New Year's

Stories from Tōkyō and around shall be posted soon, I promise. In the so called meantime though, since it is January the 1^st, I’d like to wish you all the best in the New Year. 明けましておめでとうございます！[Akemashite omedetō gozaimasu, literally: congratulations on “opening” (of the New Year)].

This year, instead of New Year resolutions (as “resolutions” seem to me too goal-focused, while the road to the goal is just as important), I have plans for each month of the year. But while wandering around the Japanese capital I had a few reflections, saw a few commercials and I realised how rarely I watch Japanese media. Films, TV shows, comic books, books – if I do watch/read them, they’re usually translated and it’s only the stuff that gets relatively famous in the West. And there is so much more! So to my New Year’s plans I’m adding some smaller, simpler ones that are basically just “watch/read X”. And I’d like to share these with you, along with explanations as to why I chose this.

To read:

* 「１リットルの涙」 (Ichi rittoru no namida, eng. One Litre of Tears), novel – I’ll finish that in literally a moment so I’ll share my reasons in the review, which will no doubt be posted here.

* 「パラダイス・キス」 (Paradise Kiss), manga – I like teenage girls’ manga (a bit of silly romantic stuff and comedy, no, I did not grow out of such things), and I heard a lot of good things about this one. And also it’s short, only 5 volumes, so easily done.

To watch:

* 「カノジョは嘘を愛しすぎてる」(Kanojo ha uso wo aishisugiteru, eng. She loves a lie too much [translated by me]), film – it is based on a manga, but the film is in cinemas around now and looks quite interesting. >trailer<

* 「テルマエ・ロマエ」(Thermae Romae), film – also based on a manga and also, looks interesting. On top of that, while in Tōkyō, I saw a trailer for a sequel, so it’d be nice to see that one in the cinemas. >trailer<

* 「花咲くいろは」(Hanasaku iroha, eng. Home Sweet Home), anime – I first heard about it from my Japanese family, as the characters of this anime became a sort of symbol of Kanazawa. Basically, the hot springs where the protagonist works are based on real Yuwaku Hot Springs right here in Kanazawa. >trailer<

For now I am excluding catching up on Studio Ghibli films from the list, since they are a little obvious and in this case I sometimes prefer a dubbed version (say what you want, but nothing beats Christian Bale voicing Howl in „Howl’s Moving Castle”!).

So far that’s all the things I’ve found. Yes, things to watch do outnumber the ones to read, but that’s because they take less time and I’ll need time to read stuff for my dissertation, so I’d rather save that time if possible. That doesn’t mean though that if I find something else interesting, I won’t read it.

Meanwhile, once again, all the best in the New Year and I’m dashing off to write about my Tōkyō trip! And to start 2014 on a positive note, here is the Japanese Lady Gaga, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu!