Thursday, August 15, 2019

Summer 2019


 I usually post something related to Japanese language, culture or video games, but this time, since I don't really have anything to talk about related to these things, I figured I post a little about how my summer went this year.

Needless to say, it was one of the most memorable ones for me and my family. This is the first time we went camping together. Another family with whom we are friends invited us to go out camping with them. They let us borrow everything, from the tent to the sleeping bags. We took turns cooking and watching the place.


There was lots to do. There was a nearby river in which we cooled down during the afternoon. There was a trampoline near by and the kids had fun playing on it. The camp ground had equipment we could use, such as bug catching nets and cages; the kids went out hunting for dragon flies and rhinoceros beetles.





The camp ran a fishing lake where for a small fee, one could borrow a fishing rod complete with bait and a hook. The lake is stocked with rainbow trout, it was almost guaranteed to result in a catch. The fishing experience was over in 15 minutes or after catching 3 fish, which ever came first.



It was fun going fishing with my kids and actually catching something. The camp offers to gut and clean the fish for free, so we ate the catch soon after, and we didn't even have to do the dirty work! The fish were great. Almost sweet!




It's almost obligatory that during the summer, children in Japan play with fireworks, and this camp wouldn't have been complete without it. It's just sparklers so they're not too dangerous.




It was definitely one of my most memorable summers. I hope that my kids will also look back on this as one of the best summers we had as a family.











Sunday, July 14, 2019

Mewtwo Strikes Back: Evolution Review - POSSIBLE SPOILERS


It looks like I'm accidentally a Pokemon fan... well. No. Not really; my kids are into Pokemon so I'm kinda obliged to tag along.

Believe it or not, 3 years later, my family is only just getting into Pokemon GO.

My kids only just heard of it, and they have convinced me and my wife to install it on our iPhones.

One thing lead to another, and now my kids not only watch Pokemon on Japanese TV, they also often buy the Pokemon bread sold at grocery stores and collect the reusable stickers included.

My wife and kids drive me CRAZY with this Pokemon stuff!

"There's a Raid Battle going on! We HAVE to go! OMG! We need to get this new Pokemon! Tell your American friends to send you gifts! You might get an egg with an America only Pokemon!"

On weekends it's "Pokemon." In the middle of the night it's "Pokemon."

"Daddy, can I borrow your phone to play Pokemon Go? Mommy's going on a Raid battle and I want to come with."

It's taken over my phone!!!

OK. ANYWAY, I digress.

It must be known that I am unwitting, and oftentimes unwilling in all of this.

My wife thought it would be a good idea to take the kids out to see the Mewtwo Strikes Back movie. Afterward there would be an event where you could play rocks-scissors-paper with Pikachu and win some stuff.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

Do not read past this point if you're one of those people who haven't seen the movie yet and it would end your world to hear what happens.

I'd have to say the movie wasn't all that special.

Like, it seemed like any other obligatory 3D rendition of a cartoon with no real plot.

What plot is there to Pokemon other than "gotta catch 'em all?"

Essentially, "the best Pokemon trainers" meet up to have a battle royale against Mewtwo to see who wins.

Can you guess who wins?

The movie shows how Mewtwo is basically a man-made creation using Mew's original DNA.

Mewtwo, wanting to show he is the "better" of the two wants to beat Mew.

He creates "newer, better pokemon, designed to be superior" and pits them against Ash's "normal" pokemon.

Ultimately, the show down boils down to being between Mewtwo and Mew himself.

The fight arrives at a stalemate, proving both are "as good."

Someone gets hurt in the battle though, but I won't say who.

All I'll say is it's the usuall sappy ending that all kids know and love.

Anyway, I thought it was alright... Nothing special. I mostly did it for the kids.

My kids enjoyed it and that's really all that matters.

I later came to find out that the movie was actually already released in normal cartoon format, and that this was just a re-imagining of that same movie.

At any rate, we watched the movie, ate a ton of popcorn, drank a lot of soft drinks.

There were no seat-wettings in the watching of this film.

After the film, we headed out to a stage to wait for the arrival of the pikachus which would be the stars of the event. Here are pics of what happened.







Friday, June 14, 2019

Hydrangeas 2019


I've been pretty busy this year taking care of this or that, so I haven't had much time to sit down and think of something meaningful for my blog this month.

For now, it's June, it's the rainy season, and the flower of the month is the hydrangea, so enjoy some pictures of hydrangeas in my local area.


























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Tsuyu: The Rainy Season