J-Poppin!

Just a quick post today. (I'm kinda tired and have to get up early to go to Tokyo tomorrow. But I'm psyched because I'm going by shink! -shinkansen aka bullet train- I love the shink!)

J-Pop is kind of the Japanese equivalent of Pop. Or at least you'd think so. But then you realise that there are really only two genres of music in Japan. Traditional (like enka- which sounds like a sheep bleating to death slowly) and J-Pop. The fact that there are two genres does not mean that there are only two styles of music in Japan. It just means that everything which is not traditional (or hip hop/reggae) is called J-Pop. So you end up with a range which sounds like anywhere from Elton John to N' Sync to Tim McGraw. It's all J-pop.

Nonetheless, I happen to actually love J-pop.

Recently, there was a closing on one of my favourite anime. It was the most annoying thing. The chorus starts with screaming the same word 5 times! ANNOYING!

And then it got stuck in my head. Don't you just hate it when that happens? So now I love it. Just in case you wonder what it is: Jitensha (Bicycle) by Ore Ska Band. That's a super cool band name too. There are different ways to say "I" in Japanese. Watakushi is super formal. Watashi is general/feminine. Boku is masculine. Washi is like from samurai times (I think) and Ore (oh-ray) is the masculine gangsta "I". (In my region, however, everyone says ore, including my 6 year old female students. I guess they're just bada$$ up in the North.) So being named "ore" anything is super cool. And it's even cooler for an all GIRL band!

Here's the song and a translation of the chorus (0:44).

Bicycle, bicycle, bicycle, bicycle, bicycle,
I'm coming, coming, coming, coming, coming,
Right now, right now, right now, right now, right now,
Bicycle, bicycle, I'm coming
I'm going to meet that person!



And here's the next instalment of Iwate Swan.



I'm in meetings in Tokyo til Tuesday. No guarantee about internet. C u guys when I can :)