I finally got to watch the new Miyazaki (Studio Ghibli) movie (it opened last Sat., Jul. 19th) today! Gake no Ue no Ponyo (a.k.a. Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea) is a "Little Mermaid" type story that begins with a 5-year old boy named Sousuke rescuing a magical sea creature stuck in a bottle. He thinks she's a goldfish at first, but when the cut (obtained rescuing her from the bottle) that she licked is magically healed, he correctly guesses that she is a magical creature and names her "Ponyo." Ponyo immediately takes a liking to Sousuke and decides to use magic to take the form of a human to be with him. Her father, however, objects and tries to bring her back.
It was a cute and enjoyable movie, but I found it lacking the depth of other Miyazaki films (Nausicaa, Laputa, Mononoke Hime, etc.).
Still, I'm glad I went to see it, especially since it gave me the chance to hang out with Tomabechi-sensei and Higashi-sensei (from Kirita JHS). We all met at Shimoda Jusco for dinner and then watched the movie together. ^_^
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
50th movie!
I have now watched over 50 Japanese movies since coming to Japan!
Since it's been a while since my last Movie Madness post, I thought I should honour the occasion with another set of movie synopses. ^_^ Again, the titles are in no particular order, although the numbering is continued from the previous post:
6. Daitenden no Yoru ni (Until the Lights Come Back) - On Christmas Eve, a rogue satellite takes out a power plant in Tokyo and plunges the city into darkness. Inspired by the 2003 blackout in New York City, the film follows several characters through the night, until the lights come back. The six stories of love and friendship are well crafted, thoughtfully paced and nicely intertwined, and the actors do a fine job, but somehow the movie failed to evoke any deep emotions. It was enjoyable enough, but at the end I was left feeling "ho hum" rather than touched.
7. Sukida* - Two high school classmates trapped in the awkward stage between friendship and love are suddenly separated before they can resolve their feelings. Will they be able to finally work things out when they meet 17 years later? Although the story was a tad too melodramatic for my usual tastes, the film was so artfully directed--minimal dialogue with most of the feeling conveyed through subtle but expressive acting--I was easily able to overlook the plot defects. Most importantly, the actors successfully captured and portrayed the insecurities, awkwardness, and bittersweetness of first love.
8. Waterboys* - One of my favourite Japanese movies!! Based on a true story, this is the story of a group of misfits and losers at an all-boys high school who find redemption through sport. An old plot, but the twist? They form a boys synchronized swimming team! Although the plot predictably follows the structure of any other underdog sport story, the movie is nonetheless highly entertaining: the characters are endearing; the jokes/gags are funny; and the grand finale is awesome. Highly recommended!
9. Tennen Kokekko (A Gentle Breeze in the Village)***: Based on a popular manga, Tennen Kokekko is a high school romance set in rural Japan. MIGITA Soyo is the oldest student in her small school--a combined elementary and junior high school with only six students, each in a different grade! She (along with all the other students) is thrilled when a transfer student from Tokyo, OSAWA Hiromi arrives, particularly since he is in the same grade as her.
Although they get off to a rocky start, predictably, a relationship between the two gradually develops. It was a decent film, but I thought the start of the relationship felt really forced. Osawa seems to go from complete indifference--the cool city guy who condescends to join the rural kids because they make such a fuss over him--to aggressive interest in Migita in the blink of an eye. I couldn't help but feel that he only became interested in her because she was convenient--a rather fatal flaw in a love story! Still, I guess it's a testament to the acting and direction (apart from that fatal flaw) of the movie that I would probably consider buying it if the price was right.
10. Koko ni Iru Koto** - AIBA Shino is a young career woman working in the creative marketing division of a Tokyo sales company. Her ambitions are dashed, however, when her affair with one of the company's top managers is discovered by his wife who puts an end to the relationship with a payoff of five hundred thousand yen and a transfer (demotion) to the sales division of the company's Osaka branch. Aiba plans to return to Tokyo as soon as the money runs out and makes every effort to hasten her departure date by living in an expensive hotel and even placing a huge bet on a long shot at a local boat race track but ends up winning enough to keep her in Osaka for a long time. An eccentric but charismatic fellow transferee, MAENO Etsuro takes a (platonic) interest in her and, through a series of jaunts about the city, helps her to learn to appreciate simply being in every moment. Both the comedy and "serious drama" of the story are portrayed with a deftly light touch, making it a thoroughly satisfying experience.
* - I own the movie.
** - I want to buy the movie, but am waiting until I find it on sale at a reasonable price.
*** - I would consider buying the movie if I found it on sale at a good price.
Since it's been a while since my last Movie Madness post, I thought I should honour the occasion with another set of movie synopses. ^_^ Again, the titles are in no particular order, although the numbering is continued from the previous post:
6. Daitenden no Yoru ni (Until the Lights Come Back) - On Christmas Eve, a rogue satellite takes out a power plant in Tokyo and plunges the city into darkness. Inspired by the 2003 blackout in New York City, the film follows several characters through the night, until the lights come back. The six stories of love and friendship are well crafted, thoughtfully paced and nicely intertwined, and the actors do a fine job, but somehow the movie failed to evoke any deep emotions. It was enjoyable enough, but at the end I was left feeling "ho hum" rather than touched.
7. Sukida* - Two high school classmates trapped in the awkward stage between friendship and love are suddenly separated before they can resolve their feelings. Will they be able to finally work things out when they meet 17 years later? Although the story was a tad too melodramatic for my usual tastes, the film was so artfully directed--minimal dialogue with most of the feeling conveyed through subtle but expressive acting--I was easily able to overlook the plot defects. Most importantly, the actors successfully captured and portrayed the insecurities, awkwardness, and bittersweetness of first love.
8. Waterboys* - One of my favourite Japanese movies!! Based on a true story, this is the story of a group of misfits and losers at an all-boys high school who find redemption through sport. An old plot, but the twist? They form a boys synchronized swimming team! Although the plot predictably follows the structure of any other underdog sport story, the movie is nonetheless highly entertaining: the characters are endearing; the jokes/gags are funny; and the grand finale is awesome. Highly recommended!
9. Tennen Kokekko (A Gentle Breeze in the Village)***: Based on a popular manga, Tennen Kokekko is a high school romance set in rural Japan. MIGITA Soyo is the oldest student in her small school--a combined elementary and junior high school with only six students, each in a different grade! She (along with all the other students) is thrilled when a transfer student from Tokyo, OSAWA Hiromi arrives, particularly since he is in the same grade as her.
Although they get off to a rocky start, predictably, a relationship between the two gradually develops. It was a decent film, but I thought the start of the relationship felt really forced. Osawa seems to go from complete indifference--the cool city guy who condescends to join the rural kids because they make such a fuss over him--to aggressive interest in Migita in the blink of an eye. I couldn't help but feel that he only became interested in her because she was convenient--a rather fatal flaw in a love story! Still, I guess it's a testament to the acting and direction (apart from that fatal flaw) of the movie that I would probably consider buying it if the price was right.
10. Koko ni Iru Koto** - AIBA Shino is a young career woman working in the creative marketing division of a Tokyo sales company. Her ambitions are dashed, however, when her affair with one of the company's top managers is discovered by his wife who puts an end to the relationship with a payoff of five hundred thousand yen and a transfer (demotion) to the sales division of the company's Osaka branch. Aiba plans to return to Tokyo as soon as the money runs out and makes every effort to hasten her departure date by living in an expensive hotel and even placing a huge bet on a long shot at a local boat race track but ends up winning enough to keep her in Osaka for a long time. An eccentric but charismatic fellow transferee, MAENO Etsuro takes a (platonic) interest in her and, through a series of jaunts about the city, helps her to learn to appreciate simply being in every moment. Both the comedy and "serious drama" of the story are portrayed with a deftly light touch, making it a thoroughly satisfying experience.
* - I own the movie.
** - I want to buy the movie, but am waiting until I find it on sale at a reasonable price.
*** - I would consider buying the movie if I found it on sale at a good price.
When I'm home in Canada...
It's funny how after one year, I still feel the need to add some sort of qualifier to the noun "home." I mean, my apartment in Japan is "home", but Mississauga is also still "home." I wonder how many years it would take for me to think of Japan as "home" without any qualifiers (not that I want to put it to the test, though!).
Anyway, I'll be back in ONE WEEK!! It feels like a both a long and short time away. Long because there's so much I need to get done before I leave, and short because one week really is no time at all (especially when you're busy).
Compared to my last visit home (Liz & Alan's Excellent Adventure), I've got a lot less already planned for my time in Canada. Aug 2nd I'll need to get to Square One bright and early to get my driver's license renewed (it expired in April!), then Aug 3-7 is WAY camp. Then hopefully on the 9th I'll be meeting up with Jen and Syv. I've got doctor and dentist appointments on Aug 11th (and hopefully I'll be able to get my health card renewed on that day as well). After that, the next thing I've got a date for is the softball tourney on Aug 16th.
Of course there are other things I've got planned but don't have a date for:
- family dinner (with Nathan)
- meeting up with my friend(s) from teacher's college
- BSGE (Best Small Group EVAR!) reunion
- meeting up with a former colleague from Woodlands
Then there the things I'd like to do, but haven't yet arranged:
- dinner with an old family friend
- a trip to the Monster Factory
- checking out a friend's coffee shop, Manic Coffee
- dinner with school friends
- visiting my old workplace (Scotiabank)
Man, now that I'm sending out emails and trying to get dates to meet up with people, it seems like I'm not going to be as free as I thought I'd be. -_-; I don't know if that's a good thing, or a bad thing. I mean, it's good if I have a full schedule because that means I'll have made good use of my time back home. On the other hand, second term is pretty hectic, so it'd be nice to be well rested before going back to work. Ah well, I guess that (getting rest) is what my afternoons will be for.
The hard part about growing up is that people's free time gets limited to nights and weekends. Even though I'll be in Canada from the 1st to the 19th (almost three weeks!), in practical terms, I only have 17 full days (and nights) to work with since I arrive at about 11:30pm on the 1st and fly out early in the afternoon on the 19th. When you consider that five days and four nights will be taken up by WAY camp, that leaves me with only 12 full days and nights to work with. @_@ Hard to believe I was worried that the trip would be too long!
Now that I've started planning, I'm getting excited about coming home!! I can't wait to see everyone!! And to go to church!! (I haven't been since April, but that's a story for another post... ^^;;) And to be able to READ!!! I'm definitely going to be hitting the library on free afternoons!!
Anyway, I'll be back in ONE WEEK!! It feels like a both a long and short time away. Long because there's so much I need to get done before I leave, and short because one week really is no time at all (especially when you're busy).
Compared to my last visit home (Liz & Alan's Excellent Adventure), I've got a lot less already planned for my time in Canada. Aug 2nd I'll need to get to Square One bright and early to get my driver's license renewed (it expired in April!), then Aug 3-7 is WAY camp. Then hopefully on the 9th I'll be meeting up with Jen and Syv. I've got doctor and dentist appointments on Aug 11th (and hopefully I'll be able to get my health card renewed on that day as well). After that, the next thing I've got a date for is the softball tourney on Aug 16th.
Of course there are other things I've got planned but don't have a date for:
- family dinner (with Nathan)
- meeting up with my friend(s) from teacher's college
- BSGE (Best Small Group EVAR!) reunion
- meeting up with a former colleague from Woodlands
Then there the things I'd like to do, but haven't yet arranged:
- dinner with an old family friend
- a trip to the Monster Factory
- checking out a friend's coffee shop, Manic Coffee
- dinner with school friends
- visiting my old workplace (Scotiabank)
Man, now that I'm sending out emails and trying to get dates to meet up with people, it seems like I'm not going to be as free as I thought I'd be. -_-; I don't know if that's a good thing, or a bad thing. I mean, it's good if I have a full schedule because that means I'll have made good use of my time back home. On the other hand, second term is pretty hectic, so it'd be nice to be well rested before going back to work. Ah well, I guess that (getting rest) is what my afternoons will be for.
The hard part about growing up is that people's free time gets limited to nights and weekends. Even though I'll be in Canada from the 1st to the 19th (almost three weeks!), in practical terms, I only have 17 full days (and nights) to work with since I arrive at about 11:30pm on the 1st and fly out early in the afternoon on the 19th. When you consider that five days and four nights will be taken up by WAY camp, that leaves me with only 12 full days and nights to work with. @_@ Hard to believe I was worried that the trip would be too long!
Now that I've started planning, I'm getting excited about coming home!! I can't wait to see everyone!! And to go to church!! (I haven't been since April, but that's a story for another post... ^^;;) And to be able to READ!!! I'm definitely going to be hitting the library on free afternoons!!
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Apparently a big deal
Around 12:30am I woke up when I felt the ground shaking and things rumbling. (It was rather ironic, actually, since it was probably the one time this week when I was actually in bed by 12:30am.) It was an earthquake, and one considerably greater in strength and longer in duration than the last one I felt. As I lay in bed, I wondered if I should be getting up and standing in a doorway or hiding under a table, but in the end I decided to stay put. When it finished, I went back to sleep.
Then around 2am I received a bunch of text messages from fellow Towada and neighbouring Shichinohe ALTs about the earthquake. I got up and dashed off a reply, but when I went back to check the time the messages were sent, I saw that they had all been sent shortly after the earthquake, between 12:45 and 1:00am! Guess the keitai networks were congested with everyone calling people to check up on them or to tell them that they were OK.
When I got to the office, Mukainakano-sensei was on the phone with Andy. He was at Hachinohe to catch a train to Tokyo (to fly to Canada), but shinkansen service had been canceled, so they had to arrange for him to get a flight to Haneda Airport from Misawa. CRAZY! Apparently the trains were stopped until 4pm (way too late for him to catch his flight). I would never have imagined such a thing happened! And I sincerely hope that such a thing won't happen again next Friday, when I'm going to Tokyo for my flight home. ^^;;
Anyway, mid-morning we also felt some aftershocks at the office. It was really short, though, so we didn't have time to even think about doing anything in response.
We were only in the office in the morning, then we went to Towada JHS to help students with speech contest practice. Afterwards I ran a bunch of errands, dropped my car off for shaken (mandatory bi-annual car maintenance), and went to Japanese dance class.
When I finally checked my email (~9pm) I saw a bunch of messages regarding the earthquake. My Japanese friend Yukiko who is currently on a working holiday in Japan sent me and the other Towada/Shichinohe ALTs an email to see if we were OK, and I also had another email from the Canadian Embassy. Then, maybe 5 minutes after I replied to the (Canadian Embassy) email to say that I was OK, I got a call on my keitai from the Canadian Embassy making sure I was OK!
CRAZY!!
I never thought I'd be so blasé about earthquakes, but so long as nothing in my place gets damaged and I'm not injured, I guess the severity just doesn't register with me. I mean, it had a (preliminary) magnitude of 6.8 and triggered landslides and power outages in various cities, but thankfully Towada seems to have been mostly unaffected.
So yeah, if you want to read more about the earthquake, here's an AP article.
Then around 2am I received a bunch of text messages from fellow Towada and neighbouring Shichinohe ALTs about the earthquake. I got up and dashed off a reply, but when I went back to check the time the messages were sent, I saw that they had all been sent shortly after the earthquake, between 12:45 and 1:00am! Guess the keitai networks were congested with everyone calling people to check up on them or to tell them that they were OK.
When I got to the office, Mukainakano-sensei was on the phone with Andy. He was at Hachinohe to catch a train to Tokyo (to fly to Canada), but shinkansen service had been canceled, so they had to arrange for him to get a flight to Haneda Airport from Misawa. CRAZY! Apparently the trains were stopped until 4pm (way too late for him to catch his flight). I would never have imagined such a thing happened! And I sincerely hope that such a thing won't happen again next Friday, when I'm going to Tokyo for my flight home. ^^;;
Anyway, mid-morning we also felt some aftershocks at the office. It was really short, though, so we didn't have time to even think about doing anything in response.
We were only in the office in the morning, then we went to Towada JHS to help students with speech contest practice. Afterwards I ran a bunch of errands, dropped my car off for shaken (mandatory bi-annual car maintenance), and went to Japanese dance class.
When I finally checked my email (~9pm) I saw a bunch of messages regarding the earthquake. My Japanese friend Yukiko who is currently on a working holiday in Japan sent me and the other Towada/Shichinohe ALTs an email to see if we were OK, and I also had another email from the Canadian Embassy. Then, maybe 5 minutes after I replied to the (Canadian Embassy) email to say that I was OK, I got a call on my keitai from the Canadian Embassy making sure I was OK!
CRAZY!!
I never thought I'd be so blasé about earthquakes, but so long as nothing in my place gets damaged and I'm not injured, I guess the severity just doesn't register with me. I mean, it had a (preliminary) magnitude of 6.8 and triggered landslides and power outages in various cities, but thankfully Towada seems to have been mostly unaffected.
So yeah, if you want to read more about the earthquake, here's an AP article.
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