For those of you who are old enough to remember the anime Dragon Half, here is Clemmo talking about his mad translation of the closing song, sung at machinegun rate by the toothsome Kotono Mitsuishi.

http://schoolgirlmilkycrisis.com/blog/?p=959

I spent the evening watching parts of the Chosyu Five movie with Moto. This was an account of the five bright young samurai of the Chōshū clan who travelled illegally to England in 1863 by working as deckhands on a steamship so as to study at University College London ( Read more... )

Moto and Kei are back, bearing gifts. Naomi gave me some Space Curry, special curry sachets used by Japanese astronauts aboard the ISS. How cool is that?

Oh, and it seems that Studio Ghibli are now promoting international animation under their brand in Japan. Kei's favourite is a Russian stop-motion movie titled Cheburashka which is apparently ( Read more... )

Well, Motoko and Kei are coming back tomorrow. Chatting to Kei today he seemed very excited at being taken out on a boat trip about Yokohama port. Moto says he's speaking a lot of Japanese now; he's picked up a surprising amount. It'll be interesting to see how much English he's lost (if any ( Read more... )

Clemmo arrives for a weekend of frolics and for entertainment he brings DVDs of early Japanese anime. There's much I hadn't seen before and I was rather taken with a 1937 short about Benkei and Yoshitsune meeting on the Gojo bridge (a Japanese tale with many parallels to Robin Hood and Little John meeting at the stream ( Read more... )

I've finally cracked and ordered the DVD of Okinawa Kessen from the US. It'll be interesting to watch with English subtitles. My old tape that Paul and Keiko recorded for me years ago on VHS has long since disintegrated and I desire to watch again the 1971 Kihachi Okamoto classic that partly inspired the anime series Gunbuster and EvangelionWhat's ( Read more... )

Just got off the atomic videoscope broadcast from Planet Mongo where the Crown Prince is having a fine old time torturing the relations. He had a Lego dinosaur to show off (a large and expensive present that will not be shipped over until Christmas) and a Shinkansen model. Naomi plays with him a lot, which has given Moto time to get away and put ( Read more... )

Who can not love the Takarazuka troupe? The all-girl singing revue, who are camper than a row of pink frilly tents, who have now turned their efforts to adapting the Nintendo DS game Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney to the stage.

Check out the video. Attractive girls with deep voices? Excuse me a moment while I cross my legs.

Click to view

I was very touched by Japan: A Story of Love and Hate, a documentary about a couple clinging to existence and each other by their fingernails ( Read more... )

For some reason there appears to be an enclave of Japanese mothers in Kenilworth. Lord knows why, it's a bit of a hole. Maybe something to do with Warwick University.