This month’s theme (albeit tremendously tardy) is dedicated to Suga Shikao… Hence the title of this blog, which I mean to transfer as “The August of Suga Shikao,”….. whether or not it actually means that… well… I’ll leave that up to any pretentious, Japanese-language expert passer-byers… Ha!

The song currently playing, “Hachigatsu no Serenade,” is one of those songs that I never get sick of hearing. Do you have songs like that? There are some songs that I am obsessed with right from start, and I listen to it so frequently that I burn out and rarely ever listen to the song ever again. But there are other songs, like this one, where I can listen to it over and over, and I genuinely never get tired of it because I just love it that much.

Suga Shikao… I really like this guy. His singing voice is really raspy and sultry sounding to me, and it comes across naturally, like he’s not trying to sound like that. He just does! And I watched an interview he did with this guy dressed like a dog (don’t ask me why, and the interviewer was dressed like a dog, not Suga), and they were making okonomiyaki together… Suga was being so funny and laid back and down to earth! I really liked that. He’s the only 42-year-old man I think I’ve ever had a little crush on!

Another reason I like Suga is his story. Apparently, he went to college, then got a job working as a salary man in the advertising industry, and then, four years later, he quit his job and pursued music. Now he’s been a successful artist for several years. When I read this, it really inspired me. Even though I know this isn’t true, sometimes I feel like I missed my chance to do something I really love. Something creative that really suits my personality. I don’t regret going to college and into corporate America by any means, but my heart just isn’t in this. Anyway, hearing Suga’s story let me know that, hey, even though I’m currently stuck in corporate America, it’s still not too late to do something more… Something I may only dream about. I can still make it a reality!

In honor of Suga, I went ahead and created an imeem group for him. Check it out! Visit Juu-Kyuu-Sai on Imeem!

Anyway, I’m done waxing poetic. Haha! This month’s playlist is comprised of songs from Suga’s “All Singles Best” album. The album, which is among those I bought while in Japan, contains two CD’s of all his chart-topping singles (obviously). I love it! It was a great buy, even if I did have almost all of the singles on the first disc already. The slide show contains pictures I took while wandering around my hometown this month. Omni no Hachigatsu if you will. Hahahaha!

So to close, and going back to my introduction, what are some of the songs you never get tired of hearing? I’m curious to know. Below is a list of j-pop/j-rock songs that fall into that special category for me.

Enjoy! Happy August!

J-Pop/J-Rock Songs that Omni Never Tires of Hearing

• Hachigatsu no Serenade by Suga Shikao
• Waltz by Suneohair
• Yuugure no Aka by Asian Kung-Fu Generation
• Siren No. 2 by Asian Kung-Fu Generation
• Blue Train by Asian Kung-Fu Generation
• Shiki no Uta by MINMI
• Last Dinosaur by The Pillows
• One Night Magic by Utada Hikaru
• Sari Sai by Shonan Tanteidan
• Four Seasons by Namie Amuro

So...... Lets consider this entry an extension of my previous blog from July 2007 titled “omni ♥ m-flo.”

You are listening to tracks from Japanese hip-hop group m-flo's 2004 album, "Astromantic." This is another one of the eight CDs I bought while vacationing abroad. *sigh*… I do love m-flo. I like them because there’s more to this group than meets the ear…......................Bahaha! That was SO lame, I know, I know…

Some of the songs on this CD just blow my mind man. A song starts, and you think it’s going to be a certain way… Ho HO! But then!! Maybe a minute in, the song completely changes!? And then my face looks like this: O_O….. And then after that, more than likely, I start dancing. For example, take the song "Way You Move". It starts out sounding like some old Isley Brothers tune, then around 1:04, it starts sounding like an Isaac Hayes song, and then around the 2:00 mark, it explodes into something Daft Punk-ish and completely out of left field! I LOVE it! These m-flo kids are insane! And I love the chorus to the song:

Asteroid lover you’re on my mind.
A million years and still hard to find.
Intergalactically sexy,
Way you move gets me,
Now’s the time let’s be one.

...... If I didn’t say anything else, the phrase "intergalactically sexy" alone totally justifies my adoration for them.

Naturally though, with the good comes the bad—aka, a classic case of genius bordering insanity. For every two high-energy, creative, great songs m-flo delivers on this album, there’s one that’s just wicked annoying and I can’t stand it. There’s one song on the album that’s like the audio embodiment of Attention Deficit Disorder. Seriously.

I’ve added a few of my favorite songs from this album to the playlist below. The CD starts with “3rd Impact” and melts effortlessly into “Miss U” as the second track. Probably the best way to kick off a high-energy CD… EVER. Also pay special attention to the track titled “Astrosexy.” The group featured in this song, Chemistry, have really nice voices! I looked them up on Nippop and they’re cute too! (always a plus in omni's book!!!)

Lastly, I also love m-flo because Verbal is totally a Christian!! He even has one of my favorite scriptures listed in the album cover!! YEAH Verbal!!! *high fives him for being into Jesus too* Haha!

Enjoy!!

I have the most extreme case of jet-lag. I really feel as if I’m walking around in a daze all the time, and I’m always sleepy… ugh… I probably shouldn’t be driving…

Japan was… Hmm… It’s hard to put something so incredible and beautiful, yet weird and unique into words… Funny, I just did. Ha! It really is a country to be experienced first hand. Every single day I saw something absolutely amazing. Every day…

We traveled from Tokyo (visiting Ueno, Ginza and Akihabara) to Hakone, Kyoto (visiting Nara, Gion, Sagano and Osaka), Miyajima (visiting Hiroshima) and then back to Tokyo again (visiting Shibuya, Shinjuku, Harajuku and Odaiba).

People keep asking me, “So what was your favorite part?” Then I get all frustrated because it’s hard for me to pick a favorite part!! There were so many things I loved. From the vast variety of delicious, high quality foods and sweets (oh my gosh, the sweets), awesome entertainment and speedy, convenient transportation, to the AWESOME shopping districts, beautiful shrines and temples, and the sheer volume of people that occupied each city. The energy in Japan is so great and like nothing I’ve ever experienced. Ahhhh… *wants to go back right now*

I do have a few favorite moments I can pin point though. The school kids were great with their excitement about encountering me and my friend. I found their abrupt shouts of “HELLO!!!” to be so cute! As if they were so geeked to greet an English-speaking person in English. Hahaha! We also spent an entire day in Ryogoku for the sumo tournament. That was awesome as well. I never would have thought I’d like sumo so much. We also went to Kabuki-za in Ginza. The acting skill and costumes in Kabuki was phenomenal! It was such a rich cultural experience, I loved it. I'm going to become a total kabuki buff. I have a kabuki face sticker on the back of my cell phone now and everything.

Another favorite moment is when we saw Mt. Fuji. It was just priceless the way it happened, and seeing Fuji-san with my own eyes was incredible. SO MASSIVE!

Lastly, I had a chance to go to a concert for my favorite j-rock band. Oh my gosh… when the band started playing, I seriously almost cried! HA! I was just so overwhelmed by the whole experience at that moment! I’ll never forget it.

Oh! Another favorite thing of mine in Japan is Tower Records!!!! AHHHH! I know we have them here, but they don’t sell EVERY KIND OF J-POP or J-ROCK CD YOU WANT in Tower Records in the U.S... I bought eight CDs! I would have bought more too, but I had to hold back. CD’s in Japan are wicked expensive (about $30 a pop)! I thought they were just expensive to order from the U.S. Turns out, they’re the same price domestically. Sheesh.

The music playing now is from DJ Okawari (the artwork used in my icon is his CD cover. I love the way it looks). I like his stuff. I’ve uploaded a few of my favorites from his CD. It’s very Nujabes’esq, but not quite as great. Still good though. I’ll upload more music I purchased in the coming weeks.

I also posted a random slide-show of pictures I took in various areas to the left of this blog. Please enjoy!! ♥

Hey yo!?

Just FYI, I'll be on vaca for the next couple weeks... soooo.... if you send me a message and I don't respond right away or if you leave a most awesome comment and it doesn't pop up for a while... that's why. ♥

I love, love, loooooooove this Ajikan song from their latest album. It's called "Toraberogu," or "Travelogue." This is the theme song for my little adventure. Hee hee.

Enjoy!

TORABEROGU (Travelogue)

Gazing at the fake city from afar,
Wander the screens, stumbling along.
Excessive words that flitter in the depths of my eye sockets,
I ponder.

Oh
Without a hint of comfort, these words saturate,
And bury me, always.

Found an alley by the railway tracks.
Wander the margins, stumbling along.
Taking shape in the depths of my cornea is the gap of the world,
Glides round smoothly.

Oh
Things that exist here,
Things that are seen here,
Who do they all belong to?
Instead of closing yourself off
Got to realize that there’s so much you’ve yet to lay your eyes upon.

Passion beyond your imagination,
A fleeting accidental encounter,
The bidding of farewells,
Drifting for an eternity,
Dreams and reality
Is what I’ll search for at the end of my travels.

The damp surface of the road, smell of rain.
My sense of smell, yes, tells me of the future.
The power lines resonate, a windy road.
My sense of hearing, yes, leads me to the present.

Passion beyond your imagination,
A fleeting accidental encounter,
The bidding of farewells,
Drifting for an eternity,
Dreams and reality
Is what I’ll search for at the end of my travels.

Always... searching... always... searching....

Note: This blog post was featured with the profile theme below. The theme was inspired by Ajikan's "Toraberogu" song from their 2008 World, World, World album.

So last Friday afternoon was quite lovely... until it started storming, complete with hail the size of jolly ranchers. But before the storm, it was beautiful, probably 72 degrees, partly cloudy. Not wanting to miss out on this (because these nice spring days are rare here), I decided to take a walk on the Cranbrook Art Academy campus. Cranbrook is a super duper prestigious and private art school near my job. Apparently, it's geared toward high school students, but it looks more like a small, private art college. I hear it's very hard to get into, and just walking around campus, you can understand why.

They have an art and science museum on the campus (the latter of which I took my nephew to once), lots of housing (which I suppose the high school students live in... I find that weird), and lots of cool nature trails, lakes and pathways. The architecture is SO gorgeous! Very European with lots of ivy growing up walls and what not.

In my aimless wanderings, I took a bunch of pictures. I encountered some lovely flowers, a lonesome (and seemingly hungry) cat (I'm not a cat person) and some mysterious looking tunnels and pathways. The last two pictures were taken across the street from my house, right before the storm rolled in. I thought the clouds looked really cool.

Enjoy!! Au revoir mon amis!

Omni

Hooray for a new profile layout!..... Hmm, this one is really busy. We'll see how long it takes for me to get sick of it. Haha! It's always good to try something new though, is it not?

OK, so next month, I'm going to visit Japan for a two week vacation!! Woooo!! Praise Jesus! I've been trying to go for quite some time now. I have all of my hotels booked, flight, etcetera, etcetera. It's so insane. I have these ups and downs... Sometimes I'm totally cool and confident about it, and other times I'm freaking out and nervous! I've never been to a country where English wasn't the primary language... That just makes me SO NERVOUS. I know we'll be OK though. My Japanese is so-so to where I should get by well enough... I guess....

I have this thing where I pretty much get "stage fright" when speaking Japanese to someone. When I took a Japanese language class, whenever the teacher was speaking to someone else in Japanese, I had no problesms understanding what she was saying or crafting my response inside my head. But a soon as she started talking directly to me, my mind would go TOTALLY blank!!! I'd just panic and all I could get out was, "uh... moichido onegaishimasu," which means "uh... could you please repeat that??" LOL! Hopefully I'll be able to spit out more than that when the times comes... pray for me. Haha!

I'm making myself a list of CDs that I want to buy while I'm there. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. I'm thinking it'll be nice to pay regular price for them, you know, without all the insane shipping fees.

Anyway, that's what's going on with me. So now begins the Countdown To Japan!!

Note: The profile layout this post is referring to was created around the image below. I have since changed it.

OK, so I am suuuuuuper wicked excited right now..... zomg I'm so excited....

I made a wallpaper using a Yusuke Nakamura scan (the dude who designs album covers for Asian Kung-Fu Generation, and the artist behind my current profile icon), and it got published on the animepaper.net Web site! Check it out!!!

http://www.animepaper.net/gallery/wallpapers/latest/item75017/

This Web site hosts some of the bost beautiful anime/asian pop-culture wallpapers I've ever seen, so I am feeling so swell that one of my walls has been selected to join them! The whole reason I bought Photo Shop was because of this Web site! So it's like I finally achieved a mini-goal that I've never told anyone about. It's like I've arrived or something... I'm thinking about quitting my job and pursuing this professionally. (I'm kidding)

Anyway, I was excited so I wanted to share! Yay!!! The wall is also provided below for downloading if you likey.

Man...What's with this ugly gray bar at the top of my profile!? BAH! It's aesthetically unpleasing! I am trying to create a mood here. A feeling. This obtrusive gray montrosity totally disrupts what I am trying to accomplish!?!? *super pretentious*

Anyway...

Happy Easter Everyone!!! Happy Resurrection Day! Ha!

From head to toe, this current profile theme was inspired by the Asian Kung-Fu Generation song, "Yuugure no Aka," or "The Red Twilight." This is the first Ajikan song I learned verbatim, because I love the translated lyrics so much! If I ever karaoke in Japan, this is one rock song I'd totally ace!

Ajikan also just released their latest album, World World World, which I am beyond words excited about! Look for uploaded tracks later this week on the Ajikan Group Page! (Curteousy of moi, of course. hee hee)

Congrats to Ajikan on the new album! And thanks for all of the previous awesome ones too!! xoxo ♥♥

Yuugure no Aka
Romanji by: Chia

ukabu AIDEA kizamu 1 SENTENSU
soko ni wa imi da ke, tada sore dake

tsutau aima ni iro mo asete
soko ni wa kimi da ke,tada sore dake

hibi ga arai nagasu kioku ya
itsuka wasureta ano hi no kibou
dare no atena mo nai tegami o nosete sora o kiru hikoukigumo

yuugure no aka ni GURADESHON de kienai de yo
afure dasu nanika,tsugi haida omoi ga sasatte iru

hibi no sukima o umeru mono
boku no kokoro ni yadoru kodoku
kimi no asita ni hibiku kodou
kizamu RIZUMU
ima, ikiteiru

hajimari no mae ni "imi nai" nante iwanai de yo
afure dasu nanika,tsugihaida omoi ga sasatte iru
bakuzen to mirai o yume mitemo
asu datte fuan de waratte naku

----------------------------------------------- ♥♥

Yuugure no Aka, "The Red of the Twilight"
Translation by: Diego

An idea comes out to mind, And I form a sentence
There’s only meaning in it, that’s the only thing

The color fades along the intervals that I follow
And all that’s there is you, that’s the only thing

The days wash away my memories and the hopes from that day that I forgot at some point
A plane cutting across the sky writes someone a letter without an address

Don’t disappear with the gradations of red in the twilight
Something spilled out, but now my patched memories are sticking together

The loneliness lodged in my heart
Is all that fills in the emptiness of the days
The vibrations echoing to your tomorrow
Carve out a rhythm
So now, I’m alive

Don’t say things like "There’s no point" before things have even begun
Something spilled out, but now my patched memories are sticking together
Even if I have a vague dream of the future, since it’s tomorrow, I’ll give an uneasy laugh and end up crying

*Special thanks to Maddy for designing an AWESOME background for my imeem theme!! I'm so glad the song inspired you as well!

NOTE: You can download my friends awesome sunsetty background by right clicking and choosing the "Save Background As" option!

I watched the last disc of the anime Beck Mongolian Chop Squad over the weekend. What an awesome series! I really, really enjoyed it. The growth and development of the lead character Koyuki is executed so well! Not only does he grow as a musician, but also as a person. It's really impressive and makes you connect with and feel for him as a character. I've added him to my list of favorite prebubescent anime boys, along with Renton from Eureka Seven and Naota from FLCL. Haha!

I especially enjoyed the whole punk rock/alternative theme of this anime. The music from this series in and of itself is fantastic! Lots of new, unique tracks (Brainstorm, Slip Out, Face, Moon on the Water), some new covers of older songs (The Beetles "I've Got a Feeling") and some awesome familiar tracks pop up too, ("Last Dinosaur" from The Pillows).

Last Dinosaur plays for about 10 seconds, with some random band covering the song as if it's their own. It's so insignificant that the song isn't even on any of the Beck OST's. But, at the same time, little moments like that are what made this series so fun and enjoyable. I'm definitely recommending it, not only for anime lovers, but if you're just a music lover, period.

With that.... The Pillows ROCK!!! I LOVE that song!! Check out the live performance of it on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtYJwJ_YeWk)! These guys are amazing! Also, listening to the Beck playlist, pay special attention to "Journey," "Love Dischord," "My World Down," "Youkai Ningen Bem," "I've Got a Feeling" and "Slip Out." All wicked awesome songs.