This is something I’ve always wondered but never asked anyone. By photobooks I mainly mean photos of idols and famous girls and boys. I’m going to start with my own thoughts on this question and I hope you’ll all share something about it in the comment section.
To me, looking at photobooks is a way of doing fake time traveling, and by that I mean daydreaming. The photobook doesn’t necessarily have to be of a cute girl, but it often is, I’m a guy after all. But don’t get me wrong, just because it’s photos of a girl I’m looking at, it doesn’t mean I’m having dirty thoughts or anything!
The photobooks I look at are almost always of people that I know from somewhere else, they are often actors, singers or famous in some way. That way I have thoughts I can build upon by looking at the photos. I often make up a story in my head and just put myself in the context in some way or another, my role can be anything really. And that’s probably the reason why I like looking at photobooks of people I know rather than looking at someone who might be prettier, but makes it harder to make up a story about since I don’t know how that person behaves, sounds, walks and so on. I’ve realized that it’s easier for me to daydream if I put myself in an environment that I’m familiar with, not necessarily from real life though, last time I daydreamed I was in an hallway in tv yuuhi’s building (from Uta no Onii-san) where I met Tsugunaga Momoko. We took a picture together but I was interrupted when we were going to grab a coffee :(
What kind of photobooks do I like?
I love photobooks where the model is natural and wears casual clothing. Extravagant clothing and lots of make-up fits better on the cover of a magazine or in an advertisement. It’s better if there’s a set of photos where the model wears the same clothes, and it’s easier to get a life-like experience if the scenery doesn’t change from a bed to a waterfall in two pictures. To name some photobooks, Kamei’s Maple and Ueto’s Breath have made me daydream countless times.
When do I daydream?
I can daydream anytime and anywhere really, but I tend to do it a lot when I’m reading books, and that’s one of the reason why I don’t like reading, since I end up forgetting what I’ve just read. I also do it a lot on the train/bus while listening to music. But my favorite time to daydream is in the morning when I’ve just woken up, they always feel very real at that time for some reason.
How about you? Do you daydream like J.D. (Scrubs) or do you not do it at all? What do you daydream about?
I love taking snapshots of awkward and weird moments from videos. This is what happens to Tokunaga Chinami when she hears about an 8-year-old beating high school students in ping pong.
Only the lasers are missing, feel free to add them, not that anything is needed to make this a funny capture. Her facial expression is just priceless! :D
This was taken from Yorosen episode 111 (March 16). It was a fun week of episodes but I’d like to see Okai Chisato as a guest! Well, I guess that goes for every episode about sports.
Do you watch Yorosen? Even if you’re not a fan of Hello! Project music-wise, their TV appearances and videos are lots of fun!
I know I’ve mentioned this before on Twitter, but I don’t think I’ve talked about it here yet. Anyways, I’m planning to go to Japan for 1-2 months (or as long as my budget lets me) this summer. So I have to start making preparations. But today I’m not going to talk about what I have and what I haven’t prepared, instead I’m going to ask a few questions.
In order to make things a bit more clear for me, I’m going to ask a set of questions regarding general living in Japan. You’re answers are invaluable to me and I bet I’m not the only one that need your help. Once or if enough questions are answered, I’ll make a new post for them and of course include some promotion of your blog/Twitter in return. If you actually answer all of the questions you’ll get your very own post!
Living on a budget
If you had a budget of 520 000 yen, for how long would you stay in Japan? Keep in mind that I’m partially doing this because I want to work on my Japanese before the next semester starts, so time is valuable. But I also want to do fun stuff!
Let’s say I’m staying for 2 months, would you recommend staying at a guest house, hostel, hotel or somewhere else? I do need my own room and it has to include an internet connection, but I’m willing to share everything else.
I’ve already gotten a few answers to this question, but I’ll ask it again. 3 meals plus some snacks or a sandwich in the evening is usually what I eat on a normal weekday. If I were to buy these meals in a convenience store to save some money, how much would I have to spend to make my tummy pleased?
While I do enjoy walking, taking the train is a must every now and then, let’s say 3-4 times a week (or actually 6-8 since I want to get home too), how much (approximately) would that cost me and is there a way to save some money doing it?
What does a concert ticket for a popular artist usually cost?
About how much does it cost to send a 5kg box half way around the world (to Sweden)? I have a feeling that I won’t be able to take everything I buy with me on the plane back home.
Places
I’m on a date, where do we dine?
I want to do something I’ve never done before, where do I go?
I love coffee and good lounge music, where is the place with big sofas and pillows where you can chill out like never before? No shoes inside makes the place even more cozy.
I want to bump into famous people and ask them if they know what time it is, where do I have the best chance to do so?
I want to be on Japanese TV, where do you often see them recording?
Beautiful scenery of all kinds, where’s that special something I need to see?
I have to visit a nice onsen, do you have any recommendations?
General questions
The legal age of drinking in Japan is 20, but are there pubs and clubs that you have to be even older to enter? And how strict are they anyways when it comes to checking people’s age?
I want to make a weird video, where do I buy or rent a monkey costume?
Anything else I have to keep in mind while I’m there?
And that’s all I could think of for now. Since I will be going alone I really want to meet up with people while I’m there, I’m hoping that there’ll be some blogging/CGM events while I’m there. I’ll probably be very lost the first few days, so hopefully there’ll be someone who can help me get by and show me around!
I was going to add another question about renting a phone but I can probably live with text messages only. Calling and using 3G for data with my iPhone is strictly out of the question though, they want over 1650 yen per 50kB (insane!!)
I guess it’s time for me to share my thoughts on Utada’s new album as well. So here goes! Also check out Renés review over at monki.net.
My expectations were high, it’s Utada after all and she’s one of my favorite singers. After listening to the first three songs I really thought this could be the best American r&b I’ve ever heard. I can’t deny that it’s a really good album, but I just don’t like some of the songs at all.
On And On, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence -FYI and Apple And Cinnamon are all great, the start couldn’t be better. However, Taking My Money Back, This One (Crying Like A Child) and Automatic Part II. I didn’t really like any of these, This One is okay but nothing special to me. The 7th song, Dirty Desire, is pretty good though, but I think the ending is horrible, like incredibly horrible. The next song, Poppin’, is okay but a bit repetitive and her “would you like that” keeps getting stuck in my head because it sounds weird, it’s like she has a new accent all of a sudden. My thoughts of Come Back To Me hasn’t changed since I first heard it, it’s just amazing and it was a good choice for the single release. I don’t like the PV for it though! The last song (not counting the remixes), Me Muero, is pretty interesting, I like how the sound changes to something a little funkier and the lyrics are great.
As for the remixes, I don’t like the one by Seamus Haji and Paul Emanuel, I’ve never liked the mix of eurobeat/house and r&b. And I guess the same goes for the second one by Quentin Harris. I think the remixes kind of ruin the overall feeling of the album, sure I get it if they play it in clubs, I’d digg that, but I’d rather take a bonus track than two remixes. Oh and one last thought on Automatic Part II, just like René said, this would’ve made a good interlude but it kind of sucks as a full song.
Well anyways, I like more tracks than I dislike so I’m pretty satisfied! What are your thoughts the album?
If you were only allowed to watch movies and dramas of one actor for the rest of that actor’s acting career, who would you choose?
This is definitely not an easy question to answer, at least for me. I have more than one favorite and there are many other factors that are important to consider. I haven’t chosen mine yet so it’ll be interesting to see which one I end up with.
These are the ones that will be competing. From left to right:
Toda Erika
Ikuta Toma
Mizushima Hiro
Nagasawa Masami
Oguri Shun
Eikura Nana
Kuroki Meisa
Kawashima Umika
Nishikido Ryo
Eita
Aragaki Yui
Ninomiya Kazunari
Ueto Aya
I could make that list longer but I think those are the ones that will be competing for the first place.
The first factor I’m gonna look into is versatility. I wouldn’t want to watch high school dramas all the time so the actor needs to be able to act in various genres and roles. I’m going to eliminate Eikura Nana and Kawashima Umika here. While I do believe in their versatility, I don’t have any proof of it. Their acting history is too short to know for sure. I’m also going to eliminate Nishikido Ryo because he’s a bit gloomy, someone should put him in a monkey costume once in a while.
Next factor is a personal one, it’s my own history with these actors. Basically meaning how much I’ve actually seen, which basically means how well I can trust them in the future. It’s pretty easy to eliminate one here, and that is Kuroki Meisa. While I’ve enjoyed her in every way so far, she can’t beat the others.
This leaves:
Eita
Toda Erika
Aragaki Yui
Ueto Aya
Mizushima Hiro
Nagasawa Masami
Ikuta Toma
Oguri Shun
Ninomiya Kazunari
The actor needs to be able to make me laugh (out loud). I’d say this is a pretty hard thing to do for actors (in real life it’s another thing) since I tend to laugh silently in my mind when reading and watching TV and movies. I’m going to eliminate those who haven’t made me laugh well enough yet, those are Mizushima Hiro, Nagasawa Masami and Toda Erika.
Now it’s getting really hard… Only 6 actors left! All of these make me laugh, but who’s good with romance? I’m gonna have to eliminate Ninomiya Kazunari, which isn’t fun at all. He’s really good with the serious human type of dramas which I like a lot, but romance doesn’t seem to be his cup of tea. Also eliminated here is Ikuta Toma and Ueto Aya. They’re both really good but Ikuta Toma hasn’t really proven himself in that genre, and Ueto Aya tends to be in dramas which might be romantic, but lacks seriousness which makes them more like comedies.
That leaves Oguri Shun, Aragaki Yui and Eita. I need to make sacrifices to make this work out. If I eliminate Oguri Shun, I can say good bye to action and I would miss his humor a lot. But since action isn’t one of my favorite genres I have to let him go.
And choosing between Eita and Aragaki Yui is actually pretty easy for me. Although I think Eita is great, he isn’t as touching as Aragaki Yui, he hasn’t made me shed any tears like she has. Well, I don’t blame him really, not many manage to do so. And of course it’s not only because of the actors themselves, it’s also the whole story and feeling in the dramas they appear in. Aragaki Yui always has someone else beside her who can somewhat complete her. Like in Papa to Musume no Nanokakan for example, Aragaki Yui herself wasn’t really the funny one, it was the dad, but together they made a really good drama.
So, the winner seems to be Aragaki Yui! Of course I will never have to choose just one actor and the winner might have been someone else if I was solely deciding it on who I like the most. Anyways, Smile is the upcoming drama that she will star in. She’s going to play a young woman named Hana who lost her ability to speak in an accident. This sounds really interesting to me and I think she will do a great job in this role, it kind of reminds me of Kyoko Fukada in Tenshi which I also enjoyed thoroughly.
If you could only choose one, who would it be? Would you just pick your favorite or would you take other factors in consideration as well?
Who’s the world’s cutest girl? Is there a better judge than Google itself? Don’t think so.
Tsugunaga Momoko! She’s the Google awarded and crowned world’s cutest girl :)
Momoko is indeed incredibly cute! And not just appearance-wise, she’s cute in every possibly way (she’s the world’s number 1 after all). Pictures and videos ahead!
Ahh, what have I been doing for such a long time? I’ve been completely ignoring H!P except for Buono! and Kamei Eri for like, a year. Well, I started watching Yorosen! again and I’m really enjoying it. As I’m going to see Buono! here in Stockholm in May, I’m going to dedicate myself to H!P for a while again. But I’ll keep it at a “normal” level so that I don’t get tired of it :)
Anyways, I love nonsense and weird stuff (especially when it’s coming from Kame-chan), so you might see more posts like these soon!
Good morning Reina-sensei! Let’s study some politics.
Ai-chan is serious when it comes to politics, while Kame-chan seems to be in her own little world (she’s probably scribbling). It’s very important to know about the prime minister’s monthly income.
But yeah, that doesnt keep Kame-chan from dreaming about hot towels.
Yes Kame-chan, you’re the prime minister of Japan, and now when we’re all aware of that, next topic!
Let’s talk about Sayumi’s hometown. The total amount of inhabitants in Yamaguchi is:
8! Or… did she mean 5?
In China however, there are:
That’s correct, Ai-chan!
That was exactly what I was going to say, Sayumi… How can there be 3 inhabitants in China when there’s 8 in Yamaguchi?
Of course there’s a reason why there’s only 3 people living in China, something was banned…
Wow! You guys are on fire today! Yes Risa, wigs were banned, that’s why every Chinese is in Japan now trying to get themselves some high tech hair growth, that goes for JunJun and LinLin too. So, the people living in China now are:
The prime minister and his daughter who:
And…
And that’s all you need to know about China!
Thank you Reina-sensei! Today’s class will come in handy later in life!
Came across this plugin for WordPress earlier today. It’s a very useful plugin which checks for broken links and images in your posts. It’s especially good to use if you’re moving to WordPress from another platform, I just realized that there are still a few links leading to my old Blogger blog that needs to be updated.
It runs in the background so you can just let it do its job and check the links whenever you want to. You can change the link checking intervals and you get notifications on the dashboard. It also checks your pages!
Name: 川島海荷 Name (romaji): Kawashima Umika Profession: Actress Birthdate: 1994-Mar-03 Birthplace: Saitama, Japan Star sign: Pisces Blood type: O Talent agency:LesPros
Where I know her from
The first time I saw this girl was in Code Blue. She was only a guest actress in the first episode but she managed to catch my eyes anyways. But I guess it wasn’t until I saw Bloody Monday that I really started to like her.
Why I do/don’t like her Kawashima Umika is very young (born in 1994), she’s one of 3 or 4 young actors that I really like. She’s very good with the more serious roles and seeing her cry looks very real. I’m seeing a very bright future for this girl and I can see myself becoming a big fan of her when she gets a little older.
Name: 川島海荷
