Aah, I'm steadily becoming more and more Japanese, and less and less English. I wasn't very English to begin with, but this Japanese character in me is certainly a big improvement. I got my first hit of the Asian Island last year, on the 23rd of December, when I was at my friend's house to wish her a Happy Birthday. I'm not very good at being cheerful and saying 'Happy Birthday' and 'Best of luck for the coming year' and all those sorts of things, so I took the family accordion - it once belonged to my Great-Grandfather, whom I never knew, and was supposed to be an absolutely fantastic musician - and did as best I could to celebrate the day by performing the well-loved 'Happy Birthday to You' on that, while stood at the foot of the stairs. It was the best I could do. But where the Japanese comes in, is that the people who my friend, Marta, is staying with (she's over here from Germany for a year) - the parents of an old friend of mine - are also playing host to another girl who is here for a year, who is from Japan, and called Eriko (or えりこ - I can't remember how to write it in Kanji, though, unfortunately). And while I was over at their house on the 23rd, I got to have a look at the Japanese text-books, from which Anna (the lady of the household) is currently learning Japanese. I found it pretty interesting, and I'd already expressed a desire to learn the language to Anna, so she very kindly said I could borrow a couple of the books, and a CD. Which I duly did, and have been peeping between the covers every now and then, and giving the CD a spin in the hi-fi, and have been thoroughly enjoying it all. In short, a couple of Japanese films have been on the television recently (Gohatto and Ping Pong), I thought they were amazing, and decided to have a Japanese binge on Amazon.

Asian Arrivals

Book: Battle Royale by Koushun Takami

I'd had my eye on this book for quite a while. The film adaption had been mentioned to me a few months before, and I had duly got myself onto Amazon to do some further research. But, alas, I didn't click the Order button at that time, and so I didn't have the book in my possession until earlier today.

When I opened the huge Amazon box (huge, because there was also a record in there - more on that, later), and unleashed the piece of literature, the thing that hit me was the sheer weight of the thing! I have books that contain more pages, and have bigger dimensions on the front, but - I don't know how they've managed it, but - the thing is very heavy. Very satisfyingly heavy. I can't wait to delve into it, but I'm still half-way through Don Quixote, about a third of that way through Hemingway's Death in the Afternoon, and I'm also reading The World According to Clarkson (very kindly bought for me by my sister, Jess), and Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure (which was very kindly bought, as a part of a set, for me, by my parents). And I do like to finish things before I move on...

DVD: Hana-Bi directed by 'Beat' Takeshi Kitano

After watching Gohatto (which is on my Wish List) and Ping Pong (which isn't cheap enough to be on my Wish List), I decided to have a look on Amazon to see what other fantastic Japanese films I might be able to see, and came across Hana-Bi. I haven't seen it yet, so I haven't got much to say about it ('Thank God!' I hear you all exclaim); but I'll leave you to read about it on Amazon, and I'll prepare myself to watch it tomorrow. Thanks.

Not so Asian Arrival

Music: In the Fishtank Vol. 5 by Tortoise + The Ex

Well, I'd downloaded this album a while ago, hadn't listened to it all that much, but recently I decided to have another listen, found I loved it, and decided to get it off Amazon. Can't say fairer than that.

There will be a couple of other arrivals very soon: some Japanese music, and some Icelandic music. Very exciting times.