7:54 PM

link update

Finally got around to adding some of my photos to the gallery on the Light Fellowship site (link added to the sidebar).
They're all photos from my Kodakgallery, or that I've posted here on the blog before, so perhaps it's old news--but, have fun looking!
There's also lots of photos posted by the kids at the other Light programs, too.

4:59 PM

「何、これ?!」 WTF シリーズ 1

This post marks the inaugural issue of what I've decided to call my "WTF?! Series" where I'll showcase some of the weirdnesses with which my daily life here in Japan is inundated.
It's not going to be on any particular schedule, just whenever I feel the urge to share the WTF. ^_^

Part 1: Store SignsFirst up, a motorcycle shop that I pass sometimes on my way home from school.
Slap Speed: Speed Equipments and Evil Sounds.
"When fortune smiles, embrace her."

Next, a clothing store in Landmark Plaza. Interesting... I wanna join!

Also in Landmark, two floors above Octopus Army: They took a whole bunch of cuteness and stuck it in a blender! (or...something...)

And finally, a new coffee shop that's just opened in the side street that runs parallel to Isezaki Mall. Cafe emo: espresso and biker's. (even down to the inappropriate apostrophe!). With the light-wood paneling, cheerful colors, and pretty flowers, this place is neither emo, nor biker--leaving aside the fact that emo and bikers don't really go together to begin with... But, they've got a real live motorcycle parked out front, for authenticity!

Last, but not least, is another store sign that I've passed in World Porters more times than I can count. Don't actually have a picture of it, though I promise to post one soon:

Charm
amusing goods of unknown nationality

^_^ completely embodies the Japanese aesthetic: "It's cute, and we neither know nor pretend to care where it came from."

And that concludes the first issue of my WTF Series.
Hope you enjoyed yourself!
\(^_^)/

12:21 AM

continuing the theme

This one's for my Mi-chan! ^_^
continuing on with the theme of AAA, this week's PV is another one of theirs, "Soul Edge Boy"--tho this one's with just the guys in the group.

also...keep your eyes open for the kyudo!
XD

2:16 PM

screening party

Also, the reason we all went to go get tacos in the first place was to pregame for the movie screening! ^_^ Last term, the Friday speaking class--not me, that's when I was taking business Japanese--filmed a movie! It's a murder mystery...sort of? They wrote, filmed, directed, and edited it themselves, so it was rather an interesting production. Lol. But, since the editing and stuff finally got finished, last night we had a screening party up at the big house on the hill, that Ben, Connor, Bridget, and Travis are sharing (cf Thanksgiving).
It was a super party--Amy brought "和風 Rice Krispy treats"--so called because there are no Rice Krispies in Japan, so she used cornflakes instead. But they were really good! And Senda-sensei brought over some fantastic guacamole! XD
Yes, that means the teachers were there, too--Senda, Akizawa, and Kouno. (getting drunk with your teachers is always interesting.....)
Anyway, it was a much-fun party. The movie was a big hit, and we've decided that the next step is to release a subbed version, and make it the next Youtube sensation! ^_^ So, everybody watch out for that!
No pictures in this post, either--I took a few, but sadly certain IUC students who shall remain nameless have forbidden me under pain of death to let them see the light of day, either here or on facebook. So, sorry, no luck this time.

1:08 PM

not タコ, but TACOS??

so, when Ben R came up to Jason and me the other day and said he knew of a good taco place near the Bandobashi shotengai that we should all go to on Friday...I just assumed he meant "tako" octopus. Because, really, this is Japan after all, and while Yokohama is a wonderfully international city, with almost any kind of food that you could hope to imagine....Mexican is still pretty darn thin on the ground--or if it does exist, really just....blech. So I just assumed Ben meant octopus.
So, imagine my surprise when Jason and I arrive at Bandobashi and find ourselves directed towards a hole-in-the-wall bearing the sign "Taco Bob's."
Bridget, Ben, Travis, and Iman were already inside, getting started. It was a teeny tiny place; the arrival of Jason and me pushed our numbers to 6 (not including the owner behind the counter), which filled up the restaurant in the most literal sense--there weren't even enough stools, so Jason had to stand!
Anyway, there were some odd parts--like the fact that for an extra 50 yen you could add "camembert cheese" to your taco--or the fact that the tacos came wrapped in this...pancake...thing....that looked oddly like a crepe. And of course, this being Japan, there was mayonnaise involved as well. BUT, the most important thing is, they actually tasted like real tacos!! The owner was really nice, too. We asked him how he learned to make tacos, to which his answer was: Well, I visited lots of different Mexican restaurants, and just figured "it's something like this." (だいたい、こんな感じ。。。)
LOL. Anyway, they were really yum, and since it's super close by, we promised to come back again.

12:24 AM

job stuff--in japanese?!

sooooooooo tired.....
So, I'm officially looking for a job. And as my 第一歩 in that direction, today I experienced the wonders of the "we're not hiring but we'll talk to you anyway," a.k.a. Informational Interview.
See, even though I'm staying in Japan, I still want to do something related to publishing--although within that I'm pretty much willing to consider anything. Which means newspaper, magazine, foreign rights, translation... you name it, I'm looking.
Today's interview was with the Japan Uni Agency. They rep Simon & Schuster's books to get translated and sold in Japan--and that's how I got in touch with them, was through my old boss at S&S. The "Japanese market is poor," so they're not hiring, but they agreed to talk to me anyway, so I dashed off from school this afternoon and made my way over to Jimbo-cho, a.k.a. the Land of Used Bookstores. It was raining, and I got horribly lost, and managed to wander around for nearly an hour, despite the fact that the building was literally about a block from the station. But, in my defense, quite poorly labeled.
I talked to two women at the agency, Kurioka-san and Nagatsuka-san. Kurioka-san is only a little bit older than me, and just started working at Japan Uni recently, so that's why she had Nagatsuka-san come over too--cause Nagatsuka-san has been with Uni for about 10 years, and so knows more about the business.
So, on to the interview itself--
Kurioka-san was incredibly nice, the sort of person that I feel like I would get along really well with as friends. Nagatsuka-san, on the other hand.... to be fair, I don't think she was trying to be mean, I think she's just one of those dry, ironic personality types--which could be entertaining in a boss, but is absolute MURDER on your nerves in an interview. I mean, I was nervous enough having to speak in Japanese, so it didn't help to have Nagatsuka-san saying things like "It might be better for you to work in America," and "Japan still has lots of gender discrimination, not like America. You might not like it. If you try and work here, you might end up hating Japan."
Some more samples of conversation:
Me: So, what do you like most about your job?
Nagatsuka-san: I don't particularly like my job.
Me: ....oh.
Kurioka-san: Really? You don't?
Nagatsuka-san: No.
Kurioka-san: But, you get to read books and that sort of thing, isn't that fun?
Nagatsuka-san: Not really.
Me: ............
(>_<)
So yes, there were some sufficiently awkward moments--although, I knew from the start that it wasn't a job interview, so it's not as if I feel like I missed out on anything. And don't get me wrong, I did get some useful information from the interview, like about how to get started looking for translation jobs, or the fact that both Cambridge and Oxford University Presses have offices in Japan. (for which last, I totally plan on contacting my old boss at the Yale Press, to see if she has any contacts for me.....) *crosses fingers*
これからも、頑張るぜぇぇぇぇぇぇぇ!!!!!

5:13 PM

Hanami...but not

Molly, Marshall, Ben and I met up again Saturday to go to a party in Yoyogi Park, in Tokyo. Basically the same type of deal as the hanami party, only without the excuse of pretending to be there to look at flowers, since there aren't really many sakura left anymore.
The party was hosted by "Amazon," one of the people we'd met at Satoshi's hanami party last weekend. That's obviously not his real name, but he'd lived in Brazil or somewhere for a while, and so now goes by "Amazon." lol. He's part of a samba-drumming team, so that was the ostensible purpose of the party. Although really, it just ended up as a drinking picnic.
And we weren't the only ones with this idea, either. ^_^ I took these pictures pretty early on in the day, so it was still fairly empty--it got a *lot* busier later on. Amazon and some of his friends broke out the drums and started playing for a good chunk of the party. That's "Amazon" on the right. And yes, he seems to usually dress like that. It got pretty active, too--they were giving drumming lessons, and several people came over to dance. It lasted for a while--until some self-important grandma decided we were being a nuisance and called the equivalent of the park security to come over and hush us up. (we knew it was her, because we saw her gesturing and shaking her finger at the security people after, lol).
Rikako was at the party, too, as were several other people who'd been at hanami last week. Although Satoshi was MIA, off "being an idiot" as Rikako surmised. "Baka" seems to be her favorite way to describe Satoshi (lol).
And of course, true to form, there was a 二次会 afterparty as well, although I didn't go. Had to get up pretty early to get to Yoyogi, plus I stayed up pretty late Friday night cause we had a donuts-hot cocoa-movie party at Felicia's. ^_^
But then, we actually ended up having an "afterparty" of our own, lol. Jeff's old college roommate was visiting, and Jeff wanted to show him Thrash Zone. Of course, Jeff hadn't been there yet himself, and as the place is absolutely impossible to give anyone directions to, Molly, Jason and I went along to show them the way.
Fun!

4:47 PM

Lovely + Odd

It's been raining miserably for the past several days--that chilly, icky kind of rain where the wind is blowing it all over you and your umbrella is completely useless, even when it's not turned inside-out.
But on Friday, it finally decided to be sunny and warm, and I was in heaven! ^_^ Cause it was so nice, Jason and I went to the combini after class and took lunch outside, to sit along the water behind IUC. It was sooooooo nice! XD
View to the right.... View to the left.... Walking home, we went via Aka Renga for a change of pace. We browsed a little bit around the shops inside--browsing only, since (fortunately?) I had forgotten my wallet at home that day. Outside Aka Renga, they were planting a big display of flowers. It smelled fantastic!
Then, we happened upon some sort of pottery fair thing that was starting up in Odori Koen (where I live). This photo only shows a part of it, but there were lots of stalls on both sides of the park, taking up a whole block. Bowls, cups, teapots, chopsticks, wooden dishes...lots of different things. And some of them were just gorgeous.
And, last but oh-most-definitely not least, another stellar example of Odori Koen scenery.
This is just...

...

Priceless.

8:30 PM

fruit!

(didn't want to put this at the bottom of the last post and make it even longer.)

this week's PV!!!
another idol group called AAA, with the song "That's Right."
this is *definitely* a get-you-out-of-bed song! Listen to it in the morning while you're getting ready for the day. ^_^
Not exactly sure what the fruit's all about...but the paint part is cool!

6:46 PM

花見

This past weekend I spent doing....花見 Hanami!!!!! For those of you wondering, hanami is the Japanese tradition of cherry-blossom viewing. Which, of course, is code for "sit out in the park hopefully near some cherry blossoms, and have a big giant party with your friends." The party I went to was (if you remember) the annual bash hosted by Satoshi, who I met at that beer-tasting with Molly and Ben back at the beginning of break. And it really was a big party. It was at a park in Ichigaya, and probably close to a hundred people showed up. I went with Molly, Ben, Marshall, and Jason. Satoshi was there, in full form--black leather pants, orange shirt, bright-pink feather boa, and this sort of blue mesh cowboy-hat thing. Yeah. But it was lots of fun. I saw Rikako and Izumi again (who I'd met with Satoshi the first time), as well as make lots of new friends. And the weather was *perfect!* Here's a photo of some of the people I was hanging out with. The other gaijin, second to the left, is Zel; the one sitting to her right is my friend from before, Rikako; then Yukiko; and me. (I can't remember the name of the woman on the far left--oops. I'm bad with names). The party went on for a while--started at 11, though we got there around noon. The party broke up around 5pm, which is when we left, although Satoshi was taking numbers for an "after-party" at an izakaya nearby. LOL.
One last picture of the flowers! ^_^ Molly and everyone were meeting some other IUC-ers for Indian food and then the first drinking-in-the-park party of the year. But the reason I left was to meet up with a non-IUC friend (*gasp!*) to go to a bar in Jiyugaoka and play darts! XD My friend plays in competitions and stuff, so she was teaching me how to play. Darts became fairly popular in Japan a few years back, so there are actually lots of darts bars around the Tokyo/Yokohama area. It was lots of fun, and I caught on enough that after the first couple times, I wasn't missing the board anymore (lol). We stayed late enough that I missed my train, so my friend let me crash at her place--yay, sleepover!
So...I didn't get home til Sunday afternoon! >_<