WE CAN LIVE WHEREVER WE ARE

I know all of the cashiers at the MaxValu down the street, and they recognize me each time I come in.

The next door neighbor's dog greets me in the evening when I come home from class, but I'm the only one she doesn't bark at of all the exchange students.

(EDIT: She barks at me now.)

I can't walk downstairs to the break room in-between 3rd and 4th block classes without running into someone I know.

I have inside jokes. With my professors. 

I feel like this is all a sign.

I GUESS WE'RE AT OUR BEST WHEN WE'RE MILES AWAY

It's just one of those days.

You know, a day ripped straight out of a T.S. Eliot poem in which the most insignificant happenings suddenly take on greater meaning, when a bug or discarded piece of gum transforms into the answer to life's biggest question. (I'll let you decide what that question is.)

So now you know what piece of jagged, tinted glass I'm looking at the world through. These days are my favorites: the kind when you sit in a dark room as the sun sets, letting the breeze mingle with your not-quite-content, not-quite-melancholy thoughts as you fall under the illusion of actually knowing what life is about.

I don't need others' pretenses, imagined competition within myself, or the help of artificial lighting in my dusk-filled second floor apartment. 

All I need is to know - and I do - that I'm not living in a dream about living my dream. 

I'll wrap myself up in that knowledge and take a nap.

BLOG SOUNDTRACK: "Miles Away" - Madonna

キミダケ - LETTER TO TEPPEI 6.22.09

Dear Teppei,

I think we need a break. 

It's no one's fault. I mean, with your adorable smile, childish good looks and fluffy, romantic song lyrics, it was inevitable that I should become addicted to you.

You should realize that I will always love you, your guitar, and your ability to play the role of a homeless middle schooler at the age of 22. 

But it's just that I need options right now. Perhaps it's just curiosity, but I'm looking for someone who could pass for older than high school. I need someone who can be taken seriously - like Oguri Shun or Tatsuya Fujiwara, for example. 

So, because of this, after watching Homeless Chuugakusei, Shibatora, and Gokusen 2 (for the second time), as well as numerous television programs you've performed on to promote キミダケ, I've decided to take a break.

Yes, that's right. I am starting "Kami no Shizuku," Kame's new drama.

Please don't be jealous. I will return to you - one day. (Probably Wednesday after I buy your new single downtown.)

Love,

Me

"BAKA JYA NAI ZO!" DRAGON ZAKURA

So, after a two-week interim, I finished the final episode of "Dragon Zakura," a drama about a lawyer (Abe Hiroshi, who stars in the now-airing "Shiroi Haru") who preps six students for the Todai (Tokyo University) entrance exam in order to pull their high school out of debt. His goal: send 5 students from the worthless Ryuuzan High School, where the average grade is 36%, to Todai. Oh, and he has one year to do this. 

Throughout the series' 11 episodes, Kenji (Hiroshi) and his posse of eccentric teachers assign the students studying tasks that seem contrary to typical belief but which (at least the ones I've done) really do work. For example, the students improve speed in answering math problems by playing ping pong, learn English from listening to popular American love songs, and understand basic historical and literary concepts by reading manga. 

Like the six students in the show, I've used some of the techniques. I study Japanese kanji while working out at the gym, and about half of what I've learned comes from outside the classroom by listening to Japanese music and watching J-doramas (like "Dragon Zakura"). Who says listening to J-pop is a waste of time?

If you need some study tips, you should watch this show - then you'll have to study harder to make up for the time you missed by watching this, but at least you'll know how to.

The cast includes Yui Aragaki (from the movie "Koizora"), my favorite babyfaced-detective, Koike Teppei, and the so-cool-he-has-a-nickname YamaP (from Johnny's NEWS and dramas like "Nobuta wo Produce" and "Code Blue"). Teppei's pink-streaked hair and always-changing rocker nail color kept me amused. That and how he's the only left-handed one in the group, so if you saw someone with black nail polish writing left-handed, you knew it was Teppei. Cue the heads up for screen pausing. :)

Like most Japanese dramas, I never see the ending before it comes. There usually is no ultimate happy ending for all main characters, which surprisingly is much more satisfying than a superficial, all-ends-well story. 

Something I did predict: From the beginning, I had joked to myself, "It would be fantastic if somehow they all ended up working together at the restaurant/bar Nao-boo runs. Now, that would be the strangest group of employees..." Predictably, they did - and Teppei as a waiter is the definition of げんき (lively). 

My favorite parts:

Episode 6: When they danced around the classroom singing Captain and Tennille's "Love Will Keep Us Together" in order to learn English... I sincerely hope I don't look like that singing to KAT-TUN. I don't, right?

Episode 8: Teppei and the others return after summer vacation, and he freaks out because he realized he didn't get any girls over the summer. 

Episode 11: Maki's internal monologue before the Todai exam: "The other candidates are not enemies. They're all pumpkins... er, no, watermelons...er, melons... YOSHI! *smile* It's not the right season, but let's go for melons." You have to watch her expression and voice - too cute.

PITFALLS WITH PEANUT BUTTER PASSIONS...

This is the story of two American girls who happen to love both peanut butter and Japanese culture. I'll call them J and K, for short.

Both girls decided to pursue their dreams by studying at a private university on one of Japan's many islands. Were they excited? Oh, yes. Their love for adventure and traveling appeared to trump their connections to family, friends and fiancees - of course, only temporarily. So they flew on a horribly long flight and suffered through multiple quarantines before being released into their new habitat.

Naturally, they explored. First discovery? MaxValu and its marvelous array of foods - fresh produce, Hello Kitty candies, Australian beef and Japanese-style mousse-filled donuts, just to name a few.

But then it happened. In the jelly aisle, next to the hachimitsu (honey) jars, they spotted...

PEANUT CREME...?!

Alas, there was no peanut buttery goodness to be found, just this peanut creme stuff. And so, adventure lovers as they were, they tossed it into their carts.

At their apartments:

"WHAT IS THIS CRAP?!" one of them exclaimed, flabbergasted at the disgusting flavor of the peanut creme. She sighed, knowing that Japan's lack of real peanut butter, at least on her island, would last for another two months.

But then, a miracle happened. J's fiancee sent her a love box full of American treats. Underneath the York peppermint patties and carefully selected burned music compilations, J read the name she most missed (other than her fiancee's, of course): 

Jiffy.

End.

TEAM SHIBATORA

At 1 a.m., I finished the series finale of Shibatora, FujiTV's 2008 11-episode drama about a 24-year-old detective whose young looks help him go undercover in places other detectives can't. The lead role of Shibata Taketora (Tora-chan for short) is played by Teppei Koike, who is the main reason I watched the series in the first place. Excuse my fangirl squeals - my admiration for Te-chan rivals mine for Tatsuya Fujiwara, even though Teppei often plays more humorous characters than Tatsuya. 

The series itself is much more comical than I expected, which left me a little dissatisfied when some loose ends weren't fixed by the end of the 11th episode in order to allow more random, humorous scenes. (The peppy-happy ending theme song by Every Little Thing also sometimes clashed with the cliffhanger episode endings... Where's my dramatic, heart-pounding, cliched music?) 

What I was happily surprised about was the ending. I'm sure if I had read the manga before watching the series, the twisted ending wouldn't have caught me off-guard as much. The cast was fantastic - and I'm not just touting Te-chan's "innocent and naive" acting here. Maya Miki's Sakura Chiba presented a strong female role that I've found missing in several other dramas since Gokusen (cue the "FIGHT-O, OH!"), Naohito Fujiki's Kojiro Fujiki wins my rarely-awarded "Japanese Men Who Look Decent with Light Hair" recognition, and Suzuka Ohgo, who plays Mizuki Hosho, is just plain adorable. I just wanted to hug her. 

Shibatora's no Hana Kimi, but I recommend it just the same. My favorite scene? When Teppei attempts to dress like a "young person." His outfit looks like he just performed in a Johnny's concert - and somehow, it still looks good. 

And let's not forget Teppei's transformation into a girl for his undercover operation in a maid cafe:

He's much better looking as a boy, I must say. Leave the pretty girl parts to Suzuka.

ドラエもんに出してもらいたい道具は。。。

Like I said in a previous post, sometimes it's easy to forget you're halfway around the world when you pass McDonald's in the Tanukikoji shopping center or when locals automatically speak to you in English.

Then there are days like today, when the first half of our language class involved learning how to draw Doraemon.

The song: まるかいて,チョン! まるかいて,チョン!

　　　　   おまめにめがでて

　                うえきばち、うえきばち

　　　　   ろくがつむいかにUFOが

　                 あっちいって、こっちいって、おっこちて

　　　　　おいけがふたつできました

　　　　　おいけにおふねをうかべたら

　　　　　おそらに三日月のぼってた, ひげをつけたら,ドラエもん！

(Each step of the song tells you how to draw him. The first line is his eyes, the second is his nose, third is his head, fourth is his arms, fifth is the outline of his clothing and body, sixth is his feet, seventh is his stomach markings, and, finally, the eighth line is his whiskers.)

My attempt:

Not the greatest, but hey - I tried! :)

After reading a passage and reviewing kanji compounds, Ichikawa-sensei allowed us to watch 「おくりびと」("Departures"), an Oscar-award winning Japanese film about a cellist who gets a new job preparing bodies during funerals. I HIGHLY recommend the movie - we watched it without subtitles and still understood and appreciated the beauty and irony of the situation, so I believe the overall effect transcends language. Besides, Joe Hisaishi created yet another wonderful soundtrack of beautiful cello ballads, so even moreso can the characters' emotions be expressed without the use of language. 

We were so entranced by the film, we barely noticed when Ichikawa-sensei left the classroom to make us all cups of tea to sip while watching it. Again, 5 stars from me. If it hadn't won an Oscar, I would've seriously doubted the Academy's taste in movies. Thank goodness it did. :)

せんたくし方 (How to do laundry)

1: Borrow rope and rainbow-colored clothespins from your friend because, for some reason, your room didn't come equipped with them.

2) Stand on bed to reach gas pipes and begin wrapping rope around them. Secure rope to any and all surfaces (table legs, closet door hinge, lamps, bedposts).

3) Open the window and pray it doesn't rain.

4) Clip clothes to the clothesline. Be careful to not hang dripping clothes above microwave or bedding.

5) Go to class, MaxValu, ATM, school library, Lawson convenience store, and friend's apartment for the day. 

6) Return home and pray your clothes will be dry by the next morning.

Tsubasa, Ch. 11, Vol. 8

たとえば、明日全てが消えてなくなっても、隣りで笑っていてくれるなら他にはもう何もいらなかったんだ。。。
"For example, even if everything disappears tomorrow, because you laughed beside me, I wouldn't need anything else..."

Because of our quarantined explorations, the three of us discovered Book-Off, a haven for manga lovers on tight budgets (a.k.a. college students like us who eat ramen and discounted donuts from MaxValu and nervously await scholarship money in order to pay rent). The store offers boxed sets of both popular manga (Death Note, Hana Kimi, Inuyasha) and lesser-known ones that involve samurai or adorable detectives for less than $10. 

Let's do the math together: In America, the average manga volume is $9.95, and for your money all you get is a thicker, whiter paper stock and the occasional horrible translation. You can buy the entire set of 8+ volumes on the original off-white rice paper stock (which I prefer 10,000x to the American version) for about the same price. 

BINGO! Guess who wins this game? We do. For about $8, I now own the first 8 volumes - HARDBACK edition - of Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle. I also bought the first volume of Cardcaptor Sakura, for nostalgia's sake, and the first volume of Hana Kimi for 105 yen apiece (about $1). We rationalized our investment by reaffirming that reading manga in Japanese is a fantastic way to improve our language skills. 

Our second trip to the two-story warehouse of cheap books led me to the back wall, where I *drumroll* bought Tatsuya Fujiwara. (I wish.) Well, I bought the now out-of-stock official movie guides for DEATH NOTE 1 and 2 ($2.10 each!), which includes behind-the-scenes photos and individual interviews with the cast (Tatsuya, Kenichi Matsuyama, Erika Toda, etc.).

I squealed when I found these, and then I squealed again when, a few stacks of books away, I saw Miyazaki-related animation books for the same ridiculously low price. 

Japanese pop culture fandom at its best, I say. And that's not even including my magazine finds - that'll be another entry.

EVEN MONKEYS FALL FROM TREES...

アプロードしなくて、ごめんね！ Forgive my lack of updates - now that I know I have at least one semi-dedicated reader (thanks, Max!), I feel compelled to update more often. That being said, I don't feel any guilt about enjoying Sapporo in order to have things to blog about.

Yesterday, Jess and I had been recommended to sit in on the Japanese Language Proficiency Test II level class, one level higher than the class we have with Kellie and two students from the University of Nebraska. The exam levels range from 4 (the easiest) to 1 (the hardest, one which is difficult even for some native speakers, I've heard). The higher-level class is training to take the JLPT II exam the first week in December, and once my language class professors knew I plan to study Japanese linguistics in grad school, they suggested I try it out.

Whereas the JLPT III class was a too-comfortable review of NAKAMA Book II, the JLPT II class discussions were easy to understand despite a definite gap in vocab knowledge. Surprisingly, the grammar (ようになっている、自動詞と他動詞、〜と、〜ば）also was review, but much of the vocabulary went well over my and Jess' heads - like 便器（べんざ）、the word for toilet seat. Useful, yes, but not common in typical Japanese literature, ne? At least we had studied けいご (formal polite language) back at Ball State more than they had, so we weren't completely lost.

The best part: in-class timed compositions. In about 15 minutes, we had to write a composition using 8 new terms from the textbooks. The topic - how a mystery author died. The words: ピストル (pistol), 作家の妻 (the author's wife), and 300万円 (a large amount of money), among others. I, apparently the only person in the class who doesn't have an electronic English-Japanese translator, only had my memory to reference. Such a disadvantage. Hopefully Watanabe-sensei realizes that when she reads my lame story about how the ever-observant mystery author scared away a strange man from his house, found the money-filled briefcase the man had dropped in his hurry to get away, took the money, and now wonders why his friend is acting strangely around him. In other words, the prelude to the murder of a talented Japanese mystery author by his jealous best friend. It'll be a classic, I know it. :P

Even with fried nerves and brains from the first class, I've decided to continue with the second-level classes. So now, I've DOUBLED my number of classes and will be expected to do homework for each class, including make-up work for the two third-level classes I will miss each week to attend the higher class.

Um, where's Hermione's Time-Turner? I think I'll being needing it soon.