Japanese Drama Review: Anmitsu Hime (Special #1)

Starring: Inoue Mao as Anmitsu Hime
Koide Keisuke as Sembe
Yuki Imai as Amagurino Suke "Amaguri"
Masaki Kyomoto as Kitsubanu Ryu
Morisako Ei as Ohagi-chan

This manga-turned-drama-special is about a young princess in a made up land of Japan that laments her status and the necessity for an arranged marriage. She decides to "escape" out into the streets and explore live and find love. Along the way she meets a group of street kids who help her see the real world and to understand that life isn't just black and white.

I adored this "special." They only ran an hour and half "made for tv movie" of Anmitsu Hime, but it was a very fun and charming show. I have been a fan of Inoue Mao for a long time, so she was what really drew me into the show. Her acting is getting better and better and this role of a "tomboy princess" suited her just fine. I also liked Koide Keisuke in his role as Sembe. I saw him before in Nodame Cantabile and he was hilarious, it was nice to see him in a more serious role. In general this is a comedy and I had a lot of laughs watching it. The names of the characters alone (Anmitsu Hime means "Syrup covered bean jam princess") were enough to send me into a fit of giggles. It's hard to keep a straight face when the characters are named after different foods - kind of like Sorcerer Hunters where the main character is named Carrot. The silliest of shows can sometimes become my favorites. I think that Yuki Imai and Ei Morisato stole the show though. They were charming and amazing as their respective roles. I think that acting at such a young age is amazing and to do it well is quite a challenge. I guess I am a sucker for a pretty man as well because I loved Masaki Kyomoto's character of the playboy "secret guardian." I hope that you can find the time to watch this short gem that SARS-fansubs has distributed kindly. You can always find great things at their website.

Asia Fest 2008

I was in Nirvana yesterday. My community put together a celebration of Asian culture yesterday. I was surrounded by people of Chinese, Korean, Indian and Japanese decent. They had food from local Asian restaurants and also little booths with henna tattoos, Japanese candy art, and lovely Asian tchotchke's. I was there volunteering with my friend Yixuan since she is a part of the Chinese Association. The program involved Korean fan & drum dancing, Taiko drums as well as a few Indian dances too. My favorite one was an Indian dance by the Indian Association of Fort Myers. I was also excited to have two (I splurged!) pineapple bubble smoothies. I missed them so much, they used to be available to me when I was living on campus in Minneapolis I could just walk down to the cafe that served them. They were yummy, apparently not up to par with one's served in China, Yixuan said they were better there (she used to get one everyday for like 1 yuan.) I also ate some yummy pork skewers mmm. I didn't buy anything, I'm carefully watching my budget, but it was a fun day of entertainment. I loved watching the Korean drum dance. If you live in Southwest Florida, plan on checking this event out when they have it again next year. It's inexpensive culturally diverse fun for the whole family.

"Styrodome" housing future of Japan?

Apparently there is a large market for odd little houses made out of Styrofoam in Japan. Strange as it sounds, they are remarkably resilient, resisting fire, typhoons & earthquakes while not being vulnerable to termites, wood-rot or rust. They are easily assembled, and are growing in popularity. Here is a link to their website. Learned about from: Pink Tentacle

Opening and Closing

One country is ready to open it's doors, while another fights to get them closed. Japan is passing a new law that will make it easier to get a long-term visa for certain professionals and people that have a high level of Japanese language proficiency. The hope is that they will be able to increase the number of foreigners that come into the country based on current economic and cultural trends. (ie: the lack of births happening recently in Japan.)

South Korea, on the other hand, is fighting against their own government to close the door in the face of the United States. Not all of it, however. The South Korean government has made moves to re-open trade of United States beef, after it banned the importation of it in 2003 after mad-cow disease struck the US. The general public of S. Korea is protesting against this change, over irrational fear that this will cause unnecessary grief and illness to the people of South Korea. The U.S. government is starting to get involved and are releasing statements on the strict health codes that beef must go through internationally. While the S. Korean government is trying to get the people on their side. The entire incident threatens to create anti-American feelings in much of the country.

Rice-ess Crises.

I was watching the local news and found it odd that local super-stores were limiting the amount of rice people can buy. I found it odd, but not too surprising in our crappy economic situation. I also found out that it's become an issue in other countries too. It's so hard to believe that we are so close to recession and depression in the world. I have a lot of things in my life that are indicative of this. I really hope that we can get away from this trend. Let's hope that things get better soon for everyone.

Follow Up: Cellphone bling

I really liked this one from Strapya. (I still swear by them!) They have a whole slew of cell phone decorations from sparkly to dark and gothic, to fun and some that are practical. This one is one of the ones in between it all. They have a nice line of stick-on gems in great designs, the one I'm refering to is Astroboy~ :) It's a fun twist on an old favorite. I just bought a new cell phone and have to see what I can decorate it with! LINK to STRAPYA

See how easy they apply:

Bling Bling Ring Ring

I have often been fascinated by Japanese nail art. It's beautiful and over the top - like a lot of things in Japan. I've ALWAYS said that the Japanese like to take things we start and push them to the limits. Here is a small example of that - super shiny cell phone covers. Swarovski crystals have taken over lots of things lately and the cell is no stranger to them. I hope you enjoy the small gallery I added for you. :)

Nerd Heaven

I watched a short film/documentary today. It was called Akihabara@Geeks. I loved it. Despite the fact that I had to watch it in English and listen to voice-overs for the Japanese people it featured. I loved it because as bad as my obsession seems to get with all things Asian, it will never get as desperately sad as some of the poor guys featured in this film. Don't get me wrong, I get the need to look for emotional satisfaction through alternative means when friends are few and hope for finding that "perfect someone" are dismal. But, these guys need to get a life. One of the main people featured was OBSESSED with cute anime girls. Kawaii-bishoujo. He spends money that he needs for food on things he really has no use for or needs, replacing his faith in God with pictures of cutely drawn 2-D people. The other people in the film have a little more to their lives, but they spend about 85-90% of their lives in the little town of Akihabara. I will most definitely be making a visit to Akihabara when I finally make it to Japan. I love anime. I love gadgets and tech-related things. I most of all want to visit a maid cafe and converse with the women who make their living dressed in sickeningly-sweet maid outfits and serve food and drinks guaranteed to make diabetics shake in their boots at the mere thought of them. I laughed at first at the seriousness of these men (because the only women featured, were the maids and they really didn't have such an unhealthy obsession with things as the men in this particular film did.) and their obsessions. Then I thought more seriously about the damage they are doing to themselves and their already lacking social skills. One of the men managed to get married - but not until he was 35. His wife doesn't take any interest in his passion and amicably bows to her husband as he continues his nitro-computer building. I think that there is a lot more to learn about the people who frequent this small niche-dependent part of Japan, so my final opinion is reserved for later scrutiny. But, if you haven't yet seen this film, check it out. I rented it from Netflix, so it shouldn't be too terribly difficult to find.

I'm back! (With a story)

My computer might have died for a bit, but I'm back! Sorry if you happen to read this on a regular basis. . . Here's an interesting tid-bit. A person mowing their lawn in Japan happened to see a few katydids hustle for the bushes while they were mowing. Little did she know - the rascals were special! Usually katydids are green or brown, these little fellows are psychedelic! The science-folk seem to think that they are an albino and extreme-version of the brown-type katydid. Now, with all three colors together don't they look neat?

Great Happiness?

The Great Happiness Space: Tale of an Osaka Love Theif is a documentary by Jake Clennel. Thanks to Lisa over at TokyoMango for this video. I watched it the other night and I was appalled, fascinated and intrigued by the entire thing. If you click on the link you can watch the entire film with sub-titles. If you know nothing about Japanese culture, I'll give you a quick run-down. There are bars in Japan that are called Host Clubs. Generally, they are a bunch of attractive men, entertaining women. Not like a strip-club, but a little higher-classed clientèle are generally in attendance. The men tell jokes, sing karaoke, and talk to women who pay by the hour for their attention. There are, of course the opposite of these clubs for men, but they are even more varied. Women's clubs tend to favor to sexual needs more than the Host Clubs, but not always so. There are even bars that are just cosplay. However, this documentary is a pretty realistic view into the lives of the men who work there, and the women who come to see them. I was unaware of the symbiotic relationship that the workers and the clients had. The women are basically local prostitutes that have taken on this line of work in order to afford going to see the hosts. It's a round-robin type of life that seems draining, physically and emotionally. I don't know where the cynicism starts for the hosts, but I do feel sorry for them. They all say that they really want to fall in love and find the "right girl" but that being a host has had a numbing effect on them, and they don't know when to trust their feelings anymore. And the girls are falling for guys who know how to woo women professionlly and have no intentions of dating, or marrying any of them. So the process goes round and round - where will it end?

Leaky Reactor

Another side effect from the devastating earthquake that hit Niigata Prefecture yesterday is that nuclear radiation was leaked into the ocean. I would be a bit freaked out but they explain it away in this statement:

"About 1.2 tons of water apparently leaked from a pool containing spent nuclear fuel in the No. 6 reactor that was not working at the time of the temblor. The water contained 60,000 becquerels of radiation, equal to the amount contained in six liters of radon hot spa water, and is not harmful to the health of people." --Mainichi

If you ask me they were actually pretty lucky, considering that they were only 9 kilometers from the epicenter of a high 6 earthquake. In case you haven't read it, the death total is up to 9 and the injured is somewhere around 930 people.

Disaster strikes Japan

In the wake of typhoon Man-yi, Japan was hit with a devastating earthquake. The earthquake hit when the faults slipped early on Monday, July 16th, 2007. Niigata prefecture was hit the hardest, with 7 reported deaths and hundreds injured people. Houses were destroyed and landslides occured in great numbers. The local power company had to shut down their nuclear reactors after a fire broke out in an electricity transformer. TEPCO reports that there was no radiation leakage. Trains were de-railed in various areas, causing all the bullet trains to be shut down and other area's were suspended. Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, left his campaign trail to return to Tokyo in order to better handle the disaster and direct aid to the affected areas.

Credits to Mainichi for the photos.

Massively Expensive Purse

I found this picture awhile ago, and never remembered to write about it until now. Awhile back, there was a large jewelry show in Japan and this was one of the pieces. All I can recall was that it cost 200,000,000 JPY (Japanese Yen.) Which, if you aren't aware of the exchange rate for USD to JPY is about $1,642,160.92. So, if you happen to be a billionare with some spare change in your pocket - why not pick this up for your girlfriend? Or me, for that matter, I could wear it for a day then sell it and be super rich!

On the same note...

I found a picture taken somewhere (so specific - I know!) in Japan of a GIANT golden unchi. If you have more information, feel free to share. But for now:

Unchi Light

I've mentioned the strange belief that Unchi (poop) is believed to be lucky in Japan. Here is a new little cell phone strap from toy maker Epoch. It's a 2" light-up Unchi, that comes in yellow or pink. Whenever I see pink "unchi" it makes me think of a pink soft-serve ice-cream, so it's not that icky to me. I only found one picture of it, and I don't know what the other versions look like, but I will update when I find out more. Perhaps Strapya will pick this up and sell it?

<3

This little guy was born in May to a breeder in Japan. He is not for sale, although I feel that he would reach astronomical prices if he were to be put up for sale. Not only is he already featuring many "rules" of cuteness (being small, little beady eyes, looking over his shoulder at you) he has his very own HEART! Yep, that's a real mark on this tiny cuddle buddy. His name is:

Heart-kun!

Couldn't you just eat him up?

Yuck.

So, I love the fact that Japan has a tendency to learn, change and adapt many things from other cultures. Usually they are improvements, such as technology (tv's, cell-phones), but sometimes they are utter failures. This is one such case. Where-as Americans are used to many flavors of yummy ice cream produced by Ben & Jerry, Haagen Daas, and many other wonderful companies, there are a few companies in Japan destroying this American favorite. Here are some of the (no other word is appropriate) disgusting flavors I found out about.

Soy Sauce (was on the top for icky flavors of the list - but so many more of them are worse), Pit Viper (!), Indian Curry, Pearl (with real Pearl chunks!), Oyster, Salad (Pickles and red peppers included), Charcoal, Miso Ramen, Chile Pepper(one big one sitting in there..), Risotto Cheese, Sea Salt, Grated Yam, Cypress Tree, Cream Cheese (might not be too bad), Squid Gut (ugh), Squid Ink, Rice Straw, Miso, Char-grilled Seaweed, Hot Spring Water (hopefully not used!!!), Garlic (Brand named: Dracula), Genmai, Pickled Plum & Shisho, Collagen Lemon ("like eating a sweet bone."), Tomato (ketchup anyone?), Yakuzen (Herbal Remedy), Potato, Raw Horseflesh (usually used for DOG FOOD), Goat (goat's milk with a taste of real goat!), Whale, Shark Fin (also a popular soup in China), Abalone, Seaweed, Deep Sea BRINE, Spinach, Sesame/Soybean/Dried Kelp mixture, Lettuce & Potato Mix, Wheat, Curdled Bean, (Hahaha you'd think we'd be done by now...) Silk (yep, the same stuff as your fabric), Chicken, Black Beer (mm), Shochu (Potato Alcohol), Red wine, Tulip, Cherry Blossom (might be ok?), Fish, Octopus, Squid, Ox Tongue,((None of these are "flavored" they are the real meat!)) Sweet Potato, Fried Eggplant, Crab, Corn, Kashihikari Rice, Wasabi (Spicay), Shrimp, Eel, Nagoya Noodle, Chicken Wing (Mm bones in my ice cream), Miso bean paste, and last but not least: Cactus.

So, if you really want to try something exotic head to the (not-so-local) grocer's freezer and nab some nasty Japanese ice cream. (I'm sure they must have something normal, right? Right?))

Thoroughly disgusted, I remain yours,

Jenna

Mmm. Horse meat...

As they say: "Pass-u"

Dice-kay

So being in Fort Myers and in the heart of baseball spring training pays off finally. Daisuke Matsuzaka the Japanese wiz of a pitcher is starting his spring training locally and has our local sports casters going nuts. 2004 Olympic pitcher, nicknamed "Dice-ke/Dice-kay" has joined the Boston Red Sox. Since, obviously I'm not a big sports fan, a great majority of readers may already know this, but I was excited for the man. It's a very big chance for someone from such a small country. The people of Japan embrassed our "Great American Past-time" with enthusiasm. And this latest recrute has lots of American baseball fans excited. I would think that the Japanese are sad to see one of their own star pitchers shuffled off to the states, but that's just me.


This is his wife - Tomoyo Shibata (formerly - now she shares his last name.) She was a former newscaster for Nippon TV. They have one daughter together and she is supposedly going to pursue her career here in the States.

GachaPON!

Hee hee hee. Ok, so I suppose I'll have to pose something NON-Japanese after this one, but for now another toy from Japan. This mini gachapon ((Named for the small coin machines otaku and small children collect things from based on the noises it makes. GACHA is the noise of turning the coin and PON is the plopping of the capsule to the bottom of the machine)) machine hands out candy instead of toys, but it makes sense - who wants a toy that disributes more TOYS?? Available now at Strapya.com PON!

MoooOOOOm, Mogumo ate my SD card...

I couldn't resist sharing this little guy with (readers?) well - here he is anyway. Japanese folks must carry SD cards around a lot more than us since they make cell phone straps like this little guy. Made of some sort of silicone rubber he gobbles up your SD card to protect your information and keep it safe from keys/dogs/monkeys.