Who out there is a big Yoko Kanno fan? If you are not sure who she is well then let me inform you! Yoko Kanno is a famous composer, arranger and musician, responsiable for the music you heard in the anime COWBOY BEBOP as well as Macross Plus,Vision of Escaflowne,Cardcaptor Sakura,and many many others. She will be in concert with her group, THE SEATBELTS, in Japan!
Ok so some of you might be wondering who is steve conte Have you heard this song from Wolf's rain?
Or even this song from COWBOY BEBOP
Well Steve is also a member and the lead singer of the band The Contes along with his brother John Conte. I had the chance to see them preform live, a few years back at the Ohio anime convention called Ohayocon. He was the only reason I went that year and my friends and I ended up being in the front for his concert. He noticed us taking pictures and later on in an anime voice panal, My friend and I ad the chance to meet Steve and his brother. Steve was very nice and even remembered seeing us taking pictures. He asked to see the pictures and then use them on his website. I was so thrilled.
If you love his work with Yoko Kanno,I highly recommend you listen to his original work with his brother John and their group The Contes!
Anyway if you live in Japan you are in for a real treat!
Here are the details for the big event: When: Tuesday, July 07, 2009 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM Where: JAPAN, Saitama Super Arena
I've been to Japan and I know how the train rids can be.. a lot of the times they are ppacked full of people leaving little space for you to move around. I've also heard cases of busines men (or some guys in suits) to get close to women in trains and grope them.
This would never fly in the US.. Women here will lay the smack down so to speak, and in this video coming up you see a Japanese Woman giving this "CHIKAN" or Groper an earful after he moved in behind her and groped her on the train. ..
(From the vidoe Description)
While on the train one day, I noticed some Japanese man way to close to some girl. If the train is packed, this is normal in Japan. However, this guy picked his prey. Or wrong prey for that matter. Though there was lot's of empty space at first, he chose to stand right behind her the whole time. Basically, she said "you touched me and don't deny it!" "You were right behind me and touching like this, etc." His only line of defense was "your drunk! no I didn't" She may have been drinking, but in no way drunk. The expressions on some of the people's faces are priceless.
If reported, these "Chikan's" or Groupers in English, loose everything when they are reported - Including their careers. And so she took him straight to the police station, "Koban," right after.
For those of you living in Japan how many times do you see something like this.. D o you often see men trying to grope women on the trains? I've never seen it happen in NYC, but I know if someone tried they would have a nice meeting with the train floor!
I'm back and I have another exciting Japan related event to post about. If you are not busy on Sunday May 31st, you have to stop by Central Park for Japan Day (entrance at Fifth Avenue and 97th Street). I'm working Sunday afternoon but the event starts early so I will go in the morning.. and you better believe I am SUPER EXCITED.. Plus it's right acros from my apartment so it's a plus!
Japan Day @ Central Park is an event designed by the Japanese community of New York to promote deeper understanding of Japanese culture and, to say "Thank you, New York!" There will be a ton of festivities, and tents offering a wide range of Japanese traditional and family-friendly activities. Of course you know there will be plenty oof Japanese Food for you to sample as well! Stage performances will be held throughout the day, with top entertainers from New York and Tokyo.
Around 8am there will be a a 4-mile race,to start Japan Day off, organized by New York Road Runners. 10AM is when the real festivities will begin!
I'm very excited as this will be my first time attending. I'll be sure to take pictures and post about this event after I attend!
Please visit the official page for JAPAN DAY here! japandaynyc
I love hearing stories of people in Japan.. everyone has their own reasons as to why they wanted to go and what they are doing. More importantly for me, being a black female, I really enjoy finding other black bloggers who are living in Japan. It seems to me that their experoances are even more interesting, as the ones I've seen tend to hit on topics that really relate to the black community. Not to say I don't enjoy my other bloggers, but to be honest I don't see very many black bloggers out there.. nor do I hear of stories of black in Japan. It is something I am interested in since I want to go there myself very soon. So first and formats I mean no harm to the other bloggers out there , but it is what it i it seems :-p
One person in particular that I have been watching on the regular would be Alafia :intro2the1 (youtube name) Visit her page now at ~~~>http://www.youtube.com/user/intro2the1 Alafia is in Japan teaching and decided to blog her entire experience over there.I think it's really helpful because she touches on topics I know I will have to face while living in Japan. Now everyone is different so I know the experience might not be the same for my but this gave me a feel for life in Japan, and it was just nice to listen to another black female and her passion for Japan.
I've posted on her before so I wont spend my time going over her videos, but please check out her site and her videos because they are interesting for eeryone and she seems so passionate about what she is doing!
ANOTHER person who I found randomly on yourube is Yolanda : Wildpraize (youtube name) Visite her page here http://www.youtube.com/user/Wildpraize Yolanda has been in Japan on and off in the Osaka area teaching Gospel Music at Soul Bird Music School! How cool is that. I had no idea Gospel was popular. As with Alafia,Yolanda is recording her experiances at the music school and here are some videos of what she has done already!
YolandaIs doing what she loves and it shows! They sound good, and it's very unique view and experience of Japan.. mixed with religion and music Keep up the great work Yolanda!
New Video from intro2the1 and her Dear LIfe series.
This time she tackles the subject of Racism. She discovered a doll that
"embodied all of the negative stereotypical cartoon characteristics of Black people that had been created by the US" Have a look at the video.
This is a picture that is posted on the youtube page as being close to what the doll looks like What are your thoughts?
I have been going over this though in my head, especially about saying something if I had seen something such as this doll. As a black person I would be quite offended, but I'm wondering if the meaning of such dolls are known. I feel that alot of this kind of thing can be out of ignorance more so than racism. Even so, things like this need to be researched if someone puts a doll like that into a store calling it a "black doll"
Read more...
My best friend actually linked me to this site awhile back but I thought I would share it with you guys seeing how I was thinking about this site recently. The site is called Joe is Japanese.com and it's an up and coming anime about a guy name Joe,obviously! He is half Japanese and lives in Japan as a salary man. Because he is half he faces challenges every day and has interesting stories to share. I first found this site back in 2007/2006 I think, and a the time I thought it was going to air online... well it's now 2009 and it says it will start sometime this year. I hope so because it looks pretty funny from the trailers. Have a look for yourself!
As you can see it isn't easy for Joe being half Japanese. This show will be base on his life and true events that Gaijin go through living in Japan. I hope this starts soo. been waiting for quite awhile now!
HELLO EVERYONE!!!! I would like to say sory for not posting anything in the past few days. I got a new job so I am still adjusting to having moved to a new place and going through a crazy work week. (I have to be at work at 7am..today) And well.. yes it's 1:31am but I just had to post a little something.
~DEAR LIFE:Japan~ I told you all I would be posting her videos here for those that do read my blog ^^ Ilove watching these installments and keeping up to date with Alafia (intro2the1) I hope more and more people discover her video blogs as I have. Well anyway Here we go!
She will finish with this series n JULY !!! I'm hoping more black people out there start making videos as well. I love to know about their experiences abroad I know when I go I'll be blogging all the time !!!
Read more...
Awhile aback I posted on a youtube series I found that I really could relate to being a black female. This was the Dear Life Series created by Alafia (user name -intro2the1) I love going to my youtube page and seeing updates from her. Here is one I found that puts all her haircare vids into one video!!!
Wow I cant tell you how much this question comes up in my household when I mention going to Japan. It really is the first question because hair is very important. I do well here with my hair because the products I use are readily available, but in Japan.... yeah not so much. Anyway this vid is a great help for me as I am still planning from my move to Japan. I know for the most part I will have to order a lot of the products I use in the mail..although I know that's pretty expensive so YEAH ould have to bring another bag just full of haircare products >_<
In the vid she talks about various styles that black women can have in Japan. I for one am all for bringing wigs.. I have quite a collection here in the States and would bring them. She also talks about braiding.. I have done it before in the past and I will admit having my hair braided makes it grow but I'm really not into the style much >_< Ebay Hong Kong was also mentioned for buying hair .. Now I never thought about that but it would be a good idea since shipping costs from the US are high and it would be much less shipping from HK.. wow Learning so much from this video ^_^
Alafia does live in a countryside area so I can imagine not having a lot of resources. Bigger cities would have more to offer and when I go back I wonder if I will get to live in a big city (more expensive though T_T)
I want to find more videos of blacks in Japan. I find them all so interesting and different. Everyone has their own experiences and it's very interesting to hear about them all.
Read more...
I love finding things dealing with blacks in Japan. I'm always curious because I'm black and I know the experiences are different then other foreigners. Well, it's a different experience of every foreigner but I really don't see much about Blacks in Japan.
I came across this article though on the Japan Times Page. They interviewed the webmaster and sole writer for Black Tokyo Eric L. Robinson. He talks about the history of Black Tokyo and what it's really all about. A really good interview. Congrats Eric for your interview on The Japan Times!!!
So I've always had a dream to go to Japan. and in 2007 I made that dream a reality by going there for language and culture study. Granted School was only for a month, I did end up staying the entire summer and traveling with friends.
Now Before I even paid for the ticket, my family had real concerns about Japan. They don't know too much about it but they did have to ask me, "How are black people treated in Japan?" I shrugged my shoulders and told them that I didn't know but I had a lot of Japanese friends already and well I was sure there was nothing I needed to worry about. And truth be told in my case I didn't. I had an awesome time and no problem with my race. If anything people were trying to get me to go into their stores in Hiroshima and I ended up making a handful or more friends.
So Now I'm at the point wew I want to try LIVING in Japan.. but not just for a summer or 5 months.. I want to LIVE LIVE there.. at least for a full year starting out. I have told my family thins and have been researching the idea now that I have graduated college. Of course I've come to the conclusion that I would like to teach in Japan (I have no IT skills I think? :-p ) and so when talking about this to my family (Mother to be exact) the first thing out of her mouth was
Mother: "OK BUT... WHO IS GOING TO DO YOUR HAIR?"
I couldn't do anything but laugh at this because I couldn't believe this was THE MAIN thing she was concerned about. I out it in the back of my mind and didn't really give it much thought. But after applying for jobs in Japan I started really thinking about how life would be fore myself in Japan.
AND THEN.. that question came up.."WHO WILL DO MY HAIR?" I'm no pro at styling hair and well lets be honest, black people like to have their hair looking good at all times! (shoot I know I do.. I mean if I know I'm going to be around peple).
So I began the online google searching for topics about black hair in Japan and wasn't surprised that I didn't find much. So while taking a break I browsed Japanese video blogs on youtube. Just for shits and giggles I decided to see how many black people were on the site blogging about Japan.. and BAM! that's when it happened.. I found something so helpful that I had to bookmark right away,
I share my findings with all the black readers out there (female.. but i guess works for males too :-p) who have questions about what;s it's like to live in Japan as a black woman and also WHAT TO DO ABOUT OUR HAIR!
Alafia is in Japan teaching and decided to blog her entire experience over there. I think it's really helpful because she touches on topics I know I will have to face while living in Japan. Now everyone is different so I know the experience might not be the same for my but this gave me a feel for life in Japan, and it was just nice to listen to another black female and her passion for Japan.
So I was backing up files on my computer and decided to go through some old CD's I made awhile back. Lucky for me I was able to find my CD with picures and movies I took while in Japan. Let me share with you guys one video I took while my class and I were waiting fo our dinner to be served. I'm not sure where we were exactly. I think this was when we went to Nara for the night but not sure ^^;. Anyway this couple was CHO 速い (fast) making our dinner.. and the best part was that IT TASTED AMAZING!!!!
One of the best things about Japan was and still is the food. I didn't have any trouble adjusting to the type of foods the Japanese eat. To be honest I have been exposed to Japanese food before through friends so this was to be expected but of course being Japan the food was 100% better that what Ive had in the States.
gomen for all the talking we were so very hungry!!! I can't wait to get back to Japan.
Read more...
