Monday, December 19, 2005

Pachinko Jumbo

Here are some photos from the live performance I have mentioned. It was a hiralious performance; I think it's first time for me to use this adjective to describe a band. Somehow everyone on the stage wore some funny costumes as you see below!

At Starpine's Cafe, Kichijyoji, 17 Dec. 2005At Starpine's Cafe, Kichijyoji, 17 Dec. 2005

One of the best would be the drummer, who wears like a god of thunder. In Chinese/Japanese tradition, thunders are taken to be the sound of drums that the god plays above the sky.

At Starpine's Cafe, Kichijyoji, 17 Dec. 2005At Starpine's Cafe, Kichijyoji, 17 Dec. 2005

The music they played was wide ranging: some were US funk, while some others were Japanese pop and rock. As far as I know, the band, 'Pachinko Jumbo', was formed specially for this occasion. So they copied famous tunes and their faviourite ones. This is quite different from how student bands in the UK usually work. In York, for example, most of the bands play their originals whatever their quality. In contrast, the majority of bands in band societies in Japan would be copying and adopting well-known tunes. Anyway, I laughed and danced a lot. I think they deserve a special place in my blog!!

At the end of the first week

It's been a week since I came back home. Meanwhile, I've done quite a few things. I've spent a good deal of time with my gf: we had ramen (Chinese/Japanse noodle), went to a view point at the top of a hill called 湘南平(Shonan-daira), visited our friends' flat, and went to a cafe and saw our friends playing in a band. On top of this, I went to see my seminarmates.

A view from the top of the hill (湘南平),  16 Dec. 2005

This is from the top of the hill. The hill is one of my faviourite places near my house. There, you can see my hometown located by the sea. You can also see Mt. Fuji as well. You can see loads of pix I have taken in my photo album.

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Busy days before going home!

I am leaving York within 34hours. Yes, I'm going home for Xmas and the New Year!! Before that, I have ten 1500word essays to mark. This is what I'm doing at the moment. I also have to finish off a few things related to my own research. I also want to go to the city centre for Xmas shopping. If possible at all, I want to spend some time with my flatmates over a pint. Humm, awful a lot!!! Oh well, we shall see how it goes!!

Bye for now; Next time I'll be writing from Japan!!!

... It's 5:30 in the morning now. I have done 6 more, so 4 essays to go. So far it took more than an hour to read, write a comment and module report for the term. I will finishthem off as quickly as I can. But it's time to go to bed!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
8.00 p.m. 14 Dec.
Finally, I have come back home yesterday.
Looking back, I think I have done a very good job. In fact, I did all that I wrote I wanted to do.

After I arrived at Narita Airport on Sunday 11 Dec., I went to a three-day Angro-Asia conference on intellectual history and political philosophy, Cambridge Moment: Virtue, History, and Public Philosophy. I will write some comments about it in my blog on history.