Hey, I'm back and will try to post more: Latest weird things in Japan - *AKB-48 Singer Minami Minegishi was getting screwed by a male back-up dancer, got demoted to understudy. *5 mag earthquake in Hokkaido *Me and Bob Sapp are trying to get him a comedy show.

Some Japanese music I picked up in the last 2 years

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbpqZa6qDKA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLHXKQ9LS_A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLv92MtrDN4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=870uOpjJf9g (for my wife)

OK I'm coming back

I have nothing other than 4 novels to complete so I'm going to try to return to bloggery.


Orgiastic

World Downtown #6

World Downtown#06[sub] by s7rugg1e

Hanshin Tigers

Currently 3-2 and 1 draw. Next up is Yokohama Bay Stars, which should be an easy win.

Wait...you have no idea who the Hanshin Tigers are?

Wait. WHAT?

Yeah, I know. Japanese baseball is relatively unknown in America, and that's sad, because while Japanese have no idea (for the most part) how to speak English, they think our country is filled with a bunch of gun slinging gangster (yet think Mexico is a haven), and can't eat much of our food without longing for a good breakfast of fried fish and rice, THEY LOVE BASEBALL.

So let me explain the lay of the land: Japanese baseball has two leagues, Central and Pacific. Central is like the American League (interesting), Pacific is like the National League (not).

The Central and Pacific Leagues both have 6 teams. Ignore the Pacific teams as they are of no importance. The Central League has the Tokyo Yomiuri (newspaper co.) Giants, the Osaka Hanshin (train co.) Tigers, the Yokohama Bay Stars, the Hiroshima Carps, the Nagoya Chunichi Dragons, and the Tokyo Yakult (drink co.) Swallows. Chunichi has been strong lately, and the Bay Stars usually suck.

The Yomiuri Giants are a lot like the NY Yankees: big free agent payroll, big field, and lots of publicity and fans. The Hanshin Tigers are a lot like the Boston Red Sox: less money, less publicity, RABID fans, and a 90 year old stadium. Exceptionally rabid fans - fans so nuts, that if you publicly insult the Tigers in a Osaka bar, you had better be drinking next to a doctor.



You notice that the fans have flags, a bunch of people singing, and a bunch of horns and drums. They also have an official fight song for each batter.

Enjoy some translated World Downtown. WD#5

World Downtown#05[sub] by s7rugg1e

Earthquake and the American Media

Ok. Here's what pissed me off.

The Fukushima reactors get hit with a 9.0 earthquake and THEN a 15 meter (50 foot) tsunami. The American news networks run around saying that we're all going to die and what happens?

It turns out it's all ok. F*** the American Media and all the hippies that want us powering windmills with farts powered by their vegetarian tofu.

Gintama

My wife is a big fan of Gintama (which literally means silver balls), and if you don't get the joke kintama is the Japanese word for testicles (literally, golden balls). I don't really like the series, because it's basically a decently done rehash of the gags in "Sexy Commando Gaiden: Sugoi yo, Masaru san!" I noticed that one of the voice actors is Casharin from Sugoi yo, Masarusan, as well.

Anyway, Gintama does play a lot on Japanese cultural icons and ideals, and it provides a quick and easy way to fill you with all the Japanese info you never learned anywhere. The Gintama episode I'm watching right now has a simultaneous reference to Gamara (a crappy 60's Japanese monster) and Momotaro (a Japanese fairy tale).

Chahan - fried rice

Lets back this up to a conversation about rice in general. If you're reading this, you may know a little about making rice, and you may have a rice maker. If you're not Japanese, you may not know how to wash rice:

1. First, put the rice in and put some water in.
2. Slosh the rice around (not hard enough to break the rice) until the water gets white.
3. Dump the water.
4. Go to #2 until the water is pretty clear and match the cup amount with the water amount.



How to make chahan:

1. Put in any raw meat (pork, chicken, beef) and any uncooked vegetables (carrot, onion, etc) and fry it for 2-3 minutes.
2. Take the rice (around two cups or so) and put it in an oiled pan. Sprinkle a half second of mirin (or sake) and soy into the pan. I'm getting a half second of dumping is like 1-2 tablespoons of each. Sprinkle a little katsuobushi or hondashi in it to make it taste even better. * Every cook who tries Japanese should have a pack of Hondashi.
3. Take a whipped egg and dump it on the rice and quickly mix it. Cook while mixinh for about 3-5 minutes until the rice is a light brown.

DONE

The thing about chahan is that VERY GOOD chahan in Japan is a sign of a good cook. Very good chahan usually also means VERY GOOD soy sauce. It's hard to explain the theory, but Japanese believe that the masters of the most basic cooking are also masters of the most difficult.

I noticed....

There is a Hyatt Regency Curaçao Ad on my web page..... it reminds me of the good old days I spent at Bar Curaçao in Higashi Osaka.

But even better was UK WILDCATS.




The Omelette Rice was awesome...

Hankyu Railfan Backgrounds

Just about time to renew my wallpaper - Hankyu Railfan is a great site with a monthly updateable background....

http://rail.hankyu.co.jp/railfan/wallpaper/calendar.html

Happy New Year's Batsu Game!!!!

For those of you who don't know about the Downtown Gaki no Tsukai Arahende Nenmatsu Batsu game (or the year end punishment game done by Japan's most famous comedic duo Downtown, their friends Kokoriko and Yamazaki Housei) then you have missed out on a lot. I played Mahjong with my Japanese mother and father in law while my VHS faithfully recorded the 24-hour tag and Matsumoto's Haunted Inn episodes in 2001/2002. I still have the tape.

I have faithfully watched ever since. This year's is 24 hour Do Not Laugh Hotel. I'll get to that later, but here is the 24-hour tag game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlglEFrpbZ4

Holy crap, I'm Back!

I'm finishing my house sale today and moving to a better place.

My favorite Japanese snack is Yocchan-Ika




Yes, that's vinegar and squid in a 30yen pack. If you tear off the corner, and the Japanese "atari" is there, you win another pack. Some people wonder why Japanese live to be 80 - and then they wonder why most Japanese kids eat tons of Yocchan-ika and kombu (seaweed) for snacks and have never tasted hi-sugar content snacks like Skittles.

Old school Japanese music.

Yeah, one of my posters asked for an old Japanese song I liked.

Chara's Swallowtail Butterfly is a good example.

The original Gaki Tsukai Batsu Game

Seriously, what is up with MTV remaking Gaki Tsukai Arahende's Silent Library?



I'd suggest the idiots at MTV might want to use "Shizukani!" instead of "Damare" for their scene edit flash, it sounds more librarian-esque. And, the show isn't funny. Here's to hoping Viacom actually payed Downtown for the idea, but knowing MTV, they probably thought they weren't breaking copyright because the idea is VASTLY different (Sarcasm off).



Nothing like Yamachan freaking out to insects.

KOSHIEN HAS BEGUN!

I won't be able to access the internet much BECAUSE I'LL BE WATCHING THE JAPANESE HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL TOURNAMENT.

I have seen some wonderful Koshien in my life:

I watched Matsuzaka beat PL Gakuen when he pitched for Yokohama High

I watched Saibi High win sempatsu.

I watched Toin win last year.

I was part of the huge party that erupted when Wakayama Chiben won Koshien in 2000.

Watch the drama yourself.

Pure, unadulterated baseball. A team, a dream, and a prayer that you will be the one singing your school song while the other team collects dirt from the field.

Live stream

Rumiko Takahashi - best served old....

I am a big fan of Rumiko and her OLD anime, and yes, Inuyasha sucks. Why would someone watch a poorly conceived anime that (used to) come on Mondays at 7pm until it was eventually canceled in 2004? (I gleefully watched only one episode - THE LAST ONE)

Here in America, Inuyasha is like crack for the newbie anime watcher; they can't get enough of it, and it's basically a cheaper, less refined form of the original. It's a shame that Inuyasha viewers don't get a dose of the cocaine that is the REAL RUMIKO. In other words, time for Urusei Yatsura:

Urusei Yatsura is perverted, there is a lot of Osaka dialect, and it shows the old school dirty Japan (you know, when Shimura Ken still had boobs during his Baka-Tono show and there were Porori Mizugi Taikai every summer).

The saddest fact about Urusei Yatsura is that NOBODY (outside of Japan) KNOWS ABOUT IT. The music is addicting and the plot makes no sense, but it's lecherous and fun as hell to watch!　Keroro Gunso steals their scene cuts from this intro to the degree of plagiarism! My favorite line? "If only this child was never born!" (said by Ataru's mom)



This dude doesn't have a playlist for Urusei Yatsura, but he has all the Ranma 1/2 too!



There's also Maison Ikkoku and Mermaid's Forest:



I'm an educator, after all...

Moving.

As you can tell, my posts are getting sparser as I am about to move from one part of America to another.

So let me tell you a little about moving and apartments in Japan.

First of all, if you are not Japanese, you can't get a regular apartment without a guarantee from a Japanese citizen. There are some exceptions: a few apartment complexes might make the guarantee for you if they are foreigner-oriented, or they are gaijin houses (usually small apartments with communal toilets and baths).

If you have a guarantee, or just want to try your luck, bring money - LOTS.

You have to pay 礼金 (reikin), or key money - this is a non-refundable deposit equivalent to 2-3 month of rent. It is 礼 (rei) which means it is a thank you to your wonderful apartment owner for being so nice as to provide you with a living space. Yes, Japanese actually think like this. Your landlord might also require you to repay it every 2 years, or evict you.

You have to pay a 敷金　(shikikin)/保証金 (hoshoukin), the same as a deposit, and can range from 1-4 months of rent, as the trend of using reikin is slowly decreasing. This will be refunded if YOU clean the apartment (replace the tatami mats, carpet, wallpaper, and fusuma). Otherwise the hoshoukin will go to fix this. There is a good chance that upon leaving the apartment when the landlord inspects, he'll find a spot of mildew and choose to keep the money.

Finally, you have the 家賃 (yachin), or the rent. This usually depends on where you live, how close it is to the train station, and how good your 紹介 (shokai - introduction) was. If you have a very influential member of the community introduce and recommend you to a landlord, you can get away with murder. I knew a Canadian girl who had literally over 3,000 sq. ft of apartment on a building and had huge parties of gaijin EVERY WEEKEND - she paid 5man yen ($500) a month. The only reason she got it was because she was hot and both the vice chief of police and a member of the city council liked her, A LOT. One drunken excursion with the landlord, and this girl got apartment space reserved for commercial use, at a fraction of the price.

Around $500, btw, is a very good number for a foreigner. If a landlord wants more, just say you had seen another apt. for $500 in the same area. The landlord might drop the price. $500 is an excellent price, and you should pay about $1500 to $2000 15-20man yen, for your first payment of deposits and rent.

And remember, be a good renter. I knew an Australian fellow in Kyoto that was so rambunctious, his landlord actually burned down his own apt. building to collect insurance money and flush the guy out of the apartment (or so it was said). A landlord can't evict you until contract renewal (usually 2 years), in most cases.

CHINTAI, btw, is a great place to find apartment info if you can read Japanese.

PS: I was farting around with Chintai, and I found that my old apartment is up for rent! Feel free to apply. Since I, a foreigner, have already been there, maybe the landlord will allow another gaijin to live in beautiful Arashiyama, Kyoto!