watashi to tokyo

Thank you, see you next year

Good pictures: "Oyako (Parents & Children)" by Bruce Osborn.

 

I broke my iPhone cover and I am looking for a good replacement, but I don't need this: "iPhone sushi cover."

SMBC released their list of what was big in 2010 at the end of November, but I didn't write about it because it was not very good. Actually, neither East nor West have Yokozuna, and No 2 are smartphones and rayu. Comparing to years past, we don't have any big hits this year.

Check out this news: "Three giant spaceships to attack Earth in 2012?" I am really looking forward to 2012. Assension? Alien attack? Something may happen to the earth.

We will have Joya no Kane around midnight tonight. You can try here on Yahoo! Japan. You can clear your 108 earthly desires with this.

 

"Mirror" by SOUR, an interactive music video

Whoops, something is leaking.

 

Japanese tourist claims Australian man told her 'You must have sex with me or die'. This is an interesting news story, in Japan maybe he would be accused of rape.

This is the music video for "Mirror" by SOUR, it's very  interactive, check this out.

 

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!!

When I got off work today, there were so many people in Tokyo Midtown to look at Christmas decorations.

S.A.C. Solid State Society will be made into a 3D movie, today we saw the first visual ad (a poster). Of course I will go to watch it in the theater.

I am sorry I'm writing about this on such a holy day. SEGA made a toilet game, so you can have fun while peeing. The target sensor in the toilet tracks the speed and volume of your pee and judges it in the game. Weird, I have no comments.

 

Nico Nico Douga's the best of 2010

Nico Nico douga released 2010 best movies today. No.1 is handmade frame animation "6566/6566 Bad Apple".

The movie I picked before girl's great make up technique was nominated too, personally I like this one "Angry cat talked to me but I can't understand it coz I don't know cat language".

Nico Nico Douga's Best of 2010

Nico Nico Douga released its choices of the best videos of 2010 today. No.1 is the handmade frame animation "6566/6566 Bad Apple."

The video of that girl's great make-up technique that I blogged about was nominated too. Personally, I like this one: "An angry cat talked to me, but I can't understand it cuz I don't know cat language."

 

Dorodango

Do you know about Dorodango? They are mud balls. Actually, they're just handmade balls of mud. But since they're very simple to make and they look nice, like a big marble object. some people have gotten hooked on making them. Nifty Portal Z has a post on how to make dorodango today. And I found a "How to make Dorodango" guide in English, try it?

 

 

 

An Age Old Problem

He is back! Riot dog. :-)

 

An Age Old Problem - Japan

In Spain, a MUJI Xmas gift machine appeared. The machine is not related to the Japanese company MUJI at all. But it became a popular topic on Facebook and YouTube.

 

UFO in Sakurajima in Japan

 

Japanese Jikatabi!

WTHI :-) What's the correct way to use it?

Ah, this is cute: "Life Calendar: How was your day." You can mark and record your feelings on the calender. Is this a good holiday gift?

These are not Martin Margiela designer boots. These are Japanese carpenter shoes, "Jikatabi." Jika means "directly," and tabi are Japanese kimono socks. SInce they're light and easy to move in, Japanese carpenters wear them. This is typical carpenter's fashion. The too big pants are called "knickerbockers" too. But since they're professional work clothes, they're hard to find in regular clothing shops, though we can buy them at specialty shops like "Work Man." Work Man's clothes are professionals' clothes, so they are very reasonably priced and functional, for example their jackets are pretty good and warm. Anyways, today, some guy in his 30s was arrested cuz he stole some jikatabi from construction offices because he has a fetish for guy's Jikatabi smell. I can't imagine it and I don't want to imagine it.

 

Ahh, I don't have enough time to blog, I am super busy this December and also, we Japanese people have to do Oosouji - cleaning out for the year's end. I started with the entrance and a part of the bathroom. My American friend asked why do you have to do cleaning during the coldest season? I agree with that, after cleaning my body is chilled, but we love misogi, we love to start something new in a clean place with a clean feeling. I hope I can finish everything in 2010!!

A new movie it out: The Incite Mill. It's a Japanese horror film directed by Hideo Nakata. Ten people are promised a dream job, with an hourly pay rate of $1,200. They are taken to a remote underground complex and are locked up, forced to play a murderous game that will last for seven days. We called this kind of story a "closed circle,"  like the story "And Then There Were None." Actually, it seems very similar.

 

Ugly pets can make big money!

The US has the Ugliest Dog competition, and ugly pets are becoming popular in Japan. We call them "Busa Kawaii," which is a combination of busaiku (ugly) and kawaii (cute). Mako is a cat with a funny face, his owner started the blog "Mako in Wonderland" and the blog got to be very popular, so he published some books and released a lot of videos.

And Wasao is a funny faced dog with small eyes and a big nose like a pig. In his case, a popular travel blogger was in Aomori pref and found him and wrote about his face on her blog. She called him Wasao (wasa wasa means hairy and "o" is a male suffix used at the end of guys' names, like Kazuo Matsui) and he got to be famous and popular on the Internet. Next spring, his movie "Wasao" will be released. Hmm, ugly pets can make much more money than cute ones.

Purikura are Japanese photo booths where you can not only take photos, but add many effects to your photos. The most popular one is  the "big eye effect." A guy on Nifty Portal Z tried it out and blogged about his experience. I was amazed that these new purikura machines not only make eyes big, but add eyelashes too. Hmm, I wanna try it once.

 

cook pork in coke, it's delicious

This year's kanji is "HOT," and I pretty much agree. It's already December, but I still remember how hot it was this summer. Fortunately it is warm this December.

I am not sure if it is popular to cook meat by braising it in Coke? In Japan, some people use this method to cook pork. Actually, coke makes the meat tender and taste a little sweet. This is an interesting post from Nifty Portal Z, the blogger boiled pork using five different types of coke and ranked their deliciousness. His impression was that Coke is the best, next is just pork boiled in plain water, third was PEPSI, and other local cokes were terrible.

I have used coke to cook pork and it was delicious. Here is my recipe, if you have any interest, try it You need: pork, coke, sugar, soy sauce, ginger and scallions. If you have a rice cooker, put the ingredients in and push the button, that's all. If you don't have rice cooker, put everything in a pot and cook for at least two hours.