Japanese Music. Part 1.

This is one of my favorite topics with Japan, only because I love Japanese music, beats, lyrics, EVERYTHING! Really this part of the blog will just be me ranting on about some of my favorite songs and singers. 

First, I'll cover Vocaloid.

Now there are many singers, but I will only list a few and add one of their songs to save space. First is Miku Hatsune, the most popular and the first model of the series to be born. Her voice is soprano, so high notes are easily hit by her. She is more frequently heard performing pop songs, but being that she is part of Vocaloid she is only a program, and if you can work her properly she will sound good in whatever type of song you want. Like the other Vocaloids, Miku has a character item (leek) and is appearing about 16 years of age. She has long greenish colored hair, sometimes said to be a cyan/teal color. Her male counter part is Mikuo, who just has a bit of a lower tone to his voice.

One of my favorite songs by Miku is one called BPM.

The song is cutesy and includes two other Vocaloids for a short period of time. The beat is, oddly enough, 123 beats per second (last time I checked) and so it is a toe-tapper even if you aren't a fan of pop music. The artwork of the video is also very cutesy and bright, fitting to Miku's normally joyous personality. As stated, Miku's only limitations are what her owner can produce with her voice program.

Next we'll cover the twins, Rin and Len Kagamine. Now, their names in Japanese mean: Rin = Right, Len = Left, Kagamine = Blending Melody. The translation is rough, feel free to correct. Their character items are orange, banana, and my personal favorite, RODA ROLLA. :D Rin and Len's songs tend to hold a darker, more sinister side to them, but there are a few that are pop and cutesy for personal fans of Miku. A personal favorite of mine includes them both as a duet, and it is a song called Trick and Treat.

The video, again, has wonderful art and is based off a popular anime called Reborn!, or so I am told as I have never watched said anime per say. ^^;

Last Vocaloid I will cover is going to be my favorite of them all, Luka Megurine! She is the pink haired singer of the Vocaloids, and her character item is a tuna. She is more often than not used for ballad songs, or rock as her voice is very powerful. And not only that, but she is also one of the few Vocaloids who can speak not only Japanese, but English. Now my most favorite song of all by her is Just Be Friends.

The beat is absolutely amazing and the English translation of the Japanese lyrics are somewhat heartbreaking. This is a song that most miss, simply because Luka is not all that popular, though she is a major Vocaloid she is more often than not overlooked. Her voice, and the lyrics often combined with her songs make me love her the most out of all Vocaloids.

Right, I'll do a few normal bands now, and perhaps continue onward, nee?

Now, Japanese music is so much better to me than American, simply because of lyrics, sound, and of course ACTUAL TALENT. But, some people dislike it simply because they cannot understand what is being said, and they don't want to bother reading a translation. So, they are missing out on a fantastic musical culture and that's their loss.

A band I just recently saw live, and adore, is called Lix. They are awesome, they have a fashion sense of a pop band, but most of their songs is heavy metal or screamo and it's just hard to resist the beauty of it all.~ Now, my FAVORITE song by them (and it was hard to pick) is one called Devil's Heaven.

Of course, you just have to love the sound of the lead singer, and then there is always the actual band~ I just adore them, they are so absolutely lovely. <3

Another one is Hyde, and I learned of them from an anime called 'Blood+' and I'll cover that later on in my blog. But none the less, they are not as heavy as Lix but they are rock and the lead singer just has the smoothest voice ever, I just adore the drawl of his Japanese accent as well whenever he speaks English. So, I'll include the song that introduced me to them, and that would be Season's Call.

Watching the video adds appeal, so may I suggest taking five minutes or so aside to admire the beauty that is the band Hyde? Because they are one sexy group, if I may say so myself~ ;) Just gotta love that voice, nee?

Anyway, I don't wanna overload this post with music, I'll start part two at another time, later on in the blog. x)

また来て、読んでくれてありがとう友人

(thank you for reading, come again, my friend)

Japanese Clothing.

Now everyone who loves Japan knows how the clothing is and such. Surely some of the greatest fans are cosplayers, not everyone may find it impressive or awesome to dress up like characters and get some of the coolest looking outfits ever, but that's fine because there are a bunch of other ways to show your love for Japan. Ways I'll cover later on, for now let's stick to our topic of cosplay and just roll with it. :D

When you cosplay, you have to be prepared to not be shy about it! If you look great in your cosplay, you'll be stopped countless times to get a photograph, might even make a few fans and forever love cosplaying as that character. But the key is DON'T BE OVER CONFIDENT! You have to be in character when cosplaying, this is very important! Sure, you can break your character when you want, but it ruins the purpose if you act normal and not like a diva if you're dressed as Sheryl Norm from Macross Frontier, or if you're dressed as 'female' Ciel Phantomhive and you're not acting bashful about having to wear a dress~ I have to say, I have met a girl who looked perfect dressed as Enma Ai from Hell Girl, but she was so shy and sweet, I just felt disappointed! Cosplaying is about being something or someone else, so have fun and don't be afraid to practice a new accent or two, nee? ;D

But, of course cosplay is not the only thing Japanese culture is known for producing.  School uniforms have been made extremely popular by how the Japanese make them so adorable. Sweater vests and plaid skirts are just too much to ignore! In a good way, duh. As much as the school uniform has been made popular, a type of fashion called Lolita has made it's way to America and though most might not know they are wearing something considered 'Loli' it is easy how to identify if you are and if you are a particular style. Gothic Lolita is known for having dark colors but something that looks very sweet and cute. Such as puffed skirts with white lace on them, or shirts/pants with belts holding it together here and there. Even the colorful tutus one might find in Hot Topic are inspired from Lolita fashion! My favorite part to Loli though is the shoes, as typical as it may sound of a girl, the shoes are awesomely... well, awesome! Knee high leather boots covered in belts and straps are very usual to see in Japan, along with brown leather boots and things of that nature. Heels that are five inches tall and platform boots that are nine inches tall sometimes! Tiny hats that look like they belong to itty bitty teddy bears, that's how cute they are. Bunny ears, cat ears, maid suits, everything you could think of that looks cutesy and out of place is probably Japanese!

Now with all the girly stuff out of the way...
> u >
< u <

Kimonos are something still traditionally worn in Japan, and they get more and more beautiful. Though Geisha's and their disciples, Maiko, are not frequently seen any longer, their beauty remains imprinted on the many kimonos that can be located in Japan and sometimes imported to America. (would one be interested, Kimono in Japanese translates literally to ki 'wear' and mono 'thing') Now a Kimono has a way to wear and many parts you must put on correctly. Such as, a Kimono must always be worn with the left side over the right, and are often wore with traditional shoes called a geta or a zori, and of course split-toed socks called tabi. Now, there are different types of kimono. Such as an unmarried woman wears a furisode where the sleeves nearly reach the floor. And in spring, normally during firework festivals, etc. girls wear a thin Kimono called a yukata with often bright colors and designs upon it. Now, there are many parts to a Kimono, but I will list them from the top of the Kimono to the Bottom, first in Japanese then in English. 
Doura, Eri, Fuki, Furi, Maemigoro, Miyatsukuchi, Okumi, Sode, Sodeguchi, Sodetsuke, Susomawashi, Tamoto, Tomoeri, Uraeri, Ushiromigoro.
(upper lining on kimono, collar, hem guard, sleeve below armhole, main front panel, opening under sleeve,  front inside panel, sleeve, sleeve opening, armhole, lower lining, sleeve pouch, collar protector, inner collar, main back panel.)

Kimono's have a long history and a lot more parts and instructions to them, and I can go on all day about them, really. But if you honestly have more interest in learning about the history of the Kimono go ahead and google it or put it in on wikipedia. I'm sure you'll find something. :)

So I shall leave this topic at that for now, perhaps I will do a single post strictly about the Kimono and more of it's history, but for now I must start working on the next post which will most likely be about Japanese musical styles and instruments. So I hope you enjoyed this post and I hope it helped you a little bit to learn more about Japan and it's clothing styles. 

また来て、読んでくれてありがとう友人

(thank you for reading, come again, my friend)

Japanese Dances.

Everyone knows that Japan has not only the catchiest music, but also amazing dance choreography. I am a dancer myself, but these dances can be extremely tricky to learn, as most might know who attempt to learn the foot work and such. One of the hardest dances, in my opinion, is Strobe Nights by a program called Vocaloid, and in particular the one singing - Hatsune Miku. 

This is the particular video I learned the dance from. The name of the dancer? I am not sure, all I know is that she is an amazing one. As you probably would have figured by now, or already know, Hatsune Miku is the one actually singing the song and that is just a really good dance performing the choreography originally done on a computer program called MMD. Well, that is where it originates from, as far as I know. I will cover MMD and more Vocaloid items in a different entry. This dance may look a lot easier than it actually is, which is common with Japanese Dances. They look easy, and simple despite the mixture of heavy footwork and handwork most of the time. Then, when you actually try to learn the dance, you realize how challenging it actually is. I have been trying to learn this dance for going on a Month now, and I don't even have the full first and second part down yet myself.

For this particular dance though, I will give a few pointers that helps me out to learn it.

[*] Tempo. It's all about keeping with the beat, and believe it or not tending to mouth the words along to the song can help you a lot more than you may think. The lyrics tend to coming and signal certain parts of the songs, and when you learn the lyrics you can learn when that signal is coming and memorize the next part a lot faster than you might without the tempo in your head.

[*] Beat. This one is obvious, in order to keep with the song you need to hear it in some shape or form. Whether singing it, on a computer, or on a CD in a boom box, actually hearing the song makes all the difference. Since this song has such a heavy beat and nearly all the moves blend in with it, having the music particularly loud will be a bit helpful at first, and slowly as you get more into knowing the moves you can turn it down to a normal level. That beat is a larger help than you might believe.

[*] Breathing. Now I understand, when you do such physically demanding dances, you want to pant right afterward or sit down. But don't. You have to control your breathing, make it even so you don't tire. To learn this dance in a short amount of time, you're going to have to practice it far more than once a day. And that's Daily, naturally. The breathing is more important when actually dancing though. It's hard to focus on your breathing, your hands, and your feet all at once, I can understand that as well. But it's very important you don't breathe too slowly, or too rapidly. It can make all the difference. Having a fan on low facing towards you is helpful as well.



Strobe Nights isn't the most popular dance out there though. I'm fairly confident in saying most people now a days either associate Caramelldansen with Japan [it's a swedish song, in origin] or a more popular song like Hare Hare Yukai. And there is no issue in that, Hare Hare Yukai is a wonderfully fun and easy dance to learn, and you can just have a blast when dancing to it with a few friends.

Hare Hare Yukai is so simple though, it's nearly impossible to get winded actually performing the dance, or to be taken as a pro while doing it. Why, you may ask? Because, it's frequently seen and very popular. It's far from the road less traveled on. If you go to You Tube and type in searching for a cover of the song, hundreds - maybe even thousands - of videos will appear to be seen. Nico Nico Douga will be talked about later on in the Blog, so don't even bother counting the entries on there just yet.

Because of it's simplicity, I have no real pointers to this particular dance. But just because it's simple does not been it's not fun or impressive to do. Not everyone can dance, and Japanese dances in particular are much harder than American ones. In fact, I consider Japanese dancing more classy and impressive than the American version of dancing, which is things such as 'grinding' according to most people you may speak to.

I will cover this topic further on in the blog, after covering a few different corresponding ones. 

My First Blog.

My first blog for this particular topic. Exciting, isn't it? When you realize there is a place where you can confess what you feel, think, and want everyone else to know before they get into anything important? Yep, and that's what I hope to do here.

In this blog, I will - as the topic states - be discussing everything and anything to do with Japan. I have a lot of knowledge with this particular area, watch anime and manga, and can even speak some Japanese myself. And one day I hope to move to Tokyo, where I can work as an English translator, or writing stories for mangas. Even voice acting for animes would be awesome.

And though this first entry is short, please at least bother to read it please! It will probably discuss about anything and everything that may be a question asked here, or a way to contact me in case you want me to review something in particular, do more research on this or read a book about that. Speaking of contacting me, please email me at cindrella0001@yahoo.com. This is a business email, if you will, and I will tend to respond a lot faster if it is titled something along the lines of 'Please Read'. Fan mail, and even hate mail can be sent to this email. I won't reply though of course if it is flat out rude.

So here it is, the beginning of a Journey of Japanese information and discovery about everything and anything Japanese. From cosplaying to Dolfies, or anime to nenodroids. I will be here to cover anything you might not understand and even give my personal opinion on reviews of animes, mangas, or even graphic novels and video games if I can get my hands on it.