Summer is on its way

Hi Everyone,

Well it's starting to feel a bit like summer is on its way the need for multiple layers of clothing is all but gone and heating is no longer an important thing. This week was an office week for me(no office school) I did 2 team teach's(where you teach at someone elses school together with them) at different schools with Ian and Sally. The rest of the week I spent in the office. On Sunday we had a CM(combined meeting) with all the native teachers(like me) and the japanese teachers from the Kumamoto and Kagoshima areas, it went pretty well and it was nice to see everyone since we only do this once every couple of months. Afterwards a few of us(maybe 20 out of 80 or so) went out for drinks and dinner, it was nice. Nothing else happened this week mainly due to the fact that its getting towards the end of the month(i'm paid monthly) and I was a bit low on funds.

This week I thought I would talk about one of my absolute favorite all time animes The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱 Suzumiya Haruhi no Yūutsu) which I have only discovered since moving to Japan. It was one of the hit animes from last year(in Japan of course). It combines good music, good character design, good dry humour and an interesting storyline. One really cool thing is the fact it was purposely made to be shown in a non-sequential order, the 1st(or 0th) episode is in fact not central to the series but a movie created by characters in the series and for the rest of the series the story jumps around all over the place so that the last episode is in fact an early to midpoint of the series but since its also the emotional climax it seems to work out great. The series combines a normal school setting but jumps into music, sporting, mystery and romantic situations, while also including aliens, time travellers and espers(ESP psychic-ish) but including them in such a way that your not quite sure how real it is. In short its weird, its cool, its funny and a great show to watch.





One really cool thing is that the ending song "Sunny Sunny Fun" (ハレ晴レユカイ Hare Hare Yukai) has a fully coregraphed dance and in japan several groups of people have learnt and performed it in public(and often in costume) i've included a You Tube video of both a live action and the anime version.

The picture today is of a model of the character Yuki Nagato from the anime, the model is by a group called E2046 and is from their customised GATHERING line of models, its pretty expensive but i'm very tempted to order it since I plan on buying 1 high quality anime model while i'm over here in Japan and this is by far my favorite as of now. The e2046 english language website .

Happiness to all

Hi Everyone,
Happy belated easter to everyone, however given that its not actually celebrated over here you'll have to forgive me for almost forgetting its existence. I celebrated with some easter eggs sent from Australia and when on the day I decided to have a look for easter eggs in Japan, the only place I found any was a store which imports foreign confectionary and even there the range was not huge.

Continuing on the happiness topic, the week on wednesday April 11th I turned 23. Again this was not a huge thing, i've never been hugely into celebrating my own birthday and even ignoring that fact due to business on everyones part and a lack of funds for a few(including myself) having a get together was a bit of a task, so instead I ended up going out having a nice dinner and some drinks afterwards, it was enjoyable.

Teaching is going fine, its the 2nd week of my new curriculum and i'm starting to settle into it. We've also got a summer school curriculum, which although summer school is still a fair way of we need to starting getting prepared for and familiar with at this stage.

The picture this week is one of me(or at least my head) and some Kubrick collectable toys. Kubrick figures are created by the Japanese toy company Medicomtoy. The 2 larger ones on the ends(the "Hardcore Punk" and the "Maid of Goth") are both hikimono(regular) ones of my choice, 2 smaller ones are Be@rbricks and are randoms from blind boxes(like the figurmate anime/manga ones i've already talked about) the black one has the nifty quote "Too fast to live Too young to die" and a skull and crossbones on its chest. Those 2(which are froim 2 different series) are both rare(4.16% distribution) and are one of 2 kinds(out of 12 total) which is designed by a known Japanese artist, the other 1 is even rare(1.04% distibution) and are worth alot and is almost impossible to get. Kubricks, both bear and otherwise cost about 400 Yen($4) and as such every once in a while I treat myself to one from a really great little shop called Zap collectables which stocks a lot of imported and japanese collectables, the ladies who work there are also really nice and one of them can speak a little english. I was first intruduced to Kubrick's by a fellow teacher- Ian who has been a collector for quite a while now.

Life goes on (Death takes a holiday)

Konichiwa mina(hi everyone),

Well I was back in Okuchi for a 2nd week this week, we had a couple of brandnew classes which was a different experience(kids with no or almost no english experience) and the new curriculum came in cause some confusion for student parents and teachers alike. That aside it was a good week and i decided to put a photo of Okuchi on my blog, its from my hotel room and is pretty much what all of okuchi looks like(the town anyway).

In other news its my birthday this week(april the 11th) and despite this due to business on everyones part and lack of money on mine i'm goin to be working on my birthday(its okay though its only 1 class), however i'll probably go out for a nice dinner and some drinks afterward.

On the otaku front I thought i'd talk about Genshiken: The society for the study of Modern Visual Culture which is a manga(comic book) and also an anime(cartoon) about all things otaku. Its actually about life in general(work, relationships etc.) but by focusing on the members of a college club(genshiken) which is devoted to otaku pursuits(and made up of otaku's and Saki who's totally non otaku but has an otaku boyfriend) it also has alot of otaku content from Cosplay, to plastic modeling and everything in between. People should be warned though its very much an adult manga aimed at people of around university age since it also covers ecchi, hentai, doujinshi's and all of the other perverted sides of the otaku coin as well. Personally I enjoy it but it would probably be hard on a person without any interest in manga and anime to undestand alot of it.

Its Hanami time

Hi everyone, its Hanami time in Japan. For those of you who don't know what that means it is Sakura viewing time(or Cherry Blossom viewing time). Sakura are quite a big part of japanese culture so this time of year is when people go out and sit drink and be merry under the sakura. Its really beautiful and a nice feeling. I think Hanami parties are one of the reason that easter is non existant in japan. Anyway the picture today is of course of some sakura.

As for me i'm fine. I'm going down to Okuchi for the 2nd week in a row(i spend a few days in a hotel due to distance) thanks to a new schedule, due to the fact its the new school year in japan, i've also got some new curriculum which i've been trying to learn. Apart from that there's not much to tell.

On things otaku related(although in this particular case not really). I can highly recommend the manga series Yotsuba&! or Yotsuba to!, its not something i would normal look into since i'm very much a lover of warped comedy, sci-fi and fantasy, however this caught my eye it's by the creator of Azumanga Daioh(a warped humor school comedy similar to Pani Poni Dash! but less extreme) and it revolves around the world through the eyes of a 6 year old girl named Yotsuba(four leaf clover, and her hair style reflects it) and each chapter is Yotsuba & something. And although yotsuba is a bit strange the whole thing comes down to viewing the world through the eyes of a child and its central theme of "Enjoy Everything". Its well worth a read even if your not particularily into manga, the first 3 books have been released in english by ADV manga and should be findable in Australia etc. A simple yet really nice chapter had Yotsuba standing out in and loving the rain and then when the rain is over she looks out with wide eyes and happily shouts "ITS SUNNY!", i'm not quite sure why i do but i just love that image.