Only in Japan :: Dekotora デコトラ

So when I saw this awhile back I thought this was the coolest most insane subculture of Japan... so unique and distinct I love it!! One day I would like to see some trucks decked out like this since in the States I don't think we have anything that comes close to this...

Dekotora, or decoration trucks, most of these trucks are actually functioning delivery trucks for misc goods... although they don't normally turn on the lights and everything, it sure looks cool when they do!

Red String of Fate 赤い糸

"An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet,
regardless of time, place, or circumstance.
The thread may stretch or tangle,
but it will never break."
- an ancient Chinese belief

Japanfest 2010 : Part Two

Here are some awesome moments from Japanfest =)

This was a Japanese daycare/preschool dance presentation... so cute!

:::::::

 

Taiko Drummers... need I say more?

:::::

 

Some traditional dancers teaching the audience a dance

::::

Japanfest 2010

So I went to Japanfest last weekend and it was soooo much fun =) I'm already looking forward to next year...! So without further ado here are some of the pictures I took..

*** This was where games, and little activities for kids were.. it gotta really crowded walking down this corridor after awhile..

:::a vendor:::

 ::Wedding Kimonos::

 ::: food court area :::

 :::Part of the flower arrangements :::

Japanfest 2010 :: TOmorrow

Yay! Japanfest is finally here! I'm going tomorrow soooo expect pictures & giveaway goodies =)

Model/Hostess :: Satomi Yakuwa

So I have several websites that I normally check out to get my daily Japan fix... one of them is CNNgo... I think its a branch of CNN which focuses on the hot spots of Asia (Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Bangkok, Mumbai and Tokyo)

One of the features today was about Satomi Yakuwa... who you might ask? Actually Satomi has quite a following according to the article and is not only a senzoku (only models for ONE magazine in particular) but also a working Hostess too!

 

 

Busy girl right? Check out the article and find out more about Miss Satomi and her busy careers!

::: click here :::

Only in Japan :: メイドカフ (Maid Cafe)

HOWEVER... there are rules!!

The rules are pretty straight forward... like not being creepy stalker status for one!

lol, the main one, which I think almost everyone knows and can guess, is not to take pictures of the Maids without asking since they charge... usually if you do decided you want a picture they will decorate it afterwards! cute right??

Girls' Generation/SNSD 少女時代

 So a few months ago I posted about the Korean band Girls Generation and how they would make their debut in Japan in August... while unless you've been living in a box, you'd know they are a HUGE hit!! Yay! This makes me happy for some reason.. I dunno, I like them and I'm glad Japan does too =)

Genie placed 5th in the daily Oricon charts... here is the song! hope you enjoy =)

ドラマ Dorama!

Naughty Kiss a new JDrama which premiered 9/1

So lately I have been wanting to watch some Japanese television dramas' but haven't really a clue where to start, so I did a little research to see what I was in for.

So here is the low down...

• Dorama = Drama
• Japan has four television seasons in which new shows will premiere in: Winter (January–March), Spring (April–June), Summer (July–September), and Autumn or Fall (October–December)
• Evening dramas, typically are like 12 episodes long with a normal season finale type episode (similar to here in the States)
• Dramas are often filmed only a few weeks before they actually air... which I always wonder why they don't do that here...
• The starting time is not always on the hour or half hour.  Because ratings are so important in Japan they normally start a few minutes before or after the hour.  The thinking on this is that once one show ends the viewer will prob be more likely to watch the next show on since they already missed a few minutes of other shows on a different channel... so clever!!!

So now that we got the basics... where do people watch these? 

• CrunchRoll -- downside you gotta pay
• Your local Japanese video store -- funny right? I'm sure these exist though, sadly not really helpful for me
• Mysoju -- this site looks reputable but I really have no clue.. thought I would give it a try
• and I'm sure Youtube if you are willing watch it in annoying under 15 min sections..

Yay! So we are set up to watch some Japanese Doramas! Now we just gotta find some good ones... looking online I think I might try watching My Boss, My Hero [マイボスマイヒロ] or Hana Yori Dango [花より男子])

What do you think? Good starters? Any recommendations??

PEANUT★GANG

I just wanted to mention that lately I have been finding some pretty awesome blogs/youtube users... varying from all sorts of things I think I will start highlighting their awesomeness with you all! so with saying that I wanted to share this awesome dance/hip hop group I have been stalking on YouTube. I love them! They are called Peanuts Gang..

Their profile says they are from Osaka, Japan and by the looks of their videos it looks like they record them in the train/subway stations..

August :: September

So looking back at my blog for the month of August... uh BLAH... I quit my job, got two new ones and started fall semester.....yuck right? it was soo boring! hopefully September will be better... in fact i know it will be!

    


    One thing im totally looking forward to is Japanfest! yay!!! its like the 18th and 19th, and I think I will prob have my first blog giveaway right afterwards since i will hopefully be able to get something worth wanting! so keep your eyes peeled... =)