台風／Typhoon

今夜は台風１７号で空が大忙し。飲みに行こうと思ったけど、家に留まっててよかった。

Stormy is just the word I'm looking for. It's windy out there, but there isn't the kind of thundering and lightning we had a couple of weeks ago.

結構終末っぽい写真になりました。窓開けてたら気持ちよかった。「家」の中は安全です。

the color of happiness

I think is gray.

何となくここ何日間か幸せに満ち足りてます。なんでやねん？

It's been a gray few days, but somehow I've felt really happy all the while. It may be because I'm getting a lot of sleep.

The view of houses is different from city to city, but the feeling I get is the same each time...

日本での発見／Discoveries in Japan 2: Movies are pricey

I had heard about the notoriously expensive movie-watching-in-theaters-experience in Japan, but I cannot not go see a movie from a director I like if it is playing within walking distance. But 1,800 yen? That's more than 20 bucks! Crazy...

日本の映画館が高いとは聞いていましたが、まさかこんなに値が張るとは······でも最後まで観客が静かに座っていたのにはもっと驚きました。一回は行ってみるべき。でも次回からはビデオにしよっと······

日本の謎／Mysteries in Japan 2: Halloween

ハロウィーンって、日本のホリデーだったっけ？街の至る所でハロウィーンの宣伝を見ます。コスチュームやら、キャンディーやら、ぬいぐるみやら······日本って、ハロウィーンの伝説とかに当てはまるのかいな？

でも、日本のカボチャは美味しいし、コスプレも見慣れてるから、あんまり違和感無いのかもしれない······なんて。でもお菓子は断然日本のの方が旨いと思う。

Was Halloween a Japanese holiday too? I see ads and goods for Halloween all over the place—at the grocery stores, the department stores, even at real estate agencies. Was the All Hallows' Eve stuff applicable in Japan, too?

But pumpkins in Japan are yummy and cosplay isn't uncommon, so maybe Halloween will actually fit right into Japanese culture...minus the cheap/gross candy.

日本での発見／Discoveries in Japan 1: Sun God's cousin!

昨日サンリオピューロランドの方へ歩いている途中、随分と見慣れた物が目に入りました。な、なんと······あれ、サンゴッドのもっとイビツな奴じゃん？

思った通り、彫刻家はニキ・ド・サンファル。作品名は『蛇の樹』。やっぱ派手やな〜。

As I was walking toward Sanrio Puroland yesterday (no, I wasn't going there), I saw something out the corner of my eye that reminded of something close to home. Wait, is that...Sun God? WTH?!

Check it out if you find yourself near Keiō Tama Center station and compare it to our school's finest.

日本の謎／Mysteries in Japan 1

この、日本の窓によくくっついてる赤い三角形、何ですか？私が子供の頃、よく父のオフィスのある建物の窓でも見かけました。でも、一体なんだか分からないまま大人になって······

母の提案：「あっちが下って意味じゃない？」と。母ちゃん······

What is this red triangle that I often see on windows in Japan? I used to see it on the windows of my dad's office building when I was a kid, but I grew up never actually knowing what it means...

My mum's suggestion: "Maybe it means that that way is down." Oh, mum...

[一晩 3,000円の窓からの景色！]

見ました、『サマーウォーズ』

待ちに待った『サマーウォーズ』。最初は吹き替えだったからショックだったけど、根性で字幕のやつをネットで探して見ました。やっぱり感動。

ストーリーのテンポもよかったし、一人一人のキャラクターが一生懸命になる所もよかった。時々自信を無くしたり、自分に素直になれなかったり、思いがけない人に励まされたり······そういう、人生の中である、色々な事を考えさせてくれる映画でした。

そして、公式サイトに載ってるポスターが一々好き。シンプルで、でもなにかをフッと思いつかせてくれる様なポスター、大好きです。サイトのポスターのセクションから、クイズの問題に答えると、幾つも見られます。

あ〜、でも、夏と言うとやっぱり映画ですね。この前『母べえ』を見て、その時もやっぱり涙ボロボロでした。 今度はボックスティッシュ側に置いておこっと。

on being a migrant

hot darn, yo, moving sure is a pain.

I heard that moving is up there on the list of most stressful things in life, next to divorce and lay-offs. But imagine having to move to a foreign country where you don't really speak the language.

Well, OK, that doesn't apply to me in this case, but finding a place to live, enrolling in national health insurance, registering as a resident, etc., can be kind of a pain.

But that's nothing compared to being an adult responsible for spouse and kids, or being without documentation required by some government, or needing a job, or having to constantly be on the move. I still can't really swallow the justification for the idea of citizenship, but someone must be profiting a whole lot from all this people moving around in the world...

nameless tree, or, being a proper Japanese woman

As Poirot once said, what you and I don't know could fill volumes. And one of those volumes would be a book about plants—flowers and trees and such. With that in mind, I am thinking of learning the names of flowers and trees, so that when I come across one, I would know what in the world I was looking at.

Some people can hear birdsong and identify the bird singing. I'm not particularly interested in birds, but I like flowers and trees, so this should be fun...

It'd also be nice to be able to identify musical instruments in orchestral pieces, or maybe voices of singers...or maybe composers of classical pieces? Or maybe spices in cooking. Or fish? Like, if I eat a fish, I'd know what in the world it was...

Is that what being a connoisseur is...?