Cruxay.com

I’m back from my little “vacation” (as if I needed one) and I figure it is time to get posting again. Today, I bring you 2 rather interesting areas in the prefecture of Tokyo. I’m actually doing a post on Shimokitazawa in particular because I just found out a friend who was once in Toronto on working holiday is now living in Shimokitazawa. The other is an area of Ueno which sells the display foods for restaurants, which is also a really interesting place to walk around. (more…)

The first time I saw Itou Misaki (伊東 美咲) was in the Jdrama Tiger & Dragon. She is a fairly prominent actress in Japan, and is really really tall for a Japanese female, reaching 172cm (5′ 7″). She also starred in Ju-on, the Japanese version of “The Grudge.”

Amongst other things of hers I’ve been meaning to watch, Yama Onna Kabe Onna （山女壁女), or “Mountain Woman, Wall woman” (this is in reference to breast size incase you are wondering if she stars in a jdrama about women who live in the mountains and paint on walls or something), is one of them.

In this drama, Itou plays a department store sales women who has a complex about her flat chest. It is definitely a comedy for the whole family (please don’t quote me on that). This drama was actually from last summer’s season, and I still haven’t gotten around to watching it! I am really slow with the jdrama watching these days! When I do get around to watching it, I’ll let everyone know how it is on here.

As I might have mentioned before, I especially enjoy Japanese television in order to improve my language comprehension. One of my favorite shows (downloadable off D-Addicts) is 食わず嫌い（くわずぎらい：Kuwazugirai), which basically translates into “Stuff you haven’t eaten, but don’t like.” I don’t think there is an english word for this actually! Which is why the english title the Japanese have given the show is “Food Prejudice King.” I rather like that name.

The basic format of the show goes like this:

The show begins with the introduction of 2 guests. These are generally 2 Japanese celebrities, idols, athletes, and so on. For today’s show, we have Hayami Mokomichi (I know, again!), and Becky, a famous half Japanese actress.

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I don’t know what I’ve been up to that has kept me from watching this this Jdrama, but I am really taking my time with it. I was going to do a post on Rookies, the new Satou Ryuuta drama, or Nakama Yukie being the ever-so pumped up Yankumi in Gokusen 3, or even Kimutaku’s new drama CHANGE. But I haven’t even started watching them! I am really bad at this being lazy and watching drama all day stuff.

In the last 3 weeks, all I have managed is two episodes of Zettai Kareshi, in all its Mokomichi goodness. So I might as well summarize a bit about the interesting parts of each episode. Just to mention, the ratings for Zettai Kareshi are relatively low compared to CHANGE or Gokusen3. This being for obvious reasons I suppose, but I really thought it would do much better than it is. Oh well!

Just some quick snaps of episodes 2 and 3:

Talk about anti-theft system.


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I’ve come to the understanding that I’m getting rather lazy at updating this. Perhaps I shouldn’t have advertised as much as I did because I now feel like I’m letting you (my viewers) down a bit. Of course, from the start I had no idea where to take this and what to do really. I just did it as more of a way to burn some time in my long summer, and have been talking about a website for a long while now.

A friend and I came to the conclusion that writing about the past is difficult, especially when I’m dying to go back to Japan. We also came to the conclusion that when I return to Japan, posting here will become much easier and much more interesting as well. For those who have been following along (with the site, comments, and the youtube) will know more or less when I am going back. But I’ve kind of been in the dark about the details and never officially posted how/where/when/why/etc on here.

During this time of uncertainty concerning the future of this site, I just want to thank those that have been keeping up with the posts here & on youtube, and hope that you will continue to do so. Those that have exchanged links with me as well, I’ve learned a lot from your sites that I’ve never known before, and I’m going to continue reading your posts and learning more. 

Thanks for being a part of this. Who knows, maybe something will come out of it in the long run. For now I’m just going to try and focus on posting when I want to and about what I want to.

Finally managed to get another Youtube video up after several requests to do one based on how to learn the language. Just another silly video. Some people tell me there is some useful information in it. I’d consider it more advice on how to go about learning Japanese.

Check it out if you have 8 minutes of your day to spare. I know it is a bit long, and I tried to cut it down, but couldn’t manage to this time. Either way, enjoy!

Wow… thanks to otaku.fm my hits went up like crazy now that I’ve got the rss feed fixed and thumbs are being created. Thanks Danny! Beautiful thing you have created!

Of course, there are going to be a lot of pissed off idol fans when they realizes this site isn’t exactly for “health care” purposes. But please! Don’t be shy, have a look around… (maybe there are more pictures of Yuuri on here! Search hard! Tell your friends to search hard as well! Maybe if you all visit my site you can find something!)

This is as close to a real post as I can afford at the moment as people are trying to break down my door to watch Euro2008 all day. Go Croatia!!

Testing a new theme and new methods of doing things over here. Sorry I haven’t been around for a bit. I promise that will change shortly.

Just a few things as I’m trying to sort this new layout out:

- Planning on narrowing down my post topics so I’m not so all over the place.
- Want to get category thumbs up below the header.
- Any feedback is welcome. Help is appreciated.

For once, I think I’ve put something out that I actually like. Despite having no intentions of making a video like this, and almost no footage whatsoever, I think I managed to put together something rather decent.

This video features just some of the places I came across during my time in Japan (May/June 2007). Locations include: Shinjuku, Yoyogi, JR Shinkansen, Asakusa (during Sanja Matsuri), Akihabara (Zelda shot), Ueno Zoo (animals & Chiki the street performer), Kyoto, Arashiyama, Miyajima (deer), Tokyo Tower (Roppongi), Matsushima, Hiroshima (arcade scenes).

Have a look and let me know your thoughts about it either here or on youtube. Thanks.

Those of you in Japan currently have more than likely heard about the first ever black Enka singer, Jero. I first saw him when he made an appearance on SMAPxSMAP.

For those who haven’t heard of Jero, he is a 26 year old African-American who sings Enka, a form of Japanese music generally enjoyed by the older generations of Japan. I gave his first song 海雪（うみゆき：Umiyuki) a few listens and it is actually rather enjoyable. Prior to that I didn’t really listen to much enka (just a little Hikawa Kiyoshi, as he has also been making a big commotion in the enka world during the last few years).

There are those that hope that Jero will spread interest in enka to the younger generations of Japan. I believe it might be worth a shot as many Japanese youth are currently obsessed with African-American (in other words “hip-hop” or “urban”) culture. Either way, as long as the guy is doing what he wants to do, I’m sure he will be happy, as well as change the way people look at Japan in terms of racism and cultural diversity.

Here is the music video for Umiyuki, his first single released in February, 2008. Although the video itself is a bit stupid, the song is pretty good and it’s probably worth a few listens. I especially enjoy the chorus.