Week 6: Valentine's Day

I bet all of u have heard of valentines' day.
Where people(girls normally)  give cookies/ chocolates to ur beloved ones.
Well then have you heard of WHITE VALENTINES' Day or also known as WHITE DAY? (:

What is White Day? (You may ask)

Its on March 14th and its where guys (normally) or the receiver of the valentines' day present to make a reply.

IF the person returns a gift, it means that somehow, the person has accepted the other person's love.

&& the gift must be usually more expensive & some examples are white chocolate and marshmellows. (:

This was a trend that started in the 1980s in the Japanese and slowly the koreans are adapting this behaviour.

Not everyone knows this but you could do so to reciprocate the love (:

To all the lovebirds out there, good luck !

This could be the time to make your reply (:

Week 5 : Geisha

WHAT ARE GEISHAS?
Geishas are traditional, female Japanese entertainers who performs classical music and dance.

Credits

Geishas have to start being a geisha from young. They would learn art & musics. The path of a geisha can take them til they are 80 or 90 years old. Geisha is an occupation, which is commonly misjudged as prostitutes.

Steps of Becoming a GEISHA

1.Makeup

One of the distinctive features of a geisha is the thick white based makeup with small red lips.

This is one of the videos that u can see that takes a long time for geisha makeup

2. KIMONO
Most geishas wear kimono with uniquely tied obi. This is to give off the exotic look. Kimonos are really long and thick, so it is kind of hard to prevent perspiration which might smudge off the make up

3. Hair

While most of the modern geishas uses wig now, 

some of the traditional geishas still comb their hair into looks of a divided peach. 

Geisha do care alot about their hair. 

Some geishas have to sleep on their necks on a neck support instead of pillows, just to not ruin the hair.

Weekly, the geishas would touch up the hair whether if its fallen apart or if nothing happens to it

Geishas hair would always be adorned with extensive haircombs and hairpins.

Last but not least, dance gracefully & learn some musical instruments. !

The art of the hostess isnt easy, complying to so many needs of a man.

So i have much respect for geishas who give pride in their job.

Because not anyone or everyone can do it, its hard work !

Week 4: Beer

Ever tasted the famous ROYCE chocolate?

Yes u may have, BUT.

Have u taste ROYCE.... IN BEER?.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Credits from 

Be as amazed as I AM.

Being a fan of ROYCE, i have never expected to see chocolate with beer(Sapporo).

But seriously, the drink looks rather tempting right?

It looks like some good rootbeer float :3

The biggest turn off is that, it is bitter.

Food for thought (pun intended)

Imagine its like double the bitterness, bitter chocolate added to bitter beer.

(im just joking, i dont really know how it tastes like)

&& THE NEXT KIND OF BEER



Have you ever heard of the weird myth saying that if u drink beer and milk, you will get food poisoning or some sort?
Well I have!
The Japanese are really innovative people and they made this drink!.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Credits from japanprobe.com

Guess what? This drink was produced in 2007 and it is selling 330ml bottles at 380yens!

It is like close to 6 dollars and probably the price of a Heinekens in Singapore?

But what really puzzles me is the concoction of the BILK.

I m sure u can imagine or have seen how milk curdles when they are exposed to beer,

I wonder how will it really taste like.

Well it is said to have a fruity taste, but seriously?? :/

Why dont they have a strawberry BILK instead, :D

Week 3: Cosplay

What is Cosplay?
Cosplay  is shortform for "costume play". 
It is when one dresses up as a character from manga, anime or game.

You can do it alone.

In pairs.

In a Small team with a photographer (:

Or in a huge group of the same theme (:

Today I am gonna teach u...

5 Basic Steps To Be a Cosplayer

1. Pick Your Character!

From (http://www.crowdmanage.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/anime-crowdsourcing.jpg)

Long hair, shoulder length hair, short hair , bob hair, NO HAIR. Up to you. (: 

Preferably a character you like alot and dont mind turning into. 

If you dont have any idea, start watching animes or u can analyse other cosplayers and see if you would be inspired to do something similar.   

2. Time To Get Hairy!

(my own collection of wigs :D)

After deciding your character, you can purchase wigs.

Preferably http://www.taobao.com/ or http://www.ebay.com/ or singapore shops (they are exorbitant & lousy though)

Getting your desired colour & length is important!

Hopefully the seller styles the wig for you so you can save some trouble doing it yourself.

3.Get Your Anime Eyes!

( my own collection of coloured contacts)

You do know that its impossible to have huge pupils like the anime characters.

(Especially if u have small asian pupils like me haha.)

So you can buy 14.0-17.0mm coloured lense of different colours to suit your character (:

The more prefered brands are Geo & Eos Lenses.

4.Making Your Costume!

(my own stash of costumes)

If you are talented in sewing you can do the costume yourself ( more pocket friendly too!)

But if you are lazy &/ cant sew you can get a tailor & show him/her pictures & pick clothes to get going.

Caution: It wont be cheap, so dont expect like 30 dollars. 

A minimum charge is normally around $100.

  

A suggestion to people with tighter cashflow, you can buy 2nd hand costumes (if you dont mind) at sgcafe.

Because some cosplayers need to make new costumes and requires space/money to do so they might sell their current 1 at a lower price (: 

5. Go To Events & Show Off Your New Self

The most popular events are SOY (Jan), Cosfest (June-July),AFA (Sept-Oct) & EOY (Dec).

There could be some street festivals now and then that could include cosplaying.

But these 4 events are where you will see MOST of the cosplayers.

I personally like to go to Cosfest because its free entry for all (:

For the other 3 events, you may need to buy tickets to get inside the exhibition area.

Well, you can still go because not all cosplayers(including me) like to pose in the exhibition room because it has dark lighting & you get people at your background.

Something that really bothers me ):

Well, not all people are generally acceptable in the way we do things.
Some people call us Freaks, Retards & Clowns.

But, I will not stop cosplaying because of those silly remarks.

Why bother to get agitated by remarks by ignorant people right?

If you want to be..

• A different person for a day(in my opinion most cosplayers looks the best while cosplaying) 
• A model where people (with hugeass DSLR-s) frantically snaps picture of you 
• Asked to take pictures with random strangers
• Interacting with other people in costumes & even making friends.

I really urge you to try Cosplay! (:

(well haters will always hate, so who cares?)

&&....  the winner for the freebie was Aravind.

Congrats :D

Week 2: Otaku!

What is an Otaku?

Otaku is a Japanese term used to refer people with obsessive interests, particularly anime, manga, or video game. Not just that! 

It can also include...

Dolfies. (really pretty ball joint dolls)

Credits from Windy @ 

www.lovelessger.blogspot.com & www.lovelessger.deviantart.com 

& nendoroids.

Do you know those terms?? Haha .

I am quite an otaku myself, these are my collections that i could find at home.

Dvds!

A drawerful of it !

Mangas!(was very obsessed with fruit basket when i was young)

& Some white & black loki  book 

I am proud to be an otaku (: 

You are 75% Otaku!

Well you are considered a fellow Otaku. Welcome to the family! But You aren't a leader yet so you don't get to know the Otaku pledge. Oh well you tried. Put in a little more time and you will soon be considered a friendly rival to my Otakuness. Are you getting bored of anime around this point? Well here is how to spice it up. Meet new people. Cosplay at least once a week- make it like a holiday. Whach wierd off the wall anime that no one whaches except for the people who never go outside. Experince what it is like in their life in the basement.

Are you an Otaku?

Take More Quizzes

(you can try doing it too! :D)

There is a misconception that otakus are boring , no life people who spend 90% of their life in fantasy.

They also cut off any connection with any real human being & indulge in sketches done by manga artists.

.

.

.

.

You are wrong!

Otakus are people with great passion of japanese products!

&& the right term for that genre of people is Hikikomori.

They read manga & play videos to avoid people, so please dont mix up otaku with hikikomori. (:

And i have something to give away this week (:

Its just a small keychain with minato inside (yondaime from naruto)

Because this poor fellow has been rotting at my table corner, i think i should give it to a new owner.

So if u are interested, please leave a comment(with a name) on how otaku you are / how much you like it.

I will pick the best out of the lot ( if there is), or i may just have to keep it myself if no one wants it :/

P.S its a really small keychain only, not a full fledged nendoroid (: 

(comments will be closed by 11:59pm (Singapore Time) on  4th December 2010
 & winner will be announced on the next post (: )

Week 1 : Gachapon!

For the First week i shall introduce Gachapon!
Heres how the Gachapon machine looks like in Japan


& How Gachapon machines look like in Singapore's Vivo City

Well not much difference right?

What is Gachapon?

'Gacha' refers to the turning of the machine's knob

& 'pon' is the sound produced when it drops.

Gashapon & Gachapon can be used interchangeably because they are Japanese onomatopoeia

The origin is from Japan(duh) & is the brand Bandai's trademark.

Slowly many companies adopted this way of selling their products.

My recent experience with Gachapon

My friends & I were interested in some keychains & we started trying our luck to get our desired animal.
We couldnt get the Bear nor the Bunny so we kept putting in money & turning the knob.
Before we know it, we spent a total of 16 bucks.
(Yes, gachapons can be really addictive! )

The keychains we were aiming for.

Our loot :o

& after 8 tries or more, we still didnt get the bunny nor the bear ):

&& i spent 4 bucks on these 2 keychains :3

I feel that the companies are really smart because they can really earn alot from gachapon.

Imagine there are 7 figurines that exist in the machine & u only like 1.
You desperately want it (partly because you feel you are lucky)
So u keep feeding the machine money & turn until you get your desired toy.
Most of the time people spend more than once to get 'the one'
So before you know it, u might have spent 10 bucks or so :o

&& gachapons are no longer 1 dollar or 50cents anymore.

They range from 2-4 dollars.

So if you feel lucky, u can pop by your nearest 'ToysRUs' or Mamashop to get your capsules (:

About the blog

Hello welcome to the blog (:
If you are still wondering what this blog is about,
it is an introductory blog of japan-related products/terms.
(as for the dog , tbats a shiba inu, its a pedigree from japan by the way)




Some of them could even be found in Singapore ! :o
So, if you like japan, please do read !
But if you dont like japan, why not read as I may /may not change your mindset.



Every week, there will be something from Japan being introduced.
Ranging from food




To electronic gadgets




I cant really give myself a boundary because its quite impossible.
So,I hope that you will leave this page knowing something more about the Japan product or the Japanese. (: