| This Journal is OLD |
[25 Dec 2009|07:23pm] |
Everyone knows this already but I almost post on here anymore except when I paste entries from my new blog,
which is called NOW I'M IN JAPAN because I'm in Japan now.
SEE YOU AROUND
And Merry Christmas!
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| Teaching English in Japan |
[05 Sep 2009|09:09pm] |
That's what I'm doing here. I was teaching at a junior high school in Yamagata, but I ended up in an elementary school in Tokyo, which I did not want. The night before my first day of work I ended up on the balcony chain-smoking, cradling a wine bottle, bawling to my friends through the open sliding door that being child-friendly would destroy my soul. But I've learned to deal with it and I get to do arts and crafts all the time. These are the things I've had the most fun making this year. I made the shopping exercise after Michael Jackson died. The students had to buy each item of clothing with their shopping vocabulary and then color it in. I love the vegetables because they look so delicious like cartoon food. And I'm not sure what I like so much about the sad poster but I think it's one of the best things I've ever drawn.
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| I HAVE INTERNETTT / Fucking Ikebukuro |
[30 Aug 2009|09:14am] |
This is great!
I'm a reformed character, I haven't partied in like a month, EXCEPT last night obviously -- I'm never awake at 9:15am on a Sunday unless I took the train home in the morning. Last night was pretty fun. I didn't feel like drinking much but I was on a date with this Japanese ex-frat boy gyaruo in IKEBUKURO. I hate Ikebukuro. That's where I met that porn director, it's where spooky older ladies who like creepy gay underage sex comic books have their own neighborhood, and where there are a lot of really dumb trashy hip-hop clubs. I want to like Ikebukuro because it's dirty and cheap and that is life's best recipe for fun, but every time I go there I feel like my soul is dying. Anyway, I really owed this guy because he was the only person in stupid Yamagata who was friendly to me and tried to show me a good time. He's a silly gyaruo ex-frat boy but he was so, so kind to me. I only met him once because he moved to Tokyo right after I met him and I always planned to buy him a drink sometime, so finally I made a date with him and when I said any place was fine he chose Ikebukuro.
Fucking Ikebukuro! I talk shit but I keep going back, you see? Of course this time was justified by the fact that I was going there on a date with a real live gyaruo. And before I left my roommate said Ikebukuro is famous for true gyaru and gyaruo, the awful gritty cheap tacky scum-of-Tokyo ones, and that totally put a sparkle in my eye. Traditionally, most gyaruo have tried to be glammed-out Bon Jovi badasses with a lot of silver accessories and pointy boots and "wolf hair," but lately they've been moving away from the rock & roll angle towards brighter and dorkier looks based on hip-hop or surfers or preps. This breaks my heart because as far as I'm concerned the bizarro glam hair-metal look will always be the true way of the gyaruo:
Gyaruo in Asakusa. Photo by Whitney.
You know what, let's just talk about gyaruo. This is long overdue.
Gyaruo are traditionally famous for:
1. Really dark tans
2. Huge, highlighted, meticulously styled hair
3. Super pointy cowboy-style boots with lots of studs and buckles
4. Silver accessories
5. Over-embellished clothes -- rhinestones, fur trim, buckles, studs, graphics, on everything
6. Horrible trance music
7. NANPA, the art of picking up girls on the street
8. Hanging out in arcades
9. Talking in a low, lazy drawl and saying "eh" instead of "ai" at the end of adjectives -- "dekai," or huge, becomes "dehhhk-KEH" when a gyaruo says it. They also constantly go, "Serious?" ("maji de?") and "Whoa." ("Yahhhb-BEH.")
10. Being super shallow and airheaded.
11. Smelling like coconuts (from the tanning lotion, I guess)
If you ever get a Japanese person to do an impression of gyaruo I promise they'll always do the same thing: drop their eyelids halfway, reach up to tease their hair, and croak "Maaaji yahhhb-BEH," with their jaw hanging open. LOVE IT. In Japan everyone hates gyaruo, to a comical extreme. Gyaruo are seen as sleazy, stupid, delinquent trash who do nothing good for society. Gyaruo culture was actually born as the male answer of gyaru, the bad-girls of Japan who popped up in the 90s with dark tans and bleached hair and a hard-partying, anti-establishment lifestyle. Gyaru got a bad reputation, too, but were also considered exciting and cool by a lot of people, and gyaru fashion seeped heavily into the mainstream. Gyaruo, however, not so much, at all.
Of course, I am totally pro-gyaruo. I went through an intense period of gyaruo obsession when I was all into the sociological angles of the gyaru/gyaruo phenomenon and its working class roots and how the intense (INTENSE) hatred of gyaruo in Japan has really awful implications. When people talk shit about gyaruo I think they're being classist pricks. I think gyaru and gyaruo deserve a lot of credit for being some of the only people in modern Japan who really say fuck you to The Man. Japan is famous for wacky fashion and zany subcultures but you wouldn't believe how conservative and conventional most of those crazy-looking people are. Gyaruo spit in the face of everything that hardworking salarymen believe in. Gyaruo-hatin' says a mouthful about Japan.
I'm almost done. There are tons of subcategories of gyaruo, and these days they're mostly dressing preppy-style with white sweaters and tricked-out loafers, or surfer-style with stupid pastel board shorts and tee-shirts that say like, "LET'S GO CALIFORNIA!" And recently there's been a big trend called onii-kei, which means older-brother style and is supposed to be more mature and sophisticated, LOL:
Fashion commentators outside of Japan mix up gyaruo and oniikei and are under the misconception that either is considered super-hip in Japan. Gyaruo is a huge subculture and oniikei is a huge trend but these guys are not the hipsters of Japan. They're kind of more like the guidos.
Back to last night: while I was waiting for my gyaruo date in front of Ikebukuro station, I was indeed surrounded by old-school trashy gyaruo, and as I was texting Whitney "Gyaruo didn't die, they just moved to Ikebukuro," a gyaruo tried to pick me up by asking, "Nanpa OK?" LMAO. So I had to reject a gyaruo trying to pick me up in Ikebukuro because I was already on a date with another gyaruo. And that's what dreams are made of.
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| LAST NIGHT WAS TOO MUCH TO HANDLE |
[14 Jun 2009|01:45pm] |
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I was in the white hot nucleus of youth!
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| SO GOOD |
[18 May 2009|05:18pm] |
Got a lot of reasons to stick around.
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| WE COULD ALL HAVE BEEN BORN AS COCKROACHES |
[11 May 2009|08:52pm] |
My aversion to cockroaches is a little severe. Last night was traumatic. The thought of another close encounter with a cockroach almost makes me cry, but I'm sure it can't be avoided if I'm going to live in Tokyo. So, I decided that it is time to get serious and make peace with cockroaches. I'm not sure Ayabean is going to be very happy about this when she gets home but I hope to help her understand that making friends with Gregor is simply the only reasonable thing to do.
 Besides I really don't have a choice because if I let him go outside I'll just think about him finding his way back in. So after a brief homestay I hope we'll be on good enough terms that I can take him to a nice pile of trash away from my building and set him free on a civil note. So far I just shudder and flail my fists a little bit every time I look at the jar, but I am trying very hard to overcome my prejudices.
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| OK TIME OUT WE NEED TO TALK |
[11 May 2009|04:45am] |
Tokyo, I know that all lovers must, at some point, exit the honeymoon period and really come to terms with each other, flaws and all. I know. I understand that after almost two months of bliss you may have felt it was time to test my sincerity by showing me something ugly about yourself. And you know what, Tokyo, I'm up for it. Because I do love you. And I believe there's nothing you can show me that will change that.
BUT WHOA SERIOUSLY? DID IT HAVE TO CRAWL UP MY FUCKING NECK? WHILE I WAS LYING IN BED? WAS THAT REALLY NECESSARY, TOKYO? REALLY? I MEAN REALLY?
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| that's so smart |
[07 May 2009|01:45am] |
On Monday I woke up 95% recovered from my cold and in the afternoon my friend called and I said YES I'D LOVE TO, and had this flaming night in Kichijouji and crawled into bed at 8AM all, YEAHHH THAT'S MORE LIKE IT. Here's a photo someone snapped of me saving a life around 1AM.
 Anyway I woke up later feeling like I'd swallowed a handful of screws! My voice is this annoying squeaky wheeze and now I have to sit out the rest of Golden Week eating pudding or whatever so I can be well enough to holler at children when I go back to work on Friday. So that was dumb. It was a great night though.
 Tokyo never sleeps but the trains stop around midnight. The last trains are full of annoying drunks but the first trains at 5am are just partied out, man. When the sun comes up at the end of an epic night and you're so worn out and busted shuffling home you can't think about anything but passing out with your face in some fucking breakfast, it's like, man I really gave it my all. The first trains are full of winners. Or at least tryers!
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[02 May 2009|08:36pm] |
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I'm the brokest and the sickest motherfucker in Tokyo!
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| Bedroom Eyes |
[01 Mar 2009|11:13pm] |
It's a classic song but I just watched this video for the first time. I like the weird clashing vibes, how it's cool, kitschy, and punk at the same time. And man, would I hit that or what.
P.S. Can we bring organs back, please? I heard the reason they went out is that they don't translate well with modern recording methods. I say some psychedelic indie badass needs to tackle this in a sketchy basement studio, stat.
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[02 Feb 2009|08:50pm] |
 Sunset on my way out of school today.
 If I forget to look out the window before I go out, this is what I always open the door to!
 Isn't this single serving jar of umeshu the most delightful little thing you've ever seen? 98 yen at the supermarket.
 I love shirataki. They're the noodle form of konnyaku and have no calories or carbohydrates or fat, just a few grams of fiber. They soak up flavors and are good in lots of recipes, especially hot soups and nabemono. Tonight I simmered them with mushrooms, green onions and some kind of dried bread that I like the texture of, then stirred in a packet of miso. I used a microwave and it took me like 5 minutes and was so tasty. Shirataki = lazy diet heaven. Next time I'm having them with kimchee and tofu.
 Boots, I like you and all but you really let me down this weekend. This was just a few minutes after leaving the house. Dang!
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| CLOUDS IN MY COFFEE |
[12 Jan 2009|11:58pm] |
I'm in love with this used purse I got. I wish the strap was a tiny bit longer but I can still sling it over my parka and not have to deal with it falling off my shoulder so I love it. I also got this sweater for 400 yen. I'm bad at posing, sorry.
If it seems like all I ever do is shop, that's because it's true. I shop, take walks, drink coffee and study Japanese. I was really enjoying this for two months but sometime last week I suddenly got sick of it. Now I'm so bored in Yamagata I could die. Two months is kind of my limit for the countryside. Tonight I finally gave in and threw myself a tantrum.
This picture of my tantrum is hilarious and cheers me up. Don't worry, I'll figure something out.
You know what I don't mind about Yamagata? The snow!
I was afraid the novelty would wear off quickly but it hasn't. This is my first snowy winter and I don't know if I'll ever have another, so I'm savoring it. Yamagata snow is as light and powdery as dust. It's very pretty and fun to walk in. The wind is painfully cold but I like how it scatters the snow like sand on the beach.
I would be a lot more bored without the snow and that's a scary thought.
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| What else could I say? |
[29 Dec 2008|09:05pm] |
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I cannot be too into the return of grunge.
I'm gonna stop shopping for real now, but today I got a flannel dress, pretty much the last thing on my SUPER NECESSARY THINGS list.
I'm so into it. And I've come around to these stupid boots. Real winter fashion is intense. I was thinking like, oh sure, leather boots and opaque tights. Nuh-uh! This is the mountains, time to get real.
There are still a few warm days left so the snow is half-melted today. But yeah winter's not fucking around.
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[29 Dec 2008|02:19am] |
chiepolia says:
WHAT DID HE DO TO YOU?
This made me laugh so hard. No one has ever asked me this question and for some reason it's really satisfying and hilarious.
Also:
chiepolia says:
we call it kotobazemeことばぜめ
chiepolia says:
in japanese
Beth says:
what does that mean?
chiepolia says:
it is very hard to explain but during having sex, your partner tries to ask and ask with dirty words like "what do you want me to do, hottie?" or "what is called this super wet spot?" or something like that
chiepolia says:
do you get it?
Beth says:
lmao! there's a word for that????
Beth says:
what the hell
Beth says:
i didn't even know that was an established practice
Beth says:
DIRTY QUESTIONS
Beth says:
hahahahaha japan is nuts
chiepolia says:
YESSSSS
chiepolia says:
that's what I wanted to say! I know japans nuts
Japan, you're nuts!
I'm heading to Tokyo on the 31st to celebrate New Year's there with Chie. She's coming from Nagoya to party with me. I've actually never partied for New Year's in my life because since I've been old enough to party I've always been at my Mom's house for winter break just like, chillin. So I'm super excited to get ridiculous in Tokyo.
Last of all, once in awhile Leo says something where I can't decide if it's stupid or brilliant but it makes me lol all the same. Often it's something really startlingly vulgar.
Leo says:
your pussylips will quiver
Leo says:
like a butterfly's wings
Leo says:
and it will fly away
Beth says:
lmao that is a beautiful image i guess
On that note
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| Merry Christmas! |
[25 Dec 2008|02:55pm] |
I got a rainstorm for Christmas. I'm going downtown anyway to shop, drink coffee and read. And I'm gonna try and seduce a shop owner into taking me out tonight, but idk, he might be married or something so we'll see.
I kind of just want to buy some red galoshes. Is that weird? Don't you think they'd look kind of cool with my white tee and black pencil skirt?
Or grey skinnies? Or am I nuts? But they'd probably be fine in the snow, too, and I'm sick of looking for snow boots I like.
I got this tee at a 100yen shop. OMG. I go nuts for cheap, thin, clingy cotton boys tees. And I can get them for a dollar each now? Best thing I've ever found in Japan.
IN OTHER NEWS, I'm addicted to squash.
Squash is so delicious, cheap, easy to cook and super high in vitamin A. Maybe I'll have perfect vision and glowing skin soon. What's my secret? Squash n' Vaseline.
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| MERRY CHRISTMAS |
[24 Dec 2008|10:47pm] |
I felt tired and weird today but I made myself go walk some miles.
Rivers are good therapy when you're busted.
Wandered downtown and found a real cafe. You can't tell from this photo but I was stoked about it. I was less stoked to have paid around $40 for a pocket dictionary and a paperback, but I needed both at the moment.
Had rotten luck looking for good boots to wear once the snow hits. I bought these ones the other day but it was a guilty splurge because they've got nooo traction. However, they're cute as hell. See they've got secret snaps so you can wear them mid-calf or scrunched around the ankle. I love them.
Plus, the girl who sold them to me asked me out to lunch after her shift, and she's taking me out on the town later this week. So I can't feel that bad about buying them, they came with a friend! ♥
Here's the love of my life sweater I got at that vintage shop. I also went to another used clothing store and got this maroon Cobain-style cardigan and a blue & grey flannel shirt.
 
It's Christmas Eve and I'm just chillin in my sweatsuit.
I'm tentatively headed to Tokyo/Nagoya/Osaka (one, two or all) around New Year's, so I'm pretty stoked about that.
Merry Christmas!
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| Photos are UP |
[21 Dec 2008|09:11pm] |
YAMAGATA COLLECTION on Flickr.
I actually haven't taken photos in almost a month because my camera's been full. I'm too tired right now after another heavy day of shopping, but after I get back from BONENKAI in a couple of days I'll epic your ass.
P.S. Today I bought:
Perfect black boots
Tights in purple and red
A vintage maroon Cobain cardigan
A blue/grey flannel shirt
A webcam/mic if you're ever up for a video chat
Eye makeup
IT CONTINUES
I also made a friend! The girl who sold me my boots was about to finish work so we had lunch afterward. I'm so happy!
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| Today |
[24 Nov 2008|04:07am] |
I walked more than 14 miles and then got drunk with some motorcycle-fashion designers in a dive bar.
14 miles what the fuck. It's just like, I'm too broke for a bus, so I start walking right, and then I see these mountains right in front of me, and I get all excited because they're so close, and then I'm like, Oh, I'll just get a little bit closer, a little bit closer, and I just can't draw the line, man. And before I know it it's like, OK BETH, are you gonna climb this fuckin mountain? You're not really dressed for those snowy peaks -- so I'm forcing myself to turn around and then my feet are burrrrning, but then I see something cool down a side street, and I'm like shit I'll regret it if I don't check this out, and then I find a fuckin river, and I have to go down on the banks and see where it goes, and then I'm like another 2 miles out of the way, but then there's a giant Jizo statue, and shit! By the time I get back downtown, let me tell you, that teriyaki chicken burger is delicious. But then it's gone and I'm like, boy, I should walk around and find someplace fun to hang out in, and then I'm walking, and walking, and walking, goddammit!
Thank god for boys who pay for your cab ride home. Cause man, I was gonna walk.
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| the crunch of my cookie |
[16 Nov 2008|09:21pm] |
1. God I'm tired! I went to Yamadera Temple today. Everyone told me not to go this weekend because it would be cloudy, but I was afraid if I waited another week then all the leaves would fall. Besides, I insisted that climbing a mountain on a foggy day would be amazing, and I was RIGHT! Wait until you see the photos. If they don't make you jealous, I don't know what will.
2. After climbing up 1,015 stone steps and back down and then walking all up and down the streets in the village until whenever I stood still my legs trembled, I thought, time to explore downtown again! I felt fine. I found a Tully's coffeeshop -- ESPRESSO AMERICANO on the menu. I held my breath: "Ai-su esupuresso americano dekimasu ka?" ...HAI!
OH! HAPPINESS! I bounced down Nanukamachi grinning around my straw until the last drop was gone. Real coffee! Oh! Don't take your Stumptown for granted, Northwesters.
3. REEEEEWIIIIND: On the way to Yamadera, I wasn't sure I was getting on the right train, since there was almost no English in the station and my kanji is thhhtththpppttt. So I asked a group of older women waiting at my stop if I was on the right track. They told me I was and then talked to me for a long time. I'm glad my Japanese is getting better. I feel relieved that I'm not missing out on random conversations with any non-English speakers who want to chat. "I'm sorry, I don't understand" is still a major part of my vocabulary but honestly I'm able to carry on quite well, and I've mostly lost the fear of making stupid mistakes.
Anyway, we get on the same train, and before I know it, they're opening up their shopping bags and filling up an empty one with cookies and mandarin oranges for me. I was totally caught off guard and laughed and told them it was unnecessary, but you can't dissuade a group of Japanese ladies givin you gifts. So, now I have this huge bag of cookies and delicious mandarin oranges. Dang, man! This is why I have trouble worrying too much about anything. Like I'm gonna starve or die in a gutter when people are just throwing cookies and oranges at me for no reason? Please.
4. So, okay, I don't even know if it's worth it to try and explain this, but so. Matsuo Basho wrote a famous haiku at Yamadera Temple:
shizukasa ya
iwa ni shimiiru
semi no koe
how still it is!
ringing in the stones,
the cry of cicada.
(my preferred translation)
Anyway so halfway up the steps I sat on this bench where you can chill out, eat a snack, whatever. The bench was right in front of the spot where Basho wrote the haiku. So I pulled out my coffee and one of the free cookies. It was delicious and so crunchy that I couldn't hear much of the forest over my chewing. So I wrote this haiku:
shizukasa ya
iwa ni shimiiru
kuuki no kuraanchu
LMAOAAOAALOLOLOLOLOL I was so proud of my v.2.0, I snickered too hard and choked on my cookie.
5. It's Sunday night, but I was happy to find a few lively places downtown, some great clothing shops, and an entertainment district with lots of little bars and stuff. Next weekend I'm definitely going out to have a beer and get into trouble and make some friends. I bought a pack of cigarettes and I don't have a lighter. Can you imagine my plan? H-OHHH it can't fail!
Your grace period is over, Yamagata. Next weekend. You're MINE!
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blushingallover's journal
