You Knew It Was Coming... The Obligatory Anime Post!

きのう、コードギアスのおわりとマクロスＦのおわりを見（み）ました。マクロスＦのおわりはＯＫ。でもコードギアスのおわりはとても信（しん）じあれないですよ！

らいげつ、あたらしいアニメを見（み）ます。ガンダム００とのだめカンタービレを見（み）ます。＾－＾


If you've read the above, it should be painfully obvious by now that I'm an anime fan... Although I enjoy watching and consider it one of my hobbies, it stops there. Unlike some other people with far too much time on their hands, it doesn't consume my life.

Which brings me to the rant I'm about to embark upon: the very negative impression being an anime fan can leave on a lot of people. Many see anime as a "deviant" hobby (even people in Japan - at least that's what I've heard), and that those who partake in such activities are disconnected from society and are living in a fantasy world. I'll tell you right now: I hate telling people that I like watching anime. Why? Because no matter what their idea of me is beforehand, it all goes out the window even before "anime" finishes rollinig off my tongue. I instantly get lumped together with all of those obsessive fans that give the normal people like me a bad name, and am thought of as a complete loser (for lack of a better word). While those kinds of people DO exist, in no way are they representative of the normal people like me who don't make it the focus of their lives. If you stop and think about it for a second, just about everything out there has its die-hard fans that look like complete retards to the rest of society (Trekkies come to mind, hehe).

Just my two cents for the day... And in case you're wondering, I will blog about anime/anime-related topics from time to time.

Morning Rituals and... Space Elevators???

みなさん、おはよう！きのうよんじにねました。きょうきゅうじよんじゅうごふんにおきました。ぶつりがくのじゅぎょうへいきました。じゅういちじにかえりました。いま、かいています。。。

Now that you all know about my morning activities, let's get on to the rest of the post, ね?

きのう I read an article about how Japanese scientists and engineers are planning to build a space elevator. To sum up the article, they're thinking of creating the elevator out of carbon nanotubes (the world's strongest material) and operating it in a way similar to how the しんかんせん is run.

Personally, I don't think this to be actually feasible at the moment. Although we have made great advances in carbon nanotube technology, it's still not there yet (trust me, I had to write a 19-page paper for materials science class last year about them). And even if we were able to create the materials necessary to build the elevator, the next problem is how to keep it standing... I wouldn't want a 22,000km tower falling in my back yard. Perhaps in the future, it will eventually be done, but I don't think it can be done the way current science and technology stand.

I do think, however, it is good to dream about such ventures. After all, didn't people redicule Jules Verne when he wrote about going to the moon? Maybe we'll be proven wrong, and one day this will become a reality. Besides, even if the space elevator never actually materializes, all the neat stuff that's going to come out of the R&D for such a behemoth will no doubt be incredible, similar to how many new discoveries and inventions were made after NASA's Apollo Program.

Here's the link to the official website of the project, if you're interested. It's in にほんご, however.

And on a side note, this article reminded me of the anime Gundam 00...

スペシャル： 大北海道展！！！ And with pictures!

Due to the limited amount of Japanese I know relative to the ideas I want to express, all future posts will be predominantly English-based, with as much Japanese inserted when possible. As the semester goes on, hopefully more and more of the English will be replaced by Japanese...

Anyway...

きのう、ミツワマーケットプレイスの大北海道展へ行きました。


ごぜん９じに起（お）きました。コロンビア大学（だいがく）からミツワマーケットプレイスまで１時間（じかん）かかります。地下鉄（ちかてつ）とシャットルバース（ｓｈｕｔｔｌｅ　ｂｕｓ）で行（い）きました。

At the festival, I met up with some of my cousins who were also attending. We spent the day trying out many of the different kinds of foods that were on sale. Getting around inside was a nightmare... the place was very crowded with many other people going around trying to sample all the food as well. Amid cries of いらっしゃいませ！and みなさん、おいしいですよ！ we started buying.

The first thing we tried was "Asameshi Maeda Shoyu Ramen" (note - all pictures can be enlarged by simply clicking on them):

らめんとお茶（ちゃ）です。らめんは１，０００円（えん）です。おいしいですよ！

I also bought a bowl of Beef Soba to further satisfy my craving for noodles:

牛（ぎゅ）そばとお茶（ちゃ）です。７００円（えん）です。

Afterwards, we got many different kinds of pastries and small items... melon cantaloupe buns, mochi rice wrapped in red bean, Japanese ice cream, curry buns, taiyaki, fried fish cakes, various kinds of fried fish, this strange snack that you had to poke with a toothpick before eating, etc. There was this king crab bento that looked absolutely delicious, but by that time I had already almost run out of money and couldn't afford it （３０００円（えん）。。。たかいですよ。。。）!

There were also many different kinds of fish and other sea creatures that looked both fresh and tasty. However, I didn't buy any since I can't cook very well and don't have a refrigerator that would have been large enough to store anything in. T-T

The last purchase I made was a 雪（ゆき）ロール:

雪（ゆき）ロールです。１２００円（えん）です。おいしいですよ！

All in all, it was a fun and enjoyable day: taking a break from the pressures of school to attend a Japanese food festival with some cousins. But at the end of the day, you're probably wondering: did I actually practice using those shopping words and phrases that Nazakian-sensei just taught us the week before?

The answer, in one simple word, is はい。And it was quite useful, too!

The Wonders of... Calpis?!

I'd like to take this time to talk about the wonders of Calpis （カルピス）, a Japanese drink:
According to the carton currently sitting on my desk, Calpis is "A Refreshingly Sweet and Tangy Beverage with a Hint of Citrus Flavor". Personally, I think that the flavor cannot be captured in words... its something that you just have to taste for yourself. The closest approximation I can come up with is if you had a drink with the consistency of water that tastes kind of like sour yogurt (but not in a gross way?)... actually, I give up trying to describe it. o_0 Obviously, it's actually much easier to describe the flavored versions. Aside from the original flavor I've tried mango, peach, strawberry, and lychee. Out of the flavored ones, mango is definitely my favorite.

For those of you who have not tried some before (flavored or non-flavored), I highly recommend it. Although I enjoy drinking the kind that comes in the can/plastic bottle, I highly prefer the kind that comes in the carton. The ones that are pre-diluted are not tangy enough for my taste. However, the kind that comes in the carton is just the concentrate. Thus, I can dilute it myself and create the perfect flavor (at least according to my taste, haha)...

So you may be wondering how exactly I came to be familiar with a drink that cannot be found anywhere but the nearby Asian grocery store... it's a somewhat long story, but here's how I was introduced to the wonder that is Calpis:

Here in Columbia, I am part of La Liga Filipina, the university's Filipino culture group. Every year around the end of October we host an event called "Halo-Halloween", where we and the other Asian culture groups at Columbia serve Halo-Halo (or in the other groups' case each respective group's culture's version of it) to the university community. For those of you who don't know, Halo-Halo is a Filipino dessert where one takes shaved ice, evaporated milk, ice cream, and whatever else one desires, then mixes it all and eats it. During the event, each group offered their own version of the dessert. And at Columbia Japan Society's table, they were offering cups of shaved ice mixed with... you guessed it... Calpis.

Although I was skeptical about trying it at first (I had never seen something like it before), after trying it it became an instant favorite. In fact, I remember going back at least 5 times for more of CJS's Calpis/shaved ice mix. Eventually the person manning their table told me that if I liked their Calpis that much, I should buy some bottles of it for myself. He was kind enough to tell me the closest place I could go and buy some (it's actually a few blocks down).

Since then, I've never been without a can/bottle/carton of Calpis in my refrigerator...

For those of you who have been inspired to try this wonderful drink, you can find some at M2M on 115th, or you could go down a few blocks to JAS Mart (they sell some there too).

はじめまして！

わたしのなまえはディブィッドです。じゅうきゅうさいです。わたしはコロンビアだいがくのにねんせいです。わたしのせんこうはMaterials Science and Engineeringです。アメリカじんです。ニューヨークからきました。

どうぞよろしくおねがいします！

えいごでいいですか。

I chose to study the Japanese language because I find it fascinating. I also think that it will be useful in the future when I graduate from school and begin working as an engineer, since there are many inventions and technologies that come from Japan. In addition, I would also like to visit Japan one day, and I want to be able to speak the language when I visit.

I am excited to finally be learning Japanese in a formal setting. My prior knowledge of Japanese was through both a friend and self-study. I am excited that I will finally be able to learn more Japanese!