Sports Festival is May 17th
- I'm going to Sai Mura (FINALLY) on the weekend of May 23
- I recently finished watching the Tantei Gakuen Q (Detective Academy Q) anime--I enjoyed it, but the live action drama was better
- Along with Godhand Teru (see my previous post) on TV, I'm also currently watching Hotaru no Hikari on DVD; unfortunately I've only been able to get discs 1 and 2 from Tsutaya so far--seems like discs 3 & 4 are perpetually out... (HnH also happens to be the series I'm proof reading scanlations for at J-SiS.)
- Like many others, I changed to summer tires a couple of weeks ago and moved all the winter stuff (winter wipers, snow scraper, shovel) out of the car and thus was woefully unprepared for driving home through the SNOW after watching the Yosakoi Festival
And, on a completely random note, here's a little something I bought towards the end of February. Isn't he cute? Any suggestions for a name?
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Godhand Teru
Because it's on my mind, a quick post!
I was randomly browsing through the manga at Tsutaya last Saturday when I noticed a series called Godhand Teru. It was on display because a new TV drama for the series was airing on TBS. Looking at the picture for the drama, I saw that Hiroaka Yuta (not the most famous actor, but I've liked him since watching him in "Swing Girls") would be playing the lead!!
Unfortunately I had just missed the first episode by a couple of hours (it aired just before 8pm, I was at Tsutaya a between 9 and 10pm), but I ended up staying home tonight and catching the second episode!
Admittedly the story is hardly believable--a young boy whose surgeon father died in a car accident after saving his life decides to become a surgeon but is clumsy and only manages to unleash his true capabilities ("god hands") when his patients' lives are in danger--but I'm going to try to follow it and see if it grows on me.
At least I'm finally getting my money's worth out of the bi-monthly fees I pay to NHK! (Before, I only watched TV to check the weather forecast!)
I was randomly browsing through the manga at Tsutaya last Saturday when I noticed a series called Godhand Teru. It was on display because a new TV drama for the series was airing on TBS. Looking at the picture for the drama, I saw that Hiroaka Yuta (not the most famous actor, but I've liked him since watching him in "Swing Girls") would be playing the lead!!
Unfortunately I had just missed the first episode by a couple of hours (it aired just before 8pm, I was at Tsutaya a between 9 and 10pm), but I ended up staying home tonight and catching the second episode!
Admittedly the story is hardly believable--a young boy whose surgeon father died in a car accident after saving his life decides to become a surgeon but is clumsy and only manages to unleash his true capabilities ("god hands") when his patients' lives are in danger--but I'm going to try to follow it and see if it grows on me.
At least I'm finally getting my money's worth out of the bi-monthly fees I pay to NHK! (Before, I only watched TV to check the weather forecast!)
Monday, July 21, 2008
Heading into Summer
It's been a busy couple of weeks--weekends especially.
Of course, the ironic thing about blogging for me is that the more I have to write about, the less likely I am to actually write! I definitely admire the people who take the time to update their blogs even when things get busy. For me, the very things that make blogging worthwhile are the things that consume my energy so that at the end of the day, I don't feel like blogging. ^^;;
Anyway, I guess I'll start with last weekend.
Friday (July 11th) was a busy day. I was supposed to have an office day, but Towada Junior High School had a parent day (parents come into the school to observe one period of actual classes), so they asked if I could go to the school.
After teaching four classes of ichinensei (only the fifth period class was the observation class), I went to Kirita to watch/help with the sannensei's cooking class. They made okonomiyaki and cupcakes, which turned out pretty well in spite of the lack of time (usually cooking classes are two periods, but this was only one period.)
Then it was off to the farewell party with the Shidoka (Towada City Education Department, Guidance Section) staff. Allie and I were doing the MC'ing in Japanese, so we met up early to divide up the parts and to practice. The bus was super late (more than half an hour, I think!) picking us, but we made it to the location (in Oirase Town) eventually.
Things went pretty well, and after the party it was off to a snack for the nijikai. This was definitely the most "out there" snack bar I've been to in Towada (although it was still pretty tame compared to the image I had of snacks before coming to Japan). Often when you do karaoke, they give you a score afterwards. At this particular place, at the end of the song they flashed a picture of a scantily clad girl on the screen. Then it was covered with a mosaic, and as the score was tallied, the pieces of the mosaic disappeared until the final score and the naked girl were revealed. (Obviously, the higher the score, the more of the girl you got to see.) It was very disconcerting at first, but then I learned to just look at the right of the screen for the score. They also had a wide assortment of hats/headgear which they got us to wear--bunny/cat ears, leis, etc.
(See Andy Farewell Party pictures here.)
Saturday I had to get up early to receive a delivery from CDJapan. (Even though I told myself I wasn't going to spend anymore money on new DVDs, I couldn't resist picking up the Avalon Memorial Box as a clearance special. ^^;; ) Then I cleaned the apartment and went grocery shopping in preparation for the dinner party on Sunday. I also made the soy sauce pork and eggs.
At night, it was shabu shabu at the restaurant in Oirase Roman Park (next to the brewery) for John's final Payday Friday (except it wasn't yet payday, and it wasn't a Friday either!). We hit Pilsen's after that, and most people went to karaoke at Festa afterwards; I went home after Pilsen's, though.
Sunday was an entire day spent cooking. I'm super slow at cutting vegetables, so it took me something like 2-3 hours just to get all the prep work done for my dishes. Of course, part of that was I wanted to make it special, so I cut the carrots into flowers and butterflies. (The flowers turned out well, but the butterflies looked demented.)
In the end though, I finished everything -- chicken rice, beef and broccoli, stir-fried veggies, yakisoba, and soy sauce pork & eggs -- in good time. Even though I actually screwed up the beef and broccoli (I forgot the oyster sauce when I was making the sauce, so after I finished plating it, I had to scoop the beef back up and cook it again with the oyster sauce!), it was the most popular dish. The chicken rice also went over very well, and the yakisoba was pretty good too. The stir-fried veggies were pretty mediocre, though, since I overcooked them while trying to get the broccoli cooked to a nice firmness. The soy sauce eggs and pork were OK, but since the pork chunks were small and they had sunk to the bottom of the pot, I think most people only ate the eggs. The taste was decent, but the colour wasn't dark enough--Japanese dark sauce simply doesn't compare to Chinese dark soy sauce.
Anyway, it was a successful dinner, although I cooked WAY too much (I had an entire pot of rice and plate of yakisoba leftover!) and had to force people to take leftovers home. The cake and cards for Andy and Kelly & Ron were well received too.
This weekend was also busy, although I had more time for relaxation/doing nothing. Friday, though, was non-stop. We had a kind of closing ceremony at Kirita for the end of the first term, plus a farewell ceremony for Higashi-sensei (she was working as the Japanese teacher while another teacher was on maternity leave, but that teacher is coming back in August). Actually, Higashi-sensei's leaving made the entire week busy, since I spent my nights from Tuesday-Thursday making her farewell present (a Rirrakuma doll). (Thanks to the start of English speech contest preparation, I was also leaving Kirita later during the week.)
(Higashi-sensei is probably my second favourite teacher--after my JTE, Tomabechi-sensei--at Kirita. She ALWAYS helps me when I have Japanese/kanji questions, plus she's just fun and interesting to talk with. I'm really going to miss her!)
After that most of the teachers went bowling with the teachers from Kamikirita (the nearest elementary school). I was terrible, as usual. Also, the Alley had a beer frame challenge: if every player in the lane got a strike/spare in a single frame, each player would get a six pack of beer. I was the last person to bowl in our lane, and at one point in the first game, everyone before me got a spare/strike! Up to that point I had been getting a lot of gutter balls, or maybe 3-5 pins in one go, so I was really freaked out. To make the pressure even worse, Kyoto-sensei (vice principal) came over to our lane to watch when he saw we had the potential to get the beer. My first ball (throw? I don't know bowling terminology!) actually knocked down 8 pins! I was SO relieved. It wasn't a strike, but at least it was decent. Unfortunately, though, that left the two pins on the right for me to knock down. Needless to say, I missed, but at least I performed credibly under the pressure. My final score in that game was 58.
The next game went much better. Although I was pretty performing the same for the bulk of the game, in the last three or four frames, I decided to try switching to a 10 ball (I'd been using a 9). This resulted in me getting my first spare!! Then in the final frame, I actually got another spare plus got another 7-8 pins in the extra bowl! My final score for the second game was 84!!
I never thought I'd say this, but I think I need to get everyone to go bowling with me when I go back home so they can teach me some tricks!! (I'm sure I'm going to be bowling with the school again, so I'd like to manage a somewhat decent performance next time round!)
After bowling, I rushed home to change before meeting everyone at the Bunka (culture) Centre to catch the bus to the brewery. We had a good dinner at the Oirase Brewery for our end of first term/farewell Higashi-sensei enkai. Then it was back to central Towada for a nijikai at a snack.
Following the nijikai, Higashi-sensei, Tomabechi-sensei and I went to Coco's for tea and snacks (I had a mango parfait!). Even though we had all been pretty tired by the end of the nijikai, we still stuck around for about an hour, hour and a half talking. At the end of the night I drove them home.
(See Kirita enkai &etc. photos here.)
Saturday, I forced myself to get up at a decent hour (9 or 10 am, rather than 1 or 2pm) to give myself time to do laundry and cleaning and to take my car into the Eneos gas station for a shaken (bi-annual mandatory car maintenance tax) estimate. After that I headed out to Misawa to watch John and Sam perform The Emperor's New Clothes in Misawa. Kelly and Ron also went and we stuck around to help clean up (there wasn't much to do, since it was a super simple set) and eat the free food provided for the cast and their "family." Then Joe and Will met us at Paddy's for some drinks. I think the guys probably went out for more drinking afterwards, but I went home.
(See Emperor's New Clothes photos here - part 1 - and here - part 2.)
Sunday I had to wake up early again for yet another CDJapan delivery. Again, I couldn't resist ordering Koisuru Madori and Daremo Shiranai / Nobody Knows from their clearance sale. I spent the rest of the afternoon lounging around watching movies/dramas. I watched the Avalon movie (interesting, but very similar to .Hack//Sign) and most of the Yukan Club TV Series.
Then Allie picked me up and we met Juliet and Ron & Kelly at the old Kitazono ES house to go to Lake Towada for fireworks. ^_^ It was really busy, but it was fun! There was lots of festival food stalls (I feel a little guilty, though, since I never waited in line but just got everyone else to buy me food when they went. ^^;; ) and the fireworks were really well done. The display lasted about an hour and there were a lot of big, spectacular ones. By chance we also ended up sitting next to Kanae-san, Sakagami-san's daughter. ^_^ When we got back to (central) Towada, we decided to go to Coco's for dessert/snacks. I had another mango parfait, and a slice of Kelly's pizza.
(See Lake Towada Fireworks Festival pictures here.)
Even though it was late when I got home, I decided to finish off the Yukan Club series. I was pretty dumb, though, since I thought there was only an episode or two left. There were actually about four episodes left, so I ended up staying up until about 4am! When I turned off the lights to go to bed, it was already starting to get light outside!
So today (a holiday!) I slept in until 11am-12pm and spent the afternoon downloading manga scanlations and organizing and uploading photos to Facebook: EofA Trivia Night.
Of course, the ironic thing about blogging for me is that the more I have to write about, the less likely I am to actually write! I definitely admire the people who take the time to update their blogs even when things get busy. For me, the very things that make blogging worthwhile are the things that consume my energy so that at the end of the day, I don't feel like blogging. ^^;;
Anyway, I guess I'll start with last weekend.
Friday (July 11th) was a busy day. I was supposed to have an office day, but Towada Junior High School had a parent day (parents come into the school to observe one period of actual classes), so they asked if I could go to the school.
After teaching four classes of ichinensei (only the fifth period class was the observation class), I went to Kirita to watch/help with the sannensei's cooking class. They made okonomiyaki and cupcakes, which turned out pretty well in spite of the lack of time (usually cooking classes are two periods, but this was only one period.)
Then it was off to the farewell party with the Shidoka (Towada City Education Department, Guidance Section) staff. Allie and I were doing the MC'ing in Japanese, so we met up early to divide up the parts and to practice. The bus was super late (more than half an hour, I think!) picking us, but we made it to the location (in Oirase Town) eventually.
Things went pretty well, and after the party it was off to a snack for the nijikai. This was definitely the most "out there" snack bar I've been to in Towada (although it was still pretty tame compared to the image I had of snacks before coming to Japan). Often when you do karaoke, they give you a score afterwards. At this particular place, at the end of the song they flashed a picture of a scantily clad girl on the screen. Then it was covered with a mosaic, and as the score was tallied, the pieces of the mosaic disappeared until the final score and the naked girl were revealed. (Obviously, the higher the score, the more of the girl you got to see.) It was very disconcerting at first, but then I learned to just look at the right of the screen for the score. They also had a wide assortment of hats/headgear which they got us to wear--bunny/cat ears, leis, etc.
(See Andy Farewell Party pictures here.)
Saturday I had to get up early to receive a delivery from CDJapan. (Even though I told myself I wasn't going to spend anymore money on new DVDs, I couldn't resist picking up the Avalon Memorial Box as a clearance special. ^^;; ) Then I cleaned the apartment and went grocery shopping in preparation for the dinner party on Sunday. I also made the soy sauce pork and eggs.
At night, it was shabu shabu at the restaurant in Oirase Roman Park (next to the brewery) for John's final Payday Friday (except it wasn't yet payday, and it wasn't a Friday either!). We hit Pilsen's after that, and most people went to karaoke at Festa afterwards; I went home after Pilsen's, though.
Sunday was an entire day spent cooking. I'm super slow at cutting vegetables, so it took me something like 2-3 hours just to get all the prep work done for my dishes. Of course, part of that was I wanted to make it special, so I cut the carrots into flowers and butterflies. (The flowers turned out well, but the butterflies looked demented.)
In the end though, I finished everything -- chicken rice, beef and broccoli, stir-fried veggies, yakisoba, and soy sauce pork & eggs -- in good time. Even though I actually screwed up the beef and broccoli (I forgot the oyster sauce when I was making the sauce, so after I finished plating it, I had to scoop the beef back up and cook it again with the oyster sauce!), it was the most popular dish. The chicken rice also went over very well, and the yakisoba was pretty good too. The stir-fried veggies were pretty mediocre, though, since I overcooked them while trying to get the broccoli cooked to a nice firmness. The soy sauce eggs and pork were OK, but since the pork chunks were small and they had sunk to the bottom of the pot, I think most people only ate the eggs. The taste was decent, but the colour wasn't dark enough--Japanese dark sauce simply doesn't compare to Chinese dark soy sauce.
Anyway, it was a successful dinner, although I cooked WAY too much (I had an entire pot of rice and plate of yakisoba leftover!) and had to force people to take leftovers home. The cake and cards for Andy and Kelly & Ron were well received too.
This weekend was also busy, although I had more time for relaxation/doing nothing. Friday, though, was non-stop. We had a kind of closing ceremony at Kirita for the end of the first term, plus a farewell ceremony for Higashi-sensei (she was working as the Japanese teacher while another teacher was on maternity leave, but that teacher is coming back in August). Actually, Higashi-sensei's leaving made the entire week busy, since I spent my nights from Tuesday-Thursday making her farewell present (a Rirrakuma doll). (Thanks to the start of English speech contest preparation, I was also leaving Kirita later during the week.)
(Higashi-sensei is probably my second favourite teacher--after my JTE, Tomabechi-sensei--at Kirita. She ALWAYS helps me when I have Japanese/kanji questions, plus she's just fun and interesting to talk with. I'm really going to miss her!)
After that most of the teachers went bowling with the teachers from Kamikirita (the nearest elementary school). I was terrible, as usual. Also, the Alley had a beer frame challenge: if every player in the lane got a strike/spare in a single frame, each player would get a six pack of beer. I was the last person to bowl in our lane, and at one point in the first game, everyone before me got a spare/strike! Up to that point I had been getting a lot of gutter balls, or maybe 3-5 pins in one go, so I was really freaked out. To make the pressure even worse, Kyoto-sensei (vice principal) came over to our lane to watch when he saw we had the potential to get the beer. My first ball (throw? I don't know bowling terminology!) actually knocked down 8 pins! I was SO relieved. It wasn't a strike, but at least it was decent. Unfortunately, though, that left the two pins on the right for me to knock down. Needless to say, I missed, but at least I performed credibly under the pressure. My final score in that game was 58.
The next game went much better. Although I was pretty performing the same for the bulk of the game, in the last three or four frames, I decided to try switching to a 10 ball (I'd been using a 9). This resulted in me getting my first spare!! Then in the final frame, I actually got another spare plus got another 7-8 pins in the extra bowl! My final score for the second game was 84!!
I never thought I'd say this, but I think I need to get everyone to go bowling with me when I go back home so they can teach me some tricks!! (I'm sure I'm going to be bowling with the school again, so I'd like to manage a somewhat decent performance next time round!)
After bowling, I rushed home to change before meeting everyone at the Bunka (culture) Centre to catch the bus to the brewery. We had a good dinner at the Oirase Brewery for our end of first term/farewell Higashi-sensei enkai. Then it was back to central Towada for a nijikai at a snack.
Following the nijikai, Higashi-sensei, Tomabechi-sensei and I went to Coco's for tea and snacks (I had a mango parfait!). Even though we had all been pretty tired by the end of the nijikai, we still stuck around for about an hour, hour and a half talking. At the end of the night I drove them home.
(See Kirita enkai &etc. photos here.)
Saturday, I forced myself to get up at a decent hour (9 or 10 am, rather than 1 or 2pm) to give myself time to do laundry and cleaning and to take my car into the Eneos gas station for a shaken (bi-annual mandatory car maintenance tax) estimate. After that I headed out to Misawa to watch John and Sam perform The Emperor's New Clothes in Misawa. Kelly and Ron also went and we stuck around to help clean up (there wasn't much to do, since it was a super simple set) and eat the free food provided for the cast and their "family." Then Joe and Will met us at Paddy's for some drinks. I think the guys probably went out for more drinking afterwards, but I went home.
(See Emperor's New Clothes photos here - part 1 - and here - part 2.)
Sunday I had to wake up early again for yet another CDJapan delivery. Again, I couldn't resist ordering Koisuru Madori and Daremo Shiranai / Nobody Knows from their clearance sale. I spent the rest of the afternoon lounging around watching movies/dramas. I watched the Avalon movie (interesting, but very similar to .Hack//Sign) and most of the Yukan Club TV Series.
Then Allie picked me up and we met Juliet and Ron & Kelly at the old Kitazono ES house to go to Lake Towada for fireworks. ^_^ It was really busy, but it was fun! There was lots of festival food stalls (I feel a little guilty, though, since I never waited in line but just got everyone else to buy me food when they went. ^^;; ) and the fireworks were really well done. The display lasted about an hour and there were a lot of big, spectacular ones. By chance we also ended up sitting next to Kanae-san, Sakagami-san's daughter. ^_^ When we got back to (central) Towada, we decided to go to Coco's for dessert/snacks. I had another mango parfait, and a slice of Kelly's pizza.
(See Lake Towada Fireworks Festival pictures here.)
Even though it was late when I got home, I decided to finish off the Yukan Club series. I was pretty dumb, though, since I thought there was only an episode or two left. There were actually about four episodes left, so I ended up staying up until about 4am! When I turned off the lights to go to bed, it was already starting to get light outside!
So today (a holiday!) I slept in until 11am-12pm and spent the afternoon downloading manga scanlations and organizing and uploading photos to Facebook: EofA Trivia Night.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Hanadan Final Movie
I spent my free time this past week watching Hana Yori Dango 2 (Returns) so that I could go to watch the movie, Hana Yori Dango Final on the opening weekend-- i.e. this weekend. (By the by, I bought the DVD boxset within my first month here, but didn't watch more than 5 minutes of it until this week!)
Then today, after my first Japanese dance lesson (I'm really bad at it, by the way!), I made my way to the Shimoda Jusco to catch the 8pm show. (My first time watching a movie in a theatre on my own!) I was really looking forward to the movie.
Unfortunately, it was a huge disappointment.
The basic plot was that Doumyouji and Makino have finally announced their wedding. As a wedding gift, Doumyouji's mother presents Makino with a tiara that has jewels from America, Hong Kong and some southern tropical island. Apparently there's some sort of story about the wearer's future happiness tied to the tiara, but I couldn't make out the specifics. Anyway, the tiara is stolen and Doumyouji and Makino must get it back before they can get married. But as they travel to America and Hong Kong in pursuit of the tiara, Makino begins to have doubts as to whether she and Doumyouji should really get married...
So yeah, it ended up being completely ridiculous. The plot just jumped from one far-fetched intrigue/mystery/peril to the next. What I've always liked about the series is the characters and their personal and emotional growth, but the tension between Doumyouji and Makino in this movie seemed to have been fabricated solely to drive the ridiculous action of the plot. There was no real heart in the movie.
I'll probably still buy the movie simply because it's Hanadan, but I'm going to wait until I find it at a good used price.
Then today, after my first Japanese dance lesson (I'm really bad at it, by the way!), I made my way to the Shimoda Jusco to catch the 8pm show. (My first time watching a movie in a theatre on my own!) I was really looking forward to the movie.
Unfortunately, it was a huge disappointment.
The basic plot was that Doumyouji and Makino have finally announced their wedding. As a wedding gift, Doumyouji's mother presents Makino with a tiara that has jewels from America, Hong Kong and some southern tropical island. Apparently there's some sort of story about the wearer's future happiness tied to the tiara, but I couldn't make out the specifics. Anyway, the tiara is stolen and Doumyouji and Makino must get it back before they can get married. But as they travel to America and Hong Kong in pursuit of the tiara, Makino begins to have doubts as to whether she and Doumyouji should really get married...
So yeah, it ended up being completely ridiculous. The plot just jumped from one far-fetched intrigue/mystery/peril to the next. What I've always liked about the series is the characters and their personal and emotional growth, but the tension between Doumyouji and Makino in this movie seemed to have been fabricated solely to drive the ridiculous action of the plot. There was no real heart in the movie.
I'll probably still buy the movie simply because it's Hanadan, but I'm going to wait until I find it at a good used price.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Suprised my eyes aren't bleeding...
After trivia weekend (it was fun, but I'd forgotten how awkward I feel when surrounded by lots of people who are very drunk), I came home and decided I should start watching some of the DVDs I'd purchased but hadn't gotten around to watching.
I started with Always Zoku San Chome no Yuhi, the sequel to Always San Chome no Yuhi. ^_^ It was almost as great as the original--a high compliment for a sequel, indeed. I can't really say why it was "almost" rather than "as great as," but anyway, the point is I really enjoyed it.
After that, I watched Bambino!, a drama (adapted from the manga of the same name) starring Matsumoto Jun about a college student who wants to open his own Italian restaurant. And yes, I said I watched the series, and not started; I went through all eleven episodes in one sitting!
Obviously, I thought it was a pretty good series. The only frustrating thing was the English subtitles. Since I bought it in Malaysia (licensed, but still...) the English subtitles were pretty bad. For most of the series they were somewhat decent, but the last episode was terrible. Someone decided to translate the Ban's (the main character, i.e. Matsumoto Jun) name as A-han or something ridiculous, and a lot of the time it didn't make sense at all. I pretty much stopped reading the subtitles altogether, expect to look for key words when I really didn't understand what they were saying.
Come to think of it, if I was going to watch an entire series, I probably should've watched the second season of Hana Yori Dango, since the new movie (and series finale) will be coming out this Saturday!! Even though I won't be able to watch it this weekend (I invited some teachers from Kirita over to have a takoyaki party on Sat., and Sun. is my first Japanese dance lesson), I definitely want to watch it in theatres soon!
So with that, I think I'm off to watch Hanadan 2! =P
I started with Always Zoku San Chome no Yuhi, the sequel to Always San Chome no Yuhi. ^_^ It was almost as great as the original--a high compliment for a sequel, indeed. I can't really say why it was "almost" rather than "as great as," but anyway, the point is I really enjoyed it.
After that, I watched Bambino!, a drama (adapted from the manga of the same name) starring Matsumoto Jun about a college student who wants to open his own Italian restaurant. And yes, I said I watched the series, and not started; I went through all eleven episodes in one sitting!
Obviously, I thought it was a pretty good series. The only frustrating thing was the English subtitles. Since I bought it in Malaysia (licensed, but still...) the English subtitles were pretty bad. For most of the series they were somewhat decent, but the last episode was terrible. Someone decided to translate the Ban's (the main character, i.e. Matsumoto Jun) name as A-han or something ridiculous, and a lot of the time it didn't make sense at all. I pretty much stopped reading the subtitles altogether, expect to look for key words when I really didn't understand what they were saying.
Come to think of it, if I was going to watch an entire series, I probably should've watched the second season of Hana Yori Dango, since the new movie (and series finale) will be coming out this Saturday!! Even though I won't be able to watch it this weekend (I invited some teachers from Kirita over to have a takoyaki party on Sat., and Sun. is my first Japanese dance lesson), I definitely want to watch it in theatres soon!
So with that, I think I'm off to watch Hanadan 2! =P
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Day of Firsts
Tuesday was a day of firsts. It was my first (half) day in a school. All of us (AB, AH and I) went into the office in the morning, but I went to my base school, Kirita Junior High School in the afternoon to help some students practice for the Towada English speech contest. It was also my first of many taxi rides to Kirita.
At first I had no idea what I was doing, but after listening to the comments the JTE (Japanese Teacher of English), N-sensei made, I started to figure out what I was supposed to be listening for in the speeches. The students were great, too. They really paid attention to what I was saying (even when they weren’t 100% what I was saying) and tried to make the changes I suggested.
That night was also my first taiko practice! It was a lot of fun, and I mostly had the rhythm down by the end of the practice, but I definitely wasn’t hitting the drums with as much force as I was supposed to.
Oh, and I rushed home after taiko practice and made it back just in time to watch the "Hanazakari no Kimitachi e" drama on TV! (Another first!) I didn’t realize it before I started watching, but the male lead character (Sano Izumi) is played by Oguri Shun, the same guy who played Hanazawa Rui in Hana Yori Dango! Unfortunately I didn’t really like his portrayal of Sano. In the manga, Sano is a cool but slightly aloof character. In the drama, however, he seems more like an anti-social jerk. And I’m not sure how much of that characterization comes from the drama’s scripting, and how much comes from Oguri’s reading of the script, because I definitely got a “Rui-like” feeling from “Sano.” =/
At first I had no idea what I was doing, but after listening to the comments the JTE (Japanese Teacher of English), N-sensei made, I started to figure out what I was supposed to be listening for in the speeches. The students were great, too. They really paid attention to what I was saying (even when they weren’t 100% what I was saying) and tried to make the changes I suggested.
That night was also my first taiko practice! It was a lot of fun, and I mostly had the rhythm down by the end of the practice, but I definitely wasn’t hitting the drums with as much force as I was supposed to.
Oh, and I rushed home after taiko practice and made it back just in time to watch the "Hanazakari no Kimitachi e" drama on TV! (Another first!) I didn’t realize it before I started watching, but the male lead character (Sano Izumi) is played by Oguri Shun, the same guy who played Hanazawa Rui in Hana Yori Dango! Unfortunately I didn’t really like his portrayal of Sano. In the manga, Sano is a cool but slightly aloof character. In the drama, however, he seems more like an anti-social jerk. And I’m not sure how much of that characterization comes from the drama’s scripting, and how much comes from Oguri’s reading of the script, because I definitely got a “Rui-like” feeling from “Sano.” =/
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