Drama Time! Sunao Ni Narenakute

This drama deals with the lives of five people who have meet through twitter, each one has their own life and while meeting each other for the first time they attempt to deal with they're own problems while maintaining their friendship. Nakajima Keisuke 'Nakaji' is an photographic assistant for a porn magazine who dreams of being like a photographer like his father, who was a well known war photographer, but so far cannot reach his dream. Mizuno Tsukiko 'Haru' is a provisional high school teacher on probation questioning whether teaching was what she was meant for when she can't seem to do the right thing by the schools standards. Nishimura Hikaru 'Peach' is Mizuno's best friend who although did not meet everyone else on twitter decides to join the group to deal with loneliness in her life. Ichihara Kaoru 'Linda' is a magazine worker who is being sexually harassed at work by his chief editor and cannot get anything published unless he does as she asks. Park Seon Su, on twitter, says he is a doctor but is actually a medical equipment salesmen who is down on his luck but is trying his best to take care of his younger sister. The story revolves around all five simultaneously and does a splendid job of keeping each characters story down to earth and realistic.

This was literally the first Japanese drama that I ever watched, before I thought that all dramas where like Spanish soap operas about love and this guys loves that girl but she loves some other dude, and the thought of watching dramas made me really nauseous since love stories aren't really my thing. But thanks to one of my friends who is a kpopper and is in absolute love with the actor that plays 'Doctor', Jaejoong who's from one of the biggest Kpop groups in all of Asia named TVXQ but now is in JYJ (long story behind that not getting into it). Anyway since she knew that I liked Japanese and had been slowly introducing me to TVXQ and JYJ because they also make Japanese songs and albums and had been nudging me for some time to watch any form of drama she, with much effort, made me watch Sunao ni Narenakute. This drama opened a whole new world for me because it was nothing like I had expected. It was lovely to watch and the characters where very well portrayed and had a lot of definition to them against the 2D personalities I had been thinking they would have had. The story was beautifully written and it dealt with real life issues such as homosexuality, suicide and social pressures but at the same time it also gave moments of laughter, love and friendship giving a well rounded portrayal of the real life of each character. The character whom I connected to the most was Linda as his problem struck a cord in my heart because he was afraid of what others might think of him while at the same time hiding who he really was, it was extremely saddening and had me completely and utterly depressed.  He was a character that brought all the other characters together he was kind and wise and I absolutely fell in love with him though I loved all the characters he was indeed my favorite.  So this drama I extremely recommend as it is a wonderful drama to watch.


Matane
またね！

Personal Post! Life sucks, School Starts

Can this be true? Why can't it be a lie!? Two months gone in the blink of an eye.  School starts in a week and I'm not ready to go back.  There's so much to do, so many places to see, so many things to unlearn!  But alas it will come inevitably and I can do nothing to stop it.  There were many things that I wanted to blog about but I won't get to touch till I get some free time again as I don't want to write them completely awfully, as compared to the ones before of course. Ill try my best but knowing myself as I do, there will probably be many empty weeks ahead in this blog.  That annoys me but there's not much I can do. 

Since summer is ending I would like to wish all my fellow students a great and successful school year, I know that some of us don't much enjoy school but we must find a happiness in what we have, whether it be friends, books, teachers, or homework find the thing that makes you want to get up in the morning to go and do your best.  I myself only like the many books that my library has to offer so I look forward to free time in-between classes rather than class.  So find that thing that gives you joy in that school of yours.  And to those who might not be students anymore, I wish you best in work and/or other things for the rest of this year.  We can last till Christmas! I promise!

Mina, Matane!
みな　またね！

Drama Time! My Hero, My boss

Sakaki Makio is a 27 year old school drop out with the intelligence of a grade schooler and the brawn's of a rabid animal.   Known as 'Tornado Makio' he is a yakuza leaders son he believes that he will be the next boss of the gang. That is until his father tell him that he will have to finish high school before it can happen.  By matter of buying Makio back into school through bribery, Makio and his father make a deal that if Makio is able to graduate high school he will take over the gang and if he is unable to complete high school his little brother, Micky, will take over instead.   Besides Makio and the principal no one in the school knows his secret and Makio must pose as a 17 year old and make sure that the fact that he's 27 and that he's part of the yakuza does not get out or risk being immediately expelled. With his temperament and rough personality the task seems impossible but as the days goes Makio learns that theres much more to be offered in high school besides test and studying.

I really enjoyed this drama but this dramas plot itself is completely and utterly impossibly ridiculous, though I don't mean that in a bad way.   I mean it in a how did no one in the high school catch on sooner? It has one of those things that completely obvious to the viewer but no one in the actual drama catches on.  Like how Super Man is Clark Kent, just because he takes off his glasses and pushes his hair back no one notices that he is Super Man, those kind of unbelievable disguises that are just too uncanny to not notice. But I digress after getting over the fact that Makio looked nothing at all like a high schooler and at the same time having that dawning at the back of my head I found this drama really amusing.  The main character although old had a very child like and innocent personality after deciding to make the most of high school which threw you off for a while since he was a soon to be gang leader nicknamed Tornado.   It had many extremely hilarious moments, my favorite one involving a cow, and although the drama could totally and utterly never really happen it was very nice to watch, but don't take my word for it watch it and tell me what you thought.

Matane!
またね！

The Great Shrine of Izumo

Entrance  to Izumo Taisha

The Great Shrine of Izumo or the Izumo-taisha is located in the center of Izumo or the Shimane prefecture in Japan.  Izumo is known as the land of the gods and the land of myths. Considered one of the oldest shrines in all of Japan the Great Shrine of Izumo is one of Japan's most important Shinto shrines. Although there's no exact record of when the great shrine of Izumo was built its believed to have been already been built well before the Heian period.

Upon entering the Izumo-taisha visitors will be confronted by a wooden structure that is used a the worship hall. The worship hall has the biggest shimenawa in all of the world hung across half it length. Behind the worship hall lies the main shrine which is the tallest shrine building in Japan. The main shrine measures approximately 24 meters in height but it is supposed that when it was first built was 48 meter in height or taller. Both buildings are designated as national treasures. Also within the shrine is a treasure hall which exhibits old painting, documents and lavishly ornamented containers all having to do with Izumo-taisha.

The kami of worship in this shrine is known as Okuninushi. According to creation myths, Okuninushi was the creator of the land of Japan and the ruler of Izumo. He also became known as the deity of good relationships and marriage.

Every year from the 10th to the 17th day of the 10th lunar month, Shinto's eight million kami from across all of japan gather at the Great Shrine of Izumo. At this time in Izumo is know as kamiarizuki or month with kami while in the rest of japan this time is known as kannazuki or month without kami. During this time the kamiari festival is held in the shrine.

Drama Time! Hotaru no Hikari

Amemiya Hotaru at work is a fashionable, pulled together office worker in a famous interior design company.  To everyone at work she is the ideal woman who has no flaws and must have a wonderful love life but once at home she is the complete opposite of what they think. She lives alone in a house she rented off a man in a bar one night and when she isn't working she is lazying around in the house doing nothing but sleeping, eating and making a mess. She's also not interested in love thinking of it as a waste of time that she could be using to sleep. Takano Seiichi is Hotaru's boss a neat man that lives his life with many rules and regulations, after a separation from his wife he ends up moving back to his childhood home only to find it in a complete mess. To his shock his father was the man that rented the home to Hotaru but deeming their deal invalid he decides to live there indefinetly telling Hotaru to move out as soon as possible, but Hotaru has no plans of moving out because the porch of that house is her favorite place. Takano calls Hotaru a himono-onna (dried up woman) seeing it impossible for any man to fall in love with her, but to much surprise love found its way.   Amemiya Hotaru though not interested in love at first, begins to have feeling for Teshima Makoto a new co-worker in her department and so the stage is set, with Takano unwillingly helping her with her romance and keeping her double life a secret, will Hotaru be able to find and keep her first love?

This I believe is the first drama I've ever written about that has some real actual romance in it, blasphemy, I know.  Though it's not the sort of romance drama that is in your face and makes you wonder constantly why you don't have a partner making you binge on ice cream and cry until your eyes start falling out, no, it's not that sort of romance in actuality its a romance comedy, so its light hearted and it'll make you laugh without fail. The characters have nicknames for each other, Hotaru calls Takano, Buchou (manager) which will confuse you at some point into thinking that's his real name and Buchou calls Hotaru, Ahomiya, which is a play on her name, aho meaning stupid. Buchou is so mean! Really and truly merciless. Hotaru on the other hand is a person that you will fall in love with, she's hard working and she means well, she just has bad at home habits that need to be killed, but then again that's what Buchou is there for so I guess she's okay. Buchou you might come to like although at first he's rigid like a wall as time progresses he bends to Hotaru's personality, so he's kinda like bamboo bending to strong wind. (HA!)

Theres one concept in the drama that got me though himono-onna, after watching this drama I've been fully convinced that I am one! Let's make a list shall we? Jersey? Check! Sweat-pants? Check!  Laze around all day when I don't work? Double check! Interest in love? None. According to the answer to all these questions I'll never get married... ah who cares I'm happy and still young I can't be the only one I'm sure theres a buchou out there for me or at least a himono-otoko, that's what this drama taught me, another thing this drama taught me is the joy of rolling around saying 'goro goro' great stress reliever really Hotaru was not wrong on this one. But to know the full joy of the goro goro you must watch the drama! Till then....

Matane!
またね！

Fushimi Inari-Taisha

One of the oldest shrines in Kyoto and the head shrine for all the 40,000 Inari shrine in Japan, Fushimi Inari-Taisha sits under Inari mountain in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto. Dating back to at least 711 and predating the Heian period. The Fushimi Inari-Taisha has thousands of Torri gates that have been put on the pathway up to the shrine, all of which bear the name of businesses that donated the gates because they are grateful to Inari for bringing them fortune. This pathway takes about two hours to complete and is called the Senbon Torii which means a thousand Torii gates. The path is a preferable visit near dusk when the  Torii gates are lit making it a beautiful sight to behold.

Foxes are considered
Inari's messengers.

Stern bronze foxes can be seen throughout the shrine holding keys in their mouths. The keys that some of them hold are for the rice granaries. 

Eiga Time!!! Crow Zero

On a scale of one to ten this movie is f-ing awesome! The fights scenes are well done, and oh boy are there a lot of fight scenes, the way things happen in the movie and the shooting fits the story line and the feel nicely, you never feel out of place, then again it takes you a while to realize what the movie is about but the characters guide you through it helping you understand how things work, at first it feel like your a freshman just entering the school, which makes sense since one of the first scenes is the welcoming ceremony of the high school.

The movie is based on a manga named 'Crow' but it doesn't follow the story line of the manga instead its two years before the manga starts so it tells the story of what happened at Suzuran All Boys High school in the past. The movie is about Takiya Genji who transfers into the Suzuran All Boys High school, a school where all the delinquents end up after no other school will take them in. Takiya Genji transfers there on his last year of high school with the goal of taking over Suzuran but the task proves to be more than difficult as the school is a war ground where every one has the same goal and to take over the school one has to beat the Serizawa Army who is lead by Tamao Serizawa nicknamed 'The Beast'. 　Serizawa at the moment that Genji transfers is the closest to taking over the school.　 Being hot headed Genji goes directly to Tamao Serizawa for a fight but is stopped by Tokio, who is Genji's childhood friend and a part of Serizawa Army. Genji is told by Tokio to take down Rindaman before challenging Serizawa. Rindaman is a giant and has never been beaten by anyone, he ends up ignoring Genji as he doesn't see him as much of a fight. After some random events Genji comes into contact with Ken Katagiri, a failed Yakuza member who's dream when he was younger was to take over Suzuran, seeing as Genji's fighting potential he starts mentoring Genji on how to take over the school. With Katagiri's misguided help Genji rises rapidly into power at Suzuran, but even seeing as he rises to power Serizawa ignores him out of concern for Tokio.  One of the Serizawa Army 'generals' Tokaji decides not to ignore Genji and takes action on his own provoking Genji but he is stopped by members of his own army, before doing anything stupid. Later its found out that Tokio has a cerebral aneurysm and has only a 30% chance of survival if he undergoes surgery. Tokio decides to continue on going to school because he wants to be able to fight when the big battle between Genji and Serizawa happens. Tokaji again covertly attack the Serizawa Army using The Armoured Front for kidnapping provoking Genji and his Army to attacking. As they fight they find that The Armoured Front did not in fact kidnap anyone but it was Tokaji laying a trap. Upon finding out that Tokaji had been playing dirty tricks behind his back Serizawa punishes him and accepts Genji's proposal for a final battle. The GPS (Genji's Perfect Seiha Army) and Serizawa Army face off even though the Genji Army is clearly outnumbered. While the battle goes on, Tokio was convinced to go on with the surgery and is being operated leaving the fight to Serizawa. The battle seems like it has been lost by Genji but The Armoured Front joins the battle along with GPS and the tides change. By the end of the battle only Tamao Serizawa and Takiya Genji are left standing and the outcome of the battle is left to them. The battle is won and the victor goes on to fight Rindaman. Not saying who won because that a bit of a spoil.

Okay, so that is not even half of all that happens in the movie I summarized mostly the war parts but there is so much more going on than just the battle and so many more characters that I did not mention that have a huge part in the story but if I retold the whole movie this would be three times too long! This movie I really enjoyed a lot it had a lot of action and an equal amount of laughs it was great I really enjoyed watching it, so much that I ended up watching the second movie directly after and reading the first 6 volumes of the manga because I wanted to know what ended up happening after all the dust settled.  I recommend it if you like fighting movies since its not like some fighting movies where the story line falls flat behind the fighting. Needless to say the movie was great the way they showed you why Serizawa was nicknamed 'The Beast' leaves you with your mouth hanging open then rolling over in laughter, I just loved it.   Yes, so from fear of making this any longer.....

Matane!
またね！

Shimenawa

Less recognizable than a Torii gate, a shimenawa is a traditional rope made of twisted straw that mark sacred or holy territory.  Straw, paper or cloth streamers are hung from the shimenawa.  They can be small and light or can weigh over 3,000 pounds, the heaviest one being in the Great Shrine in Izumo.   Because they are believe to ward off evil spirits shimenawa are used in purification rituals and are often hung between the uprights of a Torii Gate or around sacred areas as well as sacred trees and rocks that are believe to house kami.

Torii Gates

They are scattered through out Japan and along with Mt. Fuji are a recognizable symbols of Japan. But Torii gates are more than just a decoration Torii Gates are the boundary between our world and the infinite world of the kami, they exist in between both the human world and the spirit world.
Usually made of wood and painted red and black Torii gates are the entrance into the holy ground that resides within a Shinto shrine, because there is no actual gate within the Torii arch shrines are always open to visitors. 

Personal Post- Shinto religion

Since the beginning of this month I've become quite re-interested with the Japanese Religion called Shinto which if you didn't know originated in Japan.  I've been doing a lot of research on it and have learned so much.   I want to share what I learned but before I go into a deep explanation on what the Shinto religion is and how it works I have to give out vocabulary and explain a bit about its structure both physically and spiritually.   Since religion can be a complicated thing to explain and the Shinto religion is already complicated in itself I don't want to go deep into it without touching on some subjects first. I would like to explain the concept of Kami and what Shrines are in the Shinto religion, as well as some of the myths and stories that talk about the beginning of Japan in the religion itself. There is much to talk about and touch when it come to Shinto religion since it sets the foundation for Japanese history and it affects the culture quite deeply.  I'll try to spread a lil knowledge on it but if your interested in it don't stop here there are many places where you can learn a little on the Shinto religion, drink from all the water of learning as it would be and research it as I did, religion is complicated and what I understood from this religion could be something completely different from what you understood as it is left for personal interpretation. What doesn't change is that the Shinto religion is deeply rooted into Japans everyday life and its something that is good to know to understand the culture. Before anything I would like to explain Shrine structure since its understandable then I will go from there and explain more as we go along.   Since I'm explaining Shrine structure there will be two mini post talking about the parts of the shrine that I will be explaining and it will go on like this every time I come up with another part of Shinto shrines to explains and that day will also have two mini post unless it needs more elaboration.  This will probably go on happening until I have explained the Shinto religion and all the things that come with it.  With that I'll take my leave, today's actual posts will be up in a little while I just wanted to explain this before we went into it. 

Matane
またね

Drama Time! Yankee-kun to Megane-chan

This drama is about Shinagawa Daichi a good student turned Yankee after being confused for the unbeatable Hurricane Ada.  Because of being called this, countless people come asking him for a fight trying to beat the Yankee Hurricane Ada this and his short temper hinders his school life and leaves him isolated from his classmates. Adachi Hana in the same class as Shinagawa Daichi, is a glasses wearing nosy class rep with a secret who tries her best to get Shinagawa to take part in school activities and become part of the class. Her secret is discovered by Shinagawa and she becomes even more determined to get him to correct his Yankee ways. The drama is about these two as they try to change who they are and the way people view Yankees.

This drama is hilarious but there are many heart warming moments where you see how hard it is for people to view past appearances and see who a person really is.   There are also times when the characters pasts make them doubt who they are or cause trouble in the present and times where past friendships are tested. Adachi Hana is a character that does not know personal space when it comes to Shinagawa and Shinagawa, because of his sister, believes that Adachi is in love with him and could confess at any moment, which make many funny things occur.   Shinagawa though is actually in love with a girl who gave him a pencil during the school entrance exams but he doesn't remember what she looks like and only remembers she had long black hair, who the girl is is revealed to him in the very last episode, though it is obvious to the viewers the whole time, which makes a sweet atmosphere come across every once in a while.

Last thing I'll say the way the drama opened up was just too funny at least to me I might be weird but how do you throw a rice ball so high and how does it stay up there for so long?! This and the black and white scenery made me just laugh the whole time though I guess I wasn't suppose to. But to know why I laughed and whether I was right to laugh or not depends on watching it! So go! Go! Until then.....

Matane!
またね！

Drama Time! Bloody Monday Season 2

Unlike last season that dealt with the stopping of a biological disease turned nuclear weapon with J and K at its command this season deals with a whole new terrorist organization that calls themselves Der Freischutz.  This mysterious terrorist group sprung up on its own and has no past records so its existence and reason for being is a mystery for everyone at Third-I.  Only two year since the last terrorist attempt, this new terrorist group doesn't just want to destroy Tokyo but all of Japan. Without knowing their motive Third-I again in lists the help of Fujimaru to try to stop them at every turn. Fujimaru with his expert hacking skill once again goes into work at finding the terrorist only to find that the enemy has a hacker with seemingly better abilities than him.  So in this season unlike the last Fujimaru fails at hacking more than he succeeds being led to traps set up by this new elusive hacker, Hornet.   To make matters worst Third-I has once again been infiltrated by a spy from the terrorist group and this spy is helping in the failing of Fujimaru and creating distrust within Third-I while at the same time causing the deaths of some of the already known characters from last season. 

After this season this dramas name alone sends a curdle down my spine and an instant need to scream out of frustration.   This to some might seem like a bad sign but trust me its a good sign the drama was great.   It was action packed, had me looking left and right for answers and no matter where I turned I couldn't escape the inevitable truth that was left at the end.   The only complaint that I could give this drama at all is that personally at crucial moments I really wanted to punch Fujimaru in the face, he seriously pricked me the wrong way at those times.   But the drama made up for all the hate I felt for Fujimaru by giving me two wonderful villains whom I fell in love with last season returning as.....good guys? what?!   Though since last season we knew Orihara was working for money but J turning a new leaf, getting caught by THIRD-I. J?  The super terrorist that left unscratched last time come backs sick from radiation poisoning? What?! This news confused me because I couldn't believe J was the type to be so careless but one scene in particular sealed to me the fact that J was going to die, its a very intense scene where it shows J giving up on life, it involves a gun and him trying to kill himself only to find the gun was empty, it was heart breaking but at the same time disturbing, if you watch the drama you will know what I'm talking about.  But I digress the Bloody Mondays second season is definitely my favorite since unlike the last season it had me doubting everything and everyone only to realize at the very last two episode that I was wrong the whole time and I should have been doubting all those that looked innocent in the first place, then again I should have learned this last season.  I was feed lies every episode and believed every single one, the dismay I felt at the end of this season was immense.  But still this season gave a great show and I hope it doesn't end there seeing as the master mind behind it all got away again.


Matane!
またね！