Back from Tokyo

I actually got back on Wednesday from two weeks in Tokyo and spent the last couple of days sleeping, slowly adjusting to time differences by going to bed when I am tired and getting up when I wake up. I don't have to be back at work until Tuesday so I can do this.

I'm still unpacking, doing laundry (6 new t-shirts), adding books and videos to my collection databases (6 more kabuki DVD discs in my collection), I also picked up the Hellhound model kit and a figurine of Kousei Takeda (the tattoo style one) from Crows / Worst. Ono-san gave me the Japanese editions of the first three volumes of Worst and the first of Crows as well as some other cool books. Thanks Ono-san for the gifts and being such a great guide.

I hope to start posting an account of the trip here, to be spread over a few months.

Fightin' and lovin' boys

This week I cover terminology familiar to fans of boys love and yaoi. However many of these terms are also familiar to practitioners of Japanese martial arts.

It seems that terms from martial arts have been adapted to fan terminology in most interesting ways.

The new entries are:

kyō-seme 強攻め

sasoi (inviting posture or stratagem) 誘

seme せめ, 攻め

uke (receiver, blocking, bottom) 受け

By the way there will not be a new entry in the next two weekends, I'll be in Tokyo so my next post will be around the 22nd or 23rd.

Tokyo Vice

Just finished Jake Adelstein's book Tokyo Vice on his years as a reported for the Yomiuri, the Japanese language one not the English Daily Yomiuri.

A very interesting look at working on the police beat for a major newspaper. Adelstein is the only non-Japanese reporter to have been in the press club at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.

I was clued into this one by Mark Schreiber's review in the Japan Times.

This is one I can recommend reading.

Big Blade!!!

When I first saw one of these in action in the City Hunter 2 TV series I really wanted to do an entry on it.

soba-giri bōchō 蕎麦切包丁

But try to find good information on a specialized knife for making soba in English!

Luckily many years later Nozaki Hiromitsu's book Japanese Kitchen Knives is published and has two pages on the mighty blade! OK so one page is a picture, but that photo is worth plenty.

Good TV

This week I have an entry on the NHK Taiga Drama shows which I have been watching on local TV since Hideyoshi was broadcast in 1996, I had bought my first TV in late 1995 and quickly discovered San Francisco Bay Area broadcasts of subtitled Japanese TV programs.

Taiga dorama (Taiga Drama) 大河ドラマ

Tales Begun on the Night of the Rat

Here is one that is included only because it is the source for a series of tales mentioned in an anime.

Something for the yōkai fans:

Kasshi-yawa ("Tales Begun on the Night of the Rat") 甲子夜話

Busy week, too many chores to get caught up on.

I'll try to have more entries next week.

Something for the fujoshi

I have two entries on fan terminology of special interest to the ladies out there who identify as fujoshi.


Boys Love ボーイズ ラブ

shōnen ai (boy's love) 少年愛


I have also added a new subdivision in the topical index:

Sounds