OK, I officially have a new favorite band--and they're not even Japanese! (lol)
so on Tuesday for the podcast recording (www.metropolis.co.jp/podcast for those of you not in the know about where you can hear me every week) we had a special live performance. The band Vinyl Soul, out of L.A., came to our office to perform some songs! You can hear it at the very end of the Wed, Mar 25 podcast. Anyway, they gave us copies of their CD as well, which I have been listening to nonstop. I'm totally dragging some friends with me to go see their concert on Sunday, they're playing at this little cafe over in Okubo, near Shinjuku.
Oh, and I got taken out on a sort of 接待 thing on Tuesday. The good folks over at Iichiko shochu company are trying to market their product to Americans, so they wanted to take some (American) Metropolis staffers out for a tasting, etc. It was ridiculous. they came to the office for 挨拶 with the sales people and then they took me, Sarah N and Yui (she was like, "I'm a 中途半端なアメリカ人" lol) out to this izakaya in Gaienmae and fed us sashimi, and kara-age and nabe, and then had us drink a bunch of shochu and tell them what we thought of it.
i know, "work is rough," right? lol.
oooh, and last weekend I went to see the Dustz concert. SO much fun! lol. I'm a huge fan of theirs--mostly cause the lead singer is f&%#ing hot, but also because I like the music. and they are definitely 10 times better live, the songs come across much more rock than they do on the CD. Oh, and even better, this concert was officially their last con as an indies band--cause they will be releasing their major debut with Sony/Epic Records in May! Yay! They've (obviously, since they got signed to a major label) got a pretty decent fan base, but I felt kind of sorry for them at the concert. Nermal and I were looking around like, "have any of these people ever been to a concert before...?" Nobody was getting into it, nobody was moving, and all these girls had set their purses and shit all over the floor (hello people, that's what the lockers are for!) so that we could have been practically up against the stage if it hadn't been for all the stuff in the way. whatever. Nermie and I totally rocked out, and they definitely saw us. I mean, obvi the whole being gaijin thing makes us stand out a bit, but it was also cause we were practically the only ones who were really into it. Nermie's decided she has a crush on the drummer, lol (--this was her first Dustz concert, she wasn't really a fan before this, but I dragged her to it so I'd have someone to go with). We're going to join the fan club so we can get better tickets to the concert in June.
Oh, and in other news, I got a pack of cigarettes in the mail the other day. Well, not me, they were addressed to the person who lived in my apt before me, but still (only in Japan). It says "enjoy a special coffee break moment with Cabin"--which, caffeine addict that I am, kind of makes me want to try them... (breathe, daddy--- I'm only kidding)
PV this week isn't exactly a PV, it's a youtube vid I found of Vinyl Soul performing their song "Could This Be Heaven," which is one of the ones they sang for us the other day.
Enjoy!
who, me?
- ☆sarita☆
- From a former North Carolinian and recovering Yalie: Currently living and working in the big city of Tokyo, while furthering an ever-growing obsession with Japanese pop-culture.
So, I recently made the discovery that Tokyo has declared plastic and styrofoam garbage "burnable." So much for the environment. I mean, unburnables garbage is only twice a month, and seeing how the majority of my trash is plastic, it seriously piled up. So seeing as how plastics are now "burnable," it makes my life a bit easier. But seriously, what idiot would think it's a good idea to burn styrofoam? I'm not entirely sure what that leaves for unburnables day--but, I guess that's why it's only twice a month.
We went to the Christmas Illuminations at Tokyo Midtown this past Thursday. It was a beautiful evening, and they held a party at this fantastic Indian restaurant, Nirvana, that overlooks all the lights. It was free-flowing champagne, and lots of yummy curry and naan, and desserts from all of the patissiers in Midtown. Sadly I forgot to take my camera along with me that day, so no pics--you'll just have to take my word for it.
In other news, it's almost Thanksgiving. I was trying to get a group together to go to Fujimamas, cause they do up a big meal on the day, but we couldn't get reservations *tear* No turkey for Sarie.
I swear I had more to talk about, but as soon as I sat down my mind just went blank. Oh well.
New PV: Yuzu's new song, Shish-kebab. Yeah...they're dorks. Get ready to smile ^_~
So, it seems like the job stuff is getting going a bit more. ^_^
Thursday I had my interview at Metropolis. The building is in Omotesando, which is an incredibly ritzy area of Tokyo--on my way to the interview I walked by Prada, Cartier, Dolce & Gabana, Nanette Lepore...and those were just the names I recognized!
Anyway, I got to the station 20 minutes early, but さすが me--I got horribly lost. It was a pretty easy route: walk down the street from the station, and turn right at Prada. First I overshot the Prada store--which being Prada, was too fancy to be labeled properly--and had to turn back. Then, cause I was all turned around, I went the wrong way at the corner, and ended up in 5丁目 instead of 3丁目. *sigh* With the result that I was about 10 minutes late.
Not. Good.
I mean, that's not exactly the way to make a good impression.
And the interview itself was really short, because I'd been supposed to come in at 11, and they had another person coming in at 11:30.
Other than that, though, I felt like the interview itself went fairly well. They said that they had liked my resume and cover letter, and seemed like they were interested in talking to me more, if there had been time. Also, I feel like I was able to show off my Japanese a bit, too. One of the editors--probably half (perfect Japanese, perfect English)--started talking to me in Japanese; 日本語、大丈夫ですか, that sort of thing, and I think I carried it off pretty well.
Before I left, they gave me a sort of a writing test to take home: a sort of promotional flyer from a restaurant, outlining their new menu (in Japanese, of course), and then I was supposed to turn that into a 100-word blurb for Metropolis's "Word of Mouth" section. They told me to get it to them by the weekend, but I sent it in the same day--hoping to impress a bit with speed, I guess. ^_^
Anyway, they said they would be making a decision within the next two weeks.
Also, I found out that I get an interview with the Japan Times, too! That's the major English-language newspaper in Tokyo. They asked me to come in on the 19th, when I'll have to do the combo test-interview thing again. But, this time I was told that I'm allowed to use my dictionary!!! Which was such a relief. I mean, hearing that, I feel like whatever they throw at me, bring it on! You know?
^_^
So I'll let y'all know how that goes.
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.
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.
Meant to post this pic in the Ghibli post, but I forgot. On the way to the museum, we found the funniest thing. In Japan, you really can buy anything from a vending machine.
Including...milk! 
XD
This week's PV. I was intending to put up a different one, but then I discovered that the PV for Kanjani8's new single (drops 3.12) was on youtube, so I couldn't resist!
^_^
The song is called ワッハッハ "Wa-ha-ha." Yes, as in the sound of laughing.
Witness the dorks in action! (but the dorkiness is why we love them)
Kanjani 8 cleans a bathroom, Yoko sets his hair on fire, and Ohkura plays Whack-a-Mole on Yasu's head.
You might have noticed, but there's some newness on the blog--links list, a music player (!) and a new 3-column layout. ^_^ (And if you didn't notice all that, then I find myself insulted).
I'd been wanting to have a sidebar on the left for a while now, but blogger doesn't offer a 3-column template, so I thought I was stuck. I found out that you can make a 3rd column, but it involves changing the HTML code and a bunch of--for me--complicated programming-esque stuff that I have absolutely no idea how to do. Fortunately, after a bit of searching, I came across an extremely dummy-friendly site that had instructions more at my level, i.e. "here's the code. copy and paste it into the box." ^^ Of course, it was slightly more complicated than that--involved some actual *gasp!* typing on my part--but eventually I was able to get it right.
Along the way, I came across some other code that lets you add a music player with mp3 files from your own computer. And I thought, why not.
You can't upload a whole ton of songs on the player, so I chose a nice representative selection of what I've been listening to lately. Some of the songs you might recognize from past videos, and some are new. So now, in addition to the music videos, there are some nice j-pop songs to play in the background, or even to leave on while browsing other pages.
The links list is fairly self-explanatory, so I'll leave that as is. I'll be adding more links whenever I find something I want to share, so look forward to that!
Then, I got my day off for real. Thank goodness it was a 3-day weekend, Saturday and Sunday were so busy. Had quite a bit of homework to do, but I did manage to get some fun in on Monday, too. I went with Misa, Jason, Molly, and Bridget to see Sweeney Todd, since the movie finally opened here in Japan. I really liked it, actually. It was definitely just as heavy on the blood as I'd heard, but I thought it was a well-done movie. I'd never seen the musical, thought I was familiar with the story and some of the songs. Lol, especially that "nothing's gonna harm you..." song, which I'd heard performed several times before, but always as a love song. Rather a different impression to see it in it's real context... Hmm.
Aaannnd.... before the movie, they showed a preview for the Kurosagi movie!! XD Kurosagi is a drama that I really like, and since it had a rather unsatisfactory ending (i.e. not really ended at all) they made a movie of it! Whee! I've been waiting for this! The movie opens in March. And it was so cool to get to see the preview in a real movie theater! (yes, I'm a dork. freely admitted)
On that note, this week's video is the new single by News, 太陽のナミダ "Taiyou no Namida" (Tears of the Sun). It's the theme song for the Kurosagi movie, mainly cause the star of the movie is Yamashita Tomohisa, who's a member of News (the one in the scarf).
So, enjoy!
また、ねぇ！
new video!
PV is "Lips," by KAT-TUN.
this is one of the currently most popular boy bands in Japan at the moment, and their latest single.
and, just to clarify, this is a boy band that I *don't* actually like--except for sheer entertainment value, by which I mean the fact that they are utterly ridiculous and take themselves *waaaayy* too seriously.
cause--I mean, really! watching this video, it's hard not to cringe. ;-P
so enjoy the horror that is kat-tun (even the name's not original--it's just their initials. hope nobody drops out ever...)
and anyway, it's worth it just to see Koki (as always) trying to be gangsta, Junno looking like something out of Final Fantasy, and androgynous Kame practically making out with the mic. *sigh* oh dear...
at any rate, it's an epic example of japanese boy-band fashion. lol.
I. LOVE. YOKOHAMA.
hehe. sorry, just have to share my insane excitement right now!
They were shooting a tv commercial in Queen's Square this morning! Now, Queen's Square being what it is, this is nothing new. There have been several times coming to and from school where things like that have been going on.
What makes today special, is that a) they were shooting on the bridge to IUC so we walked right by, practically through the shoot
b) they were doing a take right as we walked by, so I got to see everything
c) it was Oguri Shun!!!!!!!!!
yes, I am a total J-dorama fangirl, so getting to see Hanazawa Rui live and in person, not 10 feet from me, is enough to keep me excited for WEEKS. it was really sad, tho, that no one else knew who he was, and so failed to understand the depths of my excitement.
my only regret is that i didn't think to grab my cell phone and try to snap a picture--for which lapse I am *kicking* myself. kicking myself.
guess i'm not as japan-socialized as i could be, yet.
I think I dreamed in Japanese last night!
Well, I don't remember too much, only the bits that happened right before I woke up. But the dream was me traveling or something, like after IUC lets out. And I was in some kind of cafe, or maybe a ryokan where I was staying, or something like that--and I was talking to the people who owned it, and speaking Japanese to them, cause of course it being Japan, they were Japanese.
...so it wasn't like a random dream where I just happened to be speaking Japanese for no reason, I was speaking Japanese cause it was me, in Japan, talking to Japanese people.
Does that still count? I dunno. But at any rate, when I woke up, it was a really weird feeling--like "...hey wait a minute... that was japanese!"
so yay me!
b(^>^)d
so, i know it's only just been the first day of classes, but i'm beginning to suspect that whole spiel they fed us about "2nd term is the hardest, 3rd term will be much easier" was nothing more than a clever ruse to fool us into がんばって-ing and making it through those last few weeks before break.
Lies!
...I better go finish my homework now.
以上！
ただいま～！
OK, so I am officially back in Yokohama. Got in yesterday, at about 3pm. Of course, that's when I landed. By the time I got back to my apartment, it was more like 7. But, what can you do. I was super tired when I got in, and the thought of having to drag my enormous suitcases through Yokohama station--again--was really just too horrible to contemplate (Japanese train stations all have way more stairs than they have any right to--and almost no escalators, forget about elevators--and Yokohama station is so enormous, no matter how many times I go there, I always get lost. it's like a rule). So, given all of that, I decided to suck up the $30 and send my bags by takyubin--which is the most amazing delivery service, and pretty cheap too--considering I was sending 2 huge suitcases, and I got them less than 24 hours later.
Oh! and I randomly ran into Marshall in the airport, so that was fun. he was just getting in, too. we chatted a bit and were on the same Narita express to Yokohama.
Not much else to report, besides jetlag, so this won't be a really interesting entry.
also, changing the video, finally--due to my lack of updates while i was home, the An Cafe video got left up for 2 weeks. oh well. besides, any video with bunny ears and whipped-cream fights is *worth* an extra week. in my opinion.
new video is:
Yui, "My Generation."
in honor of my mom, who asked me if there were any female singers in Japan, "because your music is all guys."
(>_<)
I go home for Christmas on Sunday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OK, now that's out of my system...
Lol.
But this will probably be my last post before I go home. I'm going in to Shibuya tonight to meet Rebecca's' friend from UNC, who's in Tokyo doing research. So we're going to have dinner somewhere around there, and that should be a lot of fun.
Then, tomorrow, bright and early, I have to haul ass over to the budokan for the 月例会 monthly kyudo tournament. Since it's a morning one, it will probably last all day--I wouldn't be surprised if I don't get home until around 5pm?
Then, I'm most likely meeting Molly, Misa, and perhaps some others for an okonomiyaki dinner, and then potentially another trip to Thrash Zone?
Oh, right! I forgot! So last night (Thursday), in honor of being done with class and all the tests, I went out with Jason, Molly, Katie, Felicia, and Tim to this place Molly found near Yokohama eki called "Thrash Zone."
Molly wanted to go there because, according to the description online, it was a "thrash metal bar" with a "cozy atmosphere," wood paneling, and a plant in the corner.
.... and that appealed to her sense of humor.
It's also a microbrew place, which is fairly rare in Japan, so we were looking forward to getting the chance to try some truly yummy beers, as well. And we were not disappointed, in any respect.
Thrash Zone turned out to be this absolutely tiny place on the 2nd floor of a rundown building. It was certainly cozy though, and apart from lots of Iron Maiden-esque record covers decorating the walls and Ozzy playing (very quietly and politely) in the background, it wasn't terribly "thrashy." The place was also mostly salaryman-types--including this one 社長 who had lived in Boston and was very excited about speaking English with us. Felicia got stuck talking to him (sorry!) but Molly, Jason, and I ended up down at the other end of the bar and had a really interesting conversation with these two thirtysomething guys who seemed to be somewhat regulars. They were really nice, though, and didn't make any attempts to speak English with us, so it was good practice.
So anyway, it's been a busy several days, and will continue to be so, right up until I leave, I feel. But I'll try to post again a couple of times when I get home--though it will be break, so don't expect much.
One last thing:
this week's video!
Takky & Tsubasa, "Samurai"
not exactly "traditional" in that sense, but...
Lol.
feel the love. i know you do.
Today we got out of class at 11:30, because there was a field trip! Well, only those of use who signed up went, but.
We took the train into Tokyo to the National Japan Theater to go and see a 文楽 bunraku performance. Bunraku is Japanese puppet theater, but don't go imagining Pinocchio or muppets or anything. The style of the plays and the performances themselves take a lot from Kabuki and Noh theater, and so are very traditional in that way. Just, instead of people in masks, you have puppets performing the action. The puppets are fairly large, around 3 feet tall I'd guess, and incredibly intricate and expressive. I was really amazed how much range they could give, even down to being able to pick things up with the hands, or raising and lowering the eyebrows. Each puppet is manipulated by 3 people (that's right, 3!) who carry it around onstage. The main person operates the head/face and right hand; a second person is the left hand; and the third person is the feet/legs. The main puppeteer wears a traditional hakama and kimono, but the other two people are dressed all in black, with executioner-style black hoods so you can't even see their faces. The puppets don't actually do any talking. Instead, the dialogue and narration are sung, kabuki-style, by the narrator who sits off to the side of the stage, accompanied by a shamisen player.
The beginning part of the performance was really neat--it started off with a dance performed by two puppets, and then the puppeteers came out and gave an explanation of the various movements, and how the puppets are manipulated. That was really interesting, especially talking about the differences in movement between male and female puppets, &c. After a while, you really stop seeing them as puppets in such an obvious way.
After that, they did a famous scene from one of the bunraku plays, which was interesting but extremely difficult to understand. Like I said before, all the dialogue and narration is done speak-singing style by one person, so for starters it was hard for me to get a sense of who was talking when. The lines were projected above the stage, like what's typically done in opera, but the entire play is written in old Japanese--the same as when it was originally written however-long ago. Which means that even the Japanese in the audience had rented these headphone-devices that translated the play into modern Japanese for them. So of course I had no hope of understanding anything, though we were given an English synopsis of the play.
...I have to admit i nodded off a bit. But then, so did about half of the audience--I gather that this is rather common, if not expected, especially in Noh--so I don't feel quite so bad.
Yes, this vid was up on the old version of my player. But I didn't have anything else in particular to put up this week.
And besides, Yamapi's totally worth it.
Song is 抱いてセニョリータ "Hold Me, Senorita."
That's easy!
CPK!!!!
(as in California Pizza Kitchen)
So it turns out there's a CPK in Kawasaki (haven't been to one of those since Triangle Town Centre!), so upon hearing of this Jason, Molly, Marshall and I headed down there for dinner last night. I had Thai Chicken Pizza, which was delicious! And it was exactly the same as the regular CPKs, it was kind of scary. They even had Diet Coke with free refills! (which if you know anything at all about Japan, you'll recognize is utterly 珍しい)
The vibe was so eerily similar that Marshall actually started to place his order in English! LoL.
...sometimes you just need a little American food.
Well, not really. It's not even Thanksgiving yet. But that doesn't stop the Japanese! (see, they don't have Thanksgiving here--although we still get Friday off...not sure why...)
At any rate, this is the Christmas tree in Queen's Square Mall, by IUC. It's been up since we came back from Fall Break (i.e. the first Monday in November). Wow--now that's some holiday spirit! 
And now, here's some random photos that I snapped walking home from school last week.
(and that's the corner of the World Porter's in the right fore)
(with IUC on the 5th floor!!)
I'm currently totally into this band, MONGOL 800 (in Japanese it's ﾓﾝｺﾞﾙ８００ which gets shortened to ﾓﾝﾊﾟﾁ--cause let's face it, the Japanese can never resist shortening a long name).
They're kind of...I guess you'd call it indie rock-style music? Guitars, drums, but very upbeat songs. The closest comparison I can think of, is that they kind of remind me of the Plain White T's. In particular, I fell in love with the song 小さな恋の歌 (translated as something like "Little Love Song"? Whatever, it sounds better in Japanese) off their album MESSAGE. It's actually an album from several years ago--I'm not even sure if the band's really active anymore. But I first heard the song cause it featured in an episode of Propose Daisakusen (LOL).
Anyway, combination of it being kind of an older album, and not super popular anymore, I wasn't able to find a good download of it (don't give me that look) so I actually went out and bought the CD (I know, right!). But I was able to find it at Book-Off (in case you're not aware, a used book-manga-CD-DVD chain and the most incredible place known to man) for about 1000￥, or a little under $10. It was a really weird feeling, tho--I was realizing, it's literally been *years* since I've bought an actual CD (rather than an iTunes download).
So at any rate, that CDs been playing on repeat on my computer since yesterday :-)
P.S. On the related music note--there've been some edits to the blog. Due to various 面倒 like videos mysteriously disappearing from my playlist, &c, I've decided to replace the large video player that I had up before, with more of a "Video of the Week" system. Whether I'll actually update it *every week* remains to be seen (I'll try tho!) but I promise I will change the videos on a somewhat regular basis. I'm envisioning a combination of new-release videos and (if there's nothing interesting that week) older vids that piqued my interest.
And to keep track of it all, I'll be keeping a list of the archived videos from past weeks. Format is Date: Artist / Track. 見 links to the video on youtube (I take no responsibility if old links go dead--you've got a computer, you can look it up yourself).
So, enjoy! (and comments always welcome)
~sarah