Happy Hallowe'en! In celebration at Aeon, we've been wearing our Hallowe'en costumes for the past 6 working days (as you can imagine.. our costumes weren't particularly fresh by the end)! Jen and I worked hard to make our costumes (we bought fabric and used the magic that is superglue), and although she felt strange wearing a costume, I on the other hand may have discovered a new cosplaying hobby.. *ahem*
Heart Catch Pre Cure is an extremely popular animation series by the same studios as Sailor Moon. In fact many students thought that I was Sailor Moon, which made me very happy, but I was in fact Cure Blossom!
Disclaimer: As this is a public blog, I have not uploaded any pictures showing young students' faces.
Xor is leaving Japan tomorrow (November 2nd 2010) to move back to Seattle and live happily ever after! I've been working with her for 14 months, and earning 'teacher of the month' at Aeon goes a long way to say that she was an amazing, hard-working, always genki teacher, and she will be sorely missed :'(
As always, a Farewell party of 63 people was held at Watami, followed by the biggest karaoke group ever- a little under 30 people turned up to sing Xor off in style!
The new teacher and Xor making their speeches and traditional kampai toasts
I can't believe Christmas is just around the corner, time is really flying, and the surprise birth of a new baby girl cousin really showed me how cut-off I am from home!
I'm thinking about you all, so please don't forget me in a hurry!
Hello! I'm back after a little hiatus of posting-ness. News: Things have been busy and I've been making my Hallowe'en costume; We're getting a new foreign teacher next week, as Xor is leaving for Seattle soon. In the last 3 weeks, I've climbed Mt Takao with my Japanese school, been studying Japanese, gone to a Hallowe'en-themed Disneyland twice (see below) and just worked very hard!
Me and my Japanese school and my teacher, Yoshida sensei
D is for..Dogs
As cats were to the Ancient Egyptians, dogs are truly royalty in Japan. Babies are expensive, so dogs are the perfect option for Japanese couples. And not forgetting the Tokyo apartments, pint-sized breeds such as dachsunds, poodles and chihuahuas are very popular pets. While I do appreciate Welsh Corgis for putting my country on the map, seeing middle-aged women carrying around chihuahuas in purses like a certain Paris Hilton is nothing short of disturbing.
Dogs also come in prams, cross-species costumes and traditional clothing.
D is for.. Disney!
As a society surrounded by characters literally everywhere (to the point of being downright patronising.. I refer to Census-kun (right), the mascot of filling out the census this year), it surprises me that there is room for foreign characters- yet there is an abundance of Miffy, Moomins, the Smurfs and of course Disney.
There is a simple rule to changing a name to fit the Japanese model, take a character's name, and add "-chan" if it's a girl.
Take Minnie-chan, Marie-chan, Ariel-chan.. I could go on.
The upside to this never-ending "kawaii-ness" if not one, but two Disney theme parksin Tokyo!
Disneyland Tokyo is a replica of Disneyland Paris and Disney World California, except the rides are rather tame, yet it still keeps the lovely magic atmosphere!! Fortunately there is Disney Sea, where alcohol is sold, and the rides are definitely scarier!
Here is a re-post of the entire video hopefully everyone can see.
The crew including Aeon Hikarigaoka, Oizumigakuen and other friends
Two guys having a fag at 3240m..
C is for... Convenience Stores (combini)
Need a comic book, a can of beer and a salty, flavourless ready meal at 4am? Well, if you're in Japan, you can be certain that there are at least 4 convenience stores within a 5 minute walking radius of your present location. Best of all, they're all open 24 hours!
Here's an introduction to Japanese combini's, along with my official rating:
#1 Lawsons (Ro-sonzu)
An American chain. I put Lawsons in first place for its variety of alcoholic beverages choice, fruit and vegetable prices (often the same as a supermarket) and its recent 'own brand' cheap assortment. It also has a variety of stores including 'Natural Lawson' where the sandwich packaging is recycled, 'Lawson Plus' and 'Lawson 100', a ￥100 store (at today's exchange, 74p).
The staff are always friendly and happy, and the store is always clean and bright! They always have cute character promotions, and I managed to get hold of a free Lawsons flannel which made me pretty attached to the chain! It's also the closest store to my apartment ^^
#2 Family Mart (Fami-ma)
A Japanese chain store. Also clean, bright, friendly staff and a good selection of comic books. The alcoholic drinks choice isn't as good though.
#3 7- Eleven (seben ereben)
An American chain, and the most successful chain in Japan.
Also, according to my knowlegable friend Jen, 7-Eleven was apparently the first combini to sell onigiri, a staple snack consisting of rice with some filling wrapped in seaweed.
It has an ATM (very useful) and had a Pokemon stamp collectign game this summer, which was nice ^^ But I'm not such a fan of the food or drink there, and a toilet I once used there was just weird. It wasJapanese style (squat) and there was some kind of step *shudder*
#4 Daily Yamazaki (though I call it the Daily Yakuza!)
I generally try to avoid this chain unless I can't find another one. It's always empty and the staff look miserable..
#5 ampm
This store would be in at number 2 except.. it does not sell alcohol!! I don't know how this chain can possibly stay afloat in Japan. Disappointing. Shun!!
#Other- Buy the Way, Korea
This convenience store is near Ellen's house in Seoul. What an amazing name!!
C is for...Cosplay and Games Console Convention @ Tokyo Game Show 2010
On Sunday 19th, Richard (my co-worker) and I headed to Chiba (east of Tokyo) to attend the annual Tokyo Game Show, which in a nutshell is a convention for the video game industry to advertise their new software/consoles! Unfortunately, Nintendo didn't show up (which was a real shame as I wanted to see their 3D display Nintendo DS due for release next Spring). There was also a Cosplay (costume play) section, where attention-loving dress-uppers posed for the camera!
Richard and I queued for almost an hour and a half in the sun before getting in. It was pretty busy!!
First stop- the Xbox Kinect demonstration. Kinect is a controller-free game- where you move your body to play the game. In the first picture I've raised my right arm, which signals the "A button" aka "Ok". I played a snowboarding game and believe it or not, I beat the demonstrator!!! I then successfully filled out a questionnaire in Japanese ^^
Free games testing :D
Male heaven: There were endless cute and sexy women promoting the games and handing out flyers!
Cosplay
Phew! Thanks for reading such a long entry! Sayonara for now!
