1 week later...

Well, the best 4th of July America has ever seen came and went and America has just gotten that less cuter. The girls from Morning Musume have now returned to the land of the rising sun, and now all of us crazy fans have gone in to hope mode for their return. To help tide us over some awesome fans who were fortunate to be there have been posting lots of videos on youtube. I found some really awesome ones of Momusu's arrival and departure at LAX. I had no idea fans were planning to be at the airport! It was the most adorable thing I've ever seen. I think it's great that the girls can get such a reception their first time ever setting foot in the states.

Well, here are the best vids I found. 2 of their arrival and departure at LAX. 1 of the opening ceremony at Anime Expo the anime convention that invited them to perform. This way my family can know who on earth I was so willing to fly clear across the US to see. ^__^V

It's always sunny in LA...especially when Morning Musume is there!

The Morning Musume concert in California is today! ^_^V It starts in a few hours or so. I decided I wouldn't go after all because so much was going on in the month of July. A lot of it was family related, too, so you can't bail out on that. I'm not too worried, though, hehe. Upfront is super greedy, so I'm sure they are going to record every second that has to do with their Anime Expo 2009 debut in America. It'll definitely get put on dvd. I already had the luck of seeing Momusu when I was living in Japan, so I'm satisfied with a dvd. As always, I hope my fav artist will come back to America (and hopefully swing by the east coast)

Something super awesome I found...MOMUSU ON MYSPACE! How cool is that? They also have a contest going for who can create the best music video (or PV=Promotional Video as it's called in Japan)for their song 3 2 1 Breaking Out! There are tons of vids online that I'll be checking out. Hope everybody who went to the concert has tons of fun. Good luck to the girls. Hope they have loads of fun, too. ^_^V

http://www.myspace.com/morningmusumeofficial <---Momusu's Myspace

Cause everybody loves a good SCANDAL

Yeah, so I've been really bored and figured it's because I haven't been that into jpop lately (or blogging). So this summer I'm hurling myself head first back in to the jpop world to scrounge up some new stuff to treat my ears to.

First on the menu is the freaking awesome band SCANDAL hailing from OSAKA, Japan. Well...technically they're not all really from Osaka...but doesn't that sound cooler? XD (Course they had me from Japan) I actually discovered this band a while ago when I was checking out the line up for Japan Nite Tour 08. (This was back in their indie phase) I was very intrigued by the fact they were represented by cartoon characters rather then having pictures of themselves. It made me think of the gorrillaz. (and who doesn't love a band that has Cibo Matto's Miho Hatori on their track) I checked out their myspace page and the rest is history.

As of now, it looks like they have left their indie label and are now with Sony (epic records). I am sooo glad about that because I couldn't find their stuff anywhere online to buy when they were indie. They have released 3 singles so far which can be found on yesasia.com. "Shoujo S" being their latest one. I think it's awesome they are with Sony because I have always seen Sony as a good place for artists who write their own stuff and are in it for the music. I could be totally wrong about that, lol! But a lot of good artists who write their own stuff (or are just plain awesome!!!) are under Sony. *shrug*

Anyway, here's the rundown of the awesome gals that make this band so great, plus, some vids from youtube. Pretty awesome that all the girls get a chance to sing.

Haruna Ono (vocals, guitar)
Tomomi Ogawa (bass, vocals)
Mami Sasazaki (guitar,vocals)
Rina Suzuki (drums,vocals)

http://www.myspace.com/scandal4 <--- their myspace
http://www.scandal-4.com/ <---- homepage (the japanese version has the latest info. The English version is pretty behind.)

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Eureka!

My newest musical discovery, Go!Go!7188. I nearly went to see them in Pennsylvania last week, but I didn't have a car. T_T Didn't feel like losing 100 bucks for not working that day either. (who puts concerts on a Monday?! Crying out loud!) I guess I have hopes they shall return sometime. They probably will cause they were touring with Japan Nite 2007 back in March and here they are again. I of course totally missed that Jpn Nite tour because I'm an idiot. In my defense, they called it Japan Girls Nite US Tour back in 05. Punks changed the name on me! And I was on the look out for it too. Sort of...I think...not really I forget. Dang it, I'm going next year!

I do fear I may have missed the boat for Go-Go, though. Japanese peeps hardly ever come this far east. Must be something in the air they don't like.....they'll be back.

For your viewing pleasure.

Fat no Kare


Manatsu no Dance Hall



And you just gotta have myspace!
http://www.myspace.com/gogo7188

Actually, you don't but there's more videos on their page so...

Breaking the silence!!!

hisashiburiiiii!!!

Yes, it's been almost a year since I last posted. Some stuff has happened but not much. I got an A in my japanese classes, I moved to my own apartment, and I went to see a jpop concert today! ^__^ yay!

So, yes, I've decided to just turn my blog in to a review of any jpop happenings in my area or that peak my interest enough to write about them.



Tonight, I had the pleasure of seeing AAA's (Triple A) concert down at Otakon. No, not the car company. AAA=Attack All Around...doesn't make much more sense when you spell it out, but, hehe. I'm very happy to say that I actually know who they are and have heard their songs. I caught their debut during the first week or so that I was in Japan and even I saw them perform live during the last few weeks before I left Japan. I went to a fire works display with the English club. It turned out there was a bunch of Avex artists performing in a concert before the fireworks, and AAA was one of them.

So, yeah, the guy's are hot. I mean...really hot! Like...I would totally glomp them all hot. And the one I think is the hottest (cause he looks like jun matsumoto from Arashi) speaks really REALLY good English. I was surprised. He and one of the girls were chattin it up with the crowd.

I'm sorry to say I don't think the crowd took to them too well. I mean, they cheered between songs and the MC session, but during the actually performances it was as dead as a crowd of Japanese people....and trust me...that's really dead. It's probably because most of the people aren't familiar with them. They only debut in Fall 05. I was really surprised to see they were coming so soon. And to Otakon no less! They also haven't done too many anime theme songs. In fact, I believe the only connection they have at all is "Blood on Fire" was the theme song for the live action of Initial D. That kind of limits you in a crowd of people who probably don't know that "Fukai Mori" and "Ichirin no Hana" actual exist a part from the animes Inuyasha and Bleach because actual musicians, Do As Infinity and High and Mighty Color, wrote them. As a lover of jpop, I really don't like those kind of people. It kind of seems disrespectful...or maybe cause it just makes it less likely my fav artists will play in the US

Anyway, other than that it was a fun, yet short, concert. I was close enough to not have to squint and familiar enough with the songs to not stand there feeling dumb founded. Definitely would see them again.

p.s. I'm very sorry Misako Uno (AAA member) but there is no way I'm going to rent Grudge 2 just to see you in it. I just finally started sleeping at nights with the lights off and not fearing a zombie/living dead/whatever she is Japanese woman will pull me up into my closet, appear suddenly underneath my covers and pull into a sudden whole that opens in my bed, or send her freakish offspring to frighten the wits out of me. gomen nasai m(_ _)m

Kaela's tour is starting tomorrow/this morning!

This is why I didn't want to leave Japan. T_T I miss getting my jpop fix whenever I felt like it. I'm so sad I can't go see her. Did I mention I never got to see her that last day when I was in Japan? I guess it's just cause I value my friends more, and also because J-wave's staff are morons. I checked the concert website early that morning and from what I saw understood that Kaela was the 4th person on the stage. Chema was going to stay at a hotel in Shibuya since his flight back to Spain was ridiculously early the next morning. Rei was coming, too, so she suggested the 3 of us go in together. It took some time for Chema to finish up, but even though they both were telling me to go, I stayed because these were my friends and I would probably never see them again for the rest of my life. Also, Kaela wasn't coming on till at least the 3rd or 4th spot.

Well, the concert started at 3:30. I got there minutes to 4pm. I wonder how many cases of 21 year olds spontaniously combusting have been reported in the world. Yeah, Kaela was already done. She wasn't even on the stage anymore. I walked in to the building, turned to the right, and nearly screamed when I saw her on the big screen tv being interviewed by someone. Hoping that maybe this was just the beginning of her perf, I went ahead and found my seat. When the screen changed to promotions for other artists, I started hoping maybe I had just come in at the end of the opening ceremoney. I turned to the girl next to me and asked if Kaela hadn't come out yet. "She's already done". 0_o nani!!!!

Needless to say because of that, I am extremely sadden that I won't there for her fall tour especially since I'm hearing they will be held in very very small venues. But I'm excited to be getting some new perfs to watch. There hasn't been any new concert footage since they broadcasted the live I went to in May. Hopefully, if I can save up some money, I can get back to Japan during one of her concert tours, or maybe if I can actually figure out an address to send her birthday card to this month, she'll just come to the US.

That's why I don't read the newspaper

So I'm still on the job hunt looking for work. I thought I'd try the classified ads just for kicks. Who know I could see "Japanese tutors wanted" or something. Anyway, I saw 2 ads that interested me. One for the post office and the other for secret shoppers. The first you probably wouldn't doubt, but I assure you the second is a real thing. I worked at Giant when I was a senior in high school and they do tell us that secret shoppers do come in to evaluate us. I actually had two reports returned to me during the 4 months I worked there. The first was a 70%, but the second was a 95% that got me a 5 dollar gift certificate. yay!

But, still when it comes to ads in the paper and not face to face offers (especially ones with tempting hourly wages and such) you need to be extra careful. I called the shoppers place first and gave them my information. They said they'd send me a packet and I could register for training online. Now when they said training, I assumed this meant training for their company that will send me out to shop at businesses. They asked for my credit card number to pay for the shipping of the packet...did you think I was born yesterday? I asked if I could pay in any other way, they said no, so I said I'd think it over and call them back. (aka. see ya!) The dude gave me their website so I could check up on them further. It's not a company that hires, trains you, and gives you work. It's a stupid company that just trains you on how to be a "secret shopper" to "increase your chances of being hired". Increase my chances of being hired? And I would have had to pay you 50 bucks if I hadn't been a first time caller? Screw you!

Needless to say the ad for the postal services job went the same way. It wasn't the postal services you were contacting. It was a stupid company that helps you prepare for the exam you have to take and pass to work for the post office. Which by the way, you can find books at your local public library that help you prepare for the exam...for free! The annoying thing is that both of the ads are written in a way that makes you think you are calling the actually company itself.

muwahaha! I rule...

ok, not to get a big head over it, but I had an awesomely random moment in class on Friday. We started the restaurant unit in class, so we're learning to order and such. My teacher did an exercise where she was the customer and whoever she called on was the waiter. I was the second (and last) person she called on. I guess my turn went on for a little while. We had actually menus in front of us, so she was asking all kinds of question "What's this? What flavor juice do you have? Do they come in small, medium, and large?". I was having tons of fun with it cause I absolutely love speaking Japanese, and speaking with someone who can properly correct you (in English!) is like a dream come true. Anyway, right after my turn was done, she told us to split off into pairs to practice the same skit so we could "perform" it later in front of the class. When I sat down next to my partner he was like "How'd you know all that *censored*?!" (me with surprised and confused look) "The vocabulary...and..stuff?!". I kind of feebly mumbled that I'd just spent a year in Japan and my old school used the same book, so I'd already done this unit.

lol, but his reaction seemed so random to me. I guess I hadn't thought about it during the drill because I was having so much fun getting to use my Japanese. Still, in a class where everyone is presumed to have only one year of study, a student suddenly prattling off fluently would be kind of off. Thinking back to my 201 days, yeah, it would be very off, lol! XD Not to mention, he might have pegged me as a moron (a well deserved assumption). 10 minutes before, I had been paired with him for one of those stupid Q/A drills. I always have a terrible time with forced conversation drills especially a drill where you specifically MUST use a certain grammar pattern. I hate making simple "see Jack run" sentences, but I usually have to and after taking 20 seconds just to come up with that...you do seem kind of dense. That could have been what he thought, so for me to suddenly start speaking well would probably be a surprise, lol! Not that he gave any indication that he thought I was stupid or had an attitude. I'm just trying to analyze his surprise cause I didn't realize I had just shocked the class. XD

Anyway, it's nice to know my Japanese is coming along. ^^V