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Wednesday, 21 May 2008

The "Japanophile" Post

Oi...It has already been a month since I last posted anything in my xanga. Somewhere along the way of wanting to write in my xanga more often, I realized my posts are going to be super boring without any pictures I can use to help describe events. My typical "xanga" strategy would be to give "shoutouts" to as many people as I could in a xanga entry in order to obtain "eprops" from them. Because c'mon, who writes in their xanga without the hopes of a few eprops and a couple comments here and there?

So note to self, find a camera and start taking pictures. I was originally going to take videos and post it on my xanga, but I duno that hasn't worked too well. Everyone acts hella awkward when I try to film them, including myself. I get super self-conscious about my low voice.

Okay so anyways back to the original subject-

I am a japanophile.

There, I said it. You might be asking yourself, how can I, being Japanese American, be a japanophile? That's what I thought too, until I started dating Aya. So lets back track a bit before I get into that. What is a japanophile? Like any outstanding high school honors Language Arts paper, I will first define my key term.

Japanophilia is an interest in, or love of, Japan, and all things Japanese.

Okay so when you typically think of a Japanophile, you think of these people walking in Little Tokyo-

Right? I used to raise my head in disgust to these people. But then after Aya and I started to date, she told me that I'm a Japanophile. What!?! What could I possibly have in common with THOSE people. Well, as it turns out, quite a lot-

Japanophile Point #1 - I love Naruto

Okay so I LOVE Naruto. The whole concept is awesome; a ninja village, different techniques (taijutsu, ninjutsu, and genjutsu to be more specific) and awesome costumes. Like all the Japanese music that I listen to are the opening and closing themes of Naruto episodes.

Japanophile Point #2 - I love Ramen

Man, I must say I have a passion for ramen. Tonkotsu shoyu, shoyu, shio, miso, I love all different types of ramen. I love ramen, apparently, to the point that it makes me a Japanophile. Aya has limited me to only one ramen outing a week.

Japanophile Point #3 - I am dating a Japanese Girl

Okay so this is the big one. How many japanophiles that you know are dating a Japanese girl? Okay so I suppose Aya isn't technically a "Japanese girl" because she is Nisei, or 2nd generation. But still!

Japanophile Point #4 - I am taking Japanese classes

This wouldn't necessarily be a bad one because it makes sense; I'm Japanese American, I want to learn Japanese in order to get in touch with my Japanese side. But, honestly, one of the only reasons I initially wanted to learn Japanese was so I could understand Naruto episodes, which, makes the motivation quite Japanophile-esque.

Japanophile Point #5 - I play taiko

Taiko? Really? That makes me a Japanophile? When I tell Japanese people that I play taiko, they all think it's really strange (ちょっと可笑しい) because I guess not too many people play taiko in Japan. I can understand this, it would be like if I went to Japan and met this Japanese guy and he was like, "Hey so, I ride bulls in rodeos!"

So, I think the combination of all five points puts me straight into the japanophile category. Right? Imagine for a second that I wasn't Japanese American. Wouldn't you think I was pretty japanophile-esque?

In conclusion, I think that none of these factors alone makes me a Japanophile, but these are the only Japanese factors that I have. Does that make sense? Like, for example, I had all of these characteristics, but I also enjoyed things that Japanese people my age enjoy as well, I wouldn't be as Japanophile. I think?

Sigh, anyways, I suppose I'm still figuring out this whole Japanophile thing. But, instead of neglecting this community, I have learned that I need to embrace it, embrace my identity as a Japanophile.

Monday, 21 April 2008

Awkward First Post after a Long Hiatus

This is going to be an awkward first post after a long hiatus. In fact, I envision that in the future there will be a lot of awkward posts like this one. I think the best thing is to just ignore them. Perhaps the awkward posts have been the one consistent thing on my Xanga (aside from making fun of Hyde and Dallas) since I first started this Xanga more than 5 years ago.

5 YEARS! That's like...half a decade. I feel like so much has changed but then so many things have also stayed the same.

So why am I restarting my Xanga?

What I realized is that from May 17, 2006 until now there is this huge, ugly gap. Today, I took some time to look back at a lot of my old entries. It brought back a lot of memories. Like some super awesome posts featuring pictures and things that I had forgotten about, or hadn't thought about for a long time. And some super awkward posts which made me think, man, was I really that emotional back then? Even like "the post 3 posts down from this post." Man!

So I started to think that I wanted to look back on my Xanga like 20 years from now and read those super awesome and super awkward posts. Because, lets be real, if I started to write in a legit diary, I'd loose it somewhere in a week.

(Also, DSSK and Mitsubishifishi started their Xangas back up too haha)

So lets "back-track" to the awkward posts. I used to write a lot of posts that seemed super out-of-context. In fact, most of them had no context, rather, they were just some lyrics to a song or some little bit of poetry or something lame that I had written down. I don't think anyone really understood what I was saying.

So why did I post them?

I think part of it was that there was something that I wanted to get off of my chest but I couldn't express it in any other way than something abstract. But, I think another part of it was that I truly hoped that somewhere, someone would gain a little bit of meaning from it, or think of something in a different way.

When I first decided to restart my Xanga, I wanted to excommunicate all of the awkward posts and ban all future attempts at awkward posts. But, ironically, the first post that I am making today is going to be one of those awkward posts. So I suppose that I can never just "do away" with these annoyingly awkward posts.

So without further ado, here is my awkward post:

I used to wonder how to make my life extraordinary
To make Me mean something
Now I hope that
I can make this moment mean something

All that I can hope
Is that the idle winter days
And the violent melting of my life
Will make for a beautiful spring

PS that wasn't THAT awkward now, was it?

Wednesday, 17 May 2006

ELECTIONS

Man, you never realize how much work goes into getting all of those votes for elections (It's a lot of work). If you haven't heard it yet, please vote Student's First! and do all of us a big favor.

On a brighter note, I just got a facebook message from the "I want to be a Disney Princess" facebook group telling members to vote for SF! If that's not a sign that we have widespread support, I don't know what is.

Just two more days everyone, two more days!

Wednesday, 03 May 2006

Being “Political”

“We believe that USAC should remain neutral to politics.”

“Although they may have varied opinions, Bruins United members are united by one common goal; to make student government work for students, not for itself.”

What does it mean to be political, and what does it mean for student organizations and these current USAC elections? What I have noticed at my time at UCLA is a large stigma against the word “political.” As student leaders, we represent a large contingent of students and being “political” often is personalized. Our own personal opinions cannot influence our obligation to the campus body. This has become the defining point of Bruins United and many other people are catching on to this idea as well. When I was a second year and joined APC, I felt the same way. I couldn’t let my own personal politics get in the way of my job.

What I have learned this year is what it really means to be political. Politics transcend left or right ideologies, transcend specific “special interest” groups, and transcend policies and issues. At the root of politics is the desire to represent and advocate for a community.

I was talking to a nice middle-aged lady who went to UCLA during the 1980s. She told me about the campus climate at that time, and how Asians represented about 12% of the total UCLA population. She told me that Culture Nights at the time were seen as “political” because people could not see the importance of specific Asian cultures. It’s hard to believe today that culture nights were once a political statement. Imagine trying to convince the couple thousand people that participate in culture nights that they are political activists.

I don’t think that today’s students are apathetic. I think that today’s students are hesitant. Hesitant to voice their own “political” opinions because they are afraid that it is not an agreeable one. Bruin’s United has a noble goal, to unite the campus to make student government work for students. But what is the cost, and what are the issues that will unite all students? I think our student organizations face the same problem in many ways that Bruin’s United proposes to solve.

Next year don’t be afraid of politics. Be afraid that what you truly want to do for this campus and for your community won’t manifest in the work that you do. Instead of worrying about catering to the majority work to inspire people with your views, even if you think it’s in the minority. Always remember that your “political” views are never personal, but always for a larger community. As cliché as this post has been, let’s work to take a stand next year.

Monday, 13 March 2006

How happy is the blameless Vestal’s lot!

The world forgetting, by the world forgot.

Eternal sun-shine of the spotless mind

Each pray’r accepted, and each wish resigned.

This is it Joel...it's going to be gone soon
I know
What do we do?
.....enjoy it