I decided to start blogging for three reasons: (1) I don't write emails often enough; (2) I want a better record of my experiences; (3) I've realized that their are day-to-day moments I don't frequently tell people about, but some might find interesting.
Lately things have been slow in Japan. Since my contract is up at the end of the year, I've started to save a large sum of my monthly salary for my post-JET life. Between saving money, paying for a two week language camp, and my Portland plane ticket, I'm sorta broke.
This weekend I'll play tennis in Ise, watch a movie or two, and spend some time in the park (if the weather gets better). As the weather gets better my quality of life will dramatically improve. Not only do I live in one of the most beautiful places in the world (I'll post pictures at some point), but a very popular (and stunning) beach is only an hour away.
Though things have been slow, it's allowed me the chance to explore my town a little more. I've found a few new temples, a few new shrines, and one very beautiful waterfall. Again, I'll post pictures when I get the chance. After all, I have the internet, so I don't really have an excuse, do I?
At the moment I'm in T.V. // laundry mode. The current show is about Auckand N.Z., a place I never knew existed before coming to Japan. It's the largest city in New Zealand. And though New Zealand is supposed to be beautiful and all that, it looks like a poor man's Pacific Northwest to me. Except that they like to bungy jump off of their bridges. I've never seen that in America.
The program prior to this was about renovations. The Japanese take great pride in the interior of their houses. I think this is because the exterior is usually concrete, bland, boring, and downright ugly. Though Japan is famous for their sense of beauty (think of Kimono, zen gardens, wood block paintings), they probably have more ugly apartments than anywhere in the world (ironically enough, they call these buildings "mansions"). It's as if they stole the blue-prints from the USSR.
However, the interior of these apartments are pretty amazing. Each room has the same design and space. All of the living spaces are identical from the outside. But once you open the door, your're in a completely different world. Some are very modern, and some are very classic and traditional.
Last night I watched a movie called 耳をさますれば。 The English title, "Whisper of the heart," isn't realy a good translation. The actual translation is closer to "If you listen carefully," with the nuance of "If you listen carefully, good things will happen."
The movie is about a middle-school aged girl that spends most of her time reading. She starts noticing a trend in the books she reads: a boy is always checking out the same books as her, but usually before she does. She often daydreams about this boy. Though this is an important part of the movie, the movie starts getting interesting when the girl notices a cat on the train. A cat on the train is very strange, but she's the only person that notices the cat. She then follows the cat off the train and the adventure begins.
If you've never seen this movie, go see it. It's wonderful. Probably one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen, and it really does a good job showing what a Japanese suberb looks like. I can't really compare it to anything else... Amelie comes to mind, but they're completely different. I guess they both depict love and life really well. And they both remind me how beautiful the world can be.
And this leads me to my original purpose: The title doesn't mean "whisper of the heart." That's too romantic. Seems too much like fate. "If you listen carefully" is much more accurate (but only if you remember the nuance: if you listen cafefully, good things will happen). The world opened up to the girl when she started seeing the little details. The boy's name on the book, the cat in the train, and any number of other things. The world opened up for her when she started paying attention to what was around her. I think that Audrey Tautou's character exhibits a similar quality, and it leads to a similar result.
So go see that movie. Oh, and when you realize it's an anime, don't worry about it. There aren't any spaceships, aliens, or weird high-pitched pokemon. Though I've begun to really like anime, I haven't become an anime-dude quite yet.
