２００８年７月３０日

今週の漢字: 懐かしい

Nostalgic:
Sorry about the delay once again, but it’s been busy here. I have only been away from home for a year, so I wonder if “nostalgic” is really the right word to use. However, my experience home has been full of things that I did before leaving Japan. My lifestyle in Japan is a bit different compared to in America. I suppose I spend more money in America. I go shopping and see movies more in the states compared to my time in Japan.

Has there been much different in the New York tri-state area? Not really, but I have noticed a few new houses and malls. I am amazed at how there will be more malls in the near future. Does north New Jersey really need 5+ malls? This doesn’t even include some shopping complexes in upstate New York, which is only a short drive away. I think it’s getting a little ridiculous, but I suppose that’s what people want.

Food has been excellent! The only drawback was my first day eating out. I went to one of my favorite Italian restaurants and ordered an olive oil based pasta. It took a while for my stomach to digest the food. I guess it was easy for me to adapt to Japanese cuisine considering I ate a lot of Asian food before leaving America, but it was hard to get back to non-Asian cuisines. Do you remember when I wrote about how other cuisines I tried in Japan were heavily Japanese style?

Stay tuned next week for another update!

En français:
Je suis très content parce que j’ai regardé The Dark Knight. Il était incroyable! Alors, je l’ai regardé une autre fois. Je veux le regarder en IMAX maintenant, mais il n’est pas important. Vous devez le regarder maintenant si vous n’aviez pas vu le film!

今週の聖書の詩: “The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.”
- 1 Thessalonians 1:8-10 (NIV)

今週の写真: The first two pictures are of my sisters trying to hit part of a watermelon off, which is a fun activity. Someone is blindfolded and spun around. People nearby tell the participant where to walk in order for the participant to strike the watermelon. The last picture is my sisters and I in front of Osaka Castle.

２００８年７月２２日

今週の漢字: 飛行機

Airplane:
I’ll be back in the states on July 24th. I don’t have time now to write a full blog. It has been so fast this year. I’m happy to go back home for some time. I’ll write more at home when I have time.

Stay tuned next week for another update!

En français:
Je ne sais pas si je serais fatigué ce jeudi quand je reviens. Pourtant, je pense que j’irai très bien.

今週の聖書の詩: “And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.”
- 1 Thessalonians 5:14-15 (NIV)

今週の写真: My sisters and I used one of those photo booths in Japan. It was crazy! I don’t really like how I look like a little boy, though. Oh well… enjoy!

２００８年７月１３日

今週の漢字: 夏

Summer:
The rainy season has already ended for Aichi. I heard this year ended very early, which is fine with me. I didn’t think the rainy season was as bad as I thought it would be, but I also heard that this year was unusual. It didn’t rain so much. I wonder what next year’s rainy season will bring.

Summer is in full force here, and my sisters arrived right on time to experience the start of it. Whereas I don’t mind the heat, my sisters can’t stand it. They feel tortured in anything over like 65°F, which means even room temperature. Okay, that’s not true. They can’t stand anything over freezing.

Anyway, we decided sort of on a whim to buy yukatas for ourselves. It was interesting as I have no clue about what I’m supposed to buy. I was confused how to figure out what size my sisters and I needed to choose, and as I was watching inconspicuously (I hope it wasn’t obvious otherwise I’d be seen as a pervert), I realized that we would have to fold the yukata to the appropriate length. Right, so that’s done. Now, what about the obi? My sisters bought the preset ones. So what about the men’s? I couldn’t figure out where it was until I noticed some people looking at a section across from the men’s yukatas. Lo and behold, there it was! Now that my sisters and I are back in my apartment, I researched on yukatas. We are missing a few items, so we’ll have to get them before we try them on.

We will be going to Osaka next weekend, so my post will be a bit late. However, stay tuned some time next week for another update!

En français:
Pendant cette année, j’avais voulu acheter un yukata. Je suis très content que je l’ai acheté aujourd’hui. Je pense que je mettrai des photos avec nos yukatas la semaine prochaine. Je désire porter mon yukata en japon. C’est le fin cette fois parce que mes soeurs sont ici.

今週の聖書の詩: “O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago.”
- Isaiah 25:1 (NIV)

今週の写真: The first three pictures are of my sisters and I in Nagoya (Sakae) near the TV tower sorted by age starting with the youngest. I finish this post with an amusing sign about manners.

２００８年７月６日

今週の漢字: 遅れる

Late:
During this past weekend, I finally watched Juno. My family sent me the DVD when it was released in the US, which was in April. It took me this long to watch it, because I promised some friends that we’d watch it together. Of course, timing just wasn’t with us. Actually, when I saw it, most of my friends couldn’t come because of prior engagements. This wasn’t the most surprising news to my ears. Instead, it was shocking to find out that Juno was released in Japanese movie theatres merely a few weeks ago in early June! Let’s think about this. The movie came out in America early December, but it came out in Japan early June.

Juno is an independent film. You might be thinking, “It’s going to take some time, because not all independent films are released internationally. Think about how many foreign films (to the U.S.) are released in America.” Okay, you have a point there, my manipulated reader. Let’s look at Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which was released in America on May 22, 2008. When was it released in Japan? It came out on June 21, 2008, whereas the rest of the world had its release in May.

Why do the films take so long to come out in Japan? I have a couple of thoughts. When a studio or distributor releases a film, there’s a lot of money that goes into it. The company needs to have the proper permission to release a film as well as plan a good strategy in releasing the film wherever it is released. Instead, it may be the fact that most foreign films (to Japan) have two types of viewings in Japan: dubbed and subbed. It takes time for the studio to hire voice actors. The timing to translate a film does not take as much time, so I don’t consider the subbing to be a cause for the major lateness.

If you think that films are released within a year of its home country release, it’s not always the case. The Illusionist was originally released on August 18, 2006 in the U.S. However, it was released in mid May 2008 in Japan under the name 幻影師アイゼンハイム (geneishi aizenhaimu). Note the difference of more than a year. What do you think is the reason behind all of this?

Stay tuned next week for another update!

En français:
Je reviendrai à New Jersey, USA sur le 24 juillet. Je regarderai des films avec mes copains. Les titres sont The Dark Knight, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, Wall·E, et Get Smart. Il est possible que je regarderai Wanted au lieu de Get Smart. Le film que je veux regarder le plus est The Dark Knight. Batman est mon caractère favori dans le monde de DC Comics.

今週の聖書の詩: “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”
- Ephesians 5:19-21 (NIV)

Keep in mind all that has been given to you. It’s funny how people blame God or others for the sour things and events. However, they credit themselves for the good things. Keep the motivation pure and in check.

今週の写真: 1) The first two pictures are of a rice ball with salmon from a student. Doesn’t it look delicious? I assure you it was. 2) Tanabata: People write their wishes on paper to tie onto the bamboo, which will then be set on a river. In this particular event that I attended, the children were writing their wishes; I was invited to watch a show that’s geared toward families.