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It’s that time of year again! This time, being in Japan, it’s probably one of the hardest years for me to predict the winners. In some ways, this year is very predictable but in other ways it is not. Nonetheless, it should be very interesting. I don’t think I’ll be able to watch the Oscars (at the very least, not live), but I will definitely review the results afterwards. Here’s my ballot

(You can review the full ballot of nominees and use this ballot to cast your own personal predictions here: http://us.imdb.com/Behind/ballot/IMDb_RTO2010ballot.pdf)

1. Best Picture: “Avatar”
2. Best Leading Actor: Jeff Bridges, for “Crazy Heart”
3. Best Leading Actress: Sandra Bullock, for “The Blind Side”
4. Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, for “Inglorious Basterds”
5. Best Supporting Actress: Mo’Nique, for “Precious”
6. Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow, for “The Hurt Locker”
7. Best Original Screenplay: “Inglorious Basterds”
8. Best Adapted Screenplay: “Up in the Air”
9. Best Cinematography: “Avatar”
10. Best Editing: “The Hurt Locker”
11. Best Art Direction: “Avatar”
12. Best Costume Design: “The Young Victoria”
13. Best Makeup: “Star Trek”
14. Best Original Score (Music): “Up”
15. Best Original Song: ‘The Weary Kind’ from “Crazy Heart”
16. Best Sound Mixing: “Avatar”
17. Best Sound Editing: “Avatar”
18. Best Visual Effects: “Avatar”
19. Best Animated Film: “Up”
20. Best Foreign Language Film: “The White Ribbon”
21. Best Documentary : “The Cove”
22. Best Short Documentary: “China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province”
23. Best Short Animated Film: “A Matter of Loaf and Death”
24. Best Short (Live Action) Film: “Kavi”

And as is usual fare, with my predictions comes some commentary on some of what I chose. The numbers correspond to above.

1. Wow, Best Picture-what is being called one of the toughest races in recent years. It reminds me of the Oscars in 2006, in which the best film of 2005 was “Crash”, even though I had suspected “Brokeback Mountain” would have won. I guessed wrong that year. I haven’t incorrectly guessed the Best Picture category for the last three years (of course, I wanted “Babel” to win over “The Departed”, but that’s another story). So I have a little bit of pride in this category.

But I think I will try what I did in 2005 and predict the film that I would rather not see win the Oscar, and that is “Avatar”. I think it’s pretty clear that the Best Picture winner will be either “Avatar” or “The Hurt Locker”. Picking between the two is what is difficult. Frankly, I just don’t think that “The Hurt Locker” has enough steam going for it. I know there’s some other major ‘Best Picture’ awards it has earned (Producer’s Guild, Director’s Guild, etc.) and comparatively, Avatar hasn’t done so much in that area; though winning the Golden Globes is a huge step.

The fact is, though, that everyone and his mom saw Avatar. It’s not the film audience that is voting for the Oscar, but the sheer amount of people who have seen it is staggering. The box office info is no mystery-over $700 million domestically, $2 billion worldwide; and you know what? It’s still in theaters. If it wins Best Picture tonight like I think it will, it will probably have earned itself another $100 million dollars so that people like me who still haven’t seen it can.

The Academy obviously doesn’t need to help the film’s success any more by giving “Avatar” the Oscar, but it may want to reward it. After all, the fact that there are 10 Best Picture nominations this year is, I think, a response to “The Dark Knight” not being nominated last year for Best Picture. The Academy wanted to expand to 10 nominees for films like “The Dark Knight” that do enormously well in the box office, but are still overshadowed by more ‘artsy’ films like “Milk” and “The Reader”. And it’s not like “The Dark Knight” was an unworthy film, anyways.

Again, this race is close, but I think the steam of “Avatar” in the box office will translate to a win this year. James Cameron has come out of his shell to create a technically superior film to all of the other nominees this year. While I would like “The Hurt Locker” to win, and despite its awards these last few weeks, I still think “Avatar” has this one.

2-6. These 5 nominees are near locks in my opinion. The only two that might see a different outcome is Best Actress and Best Director; Best Actress being the more likely of the two to see someone else win than my predictions.

I can’t say Sandra Bullock is a great actress, because frankly I haven’t seen many of her films. I thought she was really good in “Crash”, but that was in no way a huge role for her. In “The Blind Side”, Bullock is at the forefront of the film. And I’m feeling that this will be her year. Meryl Streep may sneak in with her nomination.; she’s been nominated many times recently and has yet to win. In the same way that Kate Winslet won last year after having been nominated so many times, Streep may be on center stage accepting this award tonight. But I have a feeling that Streep will have to stay seated as she is so used to doing already and watch another deserved actress walk away with the Oscar.

With the steam that “Avatar” has for Best Picture, there’s also a chance that James Cameron, who has taken much time off from directing, may walk away with the Oscar for Best Director. After all, this film has quite a lot going on, but perhaps that is better saved for the producers, who will likely walk away with the win. James Cameron also produced, but this award is for directing. “The Hurt Locker” is being called one of the best depictions of this particular war, and despite having no support from the military in filming, the film still succeeds. Sound like a Best Picture winner? Sounds more like good directing to me. Like many others, I think Kathryn Bigelow has this one. I won’t call it a lock, but it’s fairly likely nonetheless.

14. “Avatar” would seem the likely winner here on the surface level. Filmtracks.com calls its music the one with the most ambition this year. “Avatar’s” ambition, in general, has held up pretty strongly this year. However, I think back to “Up” and while I can’t remember much of its themes, the opening montage alone would probably elevate this one to a win. In the past, many Pixar movies have been nominated for its music, including one of my favorites for music, “Finding Nemo”. Michael Giacchino did very well with his Academy Award from the video game industry for “Medal of Honor: Frontline”, and has since been mainly with Pixar for its music. This is probably his year at the movies’ Academy.

16 and 17. Oh boy, I always seem so confident about these categories when I vote, but for the last two years I have been wrong for both of these categories. Though my theory about these categories held true for the Oscars of 2008 (for the films of 2007), that whoever wins Sound Mixing will go on to win Sound Editing if it was nominated for that one, I had falsely predicted “Transformers” for both, when I should have picked “The Bourne Ultimatum” for at least Sound Editing. And while I thought “Wall-E” would walk away with at least Sound Editing last year, alas “The Dark Knight” did, even though “Slumdog Millionaire” got Sound Mixing.

This year, the technical spectacular that is “Avatar” should get both. Many people are suspecting it might only win one or the other and not both. But if I had voted for “The Dark Knight” for both last year like I probably should have done, I would have at least gotten one of them correct. So even though “Avatar” may not take home both, I think it will, and my money is going to “Avatar” for both.

24. This is perhaps one of the hardest categories to predict, along with the films nominated for Best Short Animated Film, although I think that’s more clear-cut than this one. The subject of “Miracle Fish,” for example, is intriguing. A boy who is bullied wakes up one day with no people around him. The movie plays like a fantasy for him at that point. But the depressing ending may be too much for the people who watched all five films. So, it may be easier just to go with a Wallace and Gromit short, in the end.

Although I haven’t talked much about the other categories in-depth, I did talk pretty thoroughly about Best Picture. Also, to be honest, many of the picks I had for the categories I didn’t mention were more or less what I have heard from other sources will be the winner. But then again, it’s kind of the way it goes with this kind of voting. I feel very strongly about these ones, and hopefully I can miss less than 5 (that’s the amount I missed last year). So while I may not see it live, I can’t wait to see what the winners are. And although my money is on “Avatar” for the big win, I will be more happy to see “The Hurt Locker” win.

As you might know, my all-time favorite band, Dexter Freebish,  is releasing their new album soon this year. In an interview with Austin360.com, Dexter Freebish also provided a new file photo of the band and a link to a brand new song, never before heard. It’s called, “Save the Last Dance”. It sounds really great, and makes me all the more excited for the new album!

Check out the full interview and the song below the interview here:

http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/music/entries/2010/03/04/austin_at_sxsw_dexter_freebish.html?cxntfid=blogs_austin_music_source

I haven’t done a podcast for my blog in a long time. Now, I will be trying to embed this podcast into this post. Hope it all goes well.

The topic is a book titled, “The Naked Gospel” by Andrew Farley. I have never read the book, but for the topic of the book (self-titled as ‘Jesus Plus Nothing’) I decided it might be fun to ‘quiz’ my theology a little bit. Wanna hear how I answer the questions? Be sure to listen to the audio.

NReviews Blogcast: The Naked Gospel

Here is a link to the website itself:

http://www.thenakedgospel.com/the-quiz

So, IGN wrote an interesting column about how Nintendo is not creating decent, brand-new content, but we as the consumers are just fine with that. I’m not writing this article to directly pounce on anything specific that IGN wrote, but rather the concept itself-that Nintendo could be doing more.

It’s an interesting topic, really. I hear people say this about the movie industry when considering franchises such as Saw, Final Destination, or even your typical romance comedy. They are not necessarily well-made pieces of art, but we don’t care as moviegoers-we’re still shelling out money to see them. IGN has likened that to Nintendo. I have to agree, for the most part. I see games like “Cold Stone Creamery” and probably over a hundred others that probably shouldn’t even exist, but do. Apparently, somebody is buying this stuff. One reason I don’t like GameStop is because they seem to be the ones stocking so much of this junk. But I guess there are people buying it.

But the junk drawer of video games isn’t exactly what this post nor IGN’s post is about. It’s more about first-party Nintendo stuff. The first thing that comes to my mind is that Nintendo could be continuing certain franchises but have decided not to. I’m really left wondering why. The two that come to my mind are Pikmin and Star Fox. Now, Star Fox didn’t do so well in the GCN era, by many people’s standards. I personally liked Star Fox Adventures quite a lot, despite the fact (I acknowledge it, too) that it’s not really a Star Fox game. And then when a ‘real’ Star Fox game arrives, it’s not nearly up to par with classics like Star Fox 64 and even the original. With Pikmin, I personally thought the second game in the franchise was one of the best games for GCN, and I absolutely loved it. The sales didn’t match the widespread praise for the game. Had the 3-year old franchise really died out? I myself was a bit uncertain as to the low sales. When the original was remade for the Wii, that too received poor sales. And I am still screaming at Nintendo for not releasing Pikmin 2 for the Wii when every other region has it (or so I’ve heard).

But if I even gripe about Wii games that were originally GCN or PS2 games, than it brings a whole different topic into mind. Many of the best games for the Wii are not entirely for the Wii. I can think of several off the top of my head. Resident Evil 4, Okami, Metroid Prime Trilogy…I might even put The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess on this list since it was basically made as a GCN game. But I’m okay with this. Why? Because they are good games that I never fully experienced on past consoles.

As much as I want Nintendo to make another Star Fox or Pikmin for the Wii, I’m actually doing quite fine until they even make an announcement. I’m still playing through Okami, Metroid Prime Trilogy and Twilight Princess. I’m still exploring the vast library of Virtual Console games, especially with my latest download, Super Mario RPG. Nintendo seems to be gradually releasing those games, as well.

A part of me feels like despite a new Zelda, new Mario, new Metroid, that the Wii is indeed running out of steam. There aren’t even that many more VC games that I can think of that I want to buy (probably Donkey Kong 64, Pilotwings 64 and Star Fox). So while it seems that a new ‘Wii’ or new Nintendo console may not be coming in 2011, I would wonder how Nintendo is going to keep this coming year strong. It seems like all the major releases will be at the end of the year. There’s no guarantee in my mind that Zelda will even be coming out this year, especially given Nintendo’s track record. Super Mario Galaxy 2 will likely see the light of day this year, but still…

All that said, the Wii could be doing so much more. What is with the lack of support for the Wii Motion Plus, by the way? I am left confused at such a strong launch for the device (Tiger Woods 10, Wii Sports Resort) at why there can’t at least be another Mario Party for the Wii. Nintendo shelled out 4 of them for the GCN, and none were all that good. The Wii’s current version is selling so well that Nintendo is just cashing in on that. Can’t blame them, but still-3 years later, I’m left wondering why they can’t make at least one more.

But maybe I am asking too much. Maybe Nintendo sees its potential in other franchises and is letting the gamer like me sit and play the games I currently own while I happily (maybe) wait for their big games to hit this Fall. Which is like 10 months away. And so I am left waiting. But I am hoping that Nintendo can deliver something besides Pokemon HeartGold for me before that time.

For more than a week now, Wendy’s has been gone from Japan, due to licensing issues with the parent company in Japan and the Wendy’s/Arby’s International group who would have to issue permission for the parent company (Zensho Co. LTD) in Japan to continue to license out the Wendy’s name and products. Naturally, I was pretty upset about it. But it just makes it all the more easier to reflect on it, now.

So, let’s start by counting down all the Wendy’s restaurants I had been to and I’ll order them by favorite.

1. Shinjuku Wendy’s (Shinjuku District, Tokyo)
2. Namba Wendy’s (Namba District, Osaka)
3. Rokko Island Wendy’s (Kobe)
4. Hyogo Station (Hyogo Ward, Kobe)
5. Shin-Kobe (Kobe)
6. Sannomiya Wendy’s (Sannomiya District, Kobe)
7. Umeda Wendy’s (Umeda District, Osaka)

As going to Wendy’s wasn’t a huge priority when I was in Tokyo last month, I only re-visited the Shinjuku Wendy’s, and unfortunately didn’t get to visit any others (walked by the Hamamatshucho one, though). Wondering some of the reasoning behind my order? These happen to be the only 7 I’ve been to, by the way. I had hoped to have had gone to at least 8 so I could say I had been to at least 10% of the Wendy’s in Japan (there were 71). But I guess 9% is good enough.

The Shinjuku one definitely had the best atmosphere. That is another reason I had hoped to visit some of the others in Tokyo-hoping for a similar atmosphere. The Namba one was close in atmosphere and also very quick service. The Rokko Island one was the best one in Kobe, I think. Another great atmosphere, and I appreciated having the bar available since I went there by myself twice.

The Hyogo Station one and the Shin-Kobe one were about the same. Just average, nothing too special about either; but I still felt they were better than the Sannomiya one, which is the one I ended up frequenting the most, usually out of convenience. The Sannomiya one, however, was small, cramped and perhaps the worst part was the smoking and non-smoking section being horribly separated. The Umeda one was the worst probably because it just didn’t feel great. It was underground, which didn’t help, but it felt the least ’special’ of any of them. Needless to say, despite me going back to Umeda more than once after, I had never bothered to go back to that Wendy’s.

A natural follow-up question to this post even existing would be “Why”? Well, I’m glad you asked. I love Wendy’s. In America, I always go to Wendy’s whenever I think of fast-food. And I have practically every option in the book less than 5 minutes from my house: KFC, Taco Bell, Chipotle, McDonald’s, Burger King, etc. But Wendy’s will always prevail. I will only go to any of the other ones if somebody else is already going. Never would another option prevail if I have the choice of Wendy’s. In Ohio, I almost always have the choice of Wendy’s, fortunately.

Now, I could talk about Wendy’s a heck of a lot more here. But I can talk about Wendy’s anytime. For me, I had to find a substitute. If I couldn’t have Wendy’s in Japan, what would I have whenever I went out? I found several good options. It just depends on the dish. For ramen, definitely Tenkaippin. So good. For gyoza, Oshoo has great deals and great tasting-gyoza. For gyuudon, the choice became Nakau after I went there once with a friend in Tokyo. Love their tonkatsu don. For okonomiyaki, it’s Big Kid in Sannomiya; apparently a Kobe specialty. There happen to be 3 in the same block, 2 of them underground (unless I saw the same one twice underground, but they seemed to be in different spots). And for general meat products, there’s Big Boy. I have never had Big Boy in America, but it’s quite good here.

So I’m at a loss of Wendy’s, which can never fully be replaced. But I have so many other options, and they’re all mostly Japanesey. And there’s also Mister Donut for a nice snack (had gone on a MisDo hiatus, but have been eating it more recently in an attempt to gain some weight). And if Wendy’s stays gone for a while, maybe I can just become the next president of Wendy’s in Japan, who knows? Could be exciting!

Well, I had to be fair and admit that in making a list of the top 5 video games, I really only have knowledge of Nintendo games. But hey, I think that’s good enough. Of course, this list isn’t just Nintendo-produced or published games-it is games that appeared on any Nintendo system in the last decade. It also gave me an excuse to make a blog post. =p

5. Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition (2007; original game 2005)

I played the GCN edition all the way through the first disc (back in the day 2 discs were sometimes required). And then I made the smart move and bought the game for the Wii, at a sweet price of $20. Frankly, there’s no reason not to own this game for the Wii. Obviously, if you’re not 17 years old, you should probably hold off on buying this game, but otherwise this is a near-perfect game in every respect. Very tense scenes combined with a unique combat system that seems tailor-made for the Wii remote controls, though it was originally a GCN game. When it made its way to the PS2 several months later, the developers included an extra mode and true widescreen support. The Wii version is the best of both worlds-has the extra features of the PS2 version and the same great framerates and graphics as the GCN version. What has been faulted is that it is true there is no other bonuses nor any graphical enhancements, but it still looks darn good, even being ported a couple years later. And with the Wii remote controls, the game takes on a new face. It’s really good, and highly recommended!

4. Star Wars: Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron 2 (2001)

Few people will likely have this game on a similarly titled list. For that matter, few people would regard this game better than Resident Evil 4. However, this game is phenomenal, and those who invested in it at the start of the Nintendo Gamecube’s life cycle were not disappointed. This is still one of the best looking GCN games out there, and in almost every way that mattered truly pushed the console. It had fantastic sound, music, voice casting. It is very difficult-I still can’t get the final gold medal in this game (Endurance; said to take over 2 hours). It has one of the best presentations for a game I’ve ever seen; with DVD-like menu screens and a great interface in-game. It completely took advantage of the GCN controller, with the sensitive L and R buttons and even the seemingly defunct D-pad for commands to shipmates. For those who are wondering what the fuss is about, you can likely find this game for a reasonable price nowadays-and I suggest you pick it up.

3. Metroid Prime Trilogy (2009; original games 2002, 2004, 2007).

Another Wii version of a game-but this time two others were included. In total, Metroid Prime Trilogy includes all 3 Metroid Prime games, and like Resident Evil 4, the first two games (originally for GCN) now feature Wii remote controls and true widescreen support. These were some of the best looking games when they were released and still hold up today. This game, just released this year, could not have been timed any better. The original Metroid Prime is still considered one of the best games ever created, and the gameplay still proves to be as challenging and exciting as it was 7 years ago when it was first released. I’m still re-playing the original Metroid Prime, but they threw in all 3 games for me, so I get two more games to play when I finish the first. The game sells itself on replay value right there. But this is all available at normal game pricing-$50. Highly recommended. It truly deserves a spot on this list, and I am thrilled to have it on here.

2. Perfect Dark (2000)

Even the N64 had a game that was worthy of this list. At the beginning of the decade, gamers were introduced with one of the best games ever made. This game was about as close as one could get to perfection, for its time. The only real fault is the spotty framerate, and that really could not be helped for the time. Even then, the game plays well, and you’d be hard-pressed to find any gamer or critic fault the game heavily for that problem. Only 9 years and two console generations later does it seem all the more obvious that it’s a problem. For those who can’t get past that, there’s the Xbox Live Arcade Version being released early this year.

Borrowing from Goldeneye 007’s engine, Rare truly mastered what was already a fantastic gameplay engine by adding fairly basic stuff-voices instead of just merely reading what the characters were saying, Dolby Surround Sound, Expansion Pak support, etc. But actually, the list doesn’t stop there. If Rare had just made a single-player game, the game would probably still be considered one of the best. As IGN argued on the opposite spectrum, Rare could have sold just the Combat Simulator (multiplayer mode) as a game itself and did itself well. Ironically, if you didn’t have an Expansion Pak, all you could do was the Combat Simulator; and even then, with just one more player. But of course, the Expansion Pak plugged in opened up everything. 4-player multiplayer, high-res graphics, etc.

But every time I put in “etc.”, I just think of more and more I could say about this game. Combined with the extremely challenging one-player mode, thanks to 3 difficulty settings, Perfect Dark is the game that I think of when it comes to replay value. It sets the perfect standard for that. I am still playing it 9 years later and trying to beat “War!” on Perfect Agent (the last level on the hardest difficulty setting). I think I’ve logged 5 full days into this game over the past 7 years I’ve owned this game, and it is still playable today. And I could truly keep going on, but I think you get the point. I probably about sold you on the game, and I would mention that it is available for a very low price for the N64, but you almost may as well wait for the XBLA version simply because you’re paying more for better graphics, a smooth framerate, and everything else that the original game already had. But then I can’t guarantee it will be the same. There is that risk with ports. So do yourself a favor and pick up one of the best games ever made.

1. Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2

My list may seem full of sequels, ports and the like. But it seems to me the best games came out in this manner. My favorite game of all time is this one; naturally, also the original. This game does what a port should, and that is upgrade the game in many different ways. The sound (music, effects), graphics were updated, as well as some interesting gameplay additions. The addition of Luigi as a character practically makes for an entirely new game. I am still trying to beat the game with just Luigi. This game also has incredible replay value, partially thanks to the original game itself including over 70 levels and over 90 ‘exits’, meaning some levels had multiple ways of clearing it.

Super Mario World was one of the last ‘true’ platforming games, even taking on the subtitle “Super Mario Bros. 4″ in Japan. But it was the best of the ‘four’ games. Many would argue Super Mario Bros. 3 for the NES (Famicom) was the best, but I disagree. Super Mario World had extremely rich gameplay and wasn’t quite as frustrating as Super Mario Bros. 3. And at the time, Super Mario Bros. 3 didn’t have any save files, which simply added to the frustration of the game itself. Honestly, I don’t know how gamers played games without game save files way back when. I can understand a game like the original Super Mario Bros., which wasn’t quite big enough to garner a save file, but games like Super Mario Bros. 3…

Anyways, Super Mario World for the Game Boy Advance essentially brought everything great about the original into portable form. Aside from the game itself and the already amazing replay value is the Super Mario Bros. arcade game which also allowed for cooperation or versus with multiple players. For Super Mario World, the game also allows save points anywhere you want, so you are no longer confined to saving from specific levels, which was a small nuisance from the original. Simply put, this is one of the best games ever made, and if you can find this game again (they still sell it new in Japan), I would highly recommend it.

Well, there is my list. Comments? Thanks for reading!

Had to add a post. You don’t even know why Muji is the best store in the world. I am a stingy person, and admittedly can’t really afford much at Muji except their pen cases, pens, erasers, notebooks and water (which is the best water in the world-get it right now). But the items they sell are just so amazing. I mean come on, where else can you get a bag in a bag? It’s crazy good stuff. Of course you can use the bag to put Muji stuff inside, as seen on their website or use the even smaller bag to your liking.

Now that it’s Muji Xmas, there’s even cooler stuff for geeks like me. Muji focuses on its no-brand model, and succeeds at that. So the Railway Station in a Bag item bears no brands, but the familiarity that the sheer sight of a train brings renders it enough for me to freak out about it. I think I found my Christmas present already…

Now go to Muji’s website, click Play Muji and love.

http://www.muji.com

I had a good day today. I want to first rant on why my day was so good, and then go a little deeper into the concept of good days vs. bad days

I had a plan to go do things in a very particular order, and not only did I get to do most of them, when I did them, they turned out to be better than expected. Most of all of this occurred when I was out. First, I was able to catch a Rapid train from my station. I was really happy about that because for every two Local trains that come, a Rapid comes, but I tend to be unlucky and miss it. Rapid trains skip stops and get me to certain places faster, including the places to which I was going today.

My first stop was actually the first stop after I got on the Rapid train at Hyogo station, where I went to Wendy’s to have lunch. Today was the second time I went there by myself and was able to read and eat at my own pace; that was really great. I finished the book I was meaning to finish a while ago, too-the book is titled “The Prodigal God”. It was really good, and despite it straying a little bit from the parable itself, the ending was still strong. I dug out a mini-journal of sorts where I looked at past entries (some about two years old) to see what kinds of things I had been experiencing in my walk with God. To save the preaching, basically I was reminded of some truths that should help me this week. And to top that experience off, I was greeted by a certain female employee who I remembered from last time a few weeks ago. She is really nice, and commented on my Japanese being good last time. I think she remembered me because she kinda smiled when I gave her the list of the things I don’t want on my Double Cheeseburger (pickles, onion and mustard).

I proceeded via another Rapid train to Motomachi station and stopped by probably my favorite store in Japan-Muji. Short for Mujirushiryouhin, Muji is a store that sells only its own brand of materials, but it sells quite a variety. You could buy almost everything there-from furniture to silverware, from clothes to school supplies, Muji does have quite a lot. I also love its concept of keeping things simple. It’s a very well realized brand, to be sure. Now, the prices there are usually not particularly cheap, so today I had to settle without buying anything. It’s nice to browse, for sure. I never thought I would get into window-shopping, if you could call my excursion to Muji today that.

I then went to Uniqlo, which was very crowded. It was a holiday, so that didn’t completely surprise me, but at the same time, it didn’t bother me either. I find if I am in a store or area that is really crowded, and I didn’t want to be there in the first place, the crowdedness kind of makes me antsy. I know a lot of people who can relate to that feeling. But because I was by myself, and I myself was shopping there, I could browse leisurely at the things I wanted.

Uniqlo is usually really expensive; it’s good quality, so it kind of makes sense. However, the first thing I noticed when I walked to the men’s section was $20 pants, and I was ecstatic. I had already expected to have to drop $40 for jeans as I had seen previously, but even some jeans were $20. When I tried the two pairs on, I couldn’t really go with the jeans because despite the low price, they were too skinny. Sorry, but I can’t quite do skinny tapered jeans yet, despite my friends’ recommendation.

The other thing I went to buy was boxer briefs. I had considered some at Muji, as two for $10 seems to be the normal price around Japan. To be honest, it would be unheard of for me to buy boxer briefs in America because of that kind of pricing they are given. It’s actually why I basically have had none. But, Uniqlo had a sale on boxer briefs today-3 for $10. Again, I was ecstatic…and I don’t usually get ecstatic about boxer briefs. To see what they feel like, I bought three different kinds. I am not the kind of guy that sees the need for anything too colorful when it comes to underwear-until I am married, I doubt anyone but me really sees it, so I don’t see the point in buying underwear with writing on it, or a bunch of colors or whatever. One pair that I bought was all dark grey except for the band being yellow. When I went to another Uniqlo today (mainly just out of curiosity of whether or not they had the same sales because I was stopping by the area anyways), I found the same style of boxers but slightly darker and with a green band. Green being my favorite color, I was a little disappointed-I wasn’t going to spend $5 just to get that.

I went to Toys R Us to look for Monokuro Boo, but as I was walking there I realized that I could actually exchange the one I bought earlier and get the one I wanted. After exploring Toys R Us for a bit, I went back to Uniqlo, grabbed the new pair and proceeded to the service counter. I was impressed with my own Japanese at that moment, actually; I was able to successfully trade them in, so I was happy it worked out. I wonder, though, what the employee thought more strange-the fact that a white guy can speak decent Japanese or the fact that this guy actually was exchanging pairs of underwear. It was more awkward when the second of the two employees-a woman-then put my underwear in my bag for me before I had a chance to do it myself. Awkward, but funny, nonetheless.

Finally, I was able to locate a store that I had been searching for under the JR tracks near Motomachi station for weeks. This was my third go-around. My friend had requested me to search for a store with a very specific style of jeans. This time, I had the name of the store in my head. When I went to look, I couldn’t remember the name of the store, actually. But I had a feeling if I saw the name, I would know. I was able to communicate fairly well with the Japanese owner of the store, and he also complimented my Japanese, for which I was grateful. So, I found it, and now I can go back after informing my friend and buy the pair he wants.

To summarize a bit, I think there are a few reasons that I had a good day based on these experiences. One thing was that I felt good when my Japanese was complimented. Another thing is that I am a stingy person, but also generally want to buy good-quality stuff. My impression of Uniqlo is all the more better because of not only the sales, but their willingness to serve the customer despite the need. I also really like getting Rapid trains because it means I get where I want a bit faster.

Now I want to talk about the concept of good days in general. Throughout my entire life, this concept has stuck with me. I remember receiving a poster from my Nintendo Power magazine that was a calendar for the entire year (I think the year was 1999; it was a Pokemon-themed calendar, too). I spent the entire year only marking the calendar in one way-with circles or x’s. I would mark one circle or one x on each day. What did it signify? It told whether or not I had a good day. Despite me having a number of bad days, I ended up with more circles than x’s at the end of the year.

Should I be happier if I have more good days than bad? Probably. But I don’t think having a bad day should get me too down either. Not to quote Daniel Powter’s song by virtue of this ideal, but I do think that we as Americans (whether in America or Japan) are fairly lucky. Lucky in the sense of rich in money and resources. While I had a great day today, I don’t think life is about having more good days than bad. I think life is about having days filled with Christ.

Didn’t want to become too preachy, but to be sure, we will all go through periods of hardship. I think God is always there for us when we are having bad days, weeks, months or maybe even a bad year. And I’ve already thought of the typical American company who might say that they’ve had a good fiscal quarter or year. I don’t know that money is the measurement God uses as to whether an individual or a group had a ‘good’ period of time. But if I can say that God helped me to grow in some way today or that God allowed me some amount of joy, then I’ve realized what good days probably look like.

I was thinking about tragedy. I realize that it strikes everyone at some point in life. But what allows one to continue life after tragedy? I seem to have many friends with intriguing stories of tragedy that occured in their lives. Parents divorced. Friends run over by a drunk man and killed/injured. These are just a couple of innumerable stories I hear my friends share. I don’t know how they are dealing with it now. I don’t know how they dealt with it right after it occurred. I do know that, at least for them, life seemed to stop and change.

I’m still trying to recall how this topic came into my mind, as I’ve spoken of neither of those issues specifically with either of the two people of whom I am thinking recently. The stories still remain in my mind, but it is only a part of it. There is such a tremendous amount of the reality of the respective situations that I am simply not experiencing and will never experience. As one might say to me, “How could I ever begin to relate to any grief they are experiencing?”

I suppose I could try to answer that hypothetical question. The first thought that comes to my mind is whether or not I have been through the experience. My parents have never divorced, and I haven’t had any close or even somewhat distant friends die suddenly, whether from a car accident or otherwise. So I already cannot relate in this way. To be real honest, there has not been a sudden tragedy in my life that is of any caliber close to the two situations I have highlighted. In fact, any of my problems seem quite petty in relation to these horrible experiences.

Is it possible, though, to blow up a small problem into a larger one, and then deem it so unbearable as to bring down one’s lifestyle to a halt? It would seem that this is possible. Our capacity for emotion often overrides our mental capacity. We might feel without knowing what it is we feel, or how to describe the feeling in words. I am amazed when people can articulate their feelings in a blunt, yet descriptive way as to truly convey what they are feeling. Giving language to emotions can be difficult. I myself have had random spurts of simply crying; never for too long, but long enough to note. I could not explain any purpose of the crying spurts, and I could count the number of times I have ‘experienced’ these with one hand.

Nonetheless, what then can be a relief to any of this? When life overwhelms, what gets you through? I am more or less asking than answering. How, really, do people do it? I am beginning to think of common answers and I wonder-does everyone suffer the same? It’s an interesting question, to be sure. I have a feeling that some people choose to ignore the negative feelings; bottle them up somewhere, somehow. I think we subconsciously pretend that there is nothing wrong with us, when in reality, there is quite a bit.

Does that mean we go on an emotional roller coaster? Not necessarily, but I think it could deem it time to recognize and deal with our problems. I am hoping that I can help others with that process. When I think about the more specific details of the previously stated two incidents, I think that there is even more layered into one’s mind and soul that goes unsaid; unspoken for a time, perhaps forever. I hope that we can talk about these issues, and I hope that people realize that there is always someone to whom you can talk. That is God.

I’m trying out a new theme, and this is in response to me finally getting my blog upgraded to the newer version. Still working on some kinks, but hopefully should be running normally as of now. I also hope to post more in the future, but this is kind of about all I have for today.

I will say, big thanks to WordPress for making the newest version’s interface and customizability staggering. I am very impressed with the new features (automatic saves of drafts is a life-saver, really). Cheers!