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0 member(s) 0 anonymous member(s) Good Places to Eat in Japan
#. Name of Restaurant - Location - what i ordered - price
1. Navajo White - 高崎市群馬県 - 味噌ラーメン - ￥６６０ 2. かつ哲 - 高崎市群馬県 - ソースかつ - ￥１１００ 3. 平禄寿司 - 表参道 東京都 - １枚 ￥１３０~￥５３０ 4. 街の灯クレープ - 梅が丘 東京都 - 生クリームチョコクレープ - ￥３６０ 5. CoCo壱番屋 - 渋谷 東京都 (chain restaurant) - ロースカツカレー - ￥６５０ 6. 幸楽苑 - 小山市栃木県 (chain restaurant) - チャーシュー味噌ラーメン - ￥５９０ 7. 味楽 - 小山市栃木県 - ヒレかつ - ￥１１００ 8. かっぱ寿司 - 小山市栃木県 (chain restaurant) - １枚 ￥１０５ 9. スシロー - 小山市栃木県 (chain restaurant) - １枚 ￥１０５ 10. かつや - 小山市栃木県 (chain restaurant) - ヒレかつ定食 - ￥７９０ Fun Quotes
藤本美貴 - バカ正直
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Yesterday was Oyama's 花火大会 ("fireworks show"). The 花火大会 in Urayasu didn't have the food vendor stands you usually see at 夏祭り ("summer festivals") that sell "junk" food like takoyaki, yakisoba, yakiniku, yakitori, okonomiyaki, kakigōri, mizuame, but Oyama's 花火大会 did.   Not much else to say other than there were a lot of pretty fireworks and a lot of pretty girls in 浴衣.  There were a lot of fireworks that I've never seen before. I don't know how entertaining it is to watch fireworks on video taken with my low "high quality" mobile phone, but I took a lot of videos.Here is the finale. In this video you can see different "shaped" fireworks like fish, spirals, stars, planets, flowers, and butterflies. About halfway through the video a little kid comes and stands up on the railing right in front of me. I was just about to give him the tongue lashing of a lifetime when I remembered, "hey, he's just a little kid". 
today (Sunday) Scott and i went to 藤本美貴 歌謡曲ナイト２００８夏！at STB139 with 前田有紀. needless to say, this was an excellent performance!! i don't know what much else to say because words cannot describe the awesomeness of this event. i don't quite remember the set list, but here's what i'm able to draw from memory: ボーイフレンド つぐない (originally performed by Teresa Teng) 時の流れに身をまかせ (originally performed by Teresa Teng) いい日旅立ち Duet with 前田有紀 (don't remember the song title) 相愛太鼓 (performed by 前田有紀) For You (performed by 前田有紀) (originally performed by Takahashi Mariko) 会えない長い日曜日 置き手紙 Encore Sweet 19 Blues (originally performed by Amuro Namie) 夢で逢えたら they were all magnificently performed, but a few songs i'd like to bring your attention to are ボーイフレンド and 会えない長い日曜日. any Fujimoto fan knows that these are singles from her "first" solo career and they're very much "JPop" songs. however, they were rearranged from Pop to Jazz.  absolutely genius!! i wish she would release the Jazz versions of these songs. as i mentioned in my entry about the handshake event, she also performs 時の流れに身をまかせ very well. she has also performed いい日旅立ち in an Uta Doki! episode, but she has improved greatly since then and this version had a slightly different arrangement.for those who don't know, Maeda Yuki is an enka singer. again, for those who aren't familiar with the genre, it's pretty much a given that if you're an enka singer, you have a strong resounding voice. Maeda Yuki is no exception. both her performances blew me away!! i was also very pleasantly surprised when Fujimoto announced that she would be performing an Amuro Namie song for the encore. she has mentioned before that she admires her. i personally would have liked to see Fujimoto go into R&B/"Hip Pop".  (but kayoukyoku is also nice  )anyways, i guess it's time for pictures. here's a few quick snapshots i took of the front of the venue and a signboard of the event:   here's a few snapshots of the "goods" i bought:   the t-shirt was designed by Fujimoto herself.  and after several missed opportunities, i finally bought the cassette version of her single 置き手紙. the photocards on the bottom row i actually bought at the Official Hello!Project store in Ueno earlier that day. the rest i got at the dinner show event. oh yah, by the way, this was a dinner show. i ended up ordering a Seafood Pasta which cost me ￥１，３００. they also actually had a drink called "Mikitty" which was some combination of red wine and ginger ale or something like that (i didn't order it  ): the photocards i bought at the H!P store cost me ￥１，０００. the photocards i bought at the show cost ￥１，１００ (￥５００＋￥６００) and i also bought another set of four photocards for ￥１，０００ which were taken at the show so i have to go pick them up at an Official H!P store later on. the cassette cost me ￥１，２００ and the t-shirt cost me ￥３，０００. i was debating whether or not to buy the t-shirt, but during the show Fujimoto said she'd be happy if i bought a t-shirt so i did.  for the encore she came out wearing the t-shirt and jeans. she looks very nice even in casual clothes. during the encore she talked about the t-shirt and how the staff kept on asking her what 「クマＴまん」 meant and she would reply in a cute and pouty voice with a 「ほっといてください」 or "please leave me alone!". so she never really did explain what it means. anyways, she seemed to have really enjoyed herself tonight and so of course, as a fan, i was able to enjoy myself as well. it was an unforgettable night and i look forward to many more performances. EDIT: btw, in the first part of the show, Fujimoto was wearing a brown one piece reminiscent (to me at least) of this outfit from her "cheri" photobook. although it wasn't that frilly; it was just a "one piece" (vs many "pieces" ) and she had a matching hair accessory to go with it as well (although again, not no so frilly/big). her outfit in the second part of the performance was a white dress similar to the one seen here although without the jacket. and again, she had a matching white hair accessory to go with her outfit. Maeda Yuki wore a slim elegant red dress. she mentioned it was a nice change from the traditional kimono.
Saturday i went to 浦安 which is near where my friend Scott lives for a 花火大会 or "fireworks show". regardless of our meeting time being 4:30PM, i actually ended up being two hours late because i slept in  (i really like to sleep ). anyways, we still made it to the site in time, but we had to wait in this line to get on a bus that would take us there: the bus was actually free, which was nice!!  i took several videos of the fireworks with my mobile phone. of course the quality isn't great, but there are a few really cool ones. other than the BIG ones, there were also star, heart, and smiley-face shaped fireworks. i've embedded the videos of the BIG ones and the one with the fun shapes. for the rest you can just click the links. it was also kind of annoying (and amusing at the same time) because the wind was blowing towards us so after the "finales" there would be a large cloud of smoke blocking the view of the following fireworks display.
well guys, basically i can die happy!! i just got back from a Fujimoto Miki Mini-Live and Handshake Event at LABI 1 Takasaki. it was quite the adventure...in more than one way. it can only be described as "a miracle". there were actually two shows. one at 1PM and another at 4PM (both half an hour long) and each had a handshake event afterwards. i was planning on going to both shows if i could before i read the details about the event, but it turns out that there was limited seating to 150 people (x2 events = 300 tickets). it was also clearly stated "one ticket per person". they also had an area where people could stand and watch in the back of the venue. anyways, they started handing out tickets at 10AM (which were free btw!!). they also handed out special tickets which you could present at a special booth and buy Fujimoto's "Okitegami" single CD and receive a handshake event ticket. i'm not exactly sure how many were handed out, but i think it was around 100 (x2 events = 200 tickets). anyways, now that all the basic information is out of the way, here comes the "miracle". i don't know what i was thinking, but i figured if i showed up at around 10:20 i would still be able to get a handshake event ticket. so i roll into the Takasaki train station at about 10:20 and head toward the venue (which is actually an electronics store btw). i find the ticket table and of course all the seated tickets for both shows and the handshake events have already been handed out. but fortunately they were still handing out standing tickets for the first show so i took one of those. as i was walking away from the table getting ready to sulk, a guy and a couple of his friends (obviously wotaku ) came up to me and told me they had an extra seated ticket for the second show as well as a special ticket where if you bought Fujimoto's "Okitegami" single CD you could get a handshake event ticket and i could have them if i wanted them. a bit awestruck, i immediately replied with an 「ありがとうございます！！」 ("thank you very much!!") and humbly accepted the tickets. yah, like i said, "miracle"!! i'm not sure how they had an "extra" ticket, but fortunately for me they did!   so, i made my way to the 4th floor of YAMADA Denki electronics store and bought an "Okitegami" single CD and got myself a handshake event ticket. not only that, but my seat was I-3 (in other words, 9th row, 3rd seat)!! i could barely contain myself. i took a look around the store and waited for the first show to start. they even have a food court on the 5th floor so i grabbed some lunch. anyways, i only had a standing ticket for the first show, but i managed to get a really good spot in front right behind the rope rails. needless to say, the mini-live was beyond amazing!! i can only describe it as "surreal". here's the set list for the first show: MC 1. To'oi Koibito MC 2. Shining Itoshiki Anata 3. Koi yo! Utsukushiku MC 4. Okitegami MC Handshake Event MC she had her hair straight and wore a silky lavender dress. breathtaking!! i don't really know what much else there is to say. she never missed a note and looked beyond amazing!!after the first show i looked around the store some more and saw this display in the TV section:  that's a 103v inch plasma TV!! the people on the screen were pretty much life-sized. you can check out more details on the Panasonic website if you want here.anyways, on to the second show and handshake event. my seat was so close to the stage it was ridiculous!! this may sound kind of stupid, but it really hit me then and there that Fujimoto Miki is just another person. well, not "just" another person, but an actual person. she's always been an "idol" in my mind (and still is ) who appears on TV shows etc., but seeing her that up close and personal was just so surreal. she is beyond beautiful in pictures and words simply cannot describe her beauty in person. here's the set list for the second show:MC 1. To'oi Koibito MC 2. Osananajimi 3. Toki no Nagare ni Mi wo Makase MC 4. Okitegami MC Handshake Event MC apparently that 3rd song is a really famous kayoukyoku song, but i think it was the first time i've heard it. anyways, Fujimoto performed the song marvelously!! i'd really like to hear her sing it again, which she may at the dinner show i'm going to this Sunday. anyways, i know i keep on using this word, but the handshake event afterwards was just surreal. i mean, i was very content being as close as i was in my seat, but this time around i'd actually be face to face with her and get to shake her hand no less!! like i said before, words cannot describe her beauty in person. kind of cliche, but her hand was so~ soft!!  i also managed to squeeze in a 「いつも応援してますので、これからも頑張ってください。」 or something like "i'll always support you, so please keep on doing your best." after the handshake event she made a quick closing comment somewhere along the lines of "thank you for coming to today's event. please enjoy yourselves and take a look around the store. thank you for your continuing support and please look forward the "Grease" musical in October." (she talked about the upcoming "Grease" musical she will be in as well as the play "HAKANA" she starred in this last April during the MC segments) sorry, since pictures were forbidden, there's no pictures of the actual event or Fujimoto herself. i also picked up the LABI MAGAZINE (also free) which has an interview with Fujimoto Miki:  here are scans of the interview:     i also bought myself a daruma doll at the Takasaki train station as a souvenir to remember this life changing event.  so anyways, pretty much the best day of my life!! i also got to visit my aunt and grandma who just so happen to live in Takasaki.
last Saturday Greyface and i visited Yokohama to go see a few Volleyball World Grand Prix matches. there were six teams participating and we were able to see three matches that day: Brazil vs. Cuba, USA vs. Italy, and Japan vs. China. it's not much, but here's a few snapshots:       the guy in white in the second picture is a famous actor, Ryuta Sato. actually, the whole cast of a jdorama currently airing called ROOKIES were the official supporters of the Grand Prix. (fun little fact: part of that drama was actually filmed in the city where i live!!) for those who are interested, Brazil, Italy, and China won the matches we attended that day, and Brazil ended up taking 1st place, Cuba took 2nd, Italy took third, USA took 4th, China placed 5th, and Japan placed 6th. one fun fact that i learned that day was that my high school classmate, Kristen Richards, is on the USA national volleyball team!! here's her profile from the USA Volleyball website. just to give you a good idea of how good she was/is: QUOTE High School: Four-year letterwinner at Timpanogos High School in Orem, Utah…Captained her team during her junior and senior seasons…Four-time all-region selection and all-state honoree…2000 & 2002 Region MVP…2000 Student Sports National Sophomore of the Year…2001 & 2002 All-American…2001 & 2002 Utah Gatorade Player of the Year…The 2002 State MVP…2003 National Gatorade Player of the Year…2001 & 2002 Academic all-region selection…Led her team to a state championship in 2002-03…Played club for the Players Volleyball Club, and helped her team win the 2002 Nationals…Voted MVP. i had heard that she went on to play volleyball at Stanford after high school. i've been following the Japan Women's National Volleyball Team for a while now, and i've so i've seen Team USA play a few times as well, but it never occurred to me that Kristen may have made it to the national team. obviously she's not a starter, otherwise i would have recognized her name right away. but in between the matches Greyface and i went to last Saturday, we went to go buy some cheer stix and a program. i had just casually mentioned to Greyface earlier that i knew someone from high school that had the potential to be on the national team and sure enough, when we checked the USA roster, there she was! so that was pretty cool.
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Hanabi Taikai in Oyama
Fujimoto Miki Kayoukyoku Night 2008 Natsu! at STB139 with Maeda Yuki Hanabi Taikai in Urayasu Fujimoto Miki Mini-Live and Handshake Event at LABI 1 Takasaki Volleyball World Grand Prix in Yokohama Sunshine City, Gyoza Stadium, and a haircut crazy mobile phone "strap"!! festival in Urayasu Japanese custom vans train advertisements Last Comments
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Aug 10 2008, 04:44 PM