Festival Pictures
2007-10-21 04:38:00
As promised, here are the pictures from last night.A Viking Pirate (you can't see the eyepatch) and a Robot(?)No Comment...Clowns + MeIt was a pretty big festival.TaikoLast but not least, a piss-drunk Japanese guy.
Read more: Festival
, Pictures
Toyohashi Festival
2007-10-20 08:11:00
Tonight I got the "privilege" to dance at 豊橋祭り (Toyohashi Festival
). Now, normally, I'm sure that this would be quite a fun experience, except for the freezing cold and strong wind. For the first half an hour, it wasn't so bad, everyone was still learning the dances (we did 4 different ones) and making mistakes and laughing. But, after about 45 mins of dancing, it started to get REALLY cold, and the dances started to get REALLY repetitive. Anyway, videos below, enjoy! (I'll post pictures tomorrow)
Dear Friends (Movie)
2007-10-19 06:51:00
I just finished watching "Dear Friends
" and wow, was it good. Definitely one of my all-time favorite Japanese movies. I won't spoil any of it for you, but heres the link to part 1 (of 12) of the movie.
Pictures!
2007-10-19 00:07:00
Today's Japanese:Taiikusai - 体育祭 - Sports FestivalBunkasai - 文化祭 - Culture FestivalToday we FINALLY got to buy the pictures from taiikusai and bunkasai. In my school, whenever there is a big event, the school hires professional photographers to walk around and take spontaneous pictures of everyone. The result is some a combination of some very good pictures and some very very embarrassing pictures. All of the pictures are put up on a huge billboard in the assembly hall, and people search through the pictures, right down the number of the pictures that they want to buy on a piece of paper, and then hand it in to the photographer. Of course, you can buy any picture you want, so a lot of people buy the pictures of girls/guys that they think are cute or have a crush on. This being the case, the pictures that people selected are a very closely guarded secret. However, Shinji told me that if you payed the photographer around 500, he would let you see who ordered what pict
Read more: Pictures
Japan's "Best Bottom"
2007-10-17 19:59:00
"She was suprised to win while still recovering from a recently burned bum"
Read more: Japan
, Bottom
Phosphor
2007-10-17 07:57:00
I've been spending a lot of my free time playing Phosphor these past few weeks thanks to test week. Basically I wish I had known about this game in highschool, because what separates this game from every other webgame I've played is incorporated LAN play ability. If this had been around while I was in highschool, I'm positive that I would have failed my computer science class. This game is semi-fun playing against bots, but being able to compete against and frag your friends without having to bother with installing a game on every single computer--- that is priceless. Being in Japan, the closest thing I have to a computer lab is the English Room, where there are 2 computers... bleh :(. Sometimes I miss America.
Test Week -- Over
2007-10-17 04:42:00
So text week is finally over, after a 2 week long break I was finally able to play badminton today (for a good 5 hours). Exams in Japan are quite different from America. For starters, in Japan, they have Exams 5-6 times a year. About a week before exams start, all sports and clubs stop meeting, so kids can go study after school. In addition to this, during classes, nothing is taught, and the period is spent studying. Of course, noone actually studies, but the teachers still insist that it is necessary for test week. Can I just say, wtf???? What a horrible waste of time, all the kids absolutely hate class, and literally all I hear is, "I can't wait to go to club (部活)" "I can't wait to club" "I can't wait to go to club"...... What a horrible waste of time, worst-week-of-my-life. But from now on, I have badminton practice for 5 hours a day. So yeah, maybe I should change that too worst-week-of-my-life-so-far.
Halo 3 Hurting Movies???
2007-10-16 05:35:00
According to Mr. Akner, Ticket Sales of The Heartbreak Kid weren't as high as expected because Halo 3 went on sale the previous week. I think that perhaps this may finally force game studios to realize that when it comes to games, Gameplay > Graphics. If a game is engrossing enough, people will skip meals to play it, lose sleep to play it, even skip school/work to play it. I really hope that the other game studios take a cue from Bungie and stop cranking out shitty games with great graphics and instead focus on making a good game.Oh, and for the record, no, I haven't yet bought a copy of Halo 3 :-D.
Break Dancing Otaku
2007-10-13 00:22:00
About 6 months back I took this video of an Otaku
tearing it up at a breakdancing competition. I shot this video just in front of Toyohashi Eki (豊橋駅前）. The dance he does at the end is from Hare Hare Yukai, If you've seen the anime, you'll understand how hilarious that makes it :)
Read more: Break
, Dancing
自己紹介 (Self Introduction)
2007-10-12 23:44:00
Well This is my first blog and I thought I'd tell everyone a little about myself. I'm currently studying abroad in Toyokawa, Japan (about 50km south of Nagoya). My interests include Video Games, Computers, J-Drama, Anime, and of course, Japan. As I have not mastered the Japanese language yet, (I've been studying for 4 years, but am not yet fluent) I find that I have a lot to say and no-one to say it too. Hopefully my knowledge of Japan and insider's perspective let you guys find out more about Japan than you would from the average blogger :).
Read more: Introduction
Computers in Japan
2007-11-14 04:22:00
Apparently PC use is on the decline in Japan
. Of course, this comes as no suprise to me, but I thought I'd share with everyone just how little the average Japanese person knows about computers. For starters, only about 3 (out of the 40) people in my class have an e-mail address (cell-phone e-mail not included). In America, I bet you I couldn't find one student out of 3,000 who doesn't have an
2007-11-14 03:19:00
So I'm sorry for not updating for so long... I've been reeeeeally busy with school etc. Right now I'm going to elementary school in Ishikawa Ken (about a 4 hour train ride from Toyohashi). You'll have to wait until I get home to see pictures videos since I can't upload them from this computer :(. I can't really write a lot right now, but I taught the kids how to play ultimate frisbee today, and
No Smorking!
2007-11-19 22:51:00
Tommy Lee Jones Commercial
2007-11-19 19:06:00
This commercial just started airing a few days ago, I think it's #11 in the "series". The idea behind the commercials is that Tommy
Lee Jones is an alien who loves coffee visiting earth. A rough...
Read more: Commercial
Earthrise and Earthset
2007-11-19 04:35:00
Recently The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) teamed up to bring us earthlings the first high-definition movie of and Earthrise. It's been playing...
Japanese Pizza
2007-11-18 05:18:00
So you think this is an ordinary Pizza
? Let me tell you a little about it.
Ingredients Are:
1/4 Bacon / Corn / Tuna
1/4 Ham / Tuna / Mayonnaise
1/4 Sausage / Wierd Cheese / Mayonnaise
1/4 Mushroom...
Read more: Japanese
Japanese Apple Commercial
2007-11-16 02:52:00
Japundit reported that Leopard is selling like crazy in Japan and overtaking even Windows Vista. Here's one of the many mac commercials that are on TV here all of the time, I've written a rough...
Read more: Commercial
, Japanese
, Apple
Japanese Buddhist Memorial Service (法事)
2007-11-25 00:05:00
So today I went to my Japanese
mom's father's memorial service (or houji) for the anniversary of his death. The ceremony was held at my uncles house, and as is usual for my family, we were the last...
Read more: Buddhist
, Memorial
, Service
, Memorial Service
Japanese High School - Hip Hop Club
2007-11-24 02:34:00
One of the staples of a high school student's life in Japan is his or her bukatsu (部活) or "Club". In Japan, unlike America, sports clubs meet every day of the year. Rather than having seasons, the...
Read more: Japanese
, School
, Hip Hop
Japanese Slang - Kojima Yoshio
2007-11-23 22:49:00
Sonna no kankei nee [そんなの関係ねぇ]: Sonna no kankei nee (”It doesn’t matter!”) is the catchphrase from comedian Yoshio Kojima’s wildly famous routine. Thanks to YouTube, Kojima’s popularity has spread...
Read more: Japanese
, Slang
Japanese Countryside
2007-11-23 21:04:00
This is a picture I snapped this summer up in 岐阜県 (Gifu Ken). Click on the picture for a HUGE 2,000 x 2,000 pixel closeup.
Read more: Japanese
Pokka Lemon Commercial
2007-11-23 19:04:00
Read more: Lemon
, Commercial
Watch Akira Kurosawa Films Online
2007-11-22 19:34:00
The good folks over at Archive.org have made a select few of the legendary filmmaker - Akira
Kurosawa's films available to watch free of charge online. Akira Kurosawa's breakthrough drama -...
Read more: Films
World's Smallest Pirate
2007-11-22 07:13:00
Arrrrrrr
Read more: World
, Pirate
Japanese Primary School
2007-11-22 04:53:00
Here are some photos I took on my trip last week to a Japanese
Primary
School
, I taught the kids how to play Ultimate Frisbee (Ultimate Frisbee in Japan) and did a lot of other cool stuff like play...
Black Lust Movie (Japanese)
2007-11-22 02:16:00
Here's the trailer for the upcoming movie "Black
Lust". It seems to be a run-of-the-mill Japanese
slasher movie, but the press release says "'Black Lust' is about betrayal, jealousy, love and what...
World's Smallest Teapot
2007-11-22 01:50:00
This tiny little thing is an amazing teapot, created by a Chinese porcelain artist Wu Rui-shen on November 15th, 2007. This teapot is the world’s smallest teapot, weighing in at only 1.4gms....
Read more: World
, Teapot
Japanese Slang - Dondake
2007-11-22 01:31:00
Word of the Day:
Dondake: [どんだけ～]: This catch-all exclamation of surprise/disbelief/reproach arose from the Shinjuku 2-chome gay community and was popularized by Ikko, a popular transvestite TV...
Read more: Japanese
, Slang
Ultimate Frisbee in Japan
2007-11-21 00:27:00
So I went to 石川県 last week to visit a 小学校, during the course of my visit, I taught the kids there how to play Ultimate
Frisbee
, This video is the result of my 15 minutes of teaching, Enjoy :-D.
Read more: Japan
Watch That Child
2007-11-20 22:06:00
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