Bounce with me in Osaka

WW2 's history

2007-01-24T00:20:00.000-08:00

I think japanese people would need some lessons about history. I'm aware that they don't realise what really happened in Europe, resistance, concentration camps, or this kinda stuff. For them World War 2 was more the war between Japan and USA. So they know Hitler wasn't a nice guy, but it seems they don't really understand that it was a genocide.

Japanese people like cosplay. It's more manga or anime fan than normal japanese people, but cosplay is kinda common thing in japan. For example in some game centers, you can borrow some cosplay for taking pictures in purikura (printer club, you can take pictures with lot of friends and funny backgrounds, for more details try wikipedia as usual). It's also part of the japanese sex culture ( I'm not sure i should say culture but well ....), different kind of style would be exciting for the man : schoolgirl, office-lady, nurse, etc ... During cosplay conventions, there's different kind of cosplay, from anime, manga, video games, movies, even literature, or sometimes real people. It's not surprising to see some military cosplay, and it happens that some are dressing as Nazi Officers. I don't really agree with that, but at leat i can understand (a little) that some people do that. That's still just (bad taste) cosplay !

But what i saw last time just shocked me !!! It was In Tokyo during my winter hollidays. I was with a friend at the Ikebukuro station, wich is quite big and crowded, when we saw a group of maybe 6 or 7 people. They looked normal, in their 30's I guess, and seemed to be enjoying themselves naturally. No cosplay or this kinda stuff. But one of the girl, looked like the photograph of the group, was wearing a green jacket with a Nazi cross on the arm ! I was really stunned ! I'm sure it wasn' a cosplay, or she weared that for fun, it was just her normal clothes. And i don't think either that she admired Nazi or Hitler, just she might have thought it looks cool, and that's funny to wear that.

I know from my japanese friends and my experiences, that they don't really know that millions of Jews and other people died from emprisonnemet and torture in Europe, but even knowing that, i just think it's too much.

So 2 questions came to my mind : What does japanese children learn about Hitler and Nazism in school, and what's their vision of that ? How come there's probably some normal shops in Japan selling this kinda merchandise ?

It's a sad world V_V

Lord of the Bugs

2007-01-10T06:35:00.000-08:00

I found this text in a manga called "VF", by Fumihiro Hayashizaki, and i really liked. I don't think he wrote it himself, but there's no other name, maybe it' s famous, and i just don't know it because of my lack of culture. Kinda looks like a Poem

Lord of the bugs :

Don't care if i couldn't shoot it
But i'd die with spitting out whatever I want
Than live without pouring out my heart
That's my way of life on the Street
You're not my master, you dirty big one
I'm not your tool I'm not your toy
Looking down from the top of the city
The people are only bugs
Those who come dinner on their special jets
Those who live in cardboard city in the park
You're not my master, you dirty big one
i'm not your tool, I'm not your toy
Everybody's the same
You don't need to be scared
Tell your heart with your own words
We are all bugs looked down from the above
You're not my master, you dirty big one
I'm not your tool, I'm not your toy

2006-12-17T01:24:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry the following message is in japanese...
Actually there's no relation with the blog, it's just my report i have to do for tuesday, and since i wrote it in japanese, and that (of course (-_-;) ) i didn't memorize the reading of the kanji, i need to use rikai. For those who don't know it it's kind of dictionnary, if you enter an url of japanese page, it will give you the reading and meaning of all words in english. Very useful : http://www.rikai.com/perl/Home.pl
So i needed to entered the text here, so i can get it on a webpage. The thema is "cluste bombs", not so interesting, but that's the less boring tpoic i found. Hope it will be good enough, because in this class there's only korean and chinese students, wich are so strong in japanese, actually some of my korean friends (maybe all of them) are fluent in japanese, and even one in kansai slang.
Have a nice sunday !

きーワード：
クラスター爆弾：この爆弾は、通常の空対地爆弾とほぼ同サイズのケースの中に、数個から数百個の子弾（爆弾や地雷）を搭載し、母機から投下後に空中でケースが分裂することにより子弾を散布して広範囲にわたってダメージを与える。主に人的被害やあまり強固ではない施設・兵器への広範囲の被害を狙うものである。

問題：終戦後にクラスター爆弾の小型爆弾はまだ爆発しません。その「第２の地雷」の被害者は子供や農民や下流階級です。対人地雷の問題みたいです。それからノルウェーは全面禁止の条約を示す。今日本は何の連座するで考えています。

支持：ノルウェー、ドイツ、スウェーデン、ニュージーランド…

－被害者は軍人じゃないです。
－その兵器は必要じゃないです。
－終戦後の長い間クラスター爆弾のせいで災害があります。
－ＯＮＧは第２の地雷」の被害者の世話をしってから、お金と時間を使い過ぎます。

反対：アメリカ、ロシア

－クラスター爆弾産出国。
－地雷の除去は高いです。
－軍隊の力を発揮したいです。

私の意見：　もちろんそれは大切ですが、クラスター爆弾の全面禁止後で新しい兵器を発明すると思います。対人地雷の問題はまだ解けない（たとえばベトナムでもういっぱいあります）、でも他の問題を取り扱いたいです。法案を採決して、皆を助けると思って、大きい討論をして、でも事実は現地であんまり何もしてないです。

DJ Ozma's live

2006-12-13T06:38:00.000-08:00

Last friday i went to DJ Ozma's live in Osaka. About DJ Ozma, it's a band formed with the leader/singer of Kishidan, the mascott of the same band, and one of the dancers. As kishidan it's stupid, hilarious and great ! If you want more informations, search "Kishidan" in wikipedia, there's some good explanations.

Since it was all standing i decided to go few hours before to be in front of the scene. So i arrived at the live's place, Zepp Osaka (a small dome), around 12'. There were nobody, and it was really cold so i decided to walk around in a near shopping center. One hour later i went back to the Zepp, but there were only 3 girls. I talked to them, and they were waiting for Ozma, but they asked me why i cam here so early (at that moment we were 6hours to the concert). So i explained to them i wanted to enter the 1st, but they told me that there were numbers on the ticket and that we were entering by numerical order ...... I was 723 !

Actually they were waiting for the opening of goodies shop, so i decided to wait with them. We wited something like 3 hours, and i thought i would lose my hands since it was so cold. After 3 hours, i was satisfied by being the 4th guy accessing to the goodies : i bought a T-shirt.

After this i decided to go back to the shopping center to warm up a little and then to come back before the opening of the gates (at 6 o'clock). In the shopping center i actually falled asleep sitting on some stairs since i was tired and it was warm. When i went back i realized people all got the same ide as me, since i saw many people with some Ozma goodies in that shopping center.

Back there, 2000 people were waiting, they started calling people by group of 400, then divided us in group of 200, and in front of the door, we went 20 by 20. When i entered i grabed a drink (that i paid 500yen V_V)and hurried in the main room. There were still some free space in the right side in front of the scene. I was maybe at 2m of the scene so that was really nice i thought, even if it was not really in the center.

The light turned off and then a clown appeared, he did some stupid things, then it started. The first 3 songs were some famous one, so everybody jumped, danced, singed, and moved all around. Wich moved me to the center and a bit closer to the scene^^. I was kind of lucky and stayed here till the end. It was really incredible : it lasted 3 hours, wich is normal since Kishidan's live are always more than 3h30. Half of it was the songs, and the other half some jokes, stupid acts, or some wierd dancing. They really set the all audience in fire. I really laughed a lot, and nearly understand everything. Since it's stupid it's easy to get the meaning.

Many hours later i was still stunned by this concert, it's really something i could never forget. All those japanese people were so different than usual it was like crazy. Ozma was so charismatic, and i spent such a good time. Really unforgettable !!!

After the live i falled in the trap of the small shop keepers, and bought a poster and a towel. And i singed all the way back to home, wishing i'll have the chance to go to another of their live show soon. For the anecdote the title of this blog comes from the first hit of DJ Ozma : Age Age Every Night (Kishi) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A277Pdo7cLw

Visual Kei, live

2006-12-05T05:08:00.000-08:00

I went to a live show yesterday, actually it was a visual kei event.
For more informations about this kind of music just look here : [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_kei]Visual kei[/url]

It was in obe, started at 4:30, and finished only at 9:30, so it was a bit long. There were 7 bands, all amateurs, but in Japan even the smallest band produce his own cd to sell after concert. It was really interesting , even if i felt abit uneasy. Of course we were only 2 foreigners in there, and it surprised everybody. I felt even more uneasy since i was one of the only male ...
I thought there would be lot of boys and girls, all wearing some punk and gothic clothes. Well, i was totally wrong. There were only girls, we were maybe 3 men, and they were totally normal, i would even say cute and sexy for many of them, and probably half of hem were high school girls.
The other thaing hat surprised me is the comportement of japanese fans (or should i say spectator for those people). I know japanese people are cold, but i thought they would be different during a concert. As i said there were 7 bands, but nearly everybody come for the band he supports. So lot of people leave after their band is done, and when they waiting, and that an other band is performing those girls just sit down in the floor, laugh together, smoke, send mails through their cellphones... So you can guess how popular a band is by seeing how many girls stand up for them.
There were one band wich came from Tokyo, and it was the only wich made everybody stand up. But i must say they were really good !!

About the bands, the first one was not so bad, but they got an ugly singer, wich did lots of mistakes (he nearly fell down, lost his mic ...), and spent more time taking care of his hat than singing.
The second, was the one i came for , La'Skull. They began recently, but were pretty good.
3rd group, were missing some of his members, so they were only 2, a brother and a sister. That's pity everybody wasn't here because i really like what they did. And they played some funny characters.
4th group was one of the best, each member got a different style, a man disguised in schoolgirl, a dark cool guy, a funny guy, an ugly drummer, and a bad guy !
5th band, totally sucked ! there were only 2 girls wich stand up for them.
6th band, was the one wich came from Tokyo. They were just like professional, get down the public to play, made everybody (besides the men) dance ! It was really cool !
the last band was not so bad, but the singer was wearing a short pant, and looks like a kid. He really got no charisma, so it didn't impressed me ...

Anyway it was a really good experience, so i guess i'll go back to see this kind of event, maybe even go back for some of those band.
here's some of the band i saw
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJWxJVHvaYA]La'Skull[/url]
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig4HYtFJ8tc]Ciela'xeno[/url] 4th band, but they changed a little

Way of mind

2006-11-25T04:57:00.000-08:00

Sorry , it's been a long time !!!! But it seems i was too lazy to usa a blog as a diary. It's not really my type to write everyday what i did, and share all the useless things i do with everybody. I will give it a try again , and see if i can write some "stupid" things regulary. Not everyday, but if i can just share at least the funny or interesting experiences, that should be a good thing. And i really need to practice my englis, so as i said before, it's one of the best exercises. Also don't forget the posting board, the adress is in the link.

Today i just want to show you one of the weird way of thinking of japanese people. 3 weeks ago, i did a hiking in Kyoto with my classmates, some teachers, and some others students of my university. It was a oneday trip, a sunny day, so i decided to wear a cap. I don't know if this detail is important or not, but it was a Yankees' cap. So we meeting everybody at uni, and then taking train all together, meeting some new people, talking to a small group then to another. In Umeda (city center of Osaka) we had to change train, and when waiting on the platform, i started talking with 2 japanese girls, since meleika (my french comrade) was talking with a korean friend besides me. I talked with these 2 girls for maybe 10 minutes, learned they were studying french (but they can't say anything else than "Bonjour", or "Ca va ?", and couldn't even remember how to say good bye). They couldn't pronounce my name well, but i got used to that. Then the talking mixed together with my french and korean friends, and when the 2 girls realized that she was french, they were really excited like ,"wow ! you're french, we studiying french, we're first year !". Then i said , but you know i'm french as well, i told you. They looked t me really surprised, and then said " oh really ? We thought you were american because you're wearing a cap." ............

That's all i have to say (V_V)

Messages board

2006-10-11T07:20:00.000-07:00

With my friends being in Japan at the moment, just like me, we decided to open a message board talking about Japan and where you can get the opportunity to talk with people being in Japan at the moment.
It's in french, but you're welcome to post any messages in english there'll always be some people to answer you. And there's also a part for foreign languages : japanese or english.
So feel free to register, and come to talk or ask any questions you want.
Here's the link :

http://raitoh.proboards98.com/index.cgi

Asakusa

2006-10-11T06:57:00.000-07:00

Sorry they're not really good pictures, but that's all i got.

Harajuku

2006-10-05T22:58:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the quality of the pictures v_v

Tokyo : Shibuya

2006-10-03T05:47:00.000-07:00

2 weeks ago i went to Tokyo for one week.
Nothing special happened but it was really cool. I really enjoyed myself, and spent lot of money (well that's not really a good things). Anyway i don't really know what to tell about it, and don't have much time these days , so i guess that's better just to put some pictures, so you can see the places i went.

Dotombori

2006-09-30T22:11:00.000-07:00

Two days later, i went back to Namba to meet with a friend. Actually i went to the other side of Namba, and i discovered Dotombori. That's the best part of Namba : All young people are here, there's some clothes shop, lot of game centers, and UFO catcher, and if you come at night you can see the guy trying to get some girls working in the hostess pub.
The famous Glico is here as well (you probably all saw it at least once in TV), and nearly here's also Shinsaibashi, and Sennichimae, wich are also some nice places.
Well that's definitly my favourite place in Namba, so here 's come pictures.

Namba

2006-09-27T07:07:00.000-07:00

Second day in Japan.
Since i'm in japan, i'm waking up early every morning, around 11 o'clock.
So that day after getting up, we went to the city hall with my girlfriend, asking for the residence permit. I know i needed it to open a bank account and to get a cellphone. (and it's also the law to do it ^^). Unfortunatly , i can't get it before october 5th, so i'm still waiting for it at the moment, and i'm in Japan since 2 weeks without any phone.
After that we went to Namba to relax a little. This place is really cool, maybe my favourite place in Osaka. Frst of all when you get out of the train station you can eat okonomiyaki for only 110 yens !!! And it's soooo good. Nere this place there's a really big "Book Off", where you can find nearly any manga, but second hand. I don't know how it is in other country, but here scond hand just looks like new one. So you can find manga at only 100 yens. It's a little corner of paradise for me.
There's lot of other shop, like video games shop or electronic shop, where you can find some cheap camera or this kind of stuff. Actually I bought "Initial D street stage" for PSP wich i wanted to buy since a long time. There's lot of cheap restaurant so that's a good place to hang out at night. But actually that was only a small part of Namba that i saw that day...

1st Day

2006-09-26T07:08:00.000-07:00

It's around 11 in the morning, and i'm stepping in Japan territory.
It was really cool to land on Kansai airport, because it's on an artificial island, so it's just like we going right into the sea. I'm meeting with my girlfriend, watching around : there's only japanese people. It's normal but i just couldn't get used to it. We walking to the train station, looking at the map to see wich train we have to take to go to the house i'm gonna live in. Then I have to call the guy i'm gonna live with, and he'll pick me up at the station. I was really stressed, because i had to talk in japanese on the phone. I asked some vocabulary to my girlfriend, then learn the sentences i was going to use, and dialed the number. Well everything's fine on the phone, he's explained to me wich was the better way to get to the house.
I'm now living in Abiko, it's 3 train station to Tennoji in Osaka. Actually the guy i talked with on the phone, and exchanged mails before is not my housemate. He's my landlord. So when i saw a 50 years old man at the Abiko train station, i was really surprised !!!
In the house with me there's a western guy (i'm still wondering if he's english or american) wich i only met twice, but he seems cool and explained some things about the house to me ; and a japanese O.L (Office lady), wich i only met today, after 2 weeks. Anyway she seems really nice, and it was good exercise for me to talk in japanese with her.
The room is really big (bigger than the one i used to have in Lyon), and there's really everything i need in teh house (wich is quite big as well for Japan). In the Area of Abiko there's lots of restaurants and small shop, so when i need something i don't need to go to far away. Of course as everywhere in Japan there's lots of combini around my house.
My university is at less than 10 minutes walk from my house, so that's the other good point. I won't need to take train everyday, wich means doens't need to meet with the crow and to spend money. So i went to university the 1st day, because somebody told me i needed my student card as soon as possible. I meet with the litterature section administration, but they told me i needed to wait the meeting with my teacher (wich gonna be in 3 days, in 29th spetember).
DOing some shopping around, i'm buying my first manga in Japan (and actually i resisted not to buy around 1000 manga at the same time^^), a shower towel (cuz i didn't bring any with me >.<), and some food in the combini. I was also surprised to notice that even during summer, night is falling around 6pm in Japan. That's really wierd to me, doesn't make me feel that it's summer.
After that i went back home, cuz i only slept around 3 hours the last 40 hours, and fall asleep around 6:30pm. I wake up around 8, eat something with my girl, and watch japanese tv for a while. I don't remember what it was about because i was too tired, and i guess it didn't take me that long to fall asleep again.

To be continued

Trip

2006-09-25T08:12:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time, i haven't post any messages in the blog, but i was quite busy (finally i guess i'm a too busy man to use a blog as a diary)
Well, i'm now in Japan since nearly 2 weaks, and lot of things happened.
I guess i won't write evreything tonight, so i' ll put in on the blog little by little.
The more is that the pictures i already took in Japan was with my girlfriend camera, so i haven't them on my laptop yet.
If i can i'll update some later.

Well let's start with the trip.
As i said before i left France on 12th september. My first plane, between Lyon and Paris, was at 9:30 am in Lyon, and my plane in Paris a 1:30pm
The plane is late, but nothing unusual. It takes off, we start flying peacefully. Then afetr maybe 20 minutes, an announce from the pilot : "We got a problem with the landing tires, we'll fly around 40 minutes to waste all the fuel, then we will land back in Lyon". What the fuck, why it was happening to my plane ???
So around an hour later we land abruptly on Lyon airport, lots of firemen trucks behind us.
And at this moment the hostess tell us that we have to get back our luggages, and go back to the registring door.
There were lot of people queuing to know wich plane they were going to take, and how they will arrive their destinations.
Of course i was one of the last, and it was already too late for me to get my plane in Paris.
When it was finally my turn, the girl look at my name and destination, and then she tells me "You have to hurry, you got a plane leaving in 10 minutes"
I, verry happy to think i can get my plane in Paris "Oh, i will be able to get the plane in Paris ?"
"Of course not ! You going to Amsterdam !"

So i ran throught the airport, broke my bag containing my luggage, finally get in the plane, the hostess tells me there will be no lunch.
Seems I wasn't in my lucky day !
After that I had to spend around 2 hours in Amsterdam Airport, and then take a plane for Osaka. The flight was quiet, the food not so bad, and I arrived only 1 hour later in Osaka.
The only problem, is that i was supposed to joina friend in the Paris plane, and she didn't see me. So she was kind of worry, and we only get contact throught mails 2 days later.

It was bit a harsh start, but i was definitly happy to be in Japan.

To be continued ...

Finally !!!

2006-08-31T11:04:00.000-07:00

Yeah ! I know when i'm leaving !!!
I'm quitting France in 12th september in the afternoon, and gonna get to Japan in 13th in the morning.
I definitly feel relieved to know that. I was really pissed of waiting so much.
But there's a bd thing about it. I'm not having "student" visa, but i'm appliying for "working-hollidays" visa. that's pity because this visa is available only once a lifetime. You can use it before you're 30, and with it you can go one year in Japan looking for a job, or for fun, and for that you only need a go/back plane ticket, and a certain amount of money on your account, wich is afordable if you got some savings. of course you also need a Curiculum Vitae, a motivation letter, and a place where to live (at least for the starting times), but if you're really motivated, and serious it should be fine.
So i'm fillfulling all the documents at the moment, and have to write the motivation letter, and tomorrow morning I got a meeting with the japanese ambassador in Lyon o_O.

I can't use the "student" visa, because i can't wait anymore for it. Most of my friends got it in the middle, or the end, of June, but the teacher wich is taking care of me and Meleika (The girl going in the same uni as me in Osaka, you can see the link to her website, but unfortunatly it's only in french) only sent us the documents to apply for the certificate of eligibility in the middle of august.
At that moment, Meleika and me already booked our plane tickets, but we had to delayed it many times. Hiro-chan (nickname i gave to that teacher when i was upset), told us he should get this certificate on 25 August, but when he went to the immigration Bureau today, they told him we still have to wait a long time before we could get it.
Problems !! After 12th September there's no free sits on planes before october : And we starting our classes in October 4th.
So the only way left to leave in time was to apply for the "workin-hollidays" visa.
Anyway that's pity i had to waste that cool and convenient visa, but i really feel better since i know i will leave in less than 2 weeks.

Not yet ....

2006-08-25T13:54:00.000-07:00

I woke up early this morning, to check my mails, but unfortunatly i didn't get this "fucking sonnovabitch damn" certificate.
My teacher said to wait till tomorrow that he will maybe get it, but i don't believe in it too much, so i'm kind of prepared to delay my flight. Seems there's still some free sits on 12th september.
So i will see tomorrow, and go to the travel agency if i need to.

About this blog, i don't know what's wrong with blogger, and i know i'm not really good in this kind of things, but it's not working well. When i wanna add some links sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. So at the moment there's the same link twice, and no other one.
I want to add the link of my favourites websites, but also my friends websites talking about japan.
So If i can fix the problem you should be able to see that soon.

So i guess it's just an other day waiting for this damn certificate....

Going to Japan (...soon)

2006-08-24T23:49:00.000-07:00

Buriburi desu !Maybe some of you read some of my post as Rocky on http://www.nihonfever.blogspot.com/, but i don't think so, so i guess i should start to introduce myself, and explain why i'm creating this blog.

Actually i'm gonna go one year in Japan, so i wanna use this blog as a diary for myself (it's my female instinct wich tells me to keep a diary), but also to exchange with you what's happening to me there. So you don't have to read it if you not interesting; If you wanna make some stupid comments you welcome, i don't mind, cuz i'm doing the same on some blogs, but at least be smart and write some funny !

Well let's back to the main topic : myself !I'm french boy gonna be 20 soon, kinda handsome, and i studied japanese for 2 years.
I'm gonna take university courses for during one year in Osaka Shiritsu Daigaku.Then why writting in english, and not in Japanese or in French ?
First of all, i like writting in english. I need some practice on my english skills and i guess it's a good one.
Then i Wrote in French all my life, need some change, and i'm not good enough to write in Japanese.
Finally, i guess it's the best way to be read by lot of people. Not that i don't wanna be read by french people, but i guess most of french people interested in japan are some dumb teenagers who only like video games and Naruto (and of course their holy bible Naruto Video Games), and some frustrated girls who practice kissing with their hands, when watching some Gackt Video. And i won't bother describing fat cosplayers.So French people who can understand english got at least some knowkedges, and lot of other people in the world can read this language, so that's definitly the best way to be read.

I'm not yet in Japan, and i don't know exactly when i'm gonna leave.Actually i already bought a plane ticket for september 7th, but i'm still waiting for a "certificate of eligibility" to apply for my visa.I should know tomorrow morning if i can get it in time or if i need to change my flight.
So i guess that's now that my trip is starting, in this waiting for my visa.I'm really impatient and i'd like to be in Japan next week, but that's unfortunatly impossible.

It's bit late in the night, i'm fucking tired, and don't wanna bother taking care of this blog, so there will probably be nothing (i mean no pictures, no profile, no links) on this blog for few days.Here in France i don't have access to interrnet every days, so i don't know when i can update all of this, but if there's some people reading it, then enjoy it.Thanks, and enjoy the coming 12 months.