(Ms.) Tomo Kimura’s Translation/Tokyo Notes

The name “xx-shi” means “someone of the XX clan”.

The Night Class cast, from the latest issue of LaLa:

Kain - Suwabe Junichi
Aido - Fukuyama Jun
Ichijo - Chiba Susumu
Shiki - Hoshi Soichiro

There is another expression that uses “boil and grill”, 煮ても焼いても食えない奴 (Nite mo yaite mo kuenai yatsu- Someone who’s inedible even if boil or grill the person). It’s used to refer to someone who drives a hard bargain, someone who’s a shrewd operator.

I just got their first CD, 音を孕む (Oto wo Haramu - Pregnant with Sound). This is Fujii Maki (ex-soft ballet)’s new unit. The music is very Japanese/Asian, with an ambient pop feel.

Other recent purchases: Kagrra’s Core, Perfume’s Baby Cruising Love, and 人格ラヂオ’s 朧月 (a Tower Records exclusive for now).

I attended my Seijin no Hi ceremony because I was back in Kobe for the winter break. I wore a suit that my parents had gotten me for my future job interviews.

I have vague memories of talks about the importance of going to vote, since the voting age is 20 here.

Is out as well.

Is out.

It’s kinda strange seeing the Mature warning on the cover, because you can just browse through the magazine at your neighborhood conbini here. (Bookstores usually have the magazines tied up with strings and shrink-wrap the tankobons to prevent browsing.)

Akemashite Omedetou!

Today I went to 小網神社 (Koami Shrine) in Ningyocho. The shrine is Tokyo’s 銭洗い弁天, god of good business. 銭洗い literally means “money wash”, and there is a place where you put your money in a basket and purify them with water. You’re then supposed to use that money for meaningful purposes. So I washed some coins and prayed for a good prosperous 2008.

The shrine is also famous for 強運厄除 (very lucky/ward off evil), because every soldier since the Meiji era who carried amulets from this shrine and went to the battlefields came back alive. So I got a　強運厄除 amulet myself:

There were a couple of Japanese sweets stores open, so I got a 花びら餅 (flower-petal-mochi). This is sold only around New Year’s, and consists of a burdock root and white miso paste wrapped in red mochi, then in white mochi.