I'm an American student majoring in Japanese and Linguistics, but I'm also taking Korean (however, don't be mistaken- I have no Asian blood in me whatsoever ^^;;) I've been to Japan twice, but never to Korea.  But believe me, I'm trying to!

I've been studying Japanese for over 6 years now, so I feel comfortable speaking it and like to translate.  All of my translation entries are public, mostly because they're cross-posted to a few communities and I believe in sharing the love.

However, the rest of my journal is essentially friends-only, so if you'd like to read those entries please don't hesitate to add me- I'm always open to meeting new friends, especially if we share interests, which, at the moment consist of:

( list under the cut )

I'd like to think that I don't do a whole lot of fangirling on my LJ, but I probably do.  I do, however, love to poke fun at my favorites, but it's all out of some serious love for them.  I am pretty honest about the celebrities I don't particularly care for- I'll let you know who they are up front:
( sorry guys )

I don't really have a problem with most of these people, I just don't care for them (for pretty arbitrary reasons, too).  I try not to badmouth them or anything, but occasionally stuff slips out.

I love dramas, variety shows, magazines, books, movies... basically all forms of media, as long as they feature one or more of my favorites ^^;;

I just wanna make a note that I'm actually living in Tokyo now (and will be until next August), so hit me up if you're in town! haha~ Also, please please please PLEASE leave a comment here if you want to be friended back! There's nothing more frustrating to me than being randomly friended by someone who won't introduce themselves, so I don't tend to friend that type back.  I just wanna get to know you guys! ;^;

Sorry this became a bit long (>~<)

Yoroshiku-wish!

Almost forgot to post this... too busy watching scary videos and eating orange M&Ms D:

Day 08 > A photo that makes you angry/sad

( 泣 )

I ♥ YOU, LEADER!!! Never stop being adorable!

I have to make this quick because I need to get ready... my friend and I are going to Odaiba! I haven't been since August! :D

First of all, I wanted to point out how much this made me lol this morning (also go to p.2-3 for some hilarious comments about the Jin!fail)

So, as per usual, there's a bunch of mini-battles between "Jin haters" and his fans.  I hate starting crap, so I'm choosing not to comment (except for on hilarious pieces of artwork that some people have provided)  I don't like writing outright mean stuff, either... I'm all for poking fun at the sticky situations some idols tend to get into, but it loses its entertainment value when people get too worked up about it.

THAT BEING SAID.

( saldfjsdjf/sdl )

Gotta go get ready now... I only have like 30 minutes XD

Sorry if this came off as rant-y... I just... where does he think he is?  America?  He'd be such a joke there... I just... ugh.  At least improve your work attitude.  No one likes a delusional idol-turned-diva showing up on set and ignoring everybody.

What the hell was Johnny-san thinking...

EDIT: I totally forgot that I had my bitchy Taemin icon.  I finally get to use it after such a long time! >:D

Gahhh it's so windy here... like no joke, I was almost knocked over on my way to work yesterday.  And today... I dare not go outside- it sounds like my apartment building's being attacked D:

So anyway, today's theme is:

Day 07 > A photo that makes you happy

( ジャン！ )
Those two just make me so happy ♥

Work was canceled last night so I got to chill at home.  I also have next Friday off, which means I CAN WATCH MUSIC STATION :DDDDD
Also: I caved and bought Super Mario (it was cheap at Tsutaya!!) I've already gone through some of the levels that Nino plays on the commercials :Dv

Switching topics...

Today's theme:

Day 06 > Whatever tickles your fancy

というわけで！今日選んだものはコチラ！



ジャン！みんなの大好きなAの嵐！*insert A-Team theme song here* てかなんでいきなり日本語になっちゃったんだろう？汗

Hope this brightens your day.  Especially Aiba-chan's face when he drinks the mixture >:D

Hey guys, how are you? Because I'm pretty happy right now!

( who knew I could be such a girl? D: )


ANYWAY.  meme time.


Day 05 > Your favourite quote

( words of wisdom )


Now I'm gonna go in search of VSA and HnA downloads... because I can't go without seeing them at all D:

Sorry I didn't finish yesterday... I was kinda tired from being stuck on the train at Nishi-Waseda for like 30 minutes while they put out a fire on the tracks somewhere... ughhh worst timing EVER T^T and I had caught the commuter express too...


( blah blah blah )


Well anyway, I would've said that D no Arashi is my favorite old show.  Because really.  The birth of Fail!Sho.  Lots of Ohmiya groping silliness.  A NO ARASHI.  Uda-uda specials.  Matsujun acting as a housewife selling industrial machinery while Nino flips tables in rage.  MOLES.  Meguro-nii-san.  Abandoned water parks/hospitals/theme parks.  Ohno's defective taste buds.  NI NO ARASHI.

I could go on and on.

But today's thing is not about TV anymore.  It's about:

Day 04 > Your favourite book

( dundunduuuun )


So that's all for today.  OH! New layout! :D I never have time to make my own, so I wanna say thanks to okimiyage  for it ^^  Lately I've been Ohno-crazy (my phone wallpaper is also Ohno, and until I switched to a Nino one my desktop wallpaper was also of our beloved Leader) so I decided to go for a group shot. 

I can't help it... whenever the Kirin cms come on or whenever I watch their shows, my eyes go to him lately.  I always forget just how amusing it is to focus on him for a whole show... his mouth is open like half the time XD

Leader! Never lose that chubby-cheeked charm of yours! :Db

Today's theme? Question? Topic? whatever... is

Day 03 > Your favourite television program

So.  This is a toughie.  Because I love TV, both in the States and here in Tokyo.
Because of my endless list of "must-see" shows, I'm going to break this into two: currently airing shows, and shows that are already over.

I'll start with the currently airing shows.
I'm really tempted to put an Arashi show here (especially considering the fact that I told my employer that I'm not available to work Thursdays because of "prior arrangements") but I won't.

Why? Because in all honesty, Arashi's currently airing shows are not my favorite out of the ones they've done.  Of course I love them a great deal, but they just can't beat out some of the older shows.  But I'll get to that later.

So then, my favorite show right now.  Well there is one other show that I watch obsessively (and that I downloaded youtube clips of all day yesterday), and that show is... ( insert drumroll here )

Let me just put it this way- this show leaves my sides hurting from laughter.  If that's not a good show, I don't know what is.

I actually have to get ready to leave now, so I'll post the second half later tonight.  But for now, enjoy BRS! :DDD

AnS just ended... ah, what a great episode.  We've got bratty Nino, Engrish Aiba, kind-of-tsukkomi Sho, wild man Jun, and, best of all... so-cute-I-wanna-pinch-those-puffy-cheeks Ohno :D I was really tempted to shout "shake those hips! woo~ woo~!" at the TV XD

Anyway... it's technically morning (AND SNOWING) so I'll get on with this meme.


Day 02 > Your favourite movie


So... this.  I was really really tempted to put Ao no Honoo.  Really.  I love that movie.  I've watched it 3 times and cried every time.  I really think it's some of Nino's absolutely best work.  Those scenes in his fishtank?  Speaking into the tape recorder?  Running down the hall with a bat? (my "Nino with a bat" obsession partially stems from here)

But there's one movie that I've loved way before I became an Arashi fan.  I was really touched by the story, of course, but the ability to convey so much with so little dialogue really impressed me.  Plus the plot has this original element to it that was kind of refreshing.  You should definitely give it a watch.

The movie's English title is 3-Iron, although the Korean title (빈집) literally translates to "empty house."



The protagonist is a young, homeless man, but instead of living on the streets he stays in people's empty houses/apartments while they're away, doing simple chores and fix-ups as a sort of anonymous thank-you.  He discerns which houses are empty by sticking Chinese take-out flyers in doors in the morning, and when he goes back in the evening if the flyer is still there the house is supposedly empty.  Except one day it isn't- there's a woman there. 

And I feel like if I say much more, some spoilers will come out, so... yeah.  Just trust me- it's good.  And you'll realize why the English title is 3-Iron.

The male lead is the guy from Choon-hyang, if that rings any bells for you.  I'm sorry, I don't remember his name.  He's not necessarily attractive, per se, but he acts well and he's very likable in 3-Iron.


By the way, the short article on wikipedia gives away the entire thing pretty much...

But you should watch it!  With a beautiful promotional poster like that, how can you say no?  I've watched it 4 times now and thoroughly enjoyed it each time. 

Plus it beat out Ao no Honoo.  That's really hard to do, especially considering how much I drool over Nino, movie-angst and all.  I even went all the way to Enoshima so I could be like "Hey! Here's where Nino rode his bike!  Here's where he hid his painting!  Here's the station they were at for that one part!"


( omake! )

yes yes, everyone already did this a while back, but please remember, dear friends, that I only recently gained access to internet from the comfort of my little room here, so... yeah.  And it's the beginning of a new month! (an inconveniently short one, but I'll work with what I've got here)

So here we go! I hope I can remember to do this every day...

Day 01 > Your favourite song

So I'm pretty sure that my favorite song is the cover of Shonen that Nino sings.  He said that he was a little tipsy when he recorded it, so that's probably why it sounds so raw.  But I love raw singing and acoustic guitar.  To death.  And this song... it does things to Nino's voice that I didn't know were possible.  I've never actually heard the original, so I can't tell you if he's on tune or not, but considering that I regularly listen to all of his "unofficial" solos, his tendency to wander off-pitch doesn't really bother me.  I'll chuckle a bit, think Oh Neen, then move on.  Because he actually conveys emotion pretty well, and this song in particular kind of rattles in my chest whenever I hear it.

But like I said, I'm a sucker for bold, low-notes on an acoustic.

Someone made a cute fanvideo out of the song recently, and (pending that it doesn't get deleted anytime soon) you should really take a look.  They went with the "innocence" theme that comes with the title, and I thought it worked all right.  Besides, all of the other videos were taken down or are locked, so... this is all I have to offer.  Unless someone wants the mp3 version.


Beautiful :D

♥

So yesterday Yumi & I went to Harajuku & Shibuya for a mini Arashi tour! It was really great!

( Arashi Day~! )

I'll post the station pictures separately. The internet's freezing up right now...

So yeah! Arashi day! It was fabulous. And now today is Thursday so I have VS & Himitsu to look forward to!

AND THEN THE WEEKEND... DOME! NOOOOOO! T^T

Yumi & I aren't leaving home... otherwise we'll see people with concert goods and it's just too depressing. Too 悔しい.

So you know how in this post I translated Jun and Toma's little melo-drama (lol) over some cologne?

Well yesterday Toma decided to give his side of the story, although it seems more like he's trying to avoid confrontation (don't blame him- MJ's passive-aggressive undertones even made me shudder)

Let's see what the man in question had to say on his journal, Tomagoto:

( I wish Toma would use emoticons like Jun-pon ;^; )


I secretly wished he'd given some "bring it on, bitch!" comment, but I guess Toma's too diplomatic for that.

Oh well, I just love passive aggressive!Jun waaaaay too much :DDD


OH and btw- Yumi and I had a total Arashi day yesterday. We took a picture with the bathtub from the au commercials (at the au showcase in Harajuku) and went to the Johnny's shop (disappointing as it is) and went to the Johnny's Family Club in Shibuya (which was a lot of fun). Not to mention how Shibuya station is COMPLETELY covered with au ads.

I'll post pictures in a bit~! :DDD

Jun updated his corner on Johnny's Web today, and it was just too hilarious to ignore.

So I'll translate a bit!

At the beginning he talks about how they're doing the dome concerts this weekend and blah blah blah.

But then...

( oh-no-he-di-int! D: )
AHAHAHAHA Jun, I always knew you were a crazy bitch XDDDD
(always love his enthusiastic emoticon usage too, lol)

I wonder if Toma will write anything on his... *runs off to check*

Someone please write a fic about this

:DDDD

Uggghh finally. Here's the 3rd part. only 2 chapters though.

Title: 4LDK

Genre: A dash of romance and a pinch of crack

Pairing: Some Ohno/Nino, friendship/OT5 ♥

Rating: PG

Summary: When Nino inherits a luxury penthouse apartment, he has to rely on his friend Aiba to find some roommates to fill it up.

Turns out this is still too big... 3 parts? I think LJ is just being dumb.

Title: 4LDK

Genre: A dash of romance and a pinch of crack

Pairing: Some Ohno/Nino, friendship/OT5 ♥

Rating: PG

Summary: When Nino inherits a luxury penthouse apartment, he has to rely on his friend Aiba to find some roommates to fill it up.

( part 2 )
On to part 3!

Sorry for the unannounced hiatus... but it's hard to feel motivated to come outside and go down 2 flights of stairs in the cold rain (>~<)

I do, however, have a gift! I'll post it officially sometime soon. I'll have to break it into 2 parts though, thanks to the stupid word limit...

Title: 4LDK

Genre: A dash of romance and a pinch of crack

Pairing: Some Ohno/Nino, friendship/OT5 ♥

Rating: PG

Summary: When Nino inherits a luxury penthouse apartment, he has to rely on his friend Aiba to find some roommates to fill it up.

a/n: This was a long time coming, but it was all inspired by eggchan’s post where she put the boys’ names into a random room generator. The floor plans were just too good to go to waste, so with a few adjustments (a lot of the doors opened outside randomly) and additional details I took the opportunity to write this ♥ I’m not that great at writing humor, but I hope you enjoy it!

On to Part 2!

Personally, this whole celebrity drug crusade is making me nauseous.

I can see them going after Sakai Noriko and that other sketch dude.  I mean, Nori-P has kids that have to deal with this whole "druggie parent" mess, and that other dude... well, there was a dead body in his apartment.

But this recent stuff about racking up as much information on all celebrities with possible drug ties?  It scares me...

A friend of mine works as a receptionist for some place in Roppongi Hills, so she sees a lot of clients who are higher-ups at major companies.  Major newspaper companies.  And they keep talking about how the police are sniffing around Johnny's, which can only mean one thing- they're looking at Ohno again.  And quite possibly Nino too. 

I very honestly don't care if they did something.  They were thrown into the entertainment business at a young age- you can't blame them if they make a few mistakes here and there.  There's no way any of them would be crazy enough to do anything over the past couple of years- I mean, even if Leader can be a bit of a rebel sometimes, I feel like he wouldn't purposely jeopardize their climb to the top.  

And I realize that "everyone looks up to celebrities" and "celebrities need to be role models for society" and "they shouldn't think they can get away with anything" and blah blah blah, but that doesn't keep them from being human.  I don't think that means they should be held to a higher standard, especially if it means being punished for past acts.  Especially if it's something so innocuous as smoking a joint every once in a while. 

And I understand that it's difficult for the police to draw a line at who they go after and who they don't... but that shouldn't mean that they just go after everybody.  That's just not logical.  Or practical, for that matter.  I mean, what good does it to do lock up an overly-tanned, wide-eyed 28-year-old idol who just wants to go fishing and may have smoked weed in the past when there are plenty of other people who have done (or are doing) much worse?  Just because he's easy to catch? 

Sorry if I come off as some ohmygodimustprotectmybelovedidoltheresnowayhecouldeverdoanythingwrong fangirl, but seriously... the thought of something happening to one of them... any of them... just wrenches at my heart.  They've given me so much emotionally- I haven't encountered a better anti-depressant yet- that if they were to disappear, I don't know what I'd do. 

Even if they've made a few mistakes here and there, that doesn't mean that they didn't work extremely hard to get where they are now.  And just because some money-hungry people come out of the woodwork with alleged photographic evidence at oh-such-perfect-timing shouldn't mean the end of all of that.  I feel like all of the wonderful things they've done for me- for someone they don't even know exists- greatly outweigh any private drugged-up escapades they might have had.

But I guess it's not my call, huh?  And even if it was, I know that my logic (or whatever you want to call this... defense? argument? I don't even know) is completely flawed when looked at from an objective standpoint.  But how can I possibly be objective about Arashi? 

I know it's kind of selfish and a little much to ask, but I really really really hope that they get by unmarred.  I'm far too much in love with this world of theirs.  I've been brought in here hand-in-hand with all of the other fans, and I don't think any of us can go back.  You know, I don't think we want to go back to a world without Arashi. 

It's weird- I can't even fathom that anymore.  A world without Arashi.  I don't like how it rolls off my tongue, and I feel nauseous just thinking about it.

Call me obsessed, call me idol-sick, call me whatever.  I still think that putting on a pair of headphones or turning on a TV is way better than popping pills or feeling miserable all the time.

Don't you?

Same deal, part II.  Enjoy! (hopefully)

Title: 楽園 (Paradise) - Part II
Pairing: Ohmiya ♥
Rating: PG
Genre: AU, fluff
Disclaimer: If I owned them, Ohmiya would've been flown off to Massachusetts for a wedding already D:
Summary: One day when Ohno's waiting for the rain to stop, he encounters a boy he's never seen before in the music room...
Word count: 5,569
Notes: The title (and inspiration) is taken from the demo version of Arashi's Fight Song.  It's actually a song that Nino wrote, composed, and recorded all on his own, and I must say that personally I find it to be much more powerful than Fight Song.  It's called 楽園 Rakuen (Paradise), and I translated the lyrics myself at the end (I don't mind if you use them or whatever... as long as you don't claim them as your own)  I also put the file up for download here, if you're interested (sorry, MU only) ALSO! Thank you so much floweranza  for giving me suggestions! It helped so much!

(Part I)

 

( Ohno liked these days the best, and he started to hope for rainy days. )

AN: How was it? :D I hope you enjoyed it~

So... I actually wrote this a while ago after being super-inspired by heartfelt Nino solos... in fact, it had basically been finished before I came to Japan.  I just never got around to posting it... floweranza  was extremely kind to read it over and give me advice/suggestions, and I think all of her points really really helped (thanks~! :D )

I've definitely been stuck in an Ohmiya rut lately, although I admit that it's much more fun down here XD  So... if you dare, take a trip into my oh-so-fluffy AU Ohmiya world.  And don't be surprised if this becomes a more frequent occurrence- I absolutely love writing. 

Ok, I've definitely spent too much time in Japan.  No more beating around the bush! On to the story! D: (sorry if you see this x-posted places)


Title: 楽園 (Paradise) - Part I
Pairing: Ohmiya ♥
Rating: PG
Genre: AU, fluff
Disclaimer: If I owned them, Ohmiya would've been flown off to Massachusetts for a wedding already D:
Summary: One day when Ohno's waiting for the rain to stop, he encounters a boy he's never seen before in the music room...
Word count: 5,569
Notes: The title (and inspiration) is taken from the demo version of Arashi's Fight Song.  It's actually a song that Nino wrote, composed, and recorded all on his own, and I must say that personally I find it to be much more powerful than Fight Song.  It's called 楽園 Rakuen (Paradise), and I translated the lyrics myself at the end (I don't mind if you use them or whatever... as long as you don't claim them as your own)  I also put the file up for download here, if you're interested (sorry, MU only) ALSO! Thank you so much floweranza  for giving me suggestions! It helped so much!

 

( It was raining the first day they met. )

AN: the only reason I split this into 2 is because LJ has stupid word limits on entries... not friendly for people who write too much like me D:

(On to Part II!)

I just downloaded these scans earlier today and decided to translate two of the fun articles included.  I'm still waiting to hear about the scans, but I did get them from karamaru_kagi , who was kind enough to upload them to arashi_on  this morning.

Anyway, I haven't gotten to the members' articles (don't know if I will, actually, seeing as I'm about to leave the country for a while) but I did Leader's extra page and the page with a breakdown of MatsuJun's body measurements (sorry, didn't translate that part... it kinda weirded me out, to be honest)  Whenever you see a number in parentheses like this (1) that means there's a footnote at the bottom of the article.

( Arashi Dictionary )

</fck:meta> ( A word from Arashi )

( Arashi Cell Phone SA-SHI-SU-SE-SO )

Again, I want to thank karamaru_kagi  for the high-quality scans.  I enjoyed taking on this little project ^^

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