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5 Books About Japan

yonasu — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 10:52:04 +0000

I’ve really been stacking up on books about Japan lately, my last order included Arcade Mania!, The Otaku Encylopedia and My Darling is a Foreigner, and out of those I’ve only had time to finish the last one mentioned. So with the 5 books I got from Amazon today, I have a total of 7 books to read!

In this order (orders actually), I got the 5 books seen above.

Idle Idol

Not quite the “idol” I usually refer to, in this book it refers to the nationwide mascots, such as Anpanman, Doraemon and the Kappa. This is a part of the Japanese culture that I definitely need to study more, there are so many of them, so this book will definitely do me good.

Idle Idol: The Japanese Mascot

Drainspotting

If you’ve been to Japan, you’ve most likely noticed that the Japanese like to design their manhole covers. This book guides you through those cool manhole covers in pictures, there’s a map even in case you want to see them in person.

Drainspotting

Urawaza

This is a book I’ve been wanting to get for over a year now, and now I’ve finally got my hands on it. The slogan “Secret Everyday Tips and Tricks from Japan” pretty much says it all. It’ll help you get those zits off your face, teach you how to swim backwards, make a baby stop crying and much more.

Urawaza: Secret Everyday Tips and Tricks from Japan

70 Japanese Gestures

A guide to Japanese body language. It can be frustratingly difficult to explain yourself or understand someone if you don’t speak each other’s body language. For example, “me” and “ugly” has a very similar gesture in Japan ;)

70 Japanese Gestures: No Language Communication

Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential

Perhaps the book I’m most interested in reading, it includes pretty much everything about the different kinds of Japanese teenagers, such as idols, sailor girls, cover girls, gyarus, actresses and much more.

Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential: How Teenage Girls Made a Nation Cool

I will post about these books again as I finish reading them so I can give them a good full review. Just thought I’d do a short introduction post, in case you’d want to get your hands on some of them yourself!

Gyaru Wednesday Wk7

yonasu — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 10:56:20 +0000

It’s finally Wednesday again, although not just any Wednesday. It’s the last Wednesday before I have my two weeks off work! I can’t think of a better way than to celebrate that with a bunch of beautiful fashionable gyarus :)

I’m gonna have to go with “YAY!”, even though I prefer black and dark brown…

This week’s edition of Gyaru Wednesday was brought to you by: Love 4 Fashion, Japanese Streets, Osama K. Al-Atiki, Gyaru is a lifestyle and gyaru fashion and style.

AUDIO Tokyo Electronic Music Festival

yonasu — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 12:52:49 +0000

Since you’re reading this, chances are you’re not at the Tokyo Electronic Music Festival. But seeing as there’s one day left, you could still go! Party till 5 in the morning and then go to work ;)

With DJs from all over the world, three indoor arenas and one outdoor stage at the waterfront (The iFlyer Aquarium, The Loft, WOMB Annex and the Harumi Seaside Terminal), it’s bound to be one hell of a party. I just wish I was there myself!

Of course, along with the music, other things take part in festivals, and if you’re into fashion you’re welcome to visit SINQUANONE and NO NAME HQ to try on some clothes for the night.

So if you’re in Tokyo, get your party hat on and head over to one of the stages for some fun tonight!

Click here to see a list of all the artists that are performing at the festival, and visit the home page for more info.

audiotokyo.jp – Follow on Twitter

Via Japan Trends

Taiwan in a Pen

yonasu — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 16:26:35 +0000

I might have come across one of the most clever pens out there. This is a pen for tourists in Taiwan, and what it really is, is a very pocket-friendly tourist map!

I want to create a pen like this, for something other than a map of Taiwan though. Wouldn’t you agree on how smart this is though? The perfect companion for a backpacker I’d say.

How about one with a map of all the hostess bars in Tokyo?^^

Kawaii Wrist Cutting

yonasu — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:13:57 +0000

In Japan, there are ways to do literally everything in the cutest way possible. You probably can’t go more than 10 feet and you’ll see something cute! The video I’m about to share however isn’t actually real, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there were something like this available in some underground suicide shop in Tokyo, haha.

This clip is from the Japanese gore movie “Tokyo Gore Police”, check it out if you have some free time this weekend. Japanese gore movies are pure humor.

Via WTF Japan Seriously

Gyaru Wednesday Wk6

yonasu — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 10:15:30 +0000

Whoppee! Gyaru Wednesday!

Well, actually it’s already Thursday, some things came up so I didn’t have enough time yesterday to get this post done. So just this once will it be a Gyaru Thursday^^;

Gaijin spotted!?

This week’s edition of Gyaru Wednesday was made possible by: ♥あいらの王宮♥, Jennyのtumblr, Asian (Street) Impressions, gyaru, etc, FUCKYEAHJAPANFASHION and Gyaru is a lifestyle.

Japanese Football Fans World Cup 2010

yonasu — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 12:00:25 +0000

This might not come as a surprise to you, but when it comes to world cups, I root for Japan. I actually didn’t think Japan would make it so far, but they’ve really showed everyone that they have a very solid team. It was great to see the majority at work rooting for Japan when they played against Paraguay!

I want to dedicate this post to the Japanese fans who were there and supported their team to the very end, you were amazing!

Also take a few seconds to vote on your favorite Japanese player :)

My vote goes to Tulio Tanaka with Shinji Okazaki coming in second! Tanaka is such an amazing defender^^

Wish I could’ve been there myself!

Nippon Banzai!

JinnyOops! Ross Death Money

yonasu — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 12:06:54 +0000

JinnyOops! accidentally rocked your socks off in 1 minute and 15 seconds. You should thank them. — SparkPlugged

I couldn’t express myself any better, so I went with a quote. But wow, did JinnyOops! rock my socks off (even though I wasn’t wearing any!). I hadn’t even turned down the volume from last night, and this was before my early morning coffee. But this song completely removed every drowsy cell in my body, it felt like a brainwash (I think).

JinnyOops! released their first mini-album back in February 2010, although on the indie label Nasty Records, so it might be difficult to find. Either way, if you’re interested you can check out their MySpace page to see more. They also have an official website in the works.

Via SparkPlugged

FRISK Variety Pack

yonasu — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 08:52:43 +0000

Along with the KitKat variety pack, I also included a variety pack of FRISK mints in my first order from White Rabbit Express. The FRISK variety pack is shipped in batches of 10 packs, and while the KitKats might last a couple of days at most, the FRISK variety pack will most likely last months.

You see, every package of FRISK contains 50 mints, so that means you get a total of 500 mints in this variety pack. And mints aren’t really something you munch away on, more likely something you use three or four times a day to get rid of that bad coffee breath. So if you eat four a day, this variety pack will last 125 days.

The mints are $2.5 a pack and the flavors you see in this post are the currently available flavors in Japan (as of July 8, 2010).

FRISK Spearmint is one of my favorite flavors, when it comes to mint, I’ve always preferred this flavor as it’s somewhat mild compared to peppermint.

FRISK Peppermint is as I previously mentioned, somewhat strong, I really can’t have too many of these before I get sick of it. But it sure gets rid of any kind of bad breath!

FRISK Eucaly Mint (eucalyptus) would be my second choice in terms of regular mint flavors, it has a more unique touch to it than other standard mints.

FRISK Black Mint is basically an extra strong peppermint, not really my cup of tea, but I’ll have one every now and then. As far as black goes, I prefer it in the shape of gum (Black Black).

I’ve always been a fan of lime and lemon-flavored candy, so I was pretty sure I’d like FRISK Lime Mint. But, honestly I thought it would taste better than it does, but I’m not really disappointed, it’s still one of my favorites.

FRISK Orange Mint is the worst of them all, I don’t know, but there’s something about the mix of orange and mint that screws things up. It kind of smells like medicine and it tastes like the “one a day vitamin pills” I had when I was a kid. Lose the orange, or lose the mint, just don’t mix them together. I will be giving these away to a friend of mine who loves everything orange.

And last but not least is the FRISK Berry Mint. This one surprised me the most, as I tend not to be such a big fan of berry as a flavor for other things than actual berries. But it’s really very nice!

One thing I know for sure is that I’m not going to have to buy mints anytime soon, these will last a long time. And my top 7 looks like this:

Spearmint
Eucaly Mint
Berry Mint
Lime Mint
Peppermint
Black Mint
Orange Mint

If you want to get this variety pack yourself, you can order it over at White Rabbit Express! Click here to do so. You can of course choose what flavors to get more of and you can even exclude any flavor you don’t like, it’s all up to you.

Gyaru Wednesday Wk5

yonasu — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 09:47:48 +0000

The gyaru hunt continues this week as the Gyaru Wednesday series is here to stay. And if you did what I did and ordered the KitKat Variety Pack from White Rabbit Express, have some KitKat Framboise with this post, I think Framboise would be the number one choice among gyarus :3

I know fake tans aren’t that popular anymore, but what do you think of them? Personally, I don’t like them, it looks weird, dirty kind of…

This week’s edition of Gyaru Wednesday was brought to you by: colodio, Chelumi, tokyofashion, gyaru, etc, Gyaru is a lifestyle and Ohyeahgyaru!