An exciting kind of weekend. (興奮させる週末やん。)

Which is why my updating schedule got all out of whack.

Again.

But that's not what we're talking about here.

What we're talking about is the fact that I had a fantastic weekend with Melon, surprisingly right here in good ol' Matsusaka (and a little bit in Tsu, admittedly.)

Which admittedly made going back to work today all the more painful, but what are you going to do. That's just the way the world works when you're a contributing member of society.

Anyway.

Bullet form (somewhat), just because I'm lazy.

1) Melon arrived on Saturday night, and we got ourselves some Hakata-style ramen.

Admittedly, not the best Hakata-style ramen, but after you've have 一風堂 (ippuudou), there's just no going back.

Good enough, anyway.

We then went home, and watched late night Japanese television on the brand-spanking new (to me anyway) TV that is now in my room.

(Thank you, boss.)

I really love late-night Japanese TV.

2) Sunday was a busy day.

We were supposed to go to the post office to send in my JLPT registration, head over to work to show Melon my day-to-day life, to Honeys to pick up a shirt I had ordered, then out to lunch, all before coming home, getting all rock-oshare'd up and heading out to the live.

The post office being closed kinda threw a hitch in that plan.

Admittedly, I guess most post offices are closed on the weekends, but having had access to the mondo Kyoto-eki post office for so long... I guess I got a little spoiled.

The rest of the afternoon went off fairly well, though, even though we should have hit another hitch--we showed up at the Italian restaurant I had picked just after they had "closed" for dinner preparations. Luckily, the owner was feeling kind, and let us come in and eat.

We then went home to get ready for our rockin' evening.

And rock did it ever.

Despite the early start (4:30 open and 5:00 start? What, did you have to make it home for your bed time, guys?), both bands put on excellent performances--even though I went in thinking that I would greatly prefer DEATHGAZE (who unfortunately only got half an hour on stage), lynch. was excellent live, and I thoroughly enjoyed both acts.

I am currently suffering from headbangers-neck, which is truly the sign of an evening well spent.

I wanted to buy a cell-phone strap from both bands, but unfortunately DEATHGAZE had priced theirs out of my humble range.

My ticket stub went into their bucket at the beginning (indicating why I had come that evening), so I think that makes up for it, really.

3) Monday was also a busy day.

After wondering what to do, I ultimately decided that we needed to go and see BECK, since the nearby theater (Tsu is nearby, when it comes to movies) was having their customer appreciation day, discounting tickets by almost half.

And we'll take any excuse to see a bit of Mizushima Hiro action, admittedly. 

And it was actually quite a good movie, which I am very happy to have seen in theatres.

...aaand if this were a movie post I would summarize it for you.

But it's not, so I won't.

Maybe some other time.

Anyway. As we had to drive to Tsu, and as it was quite a long movie, that took up most of our daylight.

But that's all right.

Because our last bit of excitement did not require daylight.

That's right.

温泉 (onsen, hot spring) time.

Or really, more like 銭湯 (sentou, public bath) time, but it was good all the same.

And ridiculously cheap.

An excellent way to end a weekend.

Because I've told you before.

There is nothing better than naked time.

Especially naked time with your best friend at the close of an excellent weekend.

...admittedly more late night television was pretty good too.

But it was really all about the naked time.

...so much so, in fact, that I am tempted to go back myself this Friday after work.

Because damn. I'm already tired.

Ahem.

All in all, excellent, excellent times this weekend, and certainly enough to make me think longingly and nostalgically of only 36 hours ago.

... can you use nostalgically that way?

This is Edo, signing off feeling nostalgic no matter what you say.

Thank you, COSMOS! (COSMOS, ありがとうよ！)

Seriously. That super-market is a wonder among wonders.

Not only did it provide my absolutely spectacular and inspiring lunch today, it also let me know that there are young and attractive men wandering the streets of Matsusaka.

...admittedly, they may all be married with children.

At the same time, though, it's a good thought to have.

Also, another man who appeared to be young and attractive through two layers of tinted windows turned to watch me go by on the drive home, so that's nice.

...admittedly, it may have been more "oh god gaijin!" than "check out that babe!," but I like to think that with my black hair and sunglasses, it's rather difficult to tell my race when I'm driving.... ergo, I can trick myself into believing the latter with a very reasonable amount of persuasion.

And although I write after my trip on Thursday, this will be my Saturday post. Because I can do that, and goodness gracious when I can write a post so far in advance, why not!

Anyway, as you may have guessed by the tags, I've decided to share my amazing lunch with you. Because, along with being simple, delicious and (I think) healthy, it is a dish you can make easily in either Japan OR America-land! How cool is that.

Edo's Spectacular Tuna Salad

Software:
Green-Leaf Lettuce
Balsamic Vinegar
Olive Oil
Canned Tuna (one small/medium can)
Black Olives
Lemon Juice

Hardware:
Salad Bowl
Small Bowl (for mixing dressing)
Fork (for eating and tossing; save dishes!)
Spoon

Notice how I didn't put any amounts up there, aside from the tuna. That's really because this is another one of those "taste" recipes. You need to either (a) experiment, (b) taste test, or (c) have a really good idea of how much of each of these flavors you generally like in a dish.

...look, I said it was simple, not that it was necessarily easy.

Tear up enough lettuce to either fill your salad bowl, or make what you think will be enough to fill you up for the meal ahead. You want a good amount, as it's sort of the only vegetable going into this salad, oddly enough.

Drain your tuna (I used the kind packed in oil, but water is fine too) and fork it on top of your lettuce, trying to separate it as much as possible.

If you, like me, love the flavor of balsamic, put equal amounts of balsamic and olive oil into your dressing bowl (I used about a teaspoon each) and mix well to get something of an emulsion going on. Don't worry if it's not too uniform; it will still taste just fine. Pour your dressing on top of your lettuce and tuna, and toss well to coat.

Slice up your olives, and toss a handful or so on; this is really up to you, and you can even leave them out if you, like my mom, are just not that into olives. You could also try adding capers, but man, capers are expensive, and I'm saving them for pasta.

Finally, after that's all tossed together, squeeze some lemon juice on top; I used half a lemon's worth, but I really like lemon. Of course, you can use the kind from a bottle, but... you know it just won't be as good.

Toss one more time for good measure.

 And voila! You have Edo's spectacular tuna salad, excellent alongside some nice french bread (which I had, thank you again, Cosmos) for a light lunch. Eat while watching a mid-day Japanese talk show for the full experience.

...a mid-day Japanese talk-show featuring Mizushima Hiro et al, or the cast of BECK.

Which I must see.

Because oh my goodness.

Two posts in a row of fan-tarded-ness... I should probably start cutting back.

This is Edo, signing out with a stomach full of salad and a mind full of beautiful Japanese men.

PS- For those of you interested, I have found something hip and happening to do in Matsusaka! Huzzah!

I... am going out this Saturday evening. All oshare-d up in my own rather punk-ish fashion and ready to dance my hiney off.

Hopefully all my dreams will be fulfilled and this will be the start of my new and exciting social life in Mie!

Wish me luck!

Pretty and smart to boot! (佳麗の上、頭がいい！)

You know, it's not really good for my ego to check how many readers I have on a daily basis. Every once and a while, sure, but daily?

You people are so fickle. Why must you leave me so often? Why must my audience drop by factors of three regularly? It's tough to bear!

I guess my only choice is to continue producing quality material in the hopes that you will one day see the light...

And to, you know, keep that one e-mail subscriber I have feel that he/she's getting their money's worth. I do my best, my friend!

...though I am reverting to the old stand-by today. It's a good stand-by, what can I say!

Not to mention that I was watching it yesterday as a for of stress relief.

Oh yes, MR. BRAIN...



They began advertising it about a month before I left Japan. A drama with both Kimutaku and Mizushima Hiro, I said? How can you go wrong, I said?

...no, that wasn't a build up to a fall. I apologize for the convoluted writing.

MR. BRAIN is everything you could ever hope for and more.

Except for maybe Mizushima Hiro's hair. That's a little... meh.



I mean, so a perm vomited on his head. I'm sure it wasn't his decision.

And besides, when you're next to the fabulousness of Kimutaku's hair, there's really not a whole lot you can do, competition-wise.



Just look at him. No one's topping that. It simply isn't conceivable.

(... does the editorial content of this blog suffer whenever I begin to gush uncontrollably over this man...? Just checking.)

Ok, all right, enough with the aesthetic appreciation, and on to the actual meat of the matter. Again, from the lovely DramaWiki, because I am nothing if not a lover of the block quote:

Tsukumo Ryusuke is a quirky, yet brilliant neuroscientist working for the National Research Institute of Police Science. Wielding a unique perspective and psychology, Tsukumo tackles the nation's most baffling crimes and scandals, going head-to-head with the most brilliant and twisted criminal minds. But his eccentricities and poor social timing can also aggravate people and circumstances, further complicating matters.

... man. I don't even want to credit that to TBS, because it's embarrassing for them. Step up those summarizing skills, guys!

What the conspicuously FAIL to mention is the fact that Kimutaku Tsukumo was originally a host. Yes, that's right: Kimutaku was playing a role where he sold his body nightly.

I won't say a thing.

Anyway, during a rather bumbling but charming moment (he was attempting to help a woman who had broken her heel), Tsukumo, the average, not exactly intelligent yet extremely beautiful host, gets hit by a falling scaffolding.

That's right, you guessed hit.

Brain Injury => Super Brain Powers.

Because the American media never does scientifically unreasonable things like that. No siree bob.

...

Anyway.

After some rather poor explanation and a time skip, we come to the present day, where the now super-intelligent yet super-weird (personal space issues and an obsession with bananas anyone?) has been hired by the National Research Institute of Police Science.

Also, the equipment they give him is quite impossible. Admittedly, as this is, theoretically, the height of classified technology, it is conceivable that such things do exist, but as it stands... holographic projectors and massively capable touch-screen desks with the ability to absorb information directly through the screen.... Forgive me for being a little bit dubious.

However, if you know that any of this definitely exists, please, do tell me. I'm just as ready and willing as the next guy to squeal over exciting new technology.

Anyway.

Even if this wasn't a drama starring Kimutaku and Mizushima Hiro, it would be a pretty decent Police Drama anyway. As it is, we get to spend a lot of time watching Kimutaku being an eccentric genius (do you see me arguing?) and receiving a small dose of layman neuroscience in the form of animated sprites every episode.

Oh. Also.

If you listen to Kimutaku's radio show, you also get a very dirty comment about bananas that I can only assume was inspired by Tsukumo's obsession with the fruit.

And I mean a dirty comment. Ooo, it gives me chills.

This is Edo, signing off wondering if she is too easily swayed by the beauty of certain Japanese men...

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.