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My Continuing Jpop Journey

So tonight, being a depressed mess, I decided to add a couple of more reviews to my site. This time I reviewed two of Morning Musume’s early songs, “summer night town” and “daite hold on me”. I’ll be honest, they didn’t do much to help my depression. Oh, don’t get me wrong. The videos are colorful and cheerful, the girls were pretty competent at singing (though they had some pretty cringy moments, tbh), and I’m sure it would have made a decent, bubble-gummy escape. But the lyrics… “Summer night town”… Read More »My Continuing Jpop Journey

Mikan – A Redux

Now that I have made clear what the purpose of this blog is going to be moving forward, I feel like I am a little freer to make the posts I want to make, here. So that’s a good thing. Today I’m going to try to put words to something I don’t have a word for. You won’t know, but I think it’s going to take a very long time to write this post. I think that logic and reason really drive very little about what we do. Oh, we… Read More »Mikan – A Redux

Unconditional

I have this print in my hallway. It is one of my most treasured possessions. I acquired it because someone pretty much literally threw it away, and this print is really one of the only things that I think I would truly regret losing. I am probably not on the most solid ground copyright-wise by posting it, but I’m doing it anyway, under the auspices of fair use. It will be used to illustrate a point. I love fine art, and in my view, this is amongst the finest. The… Read More »Unconditional

The Shallowness of Japanese Culture

I promised in an earlier post that I would stop complaining about things I don’t like about Japan or Japanese culture. I am keeping that promise. This post is not intended to be as much a criticism about Japanese culture, as using that topic as a springboard into a deeper discussion of two of my previous posts: The Shallowness of Fun and What is Love?. This particular topic, of course, is a difficult one to write. I want to be objective without being judgmental. And that’s a difficult line to toe.… Read More »The Shallowness of Japanese Culture

What is Love?

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NIV) (Holy Bible) I wanted to write a second part to my previous post, The Shallowness of Fun. But there were two things that were stopping me. Thing number one was that I was not sure what… Read More »What is Love?

Like a Daughter

Ten years ago (give or take), I decided to sponsor a child through Children International.  The first child they assigned me was an 11 year old girl from the Phillipines. For the past ten years (give or take) I have watched this girl, and several others, grow from being a, well, young girl, into being a beautiful young woman.  We have exchanged a few letters.  I gave her a little life advice.  She told me some of her hopes and dreams. I received a letter today that told me she… Read More »Like a Daughter

I do not Love Suzuka Nakamoto

I am something of a fan of Babymetal I do enjoy their music, even though I’m not usually a fan of metal. I think I’ve written about this before, so I won’t go into further detail One thing I have notice (and I may be doing a little bit of this myself, unwittingly; forgive me) is that Youtube reaction channels seem to take off whenever they do a Babymetal reaction. There is this horde of fans that follow people around and give channels probably one or two thousand subscribers almost… Read More »I do not Love Suzuka Nakamoto

Sadness

When you’re gone, how can I even try to go on SOS – ABBA When I was young, my parents, myself, and my sibling were travelling to a city on the western side of Michigan. I remember driving down I-94, and they had the radio on. A jazz version of a song came on, with an interesting chord progression. I have always, always remembered that chord progression, even though I didn’t know the song. Cut to years later, when some folks were having a pool party outside of the apartment… Read More »Sadness

空気

I’m going to try a different approach to posting today.  Let me know if you like it. I have never been to Japan, but many things come to mind when I think of it.  I imagine the crisp air of fujisan.  The roar of trains, such as the shinkansen, as they come whooshing by.  The fragrant smells of sakura petals as they fall to the ground in spring.  The greenery of a small island nation that gets more than its share of rain, and the fragrant smells of grasses and blossoms on… Read More »空気