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Weekend in Big D

At the Dallas Zoo

We spent the weekend up in Dallas, visiting the Zoo, having dinner at Teppo and seeing all the crazy St. Patrick’s Day party peeps, and checking out the museums, including BodyWorlds, which was amazing, but kinda gross. Will post more pics later! Now I have to rest… the drive back down to Austin was crazy.

Himitsu no Hanazono (ヒミツの花園) Update

The other night I watched episodes 8 and 9 of Himitsu no Hanazono (ヒミツの花園), and it is really interesting. When this series started, I had thought that it would really be lighthearted and silly, with no serious drama, but I was wrong. Episode 9 especially was great, with one of the big secrets of the story finally being revealed. I am still wondering which of the brothers that the main character will end up with, and so far I’d break it down with Wataru getting a 35% chance, Satoshi getting a 15% chance, and a 50% chance she will not end up with anyone.

Maya Miki (真矢みき), who plays Ryoko, is excellent and funny, and really adds a lot to the story. She used to be one of the stars of Takarazuka Ruvue, which is a troupe that does musicals, where all the players are women. It’s very popular. I’d have to say that her acting is probably the best of the cast, a little over-the-top, but her timing is excellent and each scene with her in it is really fun to watch.

I think this dorama is supposed to have 11 episodes, so just a couple more weeks to go!

IKEA


Went to IKEA yesterday to have some breakfast and do a little shopping. For those of you complaining that it is too damned crowded at IKEA, just go Sunday morning. I guess everyone is at church, because at 10am, we got to park right by the entrance. At the cafe, there were only a few families, so no waiting. And we could feed the family for $7.73. That was two “big breakfasts”, two coffees, and two chocolate milks. Not bad, even though the eggs were the consitency of silicone. Tasted good, though. Anyways, after that, we put Bay in the little playland area, and he had fun with the other kids while Koa, Mariko and I shopped. Koa would have enjoyed it, except there is a rule that the kids need to be potty-trained: no diapers or pullups. So he got to ride in the shopping cart with us, and he did pretty good. When we left at about 12:45pm, it still wasn’t too crowded, although the parking lot was getting full.

Lunch No Joou


I just started watching “Lunch No Joou” (Lunch Queen) last night and was up until 4am (of course). I made it through episode 8, and it is getting exciting. The first couple episodes were sorta ho-hum, but it picks up, with a developing love story and some real tear-jerker scenes as well. Where I am at now in the story is where more mystery comes into play, with Natsumi’s past coming back to haunt her.

All-in-all, this is a good drama. It’s got lots of stars, including Yama-P, Itoh Misaki, and Yamada Takayuki. A bonus is that most of the story takes place in their restaurant, where there are plenty of beatiful food shots. It makes me so hungry to watch. At about midnight, my stomach was growling with the shots of hamburg steak and omu-raisu!

Suppli (サプリ/ Sapuri)


Mariko and I started watching Suppli this week, and we both really like it. I guess its because Mariko likes KAT-TUN) and I like Misaki Itoh, especially when she wears her geek-chic glasses. The story is pretty good so far (only one episode has been shown), with Itoh as the experienced campaign planner in an advertising agency and Kame as the reluctant part-time worker who just started. The acting is pretty good, and really I love how the show captures the feeling of living in Tokyo. This drama really makes me miss living and working there, even though it was a long time ago. I get a natsukashii feeling when I watch Suppli. Even in this first episode, the yurikamome train going to Odaiba, and the photos of Tokyo Tower bring back great memories.

The ending of the show where the credits scroll is really well done, with still images from the story, and the photos are kind of holga-like in appearance. It’s very cool. I think the music goes perfectly. ([url=/media/video/Sapuri_ep01_ending.mov”>Click here to dl a QuickTime movie of the ending, 6.7MB, mov)

Speaking of the ending song, the name of it is “Real Voice” and it is sung by

Lastly, here’s the CM for the drama (3MB, mp4)

New DVD Player

I picked up a Philips DVP5140 DVD player the other day at Costco for only $49, and it is great! The advantage of this player is that it can play .avi movies directly. So, to watch all the Japanese dramas we have, we can just pop in a DVD+R and peruse the files. Before, I’d have to hook up my laptop to the TV with the sVideo cable. That was kind of a hassle, and something that Mariko didn’t know how to do. It was actually the switching of the monitor signal, fooling with the extended desktop, and controlling the mouse pointer on the tv screen that made it tricky.

Other benefits of the new Philips is that it can automatically read .srt (subtitle) files as long as they have the same name as the movie file. So, you got your avi’s, your .srt’s, and you are ready to go! Also, the player can be made region-free in just a few seconds by adding in a code. The only lame thing about the player is that the video output does not include sVideo, but there are component outs as well as standard RCA. Not a big deal for us at all, though!

Densha Otoko

Our friend gave us Densha Otoko to watch, and I am totally into it! I was up again until 4:30am last night watching. (I got up to episode 5) It’s even more addicting than Gokusen. The drama is based on a true story of an otaku, Yamada Tsuyoshi (Itoh Atsushi ) who has a chance meeting with a beautiful woman, Aoyama Saori (Itoh Misaki), and how he gets advice from his BBS (Internet chat room) on how to proceed with the relationship. It’s so funny to see all the otaku references, and neat to know that it is a true story. It must be somewhat altered to make it more over-the-top, as most Japanese dramas of this sort are, but still, it’s kind of cool.

There’s lots of funny parts, like when the Imperial March (from Star Wars) ringtone comes on when the bad person calls, or the reactions and expressions of the BBS denizens, including Nasubi! The scenes in Akihabara and all the other otaku scenes are hilarious as well. I like how they capture the feel of the chatroom, where most people are supportive, but there are a couple trolls as well. I like the main actors, and because Itoh Misaki is a babe, even the slow parts in the story are not unpleasant to watch. :). She was in Gokusen 1 as the “pretty teacher”, btw.

Read more:
J-Drama Wiki (nice synopsis there)
Official Site at Fuji TV
Densha Otoko Discussion thread at jdorama.com