woah,

GOT TICKETS TO BIGSHOW/ALIVE TOUR 2012!!! Never thought I'd be going back to korea so soon, again, but it's going to be fantastic. We got amazing tickets in the front section of the stage area. Going to go on a three day BIGBANG fueled trip via money and constant smiling. I'm going with two of my best Japanese friends who are just as crazy as me so I can only imagine what's going to happen. I'm a bit intimidated by the goods line in Korea and hope it doesn't excede 3 hours.....Hotels, traveling, and plane arrangements are all complete. I will leave this upcoming weekend on friday. Listened to their new song Blue and was blown away by the sadness of it. Amazing lyrics that stick in your head even though I can't pronounce all of it. On another note in March I will go to Tohoku to help clean up. Tickets were more expensive than the Korea tickets but I think this will be a good thing for me. I want to help and deep down I secretly enjoy manual labor. I enjoy cleaning and carrying things so it will be an adventure. Golden week is coming up but I have no plans, I'm thinking a trip to shikoku might be nice and do the pilgramage around the island. Had my birthday and everyone was extremely nice and got me an amazing cake. I got lots of presents, lots of it cat related. For Valentines day I made 100 truffles and gave them to everyone and anyone. Here's hoping white day brings good returns. I forgot what a pain making chocolates is and the second batch was bad so I had to do it again. Pictures to come soon.

Osaka & BIGBANG

30,000 people!

ramen museum

So for a quick three day weekend Muqing and I went to osaka to chillax and see the Yg family concert at the Kyocera dome. We stayed at another awesome hostel, super clean and very helpful, called j-hoppers hostel. Really nice place. Day one we arrived in Osaka around 12:00ish and decided
that we were sleepy and not wanting to move around so we headed to the goods line. It was super easy to find but the train system here is crazy. It's well run but there are tons of lines you can choose from and moving from one line to another is interesting to say the least. Got in the goods and and lo-and-behold!!! It only took an hour and everything we wanted was there. Meaning NOT sold out!! I got a yg hoodie, anniversary light, 2NE1 pins, gd&top clear files, and a tablo pen. Good haul! We were starving and saw a poster for a collaboration between coco curry and bigbang. Yes and yes, we headed there and payed too much and enjoyed the best curry evah!! including getting a free bigbang spoon. Checked into the hostel and then headed out to find a cat cafe.

our seats weren't too bad

The lady at the hostel had given us directions to a cat cafe with a map. It took us TWO hours to find the damn thing. We wandered around in the cold deciding where this cafe was, only to take a taxi around a corner to a building we had already been to. Sadly in was in a building we had walked by at least 10 times. Oh well... We went in and chilled with cats for an hour and called in a night. The next day slept in and went to the ramen museum. Momofuku cup ramen museum and had a blast! You get a cup and decorate it for only 300yen. ($3) Then fill it with pre-frozen noodles. There is a plethora of delicious freeze dried things to put into the ramen including, asparagus, kimchi, and cheese. I choose curry flavor and have yet to eat it. I can only imagine mine will taste horrible. Then we headed to the concert. It was surprisingly easy to get in and we found our seats. We were pleasantly surprised that our seat were so close, right near the floor area. They were showing lots of music videos and other videos from the Korean family concert.

bigbang curry

The concert got going with GD&TOP's Oh yeah video, it was a bit strange, and everyone started singing to this video. It kicked off with 2NE1 singing a variety of songs and then we got a sampling of all of the artists songs in their groups. Bigbang, 2NE1, Psy, Se7en, Gummy, Tablo, and Jinsu & Sean all sang lots of songs in a variety of languages. Including English, Korean, and Japanese. Then they mixed in the collaborations. Sometimes they sang of Yg songs, other times they sang new songs, like se7en did. Gummy, Psy's and Jinsu & Sean's songs were new to me. Gummy sings alot of ballads and has an amazing voice. I don't like ballads but her singing was extremely powerful. Psy is Amazing!! I had seen him but never seen him perform. It was crazy, his stage presence was overwhelming and even though he could only speak Korean and his songs were new to us no one could sit down or not pay attention to him. How could you ignore a giant statue of him drinking and smoking, and then having its clothes ripped off? answer is---> you don't. Jinsu & Sean has this amazing old school American hip-hop vibe. I really liked it because it wasn't trashy sounding like contemporary hip-hop now adays. Bigbang came back at the end for another round and they sang the special ending song, but not before the most ridiculous ending songs ever. 2NE1 and Gummy sang bigbang's last farewell and Bigbang sang I am the best. Top and daesung in I am the best was hilarious. I wish they would break from their cool image to be goofy more often. Since the accident they've been more reserved. Again Psy stole the show parodying lady gaga and beyonce. He wore the EXACT same outfit as they did and danced like a beast on stage with the video playing behind him. A nice touch was his face glued onto the video. Awesomeness.

-FIRE (2NE1)
-CAN’T NOBODY (2NE1)
-GO AWAY (2NE1)  
-TONIGHT (BIGBANG) 
-HANDS UP (BIGBANG) 
-BIGBANG TALK TIME 
-KOE WO KIKASETE (BIGBANG) 
-GARA GARA GO (BIGBANG)
-I’M SORRY (GUMMY)
-DIGITAL BOUNCE (SE7EN FT TOP)  
-TALK TIME (se7en Jinu & GD(?)) 
-HIPHOP GENTLEMEN (GDRAGON, SE7EN, JINUSEAN)
-A-YO (JINUSEAN)
-TELL ME (JINUSEAN WITH DARA)
-LOVE IS BAD (TABLO FT BOM)
-TABLO AND GUMMY STAGE  
-TOMORROW (TABLO FT TAEYANG) 
-IT HURTS (DAESUNG) 
-LONELY (SE7EN SEUNGRI SE7EN DAESUNG) 
-OH YEAH (GTOP FT BOM)
-PSY STAGE
-SHAKE IT (PSY)
-SOMEBODY ELSE (SE7EN)
-I AM THE BEST (2NE1)
-I DON’T CARE (2NE1)
-UGLY (2NE1 FT GUMMY)
-HEARTBREAKER [BALLAD VER] (GUMMY)  
-HARU HARU [japanese VER] (BIGBANG) 
-LIES (BIGBANG)
-HEAVEN (BIGBANG)
-LAST FAREWELL (2NE1) with gummy (?)
-LADY GAGA PARODY (PSY)
-I AM THE BEST (BIG BANG)
-MALHAEJYO (sung by the whole family + GDYB dance)

FOUR hours later!!! The concert ended with the special ending song and then we headed out deliriously happy. Best concert ever. Monday was a holiday and we went to kiyomisu temple for coming of age day. We got to do giant omikuge and I got middle level so I am moderately lucky for the rest of the year.

swag

mini GD&TOP from Japan album

Korea!!

This explains most of the trip

Korea, a land full of spicy foods, cosmetics galore, and tempers running high. Had an amazing time in Korea just walking around and taking in the sights. Although we were a bit on edge and a bit nauseous, we came out on top and with overly filled suitcases. I saw what I wanted to see and went were I wanted to go. I do regret not going to the new years bell at the big square, but knew that if I went it would equal more sickness.
Day 1: Still in Japan, drove to Fukuoka on the highway. Cost $50 but was so worth it. Arrived at the ryokan and checked in. Hit up some shopping and eventually the onsen. Muqing and Lola used the hand massagers which immediately left them with their hands stuck in a large plastic box.
Day2: Drove to the port and 3 hours later arrived in busan via ferry. Took a taxi to the hotel to arrive just in time to meet Sakimi-san at the door. Stayed at Zen-backpackers, the cleanest hostel I've seen in a long time. Pristine with free toast and tea. Awesome view as well. We were starving so we got yakiniku/korean bbq and then hit the town for some shopping. First thing of importance to see= BIGBANG bus for Nikon. It was monstrous and plastered with pictures of all of bigbang in giant, color glory. Fan girled...Called it an early night and saw sherlock holmes. Awesome movie and then headed to TGI Friday for some chopped steak. Damn hamburg had disguised itself as chopped steak on the menu so got to eat chopped steak/hamburg for dinner..
Day 3:Went out and waited for our 5th person tomoyo-san and headed to the bullet train. Cheap and fast we arrived in Seoul around mid-day Arrived at our hostel only to find that they messed up the reservations and moved us to another hostel across the street called golden pond. Okay hostel, little messy, with strange shower, but overall no to bad. Dropped off the stuff and hit the town. Met a really cool girl at the hostel from Germany and got yakiniku(again) and drank an entire bottle of shoju in about 30 minutes. It was a bit potent and left me a bit spiny but overall much better taste than shochu. Went shopping around and only bought a bit and went to bed early. Hostel was hot, and I mean really hot. My apt. in Japan averages 5C in the winter, the hostel was at least 20C and I thought I was suffocating. I opened the window only to be thwarted by the lady wearing long sleeves in pants below me. She shut the window and turned the heater on high. : ( .
Day 4: Photo shoot=incredibly sick. How I mad it through this morning is a mystery for me. So sick and in generally a bad mood, I powered though 3 hours of make-up, hair, and free tea. I had alot of fun and was glad the clothes fit me although they added an extra piece in the front. After we shopped til we dropped. We went to meoyongdong and shopped at millions of cosmetic stores and street stalls. Bought my polaroid camera,cd's, northface jacket, and BSX stuff. Hit up all of the famous k-pop related items/stores. Posters, cutouts, and boot leg goods were everywhere and it looked like other people were fan girling as well ^-~ Ate more soups and street foods including spicy mochi then went to get massage. Note to self, never get a massage again. It was unpleasant and expensive. They beat the shit out of my back and my back hurt 3 days later. It might have helped my posture, but the pain was not worth it. The others got their unmentionables steamed, yes steamed, I'm not going to explain. Then we all headed to the onsen which was ungodly hot. Even hotter than Japanese bath houses. Did not enjoy.

Day 5: New years eve! DMZ tour was planned for half a day, so got up at the butt crack of dawn(still sick) and rode to the city hall and then headed to various places on the way. We saw the freedom bridge, and the original train intended to travel to north korea. It was rusted and not in use. We went to a mini museum where we saw a video and what is actually in the DMZ(mostly nature and land mines) It was freezing and everything was frosted and frozen. Finally we went to the 3rd tunnel, which was a steep climb into the ground that flattened in a small rocky tunnel you could walk to the end of. N. Korea dug it and when it was discovered they retreated back, whilst smearing the walls with black coal. They tried to claim they were mining coal even though the tunnel is granite. Walking back up was hot and tiring and then I bought snacks and randomly found bigbang cola!!We ended at an amethyst factory where could buy Korea's official stone. We went to a tea shop the diagnosis you, and then creates a unique tea blend for any ailments you might have. They even included bottles of extra tea to take home. Then our group parted ways. Muqing and I went on our k-pop craze while the others got massages and aka-sui. We went to se7en's chicken shop which had amazing food and then shopped on this amazing street with light show. I really wish I would have stayed there for New years. We went to SM entertainment and laughed at ourselves when we realized we could only stand outside of it. Headed back and ate cake and ice and we quietly rang in New years.

Day 6: People in our group got sick and so we headed to the hospital which discharged here very quickly. While Iv's were flowing we went to the main palace for the changing of the guards. We missed the first change so we wandered. It was cold and everything was frozen. We also saw a large gold statue. We went to Meoyongdong to meet up with our sick member and got lunch at a mild Italian restaurant and then split up again. Muqing, Tomoyo, and Sakimi went to Nandeomond for some bootleg shopping and Lola and I did a final sweep of Meoyongdong. Final cosmetics were  bought and we met back at the hostel to pick up the luggage then headed to catch the bullet train back to Busan. 3 hours later back at our original hostel we settled in and sorted the suitcases. We to a pasta shop that gave us free hot chocolate and delicious lettuce pizza.

Day 7: Pure traveling. Chilled at the hostel eating toast and tea then took a taxi to the port and ferried it back to Fukuoka. Then a 4ish hour drive back to Miyazaki, where we stopped and ate soba and ice. It was super mild after all the korean food. delicious! then got back around 9pm.

It was a difficult trip with lots of suitcases and opinions. But I'd like to think we came out happy and on top. I would love to go back and stay 2 weeks next time. I would travel slowly, stay in a different hostel, and never go to a bath house again. I got what I wanted and more. Leaning towards a short teaching time in Korea now, but to be determined.

sick and tired

So I got my tickets to the YG family show in Osaka and am super excited!!! I'm going to pay the bit extra and fly there instead of taking the ferry due to my motion sickness issues. This ticket and my trip to Korea in December are all that are motivating me at the moment. My English club is currently involved with creating a play for a large and important event, and its slowly killing me. It looks TERRIBLE. No amount of English learning will undo the horror that is this play. My co-workers and I have created elaborate backdrops(this took months to make), at least 20 hand made props, and hours of script writing and dancing training. When finally it came time to put it all together, the students could say their lines perfectly, but changes to the script were frequent and have ruined any chance of it being good. Too many people that should have no say are being allowed to run the show and the blame inevitably will land on my friends and I, and the people who worked hardest to make this the best it can be. The students are also ruining it by looking bored and joking around. They seem to think messing around and not doing what they should in front of the head(mayor) of the city I work for is tons of fun.......The worst part is there is nothing we can do anymore. The students have been reprimanded, praised, warned, and threatened to no avail. They have gone to that magical place where Japanese students go when asked a question they have no answer for. They just stare blankly back at me and the worst part is, it is them, who will look ridiculous on stage, and it is my friends and I who will take the blame at the end of all this. But worst of all, it is the head of juku who will be crucified for the budget, student failures, and overall horror that the students have made. All the blame will be where it shouldn't and could possibly end the best thing going for my city: Juku.

cat of doom

But enough of my ranting onto bigger and better things. I have felt like crap for about two weeks now(possibly stress from the play) but I have been having some fun. Like going to ji-chan's house for some catching up and ridiculous stories. Got to drink fanta out of bamboo cups and enjoy awesome company and food. I made the fabulous choice to head out for some drinking after the event. Lola tried to steal my shoes, but I talked her and Muqing out of walking from Nango back to Nichinan at night. I dropped them off for a great night. Squeezed my ass into a friend's tiny car and headed to karaoke for two hours. Nomihodai for the win and some epic singing. First time seeing heavy metal sung at Karaoke and ate tons of french fries. After two hours of singing with a slightly sore throat, I headed home at 2:30am and finally went to bed at 3:30.....Woke up at 6am got ready for a trip to mt. aso. One of Lola's English students took on a fabulous high speed drive on the highway that got us to mt. aso in 3 hours(let it be known it took me 6 hours on backroads to do the same thing). I got seriously car sick. I should have known, but I felt terrible for inconviencing this poor guy. He even pulled over so I could barf on the side of the road.(also let it be known I bought him a $30 bottle of sho-chu as an apology) good times, I think I scared him a bit. First stop was the cuddly dominion, basically a glorified petting zoo. Saw tons of animals that are wild in America but are novelty to people in Japan. Such as the giant guinea pig petting area and cat and dog areas. At least I got to play with animals. Next was mt. aso and an amazing soba restaurant. Everything was soba, ice cream, teas, noodles, even salads. I have never enjoyed ice as much as that place, who would have guessed soba ice cream could be so damn delicious. We then drove through the expensive onsen district where people pay upwards of $200 to bathe in black salt, and mineral waters. We went to an onsen for $8 and enjoyed the lovely rotten egg smell all onsens have. I even dared to go into the freezing pond that literally gave me pins and needles it was so cold. Finally we drove back and stopped in Miyakonojo for kaiten sushi and ate tons of sushi. I like these places because you can pay per plate and there's nothing better than seeing a giant stack of plates that only cost you $5. Finally head back to nichinan where I got the best sleep of my life. The next day(sunday) was spent on a dress rehearsal for the play from hell. All of my superiors were there and could witness the horror for themselves, and thus began the debate of too many cooks in the kitchen. Too many ideas and authorities clashed. In the end I have no say and will still be at fault at the end.
Final not: Aoshima camp is this weekend and I plan to de-stress and work with children. I will also help make curry and nan. Come on Korea time!!!! I need clubbing, eating, and shopping stat. At least I'll have lots of money for the trip because I'm too busy and stressed to spend money right now

making wasabi

.

We are Family!

More concerts to be had this time of year as it winds down. Decemer I'm gonna hop on over to korea via ferry and enjoy the snow and coldness for a bit. Perhaps a little skiiing and shopping. So much concert info has been pouring into my inbox its unbelievable. Shinee's new japanese is set to hit by the end of the year. Super excited but a bit peeved seeing as I bought all of the Japaneses singles individually. Tohoshinki's concert is in February, and I will try to get tickets in decemeber. Just announced is the YG family concert in both Japan and Korea. D-lite's comback after his car accident is great news, but it might also mean G-dragon won't attend due to postponing his activities. 2NE1, Se7en, bigbang, and gummy will all be there for an epic concert in January. I hope they can all make it!! I've already put in my reservation with my membership the minute I heard about it. Another note, their dvd/cd combo pack and Japanese single have been postponed until a later date due to Japan's negative views about drug usage. The korea family concert will be held in December. Finally in February there is the possibility of Bigshow. Every year they hold a giant concert with only bigbang but due to all of the recent new involving them who knows whats going to happen.

dancing and drawing

Minho!

Not much to write about but must keep writing weekly to keep the blog going. Went to sports day at Yowara and had a great time. I got to participate in the giant ball rolling event, although the ball was paper-mache and really hard to push(with no help from muqing). Snagged some lunch and headed back for some epic house cleaning. I find that if I don't clean the house once a week by week two the house looks like hell. It's finally colder out and I can break out the hoodies!! Well, not really seeing as I can't wear them to work.....So....Let's break out more suit tops!! Still working on my drawings. Seeing as I keep drawing k-pop pictures I bought a new sketchbook and am going to try to draw more serious things in a more original way. Thumbnails commence! I have over 20 pages of miniature drawings that I plan to turn into large scale drawings, but I have been super busy with work...boo...I am now obsessed with supernatural. I first watched the animated series which covered the first two seasons and I'm hooked. Season two finale will be watched tonight and then I'm gonna take a break so I don't die from watching too much tv. Tonight is dancing, traditional dancing that is so repetitive that you can space out. Finally finishing out the week with the obi festival where said dancing should be done in front of a large crowd and cameras.Good times.....now to finish the last k-pop drawing for a while. Here's a pic from the second to last drawing.

It's been a while!

So I decided to return to the blogging world with a bang. There's so many things that have happened since the last blog I don't even know where to begin. Ok..I'll start with summer vacation. I travelled back to America for 20 days in August for a bit of family bonding. After 3 days we flew into Florida for universal studios. Granted the first day I thought we were all gonna kill each other, the second day was much better and once we got into the park all was good. Harry Potter land was awesome. I may be an adult but the castle ride was really well done although the second time I rode it the ride actually stopped in the middle and the lights turned on. Two days at cocoa beach laying there and swimming in the ridiculously warm water. Headed back and spent the rest of my vacation in Chicago with friends and family catching up. Two of my friends from Udo Junior High came to visit me in Chicago. It was fabulous and I had a great time. I resturned to Japan the most messed up I've ever been from jet lag. The flights home were unbearable.

Sooooo,, back in Japan I chillaxed until school started again. We are currently preparing for a massive play with dancing and singing involving our juku students. I've been painting murals non-stop for a month and there's still one left. Juku is a bit stressful because they are loud and obnoxious. They are really testing my patience. Maybe I'll scare them with some Japanese yelling/scolding I have learned.
I got to judge the Miyazaki High school speech contest at the prefectural library. It was difficult but I don't regret how I placed the students. There were native speakers there and that made it difficult to place them. One student gave a ridiculous speech about love & war that had me containing my laughter, but there was no way I would forget his speech and it helped him get third place. Oh yeah and I had to take the train, I love you boe......

I went swimming in the local dam we went swimming in last year, I've attended only one of my Undokai's but will visit two more this weekend, and just finished another junior high speech contest where two of my students placed.

While Muqing and Lola were still gone I attended the cape toi fire festival for some camping, fire, and drinking. All of which were accomplished. It was a beautiful day, although everyone was getting sunburnt.

We found this awesome cliff with typhoon waves and took this epic picture. After the festival we booked it down to a different camp site. The typhoon was coming so we moved off the beach to higher ground. There was an abandoned camp ground and I roomed with some friends in their tent. It was pitch black and no one could see anything and it took 8 years to get the fire started. The booze run returned too late as I had already abandoned chu-hai's and switched to whisky. The next morning was roungh but you could see the gorgeous view that was blocked the night before.

Portrait a week had turned into portrait when I feel like it. I can draw pretty fast, but I have been sooooo busy its unbelievable. My love of portraits has also turned into I love K-pop. Each paycheck I specifically set aside money for cd purchases. I NEVER bought cd's in America and now that I'm in Japan I didn't think that would change. But! lo-and-behold I now have over 40 CD's with songs I really like even though they are not in English. Right now there are so many cd's coming out!! Bigbang concert dvd and cd, Shinee lucifer japan ed, Tohoshinki Tone, GD&TOP japan vs. , and finally the best: Tohoshinki is having a concert in fukuoka. But here's the kicker the fan club is closed and we can't join(yet). This fanclub is the ticket(literally) to getting tickets first and getting the best seats. We have no priority so we will be out in the boonies if we can even get tickets. Bigshow 2012 is still on the ropes so we have no idea if we can make going to korea a reality in February. We are going to try to go to Korea during christmas this year and for new years. I can't wait and I know muqing's budget money will go straight to new character socks and lola's will go to facials and massages with weird names.
Ps. dont steal my artwork!! I found it on some japanese sites.

SHINee is the new k-pop obsession right now. Their dancing in their lucifer video is to die for. I am going to start learning dance to try to burn off these last few pounds. In other news I am one size away from women's pants in japan. Uniqlo's womens wear only goes up to a size 6 max and the mens picks up where the womens left off. Ahhh the small joys in life. Back to shinee they are hilarious and are having concerts soon, but due to work we can not go. I feel like I could see them easier than bigbang so I'm not too sad.

Last in news was the giant cabin party in Kitago that tested the limit of my drinking abilities. The results I can drink alot with questionable results. After a few round of red or black my fate was sealed. Half the party is a blur. I do remember LMFAO dancing, people drinking sho-chu out of a bucket, all of us having champagne poured on us, throwing a bouncy ball that lit up, and the next morning looking for my keys. It was too successful as a party, terrible the next day. I have never been so sick. I blame it on the jagermeister shots. FML......AND I was back at those same cabin's with my co-workers a week later!! We had a tennis tournament that I failed at, ate cake, and generally had a great time. Co-workers got super drunk and tried to make us yakisoba. good times.

Currently I am just spending time getting together my halloween costume and wanting Tohoshinki's new cd. Life is good.