Let me talk about Tokyo

abirdwhale's First Concert

2011-12-24T09:02:00.001+09:00

There will be my first concert in a year. As a special feature of this event, the event involves a collaboration between musicians and a film director. The venue also differs from normal 'live houses'. While you are watching the show, you can sit back and relax in a Japanese-style atmosphere. Feel free to join this unique event. http://www.facebook.com/events/155765791197121/

A Short Film

2011-12-15T07:13:00.001+09:00

This is a short film which won the Academic Vision Award and the Business Vision Award at Mita Film Competition on 10th of December. The song by me, called 'Five, Six, Seven', is used in the film. The title of the film is 'Popping out of the trash box'. Please enjoy it.

abirdwhale

2011-12-15T07:07:00.001+09:00

abirdwhale is a musical (perhaps not only music) project by Kakinoki, Masato. Please stay tuned.

It's Masa

2011-09-20T13:05:00.003+09:00

How have you been?
Something is going to change soon.
See you then.

About "Good Day, Good Night" (2/2 - Regarding the video)

2011-06-11T12:43:00.007+09:00

*This post is a sequel to my former posts. If you want to read the former ones, you can read them using these links:

Good Day, Good Night (May 6, 2011)

About "Good Day, Good Night" (1/2 - Regarding the song) (May 23, 2011)

I had originally planned to upload the song to YouTube. YouTube is the easiest to access for everyone, rather than Myspace or SoundCloud.
When I had written up the song, I thought it should be shown with the lyrics because of its character and concept.
I didn't want to just show all the lyrics at the explanation area of the YouTube page. Personally, I don't like listening to songs while reading the lyrics. It makes me able to predict what's going to come next in the lyrics. That's a bit boring.

So I decided to show the lyrics directly in a video.

It's impossible to capture my writing or typing the lyrics in real-time, so I made up my mind to make a simple stop motion animation.

At first, I tried to take pictures with the digital camera which was in my house, but I failed at it. I attached the camera to a microphone stand as a tripod with gum tape, but every time I pushed the shutter button, it moved a bit. That was very irritating.

So I started to use the webcam which was in my house. Then I could start shooting by clicking the trackpad of my MacBook Pro, without touching the camera.

However the picture I took with the web camera was blurry, so I had to buy a new web camera.

In regards to the editing software,
I found a nice freeware called FrameByFrame.
I was excited to try this new software. It worked well, because it could export the movie file when I was testing it.
However, a problem suddenly appeared.
When I tried to save the file as I was finished with half of the work, it froze. I tried again and again, but it didn't work.
I still don't know why, but FrameByFrame can't save more than a minute movie, at least for my environment.

I needed to find another way. I tried to do it with iPhoto and iMovie. They are good default applications that with Mac. However they didn't satisfy my need.

I googled and found that I had to buy iStopMotion 2.
Making a movie is so expensive...!
I used the trial version and well, it worked perfectly. I bought it.
When you pay money for something, it gives you back more than when you get something without paying. That's what I learnt from it.

Finally I succeeded in making the video made up of 1552 pictures.
I can explain the more details of the progression, but it will be too long to read.
So I won't do that. If you would like to know, you are welcomed to ask anything.

This is the picture of the lyrics sheet. The numbers are the accurate time when each word appears in the song. I had to check them all to synchronize the vocals with the picture.
The Japanese characters you can see in the picture show my practices.

Here are all the items used to make the video:

A MacBook Pro
A webcam
iStopMotion 2

iMovie (to combine the movie and the music)
Sunlight (I couldn't work when it was cloudy, because it was too dark to take a picture with my web camera.)
A desk lamp
A green notebook
Several pens
Time and patience (Honestly, I can't strongly say I want to do the same thing again, and I really respect animation creators. They are tough!)

I've read two books by Kafka

2011-05-29T12:30:00.002+09:00

I read "Transformation/Before the Law" and "The Trial" in Japanese.
It was my first contact with Franz Kafka. He's from Prague and wrote in German.

"The Metamorphosis/Before the Law" is a book of short stories which includes:

"Judgement"
"The Metamorphosis"
"A Report to an Academy"
"Before the Law"

"The Metamorphosis" is very well known but I've never read it before. I only knew how the story begins as everyone knows.
"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect."

Before I read through the novel, I thought "The Metamorphosis" was a SF or fantasy novel, but it actually is a sad, realistic and symbolic novel. Even though it's sad, I like it.

I couldn't catch what "Judgement" really means. I should try reading it again at the proper opportunity.

"A Report to an Academy" is all made up of one character's monologue. He reports to the people in an academy about how he became a human from being a monkey. It's funny but also deep.

"Before the Law" is a really short story, which is four pages in Japanese. It may be less in English.
It's easy writing but difficult to understand the intent of the writer. What is the law after all?
This novel appears again in "The Trial". One character talks about this story. That scene can be a clue to understand.

"The Trial" is good novel and has a worldwide reputation, but I don't like it so much. There are several unfinished chapters, and this novel is depressing and full of a helpless feeling. That is why it didn't become my favorite.

Kafka's novel's are classic. They are also more pop and catchy than I expected.
I can recommend them to you.

Write It Down, Make It Happen: Knowing What You Want And Getting It

2011-05-26T19:43:00.000+09:00

*This post has been saved as a draft from 4 March 2011. I forgot to upload that time.

I've just read through "Write It Down, Make It Happen: Knowing What You Want And Getting It" by Henriette Anne Klauser. I read it in Japanese.

It's a good book. I like it. There are many concrete ways to make dreams come true.
Write your dreams and goals down and you'll be careful about the things connected to your dreams. I agree with it.

What I like the best is this. Make a team. Meet up once a week. The each member officially announces two things. Their dreams and what they'll have done for the dreams by the next meeting.

Perhaps there are a bit too many. It's difficult to remember them all. I borrowed this book from the library, but it's good to have and read it back sometimes.

There are several spiritual and religious ways. They are hard to understand for Japanese. I didn't pick them up. Just use the ways which suit you. It's the best way to read this book.

Now I have a question. Do I have to write those things on the paper? Can I type them on PC? What do you think?

About "Good Day, Good Night" (1/2 - Regarding the song)

2011-05-23T20:02:00.002+09:00

This post is about the song I wrote and introduced to you in my last post.
http://letmetalkabouttokyo.blogspot.com/2011/05/good-day-good-night.html

On 12 March, I was exhausted from the frequent aftershocks, the horrible news, the confused flood of informations on Twitter and so on.
I felt "Music is nothing for a time like this."

Then I got a mail from my friend. It said, "Sing."
He continued, "You might give them some courage with music."

At the same time, I saw a tweet which said, "For musicians, music is not guilty. It's a hope."

I made up my mind to write a song.
I thought carefully about what kind of song I should write.
There were already many rousing songs by famous musicians.
If I started to write a rousing song from that time, it would not mean much.

I was recalling the children's book I had read in elementary school days.
It was one of the popular series called, "Zukkoke San-Nin-Gumi".
Less than Harry Potter's popularity of today, but it was quite popular in that time.
The story of the one I was recalling is that the main characters face a huge earthquake and they have many difficulties after the earthquake.
The boy dreams about the earthquake many times, and every time he wakes up in a sweat.

At that time, my mother said "I can't sleep well because of the aftershocks during the night." Some of my friend said the same things on Twitter.

"A song which eases the anxiousness of the people. This might be what I need to write," I thought.
For the people in Touhoku, and also for the people everywhere who can't spend nights at peace.

At this moment,
"This is the time to sleep",
the first verse, dropped from my mouth with the melody which I had hummed before the earthquake. It fit.
(The lyrics were revised to "This is the time for bedtime" for the final version)

This is the story about how I started to write "Good Day, Good Night."

I'd like to write about how I made the video in my next post.
Thank you for reading.

Good Day, Good Night

2011-05-06T16:59:00.000+09:00

I've uploaded a new music video to YouTube with the song that I wrote the day after the earthquake disaster.

There are already many encouraging songs after the disaster, so I wrote a song which eases our feeling.

If you like it, feel free to paste the video as you want.

Facebook page is also now available. You surely see the box on this page.
I hope you say "Like" it.

Several other new menues available from the official site.
http://nanos.jp/kakinokimasato/

Have a nice day.

"The Stranger" by Camus

2011-03-05T15:05:00.002+09:00

I've read "The Stranger" for the first time.
It was written in 1942 in French. Old novels are usually a bit more boring than contemporary novels but not in this case.
I'm rather surprised that I could enjoy reading it that much.

I happened to know this novel from the Japanese animation film, "The Sky Crawlers". In the film, the female boss says to the main character, "I expected you'd get here later", and he says, "Because the sun was glaring". Then she says, "Camus".

At that time, I couldn't hear what she says because I didn't expect her to say someone's name. Then I googled, and I found out what she said. I already knew the title, "The Stranger". I knew the title from the must-read novels list of the literal professors study guide. That's the story on why I decided to read this book.

I won't write about the story of the book. I hate spoilers.
I can tell you the brief story line. This is the story about a man. You might think he's so strange or you might think he's not strange at all. I want to hear what you think.

If you haven't read this and think it is boring without reading, I suggest you read it once.

I couldn't understand the entire book. I'd like to read it again in the future and I look forward how do I feel at that time.

Love Actually

2011-02-25T13:18:00.003+09:00

At first, I watched this film only to learn how British people speak English.
I didn't expect that it was a good one.
I did think this is the kind of films in which that the frivolous men and women stick together, separate and stick again or something like that.
I'm not much of a weeper, but I actually wept four times through the film.
Then I must say, I like this film very much.

I wrote a new song just after watching the film.
I will upload this song in the near future.

"Love Actually" or "Love" (temporary title, which is better?)

How to say "I love you, I love you, I love you"?
It's hard to say in words for me
I can't say "I love you, I love you, I love you"
I wish I were the spiderman

When you wake up in the morning
Can you see the whole light?
I will make bluebirds sing
Uh ligh-la-la-light

How to say "I love you, I love you, I love you"?
It's hard to say in words for me
Can't you say "I love you, I love you, I love you"?
I hope someday it'll be your words

When you wake up in the morning
Can you see the whole life?
I will make bluebirds sing
Uh ligh-la-la-light
Uh I love you

Japanese temple

2011-02-16T17:22:00.004+09:00

There are many temples in Tokyo. We can find one when we walk around somewhere, just like you can easily find churches in Europe cities.

This is the pics of one near my house.

You can see a railway on the right and the entrance of the shrine is on the left.
It's a quite big shrine area for being in Tokyo.

Here's the big picture.

Can you see the notice?
It says, "To the students of Musashi (it's the name of the university, high school and junior high school near here), please hold back from going through this shrine area".
I don't know the truth, but the students might have been noisy or something.

I didn't get into there today. To be honest, I'm not in the good relationship with this shrine.
The first time (and the last time) I got in there, I was barked by an old man, "What are you doing!?". I ran away.
I still don't know why he was angry. Maybe he thought me as some naughty Musashi student.

I got the prize!

2010-08-22T15:47:00.007+09:00

I got the prize at the music competition in Ginza, Tokyo.
I've uploaded the video of my performance there on Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfHnMLhLTCI

Please enjoy. :)

Have you ever seen "Japanese cherry blossom"?

2010-03-16T17:07:00.010+09:00

Have you ever seen "Japanese cherry blossom"?
We call it sakura, sounds beautiful, doesn't it?

I strongly recommend you all to come to Japan to see them.
I know there are cherry blossoms in other countries, but sakura is especially awesome!

Thousands of sakuras besides the river, and the river will turn to pink with the petals...I like that view very much.

When you come to Japan, just let me know:)

Japanese pop music scene

2010-03-04T21:11:00.003+09:00

Japanese pop music scene is not good, furthermore, it's almost corrupted.
The hit charts are dominated by idle groups, and general Japanese people haven'T heard even The Rolling Stones. Can you believe it?

If you come to Tokyo, you can find this mark quite easily.

The T-shirts with this mark are quite popular in Tokyo.
You might ask him,
"Hey, do you like The Rolling Stones? Which song do you like the best?"
Then he replies,
"Sorry, I've never listened to The Rolling Stones"
You:"............."

This is the current music cultural level among general Japanese people.

However, there are a few musicians who get not only popularity but also the high musical ability in Japan.
Tonight I show you one of them.

This band is called "Tokyo Jihen", in English, "Tokyo Incidents"
I hope they raise the level of Japanese pop music culture.
How is the situation of the other country's music culture?

3 city centers in Tokyo!

2010-03-02T16:50:00.003+09:00

Did you know that there are 3 city centers in Tokyo?

Shibuya, Shinjuku and Ikebukuro.

There are busy cities except them, so perhaps more than 3.

I won't say to have many city centers is good thing, or bad thing.

However, I know it's not common thing around the world, except New York.

I have lived in Dublin in Ireland. Where is the city center? Of course Dublin is.

Some of you take Tokyo as a big City with many people. ...Yes, here it is.

Hi from Tokyo.

2010-03-02T16:33:00.002+09:00

Hi, here's my blog in English.

I'm a university student in Tokyo. I do (means write, play and listen) music and I study law at university.

I already have my blog in Japanese.

http://soranohanashi.seesaa.net/

The contents of this blog will be completely diffrent from my Japanese blog.

This blog is supposed to be for the people who are interested in Japan, Tokyo life, Japanese culture and so on.

I hope you'll enjoy it.