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Anime Expo 2019
Anime Expo 2019 is done and over with but I still have a few things to say about the event. The event was a hot mess. If you heard it was bad in 2017, well, 2019 definitely outdid Anime Expo 2017 in the crap department. I think it’s safe to say that many attendees thought AX2019 would at least be like AX2018 or better. 2018 was the year AX decided to implement a new badge system where you “clock in” and “clock out” of AX related buildings. Bag checks existed and yes, the lines were long but there were multiple lines so it wasn’t too bad. If I managed to visit the JW Marriot AND the LA Convention Center, it really wasn’t all that bad when you think how this year, I couldn’t even imagine to visit a non-LA Convention Center building simply out of fear that I’d have to get in a ginormous line yet again only to get into another line to attend a panel or whatever it is that I want to attend. This year sucked and I knew beforehand based on people’s rants on social media on how they had to wait at least 3 hours before they could get inside the LA Convention Center. Others waited 4-5 hours on Day 1 and all I can say is that is insanity.
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Kameyama Shachu
I adore Nagasaki’s signs that are in Japanese, Korean, English and Chinese. Because I couldn’t read Japanese back when I first visited Japan, I found Korean, in addition to English to be quite helpful. (Things made a lot of sense to me whenever I read something written in Korean that didn’t have an actual meaning in Korean. And for that, I’m thankful I was able to read Korean.) These signs I liked so much led me to temples and eventually to the site of the former Kameyama Shachu.
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Overrated Nikko
Of all the places I was looking forward to visit in Japan, it was Tochigi’s Nikko. I was drawn to Nikko due to my images of nature and its many world heritage sites.
Unfortunately, Nikko couldn’t meet my expectations (whatever they were) and left me with much bitter disappointment. A part of the negative experience could very well in part be due to my travel companion being a major pain since the morning of the trip. She was just bitchy AF and for the life of me, I could not comprehend why especially when she didn’t do any of the planning for this trip. (I kid you not unless you want to call a calendar showcasing our departure and arrival date as planning… Begin the eye rolling, folks.)
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Mom Thinks I’m Crazy to Marry a Japanese Guy
Okay, first of all, contrary to this post’s title, I’m not getting married to a Japanese guy. Heck, I’m not even getting married to anyone! Well, at least not yet anyway… One day, perhaps?
You’re probably wondering why I titled this post as “Mom thinks I’m crazy to marry a Japanese guy” and it’s because it’s the title of a movie I watched recently. On the 8th, the Japan Foundation held a screening of this movie at the Taiwanese Art Academy in Westwood. Yeah, Westwood of all places. (Westwood traffic was bad. The 405 traffic was also bad. So, what else is new?) Because of it being in Westwood, I was close to not attending this screening. I was actually quite hesitant to RSVP for this screening. And then on the day of the screening, I had other errands to tend to prior to the screening which made me second guess on whether I actually wanted to even go to Westwood. In the end, I decided to go to the screening. I was a few minutes late, but I made it and me being a tad bit late wasn’t a problem because 1) I managed to get a seat and 2) the screening hadn’t begun yet. I honestly wished I had gotten there early so that I could have gotten a seat in the front row. Sitting behind people taller than me was a pain. Worst of all was how I couldn’t see all of the movie’s subtitles thanks to it being blocked by heads in the audience. Meh. (Thank goodness that my crappy Japanese skills came in handy, I guess?) The idea of sitting on the ground, right in front of the first row actually crossed my mind a few times during the screening but I suppose I knew better and chose to stay put. (I mean, I was actually fortunate to even have a seat. There were actually people standing against the wall in the back of the room to watch the movie.)
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San Fernando Valley’s Obon Festival
It’s summer and you know what this means. It means hot weather, sweaty people and festivals. One particular festival that occurs every summer is the Obon Festival. This festival, while most well known in Japan occurs outside of Japan as well. Not long ago, I had the opportunity to attend one of the biggest Obon Festivals in Southern California. It was San Fernando Valley Hongwanji Buddhist Temple’s Obon Festival held in Pacoima. Yup, the valley where it’s super hot if isn’t already hot enough elsewhere in So Cal.