Announcement

I work at alivenotdead.com - I am just a web-monkey. :-P

Born in DC, Lived in SF for 12 years, then Japan for 2 more. Been in HK since Summer 06. Take a look around, feel free to leave a comment!

我可以懂日文和中文。私の日本語下手じゃないけど、中国語のほうが上手よ！日本語分かったらコメントをくれて下さい！

My blog

I am the Train Boy!

Thursday, Feb 2, 2006 7:15AM / Standard Entry / Asian Movie Review

CURRENT RATINGS:

7/10

Movie:

Train Man (2005)

Note: I've liberally linked to Wikipedia for an explanation of a lot of the Japan-specific terminalogy in this entry...

I just finished watching 'Densha Otoko' ('Train Man') on DVD. I got it for Y0-chan on DVD while in HK over Christmas (only $11 for a two disc version, they had a fancy one w/ two mugs and a bunch of extras, but I didn't think i could fit it in my suitcase).

Given my recent trip to Tokyo (Akihabara specifically) and my recent discovery of the wonder of the otaku, I wanted to see it. It was a big hit here in Japan and both Y0-chan and Jetrin had given it high marks.

Basically Densha Otoko is the story of true (geek) love in Tokyo. Supposedly based on a true story recorded off an online chatline, it was turned into a popular manga and eventually a TV show and movie.

A super-otaku, fresh on his latest trip to Akihabara, laden with a bag full of anime related toys, he encounters a drunk business man harrassing everyone in the car. He somewhat accidently rescues an OL, and a budding love ensues.

The fun part is the fact that Train Man is one of those guys who has never actually dated before, has zero experience and is freaked out when faced with even the thought of social interaction with real people, much less an attractive woman. Which is not far fetched, many of the real otaku are like this. ...BUT they make the Train Man out to be a nice innocent boy, no mentioning of hentai anime pillows, doll cafes or all that other stuff...

So Train Man enlists the aid of his internet chatroom buddies for moral support and advice - ('step one: get a hair cut'!) This is some of the best stuff about this movie, a bit of a cultural anthropological look at modern japanese society:

There's the parasite single nurse, the 20-something 'NEET' shut-in, The Salary-Man and his estranged wife. And last but not least, a group of three uber-geeks who spend all their time in one of those Japanese cyber cafes...

Eventually despite being a galactic level dork, the Train Man goes for it and finds true love (with the typical romantic comedy bumps in the road).

I'm sure I missed like 90% of the humor, since they do a lot of split screen stuff during the 'online discussion' scenes, its too much for subtitles to keep up, and also a lot of the humor is in how the lines are spoken (the types of japanese used, etc). But i think even with just subtitles and a mild understanding of the culture, you can understand what's going on.

The train guy is annoying sometimes, and the girl is a bit of a pretty flat character, but I'll still give it a 7/10, but maybe thats influenced by my current locale. I think it'd still be fresh for most viewers though. I'm curious to see the TV drama now. The girl is definitely cuter.... ;-)

Official movie website here. Trailers in Japanese here.

Add a comment

Harajuku Pics #2

Monday, Dec 5, 2005 10:17AM / Standard Entry / Japan-Related Blog

The 2nd part of the pictures from Harajuku and the adjacent Meiji Shrine.
(click here for Harajuku pt 1)

Just down the street is the KDDI design studio. Sort of equivalent to the Sony or Nissan showroom I suppose, its a place for KDDI (and its cell phone arm, Au) to show off their latest stuff. The displays weren't all that spectacular, considering I have their digital TV at my house already and every cell phone store has the phones on display already. But this was the place where the Star Wars Au promo event was held over the summer, so it was cool to visit anyway. :-P

While in Harajuku, we walked over to the nearby Meiji Jingu shrine. Since it was Sunday, it was full of tourists and Japanese families. Unfortunately there were no nice fall colors on the grounds, but we walked around a bit just to check it out.

There were some Japanese families there in Kimono too. Some were bringing their kids to do some traditional blessing ceremonies or something, and as I later found out, some like this nice young woman were there for weddings.

A bunch of security guards starting clearing a path through the middle of the courtyard for this procession. Which was for a wedding. Since this is one of the biggest, most famous temples in all of Tokyo, I'm guessing the kind of people who have their weddings here are either loaded or connected to the aristocracy or government or something.

Here's a better view of the bride, groom, priests, etc. Very fancy.

The procession went across the courtyard and then into a side chamber. Then like 5 minutes later they came back...

Wait a minute, what happened to the groom's head?!? and the guests are all different too. We quickly realized that this was a different wedding group. I guess like the Japanese weddings I saw in October, they do these back to back to back. :-P

After the shrine, we walked back towards the bridge. Yet another group of diverse fashioned people had shown up, this one a little more diverse:

At first we weren't sure if this leather gimp was a guy or a girl at first.

Further inspection shows it is a girl. A strange one, but a girl none the less. She, like most of them was very amicable to be photoed. As this photo was being taken there were 3 or 4 guys with professional level cameras (digital SLRs with huge lenses) taking dozens of pictures of her from only 2 feet away.

Note the hat this girl is wearing. There is an interest in type of Naz!-inspired cosplay. Even to the point where they sell videos of it at cosplay maniac stores (in this case just cheesecake)

I should note that while most were very friendly and open, not all the people there were willing to being photoed. Nearby to the above, there were more leather goth types, one of whom had her face covered with a handkerchief. I noticed her and her friends because they were wearing some freaky white contact lenses (really freaky).

I was about to ask if I could take their picture when a fancy camera guy took a shot of them. The girl w/ the handkerchief went OFF on him (something you rarely see in Japan). I decided not to ask. :-P

Inspired by the film Doctor Zhivago? Looks like a Japanese version of Julie Christie if ever there was one.

This was actually down the street from the 'regular' weird kids. The question is, is this an authorized Hello Kitty costume or is this just an over enthusiastic Kigurumi practicioner who was just walking around on their own.

Speaking of which... this enthusiastic Harajuku individual stands head and shoulders above the rest... and can probably beat them all at arm wrestling too.

Yes, even the small kids are into it. Or rather... like beauty pagent kids in the US, their parents are into it. Right before we saw these two, I said to KXD "I wonder what happens when these guys grow up.... what are the Harajuku girls of 5 or 10 years ago doing now?... little did I know that my question would answer itself - at least some of them have grown up and are now subjecting their kids to it. :-P

Vinyl-y! A photographer was taking pictures of this girl so she walked out into the street during the red light to pose.

Laces-y. I wonder how long it takes to get this outfit on.

note on Harajuku: i should mention that most or all of these people don't live here. they come out from the suburbs or nearby cities to meet up here. A few of the kids I asked said they were from Saitama. But apparently they come down most weekends and meet up. And they said that the tv camera and photographer frenzy is normal too.

If you can believe it, KXD and I forgot to take a picture together (he refused to take any pictures with the freaky kids). I did get this shot while we were enjoying some dinner at TGI McScratchy's.

Add a comment
Harajuku Pics #1

Monday, Dec 5, 2005 9:51AM / Standard Entry / Japan-Related Blog

On Sunday I went with KXD down to Harajuku, the world famous section of Tokyo where the Japanese youth gather to present their unique fashion. Here are the first half of my pictures from the trip.

We walked around and took some photos with the different groups:

In addition to the 'average' visual kei types in the black or pink lacy outfits, you get some interesting types like these two... who are giving the three finger salute

Or these two... not sure what to call this genre of outfit... going for the syrupy sweet japanese cat vibe.

I should note that they look a LOT cuter in this picture than I remember them looking in person. You know why? Cause in the web resolution of this picture, you can't see their faces as clearly as I could in person. Take a look at this close-up and see if you want to kiss that face?
(hmm... tough call). :-P

From the pedestrian bridge, you can get a feeling for the photography feeding frenzy that was going on this day. There was a TV crew doing a remote taping, tons of professional photographers with big fancy cameras (or maybe 'pro-sumers' at least), and tons of just regular tourists, from every country in the world.

Although I didn't take their picture, there were three guys holding up big Japanese flags while some guy rambled into a bull horn, we weren't sure what they were saying, but once we saw the mysterious right wing black van, we figured it out. They were probably saying 'your misguided energy should be focused on worshipping the emperor and rewritting text books!'

Then we walked down the street to check out the rest of Harajuku. At the other end of the neighboorhood we ran into another group of strangely dressed kids:

As KXD put it (he referred to them as 'gui' - chinese ghosts) - "those were old style gui, these are the new gui.' The focus here is just an extremely eclectic combination of really bright colorful outfits. A fashion valetudo if you will...

Here are another two. Everyone here was generally very nice about taking pictures with tourists.

When we came back from lunch this group of new gui were doing a group photo. Each one had brought their own camera and wanted a group picture. A few of the professional camera type guys were there too.

As you can see, a few guys in there too.

Here's a video clip

Maybe the weirdest of all?

Ouch! I gotta get me some of those shoes.

this is just part 1, there are some more coming. :-P
(click here for pt 2!)

Add a comment
Nagoya Castle

Tuesday, Nov 8, 2005 2:56AM / Standard Entry

After the tour ended yesterday, I took the subway over to the Nagoya Castle, which is one of the few sights worth visiting in this town, from what I've been told. They close early on fall/winter days, so I had to hurry through.

Like Kumamoto castle, that I visited 1.5 weeks ago with my parents, this one was built in the early 1600s as a way for the feudal lord to assert his power over the local area.

The main castle buildings and the lord's palace built inside the walls were destroyed in 1945 by a US bombing raid (oops, I wonder if it was a mistake or not? I know that the Air Force tried to avoid hitting historic sites in Kyoto). Like Kumamoto castle and almost all the other ones in Japan, this one has been rebuilt to match original plans/photos/drawings (from the outside only)

But some of the original corner towers survived the bombing. This one was built in 1612 (according to the old guy working inside). It was open to the public, which was surprising.

Its a bit creepy and dark inside, like an old barn... but what was more creepy was what I found inside... two M0rmon kids! I bumped into them on upper level (trapped!) -- Normally when you see a Morm0n missionary in Japan, they're wearing a white short sleeve shirt and tie with a name-tag. Usually you see them in pairs on bikes, wearing bicycle helmets (no one in Japan ever wears bicycle helmets except for like Tour De France types). So they're easy to spot from far away and can be avoided...

But these guys fooled me, since it was a bit chilly yesterday, they were wearing sport jackets over their standard issue uniform, so I didn't realize they were morm0ns til one of them turned and said in an excessively cheerful voice "Hey! how are you? where are you from?" - I said "California" and moved along quickly. I know enough about them and their 'This is the Place' Jesus-mockery, I don't need to hear any more...

So I quickly moved along to the main castle tower (known as the 'donjon'- the father of that guy from Miami Vice).

Actually this castle tower is bigger than the one in Kumamoto. It has two buildings, You have to enter through the small one and then pass through an enclosed passage to the big one. - its not enclosed from the top though, so if you did breach the small tower and tried to make it to the big one through that path, you'd be a sitting duck for archers if you tried to make it in the passage.

In front of the tower, at the sight of the former palace, they had this.... some sort of historical diaorama, but with flowers for clothes...?

not just weird, robotic weird

This castle's most famous feature was the two giant gold dolphins on the roof (see above picture). This one is a gold-painted mock-up in the basement. They made a big deal about the huge historical and cultural significance of the dolphins as a local and national treasure - they were apparently removed from the original castle when the Meiji government decided to destroy the castle, and toured the country, and were sent to some world's fair in Europe, before being returned to the castle when they decided to keep it. Almost made me feel guilty that the castle was burnt down in WWII destroying the original dolphins with all that history....

BUT the significance of all that was kind of ruined when I read on another display in the museum how the pre-war dolphins weren't actually the original ones, they had apparently been melted down and recast THREE times over the centuries. It appeared that everytime the local government was going through hard times and needed to free up some spending money, they'd melt the dolphins down take the gold and recast it with less gold (a less pure alloy)... (insert lame joke about liquidating your assets).

Here's the view from the top. I took pictures from all four sides, but to be honest they were all kind of the same (unattractive). Regular Japanese cities might not be that good looking skyline-wise, but Nagoya is definitely worse.

A view from the back side, with another one of the original corner towers.

Here's the lord that made the castle (Tokogawa?) He had a big statue out front next to the Nagoya Noh theater.

If I remember correctly, this brings my total of Japanese castles visited to SIX (Kumamoto, Kokura, Osaka, Kyoto(Nijojo), Karatsu, Nagoya). Not including the Ruins of Fuku0ka castle. I think there are like 40+ ones of various size left. I'll have to hit up at least a few more before I finish here.

Add a comment
The parents day 5: Japanese weddings...

Monday, Oct 31, 2005 7:17AM / Standard Entry

On Saturday I took my parents to the Fuku0ka T0wer. It was a bit overcast, but much clearer than it had been the previous few days. A cold front moved in and things have become 'autumny' very quickly.

From the observation deck of the tower at 123m above the ground. The view toward the east, the Se@hawk hotel, which we would be visiting next...

But not before taking a picture of the wedding chapel thing down by the manmade beach I visited in August. Weddings would be the theme of the day...

As we walked down to the Sea Hawk hotel, we happened upon a TV crew filming something:

I stopped and this old guy who spoke english well came up and started chatting with me. They were filming some commercial for tea. I wanted to ask who the people were, but then a PA came up and said "your parents are waiting." (how did he know? :-P and in english strangely enough), which we both took to mean 'go away, you're talking to loud, we're working here.' I assume the old guy was of some sort of higher position so he didn't need to listen if he didn't want to, but he knew to end the conversation anyway, so I took off.

I was showing my parents the green house atrium of the Se@hawk hotel, when we happened upon a wedding ceremony in progress:

Right there behind the bushes (completely visible from the 2nd and 3rd levels). Interestingly, they had a white guy serving as priest and a few big crosses on the altar, etc. You'll note a few of the guests in kimono too.

Perhaps even more strange was the life vocalist they had belting out the tunes... but it was a strange mish-mash of Catholic and Protestant... (Ave Maria and then Amazing Grace).... and then bizarrely enough at the end, they play Pomp and Circumstance, aka The Graduation Song.

The 'priest' who may or may not be an actual cleric, did the service mostly in english, but I think he included some Japanese, as well as descriptive hand signals for standing up and sitting down....

And within a few minutes it was over. Once the last guest left from the side exit, the staff jumped into action cleaning up the flower petals and rearranging the chairs... the ENTIRE crew, including the trumpeter and the yes, the priest guy too!

Within two minutes they had it all reset and viola:

The next wedding! I think they were rolling them in and out on a 30 minute rotation. I'm guessing every weekend is like this. The nice thing about doing it a greenhouse is that weather is not an issue I guess.

Anyway, just to get everyone up to speed, in my experience, the average Japanese tend to be quite un-religious... many of them are Shinto by default (more by nationality/race than by anything else), and follow it more as a tradition rather than a rigid belief system. As modern Japanese culture is open to adopting external influences (eg high-heeled boots and Brad Pitt), many Japanese people want to incorporate western traditions into their wedding, at least the way they THINK western traditions are (e.g. from what they see in movies, etc). So the finer distinctions between Catholicism/Protestant, etc are not important.

Another example of this is the Japanese adoption of Christmas (modified into some sort of Valentine's Day clone for couples), or even yes... Halloween:

Yes, we took a short jaunt over to HRC for some lunch. As they have everything decked out for Halloween, I tried the 'Pumpkin Burger' - which I found out wasn't actually made with a normal orange pumpkin as we know and love... but rather the green type 'asian pumpkin', which does NOT taste quite the same. I felt kind of cheated.

It turns out they are doing a costume contest on sunday night. I wish I could go, but we're driving down to the volcano on monday morning and I gotta go get the rental car first thing in the morning.... (which is why I won't put my pictures up from sunday's visit to the botanical gardens up until tomorrow and won't get to touch my Halloween party pictures for a few more days....) :-P

Add a comment