Mari - diary

"Utsu ge"

I like this story "Clever plants chat over their own network ". I remember reading Travel of Michael Crichton, he wrote that he talked to cactus in the book. I like WONDER! always. This story reminds me of this KOTODAMA post too. (Unfortunately the link is dead now ) I will talk to my Philodendron selloum everyday from now on.

I think "A Clockwork Orange" is the coolest movie title. This site shows the photos of behined the scenes. In Japanese wiki, Arthur Bremer was inspired by the movie then hit George Wallace. Is that true? I read Taxi Driver was made from the Bremer episode and it leaded to John Hinckley's accassination. It's a cycle of violence.

Last week, one animation went off the air, TV Tokyo shelved the show because the animation had some violent parts. They had to be careful because we have had teen violent affairs recently. On September 15th, "Teen ax killer says she gave her father the 'guillotine' over his affairs" and on September 25th, "15-year-old boy arrested for attacking father with ax". TV Tokyo worried the animation might push the cycle of violence. Anyway, when I read the news, I thought the animation would be boy's fighting type, one like Fist of the North Star. But! the animation was "school days". It looked a girls' love story animation to me. However, the story is a sludgy love triangle (strange way to say? we say like that in Japanese) and since they stopped airing it, they have had some violence....orz....weird, sickness.

Actually the School Days was based on a game and it is categorized "Utsu Ge". Utsuge stands for utsu game, and it means "depressing game". Those games have no happy end, no hope, no help. Here is the web translation. I can't understand why they pick and like to play such games....By the way, Higurashi no naku koro went off the air too. It is Utsu ge too. scary...

The only part I could laugh about this news is...
When School Days went off the air, people got angry and argued "why!!!" on the 2 channel. TV Tokyo aired some foreign photos with classic music despite people's anger. One of the photos was this boats and the boat got to be a target of people's anger. "Nice boat" was hot topic for 2 channel.

You've Been In Japan Too Long When...

These are some nice ads from Electrolux's "Get rid of foot odor"campaign featuring addidas, NIKE and Reebok.

I love this. I want the gulls and the tree. This is nice, too.Coooooooool. いいないいな。

This is the official site of Japanese artist Ryoko Kimura. She drawserotic art of guys for women. Look at these Japanese PigmentPaintings. Wa! this is a guy's body as a dish like Nyotai mori (bodysushi). :-)

I really enjoyed reading "You've Been In Japan Too Long When..." (Here is another site.) I like these:
-you start thinking canned coffee tastes good. : This is funny, TommyLee Jones appeared in Japanese canned coffee TV ads.
-you develop a liking for Yes, wehave green tea pudding, potato chips, chocolate, candy and Kellog'srice flakes. I ate green tea KitKats today. :) Why not?
-you no longer find anything unusual in the concept of "VermontCurry." : It's an old, popular brand of Japanese curry paste.
-you think one kind of rice tastes better than another kind. : Yes,the most popular brands of rice are Sasa Nishiki and Koshi hikari.
-you get on a train with a number of foreigners on it and you feeluneasy because the harmony is broken. Ha, ha, ha, but I understandthis feeling.

Dondake!

I wrote that Japan McDonald's started to sell Autumn Speical bergar "Tsukimi". I found the TV ad on Youtube. It's cute. "I got a Tsukmi bergar", "DONDAKE!" DONDAKE is the recent popular word. We use it with the meaning "great!", "really!?", "What!!", "can't believe." I heard o-ne chara make up artist "IKKO" started to use it first. DONDAKE will be the word of the year in 2007.

I like this, a collection of Indian Horror movies posters. DONDAKE!!!

Century is the small PC and Game parts maker, their naked series is interesting. HDD case, HDD stand, HDD cover. I like their idea. Those will be enough for HDD as long as I use it on my desk at home.

In Japan, the docmentary TV show "the psychic investigator" series is very popular. The American psychic Joseph MacMoneagle and a few other Psychics have remote vieweing ability and find missing poeple on the show. I did not watch the show yesterday, but I was pretty impressed to read the article about the show today. Tamura is a member of Japanese comedian groupe "KIRIN", he has a tough history. He lost his mother when he was in 5th grade and four years later, his family house was in foreclosure for some reason. One morning, his father said to the three kids "Look! we can't live together in this house anymore. Take care of yourself. Break up!!" and dissappeared. The three kids lived in the park for one month and finally could rent a small apartment with his relative's help. Now his experience supplies material for his comedy talk. Though, it would be hard to live as three kids only. After the breaking up, he didn't know about his father, so he asked the TV show to find him. Then?! Joe MacMoneagle did remote viewing from the US and finally found his father!! Hmm I wanted to watch the show. I hope someone puts the show on Youtube. When I find it, I will update.

Great Ryokan

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Yes, I have found no good topics today. What a boring day today.

I read this post of Forbes: "The world's most expensive desserts." No1 was "The Fortress Aquamarine" of the Fortress hotel in Sri Lanka. It costs $14,500. The expensive part is jewelry, not the sweets part. But that hotel looks nice. Then I checked the list of the best hotels in the world. This site picked some. The best is Oberoi Udaivilas of India. Actually many Indian hotels were picked in the list. It shows that India is a country of maharaja. But you will see there are no Japanese hotels listed. Maybe because the most luxurious hotels in Japan are Ryokan, not western type hotels.

Yahoo Japan picked deluxe Ryokans in their autumn special page.. They categorize Ryokans in 6 themes. With outdoor private bath, With private annex, Great landscape, History and traditional, New Japanese style and Great cuisine. It would be nice to stay in a Ryokan to see a nice garden, to take a private bath in a private garden and eat a great Japanese dinner and breakfast.　Most great Ryokan locales are not in the Tokyo area, but if you visit only Tokyo and want to try those great Ryokans, the Hakone area is pretty close; it takes one hour and half from Tokyo. There are nice Ryokans like Gora Kadan, Tsubaki, Hakone Ginyu. Those places cost over 30000 yen for one night, though you can enjoy Japanese style relaxation.

Dove won

The new Japanese Prime Minister is Dove Yasuo Fukuda, not Rozen Aso. This is the moment when Rozen Aso lost in the election of the LDP party president. What do you think? Have you ever seen your politicians use cell phone cameras in public place like that? It was not a kid's talent show; they didn't care about manners. I don't need a 71 year old, hereditary prime minister. I welcome the changing of government in the next election.

By the way, I have Monday off, the same as last week. This is "the Happy Monday" system. 　We moved a number of national holidays to Mondays, creating a three-day weekend for those who normally have a five-day work week.　I like this system, but "Happy Monday" sounds stupid.

I am pretty busy this weekend, sorry. I will link some pages.
This is the greatest news I found this weekend: "Woman hides as man" in Taipei news. She tied a fake penis -- a condom filled with cotton....orz....it couldn't be noticed???
"Weird Hotels," hmm, Japanese Capsule hotel are listed.
"The picture I had to save in my PC", a little bit funny.

Real Osaka foods in Tokyo

Waaaaaaa, I didn't know this, click on "!" mark of Yahoo!US. You need to turn up the volume setting. :-)

I like this idea "Donguri Ginko""Donguri Ginko" (acorns bank). Acorns Bank is managed by the environment and forest green division of Kagawa Perfectural Government office. In Acorns Bank, acorns are money. When you bring acorns you pick, they will give you a bank note and you can save acorns. Those acorns can be exchanged into baby trees from acorns and special acorn items of the bank. Their purpose is as a green campaign to enhance people's environmental consciousness. Very cute and good idea.

The "Big Osaka exhibition" is held in Shibuya. We can enjoy Osaka Rakugo (it's different from Tokyo Rakugo), Osaka musicians live and most of all real Osaka foods! Popular Osaka shops open shops in Tokyu Shibuya until October 2nd. It will be fun to visit. Before going there, check my old post about the difference between Osaka and Tokyo too.

Talking about food. One of my favorite foods is "Mapo Tofu." At home, usually I use this type of Mapo Tofu sauce. Open the bag and cook with Tofu, it's easy to cook but a delicious, good home meal. When I go dining out, I want to eat real Szechuan Mapo. I mentioned Ryuan; I didn't try this Mapo restaurant, but it looks good. I will try it. Many foreigners complain Japanese change the taste into Japanese life. Chinese, Thai, Vietnam, Greek, etc. we have various restaurant, though native people say the taste is not real in Japan. Maybe the taste get to be milder and has less herbs. I wonder if this happen in other countries. Do German people change the taste of Greek food? Do UK people change the taste of Chinese food? I am curious.

My favorite site up about Tokyo Game Show, this site collects the movies of new games. I didn't have any interest in video games but now I have a PSP and Wii. So I will check good games. In the Tokyo Game Show event, "Japan Game Award 2007" was released. Here is the result. I have played only Wii Sports.

She wanted to say it

Watch this movie. This is in Bangkok, Thailand. I was just amazed tosee a train running through such a place. But not only that...

I wrote that Sumo is having a tough time now. I think Asashoryu willretire without coming back to Japan. Yesterday, an interestingincident occured in Sumo. A woman tried to step into the Sumo ring.She was screaming and carrying a lot of papers. Of course, womenaren't supposed to step into the Sumo ring, so she was quicklyoverpowered. Here is a photo of that moment. Did she then protestabout Asashoryu? No, no, no. She said that Masaharu Fukuyama (the second most popular guy after Kimitaku) is possessed by the devil. Ha!

In Kichijoji, Ping Pong Bar has opened. You can play Ping Pong, singkaraoke, or play on a Family computer. It looks interesting. Since Ilove to play board games, I hope we have more board game bars.

A Japanese travel magazine, "AB-ROAD", had the "Best Airline Survey2007." JAL was No. 1 on "attendant attitude toward the customers."(My friend was pissed off and complained to United Airlines abouttheir attendants' attitudes.) Emirates got No. 1 on "equipment andseats of airlines." You can send email from the airplane seats andplay games in Economy Class. Check the "in the air page." They lookgreat. In the airline meal part, Virgin Atlantic won some awards. Here is the site that collects Virgin Atlantic airline meal photos.Hmm, looks yummy. Last year's winner was Singapore Airlines. I likeKorean Air, too. By the way, in the Total Satisfaction rating, ANAwas No. 1. Which one is your favorite airline?

Autuamn has come!

Wow...ha ha ha check this site: Public hair art. Why do you say public hair because you won't show them on public?? In Japanese, we say Inmou ( Shadow hair) Or Under hair :-)

Ah...20 country, 12 week bus tour from London to Sydney. Basically you sleep in tents! Wow, it would be a tough but fun trip. This is funny news from the UK too. "Cyber cheats married... to each other." However, is this true or I shouldn't take this seriously. In Japan, you shouldn't take seriously some articles of Tokyo Sports. Here is a short article from Wiki. Some said all of their articles are false except for the date. I remember Clinton shaked hands with Alien.

I could sense Autumn had come when I walked by McDonald's, because they sell TSUKIMI burger now. Here is the official site. Traditionally we eat odango. I love Chinese Moon cake (I need to eat without seeing calories). Do you have some special food for the Mid-Autumn Festival?

Do you know Heineken Japan has a cool music site. And they will have an all-night club music event "Connect 07" in Kokugikan. Boom Boom Satellite (their site is cool) -- you know them on Apple Seed and Takkyu Ishino (Takkyu means table tennis in Japanese ) etc. I want to go to these events.

One more event. The international CG event "ASIAGRAPH 2007" will be held in Akihabara Tokyo. Here is the official site. It will be fun to visit.

"Top 5 Selling Pet Robots In Action" As a robot lover, I am glad to see 3 Japanese robots ranked in. icat is ugly.....By the way, why do they have P names? Pleo, Paro, PaPeRo.

O-ne chara is hot now

In a sense, I am lucky. After I broke two Note PCs, OA section people gave me a new NOTE. It's very rare case. la la la I am happy. Now I am eating one my favorite Japanese sweets "Shingen Mochi" (my co-worker gave it to me, she came from Kofu) and setting up my new PC. Already I got a lot of Kinako powder on the keyboard. I love cleaning. But I am not sure, if I don't take care of my Note PC... I can always find many desserts on my keyboard...but this is so that I can be attached to my PC.

Halloween logo generater. Cute, but I am not sure how many Japanese know the meaning of the Halloween. Actually I am not sure yet. For Japanese, it's something fun and cute - a foreign festival. Sorry if it may sound imprudent. But I like our inaccurate way.

In Ginza, this guys' cosmetic, make-up shop "QUOMIST" will be open. Seeing the products, not only skin care or hair care products, they have some fashion items and of course MEN'S SWEET! You may find an interesting souvenir, gag or serious.

Anyway, I am not O-ne chara (O-ne character is hot in Japan). "O-ne" stand for O-ne san that means means elder sister or older lady basically. But when we say O-ne chara, it means a gay guy or a bisexual guy who by their behavior (sometimes their looks too) are like a lady. I don't think Japan is fair and liberal for such minority people, however for O-ne chara, they are very popular and permissive on mass media. Actually a new O-ne chara talk TV show "O-ne MANS" started on Prime time. The motto of the TV show is "our technique is Hercules, but our heart is princess". They are all guys who talk like girls but all of them are famous for some beauty or arts biz and they give advice as top professionals to people. Shogo Kariyazaki is the celebrity florist, IKKO is a popular make up artist, etc. With their great skill and their funny character, the gap would be intriguing on the show.

what was changed in Japan

Tokyo Game official site is opened. I have a ticket but I won't go, because it's crazy crowded.

I heard about a handmade Zori often recently, it would be a trend of Lohas life. I found a site to tell how to make, It would be comfortable to make them from towels (and I could polish the floor too).

Jojo's ipod ad. Oh Cool.

Great!　Do you use a nose pore clear patch? I have this  black one, but I am not sutisfied with its job. He felt the same and he use a super glue. ha ha ha but it woked very fine. I won't use it though.

I found the site that collects foreigners’ comments about  "what did you change after living in Japan".
I sleep on the floor.
In the bar, I order "beer". In the UK I ordered the beer brand.
I drink cold green tea.
I go to the convenience store about 8 times a day, to pay bills, to get toilet paper, to buy movie tickets, to buy food, etc.
I use a shoulder bag. I didn't think I would use it at any rate but I need it because my pocket is so full.
I use tissue more because I can get free tissue around the station.
I eat rice more.
I lost my sense of humor, and can sleep in the train and stop smoking.
I read more books because I use trains.
I care about fashion more.
I got to love very hot baths.
Ha ha, interesting.
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