Do a sushi roll.. !!

[Journeys in Japan] 2016.08.07 - DAY 5 - KYOTO

Mon, 08 Jan 2024 16:39:58 GMT

Cakes With Faces is running #Japanuary2024 and since I'm trying to FINALLY arrange a report of my trip to Japan back in 2016, I thought I could do a double whammy and post a long overdue blog post AND participate in something fun. Day 7 is "Touristy" so I'll be sharing a day I spent in Kyoto doing the tourist thing to do!

Foreward: I went to Japan for the first time back in 2016 with a group of friends for about 2 weeks. It was a really fun trip that I wanted to remember forever and so I wanted to blog it but not only was writing hard but a lot of places I was using to host my blogs either removed the feature my entries were hosted on or no longer supported images. I'm looking to save my memories in a physical form in one way or another, but since I'm typing out a sort of journal here it is adapted for the web!

This day was actually supposed to be our second Osaka day but we switched up the day solely because of the Kirby Cafe. The Kirby Cafe was opening for its first run ever so to queue for it we were supposed to arrive early to get a ticket for entry and we were too late. As the Kirby Cafe was a MUST DO for all of us, we were willing to change switch our plans with the next day for another shot at the Kirby Cafe. So off to Kyoto we went!

My notes say Nonomiya Jinja but I see photos of the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, but it looks like both are in the same location so it seems we did visit the Nonomiya Shrine. We walked as much as everyone could manage around the bamboo forest before hitting the next location.

We headed towards Kiyomizudera temple. (I'm checking some video bloggers on Youtube to make sure. I see one of them has the same ticket I have.) Here I did a yukata rental because it's been my dream or sorts to wear one!! Will I look pretty? Will I look OK in one? Regardless of the answer, it was fun to dress up for the summer and head up to the top of the temple. I don't remember the names of all these places sadly, but if it's in any video for Kiyomizudera others have done, that must have been it!

In the evening, we went to the Horikawa Tachibana Festival. Since it was summer, we wanted to see the Kyo-no-Tanabata Star Festival. I think we went to the Kamogawa site because I remember the river walk and the picture of these illuminated "Walkway of Bamboo and Light" checks out. I think we had to choose between the two because the festival was near its end.

I didn't stay for dinner at the Kamogawa River so I left to head back. I got lost along the way somehow and a kind woman walked me back to my hostel. We chatted about how I was interested in Japanese owarai, comedy and that's how I managed to pick up some conversational Japanese. (OK look, I promise I wasn't speaking in the same crude dialect that airs on TV).

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[2019.09] 6 Days in Japan

Wed, 02 Oct 2019 23:27:10 GMT

I've recently returned from a short trip (about 2 weeks) to Asia! Originally my flight was supposed to have a stopover in Japan but on the day of my flight, Japan had been hit by the typhoon so we had to go through a lot of annoying airport trouble to redirect our flight to Vietnam where I stayed for a little over a week with my grandma. I had never thought about the concept of the rainy season in Asia and that’s when I realized, “huh, what if this is the really rainy season?” Yikes, I didn’t bring an umbrella! Luckily for the most part, rain hit while I was indoors when I was in Vietnam. Japan’s forecast reported as being rainy my entire duration there, but it fortunately was not the case. I was able to continue with my trip without an umbrella. Talk about luck! In any case, I don't know how many entries I'll make covering my trip and maybe I'll write about Vietnam too, but for now here's what I got. I'd like to include pictures too, but many image hosting sites have gone kaput (my journal layout is dead too-- I'll have to fix it!) so this will have to make do.

September 20 – Friday

Our hotel for the first night was close enough for us to walk to Tokyo Skytree. When we got there we saw a rather sizable crowd in the open with a stage. I wondered if it was someone famous that everyone gathered for. Since we were short on time, we walked past it and took pictures at the Kirby Cafe and then went to the Kirby cafe shop. We went to the Pokemon Center in Skytree and shopped around before we left to return to the hotel. There was a store that sold "as seen on TV" but it wasn't like, American "as seen on TV". It was literally a shop that sold TV and anime goods. There was a whole section for Ametalk, Summers x Summers, ItteQ, Sukatto Japan and the like. There was Gaki no Tsukai too! I bought a Reigen keychain here because I couldn't help it.

I didn't expect to immediately be presented with a Hizashin clearfile.
Unfortunately I have one already, otherwise I would have bought it too!

The gathering outside was yelling in excitement when we got out. It looked like they were watching a rugby game and people were cheering. (I later saw the event reported on television news in Kobe two days later!)

September 21 – Saturday

I met up with lysanderpuck in Shibuya. We went to the *NEW AND IMPROVED* Johnny's Family Club to see if it did indeed change any. We talked about how it had closed down for what we supposedly thought was for good, but then found out it had opened again under the radar sometime back. It does indeed look bigger than before. There was an exhibit featuring Arashi and some rugby balls they signed. I asked, "what is up with Japan and rugby" and I'm told that the world cup was going on. Japan had won the year before "randomly" and now they are crazy about it, I guess! In any case, now I understood.

We went and had lunch at this omelette rice place that was on the way to the Johnny's Family Club. We then went to Animate where I picked up more things than I should have. I did pick up some coaster and keychain covers, though!

This is the haul from the first two days!

Time was running short so we parted so my dad and I could get on the bullet train to Osaka. We spent some time at Osaka station trying to find food before finally arriving in Kobe at my uncle's house. I had never met my uncle before, so I was nervous. They were very welcoming though, so I had nothing to worry about. I couldn't help thinking the entire time how totally Osakan they were. Vietnamese Kansai-Ben is the trippiest thing. I know they're speaking Vietnamese, but they TOTALLY end with ya. My aunt and uncle were like a comedy duo when talking to my dad and me. I couldn't believe the power of human adaptation.

September 22 – Sunday (Kobe)

I ate Kobe pho my aunt made for breakfast and went to Kobe Harborland with my dad, uncle and cousin. It was very beautiful. The weather was good and the view was great. Afterwards I went shopping at Sannomiya with my cousin. On the way back he was telling me about some Chinese series, I think? And how he really liked the sword fighting, tatakae? I told him if he was into that, he will most definitely enjoy SHOCK.

We had yakiniku at a restaurant with my uncle's family friends. Their eldest daughter who sat next to me had just returned from 3 years in Australia for school. I found out because she had said "Thank you" to me in perfect English so I had to ask, you speak English?! We ended up talking a lot about Johnny's. It started off like this:

"My mom told me you're going to a show tomorrow. What show?"

"What? How did she know? I mean, auntie seriously told her about it that fast??

"Yeah, I heard it from my mom!

"Oh! Well, I'm going to see ENDLESS SHOCK

"I've never heard of it..

"Ah, its Domoto Koichi's--

"OH OMG... KINKI KIDS RIGHT???" She had lit up so suddenly that I went,

"Oh??? You know??

"My mom is a fan!

"OH WHO IS HER FAVORITE

"Koichi!

"Ah, we are the same!"

I proceeded to ask if she liked Johnny's but she said she was more into the juniors. BISHOUNEN was her favorite, but she said Kpop was more of her realm. Which was funny because she totally knew more about Johnny's than she let on. When I said I liked and attended one of ABC-Z's concerts she was like, "oh isn't everyone in that group like ossans (except Hasshi). That's when I told her I liked them before debut, for a very long time through SHOCK and she was like WHOAAA THAT IS SO COOL. She also brought up Kanjani Chronicle and we had a good tall about the English telephone game. I'm pretty sure at this point I asked her again and again, "are you SURE it's your mom who is a Johnny's fan??"

We talked a lot until we had to go. I hope I can meet her again someday. She is pretty amazing to have learned so many languages and she was very interesting to talk to.

Oh yeah, the yakiniku was AMAZING. I tried yukke, which is raw meat and eggs?? without knowing what it was. It was delicious.

I stole this image from Wikipedia.

When I returned to the house, auntie insisted I come with her to the public bath/ofuro. I was nervous for some other reason I won't disclose, but it wasn't so bad! It was an experience that I definitely would never have back home. It was rather nice, so if you ever think about going I would say sure, do it if you got someone who can show you the roped. I'd be so lost without auntie!

TO BE CONTINUED...??

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2018.7.01 Miku Expo

Mon, 02 Jul 2018 17:11:34 GMT

I went to Miku Expo 2018 with my friends. None of us felt we really knew much about Vocaloids (I realized I knew a lot more than I thought I did as the concert progressed) but we had fun! Apparently this year marks the 10th year anniversary of Miku.

As I did the research for the song list from what I could remember, I see that Miku Expo seems to be the worldwide version of what's known as Magical Mirai 2018 in Japan. The set list that played at my event also seems to have differed from the one that played before my location. I have composed my song list using information from that page.

There are SPOILERS so check back later for my impressions if you don't want to know what songs played! Just in case, I'll even LJ cut it to prevent you!! Regardless, there is a possibility the songs might change at different locations.

( SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS )

05. Meltdown by iroha(sasaki) ft. Kagamine Rin - I initially did not recognize Rin because she was in pigtails. Miku has many looks and hair color that I thought it was possible that it was another variation of Miku's looks. I understood that was indeed Rin once..

06. Dappou Rock by Neru ft. Kagamine Len showed up! I did not know Len was SOOO cool?! This performance alone already had me becoming a fan. He had slick moves and I thought, what a charming boy. (laugh)

07. Kaito appeared in a princely outfit with amazing thigh highs. I immediately shot my voice screaming for him and kind of lost it. Pika later told me on Twitter that it sounded like Doctor=Funk Beat by nyanyannya ft. KAITO and indeed it was!

Miku appeared again to sing a few songs I don't know the name of. The Mikufan page says it was this according to the LA showing.

08. Boukyaku Shinjuu by OPA ft. MEIKO

09. glow by keeno ft. Hatsune Miku

10. Through the Night by Slushii ft. Hatsune Miku

11. Romeo and Cinderella by doriko ft. Hatsune Miku

12. Envy Catwalk by Tohma ft. Hatsune Miku

13. Can’t Make A Song!! by MatrixMarioX ft. Hatsune Miku

At this point friends and I moved to the back where there was more room for us to dance. Surprisingly, it was easier to see the whole stage from the back. My only regret about it though was that I could no longer see the details on their costumes because I wanted to try to remember and draw what I saw later.

14. Luka FINALLY came on with the only song of hers I know, Just Be Friends. I was wondering if she would appear at all since she didn't during the solo repertoire that came on before Miku. I hadn't heard this song in probably, 7 years? I'm doing a quick browse on Youtube and trying to find the oldest video and some date back to that long ago. A friend obsessed with Vocaloids had shown me. I can't believe that memory still stuck. Anyway, I really regretted shooting my voice at Kaito because I couldn't scream as loudly as I wanted to for her.

The Kagamine twins appeared to sing 3 songs! I was so surprised because I didn't know they would come and perform again! I thought it would be all just Miku! All good. I've come to really like the twins by now.
15. 8HIT by JesusP ft. Kagamine Rin & Len

16. Remote Control by JesusP ft. Kagamine Rin & Len - This one was a jam! We danced a lot to this one!

17. Gemini by Dixie Flatline ft. Kagamine Rin & Len - a slower, ballad-y song? It was nice to slow down and just wave the glow-stick back and forward. I can't seem to find a concert clip of this on Youtube so maybe this is new and never before seen!?

<Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya! (BAND INTRO)>

18. Satisfaction by kz(livetune) ft. Hatsune Miku - Same outfit shown here
19. Hatsune Miku - Hibikase

20. Luka appeared again!! The site I've been referencing says she performed Luka Luka★Night Fever by samfree ft. Megurine Luka but I can't confirm since I'm not sure. The video I linked is from a game instead of live footage. Luka's outfit was the same one as in Just Be Friends previously.

21. World is Mine by ryo(supercell) ft. Hatsune Miku- Of course, right?! She HAS to do this song. It's one of her most famous ones. Miku's outfit was a white dress and she had a red flower in her hair.

22. Sakura no Ame by halyosy ft. Hatsune Miku

23. Decade by Dixie Flatline ft. Hatsune Miku

I wasn't sure if there would be an encore since, well.. You know.. They're Vocaloids.. It didn't hurt to find out, so I went ahead and cheered. After all, everyone was calling for an encore too so I'm SURE that was going to happen! Sure enough.. Miku appeared again to sing
24. Dune by Hachi ft. Hatsune Miku !! I recently heard this song and saw the fan video. It looked REALLY cool and the song has this nice adventurous pop feel to it that I really like. I was excited to hear this one. I linked the MV because the live video on Youtube has her dressed up in a magical outfit. She was just plain old Miku for this performance.

25. Miku by Anamanaguchi ft. Hatsune Miku - First time I've heard this song and now it's kind of stuck 'cause Jess kept singing it after the concert. It's nice and fast-beat but still mellow.

26. Tell Your World by kz(livetune) ft. Hatsune Miku

27. Melt by ryo(supercell) ft. Hatsune Miku

Streamers shot out at some point towards the front of the crowd and I went to see if there were any left (since I was at the back) after the show but there were none.

We left the show at around 10:30 P.M. Tired and parched from all that dancing, we went to get Korean food for dinner before heading home. Shoutout to my friends for coming with me to this event. I'm glad we could all have fun even while knowing nothing about Vocaloids. Tickets and goods are still available here so check it out if you want!

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Kyary Pamyu Pamyu World Tour 2018 - The Spooky Obakeyashiki

Fri, 22 Jun 2018 18:02:48 GMT

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu brought her "The Spooky Obakeyashi" concert she performed in Japan last year to America for her World Tour. It was my first time ever seeing her perform live and I didn't know what it would be like and I am letting you all know that she is FANTASTIC! She is a wonderful performer. Her stage is colorful and fun, her backup dancers are also dressed up in interesting costumes just as she did! The stage on standby had this backdrop..

As the lights dimmed down for the concert to begin, a VTR began to play. Kyary wakes up in her standby room to find herself face to face with three Obakeyashiki: Kasa-obake (umbrella monster), an elderly long neck monster (I think Rokurokubi??) and an Okami. The three tell Kyary that she MUST show the world how scary Japanese obake are because people only find American monsters scary, to which Kyary says it's because obake are cute! The three are enraged at being called cute and demand Kyary to put on a scary show immediately or they will put a curse on her AND her audience. Kyary protests and says they can't do that, but they send her off to perform before she can get a word in-- but not before changing her costume with magic! The VTR cuts off here and the stage curtains rise, revealing a beautiful set from which Kyary enters, wearing her altered costume with the help of the obake. It's pretty much this costume pictured here on the clearfile they handed out to all of us as we entered the venue. (EDIT: It seems to be this VTR!)

I seriously would have PAID for this!! This is so nice!!

The venue was much smaller than where she performed in Japan, but they used the stage to its full potential. I noticed in the ZIP news clip I posted earlier there was a dance battle she did. There was no dance battle in the American performance but she did show off her moves so it was pretty much all on her! Also featured in the clip was the Kasa-obake dancing on stage, but for this performance it was only the Rokurokubi and Okami who came out to play. There was a performance she did with the dancing Okami too, but I don't know what song it is.

Kyary performed a lot of her songs. I was surprised she could keep going. She did PON PON PON as her final song during the encore and recorded an Instagram live of the audience. She had three costume changes, the last one being for the duration of the encore. We clapped for a long time for an encore and I was wondering what was taking so long (I thought she would just clean up but NO, it was a FULL COSTUME CHANGE to one she called "Happy Exorcist"). I quickly doodled the costumes she had during the performance. The black one, she said, was inspired by a crow.

Her MCs were short. I remember for the first one she read the person standing next to me's sign "Love Kyary Pamyu Pamyu." She thanked San Francisco and asked if everyone was having fun. She said she ate crab at some point (I saw a shot on Instagram!). After the dance battle she asked if we liked her dance moves and talked about how she had a stiff body (NY fancam, but probably the same thing she said here).

Here's what I could remember of the songs she performed (in no particular order, although I tried to keep it close..). Here's one or two fancams if you're interested!

Fashion Monster
Invader, Invader

CANDY CANDY

Tsukematsukeru

Harajuku iyahoi
Crazy Party Night

Easta (I think?)
Ninja ri bang bang
Cherry Bon Bon
Kira Kira Killer

Furisodation
Kimino Mikata
PON PON PON

All in all, it was a super fun concert. We all danced along with her and she was so, so cute! Kyary is a really great performer. She puts on a show when she sings. It's really fun for all ages and I highly recommend her whether it's a first for you or your friends.

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[ENG-SUB] 2018.02.23 Pussuma

Thu, 14 Jun 2018 05:07:16 GMT

I subbed an episode of Pussuma which aired last week on 2/23. Pussuma is a variety show hosted by ex-SMAP member Kusunagi Tsuyoshi and Yusuke Santamaria. This time they challenge an idol dance and Cocorico's Tanaka, UNJASH's Kojima and Fruit Punch's Murakami appear as guests. The idol group featured is Chubbiness. This is Part 2 to the Part 1 episode which aired on 2/16

MEGA link if anyone wants.

Softsubs if you want to contribute better translations for lines I have submitted.

As always I am open to being notified of better translations for any lines.

Of further interest...

Chubbiness International Fans Twitter

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[ENG-SUB] 2016.05.25 Wednesday Downtown - Punishment game with oranges

Tue, 01 May 2018 16:13:24 GMT

I subbed a segment from 2016.05.25 Wednesday Downtown. It's very quick and dirty, so I hope you'll excuse me. I just wanted to share the clip because I think it's one of the best WDT segments and really, I don't think English was really needed to enjoy the clip but it does help guide the viewer a bit.

Download from Mediafire (233 MB)

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[ENG-SUB] 2018.02.16 Pussuma

Wed, 21 Feb 2018 23:35:46 GMT

I subbed an episode of Pussuma which aired last week on 2/16. Pussuma is a variety show hosted by ex-SMAP member Kusunagi Tsuyoshi and Yusuke Santamaria. This time they challenge an idol dance and Cocorico's Tanaka, UNJASH's Kojima and Fruit Punch's Murakami appear as guests. The idol group featured here is Chubbiness.

MEGA link if anyone wants

This is part one of two, I believe? The next one is set to air on 2/23. I think the quality of this video is OK, but I'm totally open if someone wants to pass me a higher quality one.

As always I am open to being notified of better translations for any lines.

Of further interest...
thetv.jp article
Chubbiness International Fans Twitter
MuraKen practicing by himself (from his IG)

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[ENG-SUB] Rice - Banana

Sat, 25 Nov 2017 20:41:45 GMT

I found this skit by accident while browsing Dailymotion/Youtube and it was so hilarious I had to sub it. The highest quality version of the video I could find had Chinese hardsubs so I did my best to cover them up.

If you have time to kill, I highly suggest checking it out! I still laugh even now! I knew of Rice from watching Ametalk's "Entertainers who are bad at sports" special last year. Tadokoro from Rice was the newest addition and I liked him a lot. I'm glad to know their skits are fun too.

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[ENG-SUB] Zabunguru - Noritsukkomi

Mon, 23 Oct 2017 18:19:20 GMT

I saw another Zabunguru skit I liked.

This one is from Ametalk's special, Pakuritai Grand Prix (Fujimon and Zakiyama want to imitate/parody). Zabunguru aren't actually on TV much and it was nice to be able to get this one in high quality. (Thank you Ernie!!)

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[ENG-SUB] Zabunguru - "Cunning"

Sat, 30 Sep 2017 22:17:01 GMT

I just saw the funniest Zabunguru skit in my life so I stopped everything and loosely translated it.

It's the infamous IMPOSSIBRU guy and his partner, Matsuo, who has been on every single one of Ame-talk's "Entertainers who are bad at sports" (Undo-shinkei Warui Geinin). The glasses guy they make fun of especially for his swimming portion because it looks like he's calling out to the god of the sea.

Download from Mediafire (117 MB)

This clip came from Owaraisaa~n, a show hosted by Summers. Just in case anyone didn't know what the EXILE reference was, you can check here.

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I know nothing about bearbricks...

Sun, 10 Sep 2017 04:01:55 GMT

I immediately bought these guys when I accidentally found them on eBay though.

Oriental Radio !! They're a fun Japanese comedian duo. You might have heard of them as RADIOFISH with "Perfect Human". Apparently Yoshimoto Kogyo did a collaboration with Medicom to bring some comedian-themed bearbrick figures. I wasn't sure how to display them but then I realized the bears had clamps for hands so I did it this way for now. I need something more stable/permanent though.

I started reading a guide about bearbricks but I hope I don't collect more, although there is a set with One Punch Man characters now...

I kinda tried to parody their 'valiant story' gag while working on displaying this

Valiant story, a valiant story!
She spent some time arranging the case.
But without any tape it'll topple with haste.
Valiant story, a valiant story!

It's not funny unless I dance too, I think.

Video footage of the display case

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Shabekuri 007 w/ heisei Nobushi Kobushi liveblog

Fri, 08 Sep 2017 03:46:13 GMT

I watched Heisei Nobushi Kobushi guest on Shabekuri007 on 2011.05.11 on a whim 'cause Neuk linked it to me. I tweeted while watching it.

This doesn't count as a translation but I might want to brush it up one day. It's a mess and doesn't make sense altogether like this though.

( Senseless livetweeting )

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AOX Open Registration

Thu, 07 Sep 2017 20:33:33 GMT

I realized I should have shared this news, but if you're interested in Jmedia such as dramas or variety shows, AOX currently has open registration complete with a FREE LEECH event going on right now!

Also on top that, if you want even MORE variety shows from another community, send me a private message, comment here or head over to this thread and ask for an invite (faster): http://gaki-no-tsukai.com/viewtopic.php?f=73&t=6296&p=57377#p57377

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Tue, 29 Aug 2017 04:09:22 GMT

I took it easy today and watched the latest episode of Summers Sports. Here's my live... tweet if you will.

LMAO Yahagi starts telling everyone what to do LAMFEAWOFWE "Right, Teacher?"

GEEZ, Yahagi can do anything..

omg HOW CUTE OOTAKE WAS IN YAHAGI'S TENNIS CLUB?? YAHAGI WAS HIS MASTER LMAFEOAW

Yay, Mimura was so good at smashing!! OMG I'M SCREAM HE got too excited he yelled "TENNIS IS FUN"

LMAOFEAW OOTAKE taking on the "Air K" challenge because his name also starts with K AAAAAA

omg I'm so sorry Kojima I got way more excited about Ootake's Air K LAMFEAWO UGH...

AHAHAHAH YAHAGI's AIR K TOO AAAAAAAAAA

Wow that guy is amazing, being able to serve underhand?? between his legs LMAO I thought he wouldn't make it.

LMAO OMG If the tennis athlete loses to Ootake and Yahagi she will have to put it on her profile page OMG

As always it doesn't make sense but it means I enjoyed it. I had high tension because Yahagi from OgiYahagi and Summers' Ootake were on the same team. The double-megane here put me in such high spirits. I don't want to watch anymore shows but I'll probably watch part two. I hope Mimura plays some more.

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Crunchyroll Expo!!

Tue, 29 Aug 2017 03:46:24 GMT

Crunchyroll held its first Crunchyroll Expo over this past weekend. (I haven't even written about Fanime yet!) The story goes is that Crunchyroll decided to host a convention once they hit 1 million subscribers. Anime News Network and various other anime sites reported this, as well as Crunchyroll themselves.

Day 1 - August 25

( Read more... )

Day 2 - August 26

( Read more... )

Day 3 - August 27

( Read more... )

All in all, CRX was very fun! I had a great time and was treated very kindly. I stayed safe and met many people. I am really a lucky person. Now it's back to work!

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[ENG-SUB] Sanshiro/Komiya Magic Prank + India Trip

Tue, 22 Aug 2017 17:48:56 GMT

I've subbed this funny prank I watched on London Hearts 2016.07.01 Japan Dokkiri Star Awards II. I hate Dailymotion's new interface so I hope embedding videos within entries makes it more tolerable for me and easier to navigate for people.

Download link (currently unavailable)

Actually, on that note, I just remembered I subbed this bit also with Sanshiro/Komiya.

From Sekai Muchaburi Tabi 2017.08.05

Raw: JPTVTS

Sanshirou go to India for a 1000 km journey. Komiya falls for salesmen really easily.

If you are interested in joining a community where you can watch JVariety shows, send me a PM or head over to this thread (faster).

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QUIZ STAR 2016.11.27

Mon, 21 Aug 2017 05:57:54 GMT

I'm watching Hikaru GENJI (ok part of them) reunite after 21 years on this show to race each other on skates. This show follows old stars to see where they are now.

You can just tell how happy they are to be together again. Kaa-kun has said time and time again how he'd love to reunite as Hikari GENJI, but who knows what kind of business affairs complicates that =/

(when asked if they can race)
Kaa-kun: We don't really race. We do acrobats and tricks on skates, but we don't challenge each other in speed.

lmao,
Ariyoshi: "Is that a (Hikari) tattoo on [Osawa's] forehead?"
Atsushi: It's not a tattoo, you idiot. What genius would get a tattoo that says "Hikari" on their forehead?

The comedians the place their bets on which Hikaru GENJI member they think will win.

I SCREAMED AT THE FINALE OF THAT RACE LAMFEWAO
Osawa: I was hella crushed LMAO

If anything I'm happy Kaa-kun appears quite a bit on variety. It looks like Nakai is starting to appear on some of them too, like Ame-talk..

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[Journeys in Japan] 2016.08.03 Day 1 - Odaiba, Shibuya + Akihabara

Wed, 16 Aug 2017 18:12:57 GMT

Facebook's "On this day" informed me it's been exactly a year since my friends and I went to Japan in the summer. I never took the time to write about my trip and as this year's summer draws to a close, I thought I should try and write about it. I had a really great time in Japan and I don't want to forget it. Looking at the photos Facebook showed me taken a year ago today, I've already begun to feel like I've forgotten what went on, so I better get to it!

I've started this entry a few times, but we did so much on our first day that it was a lot to remember and write about! I just didn't have the time. Today, I made sure to finish it once and for all! From here on, I will post the days in order up until our final day in Japan.

Without further ado, the entry for the OFFICIAL DAY 1 IN JAPAN!!

We got on a few trains that took us to Odaiba where went to Cafe de Miki with Hello Kitty. This was a place one of my friends has always wanted to go to in place of another Hello Kitty themed place that closed down when she was in Japan the last time.

( Read more... )

I ordered a cheesecake 'cause I'm craving sweets. Look at the cute kitty art!!

We had to leave to catch the train to Asakusa. After a certain time the trains wouldn't run anymore. We dropped into our bunks to get ready for day 2 at Tokyo Disney Sea!

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[ENG-Sub] Kinki Kids BBB #105 - Mido Natsume

Tue, 08 Aug 2017 16:25:56 GMT

Hello! kinki_you and I worked together to release an episode of BBB in English! They play crane games and learn some techniques from Japan's pro!

#105 - Mido Natsume

( Read more... )

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[ENG-SUB] Summers visit the Macho Cafe

Mon, 31 Jul 2017 05:35:06 GMT

Short clip from Moya Moya Summers 2 - Nakano (2017.07.23).

Raw from JPTVTS.

Loosely translated.

I'm watching Japanese comedy again and have been subbing random short clips that I thought were funny. I originally posted them on a forum but realized I should house them somewhere where it'll be easier to sort through.

You might have heard of the Macho Cafe before from this Kotaku article. Kinki have also visited it in an episode of BBB w/ Kanda Sayaka. Mimura posing with the Macho Men is my favorite thing, so I wanted to share it. ^^

[HB] Moya Summers Macho Cafe (ENG) by Hikabunny

Download from Mediafire (377 MB)

If you are interested in joining a community where you can watch Moya Moya Summers and many other JVariety shows, send me a PM or head over to this thread (faster).

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Moya Moya Summers 2 - 071026 Singapore 1

Fri, 21 Jul 2017 04:31:30 GMT

I want to liveblog watching Moya Moya Summers 2. I started picking it up after seeing all the subbed episodes on J-burogu and found it very fun. I like the manzai duo, Summers a lot. After my trip overseas last summer, I started gaining an interest in travelling in general so watching travelling shows is something I'm starting to do a lot. XD

Well, I haven't watched a lot of Moya Moya Summers yet, but I did start with a Paris one since my friend came back from Paris recently when I grabbed it. Then I found out they shot in Vietnam, so I went and watched that. Then I grabbed Singapore because I thought I was going to go this year. BUT AS I WAS WATCHING SINGAPORE I found out they had done a location shoot in Singapore 5 years before! So I kind of want to watch it in order! Thanks to gaki-no-tsukai forums, I found a site that has many older episodes of variety shows available for stream. I found a Moya Moya Summers one and the Singapore episode I was looking for from 2007 and am working my way through it right now.

Anyway, I decided instead of livetweeting nonsense as I've been doing, I'll take it to a blog for now. I'll just go ahead and jump in where I left off.

+After seeing merlion, they went to a gift shop to look for merlion goods.
Mimura shows Ootake a hat with merlion on it, saying "Isn't this a good pattern?"
Ootake: This part isn't good though *points at the merlion stitching*

+They're trying to go into "Snow City" but they're confused at how there are metal doors. The first metal door opened and there's alreadya temperature difference. Ootake shouts out, "Wait hold on this is no good I have a lot of skin exposed!"
On that note though, Ootake in a tank top?! Very distracting. He's not fit or anything, but I kind of like his build. And this was 10 years ago, so it's OK for me to say so about a 40 year old, right?

+Poor Oe is slipping on the ice 'cause she's wearing high heels!! Summers are catching her LMAOFEWA

That's it for Part 1! I'll probably continue with part 2 later when I can. ^^

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Cards for MADE

Fri, 19 May 2017 17:00:44 GMT

paana_play_mod took pictures of the postcards I drew for MADE (from this project!)

Waaah, it looks good and I'm happy!! Since it was in black and white I wanted to try out screentones in Clip Paint Studio, a program that I bought but don't use often. Above all, I'm happy Shy thought they were nice and hope the boys enjoy them along with everyone else's letters and postcards too!!

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Making charms n_n

Sat, 13 May 2017 05:01:30 GMT

I made a double Tsu..ided acrylic charm design today!!

I wanted to do a Koichi one too but now I'm just too tired..
Maybe I'll just do some standalone design for another charm and a sticker and send it in to print.
I hope they turn out okay!! I've never printed charms via a vendor before!

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[Scans] A.B.C.-Z First Photobook DIARY

Fri, 28 Apr 2017 15:46:40 GMT

Hi all,

Since I'm going to be using it very soon (and it's flat), I've scanned in the diary that came with the limited version of A.B.C.-Z's first photobook!

No previews 'cause I'm way too lazy for that!!

DL here

Enjoy!

I plan on decorating mine with bunny stickers a dear friend gave me ^^

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20170407 - Asia On Tour feat. Miyavi report

Sat, 08 Apr 2017 05:35:32 GMT

I went to Asia On Tour feat. Miyavi at the Fillmore in San Francisco last night with some old friends from high school! I wasn't thinking about going at first, but after yararanger said I totally should, I went ahead and bought a ticket two days before the event, since I was going to be able to carpool.

The four of us were talking about how we were curious about the other two groups headlining the show, Slot Machine and Kiha & The Faces. We wondered what they would be like, and we are pleased to say we really enjoyed them! Kiha & The Faces had a really soul/rock Korean music kind of feel to their songs. It was very different and I liked it a lot. Kiha wore a shirt that parodied the KIA car logo and the back of his shirt said Self 0. He was very funny. He doesn't dance much, but he takes the stage in a very unique way. Before he started "The Smell's Gone", he told us all to sing "papapapa" .. (the chorus line as I later found out in the music video), saying it didn't matter if we got it right or not because it was just a sound, not words. But then later he said he lied to us and that it was Korean. For "내 사람", he then told us he wanted to say a Korean phrase, "nae salam" which meant someone important to you?? So we sang it on cue. All the songs were very fun.

I wasn't familiar with Kiha & The Faces and Slot Machine or many of Miyavi's songs, but after checking them out on Youtube I know some of the set list for the artists went, in no particular order,

Kiha & The Faces

-Some Kind of Relationship in Between

-The Smell's Gone

-내 사람
-윤종빈 감독/최민식, 하정우 주연

Slot Machine

-ผ่าน

-I know, I know

-จันทร์เจ้า

Miyavi

-first song he wrote with his wife

-The Others

-What's My Name

-Firebird

-a cover song??
ENCORE

Now I'm checking out Kiha & The Faces' other works and it's interesting to see that each group had a respective fanbase we didn't know about! I know Miyavi was headlining the show, but I think the other two deserved mention in the show description as well. They were great bands and I'm glad they were there to introduce me into this cultural genre of music I hadn't known before.

All in all, I'm glad I went. I can't believe Miyavi is real even now! I don't really know what to say about him, except I couldn't believe anyone could ever perform like he did on stage. I mostly watched his hands but his hairstyle made all the head banging look really cool (he really is nice to look at, I couldn't believe that either). He was absolutely amazing and wild. I got really excited when he started playing "The Others" since that was the only song I recognized in the Miyavi crash course I gave myself before going. I got to stand close enough to see him, but not close enough to high five him. I couldn't help it and snapped a few shots, even though none of them were good. XD

I'm grateful to my friends who let me come with them so I could see this fantastic show!! It was really worth it and I'm so glad we all had a great time. Thanks guys!

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