The Little Yokozuna

When a group of children is mysteriously transported from a museum garden into a fantastic world where the myths, magic, and spirits of traditional Japan have come to life, they find that escape isn’t as simple as a phone call home.

The children must win a desperate race against time to rescue the youngest sister from demon warriors – and discover who will stand against the demons with the spirit of a true sumo champion (yokozuna) – before they can return to their enchanted garden.

The Dramatic adventures they share with their new Japanese friend, Kiyoshi-Chan – set in a fantastic world of sumo wrestling, baseball, and temple gardens – offer a fascinating introduction to the magical aspects of Japanese culture

(Copied from the back cover)

The blurb on the back cover already explains the story pretty well. I have nothing to add to the story…however, I do have some thoughts to share.

Let’s learn Japanese – 日本語を勉強しましょう

あたし の 第八百八十八ポスト は 日本 に あげています.

I give my 888^th post to Japan

This month’s Hello Japan! Mini Challenge , hosted by Nat of In Spring It Is The Dawn, is about learning something about Japan.

The original idea for this mini-challenge was to encourage you to learn some Japanese, a few words, or greetings, in either the spoken or written language.

By participating in this challenge, I have donated 500 yen to either the Japanese Red Cross or JEARS (Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support)

First, I want to share you about why I want to learn Japanese. Second, I want to share my journey to achieve certificate from Japanese Proficiency Test (日本語能力試験). Third, I will share my favorite Kanji.

Pray For Japan

My sympathy goes to all the people of Japan. I wish I can do something more than just praying, but I can’t…but NEVER say pray gives them nothing.

心から日本に祈っています。

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“Pray for Japan” Art by MatthewPolandy

“Those who keep saying prayers do nothing, think about those who cannot do anything other than pray. Prayer is just as strong as anything and Japan needs all it can get. This country is beautiful and deserves to be up and back in running condition soon!!”

Momo-Da-GR8

The Best of あなた (Anata) & News Flash on 20th L’Anniversary

I have been planning to write this kind of post since last year but I have to postpone the idea due to my tribute to the band. Last year, I dedicate my blog for a series of tribute for my all time number 1 band in the world, L’Arc~en~Ciel (Laruku)…now that the tribute is over, I’m going to start writing this Best Live Series いまから 一生懸命 頑張ります

What is Best Live Series?

Laruku has been around for 20 years now; it means they have been doing a lot of live performances over those years. Just like most bands in this world, they were singing the same songs over and over again. However, Even though the songs were the same, the performances were never the same, there was always something different. This Best Live Series is about choosing the best performance for the same song.

The first song I want to talk about in this Best Live Series is あなた( Read: Anata – Meaning:  You)

Excerpt from my review of Heart (Anata is the closing song in Laruku’s 5^th album, Heart)

I want this song to be included in my wedding song!! The lyric is so lovely. Anata is a very beautiful song and the most perfect song to end a concert. Whenever they used this song as a closing song, we can feel how the air in stadium changes when Hyde lets the audience sings the chorus…I haven’t watched them LIVE yet, I only see them singing this song through DVD and even so, I can fell the changes in the atmosphere…I know I will definitely cry if I ever watched them LIVE singing this song. Listening to this song always gives me an awed chill.

Laruku always did excellent performance whenever they sang あなた , the song always reached the deepest part of my heart.  This beautiful song is always accompanied with great stage atmosphere. It is really hard to pick just 1 best performance of this song.

I could finally narrow it to 3 performances for different reasons….but still I have to choose just 1 performance.

I really like their performance in Paris (2008)…it was not the best performance but the way the audience reacted toward the song was priceless.  It amazed me and gave me chill when I heard all those European remembered the lyric and sang along with the band, and it touched me when some of the audience cried over the song (I would have reacted the same way if I ever had a chance to see them Live in front of me).

ラルク の ため に

ラルク の ため に (Laruku no tame ni) means For Laruku

Last year, 2010, I have started a series of tribute for the band that has stolen my heart since 2001. That tribute was for my pre-celebration year. The real celebration is this year. 2011 is L’Arc~en~Ciel’s 20th anniversary and my 10th anniversary as a dedicated Cieler.

Click on the icon to see my tribute post

I have been listening to their music for the past 10 years and I haven’t seen any sign that I will stop listening to them anytime soon. During those years, I practically listen to their songs everyday and watch their concert almost every week. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t listen to bands or music beside Laruku, I still listen to other bands but I always managed to squeeze one or two songs by Laruku in between those other bands. I admit that I am addicted to their music, an addiction that I called as LarcHolic.

I now declare that the series of tribute has officially ended it was such a great year. I have spent 12 months reviewing each album that Laruku has released in their 20 years career. It wasn’t an easy task because I am so used to their songs. I have been listening to songs from Dune, Tierra, Heavenly, True, Heart, Ark, Ray, and Real for 9 to 10 years, Smile for 7 years, Awake for 5 years and Kiss for 3 years. I know I love their songs but at some points, I sort of already forgotten the reason that makes me love them in the first place. I have to dig deep into my memory and try to recollect the memory when I first heard each song.

L’Arc~en~Ciel’s 11th album: KISS

Finally…we are here!

After a whole year of reviewing each Laruku’s album, patiently writing about it per month with or without any people reading it….I finally reach the last album, KISS, the last before they released their newest one this year. I’m impatiently waiting for that new one to be released.

Unlike most bands I like, Laruku keeps on making better and better album as they get older. KISS is one of their best albums. KISS is an amazing record as it full of emotional songs. The first time I heard it, I was blown away, they went back to their original root. KISS sounds like Dune (their 1st album) with a touch of their new style of music. Each songs has its own sounds that differs it from the other song, they sounds more complicated and deeper than before. It didn’t take a second replay to fall in love completely to this album.

This album was released in November 21, 2007 (3 long years ago, God how I miss them so much. Dear L’Arc~en~Ciel, please don’t delay your new album any longer!!). I have reviewed the album a day before it was officially released because I downloaded it before I bought it, I couldn’t wait for my order to arrive 2 weeks later. But, the review was in my native language.

There are 5 singles and 5 PVs (promotional Video) for this album. Link was released right after AWAKE, they even included Link in their Awake Tour. Then, they released Seventh Heaven, My Heart Draws a Dream, Daybreak’s Bell (also used as an opening song for Gundam animation), and Hurry Xmas. KISS also has a very interesting promotion poster

Now, let’s talk about the songs:

Onepiece Gifts

For this month’s The Amazing World of Onepiece I am not going to talk about the world of Onepiece, I am going to talk about things I have received because of my love toward OnePiece…and it is nice to know that my love for Onepiece has made someone remember about me when she saw something Onepiece-related.

One of my favorite Challenges is Hello Japan, where Tanabata of In Spring It Is The Dawn challenges us to write things related to Japan. In June 2010, she challenged us to write about Manga. I was ecstatic about that challenge because I LOVE MANGA. The prize for that month’s challenge was one volume of the manga of your choice. I wrote 3 posts for this challenge. My first encounter with Manga in Hello Manga!, Most Often Cosplayed based on Manga’s Characters, and my top-5 manga in Subarashii Manga.

My joining the challenge is never about winning the prize, it is simply because I love things Japanese…but somehow, I really wanted to win the prize. I want to have Onepiece volume 55, it hadn’t been published in my country yet. And miraculously, I won!!

Haruki Murakami Reading Challenge

2011 is going to be one great reading year

I have joined a non-challenging challenge to read 6 or12 books of my number one Author, Stephen King…and yesterday, I found another non-challenging challenge to read books from my second favorite author, Haruki Murakami

This Challenge is hosted by good blogger friend, Tanabata who already created an amazing series of challenge called Hello Japan! in her main blog, In Spring It Is The Dawn. Nat lived in Japan, although she is not Japanese.

Here are some of the rules for this challenge:

• The goal is simply to read something/ANYthing by Haruki Murakami.
• Whether you’re a complete newbie, or already a huge Murakami fan, everyone is welcome to join in.
• You can join in anytime.
• You don’t have to have a blog to participate. You can also share your thoughts on Goodreads, LibraryThing, etc.
• Crossovers with other challenges are allowed. (Don’t forget that anything you read for this challenge also counts for Bellezza’s Japanese Literature Challenge) < I have already joined this since last year.
• Books should be read between January 1st and December 31st, 2011.
  (However, I welcome you to submit reviews to any of Murakami’s books or stories that you have read and reviewed previously. More on the ‘Submit a review‘ page.)
• Rereads are allowed, and encouraged.
• And most importantly, have fun!