While in Japan, I became a fan of the manga/anime/television series Nodame Cantabile. Since it's almost certain that the (live-action) series will never be brought over and localized, I decided to hunt down the DVDs and bring them home with me.

(Yes, I'm aware that there are at least two fan-subbed versions of the show floating around on teh intarwebes.)

SO, one season, 13 one-hour episodes, six discs. How much does a season set of DVDs cost in Japan?

MSRP: ¥23,940 (tax included). That's about $250. The Amazon price is ¥18,151 ($190). (I found it at a used shop, thank goodness.)

I picked up a copy of the Del Rey American version of the manga the other day, flipped to the translator's notes, and was annoyed to find out that a few of the translations are flat out wrong.

[BEGIN pedantic]

1. A harisen is a large paper fan used to smack people for various comedic reasons; the character of Dr. Eto is nicknamed "Harisen" because he uses one on his students. The translator rendered this as "Blowfish" (harisenbo), more commonly "fugu".
2. In the liner notes, the translator explained that the name Koshien refers to an amateur baseball team of which lead character Nodame is a fan. In reality, Koshien is the name of the stadium where the annual high school baseball tournaments are played.
   

[END pedantic]

And so, it came down to this.

Breakfast, on my last full day in Japan.

I had just gotten off the overnight bus from Tottori to Tokyo, and navigated the trains to drop off my bags at the hotel...and it was still before 7 AM. It was either this restaurant (note name on check), or McDonalds.

Well, this will never happen again

Been back in the States for about a month now...still kind of freaked out/shellshocked by how everything went down...

Here's a shot from the day before I left my apartment...Earlier that week, the owner of my place of work presented me with my final month's pay, in cash. That day, I also closed out my bank account.



Kind of weird feeling, carrying around that much cash. Not gonna have to worry about it happening again anytime soon.

...and I am outta here

I'm sorry about the long gap there...things have been rough.

I've got a number of posts I want to make, but they'll have to wait because of the following:

Due to a perfect storm of circumstances, I will be leaving Japan at the end of this month. I am canceling my internet access as of an hour from now, so...this is my last post from Japan. I hope to get another job in Japan someday, but for now, this is it.

I'll have to change the titles on my website. I'll take care of that later.

Goodbye for now.

A couple of management things.

First off, I've actually updated a page OTHER than the weblog on this website. Try and find it!

Second, I see by the counter on the left that in the 15 or so months since I added it, there have been over 10,000 visitors to this blog. And, in the last two and a half months, there have been almost 3,200 visits. Considering that it took an entire year to collect 7,000 visitors...wow.

Hello, world!

Angela Aki: 手紙 (video)

In case you were wondering about the song which I tried to translate (link to translation), here's the video for it.

アンジェラ・アキ:　手紙〜拝啓 十五の君へ〜

I love this song.

(edit: replaced busted video embed with working one)

What is it?

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. It's been...stressful lately.

What do you think this might be?
Is it some bizarre science-fiction foodstuff, perhaps? Soylent green, pink, and yellow?

Nope. It's Vegetable Chocolate.
Not bad. Didn't really taste like the named vegetables, though.

Yellow Sand, a follow-up

The line for the car wash was about an hour long that day...


The dust is fine enough that it gets into everything. What with the sand and the cedar pollen, lots of people in Japan go around wearing what amounts to surgical masks these days.

I'm just happy that the dust hasn't triggered my asthma. Haven't had an episode in at least five or six years. (*knock wood*)

My Grandfather's Clock

My grandfather, Felino B. Angeles, died last week, after being ill for some time.

I hadn't seen him in a long time, but I have very strong memories of him. He came to visit us in Minnesota several times, and on one occasion he made a clock for me.

Lolo Angeles ran a small business in the Philippines, building electronic equipment. If I recall correctly, the name of the business was Audiomark. I remember puttering around in his workshop behind the house, the one time I was in the Philippines. I was fascinated by how the solder melted and flowed, from the soldering iron to the circuit board.

One time when he was in Minnesota, we ordered a Heathkit alarm clock (pictured above), and Lolo said he'd help me build it. Now at this time I was still in elementary school, I think, and after the third or fourth soldering iron burn to my arms, I kind of lost interest, and began wandering off. (I have only now noticed that the burn scars have faded away completely.) Lolo finished the clock for me anyway, and that clock was SOLID. Loud enough to wake the soundest sleeper (i.e. me). It lasted for something like 15 years, through junior high, high school, college, and my first couple years teaching in St. Paul. Finally, one day something shorted out inside, and I didn't have clue one on how to fix it...but I held on to the clock anyway. It's in one of my boxes in Mom & Dad's basement even now.

Ever since I moved to Japan, Lolo would occasionally ask when I was coming to visit the Philippines again. Alas, I never found the time or the fundage. Something else to regret....

Now, Lolo and Lola are together again. They both had long, full lives. I hope I can do half as well...

GEEK

The pictures speak for themselves, really.

*sigh*

Spring is surely around the corner...the Yellow Sand is here.

In what has become an annual, unwelcome harbinger of spring, 黄砂 has begun to arrive from the Asian mainland. Not sure what I mean? Here, look:
(Picture from 2001)

Starting in the deserts of Mongolia, and blowing all across southeastern Asia, Asian dust brings with it reduced visibility, increased asthma attacks, dirty cars, dirty laundry, and a heck of a lot of annoyance. It makes me wonder why so many people and organizations in Japan have white cars.

The Japanese name for this crud, 黄砂, translates directly as "Yellow sand". In fact, in most of the languages around here the name for it translates the same.

Could be worse. I could still be living in Kagoshima, where the local volcano has been spouting ash a lot lately. Of course, I lived on the other side of a range of hills from Mount Sakurajima, so I was never really affected by that.

What I do in my free time

(click for full size)

I've been practicing Japanese calligraphy for a while now. Not sure if I'm getting any better, but it's marvelously relaxing...

｢信じる道｣ roughly translates to something like "The way of trust" or some such.