He replied! (返事して下さった！)

I talked to Alexander O. Smith. (Admittedly, though e-mail.) Somebody pinch me.

In my efforts to find a job in translation and/or the video game industry (preferably in game localization, but at this point I'll take what I can get), I decided it would be a good idea to e-mail some big names in the field. And really, who's bigger than Alexander O. Smith?

(If you don't know who he is, run here and here quickly to redeem yourself.)

Needless to say, he is a god among men, and the fact that he responded to my poor, naive, oh-please-tell-me-how-to-be-you-lord e-mail, in less than twenty-four hours, no less... Oh my goodness. I get the vapors just thinking about it.

And not only did he grace me with his words; he graced me with HELPFUL words! Oh, glorious day. Not to mention the fact that he responded to my second round of questions within hours. HOURS. The man is a benevolent god.

(... I should really stop, as there is that slight possibility he'll google my kowtow-ing hiney, find this, and be seriously disturbed.)

In any event, thanks to Alexander O. Smith, I am feeling much better about my life as of today. Still a little bitter about the rejection from the dream job, of course (I sneer as I pass by their website in search results... then invariably cruise their recruiting section, as I am a glutton for punishment), but I no longer feel as though I am at adrift in the world, at a loss due to over-specialization and without hope.

However, it means I need to start studying. And by studying, I mean studying. None of this mamby-pamby cruising through Speed Anki (although I'm sure it doesn't hurt) whenever I have the free time.

Admittedly, that might need to wait... as I have pesky thesis/classes to deal with now. Alas, we can never have all the time we need, and must trudge through life constantly wishing for just a few more hours tacked on to the end of each day. Or, you know, the ability to live without sleep. (Although I do enjoy sleep...)

I apologize if today's post wasn't exactly your cup of tea, but hey, I had an e-mail conversation with Alexander O. Smith. You're not getting much more out of me for a while.

This is Edo, signing off reassured about her future prospects.

So blonde is manly? (金髪って、男っぽい？）

Considering the fact that the event which inspired this post happened approximately a year and a half ago now, you'd think I would have posted it a bit sooner.

But, you know how it goes. Study abroad kids are lazy as all get out, but senior kids doing thesis... well, we'll leap at pretty much any opportunity that involves getting out of our designated niche for a moment or two.

In any event, Halloween 2008. Me, studying abroad in Kyoto. For lack of a better idea, I decide to dress up as a host, because, hey, get me some blonde hair-spray and a dangly chain earring, and I was all set. (I mean, I didn't have the pointy shoes, but I wasn't going to drop $100+ on this thing. Come on.) I had seen my fair share of hosts of the lower class cruising in the area of Kiyamachi on Weekend evenings, so I figured I had plenty of research under my belt to pull off the role.

But why was I dressing up? Well, my glorious senpai had invited me over to Osaka for the evening, for a party and perhaps some clubbing to be had for Halloween discounted fares. This of course equated to getting out of crazy okaa-san's house for almost an entire weekend (I'll give you that story later), so really, party or not, I was ready to jump on that invitation like a kappa on a cucumber.

But I digress. In any event, while I was effectively meant to be gender-bending for my costume of choice, I did not have the means (nor the desire, as apparently it's quite uncomfortable) to bind my not-insignificant chest, so I gave it up for a bad deal and just figured I'd be a host with boobs. There are worse fates, I'm sure. Needless to say, I didn't think I'd actually be fooling anyone that night.

So, I waxed up my hair into a suitably large host-do, sprayed it golden (which had the unfortunate yet amusing consequence of dying my nose hairs golden as well, I found out later when I blew my nose) put on my fabulous host outfit complete with shiny (though not pointy) boots, leather emblazoned jeans and chain earring, and I was off for a night on the town.

Of course, living with crazy okaa-san in Shiga-fuck-nowhere, it took a while to get out on the town. Had a few obaa-san stare at me on the train into Kyoto, but I wrote this off to the hair. It was pretty fabulous. Or it could have been just plain ol' "oh god white person in SHIGA?" shock, but you never know.

Switched to the subway at Kyoto and headed out to Shijo, and thought things were going swimmingly. Until I saw two women whispering to each other. While staring fixedly. At. My. Crotch.

So. Three things.

1. These women are staring, point blank and unabashedly, at some gaijin's crotch.
2. Presumably they are in question about this gaijin's gender.
3. They are too STUPID to look UP and see the BOOBS that might answer their question definitively.

Clearly, that white shirt and jacket combo I have is much more capable of hiding my bust than I thought. Oh, and those jeans apparently completely obscure my curves and rather, ahem, femininely large behind.

I got off the train, a little disconcerted, but none the worse for ware. Waited for Debs to show up, dressed up adorably as Hibari from Hitman Reborn, after which we had a tasty dinner of Mos Burger before heading out to Osaka on the gloriously cheap Hankyuu. I noticed that, the closer we got to Osaka, the fewer stares the two of us recieved. I attributed this to Osaka's generally accepting and awesome vibe. (Only later did I realize that I probably should have attributed this to the fact that I was heading into the host capital of the world on a Friday night. Hur.)

We met up with senpai and headed off to her fellow gaijin friend's party, where things went well, as apparently fellow foreigners were not in the least bit fooled by my get up. Good times were had by all, and I met some very interesting people, one of whom had shaved off half of his body hair (literally, on a vertical axis) for his costume.

However, after we left and dropped Debs off at the train station... things again became a little strange.

We ran into two (presumably rather drunk) girls while walking out of the station who were either thrilled to bits over either senpai's costume or my 金髪, I can't quite remember which. Regardless, senpai started chatting them up in Japanese, asking them whether they thought I was カッコいい or not. Oh, yea, yea, they agreed whole-heartedly, inquiring as to whether or not I was half. Ok, fine, in dim light, and with beer goggles, I could be half, whatever.

But then senpai told them that I was not, in fact, a man, and merely a college girl dressing up for the night.

Cue startled squeals and gasps abound, with a few 本当？！ to boot.

For goodness sakes, I think I had cleavage showing.

After this, senpai was convinced that she should take me out trolling in Shinsaibashi, seeing how many girls I could rake in to go to club "Mickey D's" with my apparently very convincing host schtick.

Ok. Let me make this painfully clear. I am very obviously a woman. I have been told this any number of times. I curve, quite pointedly. I bulge in the right places. I walk like a girl, and most certainly have a girlish face.

However, if I had a nickel for every time I was certainly or probably mistaken for a man while in Kyoto... (one time a guy actually asked Debs while we were out together whether I was a man or not on her way back from the bathroom. Come on, at least have the guts to ask me about it.)

So. The question boils down to this. (Oh, you thought it wouldn't all be wrapped up into some poignant thought on Japanese culture? For shame.)

Has gender become so ingrained into distantly obvious secondary characteristics (height, clothing, hair) in Japan, that clearly gendered secondary characteristics (curves, bust, bottom) must take a back seat when it comes to snap judgments? Is my 5'8" simply so tall as to be considered outside the range of possible femininity? Or am I just secretly so manly that Japan is picking up on it?

Or let's look at it linguistically. I do my best not to speak with a feminine inflection, as it tends to annoy me--acting meek and demure goes against my better nature. Is this affecting my gender image to such an extent that I am actually mistaken for a man?

In a similar vein, perhaps it's because I'm aggressive and unconsciously act that way in day-to-day life? If that's the case, again, has gender become so ingrained in how we act that how we look is no longer a consideration?

I'd really like to know, because frankly, I'd hate to be sending the wrong signals.

This is Edo, signing off a little gender confused.

But why not Japan? (何で日本じゃないの？)

Sometimes I wonder if I haven't over-specialized myself... or perhaps if I simply wasn't born in the wrong era.

As I sit at my laptop, attempting to cajole myself into writing a paper on gay male prostitution for my Gay & Lesbian Ethnographies seminar (which is boring as all get out, by the way... for future reference, take the word "ethnography" as a warning and stay far, far away from it), I realize how much more comfortable I am with researching Japanese culture.

I suppose in this case it may be somewhat influenced by the fact that the last time I wrote about male prostitutes (oh ho, sophomore year, how young and idealistic I was), they were from the Tokugawa period. And gosh darn it, if that wasn't a heck of a lot more fun. I desperately wanted to write about hosts for this paper, but could not, unfortunately, find any academic papers concerning the hosting lifestyle... at least in English. Unfortunately, I neither have the time nor desire to trudge through Japanese academia for the sake of the class I am mildly regretting taking. Not to mention the fact that I've only ever experienced male-catering hosts in manga, and don't actually know whether or not they exist.

I suppose I'm getting off topic a smidge. But, luckily, I've led myself to another topic I wanted to discuss, also spurred by the ol' G&LE seminar. In a few weeks, we'll be getting into "Asian" sexualities. Stick with me, my story gets better. While we are watching Okoge for that week's film, the speaker coming to tell us all about his life is an Asian-American. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm sure he's perfectly interesting, and has a lot to say. But he should be coming in to talk about Asian-American sexualites. Not "Asian" sexualities. This is a distinction that, sadly, many people just cannot make, and it ticks me off, possibly irrationally so.

It just seems so simple; all the professor had to do was say that that particular day's class was about "Japanese and Japanese-American Sexualities." Fine, sure, whatever. But no, that day is listed down specifically as Japan. Okoge is about Japan. There's a reason that our "Asian Studies" and "Asian-American Studies" departments are distinct, after all.

... and there I go again, getting righteously enraged and overly-protective about my adopted culture and any perceived slight. I really need to stop doing that.

Especially considering I am not, contrary to what it may seem, your average Japan-o-phile; I realize the problems inherent to the country and culture, and will indeed be one of the first to point them out to you and criticize, for example, how damn xenophobic Japan is and how the country as a whole needs to get over itself sometimes. (Hoo, I'm getting some letters on that one...)

However. In 2010, us "Westerners" should not still be falling into the trap of over-generalizing and lumping together everything and anything vaguely related to that mysterious land across the Pacific. Because really.

... you know, I think I may have alienated all 1.7 of my readers with this post. Oh, bollocks.

This is Edo, signing off, and hoping I haven't scared you all away.

Life seems nice in the hotel. (ホテルの生活はよさそう。)

Ah ha, almost lost my daily mojo, but no, then I went and watched a movie I felt the need to tell you all about.

The Uchoten Hotel, while not a thrilling action movie, is very satisfying nevertheless.



I actually discovered it over the summer... admittedly while cruising through a listing of Katori Shingo's (my second favorite member of SMAP) former roles. However, I've seen it twice now and would watch it again, so huzzah for random happenstance, I say. According to, again, Wikipedia, it's a "2006 comedy film... reminiscent of the Holloywood screwball comedies of the 1930s and 1940s... [which was] nominated for 11 Japanese Academy Awards." Does "screwball comedies" mean anything to you? I'm certainly lost.

In any event, it's something of a mellow movie that follows the lives of a large handful of people, including staff and guests, at a fancy-schmancy hotel on New Year's Eve. At it's base, The Uchoten Hotel is a cheery kind of movie that encourages you to keep chasing your dreams, and to do what you want with life, not what others want you to. A good message I think, especially coming out of a culture notorious for submitting to societal peer pressure.

While the movie focuses somewhat on the Hotel Accommodation Manager as he tries to keep everything together, it's very even handed in dealing with everyone's problems, from the Chairman down to the bedraggled prostitute that has chosen this particular hotel for cruising. Even if you get bored with one character, don't worry, things will switch up in a minute (everyone is, however, inexorably intertwined.) You even get to see the back-side of political corruption, which is both amusing and morbidly fascinating.

The only problem with this, of course, is its capacity for abuse, in particular when they did it with YOU--an aspiring "singer" who's pushed around by her boss. The problem is, in my opinion, that she can't act, and she certainly can't sing. Also, she needs a sandwich. Or twenty. (Seriously. I've seen much more of her skeletal structure than I ever thought possible.) If you're into breathy-voiced frail actresses who look like they're lost half of the time, they may have been right on the ball here, but frankly, I think she just wanted in on the movie and was a big enough name to have it done.

But aside from that note, I do highly recommend this movie. A definite turn-around from my last recommendation, I know, but hey. I am nothing if not eclectic. If character-based, coincidence-prone, slice-of-life stuff isn't for you, you may want to pass this one by, but everyone else? Go for it. Tell them Edo sent you.

(And on a personal note, this movie may in fact be the reason I was cruising through hotel job listings for the better part of an afternoon a month or so ago.)

Punks are people too! (ヤンキーも人間やで！）

Oh dear. Seems I've awoken with a headache, yet again. Sometimes, this chronic migraine business is a major pain. (And when I say sometimes...)

But will that stop me from being vigilant in maintaining my regular blog updates? Of course not! Perseverance is my middle name! ... or, at least, ornery-stubbornness is. But we know how we'd put it on a job application.

Today, I thought I'd venture into some new ground... I can't just do music all the time. Well, I mean, I could... but with my lack of true music knowledge, I think the attempt would be somewhat misguided. No, today, we will instead look at two things: the movie ドロップ　(Drop) and the ヤンキー culture it portrays.

First of all. ドロップ.


Saw it in a crowded Nara theatre with my then-boyfriend, drawn in by my love of (a) Mizushima Hiro and (b) ヤンキー movies. The first of those is easily explained. Mizushima Hiro is, according to the latest polls, the sexiest man in Japan. I loved him when he was simply Nanba in 花盛りの君たちへ, the guy who was way hotter than Oguri Shun but was for some reason shunted to the background. Well, he certainly got his comeuppance now (ironically co-staring with Oguri Shun in Tokyo Dogs... but we'll talk about that later). Not only is he a rather good actor who speaks perfect English (and I mean perfect, oh my goodness, it gives me the chills), he's a super-nice guy. He's also good friends with Kimutaku after MR. BRAIN... again, something we'll get into later.

(Just a forewarning: I admit to having a deep, passionate, Kimutaku-loving streak in my body.)

In any event. Before I digress further. Mizushima Hiro stars (along with Narimiya Hiroki) in this movie (based on a manga which was itself based on a novel, as far as I can tell) about a kid (Narimiya) who leaves his nice, fancy-schmancy private school to transfer to a public school in order to join the local gang of roughnecks, led (somewhat) by Mizushima's character. They (sans Mizushima) find him bragging to the girls in his class on (what I presume to be) his first day, lead him out of the school to the river, where Mizushima himself is kicking the piss out of some poor rival gang member.

Oh, right. Did I mention? If you don't like violence, this is very much not the film for you. It is, after all, about ヤンキー, or punk kids. To give you a hint, one of Mizushima's first lines in the movie (which he repeats later) is 「人はそんなに簡単に死なねぇーよ。」

Don't let the violence turn you off, however. Ultimately, it's a story of bonding, in one form or another--strangely enough, that just usually seems to start with fighting.

Unfortunately, I can't give you any more in exposition--partly in order to refrain from spoiling anything, and partly because a large portion of the beginning of the movie is Kanto-dialect, dialogue-based exposition... and I have never seen this film with subtitles. I honestly don't know if it's even been popularized in the West to the point where it would get them yet.

However, I highly recommend this film. I have seen it any number of times, and have a great desire to continue doing so. While it may be criticized as being too long (it does drag on a bit) and there's no way in heck these actors are believably middle-school kids, it's very enjoyable. There are laugh-out-loud moments, and nicely choreographed fight scenes, if you're into that kind of thing. Also, if you're like me, it's sort of a rush to see the usually mild-mannered/play-boy type Mizushima being a total hard-ass punk.

... guess I'm not very technical with movies either.

Now. The ヤンキー issue in general.

Japan knows this is a problem. Apparently, there's a rash of delinquent kids (mostly middle-schoolers) getting into fights, damaging property, and generally causing havoc when they're supposed to be studying. It sounds like a pretty bad deal, and an issue which the people would be eager to solve.

But lately, it seems to have been... popularized. ごくせん has had three seasons of Yankumi teaching ヤンキー kids, and there's a new special every time I turn around. The movie Crows was so successful it just had a sequel, even though it is, at it's core, about the politics of gang wars. ドロップ, of course. GTO, to some extent, involves the same ideas. 下妻物語 (another of my favorite movies) deals with female ヤンキー in the form of a biker gang. Even I myself admit to having been drawn in; I said so right at the beginning of this post.

So, what is it about these delinquents that draws us in? Generally, they're not diluted to a great extent. They still fight, speak in a vulgar manner, and show a general disrespect for authority. None of these are technically "admirable."

Is it that we tend to implant other idealistic qualities onto them? ヤンキー in movies tend to have a rigorous code of honor. They protect the other members of their gang, are loyal to the end. Also, although less commonly, there's the "punk with a heart of gold," or a ヤンキー who deep down is a kind, caring individual, who just has that surface later of kick-the-snot-out-of-everyone issue to deal with.

And then again, are these implanted qualities after all? If you've ever seen punks on your evening train ride home, you'd whole-heartedly say yes, I have no doubt, but then, are these the same level of ヤンキー that we see in movies? Are we portraying the pinnacle of punk achievement for our own entertainment? Is there really some of the old 武士道 left in the "good" ヤンキー of today?

Or are we just fooling ourselves and trying to make a major social problem look attractive and interesting?

I see a paper in this somewhere.

Hopefully leaving you with something to think about, this is Edo, signing off.

Continuing on. (前に進むしかない。)

If only. Unfortunately, I think it will be quite some time before I truly get over my job rejection. However, I needn't act that way all the time.

Instead, I will keep up with my resolution to maintain this blog (on a daily basis? surely you jest!) with my random thoughts concerning things Japanese. Because hey, why not? I like to write it, I'm sure there's someone out there amongst the world's six billion that likes to read it. The odds, they are in my favor.

Today, we will continue on in the vein of music review/suggestion, simply because it was the first thing that came to mind. Also, quite frankly, it's the easiest thing for me to write about. I'm not claiming any deep musical knowledge (I play guitar after all, I can't even read music), but I am familiar with a fairly wide set of Japanese artists, so I at least have something to play off of.

Today's discussion will be on Superfly, a band (or... well, technically solo act, but it used to be a band... She was compared to TM Revolution, if that helps you out at all) I discovered through watching SMAPxSMAP. Yes, I adore SMAPxSMAP. We'll get to that later.

According to Wikipedia, "Superfly is a Japanese rock act that debuted on April 4, 2007. Formerly a duo, the act now consists solely of lyricist and vocalist Shiho Ochi with former guitarist Koichi Tabo still credited as the group's composer and part time lyricist." So there you have it. (I love Wikipedia.)

While the song she performed with the SMAP guys was Allright!! (which can be heard/watched here), which is a very catchy song that prompted me to go out and listen to the album from whence it came (Box Emotions) the song I wanted to talk to you all about today is a non-single, アイデンティティの行方. (It can be heard here, but there's no PV for you to watch.)

First of all, you must know that I don't traditionally like female vocalists. Namely, because I'm not particularly fond of high feminine vocals. Notice Superfly's sultry voice. Major points. (This is also why I have a particular fondness for Mai Yamane... something we will also get into later.)

Also, in particular regards to アイデンティティの行方, I have a strange liking for vocals that seem to be... oh, I don't know, jerked off of the tongue in a rush. スガシカオ does this kind of thing a lot (like in the verses of this song.) When it seems like a normal person would be tripping over singing the line, but in fact it comes out perfectly? That sort of thing. The verses in this song have a lot of that going on.

Not to mention the above average level of vocabulary. Maybe I'm just easily impressed, but, really. Because when you're using 金輪際 to say never, that's pretty darn cool. If you're so inclined, you can see the lyrics here.

I don't mind telling you that this is one of those songs that I've found myself listening to over and over again... I really need to stop doing that. Somehow I develop cravings for a song which just can't be satiated with one play-through. Do you ever feel that way? Or am I just a special kind of crazy?

In a final note, I'm not really sure what genre to call Superfly. Clearly, she is rock, but "J-Rock" has such connotations... namely, V-Kei ones, which it shouldn't. Oh, heck, watch me break stereotypes with my tags. Whoo-pee!

Until next time, this is Edo, signing off. (... I may stop doing this last bit eventually.)

Long time no see...again? ( また。。。久しぶり？)

Good morning, kids. I apologize for the long lack of... well, anything resembling content. After returning from Japan last May, I thought I was rather done with a travel blog.

But after being rejected from my dream job earlier this morning, I had a revelation. If I want to get myself out there in the world, I've got to do something about it myself. The sad fact is, I'm a little over specialized. Sure, a Japanese major is great if I'm destined for professor-dom, but for anything else? Er. Kinda... worthless?

Turns out, companies actually want skills aside from the ability to write twenty page papers on Tokugawa homoerotic literature. Who knew.

So here I am, making this blog something worth while--or rather, something worth reading--in the hopes that I'll attract some attention to myself. A futile attempt, perhaps, but never let it be said that I didn't try.

As you noticed, I've dropped the bilingual act. (Except in the title...) I apologize to all of those who were attracted by this aspect of my blog. I may write Japanese posts in the future, but making every single post bilingual is... how shall we say... a time suck. And quite frankly, if I'm going to make an effort to actually update this thing regularly, I can't very well make it a time suck now can I.

So. Now dawns the new era of my blog, in which I will discuss... well, basically my thoughts and anything and everything Japan-related that comes to my mind! Aren't you all so excited?

Today's topic: 独壇場Beauty, Buck-Tick's new single.



For all of those who don't know: I am a major Buck-Tick fan.

Buck-Tick, founded in 1985, is often heralded (along with X-Japan) as the band that began the Visual Kei movement. That claim is more easily justified if you look at some of their older works. They quite reasonably have evolved beyond that point. In that vein, I, of course, maintain that V-Kei is dead, and all those that persist at it are horrible, horrible musicians who are waaay too late into their selected genre(I'm looking at you, GAZETTE.)

Unlike a number of bands, Buck-Tick has continued going strong since their debut, separating for a short time to do single work, but quickly re-joining to produce more albums as a band. Twenty-five years later, they're still producing excellent music, and Atsushi, for one, is still as aesthetically pleasing as ever. (Feel free to argue, but I think he's the only one. The rest have not aged as well.)

Now why, you ask, have I begun my trek into the music field with Buck-Tick, and not my beloved Dir en grey?

Well, honestly, Buck-Tick just released a single today, and Dir en grey didn't. They released a single in December, and quite frankly, it isn't as catchy. More head-bangy. But I digress.

独壇場Beauty (which roughly translated to Unequaled or Unrivaled Beauty) is a very catchy song, which demonstrates Buck-Tick's current tendency to lean further away from the hard rock genre. I'm uncertain as to whether this is a sticking trend (there weren't many "hard" songs on memento mori) or whether the next single will rival Dir in its heavy bass lines. At the same time, Atsushi has never been a screamer or a growler, so I assume it's fairly safe to say that all of you border-line rock fans will find something to like in Buck-Tick. Give this single a listen; it's a pretty good representation of their more current works. Personally, I think they're only getting better, but it's a matter of opinion, of course.

I promise I'll be more technical in the future, once I figure out what you people want from me.

In other, more personal news... yes, the rejected from the job thing is true, and the depression, she is hitting hard. I have applied for the CIR position with JET as well, and will hear back from them in a couple of weeks, theoretically. If that's also a no-go, I'm looking at English-monkey-town for the next god-knows-how-many-years. And quite frankly, English-monkey-town is pretty expensive to get into. Life, she is tough for us 外人　who want Japanese jobs.

However, I will persevere. Wish me luck, oh readers.

This is Edo, signing off.