o.cha

[oolongcha]

2024 Summary

It's been 3 years since I did one of these, but let's revive this effort.

1. What did you do in 2024 that you’d never done before? I traveled to Thailand, that was really cool. First SE Asian country I've been to. I also spoke in front of a crowd of 4,000 people at Anime Expo for the Re:ZERO season 3 premiere panel, that was absolutely insane.

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I've actually been doing New Years resolutions since moving to Japan since I have accountabili-buddies, but this year was not full of accomplishments. I did do more translation work so I'm happy that side job is going well.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? My friend in Japan who I met in San Francisco had her first child! So much respect for parents, it's so hard to raise a kid.

4. Did anyone close to you die? Doesn't count as "close" per say, but Seika-san who was my parent's friend passed away in December. It seemed he lived a very long and fulfilling life at least.

5. What countries did you visit? I went back home to America for a bit for Anime Expo and as mentioned before, I visited Thailand for vacation in August.

It was a great trip and I highly recommend it, especially for solo travelers!

6. What would you like to have in 2025 that you lacked in 2024? I would like to make friends who are passionate about art. Since moving to Japan, I've made some casual creative friends, but I would like to befriend people who really want to continue to pursue art and continuously improve/grow.

7. What date from 2024 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? Let's see... I think seeing Woven City in October after construction was almost completed made a strong impression on me. The city is real and it's coming to life! And it also was nerve-racking because the software work needs to get there soon!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? I would have to pick Anime Expo, speaking in front of such a huge crowd and having such a fun time with the Re:ZERO group is going to be unforgettable!

9. What was your biggest failure? The only thing I can really think of is some work things that ultimately wasn't really our fault, we did everything we were supposed to do and even beyond, but the communication from the other team was a failure. I can't really go into details, but that was incredibly annoying.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Nothing serious. I did get food poisoning during my Thailand trip which sucked because I missed out on some local delicacies, but I did get to try a lot of good food before it happened.

11. What was the best thing you bought? Um, I guess I bought a new SSD because the old one was ancient and was on its death bed. My computer is almost completely functional now!

[EDIT]: Upon reflection, although functionally, the SSD was great, the thing that brought me the most joy was the Raven ZZ plant because I've been trying to buy it for years, but it's so overpriced online. I found it for really cheap at the Tachikawa IKEA over the summer while hanging out with my cousin and I WAS SO EXCITED. It's doing really well right now!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? I suppose my brother? After several years of trying, he finally was able to buy a house and especially in this insane economy. So good job, bro.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? My uncle, to be honest. He's just very irresponsible and selfish in many ways.

14. Where did most of your money go?  That's a really good question, I don't really spend much money at home so I guess I spent it mostly on my trip back home to America since the exchange rate is so abysmal.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? I'm repeating this many times, but I was really excited for Anime Expo 2024 and the Re:ZERO season 3 premiere!

16. What song will always remind you of 2024? Okay, so there's a few contenders for different reasons.

AMPRULE - Do as I say Thanks to Anime Expo, I learned that Yusuke Kobayashi is a voice actor for Paradox Live's Cozmez, so that got me listening to the other Paradox Live artists and I got really hooked on AMPRULE. (Also later, I ended up doing translations for Ryotaro Okiayu who voices Baek Chungsung so that's a nice bonus!)

SPIN MASTER A-1 - Year of the Dragon Special "Double Dragon" I went to the Nujabes tribute show this year with OMA and Shing02 which was super dope, but I really got back into contemporary remixes of traditional Japanese music so big thanks to SPIN MASTER A-1 for opening for the show, love the music!

Nobita Cypher - Doraemon no Uta Okay, this is just meme-y, but I can't get this song out of my head. Maybe it's recency bias, but I do love THE FIRST TAKE, so seeing this insane joke video just kills me every single time.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: i. happier or sadder? I think I'm sadder only because 2023 was full of exciting and new experiences so 2024 felt more "normal" and less interesting. But it was fine, nothing special. ii. thinner or fatter? Technically, I lost weight, but I look the same. iii. richer or poorer? Richer.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? I say this a lot, but I wish I did more art. I also wish I read more manga and do more domestic traveling. I haven't really ventured around Japan which feels like a waste.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Rotting my brain with stupid social media bullshit. I'm on a social media break though so hopefully I can continue to wean myself off of it.

20. How will you be spending Christmas? I worked since Christmas isn't a national holiday in Japan.

21. Did you fall in love in 2024? No, I'm very over dating. Being single is pretty liberating.

22. How many one-night stands? See the above.

23. What was your favorite TV program? DanDaDan has been really memorable. Otherwise, reliving my childhood memories with the One Piece live action series has been fun. Oh, I also liked Aiseki Shokudou especially with the scandal with Matsumoto going on, I stopped watching Downtown shows so getting back into Japanese comedy through Chidori has been enjoyable.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? Don't think so. Haven't really run into anyone that I disliked that strongly.

25. What was the best book you read? Ashamed to say I didn't read any new books. I really need to fix that because I did buy some books that haven't been opened.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery? I haven't really listened to new artists except for maybe AMPRULE. Though I'm not sure if they're my greatest musical discovery, but since I mostly listened to artists I already knew from previous years, I'll just say AMPRULE.

27. What did you want and get? A vacation where I completely disconnected from work. Thailand also was also really fun! The people are very friendly.

28. What did you want and not get? Hmm... I guess permanent residency? But I put in an application so I'm just waiting now.

29. What was your favorite film of this year? I had to search deep into my Netflix activity, but I think Damsel is my top movie of this year. Although it had some weird moments that were conveniently glossed over, I'm so tired of female characters constantly being used as damsels in distress, which is the whole theme of the movie. I would recommend checking it out.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? What did I do? I think I did nothing in particular. Didn't even buy a slice of cake because I didn't feel like eating one.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Not getting my car damaged by a hit and run asshole in San Jose. Wasted a lot of precious time because of that incident and reaffirmed my feelings about the police being so useless.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2021? Incredibly simple, I didn't really buy any new clothes except for really basic stuff.

33. What kept you sane? I don't think I was particularly feeling insane.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? None. I don't really care about famous people, as usual.

35. What political issue stirred you the most? The fucking election. How, America? How could you fail this hard, again?

36. Who did you miss? To be honest, the San Jose Japantown community. I always felt supported and appreciated, not that I don't have that here, but I don't really have a tight knit community.

37. Who was the best new person you met? I feel like I didn't meet a LOT of new people. But I think I'll say my coworker, Branden. We get along well and I respect his work as an engineer.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2021: If something pisses you off as a knee-jerk reaction, just wait and don't immediately go into a confrontation. Sometimes, it'll resolve itself or you'll make an assumption that makes things worse.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:  膝を抱えて今うなだれる？ いや、こりゃそういう類の歌じゃねぇ 他人も運命も恨まねぇ 悲哀に浸る時間ってのはくだらねぇ Translation by ChatGPT for quick convenience because I want to finish this post.

Are you holding your knees and bowing your head now? No, this isn't that kind of song. I don't resent others or fate. Spending time in sorrow is pointless.

NORIKIYO - Ano~

[oolongcha]

Revival?

It's been several years since I've been on Tumblr. I've been itching to blog personal things because it helps me remember things that happened in life. I tried journaling, but it's too much effort. (And money, why the hell is it such an expensive hobby?) I'm really just writing for myself so feel free to ignore.

Anyway, I know it's been an insanely turbulent couple of days, but I am going to try to focus these postings about other personal things. Not because I don't care, but because it will consume me and I've already spent a lot of time talking about the political state of the United States the past week.

Today, I visited a friend who I've known back when I used to live in San Francisco. She's pregnant and due any time so I traveled 1.5 hours to where she lives now with her husband. To help her prepare for the birth, I got her a few gifts: diapers, warm long socks, and a portable bottle warmer. It was an almost weird coincidence for each item I bought. She wanted to try out four different types of diapers and she had bought three out of the four, but hadn't bought the "premium" type yet. That fourth one was the one I brought. (I had no idea it was premium, it was just highly rated on Amazon.) For the warm long socks, the hospital told her she should pack comfortable and warm long socks and she asked her family if they had any she could have, but they didn't have the right type. I bought them because I know she gets cold really easily and I had bought 2 different types of socks, but the other was short in length so I decided to keep the short ones and give her the long ones. And then for the portable bottle warmer, she had been researching for ways to warm up milk and the bottle warmer was recommended, but she hadn't gotten around to buying it yet. I asked another friend who just had a baby half a year ago and he said this portable bottle warmer was one of the most used items that he didn't have until later.

All of it was pure coincidence, but both my friend and her husband said I'm such a good gift giver. It really felt heartwarming to be told that because giving gifts is really hard. I just really felt happy that it all worked out so well. With Christmas coming up, I'm going to need to think of some good gifts to send back home.

Otherwise, I've been challenging myself to try out different kinds of pre-made hot pot soups this winter. I usually end up getting the same flavors, but I really want to try out as many as possible and then rank them. I'm very obsessed with soup so at the end of the season, I'll make a tier-list.

I think that's it for my thoughts for today. To finish things off, I just want to say, kotatsu (heating tables) really make autumn/winter more bearable.

[mona-l1sa]

[oolongcha]

2021 Summary

Forgot to do this. It’s a bit late, but who is even keeping track?

1. What did you do in 2021 that you’d never done before? I started my small business! I sell my art in the form of prints, pins, stickers, shirts, etc. I’m actually incredibly proud of myself!

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Like usual, I don’t really remember what my resolution was. But I did launch my business. For this year, I’m hitting the limit of how many things I can do so I’d like to just keep my current pace.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Danielle had her second child!

4. Did anyone close to you die? Unfortunately, yes. Toyoko-san, my old boss from when I used to work as a server at a restaurant passed away. She was almost like a mother to me.

5. What countries did you visit? Travel is still heavily restricted so no international travel. (Japan, please...)

6. What would you like to have in 2021 that you lacked in 2020? International travel. Really, I haven’t seen my relatives in so long...

7. What date from 2021 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? April 9th, when Toyoko-san passed away.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Gathering enough confidence to finally bring my art out to the public for purchase.

9. What was your biggest failure? Uhhh... All things considered, I don’t think I had any major failures due to the pandemic circumstances?

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Luckily, no.

11. What was the best thing you bought? A print display rack that was recommended to me by my friend, Addi. It’s such a cute way to display small prints!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? I think Shiro-san, the husband of Toyoko-san, did the best he could to be there for Toyoko-san and really showed that he truly loved her. I’m so sad for his loss, but he continued to work hard to continue the legacy of Gombei.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Anti-vaxxers. Fuck them.

14. Where did most of your money go?  I spent a ton of money for equipment and supplies to get my business going.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? I was a vendor at an SJMade event and Mini Art Mart. That was really cool and I got to meet a lot of people! People actually like my art!

16. What song will always remind you of 2021? DPR Live - Summer Tights

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: i. happier or sadder? I think I’m overall happier because I got used to the bleakness of the pandemic. ii. thinner or fatter? Apparently I’m the same weight. iii. richer or poorer? Richer because I haven’t really spent money since I’m not really going anywhere.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Wish I did more local traveling.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Sitting in front of the computer.

20. How will you be spending Christmas? Dad came over to visit and we went to my brother’s place and had dinner, played games, and had a lot of drinks.

21. Did you fall in love in 2021? Hah, no. I still don’t want to meet strangers during the pandemic.

22. How many one-night stands? See the above.

23. What was your favorite TV program? I still don’t really watch TV. I guess... Vivy Fluorite Eye’s Song?

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? Hmmm, no, no one new. Definitely hate my downstairs neighbor even more though.

25. What was the best book you read? I finished reading The Tales of Dunk and Egg. I actually enjoyed reading it more than A Song of Ice and Fire.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery? I really dig DPR Live and DPR IAN. Not sure if this counts as a discovery, but CL’s new albums have been so good!

27. What did you want and get? An art business of my own.

28. What did you want and not get? Coronavirus no longer being a concern.

29. What was your favorite film of this year? I really don’t watch new movies, definitely not going to theaters either. I don’t think I’ve even watched any films that came out in 2021.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I didn’t do anything. Too busy with other tragedies. Turned 33.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Coronavirus not being a thing. But realistically speaking, if I could’ve gone to Japan, that would’ve been so nice.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2021? Same as 2020. Lazy as fuck.

33. What kept you sane? Uh... I don’t know if I could say I was sane.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? None, just can’t really be bothered with famous people.

35. What political issue stirred you the most? Vaccines shouldn’t be a political issue!!

36. Who did you miss? My family in Japan. And Toyoko-san.

37. Who was the best new person you met? I didn’t really get to know enough new people to really answer due to the pandemic.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2021: If you’re not getting what you deserve at work, fight for it.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:  きっといつか いつか何処か 辿り着くと信じて “Raise Your Flag” by Man with a Mission

[kittyblushes05]

kibimomo

[thekimonogallery]

photo: ねぼすけ

@neevosk

[giftokyo]

[mia-japanese-korean]

Crayfish, Yamada Hōgyoku, 1830s, Minneapolis Institute of Art: Japanese and Korean Art

Size: 9 3/16 × 11 9/16 in. (23.4 × 29.4 cm) (image, sheet, uchiwa-e) Medium: Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper with mica

https://collections.artsmia.org/art/22759/

[thekimonogallery]

つくも🧸@99tkmo

[thekimonogallery]

Photo by Misuzu Shibuya (@sbymsz )

Kimono Mr. Modorihashi (@modoribashi237 )

[oolongcha]

This year has been such shit and it’s only April.

Take good care of yourselves, everyone.

[relive-the-90s]

Some toys from the 90s that I remember.

[thatmasquedgirl]

SKIP IT, BETTY SPAGHETTI, AND BUMBLE BALL

[thekimonogallery]

Usa Shrine by @age_cox

[thekimonogallery]

Photography by Haseo Hasegawa, Model: Yoshikawa

[thekimonogallery]

Hanane Yuki @ Couple Japanese and Western mixed kimono @ yuukikanon42

[oolongcha]

2020 Summary

I haven’t done this in years. I don’t know why I didn’t, I guess I just haven’t really blogged in general.

1. What did you do in 2020 that you’d never done before? Man, a ton of things because of the pandemic. Wore a mask everywhere, stayed in my apartment several days in a row without going out, work exclusively from home, etc. But I guess if I had to pick something that wasn’t pandemic specific, I’d say really get into gardening and caring for plants. I’ve done it before as a kid, but that was really more because of my parents. I also used to in college, but I did a really poor job of caring for my plants.

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year? What even was my resolution? Probably to be more creative. Which I actually did follow through on! Pretty proud of myself for that. I did not work out more because... Yeah, 2020 sucked. For 2021, just continue on the creativity momentum and don’t overwork myself. Trying to keep it simple.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? My uncle Chillman is now a dad! I have a baby cousin!!

4. Did anyone close to you die? Yes, unfortunately, my friend Kama-san passed away. I really wish I could’ve met him again in Japan.

5. What countries did you visit? lol. Didn’t go anywhere because Americans aren’t allowed to go anywhere because we can’t get our shit together.

6. What would you like to have in 2020 that you lacked in 2019? Man, 2020 was the year of lacking everything. “You can’t have nice things”. 2019 was a cakewalk in comparison.

7. What date from 2020 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? When everything in the world started to shut down because of coronavirus.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Um. I guess that despite all the bullshit, I was able to work on a lot of art and feel really motivated to be creative for the first time in such a long time.

9. What was your biggest failure? Overworking myself to the point of ruining my health. But really, I don’t count that as my failure that much.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? I did suffer some mental illness issues like panic attacks thanks to work. But nothing serious.

11. What was the best thing you bought? All the plants I bought. They’ve really brought me a lot of brightness into my life now that I’m home all the time. Although it is really difficult to care for plants, it’s been very rewarding.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Pretty much anyone and everyone who is on the frontlines. Healthcare workers, retail workers, food delivery workers, etc. Not the companies, the people. Fuck companies.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? This is a low hanging fruit, but definitely Trump. I don’t think I need to explain why.

14. Where did most of your money go? So I had to do inventory of the things I buy for my business and holy shit did I spend a ton of money on art supplies this year. But they were all worth it.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? I was really looking forward to going to Japan this year for the Olympics, but that didn’t happen. Otherwise, I went camping in August with some friends and that was fun.

16. What song will always remind you of 2020? Reichi - Excuse Boy This song was stuck in my head so many times. I just really like the beat.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: i. happier or sadder? So much sadder. ii. thinner or fatter? I did gain some weight, but not nearly as much as I expected even though I really didn’t exercise. iii. richer or poorer? Richer, got a pretty significant raise despite the tough situation.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Getting out of the apartment, but considering the situation, that would not have been a great idea.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Staying up insanely late. Although it wasn’t on doing stupid things, I was productive, but it really threw off my circadian rhythm.

20. How will you be spending Christmas? I spent it alone. I made steak, mashed potatoes, and sushi. It was very delicious.

21. Did you fall in love in 2020? Hah, no. I’m not going to meet new people in the middle of a pandemic, hell no.

22. How many one-night stands? See above.

23. What was your favourite TV program? Hmmm... Although it’s still ongoing, I suppose I’ll say Attack on Titan: Final Season. It’s all coming to an end...

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? No, not anyone new.

25. What was the best book you read? I finally finished reading The Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Really good book. I’ve sorta given up on waiting for Winds of Winter.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery? I didn’t really listen to anyone new in 2020. But I did get back into listening to Utada Hikaru again.

27. What did you want and get? A laser printer...? I can’t really think of anything else I thought really hard about buying.

28. What did you want and not get? New PSU and SSD. I’ll probably buy it soon though.

29. What was your favorite film of this year? I don’t think I watched any new movies this year, just rewatched old ones.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I had a very simple and small birthday party with a couple friends due to the pandemic. I turned 32.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Not be in a pandemic.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2020? Pajamas. Not going anywhere, not seeing anyone sure does make you not care about how you look.

33. What kept you sane? ...I actually don’t know.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? None? I was pretty indifferent about the rich and famous this year.

35. What political issue stirred you the most? The election. I did not sleep well that week at all. And to think that Trump is STILL claiming that it was all a fraud is really exhausting.

36. Who did you miss? EVERYONE. I can’t believe how hard it is to not see anyone and not be around anyone. I really hope we get over this soon because I don’t see how we can survive another year of this.

37. Who was the best new person you met? Hmmm, I met a lot of nice people from the local temple. They’re all so kind and thoughtful.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2020: Everyone is struggling. Be patient, be thoughtful.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year: 長くつぼんだ彼岸花が咲き 空が代わりに涙流した日 - SEEDA - 花と雨

[holespoles]

Old Japanese Cos-player in Edo era.