Christmas in Japan

Christmas is widely celebrated in Japan, despite the fact that Christianity is a small minority in the country. In Japan, Christmas isn't so much about religion, but more about spreading joy and happiness. It also is less of a family holiday and more of a lovers holiday, almost an equivalent to a Western Valentine's Day. Christmas Eve is a time for lovers to go to a nice restaurant, maybe give each other corny or slightly expensive gifts (ie. teddy bears, flowers, scarves, jewelry, etc.)

KFC Christmas dinners are also a big thing in Japan. Many people have the tradition to order KFC on Christmas, and the lines can get long so some even order in advance!

People in Japan also eat Christmas Cake, a Christmas treat. It's a sponge cake with white frosting and strawberries. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks yummy!

Want to learn more? Click the links below!

Christmas KFC

Christmas Traditions

Christmas Cake

Anime Adventures: Fruits Basket

I consider Fruits Basket to be my first anime. Unless of course you want to count Avatar the Last Airbender. But that's more a cartoon than an anime. Anyway, Fruits Basket is kind of just adorable fluff for the most part, but it does have its dark moments.

The protagonist Tohru Honda moves in with three men when she has no where else to go. Two of these guys are her classmates, Yuki and Kyo Souma. The owner of the house is Shigure Souma. All of them are related, but they aren't immediate family. More like cousins. The problem is, the Souma family has a curse. When someone hugs them of the opposite gender, they turn into their Chinese zodiac animal! Fruits Basket is just about Tohru's daily life and adventures living with the Souma's and other members of the zodiac are introduced throughout the show.

Yuki and Kyo butt heads a lot, while Shigure can be a bit of an air head at times. Meanwhile, Tohru just keeps on smiling. Tohru is not really a tsundere like other animes, but she's more like a sweet little angel. And of course there's a partial love triangle between Tohru, Kyo and Yuki, but no romantic relationship ever evolves. (However, if you read the manga, Tohru will eventually find true love! Go read it, it was good too!)

I really enjoyed this anime. It's cute, fluffy, but also has those inspirational deep moments as well. I recommend it to anyone new to anime or they want something short and sweet to watch, as its only one season.

Product Review: Meiji KINOKO NO YAMA Mushroom Shaped Cookies

I'm taking a Japanese class (finally), and I participated in helping advanced students, by pairing up with one of these students, and having them watch me study and participate in class. They only had to watch me study once and they came to my class a few times. These advanced students are learning how to be Japanese teachers, so by studying beginners, they have a better understanding of what beginner students do, and not to get too frustrated with them when they don't know the answer.

Anyway, I participated in this, and at the end, the student who had been my partner gave me these mushroom shaped biscuit and chocolate candy as a thank you. It was such a nice gesture, and I was super excited to try them. I had seen them my mom with them, but I had never bought them before.

They were so delicious. The chocolate was obviously my favorite part. These mushrooms were similar to pocky because they had the same wafer stick, only the mushroom ones were thicker and shorter than pocky. and the chocolate was thicker too. I think I decided I liked them better than pocky just because you could get more of a chocolate taste than pocky.

If you like pocky, you'll like this too, and if you're just looking for a crunchy chocolate snack, this is it. They are so delicious!

My Halloween and Cosplay Rant

So when you're in college, you get 3 types of people during Halloween. 

1. Those that dress up

2. Those that would dress up (or just throw on a tiara,) because they're too lazy or cheap

3. Those that don't dress up because they think its immature/weird

I fall into the 2nd category this year. I basically just put a tiara because I had no time or money to make a costume. In past years, I've always dressed up. But its so fun for me to see everyone in costume. It kind of reminds me of Comic Con. I don't know, just seeing people dressed up in fun costumes/cosplay just makes me happy. ^_^

Today I was studying in the Math Lab (trying to discern calculus, ughh), and there was this guy sitting near me that made the open comment that basically "Halloween is just a time to weed out the weeabos on campus."

...Really? Are... are you serious here?

I kind of just looked at him for a few seconds. And then informed him that I was taking a Japanese class. But I wasn't in cosplay. Apparently I had "too much dignity for that." 

...Really? Who said cosplay had anything to do with dignity? ON HALLOWEEN FOR GOODNESS SAKE?!?!?! -Deep Breath- At this point I just dropped the subject and went back to my work. I didn't feel like ranting to him, it wasn't worth it, and homework was more important. But now you guys get to read the argument I would have liked to tell him. MWAHAHA. 

First, just because there's a college student in a costume, that doesn't mean they're a weeb. There are people out there that just like Halloween. That does happen. A LOT of people like Halloween. Not all of them dress up, but lots do. Second, why is it that those dressed up as their favorite character, on a holiday where costumes are the norm, says that they have no dignity about themselves? Yes, they're adults, but this is college. This is the time when adults can still act like children and do fun, weird, and sometimes crazy things. Plus, this isn't an everyday occurrence. These are just people who want to celebrate Halloween by dressing up. If everyone was wearing super revealing sexy costumes, then yeah, maybe people would start to question other's dignity. But I'm at an LDS (Mormon) college. As part of the dress code, everyone has to wear clothes that cover the shoulders and go to the knees. You're not going to find any sexy costumes here. 

I kind of feel like people that make those kinds of comments are basically just insecure and so it leads them to judge others more. They see others acting different and it kind of makes them feel more normal because they don't do that. Like a confidence boost or something. I don't know. What I do know, is that if you want to dress up, dress up. It's Halloween. Have fun with it.

-Cami

Comic Con

Ok, so I know that this isn't exactly related to Japan, and its not even an anime convention or anything. HOWEVER, I still think its super cool and nerdy, plus even though Comic Con focuses more on comics, superheroes, and TV shows, there's also some anime related things. Anyway, I went there earlier this month, and figure I should post some pictures that I took.

Sailor Moon and Me

Me and Grey Fullbuster (Fairy Tail)

So there you go, you can finally see my face (whee). Comic Con was just a lot of fun. I didn't really get to do any panels like I had planned but it was just so much fun to see all the different cosplays, and shop. I ended up buying a poster I wasn't planning on buying plus fan-art. I had never actually bought fanart before, so that was a new experience. My favorite pictures were both in a cute, semi-chibi style, and I just love anything chibi because its just so adorable. Haha. 

I highly recommend going to a convention if you're any kind of TV, comic, or anime nerd. Just go and have fun. Because all the cool nerds flock together at conventions. And the crazy nerds. And just nerds in general. Seriously, just go to a convention. It's totally worth the money in my book.

-Cami

Manga Moment: Kimi Ni Todoke

This is such a cute manga. I read it over the summer and I just really liked it. It's about Kuronuma Sawako, a sweet, if kind of socially awkward girl, who looks like someone out of a horror movie. She doesn't mean to look scary, but because of her looks, most of her classmates avoid her. Anyway, a popular boy, Kazahaya Shota befriends her, and through him she starts to become more outgoing and she's able to make friends. It's just a cute little romance novel and I found it really amusing. Sawako can be funny when she has her awkward moments. She doesn't always know how to act around others since she was avoided by her classmates for most of her life growing up. Still, she's always kind and willing to help others.

I would definitely recommend this manga to anyone who is looking for a fluffy innocent romance to read. This series is also an anime, which I'm betting is cool too, but I can't actually say because I haven't seen it. Still, give it a try and I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did!

Learning Japanese Tip: Don't Just Buy Any Dictionary

If you are studying Japanese I reccomend Oxford Beginner's Japanese Dictionary. It goes both ways, Japanese to English and then English to Japanese. I've found it super helpful compared to my other dictionary that just goes from English to Japanese. A lot of times you'll see a word in Japanese and you'll need to translate it. Trying to go through all the English words to try and find it is kind of impossible unless you memorize the entire dictionary.

Yes, I know that there are plenty of translating apps today that you can use instead, but sometimes I think there's nothing as good as a physical book. Its just a personal preference of mine, but for others apps are better suited for them. I honestly don't mind Google translate, the thing is that you should only translate a few words at a time and its even better when you have an idea for what word you are looking for. Don't get me wrong, you have to be careful, Google Translate feels a little sketchy at times. However, as long as you translate in small pieces and you have some background knowledge, you'll be fine.

Hope this helps!

-Cami

Manga Moment: Yotsuba&!

Yostuba&! aka Yostubato! is one of my all time favorite mangas. The manga series features a little girl named Yostuba and her adventures as a child. Yostuba is quirky and keeps you laughing. The entire series is a bunch of short stories about her daily life. Going to the zoo, the farm, or a school festival, and you can't forget playing with friends.

Yotsuba lives with her Dad who adopted her overseas. Her next door neighbors consists of three sisters, a mom and a dad. The neighbor's dad is usually gone though, but Yotsuba has adopted the neighbors's mother and calls her "Mom" too. The three girls are almost like big sisters to her and they play together all the time.

Then there's Yotsuba's Dad's friends who often come to visit. Jumbo, a florist, is very tall, but he's pretty much a teddy bear on the inside. Meanwhile Yanda can be somewhat lazy, usually coming over to borrow some hot water for his ramen. Yanda and Yotsuba have this sibling act going on, where Yanda teases her all the time so that she'll get upset.  Seeing the two of them interact can be pretty funny.

The only thing I have an issue with is that the series is still ongoing. Don't get me wrong, that's a great thing. I would always welcome another Yotsuba&! manga. The problem is, the author takes awhile to release the next one. And then you also have to wait for it to be translated into English. Volume 13 just came out so I probably will have to wait over a year for the next one, if I'm lucky. It might be a few years. Who knows. Until then, I'll just enjoy the ones I have and reread them to my heart's content.

Cooking With Cami: Omurice

Ok, now Here's an easy Japanese breakfast for anyone to make; omurice. Omurice is basically a rice omelet. I like it, my family likes it, it is definitley a recipe you want to try. I learned how to make this by watching this amazing YouTube video by ochikeron. Ochikeron is an entire YouTube channel dedicated to Japanese family cooking and cute recipes. She even published a cook book.

So after I had watched this video a few times, I gathered up my ingredients and started cooking. I chopping up the vegetables, and since I didn't have normal chicken breasts, I actually used frozen already cooked grilled chicken pieces. You know, the stuff you find in the frozen food section for frozen dinners. So I heated the chicken up in the microwave before I added them to the pan. Aside from that, I didn't add the mushroom, but I did add chopped bell peppers for my omurice. I also didn't use as much ketchup, since Japanese ketchup is slightly different from American ketchup.

I definitely feel like this is a recipe you can play around with. I do suggest keeping the ketchup in the recipe, it actually tastes really good. This is an easy recipe and very delicious, so go on and give it a try ^_^.

Culture Shock: Vocaliod Concerts

Well that word sounds weird. Maybe you're thinking, "What the heck is a vocaliod?" Well, its a voice synthesizer associated with an avatar that makes the "avatar" sing. Someone records their voice, and then that voice is associated with a certain avatar. Then people buy a particular synthesizer and create their own songs with it.

The most popular Vocaliods are all by the same company, Crypton Future Media. They consist of 6 different avatars and 5 different synthesizers.

• Kaito
• Hatsune Miku
• Kagamine Len and Rin (They're twins...ish. They have the same voicebank and synthesizer, but their relationship seems to be whatever the fan wants it to be.)
• Meiko
• Megurine Luka

From left: Meiko, Luka, Miku, Rin, Len, Kaito

Anyway, they're avatars right? Well, someone came up with the idea to make a projection of the avatar that gives a 3-D effect, put it on stage to music, and have a concert. These concerts are in Japan, but there was recently an Hatsune Miku Tour this year where Miku was featured in ten different cities across North America. Most of those cities were in the USA, but there were two in Mexico as well. 

Now, these crowds can get really hyped up just like at a normal concert. The thing is, it can look kind of crazy seeing people cheer for a projetion. But you know, to each their own. I guess its kind of like when a fangirl (or boy) sees a really good cosplay of their favorite character? I think it feels more like  they're meeting them in real life. And who wouldn't want to do that?  There have been countless times when I've wanted to meet my favorite characters.

I was into vocaliods my freshman year in high school, so I think if I had the money I would want to go to one, just to get a better look at that tech. That's what really interests me. Apparently its a bunch of projections onto a semi-transparent polymer surface that makes it look 3-D. You have to admit that's cool. Ok, maybe I'm just kind of geeking out over it. But hey, I'm a nerd, its what I do. 

Who Wants To Learn Japanese? My best study tools

Ever since I started learning Japanese, I've had to do it on my own. My friend introduced me to the Hiragana alphabet and a few simple phrases, but I've had to learn everything else myself. I haven't taken a Japanese language class yet, but I am planning on it when I go back to school.

So how have I been learning these past four years? Well, its been off and on. But I own this great work book, Japanese from Zero! book one from YesJapan. It teaches hiragana to you slowly so that you learn over time, while incorporating new phrases, grammar, and cultural facts. I would definitely recommend using the Japanese from Zero! series. It consists of four workbooks. One for the Hiragana Alphabet, one for the Katakana alphabet, and two for the Kanji alphabet. If you're wondering why you need two books to teach kanji, it has over 2,000 symbols. Before I used Japanese from Zero!, I had been using Japanese Demystified which was a bit harder for me to use. It incorporated kanji near the beginning which was a bit harder for me to understand. I think people could still learn a lot from this book, but I don't know how well it works for beginners who are learning for the first time.

Aside from book work, I also really like the Kanabattle app. Kanabattle is a great matching game to learn hiragana and katakana. But what I use more these days is the Japanese Listening Practice Easy Japanese app. Its made by NHK Radio Japan. I love listening it to it in the car. It teaches me what I don't learn from Japanese from Zero!. The listening app is only half of the program though. There's also more reading to it. The lessons aren't just audio, but are also written as well. The other half is an app with all the lessons for reading. I didn't use this one as much, so I eventually deleted this, But if you are a reading person more than a listening person, go look up Learn Japanese NHK-Nihongo. 

KanaBattle                                                                          NHK Radio Japan

Hope this helps all of you Japanese learners!

Japanese Product Review: Hello Kitty Pink Hot Chocolate Mix

I went to World Market awhile ago, and I found this Hello Kitty pink hot chocolate mix. I was pretty hesitant to try it. I mean, I don't usually buy my food products from Hello Kitty, and second, I was pretty sure hot chocolate should stay brown and chocolaty. But you know, I figured that it was white chocolate. No exactly my favorite, but it was still tempting.

Basically, long story short, I ended up buying it. I read the instructions and it seemed to be no fancy directions, just add hot water. So I did. The result was not exactly what I was expecting. I thought it would have turned a darker shade of pink, but it was actually a very light pastel. Very pretty, and also very sweet; definitely had to be white chocolate. (Looking back, I can't believe I was still hoping for cocoa.)

Overall, it wasn't gross, but I didn't like it that much either. Maybe I'm being biased because I don't like white chocolate that much to begin with, but it was a fun product to try out, and it does look pretty. So if you're planning some kind of pink winter party, this might be something for you to try. Other than that, I'd only recommend it if you like white chocolate and are feeling adventurous.

Manga Moment: Shiawase Kissa Sanchoume

So here's a manga that isn't well known, but one that I absolutely adore. Shiawase Kissa Sanchoume. Also known as Happy Cafe. Its about sixteen year-old Uru and her adventures at her part-time job at Bonheur, a pastry cafe. Even though she's small and she looks like an elementary school kid, she has super strength. Her co-workers Shindou and Ichiro make work interesting for her. Ichiro with his randomness, while Shindou, the second in command, keeps them all on task.

There is definitely some fluff, and it is overall a cute little manga series. However, if you are looking for romance, I suggest looking elsewhere. This manga is more comedy, with a hint of romance. Seriously, I mean it when I say HINT. Kou Matsuzuki makes you sure of that. Romance is hinted at all the time, but most of it is just build up. Uru doesn't actually realize her feelings for anyone until the final book. So if you are looking for a romance novel, look elsewhere. But if you're looking for something cute and funny, this is what you want to read.

Personally, this is one of my favorites. Uru is absolutely adorable, and she's pretty blind when it comes to love. She's always thinking about others, and like most manga protagonists, she brings people together. I highly recommend this manga. Just saying. I can't stress how much I enjoyed reading this. I laughed a lot and Happy Cafe made my day countless times. I hope you'll read it and maybe it will make yours too.

-Cami

Welcome To My Blog!

Hey guys! Welcome to my blog! Ok, I know I know, weeaboos get a pretty bad reputation. Let's just get a few things straight.

1. No I don't want to become Japanese.

2. Yes, I want to go to Japan.

3. I am also an Otaku.

4. I am learning Japanese, but no, I am not in any way fluent.

5. I love Japanese culture, not just the anime, but the entire culture, the religion, Buddhist temples, the shrines, festivals. Both the modern and ancient parts of the culture. All of it interests me.

6. I do not say "kawaii" often, rarely ever.

So here's how I define weeaboo. A weeaboo is someone who is a total nerd when it comes to Japan. They study the language and the culture, someone who wants to go to Japan. They are not always idiots, who believe that if they say a bunch of Japanese words and watch a lot of anime, makes them ready to face Japan. They don't always bring Japan into conversation or constantly talk about Japan. But it still is a big part of their life.

For me, you might find me practicing my hiragana or katakana (two of the three Japanese alphabets), but I'm not someone who acts really weird or uses Japanese words all the time that no one will understand.

Anyway, this blog will have everything from manga to Japanese culture. Hope you like it. :)

-Cami