(ｰ｡ｰ)ﾌｩ

Boy am I tired!  It's been a long week.  Good, but just really long, mainly cause of 2 things--Metropolis's annual Halloween Glitterball that was on Thursday, and the fact that we're moving to a new office over the weekend.
Which mostly means that our office has been filled with boxes and other crap for days now--empty boxes to pack our stuff in, and boxes of beer, flyers, balloons--you name it--for the Glitterball. Craziness ensues.
So on Thurs, I spent the morning at a press conference for Hellboy 2, which would normally have been kinda meh, whatever (I mean it's not like I've seen the movie)--except that the director, Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth) was *super cool*. He was talking about how Hellboy is "autobiographical." lol.

Anyway, he was a total rockstar.
So I got back from the press conference just in time to finish up a few things and then Hiroko and I headed over to Womb in Shibuya to help set up for the party. I swear, when I got there only an hour and a half before the doors were scheduled to open, and took a look around, it was like "there is no way we're gonna get this ready in time!" Cases of beer stacked 10 boxes high along one wall, folding tables in one corner, a thousand or so gift bags in huge piles.. it was ridiculous! But somehow, miraculously, we got everything set up and even had time to duck into the bathroom and change into our costumes. I was going for a sort of cowgirl theme--found a cheap hat at Tokyu Hands--perhaps embarrassing, but that was the only part of my costume I had to buy.  lol.  That's Hiroko on the left, she dressed up as Yoko Ono ^^

So I was scheduled to work the door handing out glowsticks from 7:30-8:30, but I got drafted into sticking on wristbands right at 7 when the door opened. It was ridiculous.  People had been lining up for a while already, and as soon as they opened the door it was just like the floodgates and all these people came pouring in. I heard later that 20 minutes after the doors opened, the place was at capacity.  And they just kept letting people in. The 3rd and 4th floors were supposed to be reserved for VIPs and special guests, but they ended up having to open those up to everyone cause it was just too crowded.

I mean, it was a lot of fun, and I got to hang out with my friends so I'm definitely glad I went. But--Seriously. Crowded.
So it's not like I stayed out past the last train or anything, but I got home really late. Steve had said it was ok for us to come in late on Friday, like at noon, which was cool, but I still only got to sleep in like an extra hour because I had to go all the way out to frigging Odaiba in the morning. See, we needed a photo from Fuji TV for the terebi article, and sometimes the tv studios get all annoying and for some reason can't/won't send a photo as an email attachment (cause that would be too easy) and instead they make you physically go down to the office and pick it up. Makes no sense but しょうがないや。
Got to the office around noon, only to find it everyone either gone or hungover, and the whole place looking pretty much like this:

Yup, it was a packing day. I'm all sad to leave our office :-(  not that the office itself is particularly nice, but I really love the area. And the new area, aside from being a pain in the butt to get to (gotta either walk 15 minutes or take a bus from the station) is, from what I hear, not so much with the tons of fantastic restaurants that our current place has.  It's gonna be really weird. We put everything in boxes, the movers are hauling it all over the weekend, and when I go in to work on Tuesday it will be to a different office.
I am gonna get so lost.

By the time everything was finished up, I was completely exhausted. But Fri night was the big party for the 1st anniversary of the Omotesando Gyre building, and we got invited to the MoMA Design Store party there. All the shops in the building were doing promotions and events and things--MoMA, Chanel, this organic restaurant called Cinegro was giving out awesome food...it was really cool.  And there were these very odd box-headed recycling people wandering around...? I didn't really get it.

And there was some sort of champagne lounge that had--well, champagne--and also a live performance by some duo called MCU. I tihnk they're newbies, like they're gonna debut in a few weeks or something? They were pretty good tho. They got everybody really into the show, dancing and everything. I took a video.  hehe.

New PV: another Fuma! well, technically his character was a Yasha but...

For those of you who don't know, I'm referencing the crack-tastic high school-sports-feuding-ninja-clans show Fuma no Kojiro that we subbed, and the fact that the twins (see last PV) as well as the lead singer of this band, Rei, were all in the show. 

Anyway, the PV is not the most interesting (fairly typical for a debut PV) and it came out several months ago--but I like the song and I don't have anything better to post this week.  lol.

enjoy!

(wow this was a long post)

free lunch (and dinner, and another dinner...)

i really need to start doing more of the whole one quick post every night thing, or something.  cause if i don't, then it gets to like now, where I have a million things to write about, but no energy to do it.  >_<

oh well.

most important news first--I finally got my work visa!  and yes, i know you're going "but hasn't she been working for over a month already?"  to which I say: sshhhhh!

got to go to a couple more restaurant openings this past week (three, to be exact.  god i love my job).  really, there's nothing that tops a delicious free dinner.  especially when you're living on my budget.

Sunday night was dinner at Console, a restaurant/wime bar in Roppongi.  had a really good recommendation from the sommelier, a Chilean red called Montes Alpha that I liked a lot.  

Monday night I went to the opening party for a new restaurant near Yokohama station.  This one was more of a press thing, so it was crazy crowded and really hot, but the food was pretty good. 

Tuesday I got to go to a press conference for this TV Tokyo show called Pochitama, all about pets or something.  Anyway, I'm kind of a fan of one of the hosts of the show--and am currently subbing one of his dramas (hehe)--so I finagled my way into going.  I mean whatever, I turned it into a terebi blurb, so it's not like it was completely pointless.

Wednesday night was yum!  Went with the rest of the eds to the opening of a new macrobiotic restaurant in Ark Hills, called Chaya.  Apparently there's one in LA or something?  Anyway, it was incredibly good food, I was stuffed.  Plus there were several Japanese celebs that came, which was kind of cool.  None of my personal favorites, sadly, but several people I reconized, one of whom was Fujiwara Norika, a crazy famous actress/model/former Miss Japan.  I swear, I see her on at least 3 billboards/TV commercials a day.  

Thursday I got to go to a restaurant for lunch, to do a review!  ^_^  Haven't quite finished writing the review yet, but it's scheduled to go in 756, which pubs in like, 2 weeks or so.

Speaking of reviews, some of you already know this, but check out the Metropolis site cause this week I have TWO articles in--my bar review of Gala Dear, and the Star Struck piece about Jodie Foster (look under Faces & Places).

today's bit of lovely

So...in honor of it being Friday (not really, but that's my story) I finally went to go see the Kurosagi movie! XD *happiness* Kurosagi is a j-dorama (duh!) that I watched (c.f. the "Taiyou no Amida" PV, which was the movie's theme song), and seeing as how the ending wasn't very wrap-up-ish, they made a movie sequel. It came out on March 10, but I only got around to seeing it today. (I'm a bad fan, I know) Anyway, it was lots of fun, but I won't go into details here--either you've seen the drama and don't want to read spoilers--or you haven't seen the drama and will have no idea what I'm talking about. But one thing I was pleased with, is the fact that the atmosphere was very different from the drama--in other words, they really worked hard to make it a movie, and not just an extra-long episode of the tv show.
So, since I went to see the movie, it was dark by the time I headed home-- hence today's bit of lovely! i.e. another night view of Landmark/Queen's Mall/the Cosmo Clock ferris wheel, this time seen from Bashamichi. Ooh, shiny!

Also, new PV update. I swear, instead of a "J-pop PV of the week," I could totally turn this into a "J-pop PV that takes place near IUC," and not ever run out of options.
On that note, this week's song is by yet another group that I've started listening to constantly, after just discovering them last week: w-inds, and the song is "Love is the Greatest Thing." I'll admit, the song is a little odd-sounding at first, but it grows on you, and after a couple listens, you'll be dancing to it all day (and if not, pretend that you are so I don't feel so bad). And, on the IUC theme, the skyscrapers that you can see in the back of most of the PV are Landmark Tower and Queen's (seen from the opposite side as the photo above). Oh yeah, and I didn't get the Shrek thing either, at first--but apparently they stuck that footage in cause the lead singer of w-inds voiced one of the characters in the Japanese dub of the movie.

project work

since I talked about how we went to the library for a project work research orientation I spose I should also mention a little bit about what I've decided to do my project on.
I felt a lot better about it after talking to Ari-sensei last week. I was thinking the project had to be actually researching something, you know, like "the economic policies of the Taisho era" or something like that. but it turns out that, according to Ari-sensei, the majority of students just come in with something along the lines of "I want to read this book in Japanese." and then find something sort of similar to present about at the end.
so! my topic's not entirely hammered out yet, but I've decided to do something about translation. if possible, I would love to be able to write about, I guess you could call it "theories of subtitle translation"...? some of the issues would be common to regular translation, but what I really want to examine for example (in the case of Japanese to English), is the balance between conveying Japanese culture and making things understandable to someone coming from an American cultural background. How best to translate certain expressions, pop culture references, things like that. do you translate them literally and let the viewer fend for themselves? add some sort of explanatory note? change the reference into one from American culture that has a similar meaning?
Questions like that are really interesting to me.

Oh, and-- wonderful news about my advisor, too! I had just assumed that the project advisor would be the same as our regular advisor (i.e. Ari-sensei for me). but then the other day Otake-sensei came up to me before class asking about when we should schedule my weekly project work meeting, and I got really confused, until I realized that my project advisor wouldn't necessarily be Ari-sensei. and then I got kind of worried that it might be Otake-sensei. which wouldn't be bad, it's not as if I dislike her--it's just that I've had very little interaction with her, and she's known to be one of the stricter sensei at IUC.
but then the other day they posted the assignments, and I have Senda-sensei! YAAAAYYY!!!!
everybody is really jealous of me! ^_^ (especially Jason, who has "Kawasaki-sensei" as an advisor--someone that none of us have ever heard of, or have any recollection of ever seeing. lol)
so, all in all, i'm getting really excited about this whole project thing!
;-D

just the weekly stuffs

so, in IJ--the book for morning class--the chapters alternate between Written and Conversation sections. which is really good cause it means you get practice in both more formal, written expressions/constructions, as well as more casual spoken styles. well, i guess that's the point.
so, we've been on the Convo section of chapter 2 this week, which means lots of focus on casual sentence patterns and getting proper intonation and stuff (ya~y! cause that's my strong point! can i just say how much i love it when we're not reading things? like when we get to do videos in afternoon class, instead of newspaper articles)
and i had kind of a nice boost on friday when Senda-sensei mentioned to me that compared with when she was my afternoon teacher 1st term, she thought that my speaking and intonation and stuff had really improved since then! XD so that totally made my day. i was sort of feeling like i'd been getting better, but it's nice to be told that by someone who can be an actual objective judge of your performance. and i firmly maintain that at least part of said improvement is thanks to my J-dorama habit. also, Senda-sensei found out that I'm going back to Raleigh for christmas, and has requested an ACC handbook as an omiyage. LoL ^.^

Friday after class was super busy but lots of fun. i took off right as soon as class got out at 3, to go over and meet Sato Masako (from my kyudo club at the budokan) at yokohama eki, because she's actually the kyudo sensei at a high school around there. the last tournament, i was talking to her about how i had done kyudo back in the states when i was in high school, and she asked if i would come over one day and talk to her students about my experiences. so i got to do that on friday! she actually wanted me to talk to them in english, since they're all learning it but never get a chance to practice speaking it. so, i did my little intro talk in english, then went back and sort of summarized it in japanese, cause i'm really not sure how much they understood. then Sato-san wanted them all to come over and introduce themselves, and talk to me a little in english. they were all sooooo embarrassed, it was actually rather cute. i tried to talk to them in english a bit, but nobody really seemed comfortable with it, and they all knew that i spoke japanese, so it mostly ended up being that. but it was still fun.
oh! and an even better thing--one of the other sensei at the high school is actually a hanshi (there's no "higher" after that) and so i got to have him correct my shooting a bit--joy! i learned a few things that i didn't even realize i'd been doing wrong, and i actually got the bow to do almost a full yugaeri! it went like halfway around, which i've *never* gotten it to do before. ちょう～嬉しい！ let's just hope i can keep it up from now on. oh, and it turns out that this hanshi sensei was actually in the States for the testing seminar in SC this past summer--so he met Dan-sensei! i swear, every time i meet a kyudo person in Japan, they know Dan-sensei, or know someone who does...it just makes me realize again how lucky I was to get to study there.

i left the high school at about 5:30 (actually had to cut out of their practice a little early) and hopped the Minato Mirai-sen right back to Queen's, because at 6 was Ari-sensei's (my advisor) "Happy Just-Married" party. she's married to a former IUC student...oooOOoohh. as is Aoki-sensei, incidentally--there was a card passed around for everyone to sign, and i saw that he had written "Welcome to AIMY--Association of International Marriages, Yokohama." LOL. oh the things we find to amuse ourselves...
anyway, there were lots of people there--Ari-sensei's family (her dad kept going around trying to shove drinks and food into people's hands--he wasn't satisfied unless everyone had a drink in each hand and, preferably, several plates on their laps), most of the IUC sensei/staff (Matsumoto-sensei was, as usual, popping out of corners, snapping awkward photos of people all evening), and all of Ari-sensei's current students and advisees. a good time was had by all.
oh, and Sano-sensei caught me at one point, to let me know she had gotten a コルティナさん、よろしく mail from Stever-sensei (my 3rd-year japanese teacher at Yale). it was kind of loud and i was totally not in the thinking-of-yale mindset, so at first i didn't realize who she was talking about. it was kind of embarrassing when i was finally like "oh, yes! Stever-sensei was my teacher at Yale!" and Sano-sensei's kind of got this "...and you forgot her already...?" expression. lol. oh, well.

oh, and saturday i went out to start my christmas shopping (managed to put a decent dent in it, i think. it's hard tho). then i met up with Matsuzawa-sensei to go to this place in Landmark that was having a kimono sale (even on sale they're expensive). and this was a for-real place, where they show you all the patterns individually, and drape things around you... i think Matsuzawa-sensei just wanted someone to go with. it was neat, but we didn't stay for long. Matsuzawa-sensei kept talking about how last time, they had other things too, like tabi for really cheap. so i think that's what she'd intended to go for.
oh, but they also had this very odd noodle promotion going on. by the desk, there were several jars of bowtie noodles, elbow macaroni, things like that--and for 20 yen you got a small bag to fill up with as many noodles as it would hold. it was great, and i'll definitely be eating them for supper sometime soon but...... I'm not really sure what noodles have to do with a kimono sale. oh well, i guess a bargain is a bargain.

and here i will end what has become rather a long post. also, it's sunday and i was therefore feeling rather lazy--so apologies for the relative lack of capitalization and appropriate punctuation in the above ramblings.

But cultural literacy counts for something...right?

So, I have a bad habit. Well, several actually, but the one that's coming to mind at the moment is the one where I spend many many hours--hours which could perhaps be devoted to homework--watching Japanese dramas. I mean, they're in Japanese after all...so it's sort of a form of studying...right?
Anyway, this past weekend was 「たった一つの恋」 "Just One Love." As you can probably tell from the title, it's your basic sappy, tragic love story--in this case about a blue-collar boy who falls for a rich girl (who just happens to be recovering from leukemia...). Not a bad example of the genre by any means, so interesting to me (cause I'm a sucker for those types of stories).
But the reason I started watching it in the first place is because I had heard that the story takes place in Yokohama, so watching the show for me really became more about playing the "oh--I've been there!" game. Pacifico Yokohama was in the background of practically every other shot, and I recognized a whole bunch more places--and found even more that made me think, "oh, I'll have to go there sometime!" Just another reminder that I seriously live in one of the coolest cities ever!
I was reminded of that again tonight, walking home. I stopped in after school at this grocery store near Pacifico, that I'd heard from other students was really good. Anyway, it was dark by the time I started home, and it was just absolutely gorgeous walking along the water, amid all the skyscrapers all lit up, and the giant ferris wheel flashing all different colors...
I really love Yokohama.