Edible cats — only in Japan

So here is a trend I don’t understand. A while back DJ Magda sent me a picture that combined two of my favorite things: cats and sushi. Stupid me, until now I’ve been enjoying those two pleasures separately, perhaps because anytime I try to nibble on my cat, all I get is a mouthful of fur.  But these delicious pictures have me intrigued. Perhaps it’s something to try during the trip next year. Check out this illuminating article for more information and the official site for more pictures.

I would think that it was an isolated incident, had I not stumbled on this bizarre cartoon. Apparently there is an entire manga devoted to Donyatsu, donut-shaped cats that haunt a post-apocalyptic Shinjuku district. This is a deeply philosophical manga that strives to answer such existential questions as:  “who are these creatures?”, “how did they get here?”, “why are they shaped like donuts?”, “what happened to all the people?”. I love that one of them is a green tea donut. Check out the insanity below. Sadly there aren’t any subtitles, but are they really needed? Again, thanks to Twitch, keeping me informed of all things bizarre and wonderful in the world of cinema and beyond.

Having a blast at the Gatchaman (G-force) live action movie premiere

I have written in an earlier post about the trailer for the new live-action Gatchaman (G-force) movie that I was hoping to catch it at next year’s Fantasia. Well, Christmas came early when the Fantasia Montreal 2013 schedule announced that the movie will be premiering at this year’s festival. And I mean a real, honest-to-goodness international premiere, weeks before the movie opens in Japan at the end of the month. There was one catch, though – we were planning to head back home in the morning before the screening. There are, however, no laws of time and space that can stop a fangirl on a mission. A quick Airbnb search secured a crash pad for an extra night, frequent flyer miles provided a ticket back home and it was goodbye Sporty Sis and Bro-in-Law and “Bird Go!” for yours truly. If you look closely at the picture above, you’ll see Bro-in-Law’s sad face in the background, he was a big G-force fan as well.

Fantasia Montreal Review: The Apology King Shows Japan How to Apologize

source

On one level, The Apology King is an uproarious comedy that deals with the Japanese custom of formal apology. The main character runs an agency that helps various miscreants properly apologize for their misdeeds. The movie is divided into cases, each dealing with a different client, starting with a fender-bender involving the yakuza, then a sexual harassment complaint and culminating with an international incident which starts innocuously enough but quickly escalates out of control. The early cases provide helpful apology tips in very entertaining way, sometimes even through song and dance. They also show how important it is for the wronged person to receive an apology, and how that apology can restore the order in society, making both the victim and the perpetrator feel better. It is when we get to the last case, which has a film crew and then the Japanese government enlist the help of the Apology King to make amends to a small fictitious Asian country – somewhat resembling Bhutan, Mongolia or Burma – that one starts to get a feeling that this movie is trying to accomplish something more than just inspire us to be nicer to one another.

Fantasia Montreal Review: The Great Passage Defines the Word “Uncool”

This weekend Sporty Sis, Bro-in-Law and I came up to Montreal to catch some films at the Fantasia Film Festival. This is Sporty’s and mine third year at Fantasia, so it’s kind of becoming a tradition. Alongside your creature feature and slasher flick fare, Fantasia serves up a good selection of Asian films, not all of them sci-fi or fantasy. I honestly don’t understand what role the Asian films are supposed to play here, but those are usually our favorite films anyway, so no complaints. As an aside, I hope someone can explain why the audience miaous whenever the lights go down before the film. Just one of those quirky Fantasia things, I guess. The first Japanese film we saw as Ishii Yuya’s The Great Passage:

Week one of learning Japanese

Konnichiwa! This is what my fridge door looks like after the first Japanese class. The rest of the house is not better.

Awesome new trailer for live action Gatchaman/G-Force movie

How is this for a coincidence: I was recently talking to someone about our Japan trip, and he asked me when my interest in Japan had started. I told him about the beautiful books of Japanese art from which I copied pictures of geishas, meeting Japanese friends in my New Jersey high school, and then offhandedly said “but first, of course, there was G-Force.”  Yes, when I was seven, G-Force rocked my world. In case you are not familiar with that wonder of anime, G-Force (aka Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, Eagle Riders, Battle of the Planets, etc.) is a Japanese cartoon about five superheros who wear bird-like costumes and save the world from a scary dude called Zoltar. It gained such a worldwide distribution in the late 70s and early 80s that it became part of the childhood for the person I was talking to, who grew up in Puerto Rico, myself, raised in communist Poland, and my American boyfriend, not to mention countless others.

Oh, Mark, you made my seven-year old heart all atwitter!

Cat cafés

One day I will get sick of art and design and will open a cat café in Boston. In the meantime, I would love to visit one in Japan.

There is also a fun article on them in Vice Magazine.

Kimono dress-up in Kyoto

I think we should totally do this: http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g298564-r51306713-Kyoto_Kyoto_Prefecture_Kinki.html

You can rent a kimono for a day and stroll through the historical sites in Kyoto. Maybe dad will come and take pictures, or we could hire a photographer. 

This could be us. Photo from kimchibytes.com

The best sushi in Japan?

Something I want to do when I go to Japan is to eat some great sushi. Here is a place to try. Apparently it’s better than Jiro’s of Jiro Dreams of Sushi fame. If you haven’t seen that documentary, by the way, I recommend it.

It’s cherry blossom season in Japan

The word for today is sakura, cherry blossom.

First of all, I love this cherry blossom map. It reminds me of the fall foliage maps we have in New England.

And after the jump are some lovely pictures. Enjoy!