Cultural Exploits : Kanteiryuu (Kabuki Moji)

 Okay I know I haven't blogged for awhile but now I am finished with uni I thought I'd use this time to get up to date blogging about all the things I've been doing in Japan. I realised I don't actually talk about what I do at uni very often and this term I've been able to do a lot of fun stuff so I thought it might be nice to start blogging about it.

 The first topic up in my new series is : Kanteiryuu which is also known as Kabuki Moji or writing. We had a teacher come into our class and show us how to do the kind of writing you often see on posters advertising Kabuki (traditional style of Japanese play).

 Here Taknaka-sensei (the woman that came in to teach us) and my regular teacher are showing us some of the kind of writing we were going to be attempting in that class. I must admit I was a bit wary since I am rubbish at 書道 (Japanese calligraphy) and I thought I'd fail equally at this.

 These were the tools we used. It kinda felt like art class when I was younger what with laying out all the newspaper and everything. Tanaka-sensei said you can pretty much use any brush to do it. I was dubious but she said she sometimes uses children's paint brushes and her work is amazing.

 Here are some of my practise characters. I was drawing 雪、月 and 花. One of the main things I took from this is style is more important than the accuracy of the writing. 花 looks really stylised and nothing like it is usually written for example. As you can see I wasn't very good >.< It was really fun having a go though. Once I stopped thinking of it as writing and more like drawing I improved some.

 And to finish up here is an expert. All the characters are supposed to look fat and square-like, shown perfectly here by Tanaka-sensei. I think the coolest thing about this writing style is that it was developed by one guy and has been passed down his line. All that time they have been responsible for doing all the writing for Kabuki advertisements in Tokyo. Tanaka-sensei learnt from the member of the family currently in charge of all that.

I know this probably isn't that interesting to everyone but I thought I'd do some of this kinds of posts once in a while. Feel free to skip if you aren't interested. ^.^

Liebster Award Ｏ(≧∇≦)Ｏ イエイ！！

I got given a Liebster Award by gyarurin recently! This is the first blog award I've ever gotten so I'm quite pleased（★＞U＜★） I hadn't heard of the award before but here're the basics of it:

• The Liebster Blog Award is given to upcoming bloggers who have less than 200 followers.

• The Meaning; Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome.

The Rules:

1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves.

2. Answer the questions the tagger has set for you plus create 11 questions for the people you've tagged to answer

3. Choose eleven people and link them in your post.

4. Go to their page and tell them.

5. Remember no tag backs!

So hear are 11 things about me:

1. I fear spiders like they're the devil
2. I speak really quickly and quietly...I don't know how to fix that
3. I'm so bad at planning for the future
4. I can't drive...should probably get learning that >.<
5. I'm the worst at tidying up after myself
6. I'm trying to diet like a pro atm for summer
7. d.i.a owns my wallet which is why I'm always so poor
8. My favourite v-kei band at the moment is Royz
9. I haven't had sushi at all while I've been in Japan
10. I play Pokemon black while watching the related animated series (is so cool)
11. I want to be rich but I don't particularly want to work. But I also hate being idle...

And my answers to Gyarurin's questions:

1. Cats or dogs? (Or other animals, if you prefer! ^^)
   Cats. They're so beautiful and have that perfect "I don't give a fuck" attitude.
2. What is your favourite trend for this season?
   It's a hair trend not a fashion one: Pastel coloured hair. Every time I see someone with it I fall in love with it all over again.
3. What old trend would you love to see revived?
   Fox Tails. I still see them sold around but people don't really wear them any more.
4. Describe your ideal night out.
   Live -> Izakaya -> Karaoke/Club
5. What type of foreign cuisine do you like best?
   Japanese obviously. But I'm also quite partial to Italian food.
6. Do you like Disney? If so, which movie (or movies) is your favourite?
   Yeah I do like Disney. My favourite movie would be Mulan but I also love Lilo and Stitch.
7. What first sparked your interest in fashion/beauty/style?
   ...I went shopping with my mum? For as long as I remember I've been super interested in fashion and style. I was saying I wanted to be a fashion designer in reception >.<
8. Who is your 'cartoon hero'? :)
   Finn!!!!!!
9. Do you know what your first word was? If you do, please tell the story behind your first word!
   No idea. My mum forgot....
10. Which five words would you most like to be described as?
    Funny, Loyal, Intelligent, Interesting, Beautiful
11. What was the last thing/subject you studied or researched?
    Kabuki writing : 勘亭流

I will get back to this post with the people I tag. I don't think I follow many people with less than 200 followers (least popular of all my blogger friends) but I'll find some people.

Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma my hello!!!!

The other day at the convenience store I spotted some iced coffee on sale that I thought you guys might appreciate :

It's Shirokuma Cafe coffee!!! I didn't get it at the time (because I'm addicted to Iced Cocoa atm) but I'm tempted to next time.

And for those of you that have never seen this show and have no idea what I'm on about I've linked the first episode below:

I'm not dead...just busy

I made a vlog the other day for shits and giggles. I wish I had the time to blog more often since I have so many plans for posts, but I just don't have the time. I barely ever update my crooz or ameblo any more either and so I'm just failing all around in that regard. I will try to be better

I wanted to blog from my phone more often but as you can see from the last post the formatting on my phone clearly doesn't agree with blogger.

In other news I won a blog award ^^ I'll try and get the post up for that sometime soon.

It's blog so long since I blogged last.

 

The power at my place was out today so me and Alice went to this super cute toy shop and bought a game to play.

 

We have to pick up pandas with chopsticks....super difficult

 

We also played on the swings in the park and ate icecream

Day 2 ♪(ﾟ▽^*)ﾉ⌒☆

I am awful at these kinds of lists, just to let you know what you're getting yourself in for.

1. I don't feel like I look good without hair pieces in

2. I am currently single

3. I'm 21 and plan to age no further.

4. I love Japanese but I'm not very good at speaking
5. Fitting into d.i.a shorts is becoming a bit of an obsession for me
6. I am currently growing out my hair but don't know what to do with it
7. I have a love hate relationship with most gal brands. For example I couldn't be paid to wear half the stuff   in d.i.a but I would kill for the other half.
8. I love nail art but have to keep mine short and plain for work 。゜゜（´Ｏ｀）°゜。わ～ん
9. Sometimes I get really homesick in Japan
10. I love Big Bang and like Kpop but I don't follow it much any more
11.I never know what to say when people ask if I'm half, because technically I am; just not half Japanese
12. I'm so bad with money it's terrifying
13. I have the worse dark circles in the world. There's no saving me
14. I'm really lazy when it comes to anything domestic like cleaning or cooking
15. I can never decide which styles I like best so my wardrobe is always messed up. Half skanky d.i.a and ma*rs and half cutesy bright stuff from MarpleQ or JSG.

So there you go that is Day 2 (2 days late (笑´ｗ｀) ) I will try my best to get through all of these. The picture was taken in Shinjuku Station with the Ouran High School Host Club poster. 'Cos I'm a geek like that. xx

Gyaru Meme

Okay so to kick start me back into blogging, I've decided to start doing the gyaru meme Lizzie and Alice made. Here's the list of all the topics for each day:

Day 01 – When did you start dressing gyaru?

Day 02 - A picture of yourself with fifteen facts  

Day 03 – What’s your best and worst experience with non-gyarus?

Day 04 - A picture of a memorable night

Day 05 – What do you love and dislike about gyaru?

Day 06 - A picture of something you want to do before you die

Day 07 – Your favourite accessories that you own. (a.p)

Day 08 - A picture of something you wish you were better at

Day 09 – Your wish list. (a.p)

Day 10 - A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest

Day 11 – If you could have any dress for free what would it be? (a.p)

Day 12 - A picture of someone who has made a huge impact on your life.

Day 13 – Name the best websites for gyarus.

Day 14 - A picture that makes you laugh.

Day 15 – What’s your gyaru inspiration? (a.p)

Day 16 - A picture of your typical night.

Day 17 – Show a photo for every year (or month if you’re new) that you’ve being into gyaru.

Day 18 - A picture of your favorite memory.

Day 19 – Share your best tips.

Day 20 - A picture of your most treasured item.

Day 21 – How did you come across gyaru?

Day 22 – Take a picture of your wardrobe.

Day 23 – Is there local gyarus in your area? If so where and how many.

Day 24 – Are you a lifestyle gyaru? (If not will would you?)

Day 25 – Worst hair/wig experience.

Day 26 – What do you wear when you are not in gyaru?

Day 27 – Did you ever consider leaving gyaru?

Day 28 – What do you think will and would like to happen to gyaru in the future?

Day 29 – The gyaru items you have brought over the past 29 days. (a.p)

Day 30 – Take a beautiful picture of you in gyaru

Day 1 : When did you start dressing Gyaru

This is kinda a difficult question to answer. Through the end half of high school my main interest was Lolita (which I was awful at) but even then I was choosing to read gal magazines. When I was around16/17 I decided to start trying gyaru and I joined my first circle. I wasn't very good at all so even though that was the start of my gyaru journey I don't know if I could say I was gyaru then.

When I went to London for university I started hanging out with Hibisgyaru which I guess is when my style eventually started to improve. I still wasn't very good >.< I don't even really have any pictures from that time. Looking through my pictures though I find it hard to find any from before I came to Japan where I would say I look gal. Which is kinda embarrassing. 

In other news I've been thinking of starting to vlog as well as just blog. I tried to make when describing my look before I went to the Royz live (which I'll update you on later) but yeah...there's no sound >.<

I was trying to say that I'm wearing those hair clips everyone has from Spinns. Make-up wise I have my Urban Decay blush on in "afterglow", I'm wearing my Geo Bambi lenses with Diamond Lashes on the bottom and some I frankensteined myself from cheap Donki lashes up top. They have pink accents on. My whole theme for the live was purple (for Kuina) so I have purple eye-shadow and I'm wearing my d.i.a shirt. The under shirt is from Babyshoop and the shorts are from New Look. Oh and my room is a tip....don't worry I tidied it after.

I really wanna try vlogging again. I have a new mic now so hopefully next time there will be sound.