japan's biggest export.

in japanese, the song's title is ue o muite arukō (i shall walk looking up). however, the producers in the early 60's thought this title would be too hard for english speakers to remember, so they renamed it "sukiyaki" - which is the japanese dish where you simmer your food at the table in hotpot. now, unless you are hot-potting it WHILE listening to this song, sukiyaki has NOTHING to do with the song. it was presumed that most english speakers would never know, nor care.


personally, i would have just called it noodles.





上を向いて歩こう ue o muite arukō ([I] shall walk looking up)
涙がこぼれないように namida ga kobore nai yō ni (so [my] tears won't fall)
思い出す春の日 omoidasu haru no hi (remembering spring days)
一人ぼっちの夜 hitori bocchi no yoru ([on this] lonely night)



















and you thought japan only exported hello kitty.

two blogs for the price of one: let me introduce maru

アマゾンの箱げっとー。I got the box of the Amazon.


遊び疲れましたよ。Because I played a lot, I am sleepy.


今日はワインの箱に入っていますよ。I am in the box of the wine today.





maru- the cat who likes boxes way more than your cat. and franzia (who knew franzia made its way to japan?! way to impress, america!).


for more real LIVE 'kawaii' culture, here is his blog:


http://sisinmaru.blog17.fc2.com/


(all credits to maru's owner for being incredible, and thanks to liz for expanding my knowledge to this important blog).

the secret ingredient to noodles: LEAVE OUT THE CRAB (a ramen review)

forgetting completely where I live last night, my visiting scottish friend, stewart and i, headed for yakatori in the east village. on st. marks. on a friday night. soooooo instead of the inevitable 1.5 hour wait appetizer, we took on to “plan b”: noodles.




"menkui tei" is my shining star of japanese noodles, located on 56th street at 6th ave. i go after work (“noodle fridays”) and sometimes after the gym (just to insure i completely erase any accomplished exercise results). as it turns out, my favorite place has a second location right around the corner from st. marks, so our plan b is a no brainer.


NOODLE FRIDAY IS ON.


we walk in and are greeted by a line of 8 people waiting: one large group of 6 and one couple I will affectionately call mr. and mrs. douchebag. adhering to STANDARD PROTOCOL, i head to the front to put our name on the waiting list. naturally, this IMMEDIATELY starts a stir with mr. douchebag, who (always one step ahead) cleverly thinks I am about to cut off his manhood with this sly maneuver of mine.


“I WILL NOT BE MADE A FOOL OF!”



so doing what every douchebag is trained to do on a date, he puffs up his (manscaped) hairy chest and charges up to the front to erase all potential line confusion by sticking his ELBOW out in front of me. this move permanently secures his territory and proclaims that the battle for noodles is ON IF I WANT IT. fortunately for him, they were seated, and there would be no need for me to embarrass him. I’m sure he did enough for himself by sitting down and ordering up a hot steaming plate of pad thai. ahh, the east village.




ESTABLISHMENT REVIEW:

now, it is famous in all circles that japanese politeness and service comes standard with ramen. in fact, entering into their other location on 56th is like teleporting yourself away to tokyo with the thunderous noise of the of the “slurp” and the incredible customer service. however, that place is far away and is not here. not now. not on friday in the east village. it seems that sadly, the location of this ramen shop has completely transformed this “ex-pat-jap-staff” into those “new-york-city-service-industry-tards” that believe that the customer is to make THEIR life easier. perhaps they are responding to a endless supply of mr. and mrs. douchebags. i don’t know and i don’t care. i want my gyoza with a side of niceness, and no crab.


time it took to take our drink order: 10 minutes
time it took to get our bill: 25 minutes
waiters it took to get that bill: 3
time it took to get attitude when we politely asked for reasonable requests (i.e. our bill 3 times): 0 minutes.


TAKE OUT ONLY.

funky forest: the review!

at least answer me: what in god's name is this movie about?!




in my extensive experience with movie reviews, i can say that usually it is a dangerous path of spoilers. however, fear not, for how can you give away a movie's plot when, well, THERE IS NONE! it took me two sittings to get thru Funky Forest. partially because it is almost 3 hours long, and (not unlike watching Tommy!), you begin to feel insane around halfway.






this was all taken into consideration, and the filmmakers even provide the intermission for your much needed pause.





a series of short movies with characters that intertwine, Funky Forest is NOT a hollywood film. your first clue is that there is no linear plot. it is a collection of related themes, and some super intense costumes. you second clue is that it is in japanese.

"karyn, what are the themes?" (you seem to ask), "is it more death?" (you seem to continue). surprisingly no. no one dies. however, there are lots of monsters/aliens, so i feel it still falls within my genius generalizations of an entire culture's cinematic history. man, am i good!!









Final analysis: (out of 10 noodles)

monsters/aliens: 8 noodles
dance moves: 10+ noodles
jams: 7 noodles
plot: not available noodles

so, basically, this movie is about aliens and dance moves.


here is also a picture of the noodles i used to rate this film:




just kidding, but, i did eat them.

initial d: "rage your dream."

stills from the the closing song for each episode of Initial D: a japanese tv show (i think) form the 90s (i think) about car enthusiasts and a tofu-delivering, champion drifter. i'm on episode two...




















questions: will i ever have the patience for anime? why does it never look finished and all seem like it is from the 70s? and what's with all the tight eye closeups?








i'm really trying - but this is anime.