Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful Holiday! Be safe on your travels! See you all in 2009!

The End.....Or is it?

I can't really begin to explain how wonderful these past eight weeks have been. Being able to share something I am so passionate about with all of you has been such a treat! When I started this class I just knew that I would be in for it, night after sleepless night of writing essays. But to my surprise, this class would be requiring none. This class would only be requiring blogs! At first I thought this was a joke, there is no way an English teacher would have us doing blogs. But this was no joke, I was elated and knew exactly what I would blog about. Week after week I was able to read all of your blogs and I was able to learn more about what each of you like. During that same time, I would write on my blog and be able to share with you what I like. I can remember so many times when as soon as I got home I would rush to the computer to check to see if I had any comments on my blog. If I didn't have any comments on my blog then I would check back every 10 minutes until I had at least one comment. I am very glad I had this opportunity to take such a fun and unique class. Thank you Julie for making it happen and thank you all for making it much more enjoyable. From learning about relationships,politics, going green, firefighting, family relationships, nutrition, fashion, diesel, offroading, the View, relationships in the work place, superstition, and criminology, I have become more aware about many new things and ideas. Thank you all. Now, you may be wondering if I will continue this blog or not and of course I will! I have enjoyed this experience so much that i wont let it end now. Feel free to continue to check my blog, comment, and leave me topic ideas. I look forward to hearing from you!

For some of you this may be the end of your blogging journey. If that is the case, then i leave you with this last video. It is a music video to the song Weeeek by the music group NewS. The meaning of this song is to cherish everyday becasue days and time go by so fast.

Did You Know?

Here are some things I bet you didn't know about Japan.




-Did you know there is a hotel in Tokyo almost the size of a coffin?

Tokyo is a fun place but no visit is complete without a stay at a capsule hotel. A capsule hotel is a hotel with a series of coffin sized cubicles that visitors rent for the night. Each capsule is stacked side by side and two high. They are covered with either a curtain or door. visitors share a bathrooms and most cubicles have a small TV and WiFi connections. This type of hotel is definitely not for the claustrophobic.

-Did you know that there is no tipping in Japan?

Yes, you heard me right, there is no tipping. The price that is there is the price you pay. Some times foreigners do not know this rule. Many waitress and waiters will take the tip anyway to avoid having to explain things to you in broken English. In some places tipping is considered to be very rude.



More things I bet you didn't know.



-Christianity comprises less than 10% of the Japanese population (Interesting 1)



-Normal Japanese kitchens don’t have ovens (Interesting 1)


-The bathroom is not where the toilet is found in a Japanese home (Interesting 1)


-You don’t wear shoes in the house, you wear slippers (Interesting 1


-There are special slippers for the toilet (Interesting 1)



-A traditional Japanese toilet looks like a urinal lying on the floor (Interesting 1)

(I just had to show you what it looked like)

-The “WALK” lights on Japanese street corners make a chirping sound so that the blind can know when to cross the street (Interesting 1)



-Japanese subways are very clean and safe (Interesting 1)



-Japanese cars are mostly the same size as American cars (Interesting 1)



-In Japan, fair skin is regarded as beautiful (Interesting 1)



-Refrigerators in Japan are tiny (Interesting 1)

- Did you know that I have never been to Japan?

I am very passionate about Japan and I do a lot of research to keep myself well informed but i have yet to take a trip to Japan. (Although that might(note that I say might) change in March of 2009 if im lucky!)



For more interesting facts see

http://www.tooter4kids.com/Japan/interesting_facts.htm



Works Cited

1) "Interesting Facts About Japan." Interesting Facts. 9 Dec. 2008 .
<http://www.tooter4kids.com/Japan/interesting_facts.htm>

Japanese Movies

To keep current with my recent posts about Japanese Pop culture and Entertainment I am going to share with you two of my favorite Japanese movies Death Note and My Neighbor Totoro.

Death Note is a movie about a college student named Light Yagami who finds a supernatural notebook on his way home one day. Light soon comes to realize that who ever's name is written in this notebook will die. Light also befriends the previous owner of the notebook, a Shinigami (Japanese for Death God) named Ryuk. Light develops a god complex and begins to try to rid the world of evil. Although Light's original intentions are good he soon becomes power obsessed and the number of unexplained deaths catches the attention of the police and a mysterious detective called "L." Light is known to the public as "Kira" ( the Japanese pronunciation of killer) and "L" and the police will stop at nothing to capture "Kira." This movie has two sequels, Death Note: The Last Name and L Change the World which are equally as good. I am not sure the original rating of this movie but I would give it a rating of PG-13 for mature themes (i.e. death). I really enjoy this movie and each character has something unique about them that really helps to make this movie entertaining. My family really likes "L." If you see the movie you will discover some of his quirky habits that my family finds to funny.

Death Note Trailer :

By the way, Shinigami love apples!

My Neighbor Totoro is an animated film by Hayao Miyazaki. This movie is about a family who lives in rural Japan and the magical creatures that live in the forest next to them. This movie is a great family movie and gives you a glimpse of everyday life in a Japanese household. The creature Totoro, whom the younger daughters in this movie befriend, is a very big icon in Japan. It would be very hard to find someone in Japan who doesn't know who Totoro is. Other wonderful movies by Hayao Miyazaki are, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, and Princess Mononoke. Each of these movies are produce by Studio Chibli who work with Disney to bring these movies to America. If you have younger children, Totoro would be a great family movie to watch. Totoro has an English dub so there is no need to worry if you cant speak Japanese.

Japanese TV Shows

Another way I stay connected to Japan is by watching popular Japanese TV shows. When I moved here on base I was very excited to find out that my cable provider (Verizon) had a Japanese channel. Yamada Taro Monogatari and Music Station are some of my favorite shows on that channel. It is always fun to learn about a different culture by watching their shows!


Yamada Taro Monogatari (山田太郎ものがたり) is a TV drama about a poor boy and his daily trials and tribulations. Ninomiya Kazunari (二宮和也) and Sakurai Sho (櫻井翔) from the music group Arashi (嵐) star in this drama. If any of you have seen Letters From Iwo Jima then you should recognize Ninomiya Kazunari because he has a role in that movie. His character is Army Private First Class Saigo. Yamada Taro Monogatari translates to The Story Of Yamada Taro. This show is a comedy and my family and I enjoy watching it. Yamada Taro is a high school boy and as you watch the show you get to see the comedy that occurs in dealing with high school life, juggling part time jobs, his six younger siblings, a travelling father, his mothers reckless spending habits and the fact that everyone at his school thinks he is rich because he is attractive. There are ten episodes total of Yamada Taro Monogatari and each episode is just as good as the last.

Here are links to sites where you can watch Yamada Taro Monogatari with English subs. You will have to switch back and forth between the sites because some of the links are broken.
1) http://www.mysoju.com/yamada-taro-monogatari/
2) http://www.watchdrama.com/yamada-taro-monogatari/

Hey!Hey!Hey! is a talk show. On this talk show two hosts interview popular Japanese singers, music groups, actors, and actresses. Normally they interview the celebrity in front of a live audience and then if the celebrity is a musician he or she then preforms his or her song to the audience. I like to watch this show because I like to know more about Asian celebrities and I am always hopeful that I will see the ones I know. They discuss anything and everything on the show. Sometimes the hosts and the celebrities participate in games on the show.

I originally had posted a clip of and interview with a music group but I recently found out that the link was broken so now I have a new clip up. In this clip the hosts and the guests are watching a man try to speak English and if they laugh they get whacked in the butt.



Music Station is a program where Japanese singers or music groups preform. Each week they count down the most popular songs from that week and then the musician preforms his or her song. This show helps to update people on what music is popular and it is also a good show to watch if you want to learn more about Japanese music in general. I especially like to watch this show towards the end of the year because they have a Christmas special in which many musicians gather to preform. At this special I am guaranteed to see someone I like.

Here is a clip of a popular girl group called Perfume:

New Music

I just want to let you all know that I have changed the music on my blog. I will now be playing Christmas music. I looked for some nice Japanese Christmas music but none of it was any good so on my blog I will be playing Korean Christmas music sung by Tohoshinki (DBSK, TVXQ) whom I have mentioned many times throughout my blog. I bought this Christmas CD in June and I am excited to play it for you all. I hope you all enjoy it!

Potential Analysis Paper Sources Pt 2

I am still having trouble finding any site that I find to be useful and similar to my blog. I did come across a site that has potential. It seems to focus only on Japanese Pop culture but that is better then nothing because the other two sites I have focus on Korean Pop culture.

New Site:
http://burndvdburn.blogspot.com/


Other Sites:

http://shasha-dbskforever.blogspot.com/

http://dbsker.blogspot.com/

This is kind of funny because I just realized that all my sites are on Blogger.