I Was Reading Today

I like reading about J-POP in English.

It reminds me of a good old period ten years ago, when everyone, having watched their first five anime immediately had a general and complete theory about Japanese society and culture.

Mind you, it all got sophisticated now. The field of general and complete theories about Japanese society and culture does not exclusively belong to uneducated gaijin anymore. Nowadays, there are also educated Japanese, somewhat educated gaijin, somewhat educated gaijin, uneducated Japanese, somewhat educated Japanese, uneducated half-Japanese, somewhat educated....oh, I bet you know where I am going with that by now.

A user formerly known as snts26 recently dug an Oricon survey which shows that J-high school girls like L'Arc en Ciel, Porrno Graffiti and Bump of Chicken and unearthed a tremendous conclusion:

1.) "it`s all because of anime shows":

As far as I can remember, both the songs from L'Arc and Porno were used as
the theme of the Full Metal Alchemist few years ago. The junior highs school
students who used to love this anime show were interested in these groups – that
makes sense.

Yes indeed you cannot argue with such arguments. Two bands are popular because they had song (one song) used in an anime (one anime) a "few years ago". Totally.

2.) "recent high school students are becoming conservative"

Obviously, it sounds like crap. But after reading further we begin to understand the story behind the author. You see, he proves that:

according to my personal scientific observation held at Shibuya and
Ikebukuro few days back, there were only 2% of young girls who put on short
skirts or short pants. Even when they put on short skirts, they also put on long
pants under it. I was very sad.

Oh, ok. Now we know everything we want to know about the user formerly known as snts26.

First, let me get something straight.

The act of observing short skirts or short pants of young girls is not something I can bring myself to look down on. Not at all.

But you don't piss where you sleep.

You don't build a dumb groundless theory just to rationalize you being a perv.



Speaking of theories I don't really like, I very much prefer (as in: don't like much less) those that sound cool and in the same time too general to be ad hoc accused of groundlessness, like the one about "legitimacy" of artists who sell well during market growth.

(And I mean, we all love Marxy. But with Teddy dead and everything, perhaps which should be cutting down on outdated superficial rants about J-Pop never changing and such).

proper education as a preventive measure

Czy juz wspominalem, ze Japonia to cudowny kraj, w ktorym wszyscy sa mili , a gazety sa dostarczane kazdego poranka z bankierska punktualnoscia, lekarska dyskrecja oraz lokajska uprzejmoscia?


Ha, moze i dobrze, ze nie wspominalem.


So, like, should I cancel my subscription?

Cucumbers

Oh, silly season.


Today's headlines roar about the iphone launch and desperately try to make it a story. Fortunately for the bored pundits, some poor souls actually lined up all night to make sure they are going to get the thing in the morning. A heartwarming reportage on NHK covered the night of a 35-year old Satou, an average company employee, who decided to sacrifice his good night sleep to wait outside a Tokyo Apple store.

Why?

No, not in order to catch a glimpse of Ueto Aya, (which would be perfectly understandable)

but simply to purchase his own touchy panel of joy.

Satou eventually succeeded and boy, was he excited. Of course, it was already morning when he did, so Satou had to run straight to the office, with a perspective of staying there for the next twelve hours at least.

But!!!

A surprise awaited him.

When our protagonist entered the office, the whole room greeted him with a cheerful ovation. All the colleagues sincerely praised Satou for his determination and helped him install the software on the company computer. Nervous, Satou unsuccessfully tried a few times, but finally was able to say:

"iPhone is safely connected as of now. Thank you for you support, everyone."

And the applause was heard again.

In the sounds of slowly dying euphoria, a wonderful new day of work has begun.


Oh, silly season.


How about popculture? Same, I'm afraid. Nothing, nothing, nothing happens lately.

Sounds like just the right time to work on my lag, so I went a couple of months back and got the Superfly album.

And it was good.

While the compilation didn't amplify my feeling towards Shiho Ochi, it sure didn't weaken them either. The singles are great, the rest - not so much, but really, four quality songs on an album must be good enough, especially nowadays, especially in silly season. I deem it so, even if the result of collaboration with JET is a bit of a disappointment.

Go hippie!!!!!!!!

Japonski Szpital cz.2: "Cewnik wlasciwy"

Dzis w autobusie przypomnialo mi sie co tak naprawde chcialem napisac o japonskim szpitalu. A przypomnialo mi sie bo japonski autobus wyglada tak:

1.) jest cisza i nikt nie rozmawia
2.) z pasazerami komunikuje sie natomiast kierowca, przez glosnik, i robi to obficie.

Dzis na przyklad, kierowca komunikowal sie tak:

(czas jazdy = ok 12 minut)

(wsiadam)

W imieniu miejskiego przedsiebiorstwa komunikacyjnego dziekuje bardzo za uprzejme skorzystanie z autobusu linii x840, jadacego w strone Shirakawy, zatrzymujace go sie w Oritate i Takegawara, za chwile pozwole sobie ruszyc, prosze uwazac na ped autobusu, stojacym pasazerom uprzejmie przypominam, ze autobus rusza nagle i powoduje to niejaki ruch ciala, jesli panstwo pozwole to poradze, ze lepiej sie czegos szanownymi rekami trzymac. Pragne takze poinformowac ze w zwiazku z nieprzewidzianymi okolicznosciami typu wypadek istnieje rowniez mozliwosc taka, ze autobus nagle sie zatrzyma. Z gory przepraszamy i prosimy o wyrozumialosc. Dziekuje bardzo.

(ruszamy)

Autobus rusza, prosze uwazac. (...) Od tego momentu na trasie wystepowac beda ostre skrety, uprzejmych pasazerow radze trzymac sie naszych slabych poreczy.

(lekki korek, rowerzysci)

Pragne panstwa przeprosic i poinformac ze obecnie, z powodu jadacego przed nami rowerzysty bylem zmuszony obnizyc predkosc pojazdu. Z tego powodu przewiduje trzy-czterominutowe opoznienie w naszym rozkladzie. Wielce spieszacych sie w rozne wazne miejsca, do ktorych ja nigdy osobiscie nie bede godzien pojsc, pasazerow, serdecznie przepraszam i ubolewam nad calym zajsciem.

(wyminal rowerzyste)

Manewr wymijania udalo sie zakonczyc powodzeniem nawet mnie, slabemu kierowcy ktorego spotkal dzis zaszczyt prowadzenia autobusu z panstwem. Teraz, pozwole sobie zwiekszyc predkosc pojazdu. Prosze uwazac. Dziekuje za wyrozumialosc. Jeszcze raz serdecznie panstwa przepraszam za opoznienia spowodowane przez rowerzyste, ktorego z braku innych pomyslow w mej slabej glowie, musialem wyminac. Pokornie prosze zapracowanych panstwa o wybaczenie i zrozumienie.

(wysiadam, kupuje bilet)

Przystanek Oritate, Oritate. Wysiadajacych pasazerow prosze o sprawdzenie czy zabrali panstwo ze soba wszystkie swoje fantastyczne rzeczy, ktorych ja jeszcze dlugo nie bede mial. Prosze rowniez pamietac, ze autobus ciagle znajduje sie w stanie ruchu i wstawanie z miejsc nie jest w dalszym ciagu wskazane dla panstwa dobrego samopoczucia. Aby uniknac niebezpiecznych sytuacji, uprzejmie prosze nie ruszac sie z miejsc az do calkowitego zatrzymania naszego slabego pojazdu.

(do mnie, indywidualnie)
W imieniu calego przedsiebiorstwa dziekuje panu uprzejmie za skorzystanie z naszej linii autobusowej numer x840. Jednoczesnie przepraszam pana za czterominutowe opoznienie, i mam nadzieje ze nie skomplikuje to pana szanownych planow. Sieciowka za 5000 jenow? Tak, oczywiscie prosze pana. Czy jedna, slaba sztuka wspomnianego biletu zadowoli pana? Dziekuje uprzejmie za zakup. Jeszcze raz przepraszam. Dziekuje bardzo. Przepraszam. Uwaga, pozwole sobie teraz zamknac nasze niegodne pana drzwi. Prosze panstwa, bede zamykal drzwi.


Tak wiec, w japonskim autobusie spac sie nie da. Ale to nie tylko autobus, to cala kultura, i wlasnie tutaj dochodzimy do paraleli ze szpitalem.

Otoz, wyobrazcie sobie sale operacyjna, znieczulenie tylko dolnej polowy ciala, a wiec wszystko kumasz i mozesz uciac sobie pogawedke z panem chirurgiem i siostrami. Co jest fajne, ja na przyklad mowilem o swoich planach badawczych, pan lekarz w trakcie operacji zauwazyl "hmm, to chyba jednak nie nowotwor...Aa, wytniemy, co tam" i tak dalej, sielankowa atmosfera.

Mam do wiernych czytelnikow jednak pytanie. Czy wolicie jak operacja przebiega w ciszy i oszczedzone sa wam rozmowa i niektore, nie bedace niezbednymi, pytania?

Czy moze wolelibyscie wieksza kontrole nad dzialaniami, wiecej szczerosci z pacjentem? Innymi slowy, moze wolelibyscie, by zakladanie wam cewnika przez siostre wygladalo tak:

A teraz dokonam zabiegu zalozenia szanownemu panu przyrzadu sluzacego do swobodnego odplywu moczu. Czy wyraza pan na to zgode? Dziekuje bardzo. Bardzo prosze poinformowac mnie o ewentualnym bolu lub niedogodnosci w czasie zabiegu. Teraz podnosze szanowna koldre. Czy moge? Dziekuje i przepraszam pana najmocniej. Teraz, trzymajac w jednej rece medyczny obiekt w postaci rurki, dokonywac zamierzam wlozenie owej rurki w szanowny cel. Czy moge? Dziekuje bardzo i przepraszam jeszcze bardziej. Szanowny cel jest juz zarurkowany. Dziekuje panu za wyrozumialosc i zrozumienie dla mnie, slabej w gruncie rzeczy pielegniarki, i pozwolenie mi dokonania zabiegu na pana szanownym narzadzie. Zycze szybkiego powrotu do zdrowia, dziekujemy za wspolprace i przepraszamy za niedogodnosci. Dziekuje bardzo, przepraszam bardzo.

obituary srobituary

Zaleglosci w gazetach mam i dopiero teraz przeczytalem, ze George Carlin juz wiecej nie przeklnie.


Goodbye, G.

Saturday Evening And I`m Watching Anime. Smells Like High School.

Animax offered me three cute anime shorts about siblings today, and the Production I.G. one was not even the best one.

(intriguing first sentence /off)

Takane no Jitensha, the winner of the 6th annual Animax story&script prize, was the simplest, yet structurally most consistent one of the pack. Obviously inspired by a million things (guess and write me), the strength of the story lay in its cohesion, not originality. Thumbs up.

Since I was not offended by the quality of Takane no Jitensha, I decided to watch the awarded movies from two previous years, respectively Yumedamaya no Kidan and Riri to Kaeru to (Ototo). The second one was funny as hell, and definitely the best one in terms of dialogues and character interaction. And the songs!

Yumedamaya was, well, let`s just say it was so characteristic that I find it hard to believe guys from P.I.G. didnt change (juuust a little) the original script to fit their vision. Way too much action and way too much animation for a 20-minute movie. Needless to say, it was great.

It`s unfair to compare them more thoroughly, so I leave it as it is.

Three cute sibling stories. Very much watchable.

Oh Yeah? Well White People All Look The Same Anyway

In case you wondered what happened to the lovely Younha from a few years ago, who used to sing about comets and other important things, just like in this one:





then rest assured for she`s back. Apparently, now her name is Okamoto Rei, she lost her singing ability as well as scents of korean accent, traded her piano for a guitar, spiced up the lyrics ("ASS"! as in: "明日"! Low? Hey, I was entertained), and became a smashmouth in your face hardcore fuck school rebel.

No resemblance? Well fine, I lied.