Japan Makes Me Happy
[ 5 August 2007 ]
I am currently immersed in a raging case of Japanese FEVER! I am absolutely, unequivocally, totally obsessed with Japan & everything about it. I have never been there & I am DYING to visit (does anyone want to sponsor me?!). Delicious, fresh sushi, noisy purikura (プリクラ), love hotels (ラブホテル), Harajuku kids, beautiful temples, the delicate, staccato-like language, enormous intersections, neon colours, glossy black hair & a huge, sprawling metropolis… it sounds like heaven on earth. Not to mention a great photo backdrop, which, I am slightly embarrassed to admit, was at least half the reason why I went to Burning Man last year!
When I am fixated on something I can’t get — at least at that very moment — I turn to the internet (ahhh, bless) to feed my obsession. Here are some of my favourite ways to immerse myself in the culture from afar.
Kris Atomic (illustrator extraordinaire) went to Tokyo last year & her pictures were an absolute treat. (You should also read her livejournal, it is great!) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6.
Lisa S. went there just recently & reading through her adventures was fabulous! (It was also, incidentally, what triggered me to write this.)
Here is Tokyo Daily Photo, compiled by Macky.
Check out the crappy_lovley community for delightful & crazy pictures of the girls from Spank! in Koenji. Like these party pictures!
Here’s a BBC video concerning fashion in Japan (part one & two).
Watch Kelly Osborne’s (slightly spoilt but still entertaining) Japanese experience.
My friends in Tokyo run Tokyomade, sending out fabulous Japanese goodies to anyone fiending for a materialistic fix!
My other friend Julie is about to land in Japan & start teaching ESL there. I write about her a lot, but if you’re new here (hello!), you can read about her time there at Julie in Japan!
Gilda, long-time iCiNG reader, often writes about her time in Japan on her blog, holiday in the sun! Her whole blog is great, but if you want an instant Japanese hit, click here!
tae*‘s beautiful photographs of Japan.
Japanorama‘s segment on gyaru — bad girls! (You can see other episodes here.)
Super Gals!
The naughty side of Japan!
Tokyo Undressed, a photography blog by Rikki Kasso. I LOVE this.
I watched this, completely mesmerised — it’s a video of Japan’s “Adult Treasures” expo.
Misty Keasler has some fantastic photographs of love hotels throughout Japan.
‘Between a rock & a soft place’ is an article on love hotels from the Tokyo Journal.
This guy has a set of photos from his visit to the Hello Kitty room in a love hotel in Osaka.
(None of this stuff is safe for work or suitable for anyone under 18 though, so consider yourselves warned!)
Sometimes the internet just doesn’t cut it, & one feels compelled to turn to that antiquated tome of information — the book. For those of you who, like me, love to flick through glossy pages, snap these up!
Japanese Schoolgirl Inferno: Tokyo Teen Fashion Subculture Handbook by Izumi Evers, Patrick Macias & Kazumi Nonaka is a historical guide to Tokyo teenage fashion. If you’re dying to hear about why ganguro girls look the way they do, or how the gothic lolita look evolved, this is the book for you! There are pictures, interviews, tips & tricks. Definitely worth owning!
Love Hotels: The Hidden Fantasy Rooms of Japan by Natsuo Kirino, Rod Slemmons & the aforementioned Misty Keasler is a hop, skip & jump through some of Japan’s most incredible love hotels. (I personally like the carousel in one of the rooms.) Amazing book.
Pink Box: Inside Japan’s Sex Clubs by Joan Sinclair is a FASCINATING look at Japan’s sex clubs. Usually strictly off-limits to anyone but the Japanese, Joan managed to charm the owners of the clubs & was granted permission to over 80 such clubs within a year. Her portraits of the girls working, the clientele & the environment in which they work is incredible.
I also recommend reading anything by Haruki Murakami — my favourites are The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle & Kafka On The Shore.
Ah, wonderful Japan. Please fuel my fascination by telling me about great Japanese blogs, your favourite kind of sushi, the best things to do on a rainy day in Kyoto & the J-pop stars which make your heart go DOKI DOKI!
Love letters & feather headdresses,
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I went to Japan in early April of this year.
I as well am IN LOVE WITH IT.
Being there was one of the most amazing experience of my life to date. I cannot wait to go back!
i want to go too!!!!
you should check out my friend Naoto’s art…
very “Japanese” in a sexually repressed/deviant kinda way :P
http://www.wwwcomcom.com/
God, I hated living there, but would totally recommend to anybody a visit to Tokyo, Hiroshima and Kyoto. You need at least 10 days (3 weeks would let you see everything) and expect it to be a SUPER expensive holiday!
I really miss okonomiyaki (cabbage pancakes, SO much more delicious than it sounds), inarizushi, Melty Kiss, that thick ginger drink I once drank at a buddhist temple on new years eve (if anyone can tell me what it’s called I’ll be eternally grateful), nabemono, nomihoudai (!), takoyaki, Arashiyama in spring, onsen, onsen, onsen, onsen….. Man, I so want to go back to visit one day soon. I miss it heaps, but I never ever want to live there ever again!
I would also like to know if I could still make people laugh by pointing my index fingers at them and saying “Hey, nice get’s”. Does that make sense to any of you J-people??
Can I conceive all of my children in the Hello Kitty room? I find it utterly hilarious. Babies should be made in happiness.
I want to cuff myself to the ceiling and play that fantastic piano with my toes. Haaaaaa!
I would love to go to Japan, but, unfortunately, the closest I believe I will ever get is the Japanese Garden at the Huntington Center in Southern California (my favorite place in the world besides my bedroom! I make it a point to visit every month!)...Also, I own a pair of geta.
I love Gilda! Isn’t she the most adorable thing ever? She is super-sweet, and the only person I’ve ever seen to successfully pull off penguin pants.
And I love you too Gala. :]
Hugs all around!
Check out my set of Flickr photos from Kyoto & Tokyo, I went in April this year. OMGzer, good timing – the sakura were out and it was the most amazing thing ever. I also stayed in the best hotel ever, the Claska – which has a doggy day spa in the lobby of the hotel.
I know what you mean!!! I’ve been dying to go to Japan since I met my japanese friend Maori here in Mexico. I envy her photobooth stickers and all her electronics!!! And she dresses so beautifully!!!
I want to go to Japan toooooo u.u!!!
I just got back from Hiratsuka, man.
For another author – Banana Yoshimoto is one to look into.
Sashimi is amazing.
Everything, seriously. I’m still in culture shock.
my boyfriend is off there in october, he will need to take a suitcase for my shopping list alone.
Hmmm..I am a native Japanese, but hated to live there. ;-P But then again, I can totally understand why so many foreigners (read: non-Japanese) are attracted to that place; it’s really unique and different from the rest of the world, both in positive and negative sense. ;-)
As a native, I definitely prefer my current position; living away for most of the time, but go back once or twice a year, just to enjoy the best parts of it! That way, I can have the bests of the both world…
Oh, by the way, I just went back home in Japan in April, to bring my 2 kids to Tokyo Disney Land and Sea! It’s was FUN!! but…SOO EXHAUSTING at the same time…
I really need to make you that ele/picopop compilation… You know what I’ve been like lately, I’ve got a half-finished playlist I just need to fine tune and burn!
Empirically, I have found Australia to be absolutely mindlessly and unconditionally in love with Japan; the local “hipster” bookshop has every single Japanese author, ever, in their “Cult” section. Apart from Murakami, who, of course, takes up most of the fiction shelf (for easy access). Personally I find him a B-rate Graham Greene, but I’m legally allowed to say that, seeing as I’m a Japanese language and literature student… But I digress, yes, Australia on a whole is Japanoramaliciously zomg yay ftw innit ^.^v Put it this way, my boyfriend wasn’t just a member of the anime club at uni; he also designed their logo. Now, what I personally think of anime isn’t suitable for public forums. But I digress again. What was my original point anyway? Hmm, well, maybe this: don’t ever start learning the language or study the culture, it will have you in tears and tantrums most of the time. I still love it, though. すごいねえええ。
Ah, thank you so much for this post, I live in a constant state of Tokyo/Japan longing so I will be looking through all of the links! HOPEFULLY I will be able to visit again sometime next year…
I’m gonna stalk these websites for hours…I’m a Japanophile all the way!
The only Japan-related thing I have to share is a video from Style.com’s recent street-style series. Two of the four videos they’ve posted so far have been from Japan, and this most recent one’s my favorite. It’s short but it’s worth watching! :) (http://tinyurl.com/29bpe9)
i would love to visit japan! i wish we had purikura here in the uk. they look like so much fun!
Gilda confused me one day by talking about a Japanese egg. After questioning her about it, she posted this entry for me.
http://kansha-shite.blogspot.com/2007/07/how-to-cook-tamagoyaki.html
YUM! Go! Now! Learn how to make tamagoyaki!
Here is my first attempt. I’ve gotten much better at it, even though my pan isn’t shaped right.
http://i-quit-2007.livejournal.com/5161.html
Gilda, if you’re reading this, I still make this all the time! As a matter of fact, it’s my breakfast this morning.
Honey what are you waiting for??? This city is waiting for you with arms wide open to give you the most tingling, numbing, giddy ice cream head ache you ever experienced and then some!!
Annabel I am so sorry to hear that you didn’t love your time here! Were you in Tokyo? I have only lived in Tokyo so I am not sure about other parts of Japan, gorgeous to visit not sure about the livability.
Tick tick tick – it’s only a matter of time Miss Darling – putting it out into the universe you know you are gonna be here some time soon!! We’ll be waiting ;)
http://blue_moon.typepad.com/blue_lotus/2007/01/shabushabu.html
a really nice japanese food blog!
&
my favorite japanese recipe (which i make often):
http://www.therecipeworks.com/recipe/oyako-donburi/
Yeaaaaah!
Some sort of cosmic connection we have! The last couple of months, I’ve been pretty into the Japanese culture, and have been hanging out in Chinatown, shopping.
Your fabtastic article couldn’t come at a better time!
Plus, I think the one of the only girls to have made the “School Girl” look fashionable is the Japanese girls!
Thanks a million, dearest Gala!
Love hotels! lol!
first Hello Kitty, then Love Hotels??? i must go there.
I too sometimes get these un-reigned fits of obsession over some place or person or thing. The obsession is sometimes as fun and delicious at the actual place/person/thing!
I share the same fever for Japan :)...wish I could visit it soon….everything they have is so cute and full of color..thanks for this recopilation…I am thinking of taking japanese classes, it always have been in my mind..I should do it.
Something completely different . . . my cuz is teching English in Japan, and has a Picasa site full of photos of landscapes and fish in ponds – he’s a bit of a nature-lover.
http://picasaweb.google.com/robertbale
oh my goodness!!! i just posted a huge and major-long post about tokyo last night, then i come here and i see this!! thanks gala!! i wrote that guide to tokyo we were talking about. i knew it would take me many hours so i kept putting it off, but i finally wrote it when this girl asked me for some tips on where to go. it’s a rather simple guide for a 5 day tokyo trip, filled with all my favorite spots. i’ll add to it as i think of more places! :)
http://kansha-shite.blogspot.com/2007/08/gildas-guide-to-tokyo.html
l3antha>> oops!! i promise those penguin pants photos will be coming your way as soon as i get some extra time!! sorry!!
tee tee>> haha!!! i’m sooo glad!!! i was just thinking a few days ago, about you going out to buy mirin just to make those eggs, and actually took pictures to put up another japanese recipe that will use some of that mirin! (just so happened i wanted to make it for dinner) i’ll put them up once i’ve edited those pics.
annabel>> “gets!!” is a japanese gag made famous by this comedian several years back. i think it was his only famous gag and he’s faded out since then. you say it full of gusto, form your hands into “guns” and point your indexes at the person you’re saying it with. the japanese love it when foreigners know their gags and hence you’ll be able to make just about anyone laugh with it. the “in” gags now are “don-da-ke” and “oubei ka!” which i’ll explain on my blog if you’re interested :)
ohh and I love jpop..my favorite song is pinocchio from ore ska band, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18IAKL-88b0 , what’s better than a japanese girls ska band?! and I can’t have enough of that song I have learned it all, and some times I sing it all eventhough I don’t speak japanese!hehe Home Made Kazoku is really cool too, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_eWDilLwRI
I’m a big Japan fan as well. I lived their for three years as a kid and have always wanted to return. It is an enchanting culture and the more I discover, the more I want to go back.
Please don’t hold this against me but I have become a raging fan for Hello Project and its many all-girl singiong groups: Morning Musume, Berryz Kobo, C-ute and others.
I would love to visit Japan and see a Hello Project concert!
I miss inarizushi, milk tea, (homemade) mochi, and vending machines with everything imaginable in them.
I grew up with Japanese because I attended a Japanese immersion school, and in 5th grade our class took a trip to Japan. Mmm, it was wonderful. Our host families were wonderfully nice.
I doubt I could live there forever (especially in the cities) but I did so enjoy the time there, and having grown up with it, Japanese food/movies/language will probably always be nostalgic for me. I’d love to visit again.
I went there in October last year. It was awesome. I’d seriously consider living there for a while.
amber — I’ve seen that stuff before! I like it :>
Annabel — What did you hate about it? I know that you had some difficult relationship stuff while you were there, which, believe me, was awful to read about. I assume it was awful to live through too!
Batopus — Hahahaaha, awesome! Yes, do it!
l3antha — I visited the Japanese gardens in San Francisco when I was there last year, it was absolutely beautiful. I’m so glad I went! & yay Gilda! I adore her too! & you! xx!
amber catch — Doggy day spa! Hell yes! One day, I will be one of those crazy obnoxious people who pampers their dog like that. It will be great. Your pictures are beautiful. Cherry blossom! Be still, my beating heart!
emilyyy — I’ve heard a lot about Banana Yoshimoto but still haven’t read any of it. I should probably investigate!
sleepy — I really think that ‘Lost In Translation’ did a lot of positive things for Japan’s image. At least, it did for me. I only knew it as a crazy place where I would be instantly lost, but that movie presented Tokyo as a really beautiful city, which is something I had never known. It must be great to go back occasionally & soak it up before retreating to your normal life again!
nana — Yes, please! Whenever you’re ready :> I haven’t noticed the Australian obsession but then, I am pretty much in my own world most of the time!
Annette — I didn’t even know you’d been! Do you have photos from the first time?!
sophie~ — They don’t have sticker photobooths at ALL in the UK? Are you sure?! That is crazy! They are all over NZ & Australia… but then, we are close to asia & have a lot of Japanese people living here!
tee tee — I saw that recipe! It looks strangely enticing… Your effort was awesome, so impressed!
Tokyomade — AAAHHHH I love you guys!!
Jeannine — Oh I know what you mean. I used to call myself “the queen of fleeting infatuation”, ahaha!
vanessa — Yes, you should!
gilda — Your post was AMAZING, I will probably link it in my next Carousel. Thank you for writing it!
gala>> well if you EVER go to tokyo one day i hope it comes in handy!! :) and hopefully i’d be there too and we can go mad shopping. hee hee
radicalpatriot>> i went to a morning musume concert before cos my friend had extra tickets. it was fun but the guys were really scary!:) but hey. i’m a raging smap fan ;)
sleepy>> i know what you mean. there are many things in the japanese culture that i really dislike, although i love the place so much. as a foreigner, we get “forgiven” for not following certain rules and procedures, but i can understand how many of my japanese friends leave japan, discover how much easier life is abroad, and never want to go back.
ahhhh! Japan is driving me crazy at the moment, I went there this time last year so Ive been really down thinking about it.. like today Im like “this time last year i was at tokyo disneyland..and today im sick in bed with the flu!!”
Ive been Indulging myself by looking at photos of japan and Reading people’s Blogs about living in japan. This just adds fuel to my japan crazed fire. I started planning my next trip last month for September 2008! SO thank you! I Loved everything about japan especially the people and the atmosphere..Ive been obsessed with Japan since I was 2 and saw The Karate Kid for the first time so going there was a dream come true!
great links!!! in your search for all things japanese and amazing, you must check out:
“tales of ghostly japan” by lafcadio hearn. he was american, actually from new orleans, but lived in japan for years long ago. he wrote these stories and based them on traditional folktales. they are creepy!
akira kurosawa’s “dreams” – an amazing movie of dreams that he had from childhood through adulthood. the fox’s wedding is fantastic!
and then, of course, peter greenaways’ “the pillow book” supremely sexy, supremely heartbreaking…lots of good japan eye-porn…:)
I love all the Japanese children’s songs and folk stories my mom used to sing and tell me when I was little…. I wish I remembered more of them. It’s nearly impossible to look up something when you only have a vague impression of what it might have sort of meant in English. =P
Last time I was in Japan, we spent several weeks at my grandparents’ cabin by a lake near Nagano. It was incredibly gorgeous, and I still miss so many of the snacks and sweets we used to pick up at the local store for our 100yen coins. Much much better than most American snacks, I think. Unfortunately an imported ramune soda costs more here than a Bacardi Silver (which tastes a bit like it, in my opinion).
I think I’ve devoted entire blogs to Japanese foods. Now I’m getting hungry!
gilda — I hope so! Eeeee!
Patience — Thank you, I’ll check those out!
Yay Gala! You’re awesome!! I’m here in Tokyo right now and it is so hot, you cannot imagine. I am wearing all black because it’s so hot and humid and sticky that anything else would look all wet in five minutes. ha.
I can help feed your Japan-fever if you want. Let me know what you want me to take a picture of and I’ll try to find it for you!
Or just come and visit. You’re not too far away, really.
xox
Julie
speaking of kurosawa, film fanatics should all probably check him out. he’s like the grand master and the person that people like beat takeshi look up to. in fact, many of hollywood’s best, people like george lucas, are his admirers.
julie>> i’m dying of jealousy. i wish i could go there right now and i know all about how sticky it can be haha! 5 of my friends just went over and i almost cried getting left behind!
Read something by Ryu Murakami :D I recommend Coin Locker Babies! You’d really like it I think!
Just get on a plane & COME ON OVER! It’s easy, it’s fun & ya never know when this place is going to fall into the ocean. Then it will be too late…;)
Hello Miss Gala Darling, I just spotted this post! Thank you for the shout out ;)
I’m obsessed with japan, I can’t wait to go back.
just got back from korea this month. not tokyo but all fun and games just the same. slide show on my myspace. check it.
ps:love your page
http://www.myspace.com/stephanielorino
hey gala,
yeah i went to japan in the dec-jan holidays early this year to visit relatives! it was so amazing! (considering i am partly japanese to discover and understand some of my heritage!!) the shoppinng is amazing, (although japan is a expensive place you still can find bargains and great vintage things in Shibuya and Harajuku!) oh and every sunday at Harajuku near the station, it is dress up in cartoon characters and really anything like lolita and ganguru. I’ll post some pictures too! :)
i didnt stay too long… only 3 weeks.
cant wait to go again!
xoxxx
Ohmigawd, I love Japan, too. :D
I’m taking Japanese this year and my friends and I are total Otakus (Japan & Anime/Manga freaks). Manga is a lot more entertaining than American comics, just because it looks so pretty and the outfits characters wear can be pretty wild.
Shirota Yuu is the best looking J Pop star (and actor) I’ve seen. He’s half Spanish and half Japanese… so cute!
I love your site. It’s so inspiring!
Keep it up! :3
I have a blog all about sexiness in Japan. I hope you will find it interesting!!