First of all Merry Christmas!!! If we didn’t talk by phone or email I want to give you my regards for this special part of the year. My Christmas started different than ever before, I started working in a not busy day at the restaurant, what also was my last day working for it.

I had printed the picture posted at New year´s lunch for each people who works in the restaurant and I signed a little note for each one. We were 18 working on Christmas eve but I only knew the name and something ¨special¨ to write for less than a half, so to the others I just wrote: Feliz Navidad y muy feliz año nuevo, Sebastian. They all were completely surprise about it, who was my boss se emociono; Makoto, who is the chef, invited me to have an asian bbq at his new house and Hashiro, with who I worked more, told me: beautiful gift, thanks. Being the only not Japanese was not easy but I believe it is because we are who put the barriers (probably discuss it in a future post).

After all of this moment and a brindis I walked home, I met Clovis and we both went to the beach to have a beer and a cigar (the song toma luis from leon gieco was sounding on my mind all the night). I called my family and aprox. at 6 I went to sleep.

On Friday morning I went to mass (yes I woke up at 1030, actually Clovis did it for me), and after mass we had breakfast before we were going to Waehiki island. At Waehiki we stayed two days in a friend´s house, and she gave us an amazing tour of the island, we also had dinner in a house of a friend of her sister, which is one of the oldest houses from the island (from 1896, which is really old for NZ). It was gorgeous, they also had a trampoline, and I did backwards and forwards but I couldn´t do one that I don’t even know the name. The next day we went to the beach and just relax but during the night we cooked for some friends of my friend and for a friend who went from Auckland.

I returned on Sunday noon to go to Makoto´s bbq and as I said before we are the only ones who put barriers about differences. The place was full of people, but only a few from the restaurant. It was a girl who I though worked for the restaurant, but after we start talking she asked me why did I stop going to gloria jeans, what is a cafe in a city… and I realize that she didn´t work for the restaurant and that she was a waitress at a cafe that I used to go during my first weeks.

The bbq was really good, there was lot of sea food and I had Kina (kind of erizo) who actually tasted like to be eating ocean. I stayed until the end and Maza, my ex boss, who lived 5 minutes from where we were having the bbq, dropped off me and Hashiro at home and not because we were drank, really really cool people.

2009 was amazing, I can not expect less for 2010, I believe I´ll use all what I have learned to make 2010 rock, I hope you do the same!!

Merry Christmas again and super happy new year!

Sebas

A third season of the anime adaptation of Hidekaz Himaruya’s Hetalia – Axis Powers comedy web manga has been green-lit for production. Like the first two seasons, it will run on the Animate.tv computer website and on the Japanese mobile phone site Mobile Animate starting in March of 2010. More details will be provided on the official Hetalia.com homepage, in Gentosha’s Monthly Comic Birz magazine, and through other sources.

The “cynical gag” manga and anime take the archetypal characteristics of about 20 countries and regions, and anthropomorphize them as (mostly) bish?nen characters. The story re-imagines various historical eras including World War I and II. A theatrical film was previously announced for an early summer 2010 opening in Japan.

The first hall event for the franchise, the tentatively titled Marukaite Kanshasai, will be also held on March 7. The castmembers Daisuke Namikawa (Italy/South Italy), Hiroki Yasumoto (Germany), Hiroki Takahashi (Japan), Aki Kanada (Chibitalia), and Atsushi Kousaka (Estonia/Prussia) are scheduled to attend. The event is planned to have a video screening, a discussion section, and various other parts.
Source:zomganime

Random people +  Food ÷ German Beer = A great time=)

Picking up where we left off on Friday, today is my other favorite brother’s birthday!  (Kind of inconvenient that Unmarried Brother couldn’t make his birthday coincide with Japanarama Monday…)

Anyway, the problem with finding a photo tribute for Unmarried Brother is that he has one of two settings: scary and goofy.  Seriously no in between — and major props to Unmarried Brother’s Girlfriend who has tried to only share photos where he looks minimally goofy.

Here he is looking scary AND goofy au meme temps.

(I very kindly mentioned the girlfriend above so no one got the wrong idea about the hot pink boa/turquoise bracelet combo).

And in honor of his birthday (and because I couldn’t copy and paste from a pre-existing document), here are three things you probably didn’t know about Unmarried Brother:

1. When I was little, I couldn’t pronounce his name so I called him Minnow.
2. I once dropped a glass on his head from two stories up and he forgave me.
3. When he’s accused of something, even if he didn’t do it, he smiles and has these big dimples, and then Mom thinks he did it.  Needless to say, this may have been exploited by me other members of the family.

Happy Happy Birthday to my favorite younger older brother!

Some of the goodies about Japan (slight sexual undertones not remiss):

1. Nice people!  - You always hear the line, “Had a great trip!  The XYZ people were amazingly nice!”  While true most of the time but sometimes overblown, the previous statement is far from overblown.  From walking with me throughout the train/bus station, to the taxi drivers, to the street crossing guards, to people looking to dump off a season ticket to the next person walking by (me, luckily) nearly 100% of the people were more than kind and cool.  All this stated it makes it more difficult to understand how WWII happened
2. Beautiful people! -  I simply don’t mean that becuse they are nice and colorful.  I mean becuase the majority are strikingly attractive, men and women.  In Korea, women especially, seek to become more white or paler. In Japan, it seemed the opposite was true, in wanting to be darker which I find more attractive, but not taking anything away from the lovely Korean people
3. Clean, clean streets and everywhere else! –  So tidy you could eat your noodles off the street or baseball stands
4. Quick and convienent transport (though expensive)! -  How sexy is the “Bullet Train” or Shikasen?  Wow.  If only the train could be monogamous I might marry it (it opens up to everyone willing to pay up until 11 PM or so).  However, I was weireded out by the bus drivers voice over the speaker in the bus annoucing the next stop, I assume.  I only took two city commuter buses but both times the driver dragged about saying the stop under a heavy breath.  Japan also drives on the opposite side of the road to America. I forgot this and was reshocked if that was a word.  As Americans, Koreans, Belizeans, and most everyone else drives on the right side of the road and I ride in the bus with my clothes on in said countries, should I ride in the buses, in Japan and the UK, with my clothes off?  The driver is speaking seductively into his microphone anyway?  Also the buses turn off when they come to a stop; cool but annoying, suprisingly
5. Taxis! – I am impressed by the least of things and how one never has to close or open a taxi door gets me going; the doors are operated by the taxi driver via a control box some where near the console or door.   Also, it seems that almost every taxi driver is the kind gentle grandpa type with many wearing formal wear.  However, I did get a taxi ride from a woman for the second time in my life (the other in Managa, Nicaragua)
6. Good burgers and food in general! - Japan is crazy for meat and I am glad for it. A burger is never far away and tasty.  Indeed, some loves of your home country never leave you
7. People marry later! - As in their 30’s, supposedly.  Good times if you are in your teens and 20s; and know a little Japanese
8. Fashion sense! - Whether its your style or not Japanese fashion is something worth seeing.  Too, most seem well put together
9. Good beer! - I was shocked by how good Japanese beer is.  You never hear Japan come up when people talk about good beers.  They should
10. Good professional baseball competition!  If you win the World Baseball Classic twice I guess this is to be expected.
11. Good baseball fans! – They sing.  They wear shirts.  They are their own mascots some of them.  It was August, cool for August but still August, and a woman was in a homemade full body length Tiger outfit.  It may double as something else to liven things up a little

I discovered this gem on Links of the Week.  Sound is not required to get the full effect, so feel free to watch at work, Elena.

Some young bucks enjoying Japan's finest outside of the Umeda train station

Funny how we spend hundreds of dollars traveling and what can make or break an experience abroad or at home is the actions or inactions of strangers that didn’t ask to be a part of our lives at all, and that for some of these people we were sworn enemies a couple of generations removed.   I was fortunate enough to have many Japanese and fellow Westerners help me figure things out on the fly.  

There was the Native English teachers that picked up on how to read Japanese and helped me purchase my train ticket on a ticket machine and sign that for some reason are still completely in Japanese.  Also at the train station, was a 2o something strikingly beatiful Japanese woman who shared maybe 20 common words with me but walked but escourted me throughout the train station to a taxi and helped line up my hotel room, delightfully named Hotel Kinki, from her cell phone.  Her name?  Something that sounded like In Me.  I said, “Excuse me?” She replied, “Um no, In Me.”  Not really but that would have been funny.  But yes her name was really, In Me.  I asked twice.

Finally, as I made way to Osaka from Sasebo I pleasantly missed my connecting train at Hakata as I gauked and took a picture of the sleek and sexy Shinkasen, “Bullet Train.”  I also blame the extremely short turn around time of the connecting trains at Hakata, a brief bathroom break, and not fully, my admitted lust for the curvy Shinkasen.  Luckily, again, a train platform gaurd walked me all the down the platform to the correct postion on the platform to board the correct car on the next train.  As things happen for a reason (I think this cliche is shit and regret writing it), by missing my connecting train and getting in the wrong car somehow, I met a remarkable man and showded up just in time to be the recipient of a free ticket to the hottest baseball game on the continent.  

The man I met was Prof. Hiroshi Minamishima of Joshibi University of Art and Design, whose work takes him all over the world trying to “find the light in the darkness of history.”  Atop of assisting me with the monolingual train conductor who gave me the notice that I had boarded the wrong car, Prof. Hiroshi moved with me to the less expensive seats to continue our dialogue and even gave the contact number of a friend in Osaka.  In addition to learning of his work as a world traveling lecturer, curator, author, and professor he gave me much insight into Japanese culuture in referenece to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; I had wondered if the American flag on my rucksack would be seen as inappropriate in Hiroshima if I had the chance to visit, he replied, “Put a Japanese flag next to your American flag.  That is a beautiful thing.”

In meeting these fine people my mind couldn’t help but think that just some 60 years ago that our grandparents and their friends were trained to kill each other.  Though as one of the morals in the Tempest that the Bunraku rendition cited, “Yesterday’s enemies can be tomorrow’s friends.”

*I don’t complain about a country only having the local language on signs because of a single minded American attitude but find it single minded when a country posts signs in only one language.  Especially when trillions of people around the the world can’t read the local language.

Sharing some sushi and sake with some new Korean friends, Mr. Kim and Ms. Lee

A little late to the game, but I recently noticed the prevalence of BNE stickers around the city. Apparently these stickers have covered major cities around the world including Hong Kong, San Fran, and Tokyo. For a better explanation, let’s turn to ABC’s Nancy Weiner:

And I always find Japanese television hilarious, so:

Honestly, I can’t pull enough passages from this one to do it justice, but major kudos to Aidan for finding this story about 2-D love in Japan.  Basically, men and women in their 30s and 40s in Japan have relationships with 2-D anime characters (typically resembling girls in their early teens):

Nisan is part of a thriving subculture of men and women in Japan who indulge in real relationships with imaginary characters. These 2-D lovers, as they are called, are a subset of otaku culture— the obsessive fandom that has surrounded anime, manga and video games in Japan in the last decade. It’s impossible to say exactly what portion of otaku are 2-D lovers, because the distinction between the two can be blurry. Like most otaku, the majority of 2-D lovers go to work, pay rent, hang out with friends (some are even married). Unlike most otaku, though, they have real romantic feelings for their toys. The less extreme might have a hidden collection of figurines based on anime characters that they go on “dates” with during off hours. A more serious 2-D lover, like Nisan, actually believes that a lumpy pillow with a drawing of a prepubescent anime character on it is his girlfriend.

According to many who study the phenomenon, the rise of 2-D love can be attributed in part to the difficulty many young Japanese have in navigating modern romantic life. According to a government survey, more than a quarter of men and women between the ages of 30 and 34 are virgins; 50 percent of men and women in Japan do not have friends of the opposite sex.

Seriously, read the rest at the NY Times.

Satoko and her friends took me to Fuji-Q Highland amusement park a couple days ago – it was so fun! Look:

They rented a car and we took a break at 8am for beer and onigiri - haha that's a first.

She didn't wake up so we went to her house to get her. Ahahaha so she did some serious bowing in apology.

They all brought all these crazy masks and sunglasses. So cool – いいね?こんなにかっこい日本人と遊べた！

Satoko！

We met through the conversation partner program at Keio that I signed up for in fall and actually ended up becoming friends. よかったでしょう？She’s the friend I mentioned before who’s in a band – check them out: Gaka

cute <3

The weather was cloudy and sprinkling now and then so the place wasn’t too busy, which was nice. Its a bit far from Tokyo (around 2 hours) but I recommend going if you like rollercoasters. Its got a few record-breakers that are suuuper fun.

Hahaha : P

ULTRA LUCK

めっちゃ楽しかった。ありがとうみんな！いつか！もう一度会いたい！シアトルに来てね？本当に！：）

Man all this goodbye business is pretty draining. Such a bittersweet final week!

*click images for full view

One of the coolest videos I’ve seen lately. Enjoy.

Whenever I ask Japanese people (or residents of Japan) where I should go exploring next, they consistently mention Koenji in their list of places. I find that I’ve been doing the same thing when asked by visiting friends. So what is it about Koenji? I headed over there again last week with my friend Kirk (who lives nearby and knows some friends there) to get a closer look.

.

After tacos we stopped for a drink in this barely lit bar that claimed to play “American indie and British pop,” serve imported beers, and possibly even be vegan (that part was a mistake – there was a “meat is murder” sticker on the door but it was apparently not placed there by the owner).  We got a beer and started asking the owner (41 year old Japanese male) some questions.

What kind of place is Koenji? Hmm…Well there are a lot of used clothing shops and the prices around here are low so its a good place for young people. There are also some bars that open from 5am so taxi drivers that have worked all night can stop in for a drink. [roughly translated]

Would you say there is a ‘Koenji Type’ person? [hmm, haw] Generally speaking, I don’t have a very good image of people in Koenji. Its kind of an image of hippies, lazy people. Oh a lot of foreigners come here too.

There’s a lot of grafitti here, what do you think about it? Oh yeah, I don’t like it, but that’s because I’m an old man.

This guy was pretty nice but his beer was a little expensive for us (700 yen) so we finished our drinks, said thanks, and moved on. We walked around browsing the more intriguing used clothing shops and some specialty shop selling old action figures while we waited for some friends that live in Koenji to show up.

I saw these guys sitting outside of their shop just chatting so I asked them for a picture.

かっこいから写真を取ってもよろしいでしょうか。”You’re cool so can I take your picture?”

かわいいからOKです。”You’re cute so OK.”

Eventually we ended up in a shisha (hookah) bar near the station. There were some other foreigners in the bar so we struck up a conversation.

Ashley, in the middle, has been teaching English in Tokyo for the last couple years and just recently moved to Koenji. She said she did a lot of research on good places to live in Tokyo before moving to Koenji. The area is more relaxed and diverse than other parts of Tokyo, has a lot of character, and an awesome variety of shops and ethnic food restaurants.

I asked why Koenji to the Japanese friends living there too -

Who said what is all a jumble in my head now (especially since it was in Japanese) but responses were: Its cheap, its really similar to Shimokitazawa, its relaxed, there’s a cool underground music (especially punk) scene, there are lots of cool record and clothing shops, and its a good location for getting around.

I did a little browsing on the internet and came up with some facts on Koenji (from Japan Visitor and Wikipedia - that latter of which you must forgive me for, its hard to find info in English!):

- Koenji is famous firstly as a center of alternative youth culture, in particular for its second-hand clothing stores: the most of anywhere in Tokyo. Within its approximately 2 km2 area are 18 shopping promenades.

- Koenji is also renowned for its music scene. It has a reputation as the birthplace of the punk movement in Japan, and is packed with “live houses” (i.e. tiny clubs for live bands). Koenji’s many second hand music stores are a music collector’s paradise stocking a lot of rare items.

- In 2006, when the Japanese PSE law went into effect restricting the sale of electronic goods built before 2001, Kōenji was chosen as the site for a protest due to its active “retro” culture and used equipment shops.

- Kōenji is primarily a bedroom community with easy access to Shinjuku and Tokyo Stations. It was largely unaffected by the 1980s building boom and therefore many of the houses and shops in the area are small and reflect the character of pre-boom Japan.

My thoughts? CHARACTER. Thats why Koenji. Its exciting to find that in such a massive, fast paced city. My recommendations for other areas with a similar feel: Shimokitazawa, Daikanyama, Jiyugaoka, Ura-Harajuku, and Kichijoji.

Thanks for reading.

*click images for full view

I know, kiddos, I don’t know what happened to Japan Week either — it’s Thursday and I have great links from Unmarried Brother AND Eric sitting in my inbox.

I have decided to change Japan Week to JapanaMondays.  And I’ll include special Japan content then.

This has two benefits:

1. It allows me to keep covering Japan for a longer period of time.
2. It prevents me from having technically failed at my first theme week.

So get ready for Monday!

Unmarried Brother and UBGF (Unmarried Brother’s Girlfriend) stumbled across an interesting street vendor in Japan:

Ummm… Unmarried Brother, you may want to pick a different locale for dates in the future… or at least not share places like this with the whole fam!*

*Okay, fine, I made him promise to take a pic the next time he saw it.

The 日本人 (Japanese) have made my last two days. 

Tonight I ate so much food with my friend ゆこ (Yuko). We went to a cute Indian restaurant by the campus. We ordered a set for two people, but it would’ve fed at least three. I am so full of curry, nan and chai that I actually burped in the shower and threw up in my mouth a little. I know that’s gross, but that is how full I am. That it’s hard to keep it all in.

The food was so good, but what really filled me up was the conversation. It’s strange to me that I seem to have more meaningful conversation with her, who struggles to speak English fluently, than I do with most 留学生 (exchange students). 

We don’t speak much Japanese because she’s finishing up her last year as a student, about to start teaching English, so I’m the only native English speaker she can practice with. It’s just fun to talk to her. She gets my humor, but is still very Japanese. And we talk about real things, like how she’s having a hard time doing student teaching because of the teacher she’s working under. And about language and nuance and living in foreign countries. It’s just enjoyable.

I know I was a bit depressing a couple days ago in my post, but the past couple days have refreshed me like I hoped they would. I did, in fact, come to Japan to hang out with the Japanese, not foreigners. And while I enjoy them, I find that the time I spend with my host family or with other Japanese friends means more to me. I like seeing things and doing the tourist thing, but I think just talking and sharing company with a Japanese person is as valuable.

So, if you would like to start enjoying some Japanese culture, here is the drama I’ve started watching: Liar Game. And read A Wild Sheep Chase by Murakami. Or wait until I get home and borrow it from me because it’s one of the best I’ve read. Good night yo!

Via Clusterflock

And that would be the country responsible for this gem (don’t stop watching until you’ve seen the cheerleaders/dancers):

This post may not be suitable for very young readers, parental guidance is recommended. As if this warning will stop you. I’m doing this because I’m a conscientious Christian. Like hell—I’m doing this because I know the thrill of reading or doing something forbidden would further encourage you to read this! Bwahahahaha.

Eh?

To be honest, this picture disgusts me. I find it funny but it is disturbing to see Obachans prance around with..err, those P-shaped things. God, it’s demoralizing. Imagine your Grandma doing this. Oh wait no, DON’T IMAGINE IT. The thought might make you want to puke.

Click this for more, more, more P-shaped things. (I know you would click this, I feeeel it).

Via Boots