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Meeting You - South Korean VR

If you had the chance to see a loved one who has passed away once again... would you do it? Today, I would like to share with you a short but heartwarming documentary that got recommended to me on YouTube, about a grieving mother "meeting" her deceased daughter one more time through VR technology. (The video has English subtitles for those who don't understand Korean.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uflTK8c4w0c&list=LL&index=1 I knew I had to share and spread this clip to people, especially as it might help bring up some hope in general. For technology, for death, for love, for humanity. " Meeting You " is a South Korean TV show who wanted to take one step further into meeting closure with yourself after losing someone dear to you, so the staff and director Kim Jong-woo started this project of getting to the point where you can virtually meet a loved one, one last time. It took around a year to perfect this special project. A mourning mother, Jang Ji-su...
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The Way of the Househusband

The Way of the Househusband is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kousuke Oono . Published in the online manga magazine Kurage Bunch since 2018, The Way of the Househusband follows The Immortal Dragon, an ex-Yakuza boss, who retires from all crime to become all househusband. The series is fairly popular and was even made into a live-action TV drama by Nippon TV 2020 . You can find both the anime and the TV drama o websites like Netflix. As briefly said, the story is a Slice of Life that lets us follow Tatsu (meaning "Dragon"), the househusband who... comes across a bit rough around the edges because of his past as a top tier Yakuza who got the reputation of being unbeatable and thus being called The Immortal Dragon. Do not judge him, however, as he has turned his life around: Today, he is a loving husband who takes care of his home, or "turf" as he calls it, and his hardworking wife, Miku. I discovered this in anime adaption on Netflix and got hook...

Japanese Culture: O-bon

O-bon , or just Bon, is a religious event where people hold a memorial service to the spirits of their ancestors. It is held around July 15th or August 15th depending on the area, and since I am writing this around the time when festivals begins to sprout, I thought I'd take you along and let you know a bit about it! O-bon was originally held around July 15th of the lunar calendar. But, since the solar calendar was adopted in Japan, it has been held at August 15th in many areas, because the period around July 15th is the busiest period for farmers. They started to hold the o-bon festival one month later. During this time, a lot of companies and such are closed, for people to be able to visit their hometowns. During O-bon, which is from the 13th to the 16th, the spirits of the deceased are said to return to their families. What people do for this religious ceremony is different depending on the area. But basically, on the 13th, people visit their ancestors' graves and light lant...

Girl from Nowhere

  " Girl from Nowhere " is a 16+ Thai TV Series that got its own spot on Netflix, with 2 seasons released as we speak. The series was made by the studio SOUR Bangkok, with the talented Thai actress  Chicha "Kitty" Amatayakul playing the lead role as a girl named Nanno . The first season was out on GMM 25, a digital Thai TV channel, the 8th of August 2018. Its disturbing thriller elements and mystery anthology has made it incredibly popular, fans spreading all over the world like fireflies, with their own thoughts and theories on what happens... the fact that this story is based on true news reports from Thailand makes it even more disturbing. What is Girl from Nowhere about? Nanno is a 16-year-old high school girl who keeps transferring schools after being done with the previous one. That is not all though. You see, Nanno is not just an ordinary girl. She looks and acts like a completely normal human being, but she has the power to draw out the filthy evil from hum...

Rent-A-Girlfriend

Rent-A-Girlfriend , or Kanojo, Okarishimasu in Japanese, is a Japanese romantic comedy series, both in manga- and animeform, written and illustrated by the talented Reiji Miyajima . It has appeared in Kodansha's Weekly Shounen Magazine since July 2017 and has gotten 20 volumes in April 2021. --- The story basically follows a 20-year-old university student named Kazuya Kinoshita and his "love life", if you would say so. Kazuya is a rather awkward but kind and genuine guy, living a normal life and enjoying finally getting his crush, Mami Nanami , to become his girlfriend. After only one month though, Mami suddenly ends the relationship... which totally breaks Kazuya's heart. He tries to process the traumatic breakup and his feelings but nothing works and he drowns in his sorrowful tears and thoughts... until he discovers an app in which you can rent girlfriends. This is an actual system in real life Japan too; one can think of it as a fake dating app, where you go th...

80's J-Pop: Miki Matsubara

Album cover for Miki Matsubara's "Stay With Me". Miki Matsubara , or Suzie Matsubara [as she also went by], was a composer, lyricist and singer from Japan. She was known for her 80's J-Pop love songs, but really became famous after her debut single, " Stay With Me ", was released in November 1979. I'm sure many of you have heard this song, and I'm a fan of this talented woman myself, thus I decided to write about her. Early Life Miki Matsubara was born 28th of November 1959 in Osaka ( Kishiwada ), Japan. She grew up with a father, mother and younger sister in Hiraoka Town . Miki quickly became familiar with jazz music, as her mother was a jazz singer. She started playing piano at an outstandingly young age of 3 and simply embraced music in general, not only jazz but also rock. She went to ordinary schools her whole childhood and was praised as being a great and hardworking student who would enroll into university, but Miki had already dreams of beco...

Naruto: Sakura Haruno

I knew I would have to cover this character sooner or later, so today is the day: Sakura Haruno from Naruto ! Naruto is a manga series by Masashi Kishimoto, and also happens to be my favourite manga of all time! Anyhow, Naruto had its premiere September 21st year 1999 in the popular Japanese magazine " Shueisha's Weekly Shounen Jump Magazine ", and got very positive reviews, which made Kishimoto and a studio make an anime out of it. There's also games, movies, cosplays, merchandise... everything! But something that most of the anime community agrees on is that Sakura is, in one word, useless. She is one of the most hated characters ever, and if you ask me, for good reasons too... I may explain more and give my opinion in another blog post, but I don't want to hate on something someone worked so hard for, so I probably will just leave the information like this. If you are interested in why she is such a strongly disliked character, look it up and take your time to...

Who's That Pokémon?: Arbok

 Who's that Pokémon? It is Arbok ! Arbok, also known as the Cobra Pokémon, is a Poison-type Pokémon that has been around the series ever since Generation I. It is the evolution of Ekans . Arbok can be found in places such as in the mountains of Kalos and Kanto. It is often known as being evil due to its strength and appearance... not to mention the fact that it's a Poison-type. Arbok looks pretty much like a cobra snake, just being purple-coloured and having some black-, red- and yellow-coloured patterns. Its height is 3,5 meters tall and its weight is 65 kg. The moves Arbok can learn in total are Ice Fang, Thunder Fang, Fire Fang, Wrap, Leer, Poison Sting, Bite, Glare, Screech, Acid, Crunch, Stockpile, Swallow, Spit Up, Acid Spray, Mud Bomb, Gastro Acid, Belch, Haze, Coil and Gunk Shot. Do you like to use Arbok in battles?

UMAI Clothing - Info & Review

" Started in 2019, Umai is an artist-owned anime clothing brand inspired by japanese streetwear, which designs and sells anime hoodies, shirts, posters, iPhone cases and more! Umai, meaning (うまい - Wonderful or Good) has the goal to make people feel good through creating the best anime clothing possible. Whether you are wearing a piece of our specialty anime apparel or uses some anime accessories, we hope you find as much joy wearing or using it as we did creating it. All designs are uniquely created by @dhjs_0010, one of the owners of Umai Clothing, which ensures exclusive designs that only Umai can offer! " ... is what it says on Umai's official website! --- Umai Clothing is a clothing brand that I am a huge fan of. You always have to be cautious with E-shops, but when I saw an ad on Instagram... their clothes had me lovestruck, haha. In fact, I am even wearing one of their T-Shirts as I'm writing this! Umai clearly focuses on quality over quantity, even though they...

Shopping in Tokyo

Shopping in Japan is an amazing experience. With just as much traditional art forms and craftmanships as contemporary and imported objects, the selection is the highest possible. Something that is just as interesting is the variation between stores; from flashy department stores and enormous shopping centers to simpler sales stands at the corner of the streets and small crafting shops. Within one day have the constant welcome greeting " irasshaimase " every time one enters a store either made a customer crazy or one became a part of the busy streets. Japan is no longer the world's most expensive country, but the price on some wares can still be shocking. Some things created in Japan, for example cameras and other electronics, is actually cheaper to buy outside of Japan. On the other side, it is possible to buy real and uncommon souvenirs for a surprisingly cheap price. You can buy almost anything in Tokyo, from kokeshi (traditional wooden dolls) to Chanel handbags and th...