ささやかな毎日の中でどれだけ君を見つけただろう？

Because I'm leaving Sapporo in a few days, I created a "bucket list" of things I want to do before I hop on the plane. Today, I knocked off three of them in one morning. Not too shabby.

For some reason, I had not yet visited Maruyama Park (円山公園), which is only about a 25-minute subway stop (with a transfer from the Toho to the Tozai Line at Odori) from Fukuzumi. Within the park is the Hokkaido Shrine (北海道神宮), which is said to enshrine four gods: the god of Hokkaido, the god of developed land, the god of claimed land, and the god of Emperor Meiji. 

After leaving the Maruyama subway stop, I walked in a square before finding any signs directing me to the park. Hint for those wanting to go: Look for the big clump of trees. You can't miss them - this park is huge. (See map below.)

While I regretted not visiting the park during the summer months, we just had our second snowfall of the season this weekend and the grounds were covered in about 3-4 inches of snow. 

Gorgeous. 

If you follow the main road and veer to the right, you'll arrive at the shrine's entrance gate. As a lone traveler, I wasn't quite sure of shrine protocol, and although I probably could have broken a few rules of respect and not gotten in trouble because I am a foreigner (外国人), I wanted the full, proper experience.  A middle-aged woman was about 100 feet ahead of me, so I waited and watched for cues to bow, then mimicked what she had done. (This is a good principle to follow while traveling anywhere in most cases.) 

On the trail to the large shrine, you will pass smaller shrines dedicated to different deities. (Pictures of these were not allowed.) As you approach each one, stop at the entrance and bow with your palms pressed together in front of your chest. The woman in front of me also lingered after her bow, just gazing at the shrine in respect and adoration. 

If you continue to follow the trail, you will come to an area to purify yourself before entering the main shrine. Dip one of the ladles in the water and pour some over each of your hands, then use the rest to purify your mouth. If you're confused, just watch someone else. Better yet, if you stand to the side with a confused facial expression, someone will usually show you how to use the water properly. (I know this from experience. :P)

After purifying yourself, you can enter the main shrine. Etiquette for praying at a shrine can be found at Hokkaido Jingu's English site here, but the main points: deposit money, bow twice, clap twice, bow once more.

You can also buy charms for myriad of situations (love, health, school, even traffic safety) for anywhere from 600円 to 1200円 or another type of charm called omikuji (おみくじ), on which you can write your wish or prayer and then tie or hang it in the shrine's courtyard. Most of the wishes I saw were from high school students hoping to pass the entrance exam to their top-choice college.

So, about that third bucket list item... I ate lunch at KFC. (Yes, Japan's Kentucky Fried Chicken chain.) The most obvious question: Why? Well, for about a month I've seen MatsuJun's KFC commercial on TV a few times a week, especially during Arashi's Challenge Week in October, and the pot pie he advertises actually looks good. (And I don't even like chicken pot pies.)

NOTE: I did not take the above picture. The KFC outside of Maruyama Park didn't have any posters of MatsuJun in it. :( So I just found one on Google images. Thank you, anonymous photo taker! 

The box is expensive - about 600円 - and includes one piece of chicken, the pot pie, and then your choice of a small drink, fries or coleslaw. 

　
Yep, about $6 got me this. On the plus side, it was delicious, and not just in a fatty, full-of-unhealthy-ingredients kind of way. It was amazing and almost worth six bucks.

More impressive was "Christmas Colonel" outside the restaurant. I never would've guessed I would get into the holiday spirit after a trip to a fast-food hotspot.

Ho, ho, ho, Santa Colonel.

BLOG SOUNDTRACK: The Eurythmics - "Who's That Girl"

走れ！走れ！（Run! Run!)

After finishing the JLPT this afternoon, the three of us trekked around Susukino (which looks like a ghost town in the daylight, with no neon signs illuminating the animated 3-D crabs above the restaurant entrances) for some last-minute shopping.

What did I find? That au finally updated the Susukino billboard to the new winter Arashi ad. About time. The other one had been up since I arrived in early May.

Click on the photos for bigger images. :)

BLOG SOUNDTRACK: Arashi - "Everything"

一生懸命頑張ったよ！I DID MY BEST!

The December 2009 JLPT is OVER. Whew. 

 Around 8 a.m., Jack, Maureen and I left for Odori (via Tsukisamu Chuo bus and subway), stopping at a 7-11 to buy breakfast (pasta salads). Although we confused ourselves about where the test building (a dental college) was and backtracked a few blocks, we managed to arrive with an hour to spare. Not that we really needed a map. In the end, we just followed a group of Chinese students whose faces were lodged in Japanese language textbooks to a group of about 100 other foreigners (speaking Chinese, Korean, French and English) sitting on the sidewalk for last-minute cramming. 

None of us had brought our textbooks, so we stood behind one of the building's pillars and ate our 7-11 salads. The doors opened half an hour later than the time written on our registration vouchers, so the 100-or-so test takers rushed to the elevators, kicking off their sneakers and cowboy boots and pulling slippers out of their bags on the way across the lobby. By the time the three of us reached the seventh floor, most of the others had already settled in their rooms. 

Maureen and Jack shared a classroom while I was two rooms down the hall. Each test taker was assigned a desk according to registration number, so I sat in the back next to two Chinese girls and a Korean man. Very few "Western-looking" people were taking the exam in Sapporo, apparently, as I was one of three in a room of about 40 test takers.

And then we waited. The Level 2 JLPT's three components (reading/grammar, kanji/vocab, and listening) total 2 hours and 25 minutes, but because of breaks between each round and instruction reading time, the test lasted from 9:45 a.m. to almost 3 p.m. 

How did I do? I have no clue. Check back in February when I receive my results. Until then, I have hope.

BLOG SOUNDTRACK: Yuna Ito - "Koi wa Groovy x2"

THIS HAS GOTTA BE THE GOOD LIFE

At 10 a.m. Jordan, Emma and I jumped into a taxi and rode over to Minami Tsukisamu Elementary School, where we were scheduled to explain American/New Zealand culture to the school's fourth graders. 

Yesterday we were given basic instructions: Introduce yourself in Japanese. Teach the students everyday English words. Eat lunch with your class. Take a group photo. In addition to those instructions, we had a sheet of questions specific to each class. Mine included "What other countries have you been to?" and "What are some of America's traditional foods?" Jordan's sheet also had questions like "What do you think of this class?" (Um, 最高だと思う？）

As soon as we arrived, we exchanged our outdoor shoes for slippers, as is custom, and were introduced to Kobayashi-sensei, the school's principal. For half an hour, the four of us drank tea and discussed our cultural backgrounds and Kobayashi's expectations for the day. Surprisingly, we were the first group of exchange students to visit the school as a request by one of the fourth grade's teachers. If today's activities went smoothly, future exchange students at SatsuDai will continue this next year and so on. No pressure.

Kobayashi-sensei is the principal I wish I had in elementary school. His office door is normally open, he said, so students often come in and talk to him in casual form, more like a parent-child or friend-like relationship. Because the door was shut during our talk, the students realized we had finally arrived and huddled outside the door. (The windows were partially transparent, so we could see their shadows in the hall.) The first time the door opened to let a staff member in, we heard a student yell, "ああ！外国人だ！” (AH! Foreigners!), confirming the others' suspicions, I guess. From then on, we were celebrities. :P

I was the first to be summoned by my student guides, three boys from 4-2, so I followed them to a classroom where - BAM! - the other 32 students popped those paper firecracker things and welcomed me in. "ようこそ、モアランド・セーラさん！” (Welcome, Sarah Moreland!) had been written on the blackboard and my picture (the one on my SatsuDai student ID card) was hanging, blown up in size, in the front of the room.  

Then came 35 self-introductions in English. Some of the boys were so nervous to be speaking in English that their friends had to wipe the sweat off their faces with their handkerchiefs. Then I stood in the middle and introduced myself in Japanese and then taught them how to say different words in English, like "flag" and "home economics room." (I didn't choose these, believe me.) 

Afterwards, the students quizzed me on kanji compounds, which ended up completely opposite of what they expected. Once they realized I could write kanji, the students asked me why I could write characters that neatly, and the teacher mocked the kids, joking that they needed to step up their game if they wanted to write better than me. (Haha...) The teacher asked me to write what other kanji I knew, so I stayed on the safe side and wrote 道 (road) and 花 (flower). My kanji's now hanging on the blackboard with the other students' work. Yes!

We then played games similar to American ones, like musical chairs (known as いすとり) and a game called ハンカチおとす, which is played like "Duck, Duck, Goose" but with a dropped handkerchief instead of a tap on the head. 

After a jan-ken-pon tournament, the students presented me with a construction-paper-and-string book with photos of and messages from each of the 35 students and the classroom teacher. 嬉しい！

Next came my presentation of American and Hoosier memorabilia. I passed around postcards of Indiana and Indianapolis and showed the students one of the 2009 Indianapolis 500 checkered flags I had brought as a possible gift. One of the kids got so excited when I talked about race cars, he yelled "それ、大好き！" (I love that!) I then used the leftover change I had from the Chicago airport back in May to show the students what American money looks like, explaining about George Washington and Abe Lincoln (in Japanese, YES!) and how some American quarters have pictures of each state on the back. Good analogy: The teacher compared the quarters to if, say, Tokyo, Kyoto and Hokkaido each had its own quarter. Something to ponder.

While the other students served lunch, Jordan, Emma and I were given a tour of the three-story school by the students themselves. Science rooms, computer labs, library, art room, even the girls' bathroom...  My class's teacher was trying to get the students to use keigo with me, but he eventually gave up and talked to me about American school systems instead.

By the time we returned to the classroom, food had been served - bread, teriyaki chicken, daikon (radish) salad and milk. I ate at the same table as the students (just sat in a bigger chair) and talked to them about their hobbies and what they wanted to be when they grew up. I got answers like yakuza, bakery shop owner and pro swimmer.

After lunch had been cleaned up, we said goodbye. However, this was the longest goodbye I think I've ever done. After each student shook my hand, they built a tunnel with their hands and as I ran through it, they ran to the end to keep it going. Once we reached the hallway, they shook hands with me again and started a round of high fives. Even after I returned to the principal's office, they kept yelling "BYE BYE!" It seems Jordan and Emma got the same treatment, as the students kept shaking their hands and popping into the office to say bye. 

Another highlight:

Student (to the principal): かっこい人は？(What about the cool person?)

Principal: まだ来てない。(He hasn't come yet.)

Later I realized they were talking about Jordan. :P

Or two:

Student: いくつ、今？17? 18? (How old are you now?)

Me: 21.

Student: へ？！じゃあ、結婚してるの？(Eh?! Then, are you married?)　

Needless to say, the school plans to have exchange students come back in the near future, and because Emma has another 3 months in Sapporo, she might get to return before she heads home. 

As we walked to find a taxi, the students followed us out of the building and kept yelling, "Bye bye!" It's hard to not feel happy after an experience like this, and easy to remember their words as we left:

"忘れないで！" (Don't forget about us!)

BLOG SOUNDTRACK: Lady GaGa "Speechless"

ONE CRAZY DAY (A.K.A. ARASHI CONCERT)

Sometimes life takes such a surreal turn. It's 2 a.m. here, but the fact that I was standing in the barely-above freezing rain only twelve hours ago, preparing for a lonely-ish night in my apartment studying (yes, on a Saturday) and watching more J-dramas, still doesn't register.

My story begins with this morning, when I decided to take a bus down to Sapporo Dome to take photos of any Arashi signs for the concerts tonight (Saturday) and tomorrow afternoon as part of their 5 x 10 Anniversary Tour. For those not "in-the-know" about Johnny's Entertainment groups, you have to first be part of the group's fan club, then you have to queue for tickets months in advance. I had heard from other Arashi fans and bloggers that because this year's 5-dome tour was both high in demand and high in nostalgia, tickets were given out first to "Johnny's veterans" and fans who had supported them for years.

Basically, Japanese pop-crazed foreign exchange students like me are left out. 

After walking inside the outer ring of the stadium around 1 p.m. (7 hours before the concert), I noticed several teenage girls walking around, Arashi 5x10 Anniversary Tour ecobags in hand and homemade MatsuJun and Ohno baseball caps on their heads. I turned a corner and followed the line of (clearly) Arashi fans to see where they bought them. If security had asked me for my ticket, I could have easily pulled the "I'm a foreigner" card and pretended like I didn't know. Because I didn't. If I had, I would've realized that anyone can come before the show at a designated time and buy tour goods, not just ticketholders. 

I think I should mention the weather at this point. It poured nonstop from the time I woke up until about 7 p.m. Add in temps at a barely-thawable 6-degrees Celsius. Now imagine standing in line behind about 3,000 people - I'm serious - in a parking lot outside Sapporo Dome (the only place big enough to hold everybody, I guess). 

Almost three hours later, long after I'd lost all feeling in my toes and had a frozen death-grip on my umbrella handle, I made it to the goods area. Prices were decent, cheaper than the Britney Spears or NSYNC concerts I went to back in middle school. Posters for 800 yen, large uchiwa (fans) for 500 yen and small uchiwa for 300 yen, clear file folders for 500 yen... A red anniversary-themed towel (which I noticed one woman use to dry herself off once she returned to the dome) cost the most at 3500 yen. Although fans had to wait in line for each item separately, the goods-getting system seemed efficient.

My items: 

5X10 Anniversary Tour T-Shirt - 2500 yen

the same design Arashi wore during this summer's concert at the National Stadium in Tokyo 

5x10 Anniversary Tour Pamphlet - 2000 yen

more like a 112-page glossy book than a pamphlet, with individual shots and recaps of all previous concert tours, including Korea, Taipei and Shanghai

5X10 Anniversary Tour Uchiwa (Large) - 500 yen/each

Sho, Nino and MatsuJun

5X10 Anniversary Tour Ecobag - 1000 yen

tan canvas eco-friendly tote bag with the tour logo in red and blue letters

Total: 7000 yen (roughly $70)

I almost sacrificed my toes for 17 minutes of fangirl possessions. Yet I was on such a high after buying my Arashi goods, I headed back to the dome's warmth, ready to go home. That is, until all the fans were directed out of the dome and in formation to enter once the doors opened at 4 p.m. I saw the foggy collage of thousands of umbrellas herald the ticket-holding crowd I envied, and for some reason I chose to stand outside in the rain once again, just to people watch. This 90-percent female crowd loves Arashi as much as I do, and I got a thrill out of the newcomers pointing at my Sho and Nino fans (which were too big to fit in my standard-sized purse) and asking where to get them. 

Certainly, I had my selfish reasons for staying. I hoped someone would just happen to have an extra ticket they could sell. For a sold-out show in an arena with more than a 40,000-person capacity, at least one person had to cancel or come down with the flu or something. Well, so I thought, until I felt bad for wishing that someone would get sick - what if it was H1N1?? - so I began hoping something more positive, like someone who had a ticket and then decided they didn't really want to go after all. If it was their own decision, then I wouldn't feel so guilty about envisioning it. 

And so I stood near the west gate, watching other people meet up and exchange tickets from online auctions on sites like Yahoo! Japan. (I had looked at those earlier this week, but some of the business transaction terminology confused me, so I chose to stay out of it.) I was envious, cold, hungry, and somehow still hopeful. I hoped I could hold out until 8 p.m., when the show began, and if I hadn't found a ticket by then, I would go home and try again Sunday morning. 

Ten minutes before Arashi was scheduled to appear onstage, a girl about my age was wandering around my gate frantically with an older woman, going up to people and asking them something. I saw each of them tell her "no," but I had no idea what she asked. Then she looked at me a couple times, probably because I'm a foreigner, then asked me if I was going in. I replied that I didn't have a ticket. She asked if I wanted to buy one from her because her friend ended up not coming at the last minute, and I was like, "Hallelujah!" If only I knew how to say that in Japanese, of course.

Her face lit up and she called her mother over, yelling "I found someone! I found someone!" She pulled out the official Johnny's ticket envelope and, while escorting me over to the north gate, asked me which seat I wanted to buy and sold it to me for 7000 yen, the same price everyone else paid for theirs. No scalping price, no added interest because it was the day of. Because she was with her mother, I trusted her more than some random guy selling tickets like in America. (Another difference - there were no scalpers at the dome, no annoying guys trying to sell tickets for inflated prices. How refreshing.) 

After I thanked her four times, maybe more, for the ticket, we separated ways and I went through ticket and bag check in record time. Turns out my seats were up in the nosebleeds, but I didn't care. Twenty minutes earlier, I had been standing out in the drizzle, ready to give up. Now I was in the Sapporo Dome with 41,000 other Arashi fans. Surreal. My night had completely changed.

About 20 minutes after 8, the screen started a flashback video of Arashi's ten years, and then Ohno came onstage and introduced the rest of the group. I can't summarize all 30-40 songs they sang as part of medleys, full-out songs or solos, but it was amazing. Instead of individual solos they've recorded before, they performed solo versions of various group songs. (Dang it. I was hoping for a Nino solo of "Niji" or "Kako.")

Solo songs:

Aiba - "A Day in the Life"

Nino - "Kotoba Yori Taisetsu na Mono" (played guitar :P)

Ohno - "Kumori Nochi Kaisei" (in his outfit from "Onii-san no Uta" :P)

Sho - "Tomadoinagara" (in a sequined, bright green sweatsuit) 

MatsuJun - jazz rendition of "Wish" (wearing 1930's-inspired outfit - think suspenders and beige trousers - with NY skyline background)

I will try to list all the songs I know they performed, but I'll miss a few, and they won't be in order. Sorry, my memory isn't that great.

Opening - Kansha Kangeki Ame Arashi (Ohno lead-in)

2nd song - Lucky Man

Crazy Moon/Kimi wa Muteki

Kaze no Mukou e

truth

Jidai

Kimi no tame ni boku ga iru

We can make it!

Love so sweet

Aozora Pedal

Tomadoinagara

Typhoon Generation

HORIZON

Sunrise Nippon

Step and Go

Hero

PIKANCH

Hitomi no Naka no Galaxy 

Sakura Sake

Everything

Happiness

Believe

Oh Yeah!

Carnival Night

Kitto Daijoubu

WISH

A RA SHI

Nice Na Kokoro Iki

Ashita no Kioku (with backdrop of each member's baby photos, just as in the Tokyo concert)

final song - 5x10

ENCORE #1:

PIKA**NCHI Double

Beautiful Days (I think it goes here)

One Love

ENCORE #2:

Fight Song

(another song goes here)

final song - My Girl (first time performed in concert, not yet released at the time of the summer concerts)

Highlights:

+MatsuJun taking control of the cameras on the rolling cars and making faces in the screens

+Sho continuing to rap even though the sound system went out for a few seconds

+The entire dome and stage turning into a planetarium for "Hitomi no Naka no Galaxy"

+Singing the "C-A, R-N-I, V-A-L, NIGHT!" in "Carnival Night 2"

+Audience and Sho singing the "A Day in Our Life" rap together over and over

+Ohno's remarks: "I'd heard Sapporo was cold...And it really is."

+Nino's remarks: "We appreciate you all being there for us. This year too, we'll work hard. With my movie, Jun and Sho and Aiba's dramas, and Ohno's... well, we'll work hard next year, too."

+MatsuJun walking around the floor audience

+Arashi changing the words to The Fight Song, and Nino laughing so hard he couldn't sing his lines

Middle part: Sho asked everyone in the audience to sit down, and Arashi begins to have a conversation similar to their talks on their numerous television shows. First, Sho talked about how they haven't been to Hokkaido since their Dream-A-Live Tour stop in July 2008. Then MatsuJun pointed out the fans in the highest seats (the creme-de-la-creme of the nosebleed section next to me), to which Sho asked, "Aren't you scared?" (Sho's had some hilarious moments hating to be off the ground for previous concerts.) He then asked us near the top who was scared and who wasn't, to which I raised my hand for the first to make him feel better. Haha... Then they began recapping their events on Challenge Week (Oct. 25-Nov. 1) and making fun of each other's mistakes during the live broadcast. Apparently, Ohno bowed too quickly at the end and, looking up with a confused face, paused too long before bowing again with the rest of the group. 

Eventually, Sho shamelessly plugged his new show in January, asking the other members if he could have more time to elaborate. 

Aiba's response: You only get 40 seconds! 

Sho: Um, I need to go to the bathroom. Do we have enough time? (gestures hand above his head in a way I didn't understand, then rushes offstage)

Aiba and Ohno then talked briefly about finishing up filming for their respective dramas, and Jun seriously plugged his new drama next spring, which (if I'm right) he went to Shanghai to film. 

Aiba: How was Shanghai?

Jun: Well, when I was there, everyone looked at me and said, "Ohno! Ohno!" No one knew it was me! (something along those lines)

The group conversation then finished, as Aiba yelled "Sakurai Sho, c'mon!" and the members went offstage to "look" for Sho. And so the concert continued with Sho's solo version of "Tomadoinagara."

And yes, if you read the song listing I made, you'll see that there were two encores. The first one was expected, especially because they hadn't yet sung their signature song, "One Love," but after that finished, the sound system automatically came on and some people began packing. Then we heard Nino and MatsuJun's voices and saw the stage lights dim again, and we're all "AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" 

We hoped for encore number three, even though MatsuJun had said "My Girl" was really the last song they would sing, so when one of the staff members with a voice strikingly similar to Nino's came on the PA to announce exits for bus and the subway station, everyone tensed for a moment, then sighed in disappointment. Imagine 14,000 disappointed sighs. You could distinctly hear it. 

After the 3-hour, 15-minute concert, I met up again with the girl who had sold me my ticket. Turns out she had just flown in from Tokyo for this concert (like many others, judging from their rolling luggage and Sapporo Chitose tags) because it was impossible for her to get a ticket for the Tokyo Dome concerts in early December. Her friend ended up not coming, but she had just gotten into Sapporo this evening thanks to a delay and almost missed the concert herself. We talked about food, Japanese language and, of course, our favorite Arashi members. (Her fave's Nino.) Then we separated again to go home. 

It's those friendships you make through mutual fandom that are the most exciting to me. You share these experiences with each other, usually because your friends aren't interested in the same music or books or entertainment as you, and even though you may never see each other again, you connected for a few minutes.

Well, in most cases it's a positive relationship, but also thanks to my fellow Arashi fans, a 25-minute walk home turned into two and a half hours. Only walking. No bus, no subway. I stopped by a couple of convenience stores on the way home to buy some food. I've never seen a Lawson or 7-11 so crowded, even at 11:30 p.m. on a Saturday, but at least I wasn't the only one buying dinner covered in Arashi memorabilia. 

Pics later. :)

BLOG SOUNDTRACK: Arashi - LIFE

大切なのは君がいることで。。。

Thanks to this week's quiz, I can now write words like barometric pressure, mud, lava, circumference, the North Pole and the Meteorological Agency in kanji. And that's just this week's set for the JLPT II class. Not sure how crucial these will be for the exam in - gasp! - less than five weeks, but for my overall goal of becoming fluent, it can't hurt. 

I walked to class yesterday in snow flurries. I finally succumbed to temptation and turned on my heater after class. I may have to pinch yen to compensate for my gas bill next month, but when I'm freezing under two layers of clothing, my coat and a blanket, there's only so much else I can do.

In an attempt to embrace this climate, I bought a pink Christmas mini-tree from the 100-yen shop's Christmas decorations display (which was up by mid-October).

BLOG SOUNDTRACK: Arashi - "Green"

H-H-HAPPY HALLOWEEN

"I'm your biggest fan, I'll follow you until you love me..."

- Lady GaGa, "Paparazzi"

Halloween's officially over, both here and in the Western Hemisphere, as is our (the Westerners') Halloween party. More than twenty costumed people crammed into Ash's apartment last night for the Halloween bash the Americans (Ash, Jordan and I) and Australians (Maureen and Jack) co-hosted. With our Japanese classmates and three exchange students from China, it truly was an international affair. 

Costume run-down:

AMERICANS:

Lady GaGa (me)

Inspector GAsHit (Ash)

Quail Man from "Doug" (Jordan)

AUSTRALIANS:

Corpse Bride (Maureen)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle (Jack)

JAPANESE:

Prisoner (Subaru)

Halloween-themed traditional Chinese woman (Yuki)

High school students (Tomomi and her friend)

Scream (Maki)

Minnie Mouse (Yuuko)

Saw (Tomo)

Spiderman (Yusuke and Tomoya)

Gold Man (Yusuke's friend)

(There were also a few witches, but I don't remember any of their names.)

I will post photos as soon as Blogger starts cooperating.

Anyway, Maureen brought jack o'lantern wall decorations and toffee apples, Ash baked a cookie cake and I made bug-shaped treats with bananas, cucumbers, peanut butter, raisins and potato sticks. (You know, those snacks Mom always put in your lunchbox in elementary school to make you eat healthier?) We had originally planned to make pumpkin pie, but we'll save that for Thanksgiving. Subaru also brought a huge bag of popcorn - I can't describe just how massive it was, so just wait for pictures - which fueled our popcorn food fight at 2 a.m. 

For the 9ish hours our party lasted, about 90% of it involved taking photos, speaking in Japanese and meeting everyone. (When there's three native tongues in the room, you have to decide how you're going to communicate, and Japanese always wins, of course.) I especially remember explaining what American proms are like to my new friends, who were incredibly eager to learn about American high schools, dating, Homecoming and popular romantic comedies.  

Since I wasn't planning on walking home alone, I fell asleep about 5 a.m. and woke up around noon, wrapped up in blankets on Ash's bed while she lay sleeping on the floor. Such hospitality. :P 

Walking home dressed as Lady Gaga, glitter thunderbolt makeup still on my face and in my stilettos, was how I ended my Halloween. Not sure if the stares I got were reactions to my costume or the huge smile on my face. 

BLOG SOUNDTRACK: Arashi - "Be With You"

EVERYONE HAIL TO THE PUMPKIN KING

I discussed the future of American healthcare with Obama in office in class today.

Turning point in conversation practice?

BLOG SOUNDTRACK: Panic! at the Disco - "This is Halloween"

Let me tell you, applying for internships while in another country is a little stressful.

For the past month, I've been writing essays, e-mailing professors and bosses for letters of recommendation, and sending transcripts for the first set of internship postmark deadlines (Sunday). I sent in the final envelope of materials this morning downtown before culture class, and now all I can do is wait and hope everything makes it across the Pacific. *fingers crossed*

BLOG SOUNDTRACK: NEWS - "Weeek"

CLOCKWORK UMBRELLA

I feel like I'm in a Japanese GRE test prep class. 

We received copies of the 2006 and 2007 JLPT exams in the 2-kyuu class today. I feel nostalgic, mostly because it reminds me of April's month of practice exams for AP testing in high school. Oh, man. 

The good news: both tests are formatted the exact same way, with the same instructions for each section. The bad news: while I only read the instructions for each section and avoided actually reading the questions (so I can "take" the practice tests properly this weekend), there are enough long kanji compounds (without furigana, of course) for me to be worried. 

48 days and counting. 

BLOG SOUNDTRACK: Arashi - Pikanch

WHAT A WONDERFUL DAY! (FOR SOME INTERACTION...)

Overslept three hours. Ran to class (got there only about 5 minutes late, thank goodness). On the way, I passed a couple electric company workers on their lunch break, it looked like.

Worker: これから、学校？　(School now?)

Me: はい。(Yes.)

Worker: がんばって。(Work hard. Similar to "good luck" in English.)

Me: はい、がんばります。(Yes, I will.)

Pep talks from strangers is one thing I'll miss back in America.

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With the start of a new semester, Ichikawa-sensei introduced a new Thursday class schedule. For the last 40 minutes of class, native Japanese speakers (either our friends or other SatsuDai students) talk with us one-on-one about our home country, friends we've made in Sapporo, or whatever subject we happen to be practicing in class. Then, we individually evaluate ourselves (in Japanese, of course) and then our partners give suggestions for what we need to improve. 

For the past two weeks, our partners were hard to come by. Most of my friends had another class or a part-time job and couldn't make it, and it seemed just as hard for my three classmates. Our teachers' solution: putting up posters asking for help from any and all students who want to participate. Slightly embarrassing for us, but the end result is worth the desperate cry for conversation partners.

Take today, for example. Two second-year girls from the cultural studies department, one third-year boy from the English department and an older man (an acquaintance of Watanabe-sensei, I believe) were assigned as our partners. We began with a warm-up of exercises from the book and, as we switched partners, we continued conversation about adjusting to Japanese life - with the goal of mastering the ーようになる grammar pattern. After the first round, most of our self-evaluations were negative. (I criticized myself for speaking so slowly, J felt he needed to use polite form more, E was worried about not knowing enough vocabulary, and A jokingly said her conversation was awful.) I was surprised at how different our strengths and weaknesses were. For example, I am more comfortable with formal speech (i.e. です、ーます）but speak too slowly, and I'm jealous of J, who speaks so easily even if he only uses casual form.

Eventually, we began to improve and the conversations flowed more naturally. The girls in general were more lenient, saying "That's okay" and "Take your time," whereas the boys (er, boy and man) put more emphasis on correcting our broken Japanese. Not sure if that's a gender-related difference or not. 

We were nervous throughout the conversation exercise - A even mentioned it during one of her self-evaluations - but an hour and a half later, we all noticed our own improvements and could articulate how we had improved and what we still wanted to work on. 

Thursdays just doubled on the Fun-O-Meter. 

BLOG SOUNDTRACK: Arashi - Tokei Jikake no Umbrella

TOKEI JIKAKE NO UMBRELLA

Let me return to J-pop fandom for just a second to say:

ARASHI'S NEW SINGLE COMES OUT on NOV. 11th!

Which is the day after I receive my next scholarship installment, so I won't have to worry about how many decent meals I'd be forgoing if I bought it. 

The fantastic, all-seeing, all-knowing YouTube has again magically helped leak another artist's songs before the CD release date - which only fuels my excitement. 

Click here for a fan-made video with a 2-minute clip of 時計じかけのアンブレラ. 

貧乏な生活 (THE POOR LIFESTYLE)

It's official: After almost five months of careful money management, I'm down to roughly $25, meant to last until I receive my next scholarship stipend in...6 days.

$25 for a week's food and transportation. Asking the 'rents for some extra change is not an option, and even if they had money bursting out their living room windows, I could no longer consider myself living "self-sufficiently" in Japan if I relied on it.

Besides, my theory is that a study abroad experience isn't complete without living on no money, or being rushed to the hospital for kidney stones, or something that makes for an interesting story back in America. It might seem difficult to hear about how my friends and I work two jobs while studying abroad just to pay for tuition, rent, groceries, and the occasional weekend in Susukino, but we aren't alone, and it shows - my professor even offered to copy an entire textbook for the class so we don't have to cough up another $25 each. 

However, despite living in the 5th most populated city in Japan (slightly fewer people than Chicago), where walking in Susukino and Oodori means walking past teenage girls carrying designer bags and wearing Tiffany jewelry, you can live cheap. Example? My friends J and M from Australia, who went for five days without buying ANYTHING (food included) after returning from summer break in Tokyo. 

The benefits of not spending any money: Um, more money? Plus, M got creative with the last bits of food she could scrounge up, like salad with only lettuce (can it still be called a salad?) and traditional recipes using only two or three of the original ingredients. Top Chef, eat your heart out.

My dinner tonight: Tomato soup I found in the back of my cabinet from a month ago, salad (with dressing), ramen (also from the back of the cabinet - it'll stay fresh long after I'm gone), and plain oatmeal drenched in chocolate syrup for dessert. Who needs purin (pudding) for 105 yen a cup or 85-yen ice cream when you have oats covered in chocolate that you already paid for?

So my only option - live like a "bimbou na hito" (貧乏な人), or poor person. (As in, "living in a box in the middle of a rice field" kind of poor. At least I already paid rent, so I can skip the box part.) It's crises like these when I turn to one of my favorite J-dramas and ask, "What would Yamada Tarou do?"



Yes, what would Tarou-kun do? I already have two part-time jobs teaching English, much more suitable than dressing up as the opposite gender and impersonating a butler as he would've done. Growing food isn't an option; besides, I'd probably kill my tomatoes before their leaves broke through the soil. And an air guitar contest? I wish! (Even though I questioned the authenticity of the contest's "American hamburger" prize.)

Granted, everything would seem more feasible if I had a friend who looked like Sho Sakurai. But I digress.



I did take some notes from the first couple of episodes and hit the Tuesday kurokke sales (57 cents per pumpkin-filled/shrimp-and-cream-filled piece of goodness). At least I never had to race other customers through MaxValu to get them. Yay for high supply (and low demand). 

I guess the only other thing I can do right now is to not do anything at all. No bus trips downtown to window shop (because I'd probably only be able to pay one-way), no karaoke nights this weekend, no nomihoudai with the volleyball club after practice tomorrow night.

Basically, I temporarily will become a grad student. Thank goodness it's only temporary.

I'll look like the members of Arashi (minus our beloved MatsuJun) in "Kiiroi Namida" ("Yellow Tears") as they focus on their individual dreams and passions while trying to save money. A manga artist, a painter, a musician, a novelist, and a foreign exchange student. It's perfect.

Six days left.

BLOG SOUNDTRACK: Ninomiya Kazunari - "Himitsu"

空を見てごらん。夜が明けるだろう。今ここで新しい日々が始まってゆく。。。

"Look at the sky. The day's breaking, right? Here, now, a new day is beginning..."

Arashi - "Namida no Nagareboshi"

Hello, Blogger. It's been a while. Forgive my lack of postage - computers in my Shinjuku hotel lobby were too expensive to use for thoughtful blogging. Ten yen per minute racks up like crazy, especially on old-school computers with dial-up modems. 

So, for Part 1 of my crazy weeklong travels in Tokyo and Yokohama all by myself:

9月15日 - Day 1

The efficiency of public transportation here never ceases to amaze me. Only 230 yen (about $2) for a bus from my apartment to the downtown Sapporo train station and 1090 yen for the express train to the New Chitose airport. I arrived with two hours to spare before boarding, enough time to find my airline, buy breakfast, study kanji and eventually realize I had left my cell phone charger in my apartment. 

An hour and a half later, I was walking around Haneda Airport, sweating from the heat and the exertion it took to hoist my two duffel bags. Rolling luggage is an amazing luxury, one I should have taken with me.

Ten minutes later, I had found the ticket booth for the airport limousine service, bought a ticket to Shinjuku for 1200 yen and was standing in line for the super-comfy coach bus. The highways in Tokyo wind around like a multi-layered racetrack, so the trip to Shinjuku took almost an hour. Eventually I was dropped off in front of Shinjuku Station, where I had my mid-afternoon epiphany: I had been there before. Last summer, with my KIIS classmates as we spent our first night out in Tokyo. Whew. Relief. I knew my way around just from memory.  

What I love about my hotel: Even in the heart of one of Tokyo's busiest districts, the staff talked to me only in Japanese. I guess part of the reason is that I look culturally ambiguous; that is, I'm often confused for French or Italian (or even Japanese if you can't see my bright blue eyes), so they aren't sure whether I can speak English or not. I was even asked what origin my name was when they checked my passport and alien registration card.

My 16th-floor room overlooked the tops of karaoke parlors and Kirin beer ads. After little sleep and a long day of buses, trains and planes, I felt a little under the weather. I grabbed a salad and onigiri for dinner from a Lawson convenience store down the street and spent my night inside, with a bit of "Lost in Translation" loneliness, reading a new Arashi magazine I had picked up.

9月1６日 - Day ２

The next morning, I woke up to Tokyo's heat at 11 a.m., magazine photos of Sho Sakurai spread out next to me from my lonely night of feeling off. Feeling better but still a little weak, I decided to head to Harajuku, only two subway stops from Shinjuku and close enough to return to my hotel quickly if I felt worse. 

Harajuku at lunchtime on a Wednesday is not what most people think of when they imagine the fashion mecca. Everything was airy and cheerful, not crazy wild and bright, and few people were wearing the typical non-mainstream, Gothic Lolita-type costumes. In fact, the only crazily clad shoppers I saw were a group of European tourists who appeared to have dressed up in anticipation of Harajuku's reputation. Um, try again. 

In honor of Arashi, whose articles and photos kept me company the night before, I first headed to the Johnny's Entertainment shop, one of four in the country. Despite the company's incredible popularity, the shop is located down a back street behind a few clothing shops and some construction work. 

JOHNNY'S HARAJUKU: OUTSIDE

The shop itself is small, with a patio complete with tables and umbrellas for friends to wait while their friends continue to shop.





Even the patio's trash cans have the Johnny's logo on them.




Going inside Johnny's means battling with high school girls to squeeze closer to the walls of official photos and concert memorabilia. Each wall is classified by group, including NEWS, KAT-TUN, Kinki Kids, Tackey and Tsubasa, Arashi and Johnny's Jr. The store's most popular item: its photo collection (about 1600) of each group and its individual members. The glossy photos themselves are the size of a postcard and cost 150 yen each (about $1.50). Photos are grouped in order of when they were taken, and I was suddenly jealous of the schoolgirls around me who could just hop on a train to Harajuku to buy more photos when their favorite artists released a new video or photo shoot. So lucky.
I think I spent about 20 minutes choosing which of the several hundred Arashi photos I wanted, dodging the super-enthusiastic MatsuJun fangirls to get closer to the Nino and Sho sections. If you have $200+ available, there's the option of buying one member's complete photo set at once. (I was tempted, believe me.)
After selecting my favorite photos, I grabbed the rest of my merchandise and headed to the register.

The most embarrassing thing? Each photo rings up with the singer's name in katakana on the register (and your receipt), so as I stood in line, when the cashier typed in each photo's code, people standing behind me knew exactly who I was a fan of.
(*cough* Sho *cough*) Then again, if you're in the Johnny's shop with other fangirls in the first place, you can't be all that ashamed.




So this is the result: 52 photos (9 Arashi, 4 Nino, 11 MatsuJun, 1 Aiba, and 27 Sho), 1 KAT-TUN uchiwa, 1 NEWS uchiwa, and the official 2008-2009 concert season penlight wand. Almost exactly $100 later, I left very happy.

TO BE CONTINUED

BLOG SOUNDTRACK: Arashi - "Namida no Nagareboshi" 

A DROP IN THE OCEAN, A CHANGE IN THE WEATHER...

I love NEWS ZERO. 

I was intrigued by the news broadcast program when I first switched on the TV back in May to see what crazy Japanese talk show options I could get. NEWS ZERO's timeslot falls right between the top-rated dramas of the month and the late-nite adventures of Johnny's boys on shows like "Arashi no Shukudai-kun" and "Cartoon KAT-TUN." 

Speaking of Arashi, if you tune in to NEWS ZERO on Monday nights, you might recognize a certain rapper co-anchoring and occasionally reporting on youth-related topics. Yes, on top of his many talk show, acting and other Arashi-related responsibilities, Sho Sakurai - who graduated from Ivy League-esque Keio University with a degree in economics - also is a TV journalist. 

 

(Sho is the one on the right, in case you need a hint.) Talk about viewing pleasure. Meow. (Or should I say "nyan-nyan"?)

The set has a clean, polished feel and everything - from the graphics to the camera quality - screams "We embrace our technology." The lighting also seems 100x better than the sometimes-abnormally bright fluorescents glaring on newscasters' faces in America. Then again, this IS a national broadcast and should have the reputation of one, both technically and journalistically.

One surprise: the theme song at the end of each show, played like the end credits to a movie as B-roll from that night's top stories is reviewed. I first thought it was a commercial, not expecting the slow, almost melancholy music.    

Tonight's telecast focused on South Africa's improvement (or lack thereof) in equality between races since apartheid was established. The narrator's voice reminded me of Dateline's murder mysteries, with long pauses and dramatic sentence pronunciation. NEWS ZERO isn't exactly the most unbiased, unemotional news program, especially when only one or two interviews are included in a 15-minute feature. 

After each news item is finished, the panel of 3 or 4 journalists then DISCUSS the matter with each other. Whoa. (As an American journalist, this surprised me most.) The main host (who sits in the center) calls on each of his colleagues to give his or her take on the situation. 

Finishing off tonight's telecast was a short discussion about the current issue of The Economist, which features an article about Japan's change in political order with the election of a new majority party. My favorite part: Sho and his coworkers amazed that the publication's designers used katakana on the cover image.

Message to all designers: Use other languages on your feature story, and you might get some international attention. 

For a link to the article: The Economist

5人でいる。ずっといる。

ARASHI SONG TRANSLATION "5 x 10"

SHO:  Years ago when we met, that seemed like coincidence

If we notice those ten years

A balloon soars into the sky

Five delicate people aboard a rocking boat

“Just keep laughing” “Surely the dream will come true”

Even past times when we were told to do that

Are wrapped in our hearts now (yeah)

 

AIBA: We also had those days when we felt things like impatience, anxiety and anger

NINOMIYA: But because you were there for us, because your smiles were warm

OHNO: We’ve walked here (yeah) Hands lined up side-by-side (yeah)

MATSUJUN: Even with all this time we’ve spent – somehow now we’re still just self-conscious

 

ALL: We who collected the wind inside ourselves, and the sadness we couldn’t bear,

Because you were there, we could smile.

 

An innocently played dissonance has come to see various worlds

Without noticing it, that had become us.

 

ALL EXCEPT SHO: We really cried

We really laughed

We really worried

We really lived

And we are proud now

 

SHO’S RAP: Many words of love from us

Are really all we have

We put it to song again

Love that’s grown so big over time

 

REPEAT

 

NINOMIYA: If there’s no nearby way you can take step by step

You can only go on the path you believe in

AIBA: If you happen to cry, let’s meet here again

SHO: These guys who send nothing but love as usual (yeah)

MATSUJUN: A future we wish for you together (yeah) 

ALL: Cross the mountain with the wind, you can fly

We’ll dye it with our colors (yeah)

 

I wonder if you’re also looking at the sky I’m looking into alone

If you are, sing - turn to the sky and do it with all your strength

 

REPEAT  (SHO’S RAP AND EVERYONE ELSE)

 

OHNO: If the voices we share don’t disappear, we can swear this love for another hundred years

AIBA: So that smiles bloom

 

MATSUJUN: It’s always, always in our hearts

Because of that, we want to try and tell you

ALL: Thank you… “From now on, too, thank you”

 

We are standing here

We can shine now because you are here

The five of us will be here forever.

We’ll change everything up until now into strength

If it’s wrapped in unchanging love

Eternity, see, eternity was born only to you and me.

 

La la la la…

 

Love love for you

For the song, click here for the YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wmf-eYl8UE

 

 BLOG SOUNDTRACK: Take a guess...

 

FIRST TRANSLATION

AN・AN  Vol. 1654   2009.4.8

"Unsatisfied, unflinching: Matsumoto Jun's definition of 'tough'"

A serious look, a sometimes-displayed smiling face... As a man, the always high-spirited Matsumoto Jun who continues to move with all his strength. Where is the one source of that strength? Because of our infiltration of the photoshoot greenroom and our interview, we approach Matsumoto's way of fighting himself through a pinch.

Reporter: A pinch that visits at various human scenes. Matsumoto Jun, in what way do you face and overcome them? 

MatsuJun: If you brood without doing anything about it,  it only becomes too scary. So anyway, you make efforts to do the best you can at that time. That's so for me too, but just from times of worries about "What do I do if I fail?" you won't do the things you have to do. I think that because you can't do them, the pinch in front of your eyes becomes bigger than reality and you lose your nerve.

Reporter: Even if you become scared, you don't run away?

MatsuJun: If I have in place measures to become myself (again), I think it's okay, isn't it? In my case, if it becomes physically hard, I sleep. If it gets mentally and spiritually awful, I drink alone at home! (smiles) Still, during times of frustration when I don't have anywhere to go to, I do things like write the things I am thinking about. Watch out to not write in a journal for that (reason). I haven't been progressing from many years ago, but I write in that journal how I think and words that have come floating out of my head, someone's words that left an impression (lit: remain left in my impression). The contents? They're a secret. (smiles)

Reporter: Surely, in what is written in there, there are a lot of gems that saved you in a pinch.

MatsuJun: To say this isn't true and that isn't true, it's like a Zen dialogue, isn't it? But I have taken another look afterwards before and I have thought that the words of those times were important. I have also said this to my friends (for their benefit) when they are worried. If those words properly reach that person, I think they will become material to raise tension. (sentence I can't translate) There are sometimes people who don't receive support from anyone and stand alone. This is probably because a helping hand can't be held out to these kinds of people. Thinking that always receiving help is normal is also troubling because I'm not that nice and I won't become so for their sakes... right? It's important for relationships to properly be able to stand alone as the basis of toughness. 

Reporter: Even if you want to be strong and high-spirited, but can't... What do you do to bring out the "tough type" from inside yourself?

MatsuJun: Even though I'm always thinking about Arashi's concert production, that period of time never comes to a conclusion. But because the fact that good ideas won't come without thinking is scarier, I continue to earnestly think about it. I think it's not useless. However, if it is useless, in the end it's linked to persuasiveness. The result of examining various plans, this I think, is that if you have the confidence for the circumstances and can appeal, even if you are opposed a little, you can firmly be yourself.  

Reporter: Of what you continue to do, you personally train yourself and successfully become tough. And one more thing you treasure is "jumping" from yourself.

MatsuJun: For example, I think that if you move/cross tens of times at an intersection with diagonal crosswalks (AN: he's speaking metaphorically here, I believe), the things you can see will change. But, on the contrary, even if you are stopped, the things that stand out to your eyes will change. This is because the surroundings change.  The image will change in any direction, and time will pass. However, more than being on the defensive, I think the joy of discovering something is bigger when you move (away) from yourself. I want to always be moving in that way. I don't want to be satisfied with myself now, and I like the type of person who turns his eyes to weak parts inside himself and continues to greedily/hungrily challenge them. 

Reporter: For women, too, what do they have to do to quickly become tough?

MatsuJun: No matter what work, women who powerfully work hard are unmistakably more charming. The other day, I saw a woman who was working in the kitchen on TV. She had to wash a hot metal plate, and so her arm was burned all over. (yet untranslatable sentence) Cool, right?  (another yet untranslatable sentence) Men like the toughness of women who confront anything with all their power. I think that would be very cool if my girlfriend was like that too.

End. That only took two whole days.

I'll work on those untranslatable sentences, especially because he sounds like a jerk in that last paragraph. He's actually talking about how someone eventually helps the woman out because she's worked so hard, but I didn't include those parts because I haven't finished them yet. 

BLOG SOUNDTRACK: Augustana "Sweet and Low"  

走り出せ！走り出せ！(RUN! RUN!)

Without classes to keep me busy throughout the day and with my Japanese friends home in other parts of Hokkaido and unable to keep me busy at night, I've become a little restless. There's only so many hours a day you can practice kanji, watch dramas and translate magazine articles.

In order to stay somewhat immersed in the human realm, I've been taking long walks around the city, usually past Fukuzumi Station and back. Mouthing the lyrics to my favorite Japanese songs while skipping down Tsukisamu River and watching the people around me recharges me enough to return to my apartment and start another set of translations. (Plus I get to pet strangers' dogs as they pass - fantastic therapy.)

Tonight, while walking back from Fukuzumi, I heard loud music from inside one of the neighboring suburbs. Destination-less, I turned right and went to explore. Turns out one of the neighborhoods sponsored a mini-festival, and in one of its many parks the neighborhood members had set up traditional music, lights and booths with food. I assumed it was specifically a children's festival because as I watched women and children in yukatas dancing, six or seven more children, also dressed in yukata, ran past me.

If I had more courage than the average wallflower, I would've joined in or at least asked more about it. Then again, I did walk around the neighborhood for another 25 minutes so I could listen to the music, so I guess I participated - just in typical wallflower fashion.

Moral of this story: When restless, go walking. Just remember to bring your backbone with you.

BLOG SOUNDTRACK: ARASHI "Happiness" (on repeat)

Yabai?

In order to celebrate the three-month mark in my Sapporo adventures, I will now list all the books, magazines, CDs and DVDs I have bought since arriving here.

Why am I doing this? One: I noticed how often I gravitated to the used bookstores/CD stores after class and, with no more available space on my desk to store them, my curiosity was sparked. Two: Maybe if I realize how much money I've spent, I'll stop buying more temporarily enough to read/watch them all.

MY OBSESSION WITH JAPANESE ENTERTAINMENT-
THE OFFICIAL LISTING AS OF 2009.8.11
TEXTBOOKS:
JBridge (ジェイ・ブリツジ) to Intermediate Japanese
Kanji Textbook for Foreign Exchange Students (留学生のための漢字の教科書）
Genki II: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese (textbook and workbook)
Japanese Drills: Grammar (日本語ドリル：文法)
Let's Go to Intermediate Level (中級へ行こう)
Let's Learn Intermediate Level (中級を字ぼう)

BOOKS:
ARASHI IS ALIVE! photobook
Tatsuya Fujiwara photobook 2008 (いまの俺）
Death Note Official Movie Guide
Death Note: The Last Name Official Movie Guide
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Koizora (Parts 1 and 2)
Gossip Girl: It Had to Be You (Parts 1 and 2)
Twilight (Parts 1 and 2 of 13)

MANGA:
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles - hardcover (Vols. 1-8 of 16, I think)
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles - softcover Vol. 23
Cardcaptor Sakura Vol. 1
Hanazakari no Kimitachi e Vols. 1, 3, 5
Sailor Moon (with the new covers from 2004) Vol. 12 (final) and Special Short Stories Vols. 1 and 2
Hachimitsu to Kurobaa Vol. 1
Clover Vol. 1
Chibi Marukochan Vol. 1

MAGAZINES:
ORISUTA (ONLY STAR):
5.11/5.18 KAT-TUN cover
6.8 ARASHI cover
6.22 BOSS cover
TELEVISION WEEKLY:
5.22 KAT-TUN cover
7.10 ARASHI cover
TV GUIDE:
5.22 KAT-TUN cover
JUNON:
2009.7 (bought for Koike Teppei feature)
2009.8 (also bought for Teppei feature)
GIRLPOP:
2000.7 Hamasaki Ayumi cover
2000.11 also Hamasaki Ayumi cover
AN・AN:
4.8 Matsumoto Jun cover
8.5 Mukai Osamu cover

CDs:
KAT-TUN "Best of KAT-TUN"
Koike Teppei "Kimi Dake"
Koike Teppei "Jack in the Box"
JUJU with JAY'ED "Ashita Ga Kuru Nara"
WaT "Sotsugyou Time: Bokura no Hajimari"

DVDs:
Gokusen Season 2
Death Note: Dead or Alive documentary
KIDS (Teppei version with interview, documentary and postcards)
WaT: My Favorite Girl
WaT: Entertainment Show 2006


And... I think that's it. Whew.

BLOG SOUNDTRACK: Sho Sakurai "Can't Let You Go"

そう言ったでしょう？私はあなたの全てを知ってる。

Receiving my scholarship money yesterday could only mean one thing: I bought an expensive, shiny, red new toy.

Yes, that's right. I finally bought a Japanese-English electronic dictionary!

After inserting the batteries and attempting to skim through the 241 pages of endless kanji instructions (which, ironically, is something I'd be able to read once I figured out how to work the dictionary), I played with my Casio Ex-Word Dataplus 4 (model SF6300) for a couple hours.



Why I paid 25,100円 (approx. $270) for my electronic dictionary when there were several in the $150-$200 range:
1) I asked for a slightly cheaper model, and the saleswoman hesitated, telling me it was a high-school level dictionary. Obviously not what I needed.
2) Smaller, less expensive models don't have nearly as much vocabulary storage. Mine has more than 9,000 words. I assume that should keep me satisfied most of the time.
3) I can use the touch pen (included in the package) to draw kanji on the screen and search for pronunciation and meaning at the same time for kanji without furigana. (This is my favorite application.)
4) At BIC CAMERA, I received 500円 off the case (which was only about 1200円 in the first place).

My first task with my Casio Dataplus 4? Looking up all the kanji in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone that mysteriously did not have furigana. Second task? Translating a MatsuJun interview from April 2009.

Man, is this one fun toy.

BLOG SOUNDTRACK: Arashi "Happiness"

P.S. The title quote is from "The Quiz Show 2" with Sho Sakurai, Maya Miki and Yokoyama Yu, to name a few of the big celebrities. Translation: "I told you, didn't I? I know everything about you."