Nabe Festival

So, yesterday, there was a big Nabe(1) Festival in the neighbouring town (20 types of Nabe and free sake). Some friends and I were in a line waiting for some Curry Nabe but we were eating bowls of the previous Nabe while waiting (a carefully laid plan to make sure we were never without food), when a TV reporter comes up and says "Hello!" to which I balk and say "こんにちは", cue the "OMGZ, Japanese!
We were left wondering about what went wrong, when I remembered the story Erik told me about SMAP, Will Smith and Carlize Theron eating soba together on Japanese TV (2) and was like "Shit guys! We forgot the 'MMMM, OISHIIIIII!' Our news piece is in ruins!".

Apparently it wasn't that bad and came on TV (so my teachers said), though I'm sure they Katakanized(3) me -_-;

(1) Japanese hot pot.

(2) Japanese TV shows are huge on having big stars come and have deliscious foods and then act like they are about to die from sheer ecstacy. Will and Carlize, however, went with the subdued mild nods and 'mmm, so good. I've had soba before, and this is pretty good.' to the shock of Japanese people (I'm sure).

(3) The script used for loan words, but used on TV for weird sounding Japanese and FER'NERS.

曇天

土曜日なのに、今日仕事をした（泣）。でも、聞いたことないすばらしい曲を聞いた、「曇天」という曲だ。（実は、今日は晴れだったが（笑））

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvjVVv4viaY

なぜかわかんないけど、今日体育館で５と６年生がコンサートをした。六つの歌を歌ったが、その六つ以内、「曇天」だけ聞いたことなかった。

歌詞もよかったし、音楽もよかったし、精一杯歌ったし、ほんとうに感動した。だから、その曲をちょっと翻訳してみた。興味あれば、読んでくれ！

鉛の空
A lead sky
重く垂れ込み
Runs heavy as it reveals all
真白に澱んだ
It muddies the pure white
太陽が砕けて
Destroys the sun
耳鳴りを尖らせる
And sharpens the ringing in my ears

ひゅるりひゅるり
Round and round
低いツバメが
The low-flying swallows
(Old translation: The soft swallows)
８の字なぞって
Make a figure-8
ビルの谷を翔る
And fly over a valley of buildings
もうじきに夕立が来る
Soon the evening rains shall come

曇天の道を
On a road in cloudy weather
傘を忘れて
And having forgotten her umbrella
歩く彼女は
A girl is walking
雨に怯えてる
Fearing the rain
ので僕も
As for me
弱虫ぶら下げて
I'm a coward who stays still
空を仰ぐ
And looks up at the sky

あちらこちら
Moving here and there
あんよは上手
Adept at toddling
珈琲屋に寄った
Making it to a coffee shop
一休み極めたら
But staying too long on a break
帰れない　帰らない
I can't go back, I can't go back

曇天の道を
On a road in cloudy weather
ぶらりぶらぶら
Aimlessly going to and fro
歩く二人は
Those two walking
足軽のごとく
Seem more like foot soldiers
危険好きの
誰かのふりをする
Pretending to act like someone who loves danger
小心者共
Though they are cowards

曇天の道を
On a road in cloudy weather
傘を忘れて
And having forgotten her umbrella
歩く彼女は
A girl is walking
雨に怯えてる
Fearing the rain
ので僕も
As for me
弱虫ぶら下げて
I'm a coward who stays still
空を仰ぐ
And looks up at the sky

1250 characters down.

And that's all that really matters right now.

One week...

And 1.5kg down. I've now hit the weight loss rhythm I had set out for at about 3lb~ a week (which is still healthy!), so I think I'll be sticking with the current plan.

Best thing about this diet is it doesn't feel like a diet at all. Everything else had left me with death hunger and general lethargy, but this seems to be working out. All I did was lower my daily caloric intake from about 2100~ cals a day to about 1800~ cals (by substituting one meal a day for 2 soyjoy bars), replacing soda and sugary drinks with green tea (it burns cals I tells ya), and doing moderate cycling for 40 mins a day (while watching doramas) and an intense 2 hour workout session on Saturdays (club sport, so I'm doing something I love anyway).

Things have been on the up and up so far, currently 73.6 kgs, and should I lose another 1.5kg in the coming week, I'll hit my Wii Fit target weight and finally be in the 'healthy' BMI range, whoo.

Everyone is telling me I look different, but I haven't really noticed any changes yet.

The moment when I realized my diet may be getting out of hand...

... was the moment I found myself frantically looking up the caloric content of a grape before accepting a few of them from the office lady (2-3 calories btw, depending on size, of course).

BUT! But, I've gone down 3 kgs since Sapporo, so things are working, despite the craziness of it all.

"Women can forgive insensitivity, but being insensitive to your own feelings is no good."

Before I talk about the movies I've seen since I last posted, here is a brief gaming update. Finished Metal Gear Solid 3 and God of War 2 finally, and I've bought MGS4. I'm giving myself a while to adapt to MGS4 after beating GoW2, so I might really pick it up tomorrow. And though it goes without saying, it's an extremely beautiful game.

I've gotten pretty good with my T6 Asuka at my arcade, so much so that I'm usually ranked somewhere in my arcade's top ten every week. I can't wait for it to come out on the PS3, so I can stop wasting $30 a week on it in the arcade.

In any case, here are the movies:

手紙 (or Letters) - Good actors, good subject, great movie. Letters is about the correspondence between two brothers after the older one is sent to prison for murder. The movie deals with the harsh reality of the older brother's crime and the discrimination the younger brother takes for simply having the same blood. One thing worth mentioning is the actor playing the older brother is great in this movie, even though he isn't on screen long. While I had two small plot annoyances (if you are trying to avoid discrimination and recognition, why would you become a comedian and date Richie McRichness?), the story is very well held together by excellent acting all around and the last 20mins are absolutely fantastic (I just keep rewatching it). Verdict: With the choice of English subs, this is another 'must-see' movie for anyone. I watched with Japanese subs and understood most of what was said (they were two conversations that I had to replay with Eng subs to get everything).

そのときは彼によろしく(or At that time, say hi to him for me). 純愛, a pure love movie. All you need to know about this genre can usually be summed up in two words: magical illness. While SonoKare is not exempt from that... trait, it does a lot of this differently than your avg Jpn love movie. I'm not going to spoil anything, but the movie is about 3 childhood friends who have drifted apart over the years and who are trying to make things like they used to be. No particularly good performances (the main actor of Letters is the main actor of SonoKare, but doesn't bring the same calibur of acting sadly), but the story is decent and it does something new with the genre. Verdict: If you're tired of the generic Jpn love movie, then this comes highly recommended. No English subs, but not hard to watch in Japanese at all, even when they start describing aforementioned magical illness.

しゃべれどもしゃべれども(or Talk Talk Talk). A movie about 落語 which are Japan's traditional one-man comedy routines. In brief, a Rakugo artist in training takes on 3 very different students who, while learning rakugo for their own reasons, help him perfect his art. Hilarious movie with some poignant scenes (nothing over the top though). Strong performances all around (particularly the Osaka-ben speaking kid), and a very interesting subject that I didn't know much about. Verdict: With English subs, I'd suggest this to someone with an interest in Japanese culture and art. In only Japanese, there were a few tricky parts and the stories were a little hard to follow at first, but with repeated tellings they became much easier to understand.

Also, if you happened to be interested in Japanese movies, but would rather watch them with English subtitles, look for 英語字幕 on the back of the case. A lot of the newer Japanese movies seem to have subs.

Let's Movie Talk!

...But before that, obligatory 'earthquake' post. So, at around 9am, while I was still in bed, I was woken up by a tremble. I immediately knew, "This is bigger than the others have been" so I got up immediately and rushed to the door frame (interesting fact, prior to the earthquake, I'd never seen or heard that you should do that from anyone, but in a Simpsons episode, Grandpa runs to the doorway after he feels a tremor and before his retirement home sinks underground. So there you go, when I panic, my brain switches to Simpson mode). On the way to the door, I slip nice and good, before rolling to the door frame and getting up. I see my LCD TV shaking perilously and wonder if I should go support it, but eventually decide my life is a smidge more important (also, I had no glasses, so I might have tripped on the kotatsu on my way to the TV). The earthquake eventually stopped, then after about an hour, after I clean up the soy sauce which has fallen around my fridge, I notice my knee is bleeding. The End. Oh, there are still lots of tremors. Not Quite The End.

In all seriousness though, I'm glad that most people were safe and I hope we don't get hit again.

Now, on that up note, I want to talk about the movies I've seen since my last post. I've really become addicted to Japanese movies, now that I realize I can understand them (of course, my e. dictionary comes in handy for words like 'false accusation' and 'tone deaf'). These movies didn't have English subtitles btw, but that's one of the main reasons I picked them.

So the movies were:

あなたをわすれない or, I Won't Forget You. The movie is based (loosely, I'm sure) on the life of a Korean student who loved Japan and decided to study Japanese there (here?). It mostly deals with the love-hate relationship he feels with Japan. Considering it was a joint Korea/Japan movie, it surprisingly leaned to the side of "Geez, why are the Japanese such jerks to Koreans?". Slow, methodical Japanese made it very easy to understand (but damnit if his Japanese didn't get all fluent in the short time he was here (there?) *shakes fist*) and the story was ok. But, for a movie that seemed to deal a lot with music, there wasn't much of it in the movie, but the last song was pretty good. Verdict: Good for someone stepping into Japanese movies without Japanese subtitles as the conversations are basic and slow.

犯人に告ぐ or, Message to the Criminal. This is another 'listening comp. only' movie. The budget seemed pretty low on this movie, and it seemed like they were desperately trying to set up a sequel, and the end happens a little too fast, but the movie still worked. It's your basic game of cat and mouse, where a disgraced detective directly confronts a child serial murderer by using news broadcasts. I enjoyed the beginning, but it slows down after it's first act. It picks up towards the end, but leaves something to be desired. Verdict: Ok 'thriller', except that it doesn't thrill too much. Language level is a bit high, especially without Jpn subs.

キサラギ or... Kisaragi (I got nothing here, it's a name). Great, great, great movie. An excellent dark comedy. The basic premise is that a D-list celebrity has died, and her 5 fans have come together for a farewell party. From there, the murder accusations fly and the twists begin. What works is that the plot is extremely smart and it constantly balances between being hilarious and sad. While a comedy, it carries itself seriously to it's conclusion. I laughed, then cried... then laughed again. Verdict: Go watch it. The plot and the acting are top-notch. One of the best movies I've seen in a while. I watched it with Japanese subs, though I probably could have done without. The language level is medium, I'd say.

That's about it! If you have any Japanese movie suggestions, lemme know! (Anything that's not Shunji Iwai, I've seen too many of his movies)