where are we really going anyway?

..is not all about turkey and football. This is what I look forward to coming home to every November. We may be going our separate ways after graduation, but little stuff like geographic location shouldn’t matter much.

Creds to Lor for the pic.

Sankyuuuuuuu!!

I find it really funny that my Japanese grandmother makes fun of me when I start looking “too Japanese.” “Cut your hair, you look like one of those girly Japanese boys.” Fine Grandma. I cut my hair!

Before (last time I cut my hair was when I was still in Japan…over 4 months ago!)

After (done at Panache on College in Berkeley)

My bathroom has terrible lighting and the mirror is very dirty. Oh well.

It’s kind of weird, but I feel like I cut one of the last parts of my study abroad experience off today. Not like I lost those experiences or anything, but it was more like a reminder that that period in my life is indeed over (even though I don’t want it to be!), and that I’ve gotta live for tomorrow, which will be even BETTER than yesterday. Here’s to new adventures in a new haircut!

A month of no blogging and now I have so many things I want to post!

Earlier today, as I was shuffling through my iTunes, I came upon the album The Many Faces of Oliver Hart, by, of course, underground mc Oliver Hart (a.k.a. Eyedea). Oliver Hart not only delivers his rhymes with lyrical finesse, but also raps about relevant, thought-provoking topics. The song “How Much Do You Pay?”, written in a narrative style, describes the narrator’s encounter with a homeless man beating a drum, and the life-changing conversation that ensues. The message that this song ultimately leaves you with is not happy at all, but at the same time strangely liberating.

Really listen to the words of this song, and if you can’t follow along, then check out the lyrics.

I have not posted in almost a month. Man. I suck.

This is only partially because I am lazy…but mostly because I felt like I didn’t have anything worth writing about. Now, we can have a whole other blog entry on the meaning of ‘worth’ and what constitutes a worthy blog entry, but that would be boring and convoluted. Instead, I will give a brief plug for a short story I just finished reading entitled “Honey Pie” (蜂蜜パイ). It is part of a collection of short stories written in response to the 1995 Kobe Earthquake by Haruki Murakami (村上春樹) in response to the 1995 Kobe Earthquake, aptly named After the Quake (神の子どもたちはみな踊る).

“Honey Pie” deals with the relationships between three friends: Junpei (淳平), Takatsuki (高槻), and Sayoko (小夜子). Junpei is your quintessential “Herbivore Man” (草食系男子, a term recently coined by the Japanese media to mean a man who is very passive and unassertive in matters of love), while Takatsuki, Junpei’s opposite, is a…yep, you guessed it, a “Carnivore Man” (肉食系男子, another term coined by the Japanese media to mean a man who is very confident and agressive in matters of love). Sayoko is the woman that both men love, but whose heart is only for one of them.

So as to not spoil the story, I’ll stop my synopsis there, but I will elaborate a bit on the topic of Herbivore vs. Carnivore. Granted, I don’t think either personality is particularly desirable in its purest form, but I do find myself much more irritated by the nature of Herbivore Men. Sure, we’ve all met Carnivore-types who are over-the-top aggressive and generally very tactless, but at least they know what they want and they’re going for it. Their methods may not be ideal, but the underlying principle is commendable, at least. Herbivore Men, on the other hand, tend to be unassertive and idle, in spite of a great desire to do something. This is vexing not only because I see other people acting this way, but because I too sometimes fall into this trap of being complacent in regards to my desires, and even dreams.

The last thing I want is for these words to be taken as a green light to do whatever one wants. That would probably just usher in an era of Sex Pistols-esque anarchy in the USA. What I’m getting at are those raw ideas that you may or may not have processed yet, but are present within you nonetheless. If you have the means and desire to see your ideas to fruition, what is lacking? Action.

For many of us, it has always been an issue of action. The difference between one step and no step. Carnivore and Herbivore. Do. Die.

And sooner rather than later, we will die. After all, the essence of the world is impermanence, and we are here for only a fleeting moment.

My new friend Jen(n?) Lee graciously showed me one of the most interesting, well done short films I’ve seen in a while. The video is about 4 minutes long and is definitely worth your time…I promise, it’s not another Wong Fu production or The Greatest Freakout Ever #57.

I’m sure we’ve all been in situations similar to the one depicted in this short film…so after watching it, post a comment telling us how your situation went down.

Or something like that.  While blogging may not be the best thing to do with a Classical Japanese midterm on the horizon, i.e. tomorrow, I simply couldn’t help myself.  This past week, I was sifting through the data overload that is my iTunes and started listening to a band that I had not given much attention to when I first learned of them.  For those of you who are somewhat familiar with the Japanese music scene, you will have undoubtedly heard of Mr. Children, one of the most famous rock bands in Japan.  In 2003, the lead singer and songwriter for Mr. Children, Sakurai Kazutoshi, along with top Japanese producer Kobayashi Takeshi, started a non-profit organization called ap bank (ap stands for both alternative power and artists’ power), and consequently a band whose profits go directly to ap bank, aptly named Bank Band.  ap bank lends out money for environmental projects and disaster relief, in addition to creating a general awareness amongst Japanese regarding environmental issues.

This brings me to the focus of my post, which is the lyrics to a song called “evergreen” by Bank Band (it’s actually a cover of a song by Kobayashi Takeshi and Kobayashi Akiko, under the band name “My Little Lover”).  As many of you know, I’ve been earnestly learning Japanese for the past 2 years and some odd months, and let me tell you, it has so far been an awesome journey.  Now that my Japanese level has gotten to the point where I can order a hamburger at a Japanese McDonald’s (and tell them that I don’t want pickles!), I figured that it was time to start trying to translate some song lyrics.  I’m no poet, so the original version obviously flows better and is of course a more beautiful, coherent piece, but here is what I got.  (For those of you who don’t speak Japanese, you can watch the YouTube video anyway…it’s a really catchy song!)

「evergreen」by Band Band

水まきしてた　季節が過ぎて
風の香り　変わり始めてた

緑はやがて　褪せてゆくけど
幹は今も　嵐に耐えてる　そこに立ってる

誰もが痛み抱いて　迷いも消えなくて
この地球(ほし)は淋しさ　溢れていて　何を求めてる

あなたをただ　愛してるだけ
ただそれだけで　生きて行けると
ぼんやりと思ってたら　何だか勇気が湧いてきてた
それは気持ちに　羽根が生えた様に　空を飛んでく

水平線の見えない　この街に生まれて
そして死んで行っても　あなたがいれば　全てを感じる

枯れ葉落ちてく　木枯らしが吹いてく　長い冬を超えて
自分の中春が　訪れて夏は来る

永遠の緑は　心に広がってる
そう信じていたい　いつの日も　どんな時でも

And now for the (hopefully not too bad) Ryan version

“evergreen” by Bank Band

As I’ve been watering, the season passes
The smell of the wind has begun to change

I want to believe that the everlasting green is widening in my heart
That on any day, at any time, I’ll be evergreen with you

This post would not be complete without a YouTube video so you can actually listen to the song.  A little disclaimer: this is not Bank Band in the music video, it is another singer by the name of Kobayashi Akiko (ex-wife of ap bank co-founder Kobayashi Takeshi).  After a few listens, I actually began to like this version more.

I would love to hear feedback (especially from Japanese speakers) on the translation, and how I can improve my translating in the future.  Thanks!

- Ryan