More fabulous than ever. Nice cameo by Mx Justin V Bond!
heart
Sumo wrestler riding a bicycle
These gentle giants have captured my heart. Photo by Paolo Patrizi.
Introducing Nakamura Shido: Guest post by Kathryn
Guest Post: Created by Kathryn of Project Kathryn.
Readers, you are in for a huge treat!
After I complained that many of my loyal fangirl readers seem fixated on the super-young (at least from the perspective of this cougar, aka milf), Kathryn volunteered to introduce adorable Nakamura Shido. I love how her profile includes Arashi, Kathryn’s favorite group, and Donki! Thanks, Kathryn!!
—— —— —— ——
Shido Nakamura is apparently a famous Kabuki actor. Not being up with such cultured things like that, I only really noticed him when watching Letters from Iwo Jima (a damn fine movie – I resisted watching it for ages because I hate war movies but I’d highly recommend it).
After that, he became known (to me) as “the guy from Letters… no, not Nino, not Watanbe Ken, the other guy…”
Then I found out all about his kabuki past (he then became “the kabuki guy from Letters from Iwo Jima”) and, suddenly kabuki didn’t seem so boring. I could sit though some traditional Japanese theatre for Nakamura-san.
More recently he was a guest on Arashi ni Shiyagare – http://www.dramacrazy.net/japanese-variety/arashi-ni-shiyagare-episode-3/ as the “big brother” guest. He taught Arashi how to make ramen in a manly fashion *swoon*. He has a quiet, dry sense of humor you rarely see in guests on Japanese variety shows. But best of all, he talked about how, when he gets lonely in the middle of the night, he goes shopping at Don Quixote! And he loves it when he gets recognised and asked for autographs and photos. He (cleverly, perhaps) didn’t say which branch he shops at because that could possibly be opening the floodgates of fangirl stalking.
Still, good looks, manliness, sense of humor and shopping at Donki = a combination that will win my heart.
“Spoken from the heart” of a heavily medicated lady
I have a HUGE crush on first ladies in general. It’s hard to cultivate warm feelings for the sadly zombified Laura Bush, who seems to be heavily sedated at all times. Yet even I am excited to hear she has a new memoir, Spoken from the Heart, in which she discusses the fatal accident that killed her high school boyfriend and all the mean things said about the husband she claims to love. I prefer the fictional story in Curtis Sittenfeld’s novel American Wife, where the Laura Bush character cannot vote for the clown she married. I hope Laura pens a sequal after rehab!
Bring back the slatterns
Reading a 1960s literary book by last century’s most celebrated Japanese to English translator, I was struck by his use of charmingly out-dated English. Famous North American translator describes how famous Japanese Meiji writer turned his attention from geishas to “slatterns.” The setting was the start of the 20th century, and the fiction writer was making the impossible biological transition from young man to middle age.
The context made clear that the “slattern,” lacking the art of the geisha, was a barely obscured word for prostitute. What a now quaint word to denote lack of sophistication, slovenly hair and costume, and inadequate hygiene.
With this delicious new word in mind, what did I see in the JR Metro but white plastic heart-shaped high heels? Yes, the heel itself was in the shape of a valentine’s day heart with the point serving as the base of the heel. Below is the closest approximation I could find on Google images. And, trust me, somehow the white plastic was even more slattern-ish than the lucite model.
My only question is why, even in Tokyo on a hot evening, can men not signal slattern-iciousness the way ladies can and often do? Step it up, herbivores-ladies danshi-gyaruo-otomen!
Shameless adultery, on Xmas!
I was hoping for the perfect Xmas today. Confronted with such public and shameless adultery, my dreams have now been shattered.
Darling Kimutaku, do our vows mean nothing? Everywhere I turn I see you with that woman. I know that Beyonce is famous, rich and beautiful. But why must you flaunt your indiscretions in public? You have turned peace and love into envy and hate. If you want to reclaim my heart, I am expecting over-sized jewels.
–Your soon-to-be-former-wife
Tokyo Moe 