16.Sep.2009 Movie Mini-Review: Dolls
Dolls Japanese, 2002 “Westerners loathe the notion of death. There is no reason. Life is considered to be something meaningful. There is no religion which justifies the notion of death. In Japan, there’s no philosophy. So death seems something sublime, once it’s decorated with an ornament like love. You’ll find something creeping towards you and [...]
12.Sep.2009 Kabuki: The Metamorphosis by David Mack
I first heard of Kabuki from Carl’s blog and picked it up from the library not long ago (a review that makes me run to the library to get a copy is sure one hell of a great review). Somehow my library had only Kabuki: The Metamorphosis, which after halfway reading I found out was [...]
09.Sep.2009 Movie Mini-Reviews: Jin-Roh, An Autumn Afternoon, Cheri
A few movies that I watched recently: Foreign Movies Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade Japanese, Released: 1999 Japan, 2000 US A world in future dystopian Japan where Little Red Riding Hood is a bomb-carrier terrorist and Wolf is elite government army. Red and Wolf are involved in political mess that bring them closer as two wounded [...]
31.Aug.2009 Snakes and Earrings by Hitomi Kanehara
Snakes and Earrings is a novella by young contemporary Japanese author which won the Akutagawa prize (a prestigious literary award in Japan). The front of the book states it as a cult-classic in Japan. I can understand why. The book is bold in carrying the darker issues of Japanese youths: body modification (split tongue, gigantic [...]
13.Aug.2009 Squeamish about Sushi by Betty Reynolds
Squeamish About Sushi: And other Food Adventures in Japan is an illustrated “guide book” to eating in Japan. Delightfully drawn and colored in water color pencil, it shows various situations that you may find in Japan, from eating in a restaurant, Japanese style inn (ryokan), to Sumo stadium. From cherry-blossom (sakura) viewing, street food at [...]
08.Aug.2009 Japanese Literature Challenge 3
30 July 2009 – 30 January 2010 Bellezza is hosting the third Japanese Literature Challenge! How exciting! Yes of course, I’m joining! Japanese literature always has a special place in my heart, as I grew up with all things Japanese throughout my childhood and teenagehood years (from manga to anime to merchandise), though only in [...]
01.Apr.2009 Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata
“It was, with no attempt at covering itself, the naked heart of a woman calling out to her man.” ~p34 Snow Country is a literal translation of the Japanese title Yukiguni (雪国, read ゆきぐに). The name comes from where the story takes place, rural Japan that receives a huge amount of snow in the winter. Snow [...]
10.Mar.2009 Mailbox Monday and JLPT
Mailbox Monday! It’s Tuesday here in Australia, but I believe it’s still Monday on the other part of the world *wink*. Yesterday I got a small package from Japan. Inside is Hear the Wind Sing by Haruki Murakami from Tanabata as I won giveaways that she held for her 3rd blog anniversary. Thank you Tanabata-san! [...]
30.Jan.2009 Japanese Literature Challenge 2 Wrap-Up
In July I joined the 2nd Japanese Literature challenge. The challenge is to read 3 Japanese lit from 30 July 2008 to 30 January 2009. Thought it would be easy peasy, since I loved Japanese lits. But nooo, it wasn’t as easy as I thought. First, I wasn’t very happy with the 2 novels that [...]
25.Jan.2009 Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
It took me a damn long time to read this book. I started it some time in November last year, and I finished it 10 other books later. And I’m not sure if I even liked the book. It wasn’t painful to go through, but it was all kinda meaningless. I didn’t quite connect with [...]
