Haircut

The "Before" picture.

The other day, I went to study at the local coffee shop, and decided to get my hair cut this weekend. Every time I would look down at my notebook, my hair would fall in front of my eyes, blocking my view. No matter how I tried to push it back, it would fall right into place. I grew so frustrated that I used my left hand to hold it out of my eyes.

As I was getting dressed this morning, I must admit that I was a bit nervous of getting my hair cut. Growing up, my Father would cut my hair for me. He trimmed my mother's hair, and had cut my brothers' hair too. When I needed to get my hair cut on Oahu, I would visit a barber shop in Chinatown, but even then, that was very rare. I have never felt comfortable with anyone besides my father cutting my hair. I tense up, and get a tingly sensation in my head when they cut my hair. So not only was I nervous about what I would like after my hair cut, but I was also nervous about going to a stranger for it.

The place I decided to go to was Defrag, which opened up not far from the university. Like I said in my last post, the reason I decided on that place was because they're new and dont have many customers. I also figured that since I have nothing to compare them to, if it was a bad place, I would never know. It also was a good place, because one of the other Americans thinks the guy that works there is cute. So after meeting up, we set off to Defrag. I didnt think I needed to make a reservation, because they're almost always busy, but as it turned out, I should have done so. There are two workers there, a guy and a girl. For them, one customer means they're busy. And today just so happened to be the day they had one customer. Politely, they asked if we would come back in four hours. With nothing else to do, we said yes. Somehow, we spread four hours doing nothing between Youme Town, 味しん (lunch), and Cafe Ecran. After the time had passed, we headed back to Defrag.

I couldnt decide which of the two hairstyles I wanted at first, but after hearing my friends' opinions and thinking a bit more, I decided on the first hair style. It was really simple, and not too different from my usual hairstyle. I printed off the page and brought it with me to show the guy what I wanted.

The guy who cut my hair was really cool. He was fairly young, but I got the feeling that he was experienced and knew what he was doing. And as most Japanese in the service sector are, he was very attentive to how I was feeling, asking if he was pulling too hard on my hair and stuff. Since he put me in front of a huge mirror, I was able to watch him cut my hair. He combed my hair straight down to see how long it was (結構伸びてますね。), and misted it with water. Here and there, he began to cut my hair, starting on the one side, to the other. It was actually rather interesting to watch him cut it. I could literally feel my head becoming lighter, as more and more hair got cut off. I didnt get a picture of it, but it was a lot. And that was just the sides! As he cut the back and the top, I got my usual uncomfortable feeling, but I somehow got myself to relax. When he finally started to cut my bangs, I really got happy. The black curtain was slowly lifted away from my face, and I could see the light again! Actually, seeing my lobes was more exciting. With my hair much shorter, you can see my star earrings when you look at me head on, and I could feel the tip of my ear in the air.

After cutting my hair, the girl worker came over to wash my hair. Having your hair washed professionally was the most interesting experience I've ever had. After wrapping a towel around my neck, she lowered my head into a sink. It felt weird to have my hair be washed by two hands that werent mine. And naturally, when it came time to wash the top part of my head, I felt chills all down my spine. I dont know what kind of shampoo it was, but it was an awful pretty smell. Rinising out the shampoo and toweling it dry, it was back to Mr. Man to get it blow dried.

After drying it, I saw him grab a long, metal object. At first, I thought it was a straightener, which I thought was strange. I'm Asian; I have pretty straight hair to begin with. But upon closer inspection, it was a flat iron, and he used it to curl my hair on the top of my head, to achieve the permed look in the original. A bit of hair wax to set the curls, and to set the back of my head, the look was achieved! Although I didnt take a picture at the place (so this isnt exactly what I looked like), I did take a picture when I got back to my room. What do you think?


The "After" picture.

Since I dont have a flat iron (and I'm doubtful I should buy one), I will have to make the curls by myself when I wax my hair in the morning. And also, I needed to buy wax, which was challenging as well, because there's about a million different types of Gatsby to choose from (couldnt find whatever brand he was using). I hope this yellow Gatsby will work.

My friend that came with me said that she really liked my hair, and the British girl we ran into at Youme Town said it looked good, so I guess I'm satisfied with my hair. Dont get me wrong, I dont hate my hair, or wish that I had picked a different hairstyle. But I am very resistant to change, and miss my old hair. But you know what? Hair grows back, and right now is the time in the my life where I need to チャレンジ multiple things. It'll take some getting used to, but I am sure it will happen. I hope that everyone I meet will agree and like my hairstyle.

歌詞の翻訳 I

Way back in high school, before I understood a lot of Japanese, I would spend recesses in the Japanese classroom, looking up kanji. Although I was listening to Japanese music since about age eight, I had never known what they were about. But in high school, I was taught how to use a kanji dictionary, so finally, I was able to get at least a fuzzy understanding of what I was singing along to. However, my Japanese teacher was less than enthusiastic about my endeavours. She told me that translating song lyrics was actually really hard, and that it would be better to stick to texts.

I have never forgotten this piece of advice, and actually, I agree with it. The way songs are structured (particularly Japanese songs), sentences can be fragmented into pieces, with one sentence in two different lines, or two sentences in one line. Also, Japanese lyrics tend to mix different speech styles (mostly polite words with casual ones), which can make translation difficult. But most importantly, I'm not fluent in Japanese, so any translation I produce is bound to have errors or oddly worded structures. Knowing all of this, I still every now and then engage in a bit of translation. Because I have a strong interest in what I'm listening to (I like to know if it's a happy song or a sad song), I try just a little bit harder in understanding the words. And if I want to sing it at karaoke, I can go ahead and read the kanji onscreen, instead of reading the furigana. With all this in mind, I translated one of the songs I am just in love with right now, "近づきたくて with YU-A" from the album "K.J. with...". I've already blogged about why I loved this song, so I'm not going to go over that in depth right here. It'll probably find its way into the translation notes anyway. Just so you know, this is probably going to be long post, so I hope you dont have something to do right now.

Let's begin with the translated lyrics. I didnt try to make them fit the meter of the song, so dont take my lyrics with you to karaoke and expect them to fit. I tried to produce English as close to the original Japanese as much as possible, so some sentences are awkwardly long. Finally, I'm going to make two assumptions right now.
1. You have no interest in the music I like/listen to, so you don't need the Japanese lyrics/pronunciation guide.
2. If you are interested in the Japanese lyrics, you can read Japanese, or find a way to read Japanese. それなら、このリンクをクリックしてください。

では、let's begin! YU-A is the girl singer, and she's in pink. KJ is the guy, and in blue.

I Want to Get Closer to You with YU-A

*I want to get closer to, but I cant get closer to you
I just want to hear those two characters, [Love]
Hey, what do you think of me?
I'm, I'm
I'm still waiting now*

From your point of view, am I even now your boyfriend?
Am I a nice, older sempai? Am I a convenient conversation partner?
Even though you're just a girl friend, whenever we would meet,
Gradually, I started to care for you, and then I became someone that liked you
Without knowing I had those kinds of feelings, you would confide in me,
"Lately my boyfriend is like this, and if this keeps up, it looks like we'll break up"
And I would lend an ear, with a messed up state of mind,
I needed to confess to you, but I couldnt say it, not in front of you, with your head down

*repeat

It's the weekend, you're definitely out with your boyfriend
That day, I couldnt get the sight of your pre-breakup face out of my head
It was Saturday night, and the town was as festive as ever, but I was looking at the TV, not paying attention to what was on
By myself, worrying endlessly, at that time, I got your text
"Hey, can you meet me now?" I responded quickly, and flew from my house
Our meeting place was that family restaurant, I could see you sitting in a window seat
All tonight, I wanted to tell you my feelings, clearly and exactly
If not, let's end this relationship, I cant stand it, just being friends

*repeat

Someday, I wonder if we'll be able to share our feelings?
Even though I want to know you more, are we just friends?

I want to hear it
What are you to me? And more importantly, what am I to you?
What the hell
Is it the same as before, that we're just really good friends?
I won't run away
Say it clearly, even if it breaks the friendship we've had until now
I want to get over this
Any more than this, I cant hold back my feelings

Fine I'll just say it now, one word, "Love"...

*repeat

*repeat

Translation notes:

The sentence in the first verse, the one about the confession, was the hardest one for me to translate. In the original Japanese, it says: 切り出せずにいる告白のタイミング　ただうつむいてる君の前に It comes out as gibberish if I translate it literally (naturally), so I had to improvise. My interpretation of this part is that the girl tells the guy that she's going to break up with her boyfriend. If the girl you liked said that, wouldnt you want to tell her that you like her? But the guy cant say it, because she told him that with her head down. When the target is feeling like poo, you should probably not make your move.

The second verse (and in parts of the bridge-y part) have the words ハッキリ (hakkiri) and　ちゃんと (chanto) in them. Depending on how they're used, they can be hard to translate. ハッキリ means "Clearly", as in "Say it clearly" ハッキリ言おう (which is the original lyrics), so that's easy enough. But ちゃんと is a bit harder. Jisho.org defines it as "Perfectly, properly, exactly". But basically, what he's saying is that he needs to express his feelings for the girl, plain and simple. No misunderstandings.

I learned a few interesting words from translating this song. For example, 耳を傾ける means literally, "To incline one's ear", but figuratively means to lend an ear, similar to English. Also, 別れ際 (wakaregiwa), which means "On the verge of breaking up". This is kind of a grammar lesson, because according to my kanji dictionary (need to double check with the grammar one later), Verb +　際 means "on the verge of verb". I'll have to remember that for later use. Also 悶悶 (monmon), which means "Endlessly worrying". With 際, before I take a test, I can say 落ち際じゃけん、悶悶してるよ！ I'm about to fail, so I'm worrying like crazy!

I already knew this one, but I don't know how to use it like a Japanese person. The verb for "to see" and "to hear" are usually written 「見る miru」 and 「聞く kiku」. However, there are two other characters that mean the same in English, and also are read the same way: 「観る」 and 「聴く」. How do they differ? My understanding is, the latter two have a little more oomph in them. That is, when you hear your graduation song, perhaps, or your grandmother's favorite tune, you 聴く them. When you're looking at something real closely, taking note of every inch of it, you're ‘観るing it. If you use 聞く or 見る, you're just listening, or looking, nothing serious involved. How correct my explanation is, I don't know for sure. 聴く was explained to me by a Japanese teacher, but even then, she wasnt very specific (like is it only used in a literary sense, or is it okay to use in a text message?), and I'm extrapolating for 観る. In any case, this is one of the advantages of kanji: To visually indicate the emotiveness of a word. Isnt the Latin alphabet boring that way?

The number of songs I dont understand is still pretty huge, and the so is the number of songs with awesome lyrics. I have no problem finding another song to translate. And since I need to study for the Japanese placement exam for next term, there is a high possibilty that I will do this again. I have also been thinking of translating an English song I like into Japanese. I recently received the Japanese translation for a Korean song I like, and it got me thinking. I have never tried that before, so maybe it is time to start.

日本髪

While here in Japan, my hair has not stopped growing. Normally, I usually get my hair cut every three months, because that's when I go back to Hilo and my usual barber (my father). But it is far to expensive to go to back to Hilo, so my hair hasnt been cut at all. My last haircut was sometime in September; it is now March. Quite possibly, this is the longest my hair has ever been. The most obvious place to see how much my hair has grown is my bangs. Normally, they're somewhere up by my eyebrows; right now, they brush the upper part of my mouth. Many people have already commented that I really need a haircut. I couldnt agree more. In windy weather, my vision is obscured by a mass of black, and it takes about two hours for my hair to dry completely (no, I dont have a hair dryer). I dont even know why I bother trying to arrange my hair these days, because it is simply shapeless and gross. However, the reason why I havent cut my hair yet is because I havent picked a hairstyle yet.

Because my father cuts my hair, I've never gotten a real "hairstyle". It's only been trimmed to stay short. Unlike guys here in Japan (and some people on the mainland), I've never colored it, had it permed, or used any type of product to style it in the mornings. Since this the first time I've been in Japan for a whole year, and thinking that I should make it somewhat memorable, I've decided that I want to get an "Asian hairstyle". I asked my good friend Google for help, and I found a website with all sorts of different hairstyles, for both men and women. After looking at about three hundred and sixty images, I found two hairstyles I really like. I know I cant rock the crazy Asian hairstyle, the one with daily straightening and liberal amounts of wax, so I stuck to very simple styles.


There are images from different angles here and here respectively.

As to where I'm going to get it done, and the cost, I have absolutely no idea. For whatever reason, there is no shortage of hair salons near the university. There's a simple barber across the street from the univeristy, the one with the sexy stylists by 味しん (I dont think so, but the girls do), and one near 7-11. But the one that I have a small inkling of desire to go to is Defrag, which is on the way to the supermarket. It's a new establishment, that only opened up sometime this month, and I imagine because it's new, it is always very empty (though I suppose it could also be simply because it has so much competition). I feel sorry for the owner (whoever that is), and thus feel like I should give them my business. However, because it's new, I cant ask around to see if there is a better shop. They may charge too much, or maybe they will make a mistake. Then again, I suppose taking a risk is the whole point of this excercise.

Since my Japanese isnt precise enough to describe what kind of hairstyle I want, after I choose a hairstyle, I'm going to print up the page with all the information on it. The multiple pictures can probably describe the hairstyle better than I ever could, and there are short notes on the left side of the page about the style. To cover my bases, I'm hoping I can get/drag a Japanese person with me, so that I wont look like a complete idiot, and I imagine some of the remaining Americans will tag along to offer moral support. I could act like a crazy person and just go by myself, but I have no 根性 (cojones), so that's highly unlikely. If you have any advice or opinions on this whole thing, I'd appreciate it so much.

あそぼう

Today I went to a local preschool to play with the kids there. A former HUSA staffer was looking for volunteers to help sing English games, and since I had nothing else planned, I told her I'd go. I dont really care for children; the only experience I have with them is teaching them to swim, and even that I'm usually on edge. Although I was worn out from playing with the kids, I had a lot of fun, and wouldnt mind going again.

There were us four Americans, one Frenchman, and the guy from Indonesia. When we arrived at the preschool, I was amazed. It was the most ornate preschool I've ever been to. My preschool (Kaumana Baptist Keikiland in case you were wondering) was a very small one by comparison. There were maybe three classrooms, a kitchen, and a playground. Because it was run by a church, there was also a sanctuary, but we hardly played there. It was a tiny little place, and a bit on the old side. On the other hand, the preschool we went to (I dont remember its name) was a huge building, with two floors. After entering the genkan like area, there were a few rooms that I could see, as well as the staircase to get to the second floor. The second floor had multiple classrooms as well, and also a reading pit, where I suppose you could gather the children for a presentation of some sort. I've never gone on a preschool viewing trip, but the preschools I know are hardly comparable.

The structured part of the visit was rather short. We were told to introduce ourselves, saying our name, country of origin, and how to say "こんにちは konnichiwa" in that language. As Americans, it was easy, because most everyone speaks English these days. But I think French and Indonesian really threw them for a loop. After that, we sang some songs. One was about animals, and the different sounds they make. In case you didnt know, animals make different sounds, depending on what language you speak. For example, English speaking dogs say "bow wow" or "woof", but a Japanese dog will say "wan wan". Then we sang "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes", which was fun. I dont know if any of the kids learned any English from it, but it was good to move around, I suppose. Finally, we ended with "London Bridge is Falling Down", which I havent done in a long time. And when I say "I havent done it", it's because we were eventually included in the game. It was a bit uncomfortable, having to squat down to pass through the arms of the little children, but at least I only had five feet and four inches to deal with. One of the Americans is a lot closer to six feet than I am, and I have no idea how he managed to get down there.

After all that, the American I mentioned above read Momotaro to the kids. Because only one person was needed to read, the rest of us sat amongst the kids. This was the beginning of the hardest part, for me. I can read, sing, and even make crafts with kids with relatively little problems. But I dont play well with kids. I dont want to accidentaly drop a kid, so I dont pick them up, and in my old age, I just dont know what to do with kids. While we were sitting down, one of the boys decided I looked like a comfortable chair, and just sat on me. He wasnt heavy or anything, but with adults, you cant just sit on someone. And when you sit on them, you surely cant lean back into them, and force them into a reclining position. And yet, that's what the kid did to me. One of the Americans next to me mentioned that I looked terrified, and that was a pretty good description of what I was feeling. It's a good thing I know how that whole story goes, because I didnt hear a word of it. I was too busy trying not to scream about the kid sitting in my lap.

That concluded the structured part of our visit. For the next half hour or so, we were allowed to play in the playground with the kids. Although we all went willingly, we were more or less dragged there, with maybe two kids on each arm, and a couple more on various parts of our clothes. It was here that I learned an important lesson: Children are very difficult to understand if they speak a language you dont know. We later found out they wanted to play tag with us, but while they were trying to explain the game to us, none of us could understand what they were saying. As one of the other Americans pointed out, it didnt help that they didnt try to rephrase what we didnt understand, so it was the same jumble of sounds every time. I got a little frustrated because of this. Not angry, of course, but c'mon, these are kids, these arent exactly verbose soliloquies. I managed to get away from these group of kids because I was dragged to the jungle gym type thing. I watched them climb here and there, my heart skipping a beat every time one of them jumped down. I was so afraid that they would jump down and break a bone or something, but they really did enjoy themselves. While we were playing, they asked me all sorts of questions, like how old I was, or if of us were friends. A couple asked about my earrings, and were in awe of my industrial. I havent been a kid in such a long time, it was refreshing to spend some time with these children. Alas, the time came for us to leave, and we sadly did depart. As we put on our shoes, the kids asked us, "Will you be back again?", or "Please dont go!". I left a lot more reluctantly than I thought I would.

To answer their question, I dont think I will ever go back to the preschool. The staffer that organized this short little trip will soon be moving away from this part of Hiroshima, so she wont be going back. And the preschool itself is quite a bit aways from the university. I am told that my predecessor here enjoyed these trips so much he eventually became a volunteer there, but I dont think that will happen to me. While not an unpleasant experience, because it isnt so easy to get there, I dont think I can commit to making the trip very often. But I am happy that I took a chance and went along this one time. I had a lot more fun than I was expecting, and I'd like to think that I made some new, if tiny friends, at the school.

Earthquake

Yesterday, while taking a break from reading Cracked.com, I got a message from someone on facebook. They hoped that I was alright, and to message them back when I could. At first, I thought it was because I had just changed my privacy settings to super high, and that they thought I was feeling down. At the same time, I decided to check twitter, where I read that there had been a massive earthquake in the Tohoku region of Japan.

At around quarter to three in the afternoon yesterday, there was an earthquake off the coast of Sendai, Miyagi prefecture. Initial estimates of its magnitude were around 7 according to the United States Geological Survey, but it was later revised several times, to its current magnitude of 9. On the Japanese Meteorlogical Agency's scale, it is magnitude 7, which is the highest on the scale. It is the strongest earthquake to have hit Japan since records have been kept, and it ranks as the fifth largest earthquake in the world. Because of the earthquake, there have been multiple tsunami located in the Tohoku area. Looking at pictures of the affected areas, it is frightening. Waves crawling up land and totally demolishing houses, boats, and roadways, tossing cars aside as if they were toys. The entire Sendai Airport is submerged, complicating connecting flights to Narita and Haneda Airport. Although the epicenter of the earthquake was located off the coast of Sendai, not only the Tohoku Region, but also the Kanto Area, has been affected. In Chiba Prefecture, there was an oil refinery that ignited and blazed out of control. Of all the pictures I have seen, that scene is the most frightening I have seen. A huge red fireball burns, with black smoke billowing away. Fire fighters were unable to control the blaze for a long time, because it was simply too hot to approach.


The oil refinery in Chiba on fire.

According to NHK, the death toll is (as of 4:27 PM 12 March) around a thousand people dead, with hundreds more missing. Most casualties are because of the tsunami which have been repeatedly pouding the coastline. But there have been reports of people dying because they fell or had things fall on them during the shaking. Hundreds of people have been driven from their homes, and many are without power and running water.

Actually being in Japan while this is all going on, makes it a whole lot scarier for me, than it would be if I was in Hawaii. I mean, I'd still feel bad, but right now, I have friends in Tohoku and Tokyo. Thankfully, they are safe, but to be honest, I dont know how I would have handled it if they were hurt (or worse). From what they've posted on facebook, they're without power and inconvenienced, but alive and unhurt. Since I learned of this whole thing, I've been watching the live stream from NHK World's website. Also, I've been opening Twitter a lot more often, to see what the BBC or NYT is reporting, as well as translating NHK's tweets. Although it's not really anything, I somehow feel that this is my small part in helping. I would like to donate money to the Red Cross, by texting that 90999 number, but it doesnt work in Japan.

I am thankful to report that here in Hiroshima, we have not been affected at all by this terrible disaster. But I cannot help but feel sad at the pain the people of Tohoku are feeling. So many people are dead, and those who are alive have lost so much. But humans are resiliant, none more so than the Japanese. They are strong, and will survive this tradgedy.

Music Review

Most of my friends back in Hawaii dont listen to the same music that I do. And that's the way it's always been, so I've just gotten used to not talking about what I like to listen to. But in the HUSA program, I'm lucky to have found people with similar interests. One of my friends here has posted several music reviews on her blog (which you can read here and here), and I think I'll join her on this bandwagon. Also, I very much believe that these two albums are among the best I've ever heard (as one friend would say, they are "eargasms").

The first album we'll discuss is MBLAQ's "BLAQ Style" album. MBLAQ is a five member KPop group, and I started listening to them by chance, when I saw one of their performances on Youtube. I'll be honest, at first I was like, "Okay, standard KPop fare"; but after listening to more of their songs, and watching their other videos on youtube, I was much more keener on them. When I heard that they were going to release an album this year, I was very excited. Although I was two months late, I finally managed to pick up my copy last month, during my trip to Kyoto.


MBLAQ - Cry

Quite honestly, this is the best KPop album I have ever bought. My favorite song is "Cry", which is the video above. I dont really care for the whole eye makeup thing going on, but as a song, I really do love it. I still have to go look up the lyrics, but from what I gather, it's one of those "Dont break up with me" songs. I have a couple of other songs that I really like on this album, but they're all in Korean, so I have no idea how they're pronounced, so I cant very well tell you them. But that's besides the point. Whenever I play this album, my mood is instantly brightened, and all is better. According to Wikipedia, they're scheduled to make their Japan debut in May, with concerts in Sapporo, Fukuoka, and Osaka, among other places. Am I debating the pros and cons of seeing them in person? ...Maybe.
:D

The second album I'm nuts about is "KJ With...", and as you can imagine, all of the tracks are collarborations between this artist KJ (Kohei Japan) and various other singers. I learned about this album after I subscribed to Pony Canyon's youtube channel. Of all the record labels in Japan, Pony Canyon is pretty small, and I'm not a big fan of a lot of their singers, but I sure am glad I'm subscribed to their channel! From what I gather, Kohei Japan is a rapper, and most of his discography is just that - rap. I'm not into rap. But I really do think I'll change my opinion on that, at least for this album.


近づきたくて with YU-A - KJ feat. YU-A

The video above is the music video for "近づきたくて with YU-A", and is actually the second track I heard from this album. However, it is definitely my favoite track because of its lyrics. The song title translates to something like "I want to get closer to you", and the rest of the song is basically about that. I'm sure we've all been in that position: You're really good friends with this person, and you cant help but think about how happy you would be together. And yet, you're not sure about how they feel about you, and it's driving you crazy. In the song the KJ finally tells the girl, "If we're just going to be friends, let's just end it right now". And I'm not going to lie, that kind of feeling is what I really enjoy. Maybe it's the masochist in me, but as much as I hate it, I also enjoy longing and wanting someone. Is that why I love this song so much? Because it's basically me?

Like I said in the beginning, it's always been the case with me that my friends havent been interested in the same music as me. And it's not wrong to disagree with me as to what constitutes wonderful music. But these two albums are definitely on the list of the top ten best albums I have ever bought. Money well spent, I would say.