Announcement

Hello!!

This blog entry will be really really small because I just have to make two announcements!
So don't expect something great.

The first announcement:

I thought my next time in Japan will in 2015 - but because of some sudden occurrences I will be already in Japan again in summer 2014!

Normally I wanted to go to other countries that summer but sadly all my plans were destroyed because of my universities exam plan... Than I met my friend Nadja who wants to go to Japan for the first time next summer. She normally wanted to go alone but was already worried because in Japan she is still underaged. At the same day she told me about it I got the news about my exam plan and so we decided to go together for 3 or 4 weeks in summer 2014 to Japan.

We are going to stay at a guestfamily in Tokyo but because of our JR rail pass we also going to visit other cities in Japan like Kyoto or Osaka. At the moment we didn't make any plan (also because we wait for the concert announcement of a special group... haha.) But I will let you know when I know more about our exact plan!!!

The second announcement:

I want to promote some unknown Japanese indie bands from now on here too. Well.. I won't tell a lot about them - because I also don't know that much about the most of them.

But I really found recently a lot of great bands. Oh - and it's gonna be J-POP bands. I think J-Rock and Visual Kei is already promoted enough from other people and from other blogs so I'm going to post from time to time links here from some J-Pop bands.

The beginning makes the duo "SORGENTI".
They even released some CD's, DVD's and have an own fanclub but still nobody knows them. But the voices are so great!!!

Here is a link to the PV of their song "MISS YOU".



You should check out their other videos also their official Youtube-Channel which is:

http://www.youtube.com/user/SORGENTVJP

They even uploaded some live performances there and you can hear clearly that they are TRULY talented an need some more support!!

Sleepless

Hello there!

This time it's just a short new blog entry and nothing special I guess!!
I just need a place to write my feelings down and this one is maybe the right one.

Today was a horrible day. The whole week was super horrible for me!
First I got really sick. I got a bladder infection (the first one in my life!). Also my voice was already away after I visited my best friend but when I got home my voice was totally away. Now slowly my voice comes back but my throat hurts SO MUCH! It's already 4:19 am in Germany. I can't sleep because I have so much pain in my throat. Every gulp hurts like someone puts a lot of needles inside it.

Because of that matter I wasn't able to go to university the whole week. I feel already so bad about that but it couldn't be helped. Still I went to Japanese lesson on Wednesday. I thought "Hey, maybe it's okay, it's gonna be better!"
But I think I should have stayed home. Not because of the lesson itself - after the lesson my train was 40 minutes too late. And after that I even missed my bus so I had to wait around 50 minutes of the next bus in the rain. No wonder I got sick again!

Tomorrow I just going to leave the house to eat something in the cafeteria of my university. Also I need to have a phone call. I get half-orphan pension. Already with the new application I told the office who is in charge of tht half-orphan pension that I have a new bank account. I can't use my old bank account because of some problems there so I told them around 3 times in different applications to use the new bank account.
Today the money arrived.
In my OLD bank account.
It's a disaster for me because I can't take the money from the old bank account for some reasons. And it was a lot of money. Because the office took some time they needed to pay me money for around 3 month - I really needed that money this month and now I can't use it. It's just gone. I am going to call them tomorrow that they PLEASE should finally use the NEW bank account but still I never see that money again and I really don't know at the moment how to buy food for this month.

It sounds kinda dramatic, right? Argh. It's not that I'm from a super poor family but we are also not wealthy. Also I don't want to ask my family always about money. They supportet me so much when I told them that I want to move to a city far away to go to university. I feel it's disrespectful to still expect that they always help me out. Of course, they are family, but still I don't want to be a burden.

I mean...
My aunt for example. I know many people discribe themself as 'super mothers' because they take care about a child alone. But my aunt takes care about two disable children and my granny almost ALONE because my mother is working long and my aunts husband was also working the whole day. While I was in Japan he had a accident in his work so he is not able to work anymore. Of course he stays now home but still he can't be a big help for my aunt because he just can move rarely at the moment. She decided to took a part-time job to have more money for her family.
And still she told me - while I was still in Japan - to support me and help me with my movement.
Once again:
- takes care about TWO DISABLE children ALONE
- takes care about my granny (who suffered from a apoplectic stroke in the past and forgets lots of things)
- takes care of her husband who just can move rarely after accident
- has a part-time job
- has two dogs
.... PLEASE! I mean.. THAT woman is not just a super mother. She is like a half goddess. And next to it she also lend me money for university, drove me with her car to my new living place and helped me with the movement.
I love my family but... I really don't want to be an even bigger burden for them.

Ahhhh...
So it's now 4:30 am. I'm sitting here, writing that stuff but I think I'm still happy and optimistic.

I mean.. yes. At the moment I am terribly sick, I don't know how to survive this month and also I heard about the typhoon. I have some friends in the Philippines and they have to be worried about Typhoon “YOLANDA”. I mean.. look at that:

It looks SO scary, right?
I hope they are all save...
BUT!

Yes, also such kind of thing happened today. But still I'm smiling! I mean.. yes, before I cried maybe a little but life is short. Too short to always complain and say "This is sad" "That is horrible" "That is so bad". Sure, life is not always bright. It's okay to cry and complain in that moment and to get out what's in your heart. But after that you should also just smile. Maybe later I wake up and some good stuff happend. Even if it's just a rainbow over my university.
You see that picture?

My friend from university took it. She also had a terrible week and couldn't go to university because she had pain in her lag. But such kinds of little wonders makes life really amazing. Maybe today wasn't that great but than tomorrow will be better.
Life is really, really too short to just cry around, complain and remember about bad things.

Life is an AMAZING thing we should cherish, right?

I am so grateful to be alive every day. No matter what happens - everything will be fine sooner or later so.. why cry around? Life is so so great. Too great to just cry again.

So please everyone! Look at that blog and... no matter how horrible it is today. Tomorrow there will be also a rainbow maybe over your house and make you realise that life is the most precious thing you have.

How I got interested in Japanese culture

Hello everyone!

I know I know!! I wanted to write a blog entry about the ONE OK ROCK concert before something else! Please forgive me, okay? Haha. I was super busy the last few days! First I visited my best friend and than I got sick. Well, I was already sick when I went to her but I wanted to see her so badly - and we just watched stuff from Takizawa-san and the A.B.C-Z Tour! So it wasn't that dramatic.

Still I wasn't able to go to unversity the last 2 days. Of course, today I want to go to Japanese lesson but my voice is still not 100 % back. I don't know what to do anymore about that. I don't want to go to the doctor. Well.. first because I really dislike doctors!!! Nothing against doctors - they might be intelligent and know what they have to do. But I really dislike to go to a doctor. And I dislike even more to go to a NEW doctor. I never went to a doctor in my new hometown but when my health won't get better I have maybe no other choice.

BUT ! I don't want to talk here about my health. That might be boring and also it's my own problem, right?
I wanted to tell you this time how I got interested in the Japanese culture. I thought some people are interested in that story. Even if it's not that interesting I think... But I am going to tell you about it now.

I think it all begun maybe with Sailor Moon? Or with games? Hmmm....
Haha. NO!! In fact... the love to ASIA begun already EARLIER!!
It all begun with the visit of me, my granny and my two uncles of the musical 'Starlight Express'. Maybe some of you know this musical? It's about trains and... well here is a little picture of it:

Yeah, the actors of the musical are actually driving on roller skates! Nowadays it reminds me about Kis-My-Ft2!!! Haha. But you might ask yourself still "How is that musical related to Japan / Asia?" Well... The main actor was an Asian man! His name is "Rommel Singson". Yeah, I even still remember his name - and I was maybe 6 or 7 years old at that time!! He is an actor from the Philippines and you can say he was the first love of my small life.

Haha! No, seriously. At that evening I shared a hotel room with my granny and I told her with sparkling eyes "GRANNY! When I am a big girl I want to marry a guy like him! He was so pretty, right? I am going to marry a man just like him, you will see!!!"

Please, don't take that serious!! I was a little girl who just felt in love with an actor who is maybe 30 years older than her!!! Haha. But I was so happy at that evening. After that day I started to get interested in things from Asia. I didn't care at that time so much if it's from Japan, China, Singepore, Taiwan, Thailand or whatever. I collected everything and I was really obsessed with that hobby! But HOW I ended up with Japan? Well, that's the next part of the story.

I know, most people of you think now "SAILOR MOON?!"
Well... No. Sorry to disappoint you! It was actually because of the game 'Final Fantasy'.

Actually my favorite uncle was a gamer. He gave me my first Game Boy and - together with my aunt - my first Super Nintendo. At his birthday party I was terribly bored. I was around 10 or 11 at that time and there were no people in my age on that party. Just adult or 'old' people. Also I still remember that I had some stomach ache on that day so I was even more in bad mood. So my uncle took me to his 'secret gamer room'. That sounds maybe funny in your ears but for me it was like a magic kingdom in that age! He had lots of computer and consoles in that room. He gave the controller of his Playstation in my little hands and said "Here, play this game, you might have fun with it. If not - tell me, okay?"
What can I say? He and the rest of the party people didn't see me for the rest of the evening.

The game was actually "Final Fantasy 7". I played it the whole evening until my mum and my dad wanted to leave the party.
On the next 2 weeks I spend my first own pocket money to buy "Final Fantasy". I didn't know at that time that there are more parts of the game so I said to the sales lady "I WANT FINAL FANTASY!!!". Well - she gave me the newest part which was "Final Fantasy 8". I have to admit that I was first super disappointed. I wanted the same game that I played at my uncles place and not that!
But after I begun to play the game and met the characters I was totally obsessed. I couldn't stop playing it! Sometimes I even had to fight a lot with my mum because I wanted to play that game more than to do my homeworks.

I asked myself than "Where is that game from? Who can make something like that?"
And I figured out: It was Japan. Not only that! Even Japanese people made the Super Nintendo and the Game Boy and the Playstation! I couldn't believe it! All that amazing things came from that country so far away?! WOAH!

Just a little time after that - finally - the anime "Sailor Moon" begun in German TV. I already watched some other stuff on TV like "Attack No. 1" but I didn't care so much. "Sailor Moon" was the first Anime who really got my interest. Also I found some friends in school or at the street where I was living who also liked "Sailor Moon". It was the first time in my life I shared such a hobby with people. I begun to buy my first Manga, to go to conventions like the "Connichi" in Germany and to go to concerts from Visual Kei and J-Rock bands. Also I just made my account at an internet platform called "Animexx" at that time - normally because I wanted to search a Fanfiction about the horror movie "Ringu". (Yeah, at the same time I also got interested in Japanese horror movies - but that's maybe another topic!) I can be happy that my parents were always people who were like "Just do what you want, as long as you are happy!". I was allowed to drive with my friends to that concerts, conventions - they even allowed me to color my hair in colors like pink, blue or green. They just didn't allow me to do piercings or such kind of things. Nowadays I am very grateful about that. I think I had a great childhood and teenager time thanks to that kind of parents.

Well - let's continue. I made even more friends after I registered into that internet platform. In my free time I began to listen to a lot of Japanese music. Mostly it was Visual Kei at that time because my first penpal send me a tape full of music from bands like Luna Sea and X-Japan. (YEAH TAPE! I'm a 90's girl! Haha.)
But slowly I also begun to get interested in the language itself and in the culture of the country. I didn't want to just watch the colorful world of Anime... I wanted to see the real Japan. I wanted to know where all that stuff is from. Most of my friends in that time were people which were mostly into cosplay and Visual Kei. But I was kinda different.
I never made a cosplay and I like Visual Kei but also I kinda always prefered other stuff like J-Pop. I enjoyed to watch Dorama more than to watch Anime slowly. I loved my friends but at the same time I felt like I am kinda different than most of them because most of them wanted to enjoy Manga, Anime and Visual Kei - but I wanted to know more about Japan and not just that kind of things.

I have to admit: Before I went the first time to Japan I had a lot of friends who were also interested in Japan. I knew before that my interest is bigger than that but I was happy how things were. But after I went there my view to Japan changed and also the people around me. Of course - I still have some of my friends with me who know me since I was 14 years old, who "grew" with me. But also I suddenly couldn't understand anymore some of the people around me who just wanted to study Japanese in university for example because of some super cool guys of bands or because they like Anime / Manga. Why they want to study a language and culture of a country they never visited - just because of THAT?
Some people even told me "I don't care what happens after I finish university. I just want to live in Japan, I don't care what I am going to do there. Everything is better there than in Germany."
I think this smiley discribes perfectly how I felt about that:

I think nowadays I have a total different view on Japan than I had when I was a little girl. As a little girl it was a sparkling wonderful wonderland where all the great stuff came from.
Nowadays it's a country with a lot of problems - but with a wonderful culture and language that I want to know more and more.

Yes, maybe I'm also sometimes a fangirl. I mean.. I like Johnnys Jimusho, I like cute stuff and so on. But still I think I have a more adult view about that things. I know that living in Japan is not the best thing I can do - especially as a foreigner. Still I want to spend some time there. Travel around, see more cities and places like Hokkaido, Okinawa, learn more about the culture...

Haha. The End of the story until now I think. If you still have questions ask, okay?

I wanted to end up that blog with some fangirl stuff:
Tanaka Koki finally opened his twitter account! YES! THE REAL ONE!!!
I feel so greatful and happy about that! I have to admit that I cried my eyes out when I read his first tweets.

He is just a great person. He is still my Number 1 idol and I will always support him - maybe even as granny!! Haha.

Well but now I really end up! Please listen to this song by the way. I heard it while I was writing this blog because it reminds me of the time when I was sitting in my room and played "Final Fantasy". I loved that song. This version is a little bit different and with no vocals - it's more a remix I guess - but still I like it!!




For reading this by the way!! I am super happy about it!!!