[hiatus?]

I have decided to go on hiatus for some time. the reason is I have started a lyrics translation blog on LJ and I’m doing most of the posting there (which isn’t much anyway, since I’m busy with uni). so for lack of time and because what I’m posting about lately doesn’t fit this blog anymore I will take a break from WP. I hope to come back sooner or later, when I have new things to write about!

*pic originally taken from ffffound

[きっと大丈夫・嵐] kitto daijoubu lyrics and trans

*musings*: this song has proven a little tough – ironically because of all the english words! to try to grasp the meaning of the verses I had to make a guess at what they must have been thinking in japanese to make such a strange choice of english words. from there I struggled to translate back… I must say this song doesn’t make as much sense as the others – maybe because of my still-developing skills ^_^’

however, I had a lot of fun transcribing the katakana – you get such ludicrous occurrences XD

[きっと大丈夫]・嵐

I would have translated [take me far away] too, but I spent most of the day updating my fonts and PS brushes because when I changed to mac I lost my old win libraries. sorry! fonts, brushes and the like are my weak point! I cannot bear to live on century gothic alone – I’m a sybarite.

pic courtesy of mamoruchan :)

[楽園・二宮和也] lyrics trans + song

as I mentioned when I posted [ファイトソング] this is the original composition prior to it – a 100% nino song, very sweet and endearing. since this is early production the lyrics are a bit naïve, but you can also detect his mischievous side in some parts (like when he says “if you don’t mind your mother getting angry we’ll be back by sunrise” and so XD). the title , “rakuen” means “paradise”.

since I imagine not all of you have the piece I’ll leave an MF link to it too – I honestly don’t remember where I downloaded it from, else I’d credit. enjoy the song!

[楽園]・二宮和也 (lyrics)

.::楽園::. (download)

*current mood:  ready for bed*

[台風ジェネレーション・嵐] lyrics and trans

I’ve fallen in love with this song… the story is so sad… T_T I’d never paid much attention to it and it has turned out to be beautiful! I’m so glad I translated it >_<

this time there’s only one footnote *phew* – what a relief! I was afraid the footnotes would end up surpassing the song’s length…

[台風ジェネーション]・嵐  typhoon generation

thanks again to mamoruchan for the pic :)
(don’t tell me not to thank you again because crediting is only fair!)

*current mood:  in need of a good coffee*

[ファイトソング・嵐] lyrics and trans

ok, new song!! first of all I want to thankmamoruchan for being so kind as to edit the pics for me – it saves a lot of time :)

when I went looking for the kanji lyrics I read that the music and words were nino’s!! ok, so maybe you all knew this already, but I didn’t. looking further into it I discovered there’s a previous version of the song entitled [楽園] (rakuen) with different lyrics and sang by nino alone. I got hold of the mp3 (I guess he aired it in his radio show) and as soon as I have the kanji lyrics I’ll post a translation :)

but for the moment I leave here our dear fight-song, which will always inevitably remind us of the 2007 Time concert and the boys boucing up and down the stage. *sigh*

[ファイトソング]・嵐 fight-song

this time I had to make three footnotes – what’s wrong with this guys? why do they have to keep writing one word and saying another that has nothing to do with it in the first place? Ò.Ó I just don’t get it. still, I will keep making notes because I feel people would miss part of it if I don’t.

*current mood:  hardworking*

[beautifulDAYS] regular edition

I just received my copy of 嵐’s new single [beautiful days]!!!!! *dancing ridiculously in front of the computer*

even though it’s just the regular edition – the one containing the PV was already out of stock by the time I went to check on amazon – I’m ecstatic with joy! this is actually my first original 嵐 CD, though I hoped vainly for it to be [truth] – no luck here either, even though I was in tokyo by the time it was out.

so I thought I’d share – like I’m sure many other people will do these next days – uploading it to this blog.

the contents of the regular edition are:

.::beautiful days single download::.

01.beautiful days・02.僕は僕の全て・03.忘れられない・

04.beautiful days [カラオケ]・05.僕は僕の全て [カラオケ]・06.忘れられない [カラオケ]

the other two songs are [boku wa boku no subete] and [wasurerarenai]. I’m listening to them right now, but it’ll take me time to get attuned to them, so I can’t tell straight away if I like them or not. perhaps they’ll turn out to be like [how to fly] and [kaze no mukou he], which were both shadowed by the main songs in the single, but when listened to carefully you realise they are pretty good! *crosses her fingers*

that’s it for now. I wanted to start scanning the arashi photobooks I received, but my house-mate’s scanner is missing a cable – I went all excited to fetch it from her room after asking her permission only to find out it’s as good as having no scanner for all I can do with it in its present state… T_T  ゴメンね　みんな…

*current mood:  nearing nirvana*

[yes?no?・嵐] lyrics and trans

first of all, let me sight… I thought I’d have today to work on the songs, but I got an assignment for city planning due tomorrow and consequently spent most of the day in uni working with my group.

aside from that… I’m really pissed off.
in the short time I’ve been in rome I’ve come to notice the national sport must be moving bus stops around the city – I’ve already lost track of how many times I’ve had to go in search of the new situation of my bus stop. yesterday I took the underground directly from uni instead of walking my 30 min to the place I normally wait for the bus because it had been moved to a street that escaped my knowledge – yet again. when I got out of the underground I recalled the nearest stop had also been transferred some good 600m down the street due to repaving of a strech of the road. I walked there resignedly under the heavy rain – because it was raining, of course. after waiting no more than a minute I resolved asking the people around me – experience has taught me that the more you ask the less you wait for a bus that’s not coming. and sure they told me the course of my bus had been changed that morning and that now it departed from piazza della repubblica. [...] funnily enough, that’s where I had come out of the underground…
in the end I had to walk to another place, to take another bus that took me to one of the few stops that hadn’t been changed.
all in all it took me more than an hour and a half to get home, when it shouldn’t be more than 40min.

now, whoever tells me that rome is beautiful will have an umpleasant encounter with my knukles, I swear.

*cursing roman public transport vehemently, and wisihng for a meteorite to crash on atac’s central office*

sorry for the rant. here’s the song:

[yes? no?]・嵐

*current mood:  grumpy*

[beautifulDAYS・嵐] lyrics and trans *update

I finally found the kanji lyrics in a chinese page – the japanese lyric pages I know didn’t have them yet – so I had to check it a bit, because sometimes they change an ideogram or two and everything gets messed up *talks from experience*.
only two days for the single to go on sale >_< ! already ordered it in amazon, so it should arrive within a week with other things. today I got jun’s photobook and 嵐 toretate ^_^ 嬉しいよ！when I have time – and access to a scan – I’ll upload pics.

I’m including an edited version of the PV (edited meaning shorter). all credits to mamoruchan who told me about it!
even if incomplete it’s very promising – the setting and atmosphere are a little dark, like those in [truth], but it balances the mysteriously cheerful ring of the song (given that the lyrics are not cheerful at all it’s surprising that the first impression of the melody should be of a happy-go-lucky type of song ¬.¬).

[beautiful days]・嵐

*update: I’m including a link to the CD song here, though you can download the whole single in a more recent post.

[naked・松本潤] lyrics and trans

after posting [la familia] at jun_daily they asked me if I had anymore jun solo translations. I was going to wait for requests, since there wasn’t one I was particularly interested in translating after [la familia] and with no criterion whatsoever I generally get nowhere.
however, I was so morose after struggling to translate [walking in the rain] with so little success that I needed to wipe it from my mind altogether. and I thought about doing one of jun’s songs – since at least I had a reason to do so.

I chose [naked] merely because it is the last one and also because watching some arashi vids the other day I came across one where the boys were interviewed because of the new album release (old vid, I know). when asked which solo he liked best, ohno (acting as leader and spokeperson for once – though not very successfully I should add…) said it had to be jun’s. there! if riida says it’s his fave that’s reason enough for me :)

[naked]・松本潤

*note* I have to thank kat for the image, since she passed it through photoshop and now jun wears his colour! 似合ってるね？

*current mood:  sleepy*

[嵐・readyTOfly] lyrics and translation

no freaky trans babbling this time, this was pretty easy compared to [eyes with delight]. the only news is that I found a japanese lyrics page from where I take the kanji 歌詞 directly to avoid mistakes – as far as the basic text is concerned of course, further inaccuracies are entirely my fault ^_^’

(kat, keep requesting please, this is soooo much fun!)

[ready to fly]・嵐

[嵐・eyesWITHdelight] lyrics and translation

here’s another lyric translation – also requested by kat :9

but first of all I’m gonna bug you with some translation freakness. on attempting this translation I understood why not many people have tried it before – at least I haven’t been able to find any other translations. there are a couple of verses that can make you sweat bullets. they are so frustrating to translate that I had to go to a japanese forum where even japanese people were asking for the meaning of the f***ing expression. the girl who finally explained it said she had had to ask her mother lol

here’s the verse in question:

香りは緑なす君の黒髪 (kaoru wa midori nasu kimi no kurokami)

lit: the scent achieving green, your black hair. here comes the pun though: “midori no kurokami” is a fixed expression meaning “raven-black hair”. so the verse is actually a word game – I personally want to strangle the lyric composer for this – that I eventually turned into “the scent of your raven-black hair”. that’s the closest I could get to something that made sense.

then there’s another verse that gave me some trouble – I think this is a classic example of what japanese translations entail (aka: phrasing and rephrasing, juggling with random words to see if they succeed in inspiring you some ulterior meaning and reshaping the sentence until it makes some sense).

the verse is this:

涙より深い 輝きを湛え 微笑んでいる (namida yori fukai kagayaki wo tatae hohoende iru)

and this is all I came up with, from the ground-zero basic trans  to the polished sentence:

rather than tears this flooding overwhelming brightness, smiling
brimming with overwhelming brightness instead of tears, smiling
instead of crying, your smile is brimming with overwhelming brightness

finally: instead of tears, your eyes are brimmed with an overwhelming brightness

it seems like another word game. “tataeru” is normally used with eyes and tears meaing “brimmed with -” and with “brightness” meaning flooded. here “tataeru” is applied to “brightness” but takes the other meaning. shrewed, right? I felt so relieved when I finally put it together!

ok, enough of this freak babble – I thought I’d explode if I didn’t share this with someone! I leave the lyrics here. hope you like them!

[eyes with delight]・嵐

*current mood: smug*

*currently reading: wuthering heights*

[松本潤・la familia] lyrics and translation

in answer to kat’s request I’m posting jun’s solo [la familia] – what do these johnnys guys have with spanish? first “seishun amigo“, then “daite señorita – oops! senyorita“… seriously. they don’t even know proper english and they venture with spanish? luckily they don’t try to go as far as kubo taito did in [bleach!] – that’s hilarious, I have a great time reading the names of the arrancar XD

what was I talking about? oh, yeah, jun’s song. probably one of the most endearing solos he’s ever had :)

[la familia]・松潤

*current mood: computerscreen-tired*

*currently listening to: julie delpy*

[himitsuNO嵐ちゃん] 081016

this is last week’s himitsu, I know it’s not news by know – but I’ve been waiting for several days for dailymotion to publish two f****n’ videos!

I was thinking I’d like to see the shows trimmed to the interesting or funny parts, but you cannot always find these immediately after some kind soul uploads it. so I thought about doing it myself. I’m starting with this himitsu because I found it pretty interesting (compared to the never-ending ageha series ¬¬U, aiba-chan, that was too much…).

the program consists basically of three parts: the first one is a collection of weird clips featuring people surfing in a fountain, chinese basketball player mingming or robot-dancing. you will have to watch that twice – once to see the actual clips and a second to appreciate the faces arashi makes XD. they also bring this little kid that reminds you of roald dahl’s matilda – making maths operations in his head within seconds. it’s endearing to see arashi around the kid; you can tell sho-kun really likes children :)

the kid in question

when they ask the boy if he knows anyone from arashi he replies that the one he knows better is… ohno!! *riida smiles proudly*. but then, when asked for the reason he says he doesn’t know… *confused-disappointed look on riida’s face*

ohno-kun the moment the kid says his name

riida’s smug faces

disappointment kicks in…

the second part is an SP oh-chan and jun did together. they go to chiba to meet a fisherman that will take them out to the sea in search of a rare shark species they call [悪魔サメ] – otherwise known as “goblin shark”. this is the part I trimmed out of the program because it’s the most interesting. however, I leave you some screenshots!

やっぱり jun looking all kakkoii

and then riida…

.

.

.

(!)

the last part consists of a enquête-game – I should have mentioned that [toda erika] is the special guest ^_^U. the hosts ask arashi and erika some simple questions and they have to answer yes or no. then the results are contrasted with the average percentages of what people normally answer. the questions go something like this: “have you ever called a stranger mum by mistake?”, “have you pried a friend ne, are you sleeping? when staying over at his/her house?”, “have you struck up conversation with a taxi driver and laughed your head out?” (sort of), “do you speak to the TV?”… this one was great. jun and erika admitted to it and when asked to elaborate jun said he only did it if he was alone. he would laugh at something on TV and then ask himself why he was laughing for. then sho pointed out that jun talked a lot to himself when alone. jun confessed he normally says “tadaima” upon arriving home (even though there’s nobody waiting for him) and that when he opens the fridge he says “nomimono wo nomimasu” (let’s have something to drink). lol jun’s secret revealed:

other screenshots:

nino looking rather stupid (the result of spending too much time with dear riida?)

you can see the whole episode here in veoh. :) enjoy!

[嵐icons]

these are some 嵐 icons born from long hours exchanging photos with kat through skype – being over 800 miles away from each other has its difficulties… I will be posting them little by little so as not to overload the posts :)

you can take them if you want to, but if you use them please credit and don’t post them in your blog as yours, thanks :9

random: members

b&w

red+blue

pairs

:)

*current music: yes, coldplay*

keeping up the poll thing_fave 嵐 album?

“me too wants to try poll-thingy!” my inner self shouted at me today. and so here I propose another poll. I had also thought about asking people about favorite 嵐 songs, but it’s very difficult to choose. instead I pose a simpler (I hope) question: what is your favorite album?

we all started following the boys at some point or other; some of us have been fans for a very short time and thus are bound to be more familiar with the latest work. I myself feel something special for [time] because I became a fan in between that and this year’s LP – the truth is I am a jun-baited-through-kat fan :p. she stumbled upon 嵐 after watching [花男] and learning that all-mighty domyouji was also a singer. I must admit I didn’t like their music straight away V_V *ashamed* – at the time I was more into groups like [the pillows], [nobodyknows+] or [asian kung-fu generation]. the only song I really liked immediately was [サクラ咲け] and mostly because of sho-chan’s rap – I thought his low husky voice and rapper style really rocked the mellow jpop melodies of 嵐 songs. paradoxically it was a mellow song that got me addicted to the boys ¬¬U. it was none other than 虹, which I heard by chance streaming in someone’s blog. I literally fell in love with ニノ’s voice and performance and went nearly mad searching through the internet ’til 4 in the morning with little success. kat was so kind as to find me a life-saving youtube video of the concert solo so I could breathe again.

from then on it’s been 嵐 madness for me. my fave album is [time] partly because it contains 虹, and ニノ is still my 一番 because every time I have doubts about it I need only listen to the song to step back in track. :) それ以上. to the poll!

of course if you’d like to comment on your favorite song or how you happened to like a japanese idol boy-band you are most welcome! :)

*current mood: blissful*

*current music: viva la vida [coldplay]*

Which song of Arashi (嵐 ) is your favorite?

[myREALjapaneseNAME]

kat found this japanese name generator and it seems fun. she entered all our names and posted the results in her blog, but, alas!, we got the same first name! why would that be I wonder? our names have very different meanings – I know cause I have this really nice book-name and checked it out a long time ago. still we both got “izumi” (spring). so I went back to the generator and entered my middle name and sure enough the result changed. I’m posting it here along with those of kat and akiko-chan:
*update* how did you write your name, kat? it came out different this time!

My authentic japanese name is 近藤 Kondou (wisteria nearby) 澄麗 Sumire (clear and lovely).
Take your real japanese name generator! today!
Created with Rum and Monkey’s Name Generator Generator.

My authentic japanese name is 山下 Yamashita (under the mountain) 歩 Ayumu (walk, deeper meaning: walk your own way).
Take your real japanese name generator! today!
Created with Rum and Monkey’s Name Generator Generator.

My authentic japanese name is 清水 Shimizu (clear water) 明日香 Asuka (fragrance of the bright day).
Take your real japanese name generator! today!
Created with Rum and Monkey’s Name Generator Generator.

Which member of Arashi is your favorite?

[carryON] lyrics and translation

[carry on] is one of my favorite songs from the [time] LP – along with [cry for you], [firefly] and [be with you], which all happen to fall into the ‘no PV’ category T_T

oh, well… at least we have the lives to make up for this injustice. (who was so empty-headed as to decide they didn’t need a PV? Ò.Ó おこってるんですよ！)

with regards to the trans… 間違えばすみません。sorry for the inaccuracies, translating songs involve a lot of imagination and you end up ‘interpreting’ more than anything, because some sentences just don’t connect or make any sense otherwise. still it gets easier the more you do it, since a lot of words repeat themselves and a lot of structures too. good way to improve your japanese if I may say so.

know that you are free to take the translation, as always – but if you use it in your blog or site, please remember to credit or link. these things take time and a little effort :)

[carry on]・嵐

Katori Shingo- Oha Rock

Shingo Katori is one of the members of SMAP, one of the first music groups of Johnny’s. Shingo-san is well known for his parodies and personifications… (he is one of the best of the group). I saw the video of “Oha Rock” about 6 years ago and because at that moment the only thing I knew about japanesse music were the groups Gackt, L’arc~en~Ciel, Dir en Grey and Hikaru Utada I thought to myself that japanesse people where a bit nuts… and today at 4 in the morning I got an E-mail from Nana-chan with a link to this parody, and now that I know who the nuts guy is I have mixed feelings… I don’t know if I have to laugh or cry while watching this… (Shingo is my favorite singer from SMAP… well he is my favorite in everything) At the same time I saw this for the first time I saw the video of “Yatta” which I’ve seen again today and I’m glad to see that there are no Idols or actor/singer I admire between the components of the group, so that’s a relief, XDD!!

I’m truly grateful to Nana-Chan for showing me this video again and to the Blog she rediscovered the clip in the other day. I had a great time watching it, I had a great time seeing how Shingo danced and I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw the rest of SMAP on the last part of the clip (Goro is soo Kawaiiii!!!!).

I hope you enjoy the video as much as I have, >_<!!!

[流星の絆] ryusei no kizuna_beautiful days

I have been either very busy or very lazy to check on the autumn upcoming doramas. I knew ニノ was starring in a new series for TBS that would cover [魔王]’s slot (yes, I’m sad too that it’s over – no more hot 生田斗真 for a while). but I didn’t know much about it, to tell you the truth; just the title [流星の絆]

the story is again one of revenge it seems (TBS is straining the topic a bit, what with [魔王] first and then this, but it may stick, who knows). three orphan siblings – played by [二宮和也] ninomiya kazunari, [錦戸亮] nishikido ryo and [戸田恵梨香] toda erika – swear on a shooting star that the time may come when they will avenge their murdered parents (hence the title: “bonds of a shooting star/meteor”). the kids grow up and finally discover the identities of the murderers. the two boys are intent to follow as sworn long ago, but they have overlooked a small detail: their sister.

the script is [kudo kankuro]’s, you may know some of his works: [kisarazu cat's eye] (dorama and movies) and [ikebukuro west gate park] are the most famous. I just mention it because it could be a warranty of a good script and plot. I loved [kisarazu], so I hope this one turns out well – I got tired of watching dorama for the sake of someone’s appearance when I came across , that did it for me. so if this one is not good I won’t follow it, not even for ニノ.

other interesting facts about the dorama are the two songs that are known to feature as the opening and insert song. the first one is the new [嵐] single [beautiful days] – how long has it been since truth was released, two months? and there’s another single going out 5th november? do they ever stop to breath? – and the second one is a ballad by [中島美嘉] nakashima mika, whose brief collaboration with morisanchuu seems to have been just that: brief. honestly, what a waste. I’m leaving here the MF links to both songs – mind you, the [嵐] one is a radio-rip from ニノ’s [baystorm], as the CD has not been released yet.

.::beautiful days::.

.::orion::.

in fact it was the song that triggered all this. I was walking around rome the other day for lack of anything else to do, when I suddenly remembered about [ryusei no kizuna] and wondered who would be doing the theme song. the poll was strong on [嵐], of course, but since ryo is also in the series I thought maybe [NEWs] would be given a chance. but apparently not – now I feel stupid for even thinking about it.

while you wait for the dorama release in TBS on 17日10月, I found a TFP2 special of [ryusei no kizuna]. the file is some good 1.1Gb big, so there was no way I could upload it to MF without upgrading – and believe me, that’s not gonna happen in the near future – so instead you have the d-addicts torrent link.

*current mood: impatient*

[trainMANNERS]

because japan will never cease to surprise us with yet another ludicrous occurrence.

here are the posters (up to this month) of the campaign entitled “train manners” – personally, I would have never thought that japanese needed any sort of reminder in the matter. just the funny, sour looking man that appears recurrently in all of them (like wally) is enough to make you twitch your mouth into a small smile. but the last three posters are just hilarious. I came across the “do it in the beach” one down at ebisu station, but didn’t know of the existence of the others until now.

go ahead, crack a laugh.

Another Quiz about Arashi >_<

kat XD shared this quiz with me last week I suspect in an attempt to cheer me up (嵐 never fails to steal a smile from me) and so I tried and got oh-chan. but by some mysterious design of fate I couldn’t post it directly through the “share” button -> “wordpress”. so I closed the results and contented myself with telling kat. as it happens she thought it’d be nice to have both posted (hers and mine) and so I complied. and this time I got jun twice!!! I guess I changed a couple of answers and now I don’t remember what I replied to get oh-chan… since we both got the same – and kat is gonna kill me for this (damn possessive with her matsubunny *ouch*) – I won’t repeat the results.

Congratulations!!! You and Matsumoto Jun have gotten married and are now on your way to a special Italian Honeymoon in the Amalfie Coast with nothing but good yummy pasta and beautiful beach shorelines to fill your hearts with romance and passion!!

*note*: hum, guess I AM in italy eating a lot of pasta after all. company is slightly different than an 嵐member, but still… :p

[elCUERVOyLAcampanitaDEcristal]

me quedo con japón; con sus pajitas extensibles, sus frigoríficos parlantes y sus donuts con sabor a té verde.
desde este parque se oye el tintineo de una campanita de cristal, colgada en la terraza de alguna casa con un váter que te limpia el culo con apretar un botón. una joven con una larga melena de un rubio improbable pasa cojeando delante de mí; toda su atención puesta en el móvil último modelo con pantalla panorámica y acceso a canales de televisión. cuajado de diminutos cristalitos adhesivos, el aparato centellea bajo la luz de las farolas.
los cuervos, grandes como gatos adultos, graznan intermitentemente desde sus tronos en los postes de electricidad. a veces los ves manchar el cielo con su silueta gorda y negra, batiendo sus enormes alas con un peculiar sonido: como el sacudir de sábanas limpias.
sentada en un columpio de un parque cualquiera espero la llegada de una de estas aves. imagino que se acerca cautelosa – las huellas de sus patas clavándose en la arena bajo su peso -, gira la cabeza para fijar en mí uno de sus brillantes ojos negro-azulados y entonces el feroz tamaño de su pico se hace por fin aparente.
podría sacarme los ojos de las cuencas con ese pico, podría destrozarme la cara y las manos… sin embargo, el cuervo permanece impasible, estudiándome. la campanita de cristal suena de nuevo – un viento que no llego a percibir debe de estar haciéndole cosquillas.
el cuervo avanza de nuevo hacia mí, sorteando las colillas aplastadas de alguien que no se preocupó de recogerlas. entonces ocurre lo imposible – o improbable – : el cuervo se dirige a mí en su extraño idioma de cuervo, con su voz negra y rota, como de fumador de dos cajetillas al día, y comparte conmigo un pedacito de su sabiduría. un trocito de ese futuro que sólo algunas aves ven porque están siempre observando desde lo alto. “el gato de la tienda de la esquina no se mueve de la ventana”. reparo en que usa el presente simple, pero claro, cuando siempre hablas del futuro, los tiempos verbales se vuelven como las gotas de aceite al sol: una suerte de colores que ya no saben dónde empiezan o acaban. con esto se marcha de nuevo a velar el sueño de la ciudad.

ya no se oye la campanita, ya no pasa nadie frente al parque. pero aún no puedo cerrar los ojos.

las luces parpadeantes de las máquinas expendedoras parecen observarme desde la oscuridad de un callejón con salida exclusiva para seres nocturnos y muy pequeños. decenas de ojillos rojos parpadean desde el orden hipodámico de la máquina de tabaco. reconozco algunas marcas pero mi atención se centra en las cajetillas ligeramente más largas y los diseños neo-novecentistas sobre fondo rosa palo de unos “virginia slim” – mentolados, por supuesto. intento imaginarme a un hombre de mediana edad adquiriendo unos cigarrillos de la graciosa cajetilla rosa, pero la imagen no termina de cuajar en mi mente. entonces recuerdo un cartel – igualmente rosa, esta vez en tono cereza – en la ventanilla de un vagón del metro anunciando “coche de uso exclusivo para mujeres”. como tantas otras cosas en Japón, hay dos versiones, según el género. uno puede ir a un メイド・カフェ para que le sirvan señoritas de veintipocos años, ataviadas con trajes de sirvienta francesa – cofia incluida – y se arrodillen ante ti mientras escriben frases cursis con el bote de ketchup sobre tu tortilla “francesa”. también puedes elegir un しつじ・カフェ en el que la versión masculina de la “sirvienta francesa” – el “mayordomo inglés”, una incongruencia más de estas cosas de la servidumbre – hará lo propio, pero esta vez sin florecitas ni corazoncitos de ketchup.

mis pensamientos vuelven al cuervo y su enigmático mensaje. distingo un aleteo entre los arbustos – por cómo suena debe de tratarse de un bicho grande, quizás una mariposa azul y negra, con las alas tan grandes como la palma de mi mano. me siento tentada de usarla como correo postal para llamar al cuervo, pero no sé qué tinta se usa para escribir sobre polvo de ala de mariposa. tendré que dejarlo pasar.

el duermevela de los locales de la calle comercial me irrita ligeramente. por la noche se descubre un barrio nuevo, distinto del que anda trajinando bajo la luz del sol – será la influencia de la luz blanquecina de las farolas? por la noche emergen tiendas y rótulos que durante el día quedan ocultos bajo el bullicio y el ruido de la actividad diurna. hago un esfuerzo por recordar estos lugares – que parecen existir tan sólo en este universo silencioso y nocturno – pero estoy segura de que no servirá de nada, mañana volverán sin remedio a su anonimato rutinario y desaparecerán de la vista.

no ceso de pasar por delante de callejones oscuros, imposiblemente estrechos, como refugios de sombras cansadas de seguir a sus dueños todo el día. en ocasiones vislumbro unos metros más al fondo una escalera destartalada e igualmente estrecha y me pregunto a la casa de qué sombra llevará.
en mi aventura nocturna descubro que no estoy sola en esta hora insomne: trabajadores azarosos realizan en silencio obras en la carretera. su presencia pasa totalmente desapercibida por la población durmiente y su leve rastro de alquitrán y asfalto recién echados no hará a nadie girar la cabeza mañana.
me despido de estas humildes abejas silenciosas – tras mis ojos queda aún impresa la luz roja de sus señales indicadoras, como brazos luminosos oscilando en la oscuridad.
más actividad al final de la calle. apretujadas unas contra otras, una docena de bicicletas esperan frente al 24 horas como perros fieles limitados por la extensión de su correa (o el candado de su rueda trasera). nada interesante por aquí. sólo productos pre-fabricados, pre-cocinados, pre-digeridos… casi pre-cagados. revistas del mes que viene, ensaladas con fecha de caducidad de ayer, un frigorífico vacío con dos tristes onigiri rosas, otro a rebosar con helados en coloridos y llamativos envoltorios anunciando sabor a calpis y té verde. el café del starbucks en una taza de plástico, fanta de uva morada, zumo de melocotón rosa como un culito feliz. estante tras estante de rámen instantáneo, comida enlatada y dulces de chocolate a la fresa; chicles en pastilla con envoltorio individual… periódicos de poco contenido y revistas de menor contenido aún: publicidad, artículos sobre bienes de consumo y algún reportaje sobre un ídolo japonés del momento; a su lado, portada tras portada exhibiendo chicas jóvenes de grandes pechos, ligeras de ropa.
busco el café con leche más barato que haya: lata, botella de plástico, taza o tetrabrik? tener demasiadas opciones a las 2 am es contraproducente…

regreso a mi columpio, a mi parque, con esa espantosa escultura en bronce de un niño-bebé japonés. pobre niño negrito a la entrada del parque, qué imagen tan perturbadora ver una estatua vestida con ropa infantil de verdad.
las cadenas del columpio chirrían suavemente con mi lento pero persistente balancear. mi tetrabrik de “café au lait” viene con pajita extensible incluida – me siento como un marinero desplegando su catalejo, dispuesto a escrutinar un mar de leche, café y sacarosa baratos. un gato negro de rabo corto hace su ronda nocturna ignorándome por completo. bajo la creciente oscuridad su cuerpo desaparece y tan solo tres motas blancas a ras de suelo avanzan con ritmo constante entre las sombras. tres motas blancas – dos se acercan, una se aleja, dos se alejan… si no hubiésemos visto al gato de rabo corto antes podríamos pensar que tres motas autónomas hacen su ronda nocturna por el parque.

el silencio va haciéndose más evidente – tanto que tengo que taparme los oídos para no oírlo. retomo el balanceo para que la conversación de las cadenas me acompañe y entonces reparo en la estructura completa de estos columpios: tobogán, barras y caseta cónica de metal coloreados con pinturas infantiles, comidas por el sol. parece que palideciese ante el paso del tiempo, como la madera del balancín con forma de caballito-pony, guardando un precario equilibrio a la espera de que el culo de algún niño ocupe su silla de montar.

sigo sin tener sueño, pero los ojos me escuecen por la falta de luz y el exceso de uso. aún no he descubierto qué tinta se usa para escribir sobre polvo de ala de mariposa. aún no he conseguido que el maldito gato se fije en mí.

el cielo ya se quema en colores rojizos y azulados en el horizonte – imposible saber si por la polución lumínica o las primeras cabezadas del sol, no tengo reloj. el tiempo no existe en pequeñas cantidades cuando no tenemos con qué registrar su paso.

mi bicicleta me mira triste desde la barrera del parque. intuye que no volveremos juntas esta noche – las bicicletas tienen buena intuición, como los animales. como mi amigo el gato que me ignora deliberadamente.
abandono mi descolorido columpio de asiento de goma amarilla y comienzo a andar tras el testarudo felino de tres patas blancas. me adapto a su ritmo – no es fácil, yo sólo tengo dos piernas – y lo sigo pasados los caballitos-balancín y el banco sembrado de colillas. me lleva hasta los arbustos de antes, donde revoloteaba el bicho probablemente grande, y desaparece entre el follaje. es curioso, juraría que los arbustos me llegaban a la altura del pecho, pero ahora me cubren por completo. he perdido de vista los columpios y el banco y a mi fiel y resignada bicicleta. ahora que lo pienso, también he perdido de vista el gato.

la campanita de cristal suena una última vez. se oye aleteo de sábanas negras. un destello negro-azulado, como un descuido de la luz sobre una esfera perfecta. un graznido familiar: “dos cuervos mancharán el cielo frío del alba”.

終わり

[juntoshi]

[oreiji]’s [arashi] related blog – lots of interesting stuff about the boys, regular updates on the TVshows they appear in and their weekly schedule (definitely worth visiting). however, what really made me roll with laughter are the [motto juntoshi love] posts. I only new about [ohmiya] love, so [juntoshi] is new to me @_@; still it was awesome! check this posts, they are definately a must for [arashi] fans. :3

[motto juntoshi love]

[motto juntoshi love 2]

they are basically [arashi] fics, jun/ohno shipped, but told through caps and with lots of humour. the caps are really well chosen and the stories, even if simple are hilarious! I have read some arashi fics before, but this is the best I’ve encountered so far. enjoy!!!

[sillyMASHgame-lotsOFfun!!]*updated

		I will marry nino.
		After a wild honeymoon, We will settle down in le marais in our fabulous Apartment.
		We will have 7 kid(s) together.
		Our family will zoom around in a melon aston martin.
		I will spend my days as a johnny kitazawa\’s succersor, and live happily ever after.

these are my results in this silly mash game lol
seven kids!!! WTF! will nino really be up to that? the first time I got sho-kun, but since I hadn’t got the knack of the places and so I though I might as well repeat it and write something decent (note: for some reason I got the same job both times, coincidence?)
can’t wait to see your results kat!!! :3

		I will marry oh-chan.
		After a wild honeymoon, We will settle down in roppongi hills skydeck in our fabulous House.
		We will have 13 kid(s) together.
		Our family will zoom around in a golden hummer.
		I will spend my days as a kabukicho hostess, and live happily ever after.

this time I got oh-chan!!! yay! actually I just wanted a different job and a more extravagant living place… since kat won’t let me exchange husbands! bye bye matsubunny… oh-chan is also a good option though :3

[rookies]

another great dorama, in my opinion. I watched it just after finishing with [last friends] and the contrast did me some good… after all the suffering in [LF] it’s nice to laugh a bit for a change :)

the story is not very original maybe… bunch of young good-for-nothing delinquents, former members of  high-school baseball club, meet new enthusiastic teacher who is determined to make them achieve their “dreams”. in a way it follows [gokusen]’s pattern: boys don’t give a fuck about anything, school principal can’t wait to get rid of them, teaching staff is pissed off with them and wishes a random meteorite would wiped them out of the surface of the Earth for good… then idiotically enthusiastic new teacher arrives and gives them thousands of opportunities they shove up their… erhm, they don’t take because they’re *baddies* and stubborn like hell; time passes and masochistic teacher never gives up – after all he is masochistic teacher. either because he’s tiring or because they really feel someone finally believes in them – and poor things, that’s all they needed – they begin to change.

ok, I know this sounds like I’m making fun of it… but that’s pretty much how it goes, everybody knows that story. the differences here, the boys were a baseball team, with some good players that had put their hopes in koshien (national baseball competition, high-school level). since an unfortunate violent incident during a game they have been banned from playing and resorted to fighting, smoking and hanging around game parlours and stuff like that. deep inside though, they still yearn to play again, they just need a little push. the series is funny and enjoyable – or maybe it’s just that I like gang fighting and the sort, not in vain is [crows zero] one of my fave films so far.

the characters are really omoshiroi and the actors too:

kawato kouji [sato ryuta] is the *stupidly enthusiastic* teacher and a pain in the ass for the boys. otherwise he is a great person, genuinely worried about his students (yankumi style, I swear) and 2nd dan in karate! [sato] played master in [kisarazu cat's eye] (also related to baseball @_@, does this man ever get a break?) and kattori in [bambino], where he was pretty cool, in my humble opinion V_V

aniya keiichi [ichihara hayato], the leader of the gang, he has real skill for baseball and back when they could still play he dreamt about koshien. he’s now a playboy that uses the baseball club quarters to bring girls and… erm, yeah. however, he seems to be very close to yagi touko – they must know each other since they were kids or something, since she calls him kei-chan – and all his coolness shakes when she jokes about having sex with him. [hayato] appeared in iwai shinji’s [all about lili chouchou] some years ago; since then he has starred in [waterboys2] and [niji no megami] with [ueno juri]. this boy is just gorgeous, the aniya look suits him perfectly!

wakana tomochika [takaoka sousuke] the catcher of the team and the “mood maker”, when he is not around things start falling slightly apart. he is as stupid and stubborn as the rest of them and gets easily flared up when challenged, but he has his weak points too. [takaoka] played a similar role in [crows zero] – takashi miike film about gang fighting, based on a very popular manga by takahashi hiroshi. other works include dorama [attention please] and famous [battle royale] (I have to see that one again because I don’t remember him…)

mikoshiba tooru [koide keisuke] is the only one in the band that doesn’t cause any trouble, he just hangs around with them out of former friendship while he keeps harboring hopes of playing baseball with them one more time. nice and kind-hearted as he is, mikoshiba is easily bullied, but if it weren’t for him the baseball club would have never reformed again. you might have seen this actor before in [nodame cantabile] as MASAMI!!! yes, I also had a heart attack when I realised… he looks so kakkoii in the magazines and so cute as mikoshiba… example of how afro-hairstyle and weird chinese-like mustache can ruin your image… V_V*

sekikawa shuta [nakao akiyoshi] may not be the teams ace but he is undeniably the fastest runner the have. second to come around after mikoshiba, his feelings towards the baseball club’s future are as strong as anyones’. [nakao] also appears in [waterboys2] and [dragon zakura].

shinjo kei [shirota yuu] the most violent and dangerous of the boys, he is last to rejoin the club due to his stubborness. despite his apparent detatched attitude he is the one that values friendship the most and would never betray his mates. this actor is actually half spanish, as a consequence there is a substantial difference in hight with the rest of the boys – poor japanese shorties – which makes him look monstrously big, when he is actually normal! just check [hanakimi] where he played kagurazaka, you’ll see he has more or less the same build as [oguri shun].

the other members are: [kawamura yousuke] as hiyama, [onoue hiroyuki] as imaoka, [igarashi shunji] as yufune and [sato takeru] as okada.

and [kiritani kenta] as hiratchi – this was my second heart attack. I thought “kiritani, kiritani… where did I hear that name before?” and then I find a post in a blog saying that he had appeared in [crows zero]!! “OMG! now I remember! he’s my GOD from [crows zero]!” this can’t be true! they have depicted him as the idiot of the group and with that horrible hair style and mustache he loses all his sex-appeal… T_T  please take a look of the “before” and “after”:

the rest of the cast includes [murakawa eri] (yagi touko) from [sexy voice and robo] and [fukiishi kazue] (mayumi rie). you can also see her in [bambino] playing matsujun’s girlfriend, eri, and in [yamada tarou monogatari], again as a teacher.

since it finished airing pretty recently only the first nine episodes are subbed in english  – all thanks to [skeweds] and [TimeLesSubs] :)   torrents this way —>

ep#1 :: ep#2 :: ep#3 :: ep#4 :: ep#5 :: ep#6 :: ep#7 :: ep#8 :: ep#9

if you don’t care about the subs because you just want to enjoy watching the boys, go ahead and download the RAW episodes! (note: 1280×720 divx6.xx)

ep#10 :: ep#11

if you like the ending song, [kiseki] from GReeeeN, I left an MF link in a previous post. :)

[TFP2_hanaYORIdango2&FINALcast]

I was thinking of posting this together with [花より男子final], but then I realised it’d be too much for one post.

these are the two [tokyo friend park 2] programs where the casting of [花より] appeared – the first one dates back to the airing of the second season of the dorama and the other one is “the final cast” to the movie. I have only seen the first one (I only downloaded the other one recently).

while writting the previous post I found myself remembering this program and thinking how funny it was. they all try to make matsujun act as leader – since he is, as tsukasa – but he is little  bit OOC here, he is more matsujun than domyouji after all. then you see oguri shun all happy-go-lucky, laughing idiotically and being all playful… such a contrast with sober, melancholic rui. shouta is really kakkoii (better than in the series) and you can tell he was only 21 then, he was just like a boy. the oldest one is abe *@_@*… 24 or so. and mao calls him “tonton”!!! – to me it sounds like french word for “uncle” *astounded*.

during one of the last games, where they ask the participants to answer individually about topics related to them, they asked matsujun if it was true that he used to read a lot of shoujo!!!! he answers, a little embarrassed, that it’s true, because he has two older sisters that were really into it he usually read it too. so he already knew [花より] before he was proposed to act as domyouji. and he said that while reading it he used to think that the coolest character was rui, and then he learnt he would be playing tsukasa instead lol!!!! at this oguri shun goes all excited and starts saying “that’s me, I’m rui!” and points at the name printed on his t-shirt – so cute! nothing like hanazawa rui, in fact.

in the end, they exchange all the “cleared” trophies for darts to get a chance to win the presents they asked for in advance. shun asked for a baby-cart!!! don’t panic, it’s not for him (no matter what the others say), it’s for his older brother and wife, who were expecting at he moment. he does get the price (someone else’s dart lands on the right place) and he says “niichan, I got it, I got it!” – but then another dart lands on the “baby-cart” slice! shun goes: “niichan, even if you have two it’s fine now!” – sooooo cute!!

the links are both to the torrents in [d-addicts]:

[TFP2_hana.yori.dango.returns]

[TFP2_hana.yori.dango.final.cast]

other interesting editions of the program include [arashi], [ikuta.toma+ohno.satoshi] and [rookies] as guests (in the latter’s case it’s not the whole cast, only kawato, touko, okada, hirachi and hiyama appear… *sad* misses aniya and wakana…)

[花より男子final]

last wednesday I finally went to see [hana yori dango F]!!! – go me!

I went to roppongi hills’ toho cinema – mainly because we had already tried it when we went to see [崖の上のポニョ] and also because on wednesdays it’s only 1000￥ for girls :)

just a quick note, I got there at about 16:15 to buy the tickets for the 18:35 session and the were already SOLD OUT!!! when do japanese buy their tickets? do they get there in the morning or what???? so I had to make do with the 21:25 session – there are not as many screenings per day as in europe, even in big cinemas such as this. it was definitely worth it though, there was no way I was going to watch matsujun from the first row!

the film in itself is not bad, same style as the dorama but with really good illumination and photography. the story goes something like this:

makino and domyouji are finally getting married – with whole scene of formal proposing, kimono and all, parents meeting each other, bla, bla, bla…- and tsukasa’s mother (who seems to have reconsidered and is all nice and smiley) offers makino the most precious of the family jewels to wear at the wedding. the thing in question is a tiara with four gems as big as plums: one from america, one from hongkong, one from an isle in the south and the other one I didn’t get it :p

as soon as they start celebrating the upcoming event the tiara is stolen – long scene of domyouji chasing after thief and much “tsukasa style” fighting. don’t ask me why, but it seems they cannot get married if they don’t retrieve the thingy – predictable, but I didn’t get the reason why, excuse my poor japanese :p

from then on it will be a long trip to get the tiara back, from las vegas – casinos, more chasing and a really cute scene in the motel -, to hongkong to attend an auction with all F4 members (they wouldn’t miss the fun, would they?). then they end up in a deserted island who-knows-where, both alone and… happy? the fact is tsukushi’s doubts about the wedding have got bigger and bigger as the quest for retrieving the tiara became more difficult. are they too young to marry? are they really ready to spend their lives together? will she be able to make tsukasa happy? why does everything get so complicated for them? that’s what she is thinking, more or less.

the famous scene with matsujun shirtless in the water is obviously from the island sequences – there are many funny things here, like seeing how tsukasa grows a ridiculous amount of facial hair (poor thing, his beard is like three or four hairs…) and then shaves it off with a broken visa (no kidding). and then when makino asks him about his dream and he replies: “I’ve got it right in front of me.” pointing at makino. :) he can be sweet when he’s at it. you will discover tsukushi’s dream in the last scene, during the credits – I’m not spoiling it for you.

things about the other F4: nishikado is taking over the family business and giving conferences about the tea ceremony (the audience is nothing but women, of course); mimasaka is doing pretty much the same, though his family’s affairs involve shooting, scheming and being targeted by other bands *gulps* (I didn’t know this side of akira, he seemed so innocent…); the only one who is doing nothing is rui (or maybe he is and I just didn’t get it, but you just see him idling in his bedroom @_@). apart from that, shizuka gets married in france, sorry rui, life is hard.

best things… apart from the actors? the cute and funny scenes – in las vegas’ motel domyouji draws makino to the bed with the obvious intention of sleeping with her when they are interrupted by another character (forgot the name since he is not one of the regulars); domyouji snaps like a string and lies on his belly immediately (I was confused by this at first) but when when he sits up, he turns his back on the other two, makes a ball with the sheets and covers his crotch… seriously, just because he was thinking about sleeping with makino? lol

however, what I liked most is that after the “final” scene you get to see an epilogue, the “one year later” sort of thing. soujiro has writen a book – about tea ceremony, what else? – and yuki goes to the signing to surprise him. although he smiles warmly at first next thing he does is run away from her like mad. akira has become an oyagun (more or less) in hongkong – very much like “the godfather” asian version. rui… I never understood what happened with him, but at least he leaves his room. and a great scene with makino and domyouji back in the deserted island (this time they go there on purpose), where tsukushi reveals her dream. :)

kat, akiko-chan, I hope they release the DVD soon so we can watch it together guys!!! I’m so frustrated because I cannot comment on the important scenes so I don’t ruin the film for you! T_T

here’s the japanese trailer.

and I’m leaving the korean trailer here, since it seems it has some scenes that the japanese one omitted.

and I couldn’t leave [one love] PV out.

[currentlyLISTENING2]

these days I’m a little idle – well, completely idle in fact… so I’ve been listening to music a lot. here is my [halcyon] list (that’s how I call my everyday playlist):

[GReeeN]

.::キセキ::.

.::rookies::.

キセキ (kiseki) is the theme to [rookies] dorama and a great song in my opinion. the second one I’m not sure about, it must appear in the series, but I don’t recall hearing it @_@ *hopeless*

[MICA3CHU]

.::I don’t know::.

.::shut up::.

a collaboration between [morisanchu] and [nakashima mika] – the result: a great song that get the best of nakashima, that is, her NANA side!

[utada hikaru]

.::prisoner of love::.

.::prisoner of love (quiet version)::.

theme to [last friends]. I find this song really catchy, the parts where the chorus joins in are my fave :)

[mr children]

.::gift::.

.::centre of universe::.

[gift] is [mr children]’s last single. I had heard about this group, specially in jmusic blogs, but had never cared to listen to their songs. now I’ve got hold of some old albums and selections and I’m trying to catch up! – that’s why I’m also including the second song, which is older than [gift]. :)

[tamaki hiroshi]

.::dakishimetai::.

yes! it’s chiaki-sempai!! while I’m not really partial to this sort of “mellow” jpop I must say I liked this song. I was surprised to learn that it was his 7th single or so – since he is already 28 I assumed he had been singing longer @_@

[嵐]

.::truth::.

.::truthPV::.

.::kaze no mukou e::.

and of course, [嵐]’s soon to be released single [truth], theme to [魔王].  I just love this song, it’s so out of style! like nothing they’ve done before :) and like kat said, the interlude with the violins is amazing. I don’t have [kaze no mukou e]’s mp3 file, since I sort of hear it everyday on TV with the olympics… but you can download the PV instead. the single will go on sale 8/20, releasing a total of three versions – main differences are “only CD with both songs and karaoke”, “CD both songs and karaoke +DVD truth” and “CD both songs and karaoke +DVD kaze”.

[thePILLOWS_piedPIPER]

the pillows’ last album ‘08!!!! I was determined to buy it, if only because it’s the last (and I wasn’t going to buy one I already had…). since I only got it yesterday I haven’t had time to get used to the songs yet – I’m a little slow with that – so I cannot recommend this or that. the first single was [pied piper], but [tokyo bambi] is very popular too.

this is the MF link to the complete album.

and these are [pied piper] and [tokyo bambi] singles respectively.

and the DVD included in the album, featuring [pied piper] PV and a special video entitled [the pillows: texan daily life]

[ラスト・フレンズ]

I’ve been watching some new dorama lately (apart from 魔王) – among them [lastFRIENDS], a dorama I had sort of overlooked and discarded because of the title (never rely on japanese titles).

strong points of this series: different story (no more high-school, uni stories or weird, far-fetched plots), mature approach to a range of different topics and focus on character development and introspection rather than in the action. also, great cast: [ueno juri] (nodame), [eita] (mine), [mizukawa asami] (kiyora) – all from [nodame cantabile] -, [nagasawa masami] (proposal daisakusen) and NEWs’ [nishikido ryo].

michiru (nagasawa) is a very nice but fragile person; searching for the emotional stability that she lacks at home, she meets sousuke (nishikido) and they start an ideal relationship. however, as soon as they move in together sousuke becomes extremely possessive and violent with michiru, who feels helpless and just puts up with her new situation.

meanwhile, ruka (ueno), a former high-school friend of michiru, is finally realising her dream of becoming a motocross pro racer. but her life changes when she meets michiru again after 4 years of forced separation. her love for her friend drives her to protect michiru as soon as she realises that something is wrong and she takes her to the shared house where she lives. but ruka has been living a lie all her life, pretending to be someone she is not – michiru’s sudden appearance will trigger bitter thoughts.

takeru (eita) also has a secret he hasn’t told anyone. in the shared house he will play a supportive role, always taking care of the others in the most subtle way, but he would never let them know that he needs as much help as they do.

eri (mizukawa) seems the most outgoing and carefree person in the house. she falls in love every now and again and has had a lot of relationships. always making fun of love and talking carelessly she is indeed craving for true ever-lasting love herself. if only men realised that she is not as strong as she looks…

and I’m not telling anything more!!! you just watch it!!!

there are 11 episodes and a SP that you can find subbed in english by [kioku] here (torrent)

meanwhile, I’ll leave the opening, so you can enjoy utada hikaru’s [prisoner of love]:3

[海・九十九里]

we finally went to the beach!!!! not that we went very far, though, just to chiba (neighbouring prefecture). the area is called 九十九里 (kujukuri) and the beach we stayed in is the closest to 大網 (ooami town).

it took us about 3 hours to get there – counting JR from akihabara to chiba, from chiba to ooami  and a bus to the beach. also we had to wait for jee young and tracy that had taken the chuuo line in shinjuku instead…

the beach was surprisingly clean and EMPTY! some people had told us that chiba’s beaches were not worth the trip, that they were packed with people and filthy as kamakura. while the sea was not exactly *blue* – it was dark green, in fact – the water was ok. the ocean and tides are strong in japan, so most beaches are good for surfing mainly. if all you can do is jump and ride waves, who cares if the water is green? it’s not like you could swim peacefully from side to side – you’d soon drown if you tried… but it was great FUN!! I love it when the sea gets wild! william and I tried to play a little game: see who could stay longer floating face-up, eyes closed, waiting for the waves to strike. to prevent the other one from cheating we held hands. the problem is the tide made our bodies rotate until we hit our heads… that was the end of it.

something that really surprised me – and I should be posting this in my [things I find curious about japan] section – is that nearly all girls wore rubber-rings (just like kids do when they’re learning to swim) and their boyfriends pulled them from a string attached to the rubber-thingy!! WTF!!! could it be that women don’t learn how to swim in this country? – note: ISLAND-country. or are they so lame as to be afraid of the waves? 意味わからね。。。もうガマンできね。ﾊﾞｶみたい、ね？these things just irritate me.

apart from that, the day was perfect – we ate there and then went looking for shells (got a plastic bag full of them in my closet now). the only drawback… we all got sun-burnt! even me, who never, EVER in my liｆe had got sun-burnt… ありえね。。。ヤバイよ、これ痛いな！

I leave you the photos, as always :)

[日光]

on monday duncan and I decided to go to nikko [日光] to visit 温泉 (onsen – hot springs) a last. we chose nikko over hakone or other possible onsen resorts because of the proximity and the beautiful national park – apart from 輪王子 temple, 東照宮 and 二荒山神社 shrines, there are several waterfalls and hiking paths that take you to 中禅寺 lake and it’s onsen resort.

we had in mind taking the first morning train, but lady duncan needs a lot of time in the morning, so we missed our train – sorry duncan, but it’s true. however, thanks to that we met michelle, colin, alex, mika and asami! they were heading for nikko too, so we started conversation in the train and ended up spending the day together. they were all art college graduates – michelle, colin and alex from rhode island school of art and mika and asami from a school in tokyo. some of them were specialised in glass – colin showed us too of his works, small glass marbles with flower-like forms sprouting in their cores. they were in asia because they had had a show in seoul thanks to a korean friend they met back in their college days – I wish I could have seen more of their work… and since then they had been travelling a while: hongkong, korea, japan… うらやましい。。。

all in all missing that train wasn’t bad at all.

when we arrived at nikko i was definitely glad we hadn’t gone elsewhere – even if tokyo has many parks and vegetation there’s nothing compared to the forests you see there: huge trees with thin bare trunks like overgrown mushrooms stand so close together that you get the feeling you will have to move around like in a crowded pub; mountaintops covered in thin fog and green everywhere!!! *nature loving mood* the air smelled of rain and ferns… >_< うれしい！

we found a very nice antique shop on our way through the main street – I could have spent hours there! the boys bought ukiyo-e (traditional japanese painting) and I found some pottery that made me fall in love with it immediately – duncan told me “oh, so you found the best piece in the shop, snatched it quickly and left nothing for the rest of us! I see!”

then we went to have a bite to a soba and udon place (thin and fat japanese noodles). since one of nikko’s specialties is [yuba] (some kind of tofu), nearly all of us ordered yuba soba to honour the tourist’s spirit. it was actually very good – maybe because it was not some shit-hole in shibuya, but a real family restaurant hundreds of kilometers away from tokyo.

as I said before, nikko national park hosts a Buddhist temple and two shinto shrines (one of them is tokugawa ieyasu’s tomb – founder of tokugawa dynasty that gives name to the peaceful era after centuries of war in japan. I’m no expert in japanese religious architecture, but still it was nice to see the differences between shinto and Buddhism in the symbols they use and the priests’ outfits. the shinto shrines were a frenzy of taking off and putting on your shoes a hundred times – when you’re wearing converse and have to tie and untie laces twenty time you start considering walking bare-foot. photos are not allowed inside the temples, so there are none in the album and anyway, I think the only thing I would have liked to convey about the shrines was the lovely feeling of tatami under your feet – and no photograph can do that yet. we prayed at one of the altars, shinto-style, imitating carefully the japanese people: two bows of the head, two claps, pray, clap, bow. I even managed to compose a simple prayer in japanese *proud of myself*

after that it started raining cats and dogs and we had to take refuge in a small derelict coffeeshop – considering how much it was raining and the fact that I had previously persuaded duncan not to buy an umbrella, I think he was in his right to ditch me in the nearest sewer… we were soaked from head to toes, so dripping wet we didn’t even miss the onsen. we sat in the cafe trying to decide what to do next and waiting for the rain to stop while we ate yuba ice-cream (tastes like turron ice-cream, I swear) and drinking ice-coffee. the storm went on for an hour or so, lightning and thunder included. the girls and I practised some origami and then we all went for a smoke outside. by-passers kept coming to take shelter at the entrance, but only us remained. the road had become a real river – asami, who had to cross over to go to the bathroom, seemed to be doing rafting, her feet ankle-deep into the raging water.

by the time it stopped there was not much left to do anymore; the last train was due for 18:50 and we still had to get back to the station, so we just walked back looking at the occasional open shop and buying snacks and souvenirs.

[album]

[more b-day presents]

here are the b-day presents that miki and duncan got me!!

miki’s is the hankie (murasaki colour, my fave!!!) and duncan’s is a key-ring in the shape of the monopoly dog (he engraved the “monopoly” sign in it, so it was like personal work :3). then we went to odaiba to spend the afternoon and when we got back home miki had bought sashimi for dinner!!! and best of all, they had also got me a piece of cake that looked just gorgeous – one of those cakes I keep staring at in bakery displays – all for me! *salivates*

then yesterday, when I got back home after going to yakiniku with my classmates, I stepped onto something hard when I entered my room without turning on the light – that’s me, all adventure and excitement. and it was another present from miki!!! it bore an “amazon.co.jp” greeting card and was shaped like a book, so at first I thought “murakami novel”. but it was [Lchange the World]!!! I’ve been wanting to see this movie since february, when it was on theatres here in japan. and miki bought me the special edition!!! 美紀サイコウ！！

：）

ps: my parents totally forgot about my b-day… on the plus side, all my dearest friends were great this year!

[仲間]

today when I checked my mail I saw a notice from my friends wishing me happy birthday – I’m 21 now, how depressing T_T. and then a link to kat’s blog, were a surprise awaited me.

since it’s in spanish I’ll post a briefing:

the post was named “nana-chan’s birthday presents”; it had two links (“present#1″ and “present#2″), this way I would be able to see my presents as if I were unwrapping them! since the computer at home uses windows vista *ahem, crap, ahem* it took it sometime to open the links, making it look even more like the real thing:)

then they went on saying they wanted to get me an “edward” – [twiglight] books’ main male character – but when she got the shipment she liked him so much she decided to keep it to herself!! *little private pun*

みんな、ありがとう！お前らサイコウ！！

it’s the best birthday surprise ever!!! I’m so happy now! ;_; thanks girls. うれし泣いている。。。they are the best friends in the world! I miss you so much ミンア！

that’s all, I just wanted to share my first happy moment of the day – probably the best too :3

oh! and these are my presents!

present#1

present#2

now you get the same feeling I got X)

[photos_greaseSTYLE?]

I don’t remember if I mentioned in my [yoyogiKOEN] post that apart from street bands you can find a re-enactment of pure 50’s rock’n'roll right at the park’s entrance. now, if you’re thinking “electric guitars” and the like you are much mistaken – it’s not music they’re out for, it’s dancing and putting on a good show. clad in worn jeans and black-leather, their hair sticking up in impossible toupees and their eyes hidden behind rayban-style sunglasses, they look like the real thing, taken straight from the past. though they are mainly men, girls with wide skirts and fuzzy ribbons holding their hair can also be seen dancing with their male counter-parts.

I took a lot of pictures, most of them look the same, but I just couldn’t decide which ones to post and which not, so I uploaded them all. the pink car was also theirs – it ROCKS!

.::rockabilly::.

[建築_aBITofARchiTECture]

I think it’s time I start posting some photos of architecture – why am I studying it for then?

I finally went for a stroll in 表参道 (omotesando) specifically to take photos of the [dior], [tods] and [prada] buildings. my tokyo architecture guide doesn’t include many buildings by sejima kazuyo – my favourite architect -, in fact it only talks about one; luckily it was not the [dior] building, which means I can now go visit TWO of her works!

the thing about omotesando is that even if the avenue in itself is wide, it’s diffeicult to get a good shot at the buildigs because of the huge trees that stand at both sides – in fact, that was the problem with toyo ito’s [tods] building, there was no space to take a good picture from the sidewalk and when I tried to aim at it from an elevated crossing the trees blocked my view…T_T

the [prada] building is slightly farther away than the previous two; you have to pass a big crossing, then the street gets narrower – I’m not sure it’s even omotesando-dori anymore – and everything becomes smaller in scale… the building stands on a lower level than the street, so when you are approching it it seems smaller than it really is.

I also included a photo of the [dolce&gabbana] building and the entrance to [comme des garcons]. then we found this really cute shinto shrine and we cleansed our hands and prayed at the altar :)

.::photos::.

[photos]

I’ve been wanting to post random photos for a while, without really writing anything *lazy-bum*

so I’m starting with just pics of people, known and unknown. some are not recent, but I never got to post them before.

[how'sITgoing_嵐'solos]

just as promised, [how'sITgoing?] concert solos are here! jun wears some weird all-black leather-plastic suit that reminds me both of [HG hoo] and cassandra clare’s draco… it’s weird, somehow… can’t say it’s sexy though *confused*. and sho-kun’s is one of my favourites so far – it’s been already published in kat’s blog, but it felt awkward to chuck him out of the post just like that, so I kept him :3

oh-chan’s solo: so-so-so

sho-kun’s solo: touch me now

nino’s solo: yume

jun’s solo: don’t cry

aiba-chan’s solo: yokaze

[嵐solos_allORnothing]

following kat’s series of posts about 嵐 solos per member I’m helping her including those you can no longer find in webs as youtube or veoh. instead of classifying them by singer I’m posting it by concert. I’m actually cross-posting to [habitacionAMBULANTE] (kat’s blog) in spanish. so as soon as she approves them they will be on her blog too :)

starting with [allORnothing], 2002 concert:

oh-chan’ [bite the love]

sho-kun’s [konya wa boogie back]

nino’s [regress of progress]

jun’s [one more time, one more chance]

aiba-chan’s [hitsuji wo kazoe]

as you see they were pretty young -jun had not corrected his teeth yet… I think they look cute, but the most recent shows – say from [iza, now!] onwards – are way better than the early solos. still it’s nice to see the evolution and how they’ve changed, ne? :)

coming soon [how'sITgoing] – all thanks to dailymotion *reverence* – that I discovered by chance looking for [AKFG]’s afterDARK PV. :)

[初めて居酒屋]

yesterday miki invited duncan and me to join some friends of hers at yokohama. after nearly 30 minutes in the train – without any stops whatsoever – we arrived at this huge station… nearly as confusing as shinjuku. I got this feeling that if while being in tokyo you only take the train or subway and emerge out of different stations you could be easily convinced that you are always in the same place…

however, we went to an izakaya not far from the station – an izakaya is like a traditional japanese tavern, similar to spanish “bar de tapas”. now, some people say you really know how to speak japanese when you’re able to read an izakaya’s menu because absolutely everything is in japanese and the dishes have weird names you have to know – luckily miki was there!

to order the food you had a touch-screen, the size of a small laptop screen. this way you don’t have to bother the waitresses every minute – in an izakaya you start ordering a couple of things and as you keep drinking you order more. we had loads of things, from cow heel (which I’d rather not have known), to sashimi (raw fish), hiyayako (cold tofu), shabu-shabu (thin meat filets, cooked in dashi), squid “steak”, tsumetai soba (cold noodles in dashi), sara-udon (crispy-fried noodles with vegetables and seafood)…

ｙou normally start drinking beer in izakaya – I’ve found japanese really love beer, sometimes I think even more than germans… but then miki’s friends asked for something called 男山 (man’s mountain) which is actually sake, but there they served it differently: instead of using just the typical lacquered-wood box, they put a small glass inside the box and poured the sake until it flooded both. it looks very pretty but it’s difficult as hell to drink without spilling it over you! it’s fine when you are half-way through it though. and the taste is soooooo good! like no sake I had had before. I’d say it was even sweet *>^<*　 きゅうう～～～！

duncan was supposed to meet his friends in shinjuku after that but jetlag and sake are not a good combination I guess… he fell asleep on miki’s shoulder.

miki’s friends were great! if I remember correctly their names were tani-kun and sugacchi – I had to ask miki several times, I’m not very good at remembering weird japanese names, let alone nicknames! they were very surprised to learn that 嵐 and the like were popular in europe. they said that all those boys are not “real japanese men”. I asked miki what they had meant by that, but she wasn’t sure about it either – maybe it’s because they are not very close to japanese stereotypical appearance? I don’t know… they were also amazed to hear me say that I was interested in japanese culture – “why japanese culture, what culture?”

oh! and they said that I was more japanese than miki because she doesn’t like a lot of japanese dishes that I love! things like hiyayako, unagi, anko… whenever I’m out with japanese people they seem very interested in knowing my views on japanese cooking; they aways ask me “can you eat this? do you like that? have you tried so and so?” then I explain to them that in madrid there are really good japanese restaurants that serve everyday food – unlike touristic ones that stick to sushi and tempura. so I’d already tried most of the things they asked me and liked everything so far. that’s another reason for miki’s friends to say I seemed japanese – you don’t see many gaijin relishing the taste of wasabi on fresh raw fish… and then there was the sake thing; I tried duncan’s first – because they ordered for the men only – and loved it so much I ended up ordering one for myself. since miki doesn’t like sake that much, her friends were surprised to see me gulp it with joy. :)

I’m definitely going back to one of these!!! as soon as I find a japanese speaking person willing to come along, of course… all in all it was about 5000￥per person and considering we ate and drank a lot I’d say it was fair.

no photos this time though, sorry!

[where is brian?part2]

the first time I wrote about the [brian joke] I forgot to mention that we actually lived with brian! in fact, my host family was initially composed by miki – 料理神様 cooking goddess and the best person I’ve met in japan so far -, jen and korin who were also doing home-stay here at 大崎 house and whom you already now from previous posts, and… miki’s canadian boyfriend BRIAN! now you know why the stupid joke stuck…

so, where is brian? brian is back in canada… or on a bus on his way to his hometown. さびしいよ。。。we already miss you brian! who am I going to fight over kimchi with!! no more “you ate all the kimchi, brian! how are you going to make up for it now?!” or “miki! brian finished the two types of kimchi already and ate all the spicy chips you bought for us! I didn’t even get a chance to try them!”

we threw a small farewell party at [footNIKS], an english pub close to 大崎 station. neal – former roomate of brian and a real englishman – and his girlfriend were there, sabrina was there too – a girl from luxemburg that had been at miki’s home-staying before. she now lives on her own and works here, I’m sooo jealous! oh, and she speaks spanish! so I got to use my mother tongue at last! previous to that my longest conversation in spanish had consisted in telling one of my italian classmates the recipe of spanish omelet…

after the meal we went to a small karaoke in the area (same as that time with jen and korin). I discovered neal is the best person to go to karaoke with – sort of the opposite to brian (sorry brian, but it’s true). though he sort of ruined my song… I chose [gimmick game] – I was thrilled to find they already had it in such a small cheap place! – and then neal tried to sing along with me even though he could barely read the japanese lyrics and hadn’t the slightest idea of how the music went… I should probably mention that when neal starts singing, you can still hear him from the karaoke entrance, even with the doors closed… so, yeah, I didn’t really get to sing my song… next time I’ll knock neal out before my turn comes.

what else have I been doing lately? uhmmm…

oh! I went to tsutaya – equivalent of FNAC in japan – looking for [thePILLOWS]’s last album and while searching the jpop section stumbled upon… the johnny’s shelf! they do not mix with the rest of the jpop, that’s johnny’s for you…

I found [murakamiHARUKI] novels for 105￥ each, and hardback!!! in a second-hand bookstore, of course; but then, I always buy my books second-hand, so it doesn’t make a difference. the name of the store is [bookOFF], it’s a chain store with shops around all tokyo. this one was in 戸越銀座 (togoshi ginza), my neighbourhood. I guess the shinjuku one will have more things. can’t wait to got there!

we visited 浅草 (asakusa) briefly – basically we were joining brian and miki for dinner. the　sensouji temple can be found there – after walking a never-ending street of souvenir shop after souvenir shop… asakusa is souvenir land for the average tourist visiting tokyo, there is nothing remotely traditional-looking that you cannot find there. I couldn’t get into the temple, ’cause it was already close, but I took some pics of the outside – I’ll update the post when they’re ready. the entrance is 雷門 (kaminari mon, or the lightning gate). [kaminari] is one of my favourite japanese words :) それで嬉しい！as an afterthought, apart from traditional souvenirs I found an idol shop with posters, photographs, uchiwa, member-cards and the like. yeah, this is japan…

today I skipped school because I was tired and meant to finish editing the fucking hanabi-day video! as it happens my computer decided to collapse while I was in the process of saving the project for the first time. I rebooted and of course lost all changes… I was so depressed that I started roaming the web for 嵐 videos – mainly to collaborate in kat’s post of 嵐 solos – when I found this thing about an ohno scandal. for what I gathered, one or two days ago a japanese tabloid published some compromising photos of oh-chan presumably high on pot, doing a threesome with some girls. this is supposed to have happened 3 years ago though. the pictures and details of the scandal can be found in many 嵐 related blogs and livejournals, these are the ones I checked:

[uwasakoLJ] article, details and pics.

[crunchyrollOHNOgroup] again more pics

[matsujunkie] theory about tampered photos. let’s blame photoshop!

[juntoshi] info on how to support oh-chan

the thing got out of hand in no time, with AU threatening to take down oh-chan’s part in the last CMs, talk about changing the olympics song (風の向うへ “kaze no muko e”, from 嵐) and so on… I really hope nothing bad comes out of this – other arashi members have had scandals before and they are still one of the most popular jpop groups in an out of japan. my personal view – as that of most fans – is that I don’t care what they do in their free time. they’re just boys and still young, so it doesn’t surprise me if they want to have fun. as I say, its their private life – and they don’t get much of that. but they should be careful not to take pictures with strangers that can later on use them against them… that’s common sense.

[winkUP&pOtAtO_aug08]

.::winkUP::.

.::potato::.

upcoming: [myojo] and [oriconSTYLE] ~~ when I have some time… ^_^U

[dUeT_aug08]

the august issues of [winkUP], [pOtAtO] and [dUeT] are already out – actually, they were out at the beginning of july… but I was too lazy to upload the photos. ~^_^U~

they all feature the same groups mostly: [嵐], [NEWS], [KAT-TUN], [ジャニースjr.], [kinkiKIDS] and articles about new dorama.

I’m just posting [嵐] and [maou] stuff, but if you want pictures from the other groups just ask for it – mind you, I don’t have a scanner, so I have to take pictures of the magazines with my camera…

.::duet::.

isn’t ikuta toma gorgeous with his new look? :3

[sCaReCrOw_thePILLOWS]

[sCaReCrOw] is one of my favourite songs from [thePILLOWS] and since I’ve been listening to it a lot lately I thought I’d share it with you! it’s not exactly new… it was included in the album [wake up! wake up! wake up!] (2007). this is the PV:

and the complete album (MF link): http://www.mediafire.com/?xydfztqudx9

I’m also posting the lyrics in kanji and romaji:

夢の向こうまで
僕は旅を続けるつもりだよ
キミを連れて
誰かが語った
現実と云う名の物語が
答えじゃないぜ

見えるだろう　指差してよ
かすかな灯りが
儚くても幻でも
見えるだろう

暮れ行く空　からかう風
二人の手は冷たいけど
放さないで歩いていたい
誓いもなく信じ合えた
I want call you,
‘Scarecrow’

偽りに煙る街の騒めきに
追いやられて気が滅入るけど
たかが千粒の涙が零れれば
済むことさ　ただそれだけさ

聴こえるだろう　頷いてよ
ふさわしい音楽が
小さくても消えそうでも
聴こえるだろう

瞬く星　見知らぬ闇
半分だけ月が笑う
寂しくない　悲しくない
僕のためにキミが笑う
I want call you,
‘Scarecrow’

暮れ行く空　からかう風
二人の手は冷たいけど
放さないで歩いていたい
神様よりキミを信じる            this is my fave part: “I believe more in you than in God…”
もうすぐだろう　目の前だろう
一人じゃない　一人じゃない    “you are not alone”

瞬く星　見知らぬ闇
半分だけ月が笑う
You can call me,
‘Scarecrow’

夢の向こうまで
僕は旅を続けるつもりだよ
キミを連れて

Yume no mukou made
Boku wa tabi wo tsutzukeru tsumori da yo
KIMI wo tsurete
Dareka ga katatta
Genjitsu to iu na no monogatari ga
Kotae ja nai ze

Mieru darou yubisashite yo
Kasuka　na akari ga
Hakanakutemo maboroshi demo
Mieru darou

Kureyuku sora karakau kaze
Futari no te wa tsumetai kedo
Hanasanai de aruiteitai
Chikai mo naku shinjiaeta
I want call you,
‘Scarecrow’

Itsuwari ni kemuru machi no zawameki ni
Oiyararete ki ga meiru kedo
Taka ga sentsubu no namida ga koborereba
Sumu koto sa tada sore dake sa

Kikoeru darou unazuite yo
Fusawashii ongaku ga
Chiisakutemo kiesou demo
Kikoeru darou

Matataku hoshi mishiranu yami
Hanbun dake tsuki ga warau
Sabishikunai kanashikunai
Boku no tame ni KIMI ga warau
I want call you,
‘Scarecrow’

Kureyuku sora karakau kaze
Futari no te wa tsumetai kedo
Hanasanai de aruiteitai
Kamisama yori KIMI wo shinjiru
Mou sugu darou me no mae darou
Hitori ja nai hitori ja nai
Matataku hoshi mishiranu yami
Hanbun dake tsuki ga warau
You can call me,
‘Scarecrow’

yume no mukou made
boku wa tabi wo tsutzukeru tsumori da yo
KIMI wo tsurete

[TRUTHlyrics]

I found the lyrics to [tRuTh], last [aRaShI] song and [maou]’s opening too. they are only in romaji, sorry. I’ll keep searching see if I can get them in kanji. :3

yurari yureru hikari hitotsu
itami iyasu kotonaku kieru
I TAKE YOUR LIFE FOREVER
YOU TAKE MY LIFE FOREVER
hirari ochiru namida hitotsu
omoi todoku kotonaku kieru
I TAKE YOU LIFE FOREVER
YOU TAKE MY LIFE
tomaranai toki ni hisomu
ai wa kitto furisosogu
ame no you ni
modorenai kioku meguru
subete ubawareta kono yo no hate ni
kanashimi
tatoe donna owari wo egai temo
kokoro wa nazomeite
sore wa maru de yami no you ni
semaru shinjitsu
tatoe donna sekai wo egai temo
ashita wa mienakute
sore wa maru de yuri no you ni
kegare wo shiranai
negai wa tomei na mama de
shiroku somaru hana ni hitori
nani mo kawau kotonaku chigau
I TAKE YOUR LIFE FOREVER
YOU TAKE MY LIFE
todokanai koe ni nokoru
ai wa sotto fukinukeru
kaze no you ni
owarani yoru ni nemuru
yume no kizuato ni nokoshita itami
kanashimi
tatoe wazu kana hikari umaretemo
nageki wa kurikaesu
sore wa maru de uso no you ni
kieru shinjitsu
tatoe saigo no hane wo hiraitemo
sadame wa kaerarezu
yuri no hana wa hakanage ni
itami wa kienai
yume nara aishita mama de

[oretachiNOsong]*update

I think if I don’t post these videos, I’ll die! you cannot find them in veoh or crunchyroll-like  sites anymore due to term violations. I tried uploading to youtube, but it’s no use… I’m posting a link to my MF archive and will try with dailymotion, see if the upload works. if so I’ll update this post and include the embeds.

it’s a song ohno and sho-kun composed just for fun and it’s called [oretachiNOsong] – literally “our song”. it’s hilarious!!! the dance in itself is already worth watching and then the parts where they address each other… oh, off scale! when ohno talks to sho he says something like “the first time I met you I already thought that you had a pretty big build (in a good sense). but now you have really become *muscle-man*, haven’t you? that time at the hotel, when you were lying in bed it looked like scene from an adult movie…” hahahaha!!!

then they start singing “satoshi to sho-chan, sho to satoshi-chan… satoshi-chan ga ichi nen dake no senpai!!!” (satoshi-chan is only older by one year, my senpai by one year) and the faces they make!!! >A<

you have to watch both versions!

first sho-kun’s: http://www.mediafire.com/?czxoynxjcyb

and now oh-chan’s: http://www.mediafire.com/?rmzo1ysrzeb

yeah! dailymotion worked!!! here are the videos:

[地震]

you have probably already heard about the other days earthquake in 岩手県 (iwate-ken, north of honshu). the damages have been pretty bad up there, with whole roads tumbling down and buildings and infrastructures cracking up.

here in tokyo though, you could only feel it mildly, since we were so far from the epicentre. I was in bed, lying on my stomach watching [letters from iwojima] on my laptop when suddenly the whole bed started rocking one way and the other. it felt as if a titan were descending the stairs (just by my room) with special violence and making everything shake. when I realised what was happening I just looked for falling things around me and since nothing dangerous was leaving its place I decided I would just enjoy. it lasted about a minute – that can seem long when you are watching out for the walls to start cracking up.

the feeling was… well actually, it was like being in a massage bed or something. it was cool!!! maybe I shouldn’t say this after all the damages in 岩手-県… but I enjoyed it, that’s the truth. so when my friends asked me if I was alright, if anything bad had happened – I hadn’t watched the news yet, I had no idea of what had happened – and I though “earthquake? yeah,it rocked!”

anyway, I’ve experienced my first 地震, now my life is complete. >.<

[ARASHIANfiles&WINKYchan]

quick post about [treasure island] for ARASHI fans. most of you probably already know the site, but for us newbies it’s paradise come to earth. a visitor kindly shared the info with me a while ago, but I just forgot about it… until yesterday I started downloading videos again. :3

what can you find in [arashianFILES]? well, vitualy anything: mp3 albums, singles, other songs, complete collection of all ARASHI TVshows old and new, TVshows they went to as guests, PVs, CMs… everything that had ever to do with ARASHI. also, it’s very convenient for people who don’t use [veoh], [realPLAYER download-manager] and the like, because it’s all dd – mostly megaupload, mediafire, rapidshare and others. mind you, some links are broken – the webmaster asks for help in this matter by reporting them, please give her a hand if you have time :)

but anyway, mostly all MU links work -though you are not a premium user you have to wait until the first download ends to begin a new one -, MF works well too.

and now an ARASHIthemed blog: [WINKYchan's lost on the web]

remember, kat, that ARASHI banner we liked so much? the one with all members jumping? that’s it. as it happens… it is jen’s friend’s livejournal!!!! you can even find jen’s name mentioned in some posts… I’m still shocked by these coincidences.

apart from being a pretty interesting blog to read, you will find loads of great stuff, like music sheets of some of ARASHI’s songs, doujinshi – yes, there is ARASHI doujinshi too -, photos… well, you just see. kyaa~~!

that’s all for now, just wanted to share!

[maou] update*

if you use a torrent engine (like utorrent or azureus) and you haven’t found yet the first [maou] episodes this is your post! I’ve been checking [d-addicts] regularly, but for some time they only had the RAW versions. now you have eps 01 and 02 subbed in english – and pretty good quality too!!!! ureshiii!!! download them here.  subbed by [STORMY team] – thanks a lot guys! ep 01 finished downloading today and I finally got to see nino!!! even if he only appears 45 secs or so, it’s worth it… 

now headed to see [letters from iwojima] – guess why… :3

[夏まつり＠半蔵門]

since today is a national feast in japan – something like 海day – I don’t have classes! yay! 休日! so yesterday I stayed really late watching j-ドラマ. I went through some of [stand up!!!] episodes just to see 戸越 (togoshi) again and then inevitably switched to [yamada taro monogatari] to see nino. one of the episodes features 七夕 (tanabata) the feast of 7th july when you write your おねがい (wishes) in a piece of paper and hang them in a bamboo. then they went to the typical summer festival where you put on your yukata and geta, there are stand with food and drinks and loads of games. I had seen it so many times in anime and manga, the silly plastic-masks that ranged from traditional designs to mecha-like anime characters; the small pools full of tiny fish you’ve got to pick up with mini-nets; the darts, ball or ring-throwing games that earn you prices – so much like our typical fairs and yet so different. I had always wanted to experience one of those…

going to みたままつり (mitamamatsuri) at 半蔵門 (hanzoumon) was like being in a manga for me. these never-ending street presided with three huge torii (shinto gate) that take you to [靖国神社](yasukuni jinja, a very controversial shinto shrine dedicated to the spirits of dead soldiers) was lined from start to end with hundreds of small matsuri stands.

焼そば (yakisoba) sauté noodles with vegetables, meat and soy sauce.

お好み焼き (okonomiyaki) in its most popular version.

たこ焼き (takoyaki) just like the one we have at musashi!

I don’t remember what this was called so I privately named it “yakizakana” (grilled fish)

チョコバナナ (choco-banana), chocolate dipped banana sparkledwith toppings.

jelly-fruit (or fruit dipped in jelly and frozen)

you see, the most popular were takoyaki, okonomiyaki and yakisoba stand for salty food – though there were a few others – and jelly-fruit, choco-banana and 氷 (koori) – no pic for this one, sorry – for sweet stuff. [koori] means literally “ice”, and that’s what it is basically: smashed ice on top of which you pour different fruit-flavoured syrups and then eat with the flat end of a straw. you could also find sweet potato and [dango]! the first time I tried dango was at home when miki brought some from a store. but this was completely different, you could choose between salty – mitarashi or with [nori] – and sweet – with [kinako] or dipped in [anko]. there were so many things to try that you wouldn’t know where to begin… also there are dozensof stands offering the same thing – note: take a careful look before buying because prices sometimes vary slightly from one stand to the other.

most stands with prices announced big bargains like psp’s, wii’s or nds for 500￥a go. obviously these things are arranged so you never get the top price, so we didn’t even try – it’s like UFO machines,  no matter how many times I walk around watching eager teenagers after cute plush(or grownups trying to catch an anime female-character figure wearing hardly anything) I have yet to see someone getting their price. all those things are just money eaters and tokyo is full of them.

then there was this “hunted house” or “house of horror” thing that really reminded me of [nobuta wo produce] and their school festival. it was pretty lame and shabby, but it was cool. entry was about 500￥; if we didn’t give it a try was because we were dead tired – we had been to 池袋 (ikebukuro)  that morning and our feet were killing us.

as in every matsuri there was traditional dancing and drumming and a lot of people in yukata – light piece of clothing resembling a robe that is worn generally in summer. people danced around a small rounded stage were the music was played – anyone could join in and try to copy his neighbours movements, though this was not always the wisest thing to do.

drummers, an obaachan dancing and a caption of a woman’s yukata I liked.

cute japanese kids. please look at the boy’s panda uchiwa!

yukata+converse=cool!!!

when you approached the temple you would see line after line of yellow lanterns. it became apparent when we started reading them that they had family names, school names and associations written on them some even had army sections and the like – at the time we found this awkward but after I read the wiki-article on　靖国神社 I begun to understand. all in all they looked beautiful, glowing yellow and ink-black in the middle of the night.

 yes, one of this pictures went to my new banner :3

oh! I finally found the best way to store my photos. I went for picasa and it works fine, so the rest of the album is here if you want to take a look. :)

ps: closest subway station is 九段下 (kudanshita), tokyo metro hanzoumon line, tokyo metro tozai line and toei shinjuku line.

things I find curious about japan [01]

a. of young girls and fashion:

    a japanese girl will buy a pair of shoes she likes even if they are two sizes too small for her;

    she will stand with the toes of her feet pointing inwards because it’s cuter

    she will walk feigning a limp because this too is cuter (though I have my suspicions this may have something to do with point 1)

b. of litter and recycling:

    the japanese citizen must separate his garbage into 4 different classifications: burnable, not burnable, cans and glass. (this at least in tokyo, I’ve heard other places have up to 25 different categories for garbage)

    you do not take away your garbage just any day, you have to wait for “non-burnable garbage day” to do so. (I wonder how they manage in those other places with 25 different garbage)

    still, you do not find a fucking garbage-bin in tokyo! there are plastic-bottle and can bins beside jihanki, but what if you want to throw away paper? I’m sick of carring my garbage around in my bag…

c. of trains

    if you are ever late because of a train delay you can ask for a “tardiness certificate” at the station

this was borrowed from daniele’s blog. thanks a lot daniele! 

[池袋]

I’m a little behind on posting lately, but since today I stayed at home and have nothing to report I guess it’s fine.

yesterday fiona and I went to 池袋 (ikebukuro) to take a look. we knew it was mainly all department stores, but we still wanted to check it out. in fact, inside tokyu hands department store there is a place called [nekobukuro] where you can play with cats for as long as you want! entry fee is 600￥ for an adult, 400￥ for children and 1000￥ for couples – in japan it is common to find “couple” fees in many places… unfortunately I only learned of this after going there…

first stop was a place to take a bite in. we found a nice cafe overlooking the street where fiona could eat something and I could take some photos of the people outside. the place was [milky-way cafe] and was zodiac-themed. each dessert corresponded to a different zodiac-sign. fiona ordered cancer for share – this sounds a bit weird, doesn’t it? this is how it looked:

 

I can assure you it tasted even better than it looked.

something that really surprised me when I came here was how much sweet stuff girls eat. you can often see couples in restaurants, the guy will be having a normal meal and his girlfriend will be eating this huge ice-cream cup with fruit, cookies, more than 4 toppings, strawberry chocolate, chantilly… and who knows how many other things underneath! what kind of lunch is that? besides, all sweets look all fancy and fairy-tale like, why? if you want to buy a crepe there is no way you will find anything simpler than the above mentioned ice-cream cup. asian girls love sweet and cute, right? so they have made cakes and ice-cream into an art. the next step was to bring sweets to clothes and accessories: cake, ice-cream and cookies designs for t-shirts, necklaces, earrings, pendants…  hummm… I don’t really see the point of looking like a bakery display.

next was the hello kitty store. I will refrain to talk about this. you can imagine it’s more cutey-cutey stuff covering from clothes, bags and other accessories to food and anything ranging in-between. I was tempted to buy something, anything! cute stuff does that to you.

and last of all came the I-don’t-know-how-to-call-it place! how do you call an 8 storey building filled with video-games, UFO machines and purikura? I daren’t try UFO machines because I really suck at it and video-games looked tempting but for the fact that they were entirely in japanese and I didn’t understand a thing… there were some pretty interesting RPGs, sniff, I wanted to try them!

UFO machines

the alternative was of course purikura. funny, cheap (200￥ – 400￥) and easy to operate! the only problem was which booth to choose! there were so many of them you even needed a floor-plan to now where you were! but the best thing about that place was that you could cosplay for free. you could borrow french-maid, schoolgirl, police-woman, gothic lolita suits… and many others for free and take your photo with them on. since we were already there and you only do this once in a lifetime we went for cosplay.

 

fiona chose french-maid and I dressed as a school-girl. I’d always wanted to get into a sailor uniform :3 the skirt was amazingly short -.-; luckily you cannot see it in this picture :)

the purikura we took are really funny, I’ll upload them next time!

so that’s all for now. next post is みたままつり　(mitamamatsuri – summer festival in hanzoumon) yay!

[東京江戸museum&六本木]

sunday was museum day. miki, brian and I had planned to go to　東京江戸museum (tokyo edo museum) on saturday, but then this amazing typhoon blew our plans away. it was raining so heavily we decided to postpone for sunday.

even though 東京江戸 museum has 6floors or so only two of them host the permanent collection. there is another one for restaurants and useless things such as museum shops and the rest we didn’t bother to check out. you enter through the topmost floor (6F) and cross a huge old-style wooden bridge built inside the exposition:

the museum covers all aspects of japanese society during the edo period, from tools, pottery or ukiyo-e, to clothing, weapons, maps and model recreations of the city districts, as well as life-sized models of shops, housing, etc.

the models are really amazing – and I’m not such a big fan of models. you even had binoculars to see everything in detail.

the exposition extended to the late 60’s in japan, covering the bomb raids period during WWII. there was also a life-size model of a traditional house and you could get inside and take a look around – provided you left your shoes outside :)

this time, instead of posting the photographs here I’ll just link to my flickr account, it should be easier.

next was　六本木hills, a city complex concentrated into a tower – that tower behind the weird spidery thing. it was a last-minute decision actually. daniele called me before we left for 東京江戸museum and invited me to join him and his girlfriend – mayumi-san – to see an art exposition at 森art museum. since we were meeting a friend of theirs - keiko-san - whose company sponsored the exhibition, the price of the tickets turned from 1500￥ to 750￥- ありがとう　けいこ-さん！

the exhibition was about the turner pricefor young british artists, a retrospective. there were some really interesting pieces a art – like rachel whiteread’s “negative-space-casting”. but it was mostly modern art pieces, which always makes it difficult to judge. I guess contemporary art’s main aim is to provoke the observer, to arise some sort of response in him. what kind of response depends entirely on the outsider contemplating the artist’s work – we walked between two tanks of undetermined liquid where two halves of a dead cow displayed the innards of the beast… response: disgust? sudden inability to eat beef for a week? whatever…

after we were done seeing weird things we went for a bite around 六本木. we found this gorgeous place, very 日本らしい (japanese style), but modern. it served mainly grilled stuff – either meat or vegetables – and the best コロッケ(korokke) you can imagine! on the bad side, we had to wait 40 minutes to get a table… meanwhile we were asked to choose between standing outside – the restaurant opened to the street through a series of wooden windows (?) whose sills served as “tables” – and drink or stand inside, drink and eat and chat with the cook. we chose the latter, もちろん. you had to take your shoes off before you stepped inside because the floors are made of wood – funny thing is when you go to the toilet you find a pair of geta waiting for you! 

the two couples seating beside us – when we finally got a table… – came with a little kid about 2 years old. he took a liking to my edamame thingy. I spent half the night playing with him; after he tried everything that hanged from my card-holder he went for my bag and found my camera – he mainly pressed random buttons and turned the modes wheel. then he found out he liked my cellphone better and kept opening and closing it to see the blue light go on and off. it was actually very funny because we would go “もしもし? 誰かいますか?” (hello? anybody there?) one at a time, hahahaha! he was soooo cute!

I’d like to post more photos but… 1) I’ve already reached my monthly upload limit in flickr (which is crap in my opinion) and 2) I’m way too tired to start uploading to wordpress one by one… I’m going to bed and I’ll fix the post tomorrow, after I finish my homework.

oyasumi! 

 

[neko card-holder&puchi-puchi edamame]

I took fiona on a tour today to 原宿. and we ended up in kiddyland.this time I did spend some money… I couldn’t help it with so many cute things around! I also filmed a little bit around 竹下通り but I still have to render it and my camera is charging its batteries now.

I had been looking for a card-holder for some time now to put my [suica] commuting pass in. [suica] and [pasmo]are more or less the same, but the first one works for JR (japan railways) and the other is for tokyometro (subway). they are also valid for all bus lines within tokyo. the thing about [suica] and [pasmo] is you can easily combine it with a fixed-itinerary commuting pass or 定期. you set you daily itinerary and then you can use the card without extra charges within the fixed route. its main appeal (at least to me) is that you don’t have to buy daily tickets and look for the changes in fares depending on the station you want to go to – believe me, you can spend hours checking the railway maps to see how much the trip costs. moreover, [suica] and [pasmo]cards can be charged with up to 20000￥ in case you want to leave your fixed route and not think about the extra fee. in tokyo, if you buy a ticket for station A and then end up going any further (let’s say to station B), in order to get out from stB you have to buy another ticket that supplies the fare difference. this is not extremely complicated, but it’s a pain in the ass. that’s why I like [suica]. on top of that, some establishments and vending machines will allow you to pay with those cards – this comes in handy when you run out of coins or cash :)

this is my new neko card-holder with lots of stuff hanging from it. only the small blue fish came with it originally. I still have to by a chain for it because I don’t like the feeble look of that cord. the other is my cellphone – yeee, finally got one! – with some nino and jun photos.

and this is my [suica] pass.

and the coolest thing! edamame to squash! puchi-puchi! releases a lot of stress. :9

you’ve got another thing from the same creators that emulates the famous plastic bubbles we all like to burst when we were kids; it’s actually called [puchi-puchi] :

and this is a [bento] bag from monokuro boo. for those who don’t know, bento boxes are special containers for your daily lunch. they are very practical and japanese use them a lot. recently they have become just plastic boxes with different designs, but you can also get the lacquered-wood original thing.

update on toilets:

japan never ceases to amaze me. the other day in some public toilets… when I approached the toilet, sounds of water springs and the chant of birds started on their own!!! they didn’t stop until I left the cubicle… it felt so weird! ビックリした！

oh! and I just thought that maybe some proof that I’m still alive – and have not been supplanted by someone weird enough to take all the trouble of writing in another’s blog - would be nice. so:

[gyao&Ldime]

as I’ve already mentioned before I don’t have a working scan, so I wasn’t planing on posting any magazine issues because taking photographs of the pages just sucks. but after the [maou] post yesterday I wanted to upload photos of [ikuta toma] with his new look and failed to find any good ones in the web. then I said to myself, *what the hell! I’ve got some good pics in the magazines!*. and that’s what did it. sorry for the poor quality, though…

the first ones are from [gyao]’s july issue. the last ones come evidently from [Ldime].