櫻井のものだ

So Osaka! Yeah, my phone doesn't work there! That is why I'm just now updating. Its also why I was not able to update Facebook or Twitter for the past almost four days. So I apologize if you added me, anticipating updates.

Also, if you're like "Why are you translating the terms, even simple ones?" It's because my mom/family reads this too so...skip over it.

I have some pictures on my digi cam but not a whole lot. I do plan on going back to Osaka once more though. My enthusiasm in the following account will hopefully explain why!

So we took a night bus to get to Osaka. That was about 5,000 Yen. It was a nice ride out. They make the bus super dark so people can sleep. I slept for about three-four hours but I was pretty much awake after that.

Then, we got to Osaka. We stayed with a friend to rest up/shower and that was nice. :) Then I went to see Access (AXS) who are like a pop/techno-pop duo. It was fun. I saw them last year and they always have a lot of fun together.

Then we went to Namba! Apparently its like Osaka's Shinjuku. (Shinjuku has a lot of restaurants and entertainment, etc.) We walked around this huge plaza area. It had like two Yoshimoto based theaters PLUS! The owarai geinin [Japanese comedian] school Hannya/others graduated from! I was so taken aback. Like, "Holy crap, stars are potentionally made here!"

So I'm walking around going, "Waaaaai~! Sugoi, sugoi!" [Yaaaaaay! Awesome, awesome!] Then I walk up to this big billboard type thing and see Kirin (another conbi) and I'm all, "Kirin! Kirin desu!" [Kirin! I'm Kirin!] (One of their gags.) And the Japanese girls by me smiled like, "LOL gaijin." [LOL foreigner.] People always do that when I know things that are "odd for gaijin to know." Its fine though! XD

For dinner we had okonomiyaki! [A savory pancake of sorts, filled with either meat or seafood. Usually made in front of the customer on a hot plate.] I was so excited - it was my first time eating it! I know it started in Osaka and so I've been really adamant. "I don't want to eat okonomiyaki in Tokyo my first time!!! Its gotta be Osakan!"

I didn't regret it either! We had this delicious seafood okonomiyaki. I was soooooooo amazed at how good it was! I almost cried, LOL. Fantastic food.

Then we stayed in a Super Hotel! Much better than the one I stayed in at Kameido. I was thankful for that. We woke up early 'cause we had to check out of Super Hotel. We put of things in a locker in Namba and then hung out there.

This is when I went into the Yoshimoto store there. Comedy/Manzai [Manzai is a specific form of comedy done in Japan. Read more HERE!] is very popular in Osaka and I wasn't disappointed. There was comedy stuff and such up there. I walked in and was like, "AHHHHH SO MUCH STUFF O_O!" By the power of Rachel, I somehow managed to not spend over 2,000 Yen there.

I bought a Hannya face towel where its like cartoon versions of them. All the popular Yoshimoto conbi/pin geinin [Conbi: duo/trio/more. Pin Geinin: solo comedian] have these with their members draw in the same art form. I bought Hannya cookies. That's it, cookies. It came with a trading card of Kawashima as his "Conbini Manager" [Convience Store Manager] character. I bought shop photos. Yeah I said it! Shop photos. Like, just like JE. Its hilarious. I also bought a Monthly Yoshimoto magazine with Hannya on it. That's pretty much it.

Next time I go, I'll get Shizuru/Fruit Punch/Jaru Jaru (I.E. Other conbis) stuff. This was Hannya Day, Deux. LOL

Then, we got cornered by these guys.

Guy: Do you like Japanese comedy?
Me: Hai... [Yes...]
Guy: Oh! Japanese OK!

Then they proceeded to tell us about this 500 Yen Manzai Show they were having. Rachel was like, "Its up to you!" and so I said Yes. LOL, so were taken to this yakiniku [grilled meat] restaurant that has a small theater inside.

We gotta take off our shoes and basically are sitting on zabuton [cushions - see all those Arashi comic haiku epis on GnA] They give us sheets of paper to rate the acts with and then the show starts.

Me and Rachel are the only gaijin. So we are IMMEDIATELY spoken to on stage.

Where are you from? (America...Las Vegas)
"Oh casinos! Millionaires!"

Apparently all Las Vegans are millionaires.

Anyhow, the show starts! The majority of the acts were Okay. Two or three were Good and one was just. Terrible.

I'll talk about the terrible one! This guy based his act on being some huge Hanshin Tigers [Osaka's baseball team] fan. Not a big deal in itself. However! His jokes were so bad!

1) You totally had to be a Hansin fan to understand it.
2) Even from what I could gather it was just dull.

No one laughed! So I know it wasn't just me being like "baka gaijin." [Stupid foreigner] It wasn't funny at all.

Otherwise though! The acts that were funny were *really funny* so that was a pleasure.

At the end, one of the guys in the last conbi (pretty cute guy by the way!!!) taps my arm and is like, "Arigatou!" [Thank you!] and I (in my unnatural state of calmness near a cute guy?!) go, "Iya, mecha omoroi!" [Nah, it was totally funny!] which is crazily Kansai-ben [Kansai area dialect. Think Southern accents] and probably hilarious coming from a foreigner. So they laugh in a "You're hilariously awesome!" kind of way. Then I leave. XD

So then, we walked to the Mini Stop [convience store chain] that was parallel to the yakiniku joint to buy some lunch. (That was our original goal but we were distracted by amateur comedians. LOL) I got some spicy chicken thing. Then while we were sitting outside eating, the cute guy that was like "Arigatou!" walked by and kept looking our way until I looked up and he like waved all enthusiastically.

Me: O_o *waves back*

He was cute though. I'd date a Kansai boy.

So then we walked into some book store but I didn't really see much. Also it was getting close to the time of the live event that we were actually still in Osaka for that day.

Daisuke Asakura (member of Access and DJ) was holding a club event in America-mura [America Town] and we had tickets to go.

So we headed to Amemura and see one of the girls who cosplayed as Daisuke the day before. She was really nice! Apparently her name is Takami-chan. Then another fan sat by us and was like, "Are you here for the club event?" and we were like, "Yep!" and we talked to her for a bit.

While I was waiting outside, on a big screen in front of us, Jaru Jaru came on!

Me: :O JARU JARU!!!!!! *runs to watch*

People were like, "WOAH she really likes owarai..."

Apparently, to add, its my new calling card. At first it was, "Hi this is Destini. She likes Arashi." Now its, "Hi this is Destini. She likes owarai."

I'd prefer if it was both because geinin don't sing!! Please represent both my fandoms in your introductions!

Never the less, we waited a bit longer and then were finally admitted in. We opted to go to the 2nd floor (actually we had no choice - 1st floor was packed) and had a pretty decent view by the time the show started.

It was a lot of fun! It was my first time going to a club/club event/club anything so I didn't know what to expect. He played a lot of his own songs and eventually did a Michael Jackson mix.

Funny story about this: Me and Rachel had prior decided that we wanted to dance. So, we moved out of our cramped area into a larger area where people were just kind of chilling out and started dancing there. As soon as Michael started played, me in Rachel (in unison) shout, "MICHAEL!!!!!"

Fans: *turns towards us* O_O
Destini: ...sumimasen...

Then the dancing began! We were doing Thriller and Bad and it was epic!

Later that night when we returned, we found out from one of Rachel's friends that we were mentioned on 2ch as "the omoshiroi [interesting/funny] foreigners on 2nd floor." Epic win.

OKAY. Tonight was amazing.

Quick Intro: Hannya is an owarai (comedy) duo.


This is them on Arashi no Shukudai-kun. My fandoms collided. It was good.

There are two members! Kanada Satoshi (he makes up all the gags, is pretty noticably tall and skinny. Total boke.) and Kawashima Akiyoshi (he's the tsukkomi but he's stupid too. Usually he plays the serious one though. He's small and chubby. LOL)

All you Buzzer Beaters, yeah. Hannya's in it. They are the only reason I watch it.

DESTINI LOVES THEM. Destini paid money for the first time to see a comedy group. This is pretty shinjirarenai because she'd never do that back home. Hannya is worth is though. LOL

Short Version of the Day: I SAW HANNYA. KANADA INDIRECTLY MADE FUN OF ME IN THE AUDIENCE. I WAS SUPER CLOSE TO THE STAGE. THE SHOW WAS GREAT.

Long Version: So basically to explain from the entire start! I wanted to go to Live Stand 2009, but it was extremely expensive. So I found out about Yarisugi Fest! Much cheaper and Hannya would be there. cheap/Hannya = Win. So I wait until I get a bit of money & go to Family Mart to buy Hannya tickets.

( The Rest of the Yarisugi Fest Madness Lies Beneath )

I'm going to Yokohama this weekend. :)
Should be sweet! I dunno what to do there but whatever, I'm going all day.
LOL

Will take pictures. My updates have kinda slowed downn
;_;
Sorry~ I'll try & do better. >.<!!!

Today, we hung out in Ikebukuro with Gwendy! It was a lot of fun. Eventually, took them over tp Mandarake to see all the older official Johnny's goods. Needless to say, we'll be returning back.

SHIKASHI!

We went over to the doujinshi sector and looked at Arashi doujin and...we found...a gem. *stifles laughter*

Below the cut is the Path of the Falcon.

( May be NSFW? Not really. XD )

Today we're going to the JAL Foundation Building as invited guests (thanks Salwa!) to their going-away party. Not sure what the code of dress is but I'm prepared if it's dressy or casual. :D

Tomorrow, I'm supposed to be meeting up with Momo in Shibuya (Shibuya 109 again~) but I gotta find out if I can afford it. *falls over*

Friday, I think we're going to KEIKAROU. :)

Saturday! The United States of Odaiba event starts! There going to have VS ARASHI ROLLING COIN TOWER GAME! I'm going to play and beat some people....NYAH! I'm short! HOW WILL I REACH?!

...Maybe I *Will* be able to reach and become a Rolling Coin Tower Legend! :O

Ganbarimasu!

Monday was Emily's first day in school. We woke up early to go back to Shibuya to get our prepaid phones.

"We don't have any right now."
"...haa?"

So I asked her to write a note to take to the other Softbank Store because I'm still getting in the groove of speaking Japanese ALL THE TIME again. I.E. I'm rusty! So she does.

We take it to the other Softbank store. Read: the WRONG Softbank store. Who knew Shibuya had like 4,000 RANDOM SOFTBANK STORES. The guy in the wrong Softbank store leads us to the correct one mentioned in the note. So, we go there.

"We don't have any."
"But they called earlier and you said you did."

She goes to check.

"We only have one."

So...Emily takes it! Which, you know, WHATEVER. We're friends. I'd be lying though if I said I wasn't like, "AWWW MAN!!!"

It's fine though, we got her a phone so at least if we're together and are in danger, then yeah. Then we head towards her school. I look at the address and it's not exactly in Shinjuku, it's in Okubo. So we get off at Okubo Stn.

And then, nothing.

I don't know that area at all! However while walking I see...

BIG BAAAAAANG everywhere!

And Tohoshinki but um. W'ever.

Okubo is apparently K-Town! Interesting discovery.

But I digress.

We're walking aimlessly to find UNITAS Language School. I ask the people in the conbini.

Nothing. They lead me to a koban (police box).

I ask him. He tells us, "MAAAASUGU DOWN THS STREET AND TURN ON THE MAIN ROAD AND THEN KEEP WALKING AND YEAH HAVE FUN."

...

So we "have fun." I have fun while in my adorable Chucks.

CHUCKS THAT CAUSE BLISTERS.

( Read more... )

I'm in Japan. Uhhh, it's been fun. Got to our guest house today...and...yeah. Fun. LOL

R.I.P. Michael Jackson
Of all the people...I was not expecting to wake up to news like this. Michael (in my opinion) was just someone who was hard to hate entirely.

Today with his and Farrah Fawcett's passing has made me realize that no one is invincible.

Icons and idols that we thought would never succumb to death are.

Pray for your loved ones, and pray for those who you may think are safe from death at any times.

Man this is heavy.

My mom is freaking out the most - she once told me, "Destini I just knew Michael was gonna be your daddy!" She really loved him. So...yeah.

Hey guys! I'm here promoting a friend's project that's currently going underway! You all might already know about the project that je_playground is promoting - notes to the boys to say "Happy 10th Anniversary!"

Well now, there is a website being built for the purpose of further promoting international fans by showing images of fans at fanmeetings, fans' stories, and much more!


They are looking for submissions for all over the world! I really like the idea for this project and I'm sure it'd be great if people could take the time to share their stories and memories with fellow fans and of the boys.

The site is also looking for a Japanese translator because the eventual goal is to show it to Arashi some how! So submit if you can and who knows what may happen!

If you have any questions, be sure to contact any of the site's staff! I'm sure they will be more than happy to assist!