#aogaku

[eienoah]

May 12 - Hakone day trip

Today was an early day where I barely even got a chance to eat breakfast. We went straight to the station and got on a line to Shinjuku. From then we went over to the romance train where we all partnered up for seats. I managed to snag a nice little snack which was a small chocolate filled pastry. It was quite good but barely enough for breakfast. The train ride was about 2 hours in which I mostly just talked to Jonah the whole time. We arrived near Hakone and hopped on a steep train to get further into the area. From there we got on a cable car which took us to the gondolas. From there we got to an area that had such a great view of the surrounding area especially from the gondola. We reached an area that had eggs boiled in sulfur water which turn black when fully cooked. They were much different to how I expected but surprisingly good. From there we got on another gondola with just ok sights which took us to a visitor center-like place. I found my favorite thing, the little city pins. I love them so much but I also got a hello kitty pin with a Sakura theme that I love. We ate at the themed restaurant on site and my meal was kind of mid but at least it was sustenance.  We then hopped on the pirate ship which didn’t let us go to the front unfortunately but being able to ride a pirate ship across a lake was surely a strange experience. After disembarking we landed in a small town where we walked to a small museum which replicated one of the path checkpoints mentioned in the reading. From there we did a short walk over to a different small summit which had perfect overcast so the lighting was amazing. After that was a small walk over to the shrine which I think around that point the group had reached around 25 flights of stairs. We really did get our workout in for the day. The shrine was pretty cool but I picked up an awesome charm for super cheap at just 500 yen. We then went over to the torii gate and waited for almost an hour to take pictures. I managed to meet some people who are actually friends with one of my friends back in Gainesville, some Aogaku students. Guzen???? After that we took a nice walk back to the small part of the city and all got on the bus back to the train. From there it was about a two hour ride back which flew by talking to friends. I also found out next. Team I might be able to go surfing with Momo. I’m extremely excited for a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Academic portion

From the readings I thought it was interesting to actually see a little bit more about the trade route stoppages at the museum-like place. You kind of got a better feel for just how strict they were back then on securing anything and everything passing through. Almost like a pre modern TSA. The statues reflecting different rooms were interesting but the coolest to me was the summit tower which was used for scouting purposes. I did see a lot of the weapons that they described in the reading but the bows blew my mind. I have never seen a real life yumi and had no idea how large they actually were. In addition, seeing the actual road that was used in ancient times was incredibly astounding. The part that made me laugh however, was that there was a road for cars literally 10 feet from it. Today really did feel like I almost walked an entire trade route but it was super fun so I am glad I got to do it.

[leenaevilin]

[Announcement] 2018年青山祭トークショーのゲスト (2018nen aoyamasai talkshow no guest)

wow O_O this years talkshow guests at my old university’s (青学 ~ 青山学院大学Aogaku ~ Aoyama Gakuin Daigaku) festival are:

Seto Kouji (November 3rd, 2018 ~ 2pm) Shirota Yuu (November 4th 2018 ~ 2pm)

[krupptonaru-blog]

Your Name

How it feels when you decide that catching a limited express at rush hour in Shibuya is a good idea

I was really excited to get to watch this movie for this class. In one of my Japanese classes at Aogaku we listened to an NHK segment on why the movie was so popular. I can’t find the video, but here’s the transcript, if you’re curious. On top of that, for Dr. Wehmeyer’s translation class I translated the first two chapters of the novelization (released a month before the movie). Moreover this is just my type of movie/anime. A romance/comedy/drama WITH A HAPPY ENDING. It’s unfortunate (for me) that we spent so much time on military anime, because frankly I have next to zero interest in them. Also, generally speaking, not a fan of things that are super sad (looking at you, three out of four of the non-military things we watched). Also also, this movie is just so pretty. 

That being said, I think it’s harder for me to analyze a piece when I actually just enjoy watching it. So this gonna be rough, but whatever. How bad could it be? What’s the single most important thing in this movie? The idea of musubi (結び). The whole story revolves around the concept. So what is musubi? Well, according to grandma, it’s a lot of things. Tying a knot, connecting with people, bringing things into yourself, the flow of time itself. They’re brought together, they can twist, tangle, unravel, break, and come back together again. It’s the connection between things (everything?), both in a micro sense and macro sense. Time ties together the past, the present, and the future. And you are tied to people through your relationship to them (daily interactions, old grudges, whatever). It’s the connection between Mitsuha and Taki that tie them together (literally, in the picture above), through time and space. It’s through this connection that Mitsuha and Itomori stand a chance of surviving at all. But of course, Taki/Mitsuha couldn’t do it alone. They also required the help of Tessie and Saya. I think an important aspect here is musubi isn’t just you’re tied to one person and then you can do something incredible. It’s your connection to everybody, and everything. I’ll come back to this in a second.

So what are they saved from? A big ol’ comet. Is this meant to be a stand in for anything? You could argue that the way the comet’s strike is depicted is somewhat reminiscent of the way certain other things have been depicted so far (that silence when it’s about to go boom, the way houses and things are tossed like they’re nothing). But personally I don’t think it’s a stand-in. Or rather, it could be a stand-in for any event that causes a lot of death and destruction. Because the message (to me) isn’t about people reacting to a specific event, like it was in Barefoot Gen or Grave of the Fireflies. Annnnd going back to the previous paragraph,

For me, the movie was about how important our connections are to people in general. This movie chose a comet, but couldn’t it have just as easily been a fire or an earthquake? So it’s not the specific event that matters, but (at least here) it’s about how people come together. Mitsuha got information from the future that put her in a position to be able to save the town. Her connection with Tessie and Saya gave her the tools to do it. Her connection with her dad ensured it. On the other hand, Taki was able to send that information back to the past. He was only able to do that because of a chance encounter with somebody who had lived in Itomori, and because of his connection with Mitsuha. 

In my mind this can be broken down to a more basic message, which is that we are stronger together. I think there’s also a message in the fact that they (Mitsuha and Taki) were able to accomplish this despite being separated by time, and having lived totally different lives. I think it sends a  message of (a hope for?) togetherness that supersedes personal differences (such as where you were born or where you live now). 

Final note on 君の名は. In the last picture above, they’re tied together by a red string. This string also shows up in the scene after he drinks the 口噛み酒. In Japanese there’s an expression, 赤い糸 (akai ito). Literally red string, but it comes from folklore that fated lovers are joined by a red string of fate. And Mitsuha lived in 糸守 (Itomori). 赤い糸、糸守. Well I thought it was interesting.

How could you not immediately think of these guys when you see that scene? I don’t want to write too much about this because I wrote a fair amount for Your Name. I remember some many years ago when I saw the first couple of episodes I thought this anime was really strange (and I stopped there). I can confirm that I still find it strange. Lots of talk about fate (and how people don’t like it). In the hospital there was a line leading to the family, and it was red. Red string of fate? Also apples keep popping up, and then we get a story about a really poppin’ apple tree that died and ended up getting somebody killed. Also, talking about taboos while that ceremony/ritual/whatever is going on... hmmm... Overall this anime feels like it has a lot going on, but it’s just going over my head. Oh well

[otpofotps]

today i participated in this acapella event called 50fes, and one of my senpais that im not rlly close to was like (to me) "i just saw this band where this girl percussionist was really good. like there were two percussionists and they switched between songs but the girl was way better than the guy." and i was like "oh, wow!" (idk its japanese) and he was like "可能性を感じた。って言いたかった" and i was like /woah/ its crazy how much peoples casual comments can mean that much to you. 可能性を感じた。thats the most かっこいい thing ive ever heard this particular senpai say lmao. the underlying message hurts me like. 可能性！！！を感じた！！！ 頑張る。 also, my band performed and it was like so so lmao but this one stranger who was watching us (i think she said she was from aogaku) approached us afterwards and was like "do you guys have a twitter? i would really like to go to one of your lives" and we were all like. whaaaaaat. we have a fan. so we now have a twitter lmao (we had one technically but it was a locked account that we basically just used to tweet inside jokes) also my baito kouhai is like. lets go get food someday! and also this girl in my circle that ive been avoiding forever, lol, but since she is so insistent on us being friends ive decided to give it a try

[animeboard-net]

Musical "The Prince of tennis" 3rd season blue school vs Tianba Temple Ohjiro Akira Live Viewing decision to hold!

Musical “The Prince of tennis” 3rd season blue school vs Tianba Temple Ohjiro Akira Live Viewing decision to hold!

Musical “The Prince of tennis” 3rd season blue school vs Tianba Temple Ohjiro Akira Live Viewing decision to hold! Finally the national competition semifinals! New character also appears Tenimu 3 rd season “Aogaku vs. Shiho Temple” Live live broadcast of Otaki Akakura performance to movie theaters throughout the country, Hong Kong and Taiwan! Musical “The Prince of Tennis” 3rd Season Seikagaku vs…

[mizugoya]

11月。もうすぐイチョウ並木が色付く季節。 #aoyama #青山学院大学 #aogaku #青学 #イチョウ並木 #銀杏のにおい #母校 http://ift.tt/2xK89yd

[animateonlineshopjapan]

【GOODS NEWS】Pre-order the New Prince of Tennis 2018 Planner!

With changeable cover☆ 6 Types: Aogaku, Hyoutei, Rikkai, Higa, Shitenhouji, U-17! Swap your faves ♪

[atelierpetitfour]

Une semaine de pause m’a vraiment démoralisée... Il faut bien travailler quand même. La professeur nous dit qu’il faut avoir plus de l’imagination que la connaissance de grammaire.

1週あいてモチベーションが下がった…それでも続けます。文法よりイマジネーション！と先生のお言葉🇫🇷

[leenaevilin]

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[Video] ドラマ ステイナイトミステリー「日暮里チャーリーズ」 (drama stay night mystery nippori charlies)

#1 starts in 10min^^

fun fact: I was living in Nippori during my time at Aogaku^^

[collecalla]