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.
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.
Fun stuff! so, Wed afternoon i stayed late at school--first for my weekly project meeting with Senda-sensei, and then after attempting to do some more of the aforementioned bungaku reading. (which, incidentally, was a resounding failure--i was deathly sleepy and kept nodding off in the middle of sentences). anyway, i packed it in around 4:30 and started to head for home, since Wed is my night for kyudo practice. but, on my way home i got distracted in the plaza between Queen's and Landmark, by a guy who was putting on a fire juggling show! which of course, thanks to YAGS, is forever associated in my mind with Yale and Halloween. ^_^
anyway, he was doing a pretty good job, so i sat down to watch the end of his show (which actually made me about 15 mins late for kyudo...but whatev). 
The funniest part, though, was that right about that time, it decided to get incredibly windy, so the poor guy's fire kept going out. lol.
and of course, being me, i also took a video!
(the sound in the background is the wind blowing--i told you it was strong!)
Then, he finished up with a bang by juggling while riding an extremely tall unicycle--just getting on it was rather a production. he had to have a guy from the audience come up and hold a big pole that he used to support himself while he climbed onto the thing. i have to say, i was amazed that he managed it at all! 
anyway, it was lots of fun, and even though it made me late for kyudo, it also gave me the energy to actually go to kyudo, which was a good thing--i'd been so tired at school that i was actually contemplating skipping
(WARNING: this is going to be another of those posts in which i am too lazy to capitalize things)
4th term has begun! it's only been a week, so why does spring break seem so long ago? i guess school has that effect on you...? still, there's no afternoons, and only 2 out of my 3 classes are going to involve actual work. well, that last is an assumption--i mean, i still have IJ--we spent T/Th this week doing the last 2 chapters of the keigo book 待遇表現, which was really no work at all, tho it's not really clear what we're going to be doing next in that class. we're having a mini-発表会 next week though, so i have to write some kind of a speech between now and then. (pick a topic... pick a topic....)
Now, onto the hard stuff:
we've moved on to Meiji literature in bungaku, as of this term. (for those of you shaky on your japanese history, that's post-1860, after the collapse of the shogunate). on balance, not that long ago i suppose, but it's long ago enough that everything's written all weird! (T_T);; sort of along the lines of the way Shakespearean-era things use different spelling and stuff like that... it's not all that bad actually, just takes some getting used to. and this was my first time reading anything in that kind of Japanese--but once i got myself broken in, it felt pretty much the same as regular japanese. right now we're working on Natsume Soseki's 夢十夜 "Ten Nights of Dream," which i was actually super happy to get to read. i've read them in english in a j-lit class i took sophomore year at yale, tho that was long enough ago that i didn't remember much other than the fact that i liked them. but, for anyone who's read anything else by Soseki, they're (to my mind at least) very unlike any of his other works.
less fortunately, next up, according to Otake-sensei, is Higuchi Ichiyo and possibly Izumi Kyoka--both of whom are authors that, again, i've read in translation for j-lit classes at Yale, and really enjoyed--but who are apparently a bitch to tackle in the original japanese. Ichiyo especially, according to Otake, has a habit of using a variety of different spellings for her characters' names, within the same story. as well as another equally charming habit of writing single sentences that take up an entire page. i exaggerate not in the least. (ack!) before we even get to start reading her, we have to spend a whole class learning various techniques for "how" to read her works! お楽しみ。。。(please note the sarcasm)
on Friday i have my first 現代小説 "Modern novel" class, so i'll report on that later. the first reading was a Murakami Haruki short story (that i *swear* i've read before....) which was interesting and not too difficult. so hopefully that class stays fun.
In honor of spring, the newly-warm weather, and the fact that the cherry blossoms are in bloom, this week's PV is
花は桜、君は美し by いきものがかり
"The flowers are cherry blossoms, you are beautiful," by Ikimonogakari.
And where would one film a PV about sakura (cherry blossoms)? Where else but Sakuragi-cho station-- 当然だろう！
To be specific, the plaza outside Sakuragi-cho JR station, between the station and the IUC-bound people-mover.
。。。Don't you love it when it all just fits like that?
High-five! （ ＾＾）Y☆Y（＾＾ ）
(ちなみに、I can't even *begin* to imagine how they were able to keep the plaza area clear of commuters long enough to film this thing!)
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
Cause it's Yale spring break, so Stever-sensei, my 3rd year Japanese teacher at Yale, has been in Japan checking out possible language schools and stuff for the Light Fellowship (I think, anyway). But more importantly, she took all of the Tokyo (former) Yalies out to a fantabulous dinner! Along with Stever-sensei, my 1st year Japanese teacher, Nishimura-sensei was there, too, which was a really nice surprise. なつかしいなぁ～ On the student side (well, sort of) was me, Jason, and Jeff from IUC, plus 3 other recent Yale grads who are currently in Tokyo on other programs, or working, or whatever.
The restaurant we went to is called Ninja Akasaka (Akasaka being the area of Tokyo it's in), and 名前どおり、it's a Ninja restaurant! The door is small and fairly unobtrusive; you go through it into a dim room with dark wood paneling that has a reception desk and nothing else. When your party is all gathered, the receptionist calls out, a small door in the wall opens, and a ninja comes out! The ninja leads you through another door, and down a winding, labyrinth-like hall to your table. There's steep steps, little river-things, and a bridge that lowers down from the wall. Then you get to your table!
The staff are all dressed as ninjas, and the menu is on a ninja-scroll looking thing. The food was also really good. It's sort of an a la carte menu, so we ordered a bunch of small things to share. Some highlights:
Sushi boat! 
This really cool grapefruit thing with a sword stuck through it, and when they pulled the sword out, all this smoke came pouring out. 
A super-yummy soup that the "ninjas" made at the table. 
And finally...a "froggy" dessert! かわいい！ 
We finally had to leave the restaurant cause they needed the table for the next group, but that didn't mean the night was over. ^^ Cause next up was karaoke! Hadn't been in ages, so that was lots of fun. Also, Stever-sensei is amazing! She's got this super strong, low voice, sort of like a Stevie Nicks (sp? lol) or a Carly Simon. Anyway, she and Nishimura-sensei were getting all fired up singing songs they remembered from college and stuff. Then Jeff, Southerner extraordinaire, started up an impromptu marathon of Credence Clearwater Revival songs. lol.
It was fun times! We took the last train home from Shibuya--which, incidentally, only went as far as Yokohama station, so Jason, Jeff and I had to split a cab the rest of the way.
On Monday, I met up with Molly and her friend from the states to go the the Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka! For those of you who don't know, Studio Ghibli = Miyazaki Hayao (i.e. Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Totoro...well, you get the picture).
The museum was really cool! It's in the middle of a park, so it's a very pretty area. When you walk up to the building, there's a cute little Totoro "receptionist" area. And a sign that says "The real receptionist is that way -->" ^_^ 
The building itself is really neat, too, like something straight out of a Miyazaki movie, lol. 
Here's the view from the roof! 
Where you can also see...a replica of the giant robot dude from Laputa! (or "Castle in the Sky," in English).
Life-size! (kind of a funny picture of me, tho...oh well).
You're not allowed to take photos inside the museum, but it was really interesting. First, they have a screening room where they show short movies that you can only see at the Ghibli Museum. We saw a really cute one about a water-spider making friends with another water-spider--it was very Miyazaki, too cute for words. ^_^
Then there was a really cool exhibit about the history of animation---with displays about zoeotrope, and these 3-D plexiglass boxes, and this really neat stop-motion machine thing, that I don't really know how to describe, but it was *amazing.*
Then, upstairs there was a giant stuffed Neko-bus for the little kids to play in, and a whole series of rooms of Miyazaki's drawings, and cels from the films, and things like that.
At any rate, it was TONS of fun! ^_^