Monday, December 28, 2009

日本語の練習

(My apologies to my readers that don't speak/read Japanese. I've decided to occasionally write entries only in Japanese since I think it will be good practice for me. Don't worry though, I won't put anything of great importance solely in these ones. They will probably consist of just random thoughts or musings. If you have to know what I wrote...learn Japanese! Okay, I'm joking. I promise I'll put anything relevant, at my discretion, in the English entries too.)

俺はこのブログを始める時から、全然ブログを日本語で書かなかった。皆が分かるように英語で書いてあげたからけど、もし日本語が上手になりたければ、時々日本語で書いたほうがいいね?でっ、何について書こうかなぁ~。何でもいいでしょう。始めよう!

今日はちょっと面白くなかったけど、スッゴク良い映画を見た。「
秒速5センチメートル」というだ。ディレクターは新海 誠(しんかい まこと)だ。前のアニメは「彼女と彼女の猫」と「ほしのこえ」と「雲のむこう、約束の場所」だ。全部素晴らしくて、感動的な映画だと思う。皆はこの映画を見れば絶対に泣くと思う(笑)。オレがしちゃった。アメリカで買えるから、ぜひ見てみて。

このごろ、たくさん日本語の映画を見ている。できれば、日本語の声と日本語の字幕と見る。映画の話とかによって違う、よく60-70%分かる。「誰も知らない」という最近見た映画の俳優は子供だから、彼らの話し方は簡単だ。字幕おかげで90%ぐらい分かったよ!そんな経験で日本語によくなっていると思うけど、まだたくさん言葉の問題がある。俺の生活は字幕を持っていないんだ。それに、友達と毎日会う人は子供じゃなくて、早く話している大学生や大人だよ。それでも、まだ一生懸命に日本語を頑張る。続ければ、段々上手になるかも。

前のブログではこれを書き忘れたけど、周船寺(すせんじ)小学校にいる時、学校の遊び場で子供たちと遊んでいる間に、誰かに俺のルビックキューブを盗まれた!その犯人のせいで、新しいキューブを買わなければならなかった。日本でタッカイ物だよ!1,800円だった!

そうね。。。今日、それだけ。また!

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Christmas in Japan

Life here has become very comfortable for me. Three months have passed and I can hardly believe it. I'm getting to a point where I can't believe that I'll actually have to leave this life in just 7 short months. It's strange to think that this time in my life will never be able to be duplicated; the friends I have here are from all over the world and it will be nearly impossible for all of us to be together again once we all leave Japan. I'm really cherishing every moment I have here, making the most of every opportunity.

Right now, I'm sitting here listening to (illegally) uploaded videos of the band Grizzly Bear on Youtube - who I'd not heard of but was Googling 'best of 2009' lists and this particular group was on the top of someone's list so I decided to check them out - and I thought now would be a good time to update this too often neglected blog. It's post-Christmas day and the holidays here were well spent, albeit a bit different from what I'm used to: it was the very first Christmas I've ever spent away from my family.

Christmas Eve was spent making and eating delicious Nabe (a kind of Japanese stew) with a really awesome girl named Hiromi who I've been spending some time with, and her good friend Saki. Hiromi often goes by Hiroron, which is super kawaii (cute). I like the way it looks in katakana, ヒロロン, so I sometimes take just the middle two sounds and use that: ロロ. Coincidentally, I bought the screenplay to the film Juno last night for language practice (one page is in English and the facing page is in Japanese), and Rollo, the store clerk (played by Rainn Wilson), is also, naturally ロロ in katakana.

(Me and Hiromi in the kitchen making nabe)

Anyway, enough digression. We ate in my dorm room and I showed them the videos of my two appearances on Mentai Wide and the commercial I was in. Afterward we went to ピノッキー karaoke. We spent 5 hours there, from midnight to 5:00AM. It was a blast, as karaoke almost always is. I sung mainly Green Day and Oasis songs, with the key dropped one half step so that I could handle the higher notes. But I did have a duet with Hiromi: Angela Aki's 「手紙 ~ 拝啓 ~ 十五の君へ」. I also sang some Lincoln Park when someone else chose them. "In the End" is surprisingly fun to sing and almost within my range. Karaoke is actually improving my singing abilities which are infamously mediocre.

(Some of the karaoke crew)

(Me and Hiromi at karaoke)

Last year on Christmas Day, Jerrell and I went and saw "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" at Jackson 10 in Jackson, Michigan. This year I went to Toho theater in Fukuoka, Japan to see "Avatar" in 3-D with a bunch of friends. I'm not going to turn this blog entry into a movie review, but "Avatar" was super epic and amazing to watch. Check it out if you get a chance.

Since my last update I've met my homestay family and spent some time with them. I was invited to their house for dinner and tea and got to know them. Their names are Sachiko and Takeji Kuma, they're both in their 60s and have kids that are grown and long out of the house. They LOVE "The Carpenters" (which my mom will be pleasantly surprised to hear); that's all we listened to the whole way to and from the Christmas party that I went to with them in Kurume city. The party was really fun and I was able to see them both perform Noh (能) and I saw Sachiko perform tea ceremony. She's a professional tea ceremony instructor and Takaji has been doing Noh for decades.

After the main party we went to a delicious Ramen restaurant and then returned to watch a really great Beatles cover band. At one point they asked,

「日本で一番人気があるビートルズの歌は何ですか?」、 "What's the most popular Beatles song in Japan?".

I answered, "Let it Be", in perfect English. (I had heard three different people play it on the piano that was in the room throughout the course of the day, so I figured that was the correct answer.)

They said, 「えっ、どっち?」、"Hmm, which one?"

Again, I said "Let it Be".

They said 「ヨワ プロナンシエーション イズ ベリ バッド」 "Your pronunciation is very bad", in very bad English.

So I "corrected" myself and said, 「レット・イット・ビー」, "Letto itto bii".

He exclaimed 「そうですよ」、"That's right".

It was a hilarious exchange and a great example of how the Japanese katakanize (change the sound to fit the Japanese syllabary) English song titles to the point that they can't even recognize the original, correct pronunciation.

Earlier this month JTW took a trip to another elementary school, this time Susenji Elementary School. I spent my day with a 5th grade class and spent a lot of time with the boys both in the classroom and outside on the playground. We made origami Santa Clauses and did calligraphy. All of the kids wanted to touch my beard too. It was really funny. I had a really good time and will most likely go back for their Mochitsuki in January.

(At Susenji Elementary with some of the students)

I'm currently on winter vacation which will last for 14 days. It is a very welcome break...though I've been sleeping in way too late (though that's probably because I've been staying up way too late so I guess it balances out). I've been playing a lot of guitar lately, working on writing new material that I'll probably end up forgetting before I ever have a chance to record it. But it keeps me from going crazy since I don't have Sonar anymore and can't compose my instrumental/orchestral stuff.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I miss you all and can't wait to see you in July!

Monday, December 7, 2009

Commercial!

The commercial I was in is now airing on TV and there's a link for it so you can watch it online. I'm in the first shot sitting at the table with the girl in the pink cardigan. Not much, but it's still pretty cool :)

Here's the link:
http://www.fontaine.jp/ordermade/cm/meguru_v1.html

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Dazaifu-nishi Elementary School, Huis Ten Bosch, Commercial (大宰府西小学校、ハウステンボス、コマーシャル)

*Quick Reminder: You can click on any of the pictures for a clearer and/or larger image*

Sorry again for how long it's been since the last update. I've had exams in my Japanese classes this past week and have been fairly busy in general. Shall we...

Dazaifu-nishi Elementary School Visit

A few weekends ago JTW returned to Dazaifu, but this time we weren't looking at Sumo wrestlers, ancient shrines, flying plum trees or Zen gardens. In fact, we came to visit what can be thought of as the opposite of Sumo wrestlers: kids! We were invited to Dazaifu-nishi Elementary school to visit the classrooms and do fun activities with the 2nd through 5th graders.

Each of us were assigned two different classrooms to attend in turn that day. I was assigned 2nd and 5th grade. After a short introduction from the staff the students began to enter three at a time holding big signs with our names on them. My "guide" was an adorable girl named Kiwa (which I'm told is a rare name in Japan; noone I've talked to has ever met anyone with that name before).

Kiwa led me and the others who were assigned the same classroom to our destination. We arrived in the 2nd grade classroom and were promply seated in the front facing a sea of curious little faces.

Kids in Japan start studying English from a very early age so we were asked to use English with them as much as possible. We each stood up and slowly inroduced ourselves: our name, where we were from, etc. Then the kids asked us some questions that we answered, though we normally needed to translate our answers into Japanese. Give them a break! They're only in 3rd grade! ;)

Next we all gathered in a circle and sang "Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes" together. It was really fun.









We sat back down and watched 6 groups of kids individually introduce various games and activities to us. We then went to stations and tried the activities ourselves. These ranged from Cat's Cradle, Origami, bean bag "juggling" (although only two were used - I wowed the kids by juggling three), blindfolded "pin the eyes, ears and mouth" on the head, a weird game using flattened marbles (or something like that), and a wooden ball and cup game (sometimes called "Balero"). It was a lot of fun and the kids seemed to really like showing us all of these games.











Next we said goodbye to the third graders and were led to the 5th grade classroom. Here we once again introduced ourselves and then were immediately rushed to one of four prepared stations: adding and subtracting using an abacus, storytelling, calligraphy, and...a fourth one that I can't recall at the moment!







Next on the agenda was to attend the first part of the 30th anniversary ceremony for the school. Here we all sat on the floor and watched 7 or 8 pieces performed by a mid-sized orchestra. This was really great and they played wonderful music (including the theme from Ponyo!).



After the ceremony we had lunch with the kids. We actually sat at their desks which meant our knees were to our chests practically! Haha!
Finally we attended the second half of the the ceremony. We had to bear listening to several long speeches in very difficult Japanese that I don't think anyone in the visiting group understood. But, afterward we saw some of the older students perform a traditional Korean dance number, followed by a large musical ensemble performing a beautiful piece of music that reminded me of Uematsu or Mitsuda a bit.

When the ceremony had ended we went back to our original room, gathered our stuff and then got back on the bus to go home. It was a great experience and I look forward to our next school visit in Susenji a couple of weeks from now!

Huis Ten Bosch: The Holland of Japan

In the last entry I mentioned that I was going to be an extra in a television commercial. Remember?

On September 17th, I headed to Hakata station in order to meet the 28 other extras and Nick of Fukuoka Now! magazine and head by train to Nagasaki prefecture. Our round-trip fare was covered by the production company and a meal was provided on board. The train ride took a little over an hour and the country side we passed through, especially once we reached Nagasaki-ken, was lush and beautiful. We had to transfer one time to another train that only took about 5 additional minutes to reach the entrance to Huis Ten Bosch, the Dutch themed resort where the filming was to take place. I hear Michael Jackson really loved this place and stayed there multiple times.

We walked to the hotel that would be our central regrouping spot for the next few days. We were finally told exactly what the commercial was about and were given a brief description of the scenarios of the scenes we would be used for. Unfortunately we were told we can't post pictures of the production online (don't worry, I'll stick a couple pics that are mainly of me but have the set behind me), but I can tell you that the commercial was for the Aderans Wig Company, which is very famous in Japan for doing work in television and movies. The commercial starred a famous actress who was Miss Japan in the 1970s. The concept of the commercial is for the actress to be walking through a European city during each of the 4 seasons (first spring, then summer, fall and winter) and, no matter what the weather conditions, the wig would stay bouncy and healthy-looking. "Yay!" right?

It was fairly late in the day when we arrived so we weren't able to really rehearse to much that first day. We were taken to the sets and were able to look around a bit and see the construction that was in progress.

We headed back to the hotel and were given our room assignments. We stayed in these nice little two-story villas, three or four people in each, that had two bedrooms , a living room, 1 1/2 bathrooms, and a balcony overlooking a pond. We unloaded our stuff and decided to meet up with some of the others to find a place to talk and drink something.

We found a bar and 8 or 9 of us headed upstairs to an empty bar. We were the only ones there, but the waitresses must have heard us and hurried out from wherever they were hiding in the back. I ordered an 800 yen Guiness...I don't want to talk about it. It was good, but not worth 800 yen. We chatted a bit and then headed outside to watch a firework show that was happening over the water. There was a live saxophonist playing great tunes while the fireworks exploded overhead. It was a really nice end to the first night.

The next morning our meeting time was 5:55 in the hotel. We were fitted for wardrobe for each of the four seasons. They actually ended up just using what I had brought to wear myself: a black Element t-shirt, jeans and sneakers. For the summer scene they gave me this blue, hat to wear that I thought looked kind of stupid but they're the experts. I was fitted for the fall and winter as well and actually kind of liked what they picked out for me for winter. Unfortunately, not all of the extras were needed for the fall and winter shoots so this outfit will never be scene on TV :(

We gathered for breakfast. I enjoyed a few cups of coffee and some juice along with the obento breakfast they prepared. When breakfast was over we all headed downstairs to the set of spring and summer.

This second day there was a stand-in actress doing all of the rehearsing. I don't recall her name but I heard that she was a famous Japanese gravure model. The actual actress didn't arrive until the next day.

Spring: a European street with a cafe, fruit market and flower shop, a few people sit at outdoor tables talking, drinking coffee or reading a newspaper; a couple walks by, a man on a bike rides past; the actress walks delightfully through the street pausing under an awning to either window shop or look at her reflection in the window (I never figured out which). My role was to sit at one of the tables outside the cafe with a girl. We order from the menu and then continue talking after handing the menu back to the waitress. We had to do this take at least 30 times over the course of the two days so we had to come up with some way to keep our energy up. The menu was blank, white pages. So when the waitress would come we'd often say,

"Yes, I was wondering what was on special today? Oh, the white? How is that? Oh that sounds delightful, I'll have that?"

Or any number of variations of that. Sometimes we'd order a different color and would be told that they're out of that. I know it sounds dumb, but it kept us laughing and 元気-ness was kept high as a result.

Next was summer. Basically it was the same set bu the people were in different costumes and had different roles. This time I was wearing a smock/apron and that blue hat I mentioned earlier. My role was an assistant at a fruit vendor. It starts to rain and my boss and I have to cover the fruit with long tablecloths (which, by the way, in reality, would not protect anything from rain...). But it gave us something to do and I'm sure looked good on film. The rest of the extras were in various positions, walking with raised umbrellas in one direction or another.

Next we headed back to the changing room and put on our outfits for fall. The set consisted of a women walking a dog down a neighborhood sidewalk, a couple coming outside from their home, a man selling his paintings on the side of the street and so on. The crew brought a giant back of fallen leaves to lay all of the ground to give the illusion of a fall day.

Winter was the same street, but they made fake snow and, again, everyone's outfit was different and they were in different spots. I wasn't around for the whole shoot of these final two seasons so I don't know exactly what went on.











We finished rehearsal on the second day early at about 4:00 PM or so. We had some daylight to spare so we decided to get a group together and explore Huis Ten Bosch. I was able to see almost the whole resort and got some beautiful pictures of this Dutch oddity stuck in the middle of Kyushu.




















The next day we had to meet at 4:50 AM. So early! We gathered for wardrobe and then a group of us were taken to the breakfast area...and the door was locked. We waited outside in the brisk morning air for at least 20 minutes before someone arrived with the key to let us in. I drank quite a few cups of coffee and ate breakfast.

We had rehearsed so much the previous day that when the actress finally arrived everything seemed to go fairly smoothly. We did multiple takes but for the most part it was fairly simple. The hardest part was having to pretend that it was a spring or summer day when in actuality it was really cold out. I was in short sleeves and some of the girls were wearing dresses or skirts and sandles. At least we were getting paid!

Since I wasn't used in the last two scenes I headed back to the meeting room of the hotel and chatted with some of the others. I met a lot of really nice people and am hoping to be able to meet up with some of them sometime soon. Most live in the Fukuoka area so it should be able to happen.

After the commercial was wrapped we headed back to our rooms, packed up our stuff, collected our payment and return tickets and headed back to the train.

The whole experience was really fun and I'm happy I was able to take part in it. The commercial should be aired sometime in January I'm told. If there is any way for me to direct you to it online I will, but no promises.

Monday, November 16, 2009

The Missing Photos

Avispa Soccer Match




Dazaifu


Shrine, Flying Plum and Camphor Tree





Zen Temple and Garden