I've been attending Japanese classes for about two years now. I started level 1 at the beginning of grade 10, and am now finishing up level 2. I go to class every Saturday morning, from 9:30-12ish. (It tends to be more like 11:50 when the old Japanese guy walks through the halls to ring the final bell...XD.) The classes are in a public school that has Chinese classes in it at some other time, too. The school is about a ten minute walk from Chinatown on one side, and one of the city's main malls on the other side, so it's entirely convenient when I have plans downtown for the afternoon. I've learned a lot in my classes there, and I'm really happy with the place. This morning I registered for my third year there.
I tend to not be in the mood for class when I'm having to wake up early to go, but once I get there, I'm happy to be there. That's pretty much how today was. I was feeling way too lazy to study. When I got to class, I started to feel really tired (I've been very sleep-deprived this whole week), and very hungry, for some reason (you'd think the waffles I had for breakfast would've filled me up o.o). Thus, I barely used my brain or did anything during the first half of class. When my sensei came over to see how our work was going and asked how I was doing with it, I pointed at the verb on my page that seemed most appropriate for the moment: 疲れました。"I got tired," basically. Sensei understood that I had no idea about anything at that moment, and moved on to the other girls at my table. XD During recess, I went with a friend I've known since grade 5 who's in level 1 and one of his classmates to the Tim Hortons in a hospital right by the school (which is actually where my great aunt died...but apparently anyone can just walk into this cancer hospital to get Tims) and got a croissant and some coffee (a Triple Triple...really yummy, but not great for the diet). The coffee woke me right up, so I was alert and happier during the second half of class, and I was no longer starving. Our sensei gave us a test, and I did really well on it, despite having missed a lot of class lately. It was pretty easy. There were only a few things on it that I didn't know.
It's funny that I missed last week's class for Anime North. The school actually had a table set up in the Artists' Alley area at AN, though. Ryan, said friend in level 1, sat there with one of the adults from the school for awhile, signing people up for classes. The week before was the Victoria Day holiday weekend, so there was no class; the week before that, I went to school, but there was a speech contest (which I have never been in), thus no class; and the week before that, I didn't go to class because I was sick. I missed a couple of tests/exams - one on particles, the other on kanji - so my sensei gave me them to finish at home. SCORE! XD Classes are going to end for the summer soon. I didn't do any of my Japanese homework at all this year, because my sensei never collected any of it, but I kept all of the sheets, so over the summer I'm going to sit down with my friend Sharin (who has been studying Japanese for longer than I have) and do it all. I really need to start studying more. It'll be easier in the summer when I don't have school to deal with, too. We're going to have a party and watch some movie during our last class. At our Christmas party, sensei showed us the movie Linda Linda Linda, which I really enjoyed. I can't wait to see what we watch this time. And while part of me will miss classes during the summer, I will really enjoy not having to wake up early every Saturday morning for a couple of months. But I must study! FIGHTING!
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
アニメノース - Anime North
The idea for this blog actually came to me while I was walking around the Dealers' Room at Anime North this past Sunday. For those of you who don't know of it, Anime North is Canada's biggest anime convention, and it takes place in my city every year in May, from Friday to Sunday (although they now do some small gaming things and a party here and there on the Thursday night, as well). I live a 10-15 minute drive from the place where the con is held, so I'm pretty lucky. I have plenty of friends who come from significantly farther away to attend this con, and stay in hotels near the con for the weekend. (It's actually good to get a hotel room if you live here, too, so you don't have to go home and then get yourself all the way back to the con again the next day. I've never stayed, though.) While I'm not a huge anime fan - if I'm selective in my Jrock tastes, I'm fifty times more selective in my anime tastes - the experience of the entire weekend is way too much fun for me to miss. Practically everyone I know goes to AN, and it's like one big party. This was my third year going.
Anime conventions in North America are an interesting thing to behold. This is where I see the most people who are in a similar situation (fandom-wise, at least) to my own in the highest concentration: there are people of all different races there, and they all like Asian pop culture to at least some extent. That said, I wouldn't necessarily say I relate to a lot of the people there. For one thing, most of them love anime, while I'm not a huge anime fangirl. I have my favourites, but I haven't seen many of the childhood basics, let alone today's most popular shows. Some people will create these elaborate cosplays of anime characters, while I just make (fairly) simple ones that are never based on anime characters (the first year I did a Battle Royale student; last year I did Kusumi Koharu's outfit from the "Koi Kana" PV; this year I did Hirajima Natsumi of AKB48's dress from their "BINGO!" PV). And to be quite honest, a lot of the people at this con are n00bs. I understand that we were all n00bs at one point, but some people just don't seem to grow out of it. They like to act like they know everything about things they just don't know that much about, and fangirl like crazy over shows they've barely watched just because one of the characters is hot, and things like that. I'm a bit of an anime n00b, but in that I just don't know much about a lot of anime. In that I can admit that, I am not that kind of n00b. At this point I'm probably sounding judgmental, but I'm just trying to provide my honest outlook.
In any case, an anime convention can be both a really cool and absolutely ridiculous thing to witness. I mean, you'll see everything from people with really amazing cosplays to cute lolitas to Caucasian ganguro girls. No joke. I saw that this weekend. And I hate ganguro, for the record. But it's always interesting to see who an event like this will draw in and what they'll be wearing, buying, and doing. It's one of the biggest weekends of the year for a lot of people like me in this entire province, really.
Momoi Halko, the singer/seiyuu who I know for the song "Mail Me", which was used in the movie Suicide Circle, and for producing Perfume's special single "Akihabalove", was the con's big guest this year. I didn't wind up going to her concert, or either of the Q&A's or autograph sessions. I tried to go to her second autograph session, but I got there too late, so the line had already been cut off. I'd planned out what I was going to say to her in Japanese, and everything. 「私は自殺サークルとパフュームのファンですから、Mail MeとAkihabaloveが好きです。」 "Because I'm a fan of Suicide Circle and Perfume, I like Mail Me and Akihabalove." My Japanese still feels pretty beginner, but I know she would've at least understood that, and appreciated my efforts. But alas, I didn't get the chance. Ahh well. Last year, ZZ were the big guest. They're a five member band on Avex who play AWESOME music (go look up their songs - try "Samurai Blue", "Samurai Crew", "A-Z", and "Yorokobi no Uta", to start with, since they all have PVs), but they haven't released anything since before they even played at AN, and their official site hasn't been updated since before then, either. There's been no news on them, and it's killing me, because I've fallen so in love with their music since I saw them play at AN. I still remember the sentence I spoke to their vocalist, Sotaro. 「ZZのコンサートが大好きでした。」 "I loved ZZ's concert." I miss them a lot, and I hope they don't just disappear off the face of the planet.
I had a good time at AN this year, as always. It's kind of crazy to stand there, in the middle of the Dealers' Room, seeing all of the people looking at and buying things, and realizing that all of these things they're consuming were never meant for consumption in this country, and yet can draw in this large of an audience. It's really quite fascinating. But if I try to get into that topic, that'll be a whole new blog entry. It's just an observation I made.
Also, after this year's AN, I can now say that I have watched porn in a room full of people. Ahh, life.
Anime conventions in North America are an interesting thing to behold. This is where I see the most people who are in a similar situation (fandom-wise, at least) to my own in the highest concentration: there are people of all different races there, and they all like Asian pop culture to at least some extent. That said, I wouldn't necessarily say I relate to a lot of the people there. For one thing, most of them love anime, while I'm not a huge anime fangirl. I have my favourites, but I haven't seen many of the childhood basics, let alone today's most popular shows. Some people will create these elaborate cosplays of anime characters, while I just make (fairly) simple ones that are never based on anime characters (the first year I did a Battle Royale student; last year I did Kusumi Koharu's outfit from the "Koi Kana" PV; this year I did Hirajima Natsumi of AKB48's dress from their "BINGO!" PV). And to be quite honest, a lot of the people at this con are n00bs. I understand that we were all n00bs at one point, but some people just don't seem to grow out of it. They like to act like they know everything about things they just don't know that much about, and fangirl like crazy over shows they've barely watched just because one of the characters is hot, and things like that. I'm a bit of an anime n00b, but in that I just don't know much about a lot of anime. In that I can admit that, I am not that kind of n00b. At this point I'm probably sounding judgmental, but I'm just trying to provide my honest outlook.
In any case, an anime convention can be both a really cool and absolutely ridiculous thing to witness. I mean, you'll see everything from people with really amazing cosplays to cute lolitas to Caucasian ganguro girls. No joke. I saw that this weekend. And I hate ganguro, for the record. But it's always interesting to see who an event like this will draw in and what they'll be wearing, buying, and doing. It's one of the biggest weekends of the year for a lot of people like me in this entire province, really.
Momoi Halko, the singer/seiyuu who I know for the song "Mail Me", which was used in the movie Suicide Circle, and for producing Perfume's special single "Akihabalove", was the con's big guest this year. I didn't wind up going to her concert, or either of the Q&A's or autograph sessions. I tried to go to her second autograph session, but I got there too late, so the line had already been cut off. I'd planned out what I was going to say to her in Japanese, and everything. 「私は自殺サークルとパフュームのファンですから、Mail MeとAkihabaloveが好きです。」 "Because I'm a fan of Suicide Circle and Perfume, I like Mail Me and Akihabalove." My Japanese still feels pretty beginner, but I know she would've at least understood that, and appreciated my efforts. But alas, I didn't get the chance. Ahh well. Last year, ZZ were the big guest. They're a five member band on Avex who play AWESOME music (go look up their songs - try "Samurai Blue", "Samurai Crew", "A-Z", and "Yorokobi no Uta", to start with, since they all have PVs), but they haven't released anything since before they even played at AN, and their official site hasn't been updated since before then, either. There's been no news on them, and it's killing me, because I've fallen so in love with their music since I saw them play at AN. I still remember the sentence I spoke to their vocalist, Sotaro. 「ZZのコンサートが大好きでした。」 "I loved ZZ's concert." I miss them a lot, and I hope they don't just disappear off the face of the planet.
I had a good time at AN this year, as always. It's kind of crazy to stand there, in the middle of the Dealers' Room, seeing all of the people looking at and buying things, and realizing that all of these things they're consuming were never meant for consumption in this country, and yet can draw in this large of an audience. It's really quite fascinating. But if I try to get into that topic, that'll be a whole new blog entry. It's just an observation I made.
Also, after this year's AN, I can now say that I have watched porn in a room full of people. Ahh, life.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Gaijin Revolution
I'm obviously insane. It is going to be crazy for me to try and keep up with yet another blog on top of the ones I'm already running, but I intend to give it a shot, anyway. So welcome to Gaijin Revolution, my newest blog creation! This blog is about my experiences as a Caucasian, Canadian fan of Asian pop culture, and how my interest in Asian music, books, television, and cinema, and other things like clothes, food, and cultural customs affects my daily life and my interactions with others. The main reason why this blog will probably be interesting is the way others (both Asians and people of other races) perceive and often judge me based on this interest, and how they interact with and treat me because of their opinions. But beyond that, I will also blog about ways that my life is affected by this interest of mine, and activities that I participate in because of this interest.
I tend to be judged very negatively (and very unfairly) because of how much I enjoy Asian entertainment. I find this negativity particularly baffling when it's coming from Asians, because they would never want me to be racist against them or insult their culture, and yet they have a problem with my enjoyment and appreciation of their culture and its entertainment. Why is it such a bad thing that I like this stuff? Would they prefer I be racist? Meanwhile, others who are not Asian also seem to often think there's something wrong with my liking this stuff. In both cases, I don't understand what they think is so wrong about it. Then there are my aspirations to become an idol singer in Japan, which many people do not believe that I can do, mostly because I'm white. To top it all off, I tend to be attracted to Asian guys the most, but with the way things are for me, getting an Asian guy to show an interest in me might as well be Mission: Impossible. (Then again, who's to say that they don't question the likelihood of a white girl having an interest in them? This makes it all that much more complicated.)
"Asian wannabe" is a term I've come to hate. The most important thing I want people to know about me is that I am completely happy with who I am, and I have no desire to be anybody else. I am happy with being a white girl who likes Asian culture, and I do not wish that I was Asian. The one thing I do wish is that I will be able to figure out why people have such a problem with my interests, and to make them understand where I'm coming from. It's not that I care so much about what people think of me (though I do care too much), but that I want to understand what leads to these unfair judgments and conclusions others make, and I want them to stop being so unfair.
In addition to all of this, I will blog about what it's like to have my interests while living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and what I do and where I go because of these interests. Asia's influence first made its way to my eyes and ears, but has since found my closet, my stomach, and the brain space that was once occupied by French. I go to parts of the city (and beyond) that I never or rarely went to before, I sacrifice sleeping in on Saturday mornings to go to Japanese school, and I sing Japanese music for exams in vocal class. Many different aspects of my life would not be the same were it not for my interest in Asian culture. I think it may be interesting to take a look at how my daily life is affected by my interests, and even how things might be different were I not into all of this stuff. And reading about other people's lives is always interesting, anyway, right? So there you go.
I hope that this blog manages to be found by some of the people who make those unfair judgments about me and others who share my experiences, and helps them to understand things more clearly. It'll be great if others who can relate to my experiences read this, too. And for everybody else, hopefully this will be good reading. So, welcome to my new blog, and enjoy reading! I can't wait to get this blog going. =)
I tend to be judged very negatively (and very unfairly) because of how much I enjoy Asian entertainment. I find this negativity particularly baffling when it's coming from Asians, because they would never want me to be racist against them or insult their culture, and yet they have a problem with my enjoyment and appreciation of their culture and its entertainment. Why is it such a bad thing that I like this stuff? Would they prefer I be racist? Meanwhile, others who are not Asian also seem to often think there's something wrong with my liking this stuff. In both cases, I don't understand what they think is so wrong about it. Then there are my aspirations to become an idol singer in Japan, which many people do not believe that I can do, mostly because I'm white. To top it all off, I tend to be attracted to Asian guys the most, but with the way things are for me, getting an Asian guy to show an interest in me might as well be Mission: Impossible. (Then again, who's to say that they don't question the likelihood of a white girl having an interest in them? This makes it all that much more complicated.)
"Asian wannabe" is a term I've come to hate. The most important thing I want people to know about me is that I am completely happy with who I am, and I have no desire to be anybody else. I am happy with being a white girl who likes Asian culture, and I do not wish that I was Asian. The one thing I do wish is that I will be able to figure out why people have such a problem with my interests, and to make them understand where I'm coming from. It's not that I care so much about what people think of me (though I do care too much), but that I want to understand what leads to these unfair judgments and conclusions others make, and I want them to stop being so unfair.
In addition to all of this, I will blog about what it's like to have my interests while living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and what I do and where I go because of these interests. Asia's influence first made its way to my eyes and ears, but has since found my closet, my stomach, and the brain space that was once occupied by French. I go to parts of the city (and beyond) that I never or rarely went to before, I sacrifice sleeping in on Saturday mornings to go to Japanese school, and I sing Japanese music for exams in vocal class. Many different aspects of my life would not be the same were it not for my interest in Asian culture. I think it may be interesting to take a look at how my daily life is affected by my interests, and even how things might be different were I not into all of this stuff. And reading about other people's lives is always interesting, anyway, right? So there you go.
I hope that this blog manages to be found by some of the people who make those unfair judgments about me and others who share my experiences, and helps them to understand things more clearly. It'll be great if others who can relate to my experiences read this, too. And for everybody else, hopefully this will be good reading. So, welcome to my new blog, and enjoy reading! I can't wait to get this blog going. =)
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
