When: August 1, 2009 @ 14:00

Where: Cutty Sark Gardens, Greenwich

We will be following the Thames Path from Greenwich towards the O2, Thames barrier and Woolwich docks. and by starting in afternoon, we will have some time to walk around the Old Royal Naval College and Observatory then to O2.  Part of the walk is very industrialised while others are scenic, just be prepared. I also want to invite you to bring your torch so we can light out way on our way back.

Please RSVP on either of the sites listed below:

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UPCOMING

We had just stepped off the rickshaw when a young boy selling charms approached us. He was too young to have a street-smart swagger and walked towards us with the timidity of someone new to the job. A smile eased his hesitation and he stepped closer. ‘Hello…Want to see dead body?’ he said, grinning ingratiatingly. Casual and breezy…

Without the context that kind of a query could throw off the most seasoned traveller.

Varanasi, the city popularized in guidebooks for its ‘burning ghats’ has always held a morbid fascination for tourists. According to Hindu belief, dying in Varanasi liberates your soul from the cycle of death and rebirth. Bathing in the water of the Holy River Ganges washes away your sins. Considering the current pollution levels of the river a sip of that water is likely to have enough powers to relieve you of the long suffering that is life. But that is only a ‘bacterial’ view of ‘purity’. Believers all over India keep bottled Ganga water at home, refrigerated, for cleansing in those final moments of departure.

A traditional light immersed in the waters of Ganges

If you were to station yourself in a lane close to the famous ‘burning ghats’, you may witness the procession of souls on their way to ‘moksha’. It’s a long queue. There never seems to be enough solemnity associated with the final send-off. It’s a scene of hectic activity. It is said that if pyres were to stop burning at Manikarnika (the main burning ghat), the city would spontaneously combust. The traffic of corpses in Banaras is such an interminable flow that sometimes half burnt corpses are thrown into the river to make way for the next in waiting. There are ashrams on the ghats that host many sick and dying people from out of town; people waiting to die so their souls may be sanctified in the fires of Manikarnika. Even the shrouds are recycled. That is the ‘industry’ Varanasi is famous for and it’s certainly not a marketing gimmick.

Banarasis are a romantic lot. Appreciation of poetry, music, literature, and food, is not an elitist concept in Banaras. Never in a hurry, they are generally somnolent about life (and death). I have witnessed chess games lasting for hours, early morning in the December fog going into late evening, unperturbed by a projection screen being set up right above their heads for a film screening at the ghats. The film began but the players got up only when their game got over. Walking through the network of lanes can be a rewarding experience. Sandwiched between houses piled on top of each other, you come across temples of precious antiquity, still in use. You will also be accosted by cows and bulls that look too massive in a lane which is as wide as the span of your outstretched arms.

The first sight of Banaras on the ghats is enchanting. The city rises out of the river in a crescent shape on its western shore. Ghats are basically steps rising out of the river, leading into the massive network of narrow lanes piled high with a jumble of houses, temples, palaces and ashrams. The main ghat ‘Dasashwamedh’ is the center of all activity. As you walk further down either way, it gets less crowded. Though not solitary enough for a quiet meditative moment, the insistent Banarasi entrepreneur will find you anywhere.

Devotees in Banaras

Watching the Sunrise at the ghats is one of the recommended activities while you are in Varanasi. The bulk of the guesthouses cater to backpackers. The ghats and the maze of narrow lanes leading up to them are choc-a-bloc with them. Three stars and five star hotels are a half hour rickshaw ride from the ghats, in the cantonment area. That’s where we were staying, at the Radisson. It was full of package tourists from across the globe. A clean and comfortable hotel, with prompt and polite service. It has a small swimming pool and the rooms are wi-fi.

We went to Varanasi, at the fag end of the monsoon, in October, on a journalistic assignment. The ghats are no fun during this season. The river is flooded and the ghats are so under water that you can’t walk along the river. Anyway, we reached just in time for the evening ‘Ganga arati’.

This evening ritual of worshipping the river Ganga is a relatively new activity, providing some value for money for the poor misled ones who happen to visit Varanasi when the ghats are under water. Young priests, redolent in bright yellow dhotis stand in a row, facing the river, chant mantras to an infernal din of cymbals and other instruments. Tourists pay big money to rent boats parked opposite on the river to get a good view of the ritual. The bright halogen eyesore lamp has to be switched off during the ritual for maximum effect. Having gotten their penny’s worth, the tourists head back, shaking off impish beggar children clinging to their legs for alms.

A decade back, there were no halogen streetlights on the ghats and there was no such ritual. It would be a quiet place after Sunset. You could sit there, in the dim reflected light from the temples and houses rising behind you and hear the sound of the flowing river. If you were lucky, you could even see dolphins in moonlight. Over the years crime against tourists has seen a rise and the local authorities feel the need to bathe the riverside in orange light in an effort to intimidate the criminals.

Daily puja at Banaras

In the morning the place is abuzz with non-institutionalized worshippers. People bathing, meditating; enterprising priests teasing and nudging tourists into helping them unburden their souls (for a fee of course); some others meditating on the cheaper chemical route to the same destination via the leaf blessed by Shiva: cannabis, ganja, hemp, assisting many on their spiritual quest.

Another thing Banaras is famous for is it’s silk. Banarasi silk has always been a must in a North Indian bride’s trousseau. Lately with opening up of borders and trade activities between India and China, cheap fakes are flooding the market putting the handloom weavers out of business. If you can tell real from fake it might not be a bad idea to support the local economy. If you find it hard to separate yourself from your cash, just sit at the ghat, watch the river flowing past, and ponder over another way to earn good karma.

Campsite at Grand Canyon

Over the years, I have flown in a small aircraft over Grand Canyon, taken a helicopter tour, hiked parts of the canyon, driven through parts of it, stayed nights there, done some touristy things, and rafted through the white water rapids of Colorado river. It is the last I want to share with you today.

Two of us had started at the South Rim main visitor’s complex at 5:00 a.m.. Six hours, 9 miles and 5000 ft descent later, we had joined our rafting group. We had hiked before, rafted before but it was our first camping experience. We were looking forward to eight days in the Canyon. Our group consisted of six raft boats with a guide each and about 6 people to a raft. All except our raft. Our raft was thinly populated – us, our river guide and a lot of camping gear. Little did we know then.

The day went wonderfully well – euphoria of successfully navigating class III and class IV rapids, learning about the geology of Grand Canyon from our geologist cum river runner guide and the fact that we were on an amazing spot on this planet. Evenings taught us how to scramble for a half decent spot on the campsite. I still remember, that on the first night I had wanted to sleep close to the river. That night we had slept fitfully – the spot we had chosen was somewhat slanted and we had kept sliding towards one side of the tent. I had woken up dreaming that the river water was lapping on the edges of our tent.

When I think back, it is still hard to say if I liked the days better or the nights. The days were so gloriously full of activities from 5 a.m. onwards – cowboy style coffee, near gourmet meals, fast and furious rapids, exploring the canyons, an occasional hike or two, exchanging stories of other adventures… Nights on the other hand fell rapidly in the canyon. By 8:00 p.m., there was nothing to see but the stars. And what a lot of them there were. I am a city bred. Sights like the milky way are things I had read in a book until then.

Early morning in the canyon

Our first morning in the canyon was also our first experience with outdoor loo. Far from the general hustle and bustle of the campsite, a tin box was set up as the loo. Except for the fact that the whole lot of us were shitting in a box 20 in x 20 in x 8 in, the whole arrangement was not unpleasant. Just as I had sat down in the privacy of the tinpot, contemplating the river in front of me, I was cheerily waved by a group of rafters going down the river. Yikes, the loo was set up away from our campground but I had entirely forgotten about existence of other rafting groups on the river.

That day, we learnt about our special raft. We were carrying the portable toilets for the 15 day rafting trip. Half the group had started seven days earlier on the north rim! Leave only footprint behind…. I remember asking our guide if the tin cans had come undone in the past. We were told that although the rafts frequently go through the class IV rapids, and sometimes capsized, one of the toilet rafts had never capsized before – at least not to their knowledge. But, there is always the first time….

I am happy to report that nothing went wrong on that trip. Well, apart from the fact that I lost my companion’s brand new teva shoes. And, I didn’t take as many photos as I should have. And, our brand new New Beetle broke down on our way back from the trip. At least the shit didn’t hit the canyon.

Siak bridge in the sunset

A few days ago, me and my colleague visited one of the beautiful town in Riau.  It is Siak Sri Indrapura, a capitol of Siak Regency in Riau Province, Sumatera. This town known as a place where Malay culture started.  We can find a historical Malay culture, like Siak Palace.  The palace of Sultan Siak which is lately also inspire most of the building model in this regency.  At least, almost every government’s building and mosques are made with similar model of the palace.

Having three days in this town has made me enjoy the town hospitality.  A small but clean and beautiful town located at the side of Siak river.  In the morning, this town is covered by mist.  Old people do the jog and walk or sweep their front yard.  Kids are ready go for school with their Malay type uniform.  Quiet and not busy as the other usual town. 

Public Wifi sign in the river side park

When the sun going down before evening, other beautiful scene comes.  The reflection of sunlight makes orange and yellowish colour on top of the river.  If we sit and have a coffee at the river side park, we can see the famous Siak Bridge as silhouette in front of the sunset.

One interesting situation in this town for the people is the government’s services for technology.  This maybe the only town in this country that having a public Wifi.  You just need to sit down, start your laptop, turn your wireless on, log-in, then you can easily surf the internet freely.  The government of Siak has provided lots of Wifi sign location nearby the bridge.  You can choose to surf the internet in the river side with coffee, or you do it inside the car nearby the bridge.  For login, you just use simple username “siak” and then password “sriindrapura”.

That’s the beauty and interesting place to be visited.  I would recommend you, to visit.

Hôn nay giới thiệu với bà con hai quán cà phê

Café Blue

Tuy nằm ở ngoại thành nhưng cà phê Blue lại là một không gian được thiết kế theo phong cách năng động. Bàn ghế hiện đại kết hợp với những gam màu tươi trẻ như xanh, vàng… Không gian của quán được chia làm 3 tầng. Tầng trệt dành cho những người thích ngắm nhìn đường phố, dòng người qua lại. Tầng hai của quán được thiết kế khá thoáng mát, nhìn bao quát cả con phố lớn. Đối với những người yêu thích độ cao và ngắm nhìn máy bay lên xuống thì tầng ba là một sự lựa chọn lý tưởng, bởi vị trí của Blue rất gần với sân bay Tân Sơn Nhất.

Bên cạnh đó, không gian của Blue còn được thiết kế theo gu của từng người. Nếu thích thưởng thức ly café trong không gian yên tĩnh, âm nhạc nhẹ nhàng thì ngồi trong những phòng kín ngăn cách với bên ngoài bằng những tấm kiếng lớn đủ để bạn cảm nhận được một không gian cho riêng mình. Ngược lại nếu bạn thích sự thoải mái, ngắm phố phường… thì những chiếc bàn được sắp xếp phá cách, ngẫu nhiên bên ngoài là một sự lựa đầy thú vị.

Địa chỉ: (70/701 Phan Văn Trị, P.7, Q. Gò Vấp).

Café Sài Gòn River Side

Muốn thoát khỏi cái nóng bức và ồn ào của Sài Gòn thì Café Sài Gòn River Side là một điểm đến lý tưởng. Nằm sát bờ sông Sài Gòn thoáng mát và thơ mộng, cùng với một không gian đậm chất thiên nhiên cỏ cây, hồ nước và những viên đá cuội đã làm nên một Sài Gòn Sài Gòn River Side đầy lãng mạn. Không gian của quán được chia làm hai tầng. Tầng 1 dành cho những người thích vẻ đẹp năng động và gần gũi. Tầng hai với vẻ đẹp của sông Sài Gòn là sự lựa chọn cho những ai yêu thích thiên nhiên và sự lãng mạn. Nội thất của quán được thiết kế nhẹ nhàng mang phóng cách “trầm” với những chiếc bàn ghế sắt uốn kết hợp cũng những bức tranh gốm.

Xa nội thành đầy khói bụi và xe cộ đến với Sài Gòn River Side bạn sẽ tận hưởng được không gian thành bình, yên tĩnh. Từng mảng không gian của quán được thiết kế rộng, thoáng và đẹp mắt tạo cho bạn cảm giác thư thái. Ấn tượng đầu tiên trong mắt những khách hàng thưởng thức café tại quán là một không gian gần gũi thiên nhiên mang vẻ đẹp đầy thơ mộng và bình yên.

Địa chỉ: 34 Đường số 4, P. Hiệp Bình Chánh, Q. Thủ Đức)

MANNA CAFÉ: Địa chỉ mới cho doanh nhân

Y Linh

Đầu tháng 10 vừa qua, một địa chỉ mới dành cho doanh nhân Sài Gòn được chính thức khai trương, đó là MANNA CAFÉ, tọa lạc tại 26 Hồ Huấn Nghiệp, P.Bến Nghé, Q.1, Tp.HCM (ĐT: 8233978, fax: 8233985).

Với khuôn viên 300m2, thiết kế theo phong cách đương đại (contemporary) vừa đơn giản song lại rất độc đáo, trang bị hệ thống wifi hiện đại, MANNA CAFÉ gây ấn tượng với bất cứ ai lần đầu đặt chân tới đây. Bạn có thể chọn khu vực trong nhà sang trọng, hoặc khu ngoài trời để ngắm khung cảnh thanh bình của đường Đồng Khởi và Hồ Huấn Nghiệp, đồng thời thưởng thức những hương vị tuyệt hảo do hai đầu bếp 5 sao, Tony Fox và Ngọc Vũ, thể hiện.

Ngoài những thức uống đặc sắc kết hợp với cà phê thượng hạng của Italy, Illy café với giá thức uống ban ngày (từ 9 giờ đến 19 giờ) từ 28.000đ, thì khách có thể chọn các món ăn mới lạ như cánh gà Buffalo, phô-mai chiên kiểu Ý, sandwich heo nướng BBQ, Saigon Burger. Thực đơn trưa đặc biệt (Set Lunch Express) được thay đổi hằng tuần bao gồm thức uống, bánh mì tự làm, chọn lựa trong 8 món chính Âu và Á dùng kèm salad, với giá từ 68.000đ. Đội ngũ nhân viên phục vụ rượu chát chuyên nghiệp của MANNA sẽ tư vấn cho thực khách những loại rượu chát hảo hạng nhất để bữa ăn được thêm ngon miệng.

Đặc biệt, vào các buổi tối, trong tiếng nhạc sôi động của DJ MANNA, thực khách có thể thưởng thức những thức uống thời thượng nhất của New York tại MANNA như Cosmopolitan, Mojito, James Bond… hoặc các loại bia hảo hạng của Bỉ, Anh, Hà Lan, Mỹ…

Boats on Hooghly

During a recent sojourn in Kolkata, an unexpected rainstorm has me heading to the banks of Hooghly. Where else but Outram ghat, the most popular river front destination for Kolkata folks. Named after Sir James Outram, an English general in India during Sepoy Revolution (1857), Outram ghat was a key port during the reign of British empire. Now, Sir Outram rests in the annals of Britannica and the ghat is a place for myriads of daily activities – boating, hawkers selling fast food, commuting, couples murmuring sweet nothings, bisarjan of idols after the puja ceremonies, and of course – adda, chatting, the activity Kolkata natives are most famous for.

A distributary of Ganges, Hooghly moves slowly in these parts on account of being not too far from the Bay of Bengal delta. Gold and orange hues of setting sun shimmer in the river waters. Floating barges go between the ghat and the ferries – maneuvered by ropes . Within sight are the two Hooghly bridges. Conceived in the same year and twenty years in making, the second bridge is my contemporary. It might even be the largest cable-stayed bridge in Asia. Hooghly’s clam water looks clear even though it has washed the garbage of hundreds of millions of people living on the Gangatic plane. That must be its holy power.

Maybe the noisy humdrum of humanity is the inspiration behind our great many meditation techniques. Standing on the banks, I can never meditate my way to quietness. Maybe the small boats can be rowed far out enough where the noisy madness of honking horns can be replaced by gentler sounds. These country boats look postcard pretty. For a moment, I imagine the boatmen sing folk songs in their melancholy voices, like they do in Ray’s movies. Not any customers for them yet, they are sitting together on their haunches, swigging at their bidis. I suspect that lovers will come when the night falls to romance under the starry sky nay cloudy sky. The clouds will veil them from boatman’s curious eyes.

Bengalis are food obsessed. They are either eating or planning a future meal. A trip to the ghat is never without the joys of mouthwatering roadside food. All along the ghat, hawkers are selling delicious fast food – fuchka , gol-gappa or pani-puri to Punjabis, small puffed crisp fried breads filled with tangy water; jhal-muri, Bhel-puri to Mumbaiwalas, spicy and savory puffed rice and steaming sweet tea in earthen cups. I think that Jhal-muri with tea will make a perfect in between meal – the spicy puffed rice will wake up the taste buds, and the sweet tea will subsequently soothe them down. I remember my upset stomach from a prior roadside indiscretion, so I reluctantly forego the jhal-muri.

A curious bisarjan ritual – immersion of clay idols of goddess in the holy river – typically associated with Durga puja, meet my eyes and has me furiously clicking away at my camera. Several groups of worshipers bring idols to the ghat but the ritual of immersion is left incomplete. The goddess idols, made in the mold of Durga but sitting on a donkey instead of a fearsome lion are left dotting the walkway. She looks grave and the donkey is baring its teeth. I dare not laugh. A worshiper tells me that she is indeed an incarnation of Durga called Sitala and is celebrated among the lower castes and villagers in Bengal. Legends say that she can’t swim and therefore she cannot be immersed in water. Her idol is left to disintegrate on the river banks – biblical dust to dust and all that – and in Bengal’s sultry summers, this process is indubitably short.

Goddess at the ghat

Groups of young and old people are sitting and doing what they do best – adda, some on mobile phones even. Bengalis are loud except when talking love. We argue loudly, we laugh loudly and pontificate loudly. IPL 20-20 cricket matches are the talk of the town – Kolkata Knight Riders are taking a beating after an initial spurt of winnings. SRK and Sourav are not on their friendliest best, SRK’s Bollywood style parties are wrecking our young brave knights…

As night close in, the lights on the floating restaurant look brighter. I can no longer see the litter on the train tracks. Lovers snuggle closer together taking the advantage of the darkness, a little privacy in a packed sardine can of a city. I head home contemplating my dinner – Ilish macher jhal, steamed hilsa fish coated with spicy mustard paste; and Dhokar dalna, fried lentil cakes in gravy.

Travel Note: If you are a tourist, this riverfront location is indeed a perfect spot to watch the natives. Situated right opposite Fort William, Outram ghat is a popular spot during late afternoons and evenings and any cab can get you here. Curb the jhal-muri temptation, natives are more used to bloody dysentery than you are.

I finished downloading the manga Honey and Clover, but I’m still keeping my fingers crossed for the continuing chapters in season 2. Probably, the Shoujo Magic hasn’t finished scanlating it, well, no wonder, it is hard to translate such difficult series.

However, if you have the full copy of the season 2 (and so on) scanlated manga, please let me know!  I only got three chapter- scanlated copies of the volume two, that is from chapters 10-12, but since it is still ongoing (whatever happened, please do continue Shoujo Magic!) I’m still waiting here!

I love the Honey and Clover manga. And I’ve also seen its season 1 and 2 anime version that premiered on Animax. However, I haven’t seen yet the live action series (or is it movie?).

I made a summary out of the season one Honey and Clover manga because I love it so much. If you planned to read the manga and wishes not to get spoiled here, DON’T READ BEYOND THIS because it might definitely spoil you! But if you welcome such things, then continue at your risk. *laughs.

Chapter 1

“Well, well, the cherry blossoms will start blooming soon.

It’s getting warm, this is so relaxing.”

- Shuuji Hanamoto

Here we found out the life that college students would experience in Tokyo. The prices skyrocketed high. Mayama Takumi (22, a fourth year architecture student), Yuuta Takemoto (19, second year architectural design student), Morita Shinobu (24, sixth year art student) and with the other guys shared their lives in a cheap apartment of 9 square meters and no showers. Morita, after his disappearance for twelve days, came home with lots of korokkes, (fried mashed potatoes covered with bread crumbs) for his board mates. Mayama-sempai said that Morita always go out somewhere for days, and they didn’t know where. Morita came back exhausted with a mysterious amount of money in his pocket. But everyone had no idea where Morita was working or what. While other mates were saying that Morita was only snickering at their poverty by buying only korokkes and not meat, Mayama asks why Morita wasn’t sleeping in his room. Takemoto answered that he was told off by his sempai Morita to wake him up at eight tomorrow. Morita, according to Mayama, missed one requirement in a class when he was a first year, and went on forgetting it for the last three years so that he wasn’t able to graduate. Then, Morita stayed another year because he lacked one hour worth of class attendance but failed to comply it, that’s why he had to repeat another year. Morita, says Mayama, also repeat his second year because he overslept a lot of times. It was already 9:30 in the morning, and both Mayama and Takemoto were trying to wake up Morita. Just as Takemoto gave up on him by saying “If you end up repeating another year, don’t hold a grudge against me!”, Morita suddenly opened his eyes and readily went to school with Mayama’s kickboard (a wooden cheap version of scooters he made for Mayama). Because he was rushing so much, he bumped into some department cart and said, in excuse that it was not him who destroyed the cart, but Mayama, who had just passed by.

With their art professor Shuuji Hanamoto, Mayama and Takemoto talked about Morita’s unusual behavior when suddenly Mayama noticed a little girl he mistaken as Shuuji’s daughter. But it was found out that it was Shuuji’s cousin’s daughter Hagumi Hanamoto (nicknamed Hagu) who had just entered the university as a first year art student. Surprisingly, she was already 18 years old, although when one looks at her, she looks like a middle school student. While Shuuji was preventing Mayama to introduce himself, on one corner, Takemoto asked Hagu to eat the korokkes with him (which he brought to eat for his lunch).

While Hagu was drinking her tea, Mayama was about to say something to Takemoto but he stopped short at Takemoto’s expression. He realized that his friend was in love at first sight with Hagu.

Suddenly, Morita arrived to thank Takemoto for waking him up this morning, and because of that he can now graduate. In an instant, Morita caught sight of Hagu, and ran away from the room to a yam field behind the university. Then he came back and gave Hagu a fuki leaf (butterbur leaf) and said “Korobokkuru!” Korobokkuru is a character in Ainu myths, and also means a person under a fuki leaf. Hagu was scared while Morita was taking photographs of her. Takemoto was saying that Hagu might cry if Morita won’t stop soon. Shuuji was smiling by saying Hagu looked cute in whatever she was doing. Mayama on the other hand, realized that Morita was in love and reflected that this is another way of falling in love, but apparently nobody realized because of its “unusual method of emotional communication”.

Chapter 2

“How I’d like to see the world through Hagu’s eyes.”

• Shuuji Hanamoto to Yuuta Takemoto

Mayama and Takemoto were staring at the clay footprint of Hagu, which was compared to a stick of cigarette in length. Hagu, who was taken a copy of a footprint yesterday, was terrified of Morita and was now venting her stress on some artwork. Mayama and Takemoto went to see how she was doing and they were shocked at the huge statue Hagu was working upon. The statue would be displayed at the lobby of an art museum at Minatomirai in Yokohama. This made Takemoto reflect about himself and his future. According to him, everyone was doing well: Hagu is so talented that she could enter any job, Morita had a serious job somewhere, and Mayama, who was about to graduate, was invited to work full-time at the design studio he was now working part-time. Mayama consoled him by saying that Takemoto was just a second year, and should do anything that would interest him.

The next day, Mayama and Takemoto noticed that Hagu was cutting out pictures of sandals, bags, and dresses. It was found out that she was making a notebook about them because she could not buy it. Then a person came and noticed Hagu, and said ‘Korobokkuru’ which made Hagu startled. That person said that he saw a person just like Hagu in the internet, and surely they checked it online and found a website which Morita made about the ‘Korobokkuru’. They found out that Morita was earning money from it because 50% of it was commercials, but according to that person, lots of maniacs like him were looking forward to the updates of the website. Suddenly, Morita arrived and gave Hagu a paperweight out of her footprint. Due to her anger Hagu threw all sorts of things to Morita, and one of it was her notebook about the things she wanted. Morita kept it in his pocket. Takemoto invited him to come at the Teppanyaki party with Mayama at Shuuji’s apartment in a week’s time. Morita answered that that he had a work for that night which would take a week. Mayama, on the other hand, asked the person to keep the whole situation as secret as Hagu was Shuuji’s niece.

So for over a week Morita was gone again. After a week, as he was about to go home, he passed by a certain shop and bought a pair of Miu Miu sandals for 32,000 yen. Then he headed off to Shuuji’s place and met Takemoto, whom he gave the one kg. of beef. Takemoto was extremely happy about it.

Morita caught sight of Hagu hiding behind the curtain, and approached her, handing her the pink patent leather Miu Miu sandals. Because the Miu Miu brand is a famous designer brand in Japan, Hagu was so happy. Morita, meanwhile, collapsed because he was exhausted from work. Takemoto took him on his back to take him to the futon.

While carrying Morita, Takemoto felt a pain in his stomach because he was hungry. But Takemoto has to realize that it wasn’t really the pain in his stomach that ached him, but the pain in his chest. He never realized that the guy he was carrying on his back was his love rival.

Chapter 3

“Girls like Morita because he isn’t influenced by what other people say. But he doesn’t have a girlfriend because he doesn’t listen to what other people say at all.”

Morita was sleeping at Takemoto’s room, while Hasegawa (a board mate) was reading about a survey of three hundred girls about the kind of guys that they hate: a self-centered guy, a guy who acts suspiciously, a guy with a long hair that doesn’t take care of himself, the guy who still wears his gym clothes – all of these descriptions perfectly suited Morita, but then again, Morita still got free bento lunches from girls. This irritated Hasegawa. Mayama, on the other hand, explained what really happened. At that time, Morita was eating plain bread for lunch, and this was noticed by a bunch of girls, who took pity of him. They each gave their bento lunches, believing that Morita was so poor to have them. But then suddenly Mayama remembered the time when he asked some girls for a drink, and all of them said that they were going if the guy who wears his high school jersey would go too – and the guy they were talking about was Morita. This irritated Mayama too, like Hasegawa.

Still preoccupied by it, they took it out with Shuuji. Shuuji explained that probably girls like Morita because he was not influenced with other people and just go on with his life doing what he wanted. He also said that in a manually-driven society, it was so hard to find guys like that and that the guys that the girls hated most could be the guys that are influenced by the surveys. These ideas stuck in Mayama and Takemoto’s thoughts as they went out. They both saw Morita by the water fountain pouring water on his head. But later they realized that Morita was taking a bath! The girls nearby were shocked by this action, but later one of them tossed floral scent soap.

The sky gave threats of rain. Morita caught sight of Takemoto and Mayama, and Morita asked Mayama to lend him his pants. Takemoto and Mayama ran away thinking why the girls would like a guy like him.

When they were far enough, they discussed more about Morita. Takemoto asked if Morita has a girlfriend because he was so popular. Mayama was confused what to answer so they just went in to a shop to buy some drinks when they noticed Morita there, wearing, what looked like robes. But those ‘robes’ were just the curtains in Shuuji’s classroom he had stolen.

Chapter 4

And it was thought that their juicy and their fortunate days would never end…

Morita was crying over his noodles. Weeks had passed since they haven’t eaten meat, and Morita was throwing a tantrum by rolling on the floor because of only eating noodles, and no meat.

While passing by the corridor, Takemoto asked Mayama who stayed at the room 103, and why it remained closed ever since he got there. Mayama said it was Romaiya-sempai’s room, who was taking a break in his school to help her family managing the farm as his father was ill. Takemoto couldn’t help but notice the pain expression in Mayama’s face. Just then, as though some miracle, Romaiya came back! All the other board mates, except Takemoto, welcomed him as though he was the savior. Then, Takemoto realized why because Romaiya brought with him sausages, ham, and other meat products. Romaiya said that since he was starting with his ham delivery, he would be able to bring ham again. Takemoto was introduced to him, as he was the newest boarder. Romaiya even said to all of them that they could come to their house and promised them that they would have something to eat, if they have no place to go.

For two weeks, Morita, Hasegawa, Takemoto and Mayama were extremely happy about their situation. They were even uplifted in their creative spirits. But then again, Romaiya came back to his house because his father fell ill again, leaving the guys ‘juicy memories and empty stomachs’. Farewell juicy days.

Chapter 5

But during the whole summer, in the back of my eyes,

the small fireworks that I saw on that riverside,

continued to flicker lightly.

-Yuuta Takemoto

Shuuji, Hagu, Morita, Mayama and Takemoto decided to have a vacation in a nearby beach. Mayama was teasing Hagu by asking her to hold a small size watermelon. Then all of them were satisfied to see that the watermelon looked like a normal sized watermelon for her. Then suddenly, the watermelon slipped between her hands, and Morita shouted, “The Korobokkuru let the dessert float away!” causing her to slip too, so that she was soaked and wet. Takemoto took of his shirt and let Hagu wear it, and it became a one-piece dress for her.

After eating, they lighted up the fireworks. Mayama was shocked because Morita was starting with a 5,000 yen fireworks set (very expensive!). While Morita was dancing with the light of his fireworks, Mayama and Shuuji were talking about Takemoto and Hagu, who were having their conversation. Shuuji said that it was okay since it was a party and they would go to Nagano for summer vacation anyway, but he jokingly said that he would kill Takemoto if he would get fifteen centimeters closer to her.

The next day, Shuuji and Hagu went to Nagano for summer vacation. It was longest summer ever for Takemoto.

Chapter 6

“Her eye lashes are long

that they cast shadows on her face.”

- Yuuta Takemoto, while looking at Hagu

Morita, Mayama and Takemoto talked about how they haven’t seen Hagu and Shuuji for a month. Morita was thinking about what they would bring for souvenirs. Then suddenly, Takemoto’s phone rang. It was Hagu. She called to tell them that her uncle Shuuji wanted to know what they would want for souvenirs: whether its buckwheat noodles or vegetables. Takemoto asked the two, and Morita said “Meat!”. Shuuji, on the other hand, decided it should be buckwheat noodles then.

Takemoto told the other two that they were coming home tomorrow and that they would have to come tonight in Shuuji’s place to get the noodles. Mayama was worried because he wasn’t able to finish the work Shuuji assigned to him. Morita readily offered his help, saying he only have to pay 2,000 yen per hour. Mayama grudgingly refused, while Morita said, “Let me help you Mayama! Aren’t we friends?”

While Takemoto was reflecting about Hagu’s return and how her call made him nervous, Mayama asked about his ring tone of his phone. Takemoto answered that it was “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, and it rings if someone calls that is not registered on his phone book. He also said that he has a different ring tone for Mayama and Morita. He then asked Mayama if he also does that, and Mayama answered that it was fun at first but then he used the same ring tone for any call. When Morita was asked he answered that he doesn’t have a cellphone. Then suddenly, Mayama phone rang, and the tone was familiar to Takemoto. It was “Moon River”.

Then suddenly Mayama went off, while Morita said, “It’s a woman”. This surprised Takemoto that Mayama might have a girlfriend.

The next morning, Takemoto noticed that somebody was inside Mayama’s room. He went there and was surprised to see Morita curling up due to the freezing coldness of the room. It seemed as if Morita was trying to save his electricity bill by using other people’s room, in this case, Mayama’s room. He brought with him his game console, and left the air conditioner and fan on all night. Takemoto was worried about him and asked him if he could still come to Shuuji’s noodle party tonight. Morita answered that he wanted to see Korobokkuru’s face – so that he could take more pictures and update his website.

While walking to school, Takemoto thought if the time will come if a guy like Morita would fall in love with Hagu and whether he will be able to win. Realizing that it was embarrassing to think about it when he’s not even dating Hagu, he shoved off those thoughts.

Meanwhile, a guy came to Morita’s room saying that a weird request came in and asking if he was available. Morita was still curling up with his blanket saying that he’ll have Korobokkuru and noodles for tonight. But the guy offered that if he finished it tonight the pay would be 60,000 yen. Morita got up in his bed and said that he’d do it.

While in the car with the guy, Morita caught sight of Shuuji and Hagu walking in the street. He then closed his eyes. <Probably he was depressed because he can’t see korobokkuru for that night>

In the end, it was only Takemoto who joined the party that night. Shuuji was a bit surprised, and they shared the food altogether. Hagu showed Takemoto her room, and her tiny bed, and her collection of tiny dolls of which she made them clothes. But then Takemoto realized that she doesn’t have a closet for her doll’s clothes and offer to make one for her. Hagu was extremely happy about it, and asked Takemoto to build a rococo style, of which Takemoto was shocked because it was difficult to do so. Shuuji, on the other hand, lent books about rococo style structures to the stressed Takemoto to study on.

Chapter 7

No matter how mad you get at me,

I probably won’t change.

It would be much easier for you to find some other guy to like.

- Mayama Takumi to Ayumi Yamada

Takemoto was walking to school, still plagued with thoughts of rococo style, when he saw Mayama coming out the car. He was with a woman. The girls around him noticed it too, saying that Mayama must have spent the night with her. Suddenly, somebody shouted Mayama’s name, and attacked him. It was Ayumi Yamada, 21 years old, who is nicknamed as the Iron Lady for running 6km to school every morning with her dog during her first year so that the dog would lose weight. She was known in the school with her womanly strength, and she is extremely famous among guys. She is also good in pottery.

She was furious about Mayama’s hooking up with different girls. This is because other girls from different colleges constantly inquired about Mayama from Yamada, and this irritated Yamada. While Yamada and Mayama were fighting, Morita was taking pictures of them, with his optical zoom and 4.32 million pixel-camera, and this irritated Yamada because Morita bought an expensive camera without paying his debts to her. While Morita and Yamada were fighting, Mayama sneaked away. In the end, Yamada’s high-heeled kick made Morita unconscious and brought him to the school clinic.

While walking at the corridor, Takemoto the woman with whom Mayama was thought to have spent the night with. She was walking with a walking stick. Takemoto was curious why that woman went to Shuuji Hanamoto’s room, and why his Shuuji-sensei knew her.

Meanwhile, inside the room, Shuuji prepared a coffee for Rika. She was good friends with Shuuji, along with her husband who died in the accident. This accident left Rika badly scarred on her back and damaged her leg, that’s why she couldn’t walk at long periods without the help of a walking stick.

Shuuji asked her how she was doing, and Rika answered that she was busy but Mayama helped her out a lot. It was Shuuji who introduced Mayama to Rika to work part-time at Harada Design which Rika and her former husband managed. Rika visited Shuuji to borrow a chair she could use at her office for the meantime.

Takemoto, on the other hand, noticed Hagu looking at some home made pudding displays which she intended to give to her uncle Shuuji. Takemoto said that the professor was having a visitor so he wouldn’t probably eat it. Then he noticed that Hagu was hungry and bought her a treat even though he was broke. Takemoto reflected why Hagu was not frequently seen with a group of friends. The café was filled with lots of people talking, and suddenly Hagu felt a pain in the stomach, of which Takemoto accompanied her back to Shuuji’s.

Back at Shuuji’s place, Takemoto asked about Rika, and whether she was Mayama’s girlfriend. Noticing that Shuuji stopped short at this question, Takemoto added that Morita told him that Mayama has a girlfriend, and that there was a phone call to which Mayama responded readily, and the thought that Mayama didn’t came home that night, and him witnessing Mayama coming out the car with Rika, before finally rephrasing his question whether Mayama and Rika were going out. Shuuji was silent for a moment and told Takemoto that their relationship wasn’t the kind that he’s thinking of, and changed the subject by presenting Takemoto more books about rococo style.

Meanwhile, Yamada finally found Mayama lying down somewhere where there was no person in sight, and asked him why does Mayama ran when things weren’t going well. Mayama grudgingly answered that it was because Yamada ran after him, and Yamada fired back that it was because he was always running away. Yamada told him to get himself a job and not just to keep working at Rika’s place. She also asked him why he hasn’t told Rika that he liked her, and whether he would just go on with his life without a definite answer. Mayama answered her back, by asking “Why me?” and that Yamada should find another guy to like because he wouldn’t change. He said it would be better for her to forget about him.

Suddenly, Mayama received a phone call. He left the crying Yamada and dashed off to help Rika carry the chair. Mayama offered to accompany her, but Rika said he need not to.

Alone at the classroom, Yamada was crying while making pottery. Morita came offering her a can of water, and said she had to drink it because she might be drained because of her tears. To lighten up the atmosphere, Morita praised Yamada’s work and told her to send the pots off to a ‘broken-hearted’ restaurant. He also called Yamada as its ‘boss’. Yamada kept on telling that Mayama was an idiot, who put up a nice image but ran away when he couldn’t help it. Morita, confused, asked Yamada that if Mayama was an idiot, then why did she like him, and Yamada answered him back that she didn’t know why. She said that even though she hated Mayama, she still wanted to hear his voice or touch his hand. Then suddenly Morita finally understood it all, and said to Yamada that it was love, and that Yamada was in love with Mayama.

Chapter 8

Is the moon seen through Hagu’s eyes,

different from the moon seen through my eyes?

• Yuuta Takemoto

Mayama reminisced about the time that he listened to Rika singing a song. It was a theme song of a famous movie. At that time, he had just woken up because he stayed late finishing his work with Rika. He didn’t know that Rika does that, and so he held his breath and didn’t move so that Rika wouldn’t notice that he was listening nearby. Suddenly, he remembered the words he said to Yamada, and was disturbed. He noticed Yamada was walking to his direction, and he hide in the bush so that she wouldn’t notice him. He didn’t know that Yamada did notice him hiding there.

Mayama’s phone rang. Morita appeared to annoy Mayama’s ring tone, by singing the lyrics of Moon River. But he fled away when Mayama angrily shouted at him.

Rika called Mayama because she just arrived in school to return the chair to Shuuji, the one he borrowed. Rika asked Mayama to deliver a letter to Tsukamoto-sensei because she was going over to Shuuji’s room. She also thanked Mayama by increasing his pay by 30% because their job was almost finished, and said that she wouldn’t need him for quite a while.

While at Shuuji’s room, Rika was thinking about the past when they were still students. Then Shuuji asked Rika if she had plans for that day because Mayama was waiting outside.

Shuuji stopped by his car in Mayama’s direction. Rika was in her car. Mayama asked where are they going and Rika said that Shuuji will accompany him to buy some wallpaper samples. She also said that a certain Asai-san has tickets for a soccer game and advised Mayama to go with him because it looked like he favored Mayama. Then they rode off while Shuuji was saying whether it was okay if Mayama get snatched away by the other firm. Rika said that if it would happen, then it would.

Meanwhile, Yamada had just finished eating in a cafeteria when Morita came up, greeting her as ‘heart-broken boss’. This fired up Yamada and punched Morita, knocking him half-conscious.

Hagu was about to buy something when she heard a group of students talking about her which made her stressed. She ran to her room and finished her artwork when the metal wire snapped across her cheek. Right on cue Morita arrived to annoy her Korobokkuru again, making her mouse number one. Then suddenly she noticed that Hagu was spaced out, and didn’t move. Then, Takemoto arrived and Morita told him that his mouse number one wouldn’t move. This angered Takemoto because he was suspecting Morita did something to her. Takemoto took Hagu away. Morita on the other hand, decided to follow, but was held off by his professor because of his unfinished work.

At the clinic, the nurse was explaining to Takemoto that Hagu was stressed. She said that everyone around Hagu anticipated another great work from her, when they should make it easy for her. Morita came in, still feeling terrible. Then Shuuji came in late and took her niece away, expressing thanks to both Morita and Takemoto.

Chapter 9

Might she be

trying to cheer me up?

- Yuuta Takemoto, on Hagu

Takemoto was feeling the December blues. Morita, trying to dress in a Santa Claus outfit came in giving him a Christmas invitation at a party. Morita also gave Mayama an invitational card, to which he said that he was already 22 years old to attend and that he should do other things. But Morita ran away before hearing it all, and this irritated Mayama.

Shuuji also confirmed to Takemoto and Mayama that he received a card too, and was surprised because he didn’t know the party would be held in his room. The card said that they should bring snacks and a present of under 1000 yen to exchange. But because Hagu was happy about it, he just consented to Morita’s idea.

Morita also gave Yamada an invitation, and Yamada said that she might not go because Mayama might be going and he might not want her to be there. Morita became serious, but then he hugged Yamada and said “Let me smell the scent of love!” Yamada gave him a wrestling maneuver, which knocked him down and she earned cheers from her male admirers.

And so Christmas Eve came.

Hagu and Takemoto were going out to buy their presents. Hagu was happy and jolly, but Takemoto was still having what he called the Christmas blues. It is because he used to spend Christmas at the pediatrics ward of the hospital. He was living with his mother who was working as a nurse there. That’s why every time he thought about Christmas, he automatically associated it with the smell of the hospital. Hagu noticed that he was spaced all through out, and tried to cheer him.

Mayama went to Rika’s place, and noticed that Shuuji’s car was parking in front her apartment. Mayama asked if they were going out somewhere with Shuuji, and Rika said yes. Mayama didn’t answer, instead he gave the coffee to Rika and said to drink it in the car. Then he left.

When Rika went inside the car, Shuuji asked what was she holding and Rika said it was a thermos of coffee that Mayama brought. Shuuji was worried, thinking that Mayama might kill him someday.

At the Christmas party, Yamada didn’t know what to do with the 8 kg. pile of croquettes Morita brought, but then later decided to make a salad out of it with the cabbages that Morita also brought. Mayama came, bringing with him a party bucket (what looked like fireworks) and was teased by Morita that Rika rejected him. Mayama was surprised to see Yamada, who was already gulping bottles of alcohol, and was drunk already. Mayama tried to get the alcohol out of her hands, and Yamada fell down, revealing her sexy, long legs. Hagu cried because of her envy of Yamada’s legs, and tried to comfort her by saying that she might have those if she’ll be older, but this only aggravated the situation. To cap it all, Morita was also crying because of Hagu’s contagious tears. Mayama went out the room.

Then, Shuuji arrived and Mayama asked her where Rika went. Shuuji answered that she went to her husband’s grave, and Shuuji asked him if he knew about it. Mayama said that he knew about little by little. Hagu went outside and saw her uncle, and they all went inside.

When it was past midnight, Shuuji’s room was a chaos. Yamada was drunk, and everyone was sleeping on the floor. Shuuji and Mayama decided to bring the girls home and came back there to clean up. Morita, who was still awake, invited Mayama to drink. They both noticed the smile on Takemoto’s face when he was sleeping which annoyed them.

They didn’t know that Takemoto was having a good dream: he and Hagu had just finished decorating the Christmas tree and was shouting, “Merry Christmas!”

-END- vol.1

***

Whew! That was one heck of a summary! Yep, to be more specific, it is a by-chapter summary of the season 1 volume.

The manga series was created by Umino Chica, and was published by Queens Comics. Really great thanks to Shoujo Magic who scanlated it for fans like me! (I saw it in the manga copy that I have). I’m really grateful to you guys, especially –

to the editors siana, cutedevil, and lelei;

to the translators jekyl03, taisa, pochi, yuwa, nexx, thestripedone, and kechi;

and to sayuri, sophendolbot, argentum_telesto for your quality checking abilities.

I really want to thank you personally for coming up with this wonderful love-filled manga. Please visit their site http://shoujomagic.net or their irc channel #shoujomagic@irc.irchighway.net.

Made by the fans for the fans like me!

]]> http://kyrillevin.wordpress.com/2008/05/15/honey-and-clover-manga/ Thu, 15 May 2008 03:28:16 +0000 Khareen http://kyrillevin.wordpress.com/2008/05/15/honey-and-clover-manga/

I finished downloading the manga Honey and Clover, but I’m still keeping my fingers crossed for the continuing chapters in season 2. Probably, the Shoujo Magic hasn’t finished scanlating it, well, no wonder, it is hard to translate such difficult series.

However, if you have the full copy of the season 2 (and so on) scanlated manga, please let me know!  I only got three chapter- scanlated copies of the volume two, that is from chapters 10-12, but since it is still ongoing (whatever happened, please do continue Shoujo Magic!) I’m still waiting here!

I love the Honey and Clover manga. And I’ve also seen its season 1 and 2 anime version that premiered on Animax. However, I haven’t seen yet the live action series (or is it movie?).

I made a summary out of the season one Honey and Clover manga because I love it so much. If you planned to read the manga and wishes not to get spoiled here, DON’T READ BEYOND THIS because it might definitely spoil you! But if you welcome such things, then continue at your risk. *laughs.

Chapter 1

“Well, well, the cherry blossoms will start blooming soon.

It’s getting warm, this is so relaxing.”

- Shuuji Hanamoto

Here we found out the life that college students would experience in Tokyo. The prices skyrocketed high. Mayama Takumi (22, a fourth year architecture student), Yuuta Takemoto (19, second year architectural design student), Morita Shinobu (24, sixth year art student) and with the other guys shared their lives in a cheap apartment of 9 square meters and no showers. Morita, after his disappearance for twelve days, came home with lots of korokkes, (fried mashed potatoes covered with bread crumbs) for his board mates. Mayama-sempai said that Morita always go out somewhere for days, and they didn’t know where. Morita came back exhausted with a mysterious amount of money in his pocket. But everyone had no idea where Morita was working or what. While other mates were saying that Morita was only snickering at their poverty by buying only korokkes and not meat, Mayama asks why Morita wasn’t sleeping in his room. Takemoto answered that he was told off by his sempai Morita to wake him up at eight tomorrow. Morita, according to Mayama, missed one requirement in a class when he was a first year, and went on forgetting it for the last three years so that he wasn’t able to graduate. Then, Morita stayed another year because he lacked one hour worth of class attendance but failed to comply it, that’s why he had to repeat another year. Morita, says Mayama, also repeat his second year because he overslept a lot of times. It was already 9:30 in the morning, and both Mayama and Takemoto were trying to wake up Morita. Just as Takemoto gave up on him by saying “If you end up repeating another year, don’t hold a grudge against me!”, Morita suddenly opened his eyes and readily went to school with Mayama’s kickboard (a wooden cheap version of scooters he made for Mayama). Because he was rushing so much, he bumped into some department cart and said, in excuse that it was not him who destroyed the cart, but Mayama, who had just passed by.

With their art professor Shuuji Hanamoto, Mayama and Takemoto talked about Morita’s unusual behavior when suddenly Mayama noticed a little girl he mistaken as Shuuji’s daughter. But it was found out that it was Shuuji’s cousin’s daughter Hagumi Hanamoto (nicknamed Hagu) who had just entered the university as a first year art student. Surprisingly, she was already 18 years old, although when one looks at her, she looks like a middle school student. While Shuuji was preventing Mayama to introduce himself, on one corner, Takemoto asked Hagu to eat the korokkes with him (which he brought to eat for his lunch).

While Hagu was drinking her tea, Mayama was about to say something to Takemoto but he stopped short at Takemoto’s expression. He realized that his friend was in love at first sight with Hagu.

Suddenly, Morita arrived to thank Takemoto for waking him up this morning, and because of that he can now graduate. In an instant, Morita caught sight of Hagu, and ran away from the room to a yam field behind the university. Then he came back and gave Hagu a fuki leaf (butterbur leaf) and said “Korobokkuru!” Korobokkuru is a character in Ainu myths, and also means a person under a fuki leaf. Hagu was scared while Morita was taking photographs of her. Takemoto was saying that Hagu might cry if Morita won’t stop soon. Shuuji was smiling by saying Hagu looked cute in whatever she was doing. Mayama on the other hand, realized that Morita was in love and reflected that this is another way of falling in love, but apparently nobody realized because of its “unusual method of emotional communication”.

Chapter 2

“How I’d like to see the world through Hagu’s eyes.”

• Shuuji Hanamoto to Yuuta Takemoto

Mayama and Takemoto were staring at the clay footprint of Hagu, which was compared to a stick of cigarette in length. Hagu, who was taken a copy of a footprint yesterday, was terrified of Morita and was now venting her stress on some artwork. Mayama and Takemoto went to see how she was doing and they were shocked at the huge statue Hagu was working upon. The statue would be displayed at the lobby of an art museum at Minatomirai in Yokohama. This made Takemoto reflect about himself and his future. According to him, everyone was doing well: Hagu is so talented that she could enter any job, Morita had a serious job somewhere, and Mayama, who was about to graduate, was invited to work full-time at the design studio he was now working part-time. Mayama consoled him by saying that Takemoto was just a second year, and should do anything that would interest him.

The next day, Mayama and Takemoto noticed that Hagu was cutting out pictures of sandals, bags, and dresses. It was found out that she was making a notebook about them because she could not buy it. Then a person came and noticed Hagu, and said ‘Korobokkuru’ which made Hagu startled. That person said that he saw a person just like Hagu in the internet, and surely they checked it online and found a website which Morita made about the ‘Korobokkuru’. They found out that Morita was earning money from it because 50% of it was commercials, but according to that person, lots of maniacs like him were looking forward to the updates of the website. Suddenly, Morita arrived and gave Hagu a paperweight out of her footprint. Due to her anger Hagu threw all sorts of things to Morita, and one of it was her notebook about the things she wanted. Morita kept it in his pocket. Takemoto invited him to come at the Teppanyaki party with Mayama at Shuuji’s apartment in a week’s time. Morita answered that that he had a work for that night which would take a week. Mayama, on the other hand, asked the person to keep the whole situation as secret as Hagu was Shuuji’s niece.

So for over a week Morita was gone again. After a week, as he was about to go home, he passed by a certain shop and bought a pair of Miu Miu sandals for 32,000 yen. Then he headed off to Shuuji’s place and met Takemoto, whom he gave the one kg. of beef. Takemoto was extremely happy about it.

Morita caught sight of Hagu hiding behind the curtain, and approached her, handing her the pink patent leather Miu Miu sandals. Because the Miu Miu brand is a famous designer brand in Japan, Hagu was so happy. Morita, meanwhile, collapsed because he was exhausted from work. Takemoto took him on his back to take him to the futon.

While carrying Morita, Takemoto felt a pain in his stomach because he was hungry. But Takemoto has to realize that it wasn’t really the pain in his stomach that ached him, but the pain in his chest. He never realized that the guy he was carrying on his back was his love rival.

Chapter 3

“Girls like Morita because he isn’t influenced by what other people say. But he doesn’t have a girlfriend because he doesn’t listen to what other people say at all.”

Morita was sleeping at Takemoto’s room, while Hasegawa (a board mate) was reading about a survey of three hundred girls about the kind of guys that they hate: a self-centered guy, a guy who acts suspiciously, a guy with a long hair that doesn’t take care of himself, the guy who still wears his gym clothes – all of these descriptions perfectly suited Morita, but then again, Morita still got free bento lunches from girls. This irritated Hasegawa. Mayama, on the other hand, explained what really happened. At that time, Morita was eating plain bread for lunch, and this was noticed by a bunch of girls, who took pity of him. They each gave their bento lunches, believing that Morita was so poor to have them. But then suddenly Mayama remembered the time when he asked some girls for a drink, and all of them said that they were going if the guy who wears his high school jersey would go too – and the guy they were talking about was Morita. This irritated Mayama too, like Hasegawa.

Still preoccupied by it, they took it out with Shuuji. Shuuji explained that probably girls like Morita because he was not influenced with other people and just go on with his life doing what he wanted. He also said that in a manually-driven society, it was so hard to find guys like that and that the guys that the girls hated most could be the guys that are influenced by the surveys. These ideas stuck in Mayama and Takemoto’s thoughts as they went out. They both saw Morita by the water fountain pouring water on his head. But later they realized that Morita was taking a bath! The girls nearby were shocked by this action, but later one of them tossed floral scent soap.

The sky gave threats of rain. Morita caught sight of Takemoto and Mayama, and Morita asked Mayama to lend him his pants. Takemoto and Mayama ran away thinking why the girls would like a guy like him.

When they were far enough, they discussed more about Morita. Takemoto asked if Morita has a girlfriend because he was so popular. Mayama was confused what to answer so they just went in to a shop to buy some drinks when they noticed Morita there, wearing, what looked like robes. But those ‘robes’ were just the curtains in Shuuji’s classroom he had stolen.

Chapter 4

And it was thought that their juicy and their fortunate days would never end…

Morita was crying over his noodles. Weeks had passed since they haven’t eaten meat, and Morita was throwing a tantrum by rolling on the floor because of only eating noodles, and no meat.

While passing by the corridor, Takemoto asked Mayama who stayed at the room 103, and why it remained closed ever since he got there. Mayama said it was Romaiya-sempai’s room, who was taking a break in his school to help her family managing the farm as his father was ill. Takemoto couldn’t help but notice the pain expression in Mayama’s face. Just then, as though some miracle, Romaiya came back! All the other board mates, except Takemoto, welcomed him as though he was the savior. Then, Takemoto realized why because Romaiya brought with him sausages, ham, and other meat products. Romaiya said that since he was starting with his ham delivery, he would be able to bring ham again. Takemoto was introduced to him, as he was the newest boarder. Romaiya even said to all of them that they could come to their house and promised them that they would have something to eat, if they have no place to go.

For two weeks, Morita, Hasegawa, Takemoto and Mayama were extremely happy about their situation. They were even uplifted in their creative spirits. But then again, Romaiya came back to his house because his father fell ill again, leaving the guys ‘juicy memories and empty stomachs’. Farewell juicy days.

Chapter 5

But during the whole summer, in the back of my eyes,

the small fireworks that I saw on that riverside,

continued to flicker lightly.

-Yuuta Takemoto

Shuuji, Hagu, Morita, Mayama and Takemoto decided to have a vacation in a nearby beach. Mayama was teasing Hagu by asking her to hold a small size watermelon. Then all of them were satisfied to see that the watermelon looked like a normal sized watermelon for her. Then suddenly, the watermelon slipped between her hands, and Morita shouted, “The Korobokkuru let the dessert float away!” causing her to slip too, so that she was soaked and wet. Takemoto took of his shirt and let Hagu wear it, and it became a one-piece dress for her.

After eating, they lighted up the fireworks. Mayama was shocked because Morita was starting with a 5,000 yen fireworks set (very expensive!). While Morita was dancing with the light of his fireworks, Mayama and Shuuji were talking about Takemoto and Hagu, who were having their conversation. Shuuji said that it was okay since it was a party and they would go to Nagano for summer vacation anyway, but he jokingly said that he would kill Takemoto if he would get fifteen centimeters closer to her.

The next day, Shuuji and Hagu went to Nagano for summer vacation. It was longest summer ever for Takemoto.

Chapter 6

“Her eye lashes are long

that they cast shadows on her face.”

- Yuuta Takemoto, while looking at Hagu

Morita, Mayama and Takemoto talked about how they haven’t seen Hagu and Shuuji for a month. Morita was thinking about what they would bring for souvenirs. Then suddenly, Takemoto’s phone rang. It was Hagu. She called to tell them that her uncle Shuuji wanted to know what they would want for souvenirs: whether its buckwheat noodles or vegetables. Takemoto asked the two, and Morita said “Meat!”. Shuuji, on the other hand, decided it should be buckwheat noodles then.

Takemoto told the other two that they were coming home tomorrow and that they would have to come tonight in Shuuji’s place to get the noodles. Mayama was worried because he wasn’t able to finish the work Shuuji assigned to him. Morita readily offered his help, saying he only have to pay 2,000 yen per hour. Mayama grudgingly refused, while Morita said, “Let me help you Mayama! Aren’t we friends?”

While Takemoto was reflecting about Hagu’s return and how her call made him nervous, Mayama asked about his ring tone of his phone. Takemoto answered that it was “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, and it rings if someone calls that is not registered on his phone book. He also said that he has a different ring tone for Mayama and Morita. He then asked Mayama if he also does that, and Mayama answered that it was fun at first but then he used the same ring tone for any call. When Morita was asked he answered that he doesn’t have a cellphone. Then suddenly, Mayama phone rang, and the tone was familiar to Takemoto. It was “Moon River”.

Then suddenly Mayama went off, while Morita said, “It’s a woman”. This surprised Takemoto that Mayama might have a girlfriend.

The next morning, Takemoto noticed that somebody was inside Mayama’s room. He went there and was surprised to see Morita curling up due to the freezing coldness of the room. It seemed as if Morita was trying to save his electricity bill by using other people’s room, in this case, Mayama’s room. He brought with him his game console, and left the air conditioner and fan on all night. Takemoto was worried about him and asked him if he could still come to Shuuji’s noodle party tonight. Morita answered that he wanted to see Korobokkuru’s face – so that he could take more pictures and update his website.

While walking to school, Takemoto thought if the time will come if a guy like Morita would fall in love with Hagu and whether he will be able to win. Realizing that it was embarrassing to think about it when he’s not even dating Hagu, he shoved off those thoughts.

Meanwhile, a guy came to Morita’s room saying that a weird request came in and asking if he was available. Morita was still curling up with his blanket saying that he’ll have Korobokkuru and noodles for tonight. But the guy offered that if he finished it tonight the pay would be 60,000 yen. Morita got up in his bed and said that he’d do it.

While in the car with the guy, Morita caught sight of Shuuji and Hagu walking in the street. He then closed his eyes. <Probably he was depressed because he can’t see korobokkuru for that night>

In the end, it was only Takemoto who joined the party that night. Shuuji was a bit surprised, and they shared the food altogether. Hagu showed Takemoto her room, and her tiny bed, and her collection of tiny dolls of which she made them clothes. But then Takemoto realized that she doesn’t have a closet for her doll’s clothes and offer to make one for her. Hagu was extremely happy about it, and asked Takemoto to build a rococo style, of which Takemoto was shocked because it was difficult to do so. Shuuji, on the other hand, lent books about rococo style structures to the stressed Takemoto to study on.

Chapter 7

No matter how mad you get at me,

I probably won’t change.

It would be much easier for you to find some other guy to like.

- Mayama Takumi to Ayumi Yamada

Takemoto was walking to school, still plagued with thoughts of rococo style, when he saw Mayama coming out the car. He was with a woman. The girls around him noticed it too, saying that Mayama must have spent the night with her. Suddenly, somebody shouted Mayama’s name, and attacked him. It was Ayumi Yamada, 21 years old, who is nicknamed as the Iron Lady for running 6km to school every morning with her dog during her first year so that the dog would lose weight. She was known in the school with her womanly strength, and she is extremely famous among guys. She is also good in pottery.

She was furious about Mayama’s hooking up with different girls. This is because other girls from different colleges constantly inquired about Mayama from Yamada, and this irritated Yamada. While Yamada and Mayama were fighting, Morita was taking pictures of them, with his optical zoom and 4.32 million pixel-camera, and this irritated Yamada because Morita bought an expensive camera without paying his debts to her. While Morita and Yamada were fighting, Mayama sneaked away. In the end, Yamada’s high-heeled kick made Morita unconscious and brought him to the school clinic.

While walking at the corridor, Takemoto the woman with whom Mayama was thought to have spent the night with. She was walking with a walking stick. Takemoto was curious why that woman went to Shuuji Hanamoto’s room, and why his Shuuji-sensei knew her.

Meanwhile, inside the room, Shuuji prepared a coffee for Rika. She was good friends with Shuuji, along with her husband who died in the accident. This accident left Rika badly scarred on her back and damaged her leg, that’s why she couldn’t walk at long periods without the help of a walking stick.

Shuuji asked her how she was doing, and Rika answered that she was busy but Mayama helped her out a lot. It was Shuuji who introduced Mayama to Rika to work part-time at Harada Design which Rika and her former husband managed. Rika visited Shuuji to borrow a chair she could use at her office for the meantime.

Takemoto, on the other hand, noticed Hagu looking at some home made pudding displays which she intended to give to her uncle Shuuji. Takemoto said that the professor was having a visitor so he wouldn’t probably eat it. Then he noticed that Hagu was hungry and bought her a treat even though he was broke. Takemoto reflected why Hagu was not frequently seen with a group of friends. The café was filled with lots of people talking, and suddenly Hagu felt a pain in the stomach, of which Takemoto accompanied her back to Shuuji’s.

Back at Shuuji’s place, Takemoto asked about Rika, and whether she was Mayama’s girlfriend. Noticing that Shuuji stopped short at this question, Takemoto added that Morita told him that Mayama has a girlfriend, and that there was a phone call to which Mayama responded readily, and the thought that Mayama didn’t came home that night, and him witnessing Mayama coming out the car with Rika, before finally rephrasing his question whether Mayama and Rika were going out. Shuuji was silent for a moment and told Takemoto that their relationship wasn’t the kind that he’s thinking of, and changed the subject by presenting Takemoto more books about rococo style.

Meanwhile, Yamada finally found Mayama lying down somewhere where there was no person in sight, and asked him why does Mayama ran when things weren’t going well. Mayama grudgingly answered that it was because Yamada ran after him, and Yamada fired back that it was because he was always running away. Yamada told him to get himself a job and not just to keep working at Rika’s place. She also asked him why he hasn’t told Rika that he liked her, and whether he would just go on with his life without a definite answer. Mayama answered her back, by asking “Why me?” and that Yamada should find another guy to like because he wouldn’t change. He said it would be better for her to forget about him.

Suddenly, Mayama received a phone call. He left the crying Yamada and dashed off to help Rika carry the chair. Mayama offered to accompany her, but Rika said he need not to.

Alone at the classroom, Yamada was crying while making pottery. Morita came offering her a can of water, and said she had to drink it because she might be drained because of her tears. To lighten up the atmosphere, Morita praised Yamada’s work and told her to send the pots off to a ‘broken-hearted’ restaurant. He also called Yamada as its ‘boss’. Yamada kept on telling that Mayama was an idiot, who put up a nice image but ran away when he couldn’t help it. Morita, confused, asked Yamada that if Mayama was an idiot, then why did she like him, and Yamada answered him back that she didn’t know why. She said that even though she hated Mayama, she still wanted to hear his voice or touch his hand. Then suddenly Morita finally understood it all, and said to Yamada that it was love, and that Yamada was in love with Mayama.

Chapter 8

Is the moon seen through Hagu’s eyes,

different from the moon seen through my eyes?

• Yuuta Takemoto

Mayama reminisced about the time that he listened to Rika singing a song. It was a theme song of a famous movie. At that time, he had just woken up because he stayed late finishing his work with Rika. He didn’t know that Rika does that, and so he held his breath and didn’t move so that Rika wouldn’t notice that he was listening nearby. Suddenly, he remembered the words he said to Yamada, and was disturbed. He noticed Yamada was walking to his direction, and he hide in the bush so that she wouldn’t notice him. He didn’t know that Yamada did notice him hiding there.

Mayama’s phone rang. Morita appeared to annoy Mayama’s ring tone, by singing the lyrics of Moon River. But he fled away when Mayama angrily shouted at him.

Rika called Mayama because she just arrived in school to return the chair to Shuuji, the one he borrowed. Rika asked Mayama to deliver a letter to Tsukamoto-sensei because she was going over to Shuuji’s room. She also thanked Mayama by increasing his pay by 30% because their job was almost finished, and said that she wouldn’t need him for quite a while.

While at Shuuji’s room, Rika was thinking about the past when they were still students. Then Shuuji asked Rika if she had plans for that day because Mayama was waiting outside.

Shuuji stopped by his car in Mayama’s direction. Rika was in her car. Mayama asked where are they going and Rika said that Shuuji will accompany him to buy some wallpaper samples. She also said that a certain Asai-san has tickets for a soccer game and advised Mayama to go with him because it looked like he favored Mayama. Then they rode off while Shuuji was saying whether it was okay if Mayama get snatched away by the other firm. Rika said that if it would happen, then it would.

Meanwhile, Yamada had just finished eating in a cafeteria when Morita came up, greeting her as ‘heart-broken boss’. This fired up Yamada and punched Morita, knocking him half-conscious.

Hagu was about to buy something when she heard a group of students talking about her which made her stressed. She ran to her room and finished her artwork when the metal wire snapped across her cheek. Right on cue Morita arrived to annoy her Korobokkuru again, making her mouse number one. Then suddenly she noticed that Hagu was spaced out, and didn’t move. Then, Takemoto arrived and Morita told him that his mouse number one wouldn’t move. This angered Takemoto because he was suspecting Morita did something to her. Takemoto took Hagu away. Morita on the other hand, decided to follow, but was held off by his professor because of his unfinished work.

At the clinic, the nurse was explaining to Takemoto that Hagu was stressed. She said that everyone around Hagu anticipated another great work from her, when they should make it easy for her. Morita came in, still feeling terrible. Then Shuuji came in late and took her niece away, expressing thanks to both Morita and Takemoto.

Chapter 9

Might she be

trying to cheer me up?

- Yuuta Takemoto, on Hagu

Takemoto was feeling the December blues. Morita, trying to dress in a Santa Claus outfit came in giving him a Christmas invitation at a party. Morita also gave Mayama an invitational card, to which he said that he was already 22 years old to attend and that he should do other things. But Morita ran away before hearing it all, and this irritated Mayama.

Shuuji also confirmed to Takemoto and Mayama that he received a card too, and was surprised because he didn’t know the party would be held in his room. The card said that they should bring snacks and a present of under 1000 yen to exchange. But because Hagu was happy about it, he just consented to Morita’s idea.

Morita also gave Yamada an invitation, and Yamada said that she might not go because Mayama might be going and he might not want her to be there. Morita became serious, but then he hugged Yamada and said “Let me smell the scent of love!” Yamada gave him a wrestling maneuver, which knocked him down and she earned cheers from her male admirers.

And so Christmas Eve came.

Hagu and Takemoto were going out to buy their presents. Hagu was happy and jolly, but Takemoto was still having what he called the Christmas blues. It is because he used to spend Christmas at the pediatrics ward of the hospital. He was living with his mother who was working as a nurse there. That’s why every time he thought about Christmas, he automatically associated it with the smell of the hospital. Hagu noticed that he was spaced all through out, and tried to cheer him.

Mayama went to Rika’s place, and noticed that Shuuji’s car was parking in front her apartment. Mayama asked if they were going out somewhere with Shuuji, and Rika said yes. Mayama didn’t answer, instead he gave the coffee to Rika and said to drink it in the car. Then he left.

When Rika went inside the car, Shuuji asked what was she holding and Rika said it was a thermos of coffee that Mayama brought. Shuuji was worried, thinking that Mayama might kill him someday.

At the Christmas party, Yamada didn’t know what to do with the 8 kg. pile of croquettes Morita brought, but then later decided to make a salad out of it with the cabbages that Morita also brought. Mayama came, bringing with him a party bucket (what looked like fireworks) and was teased by Morita that Rika rejected him. Mayama was surprised to see Yamada, who was already gulping bottles of alcohol, and was drunk already. Mayama tried to get the alcohol out of her hands, and Yamada fell down, revealing her sexy, long legs. Hagu cried because of her envy of Yamada’s legs, and tried to comfort her by saying that she might have those if she’ll be older, but this only aggravated the situation. To cap it all, Morita was also crying because of Hagu’s contagious tears. Mayama went out the room.

Then, Shuuji arrived and Mayama asked her where Rika went. Shuuji answered that she went to her husband’s grave, and Shuuji asked him if he knew about it. Mayama said that he knew about little by little. Hagu went outside and saw her uncle, and they all went inside.

When it was past midnight, Shuuji’s room was a chaos. Yamada was drunk, and everyone was sleeping on the floor. Shuuji and Mayama decided to bring the girls home and came back there to clean up. Morita, who was still awake, invited Mayama to drink. They both noticed the smile on Takemoto’s face when he was sleeping which annoyed them.

They didn’t know that Takemoto was having a good dream: he and Hagu had just finished decorating the Christmas tree and was shouting, “Merry Christmas!”

-END- vol.1

***

Whew! That was one heck of a summary! Yep, to be more specific, it is a by-chapter summary of the season 1 volume.

The manga series was created by Umino Chica, and was published by Queens Comics. Really great thanks to Shoujo Magic who scanlated it for fans like me! (I saw it in the manga copy that I have). I’m really grateful to you guys, especially –

to the editors siana, cutedevil, and lelei;

to the translators jekyl03, taisa, pochi, yuwa, nexx, thestripedone, and kechi;

and to sayuri, sophendolbot, argentum_telesto for your quality checking abilities.

I really want to thank you personally for coming up with this wonderful love-filled manga. Please visit their site http://shoujomagic.net or their irc channel #shoujomagic@irc.irchighway.net.

Made by the fans for the fans like me!

]]> http://kayodeok.wordpress.com/2008/03/27/day-86-putney-riverside/ Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:20:11 +0000 kayodeok http://kayodeok.wordpress.com/2008/03/27/day-86-putney-riverside/

Night-time image of Putney Riverside from the Bridge

EXIF:
Camera: Canon EOS 5D
Exposure: 123 sec (123)
Aperture: f/11
Focal Length: 85 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Nach der Ankunft mit dem Taxi habe ich mich ersteinmal mit der Umgebung vertraut gemacht. Als erstes stach mir der vermeintliche chinesische Autohändler für Luxuslimousinen ins Auge.

Er entpuppte sich schließlich als ein erster Millionärsclub in Singapur.

Vor dem Vorstellungsgespräch machte ich eine Aufnahme mit zittriger Hand, nicht wissend, ob mich jemand von innen sehen kann.

Die MRT-Haltestelle in der Nähe mit einer Bierwerbung der Singapurbiermarke schlechthin. MRT steht für Mass-Rapid-Transportation.

Ein Photo des weiteren Straßenverlaufs der Straße in der ich in Singapur wohne. Sie begrenzt Chinatown im Norden. Der Blick geht in Richtung Osten zum Financial District.

Von einem so genannten Overpass auf das River Place Condominium (von der Mitte rechts) geblickt. Die Straßen sind ein Argument für die mächtig lauten Wasserspiele im Garten. Der scheint von der Hektik weit entfernt.

Über der Straßelaterne sind schemenhaft Kräne zu erkennen, die ein weiteres Hochhaus gen Himmel ziehen.

This is St George Wharf in London at Twilight.

I was lucky to find myself in this area just when Nature was showing off its colors.

The lone figure in the picture is me; the pose is unimaginative because I am not comfortable with having my picture taken.

Battersea Power Station can be seen on the horizon.