T is for Tokyo, R is for Roxy

roku @ 2007-06-16T12:40:00

2007-06-16T10:41:08Z

Ken-san made my Friday night and Saturday morning.

2006-03-19T17:09:47Z

Photo's are © Sonkie <3

けんさんが来るんだ。

2006-03-06T16:31:45Z

SIMMMM Thank you! 知らせてくださってめっちゃ感謝でございます。

Dent.

2006-02-23T01:21:51Z

There is a dent in my head. I can feel it on my scalp under my hair.

Is this what happens when you don't drink enough water?

Does your head start to implode?

Weather Pixie whoo.

2006-02-05T23:46:11Z

I Mostly Want a Twiggy Doll.

2006-02-02T00:02:13Z

I wonder if she is actually skinnier than Barbie. Oh, and it's almost Valentine's day, whoo. I am so totally celebrating it with my imaginary boyfriend this year.

de KUNSTSUPER

2006-01-20T21:56:54Z

I wish Livejournal would stop telling me to change my password.

Once upon a time, Allison and Roxy did Shibuya/Harajuku in a Big Way.

2006-01-20T19:51:26Z

Welcome toかっぱずし, a 回転寿司屋さん (aka Conveyor Belt Sushi Shop) on the 表参道(Omotesandou) in Harajuku. Top left is the infamous Hamburger Sushi. We ate it. It had mayonaise on top. It was special.

kaya trying to not hit me, with what could quite possibly be the ugliest doll ever made (for sale at the Tokyu Hands). And a drooling doll... thing, in the Mandarake for a mere 8400￥ (like 60 euros)

Sushi Clock, left, and Sumo Kitty, right. Both arguably prove that 1.) there is a God, and 2.) He has a bizarre sense of humor (humans were created in His image, no?)

How do you celebrate spring in Japan? You dress up, of course. Like either Mount Fuji or a blossoming cherry tree.

And what ho? Doujinshi! Again at Mandarake, kaya clutches Naruto and Howl's Moving Castle doujinshi (I never asked, but what did you pay on shipment for all the doujinshi and manga you took back home with you?)

On a Proverbial Roll.

2006-01-18T21:33:07Z

Some pictures of Holland Life.

アケオメ２００６年だぞぅ～

2006-01-18T20:02:37Z

今日は試験があった。月曜日もあった。明日もあるんだ。旅行で遠いところまで行ってみたい。日本とか。アメリカとか。しかし超和食が食べたくてやっぱし選べれんなら日本にするぞ。カラオケもあるし表参道もあるし友達に会いたいし。日本のばかばかしいバライエティーショーとか観たいし古本屋さんで漫画買ったらコンビニでおにぎりを買って帰って西荻窪にある「あたしだけ」の部屋に戻りたい。所沢にある中学校行きたい。くれ身ちゃんと一緒に中目黒のOVOのちっちゃいアンダーグラウンドパーティー行きたい。変なお笑い見たい。渋谷にいるギャル男とか見たいよ。もーここはどうだって良くなりやがったんだ。それにはオランダ男性マジで大っっ嫌いなったんです。はい以上です。上にある写真は、東京の吉祥寺で、学校の友達のふゆちゃん、くみちゃん、はるかちゃん、ホンさん、アサミちゃん、亜由美ちゃんです。一番下の方、Isolde,セラ、Julia,後自分。

Georgie King of Hearts.

2005-10-09T21:52:58Z

I have a cat. He goes by Many Names.

Joris. Zandi's Boy. Yorisu. Squirrel of the Night. Georges. Jo-san. Kitty Joji. Odagiri Joe-gie. Doumjyoji. Georgie W. Bushy (someone has to do something for that man's karma). Kisama. Debu. Vampire.

roku @ 2005-10-08T00:08:00

2005-10-07T22:12:28Z

Ayumi is here.

2005-09-04T13:38:29Z

B is for Birthday.

2005-08-16T00:28:17Z

B is for Birthday!

(memory)
I turned 20 on August 18th, 2004, in Tokyo. Rene and Amanda were staying with me at that time, and they helped me organize a little party. My friends from school and mangajuku came; I even got to meet Miss Fujita’s boyfriend.
I got a manga, a picture book, a chocolate birthday cake, a beautiful big wooden dresser, a little porcelain bowl, Japanese tea, sandals, clothing and lots of birthday cards.

A teacher at school gave me a Starbucks members’ card, with 3000 yen on it. People hung out and ate the cake and the snacks. Kojima and Kaori had come directly from school that evening, and they hadn’t had dinner yet (they got to my house by 8pm). So that explains the pictures with Koji worshipping the sushi I gave him.
When it started getting late, everyone went home. That’s when Toe and Mihyun joined Amanda, Rene and I, and we made our way to Nishi-Ogikubo station, where we met up with Youichi. The bunch of us took a train for Shinjuku –but it was already so late that the train didn’t continue past Nakano.We split up into two cabs and continued to Shinjuku (lucky thing Japanese taxis are cheap).

We got to Shinjuku and headed for the Rolling Stone; a tiny little rock café on the second floor of a building. I didn’t know about 90% of the music (imagine my ecstasy when they at last played the Red Hot Chili Peppers) but I had the energy to keep dancing, and besides, there were no trains, so we had to hang out here anyways. In the morning we went and got one of the first trains back home, saying goodbye to Mihyun when she took the Yamanote line home. At the combini we bought rice balls and instant ramen (dear drunk Toe kept going, 'I want ramen! Give me ramen!')and at home we settled into a very quiet sleep (which lasted until 4.30 pm). I had turned 20!

My 21st birthday is coming up; August 18th. That's this Thursday. Though I might not be throwing a party on the day itself, I'll probably be having people over for a party on Wednesday.
So if you happen to be around the Hague (the Netherlands) up and coming Wednesday, and want to come by, do pop me a line...

Hiermee bedoel ik dus te zeggen; as. woensdag vier ik mijn verjaardag. DWZ woensdag op donderdag. Mensen kunnen naar gelange blijven slapen. Mocht je alleen willen komen als je betere helft ook mee mag, wees gerust, dat mag het.
Het wordt wel een beetje een bring-your-own-booze feest, daar ik niet het geld heb om andermans dronkenschap te financieren, dus wees gewaarschuwd. TAART is er wel, in overvloed.

Mensen die evt. mijn mobiele nummer niet hebben: nulzeseenviereeneenzevenvierzeventwee.

Taco van der Eb - Tokyo Interviews

2005-06-18T01:09:50Z

{Dutch articles}
8weekly : Museum Groep : Mare

A is for Appetite.

2005-06-13T19:31:19Z

A is for appetite! Above are Haruka, Ayumi and Miss Hon, taking pictures of their cake with their mobile phones.
This is a perfectly normal thing to do in Japan.
You see, the food there is simply very pretty. After the four of us had a yakiniku (Korean B.B.Q.) party at Miss Hon's family's restaurant, にんにく屋(Garlic Shop) in Kinshicho, we went and had cake in a fancy smancy department store cake shop where we sat and ogled all the waiters 'till closing time.

Christmas eve's dinner was with Toe at an Indian restaurant in Nishi-Shinjuku. To the right, more pics of the infamous yakiniku/cake party.
And here's a Japanese Yakiniku game, in which you have to barbeque the meat just right.. then you dip it in the sauce and it dissapears (presumably into someone's mouth), issuing a comment in Japanese, like, "That's good!" or "It got a little burnt" or "This is raw meat."

An okonomiyaki party (it doesn't get much better than this, folks) in Kichijoji. You can see Ayumi, Seki, Fuyuko, Youichi and Yoshii on the pictures.
On the right is coffee, but not as we know it. Almond latte and maccha (green tea) cappuchino are served up at the Opera Center, home to, among other things, the ICC (please just click this link and play with the flash animation, it is fabulous.) and the café where we got these coffees.

O KO NO MI YA KI (if I ever get a tattoo it's going to be that word.)

Cheesecake on display in Kichijoji; counter-clockwise from top left, Mister Sakurai, Miss Sasaki, Mister Sakai and myself, showing off our strawberry-fetish deserts at the local family restaurant, Denny's. To the right, dominating this page, the omni-present and somewhat daunting Peko-chan.

of Money.

2005-05-25T23:52:50Z

The student temp agency called me awake at nine this morning, asking if I could work a catering shift from twelve to three.
I said yes, though it upset me that I would have to get out of bed immediately to be able to get there and have time to spare. As it was, I prepared for the day at a leisurely pace, raced to make the train, and got to the Hague with time to spare.
Of course, on the way to the company where they signed me in, I got lost. But with the combination of an admirable and somewhat unexpected stroke of "sense of direction" (another good word is, "stroke of genius") which lasted me exactly three minutes, and a very large map on the side of a building, I found my way there on time.
Watch me cut the work-story short with the words: Three hours well fed are three hours well spent.

This evening I went to Rotterdam to spend some money, because spending money is admittedly one of the very few things I am good at. The only person I know who is a better spender than I am is my mother, and a friend, whose name I shall not disclose, who buys golden charm bracelets and whispers to all the charms that they "are so very pretty".

I went and saw Revenge of the Sith, and golly gee, I still have the ZZMPH, ZZMPH of swishing light sabers buzzing in my ears. It is a very stressful, tense film (I had to go to the bathroom for the larger part of it, so perhaps that increased some stress). I laughed rudely at some scenes and had my hands up in front of my face at others. The part where all the Jedi were killed made me sad, but Anakin Skywalker made me feel very sad as well. That actor succeeded in bringing across his Napoleonic character. The Emperor's "HOUSE OF WAX: IN A THEATER NEAR YOU!" face succeeded in making me choke laughing.

I suppose it is a firm, high step up from the previous two, which had respectively a lot of Jar Jar Binks (sp?), and a lot of Romance, both of which buzzed so loudly in my ears. I have no problem as such with Romance. Indeed, a lot of people who know me will affirm that I thrive on it.
But there has never been less chemistry between two actors than the so-little-chemistry-it's-not-even-there-and-has-started-sucking-up-oxygen-into-its-vacuum-pit-of-Doom chemistry between Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen.

I argued with friends that if there had been a better director the actors would have responded better to one another, as well. The friends responded that the director was most probably George Lucas, and that if he hadn't been there, there wouldn't have been any Star Wars films to begin with.

So in a way I'm only dealing with a relative sense of loss. I think that the entire group of actors working on the new films, all had the same problem: they are the Post-Star Wars generation. We've grown up with the "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...", and Yoda isn't a Muppet, he's a Icon. How do you act into that world without losing your personality as an actor? It's not like acting out a film that's being released for the first time, and you are introducing your character to an open audience. Acting in the new SW-trilogy is trying to fit yourself into a character from a realm zapped into existence thirty years ago, worshipped and delved into and needed, since then, by a vast amount of people. As an actor, I think you lose the strength to stay yourself, in a situation like that. You move to fit the mold of this character, and all the acting is lost in the fitting.
They should have waited another thirty years to finish the double trilogy. My grandchildren will be the generation that does not know Star Wars, and does not care, and therefore be able to act that grand story out so seamlessly and with so much heart it would make us, old survivors, cry in witnessing such tenderness, such talent touching back on our own electronic youth.

The train ride home was just as exciting as the film. First the conductor and a passenger who I couldn't see, started yelling at each other and insulting each other. Baffled, I realized I did not understand them, though they were speaking in Dutch. Slightly worried, I put on my music to drown out the foreign arguing.
Later, a girl came up to me. (I know she is not the same passenger who fought with the train man.) She was wearing a dark headcloth. She had big black eyes with long, painted-black eyelashes and a round, soft face. I could tell she had been crying. Somehow, when people cry, they lose a sharpness around their eyes; maybe the tears blur the gleam of the eyeballs in the light. That loss of sharpness was on her too, the rims of her bottom eyelids lined pink.

She apologized and explained that she didn't have the money to get home. I asked where she lived; she told me Moordrecht.
I have been to Moordrecht once in my life, for a Christmas concert. I suppose I should not say anything about a village, based off of only having seen its church, but obviously, if such a small village has such a large church, I think the most important things have already been said right there. Moordrecht is a tiny, horrible place without a train station, where it always rains.

I gave her five euros, because she wanted to take the train taxi, which was four euros ten. I would have felt petty to ask her for change, or to give her all the two and one-cent coins I had. She thanked me, relieved, and took my number, telling me she'd pay me back soon.

I don't know if she'll pay me back; these are easy things to promise. Paying people back what you owe them is the hardest thing to me, anyways. I just said "as long as you get home safe" because I felt very sympathetic towards her. I think we were the same age. I know the stress of being a girl alone out late at night. And the accompanying parental guilt trip when you break train-time based promises.

*

On a thoroughly different and perhaps less interesting note, I feel terribly embarrassed when people I am with do not share my sense of humor, and in fact do not even feel inclined to give in and politely laugh when I joke. I feel terribly embarrassed when they instead ridicule me for having a ("gasp!") different sense of humor. I handle a lot of shit with my sense of humor, and I find that worth appreciating for at least ten seconds.
Perhaps I've adjusted myself to different people and their senses of humor too often. Or perhaps I have a bad poker face, so no one even knows when I'm joking or being serious. Perhaps girls like me aren't supposed to be funny.
But I do not like people putting me down because they can't handle the level where I am coming from. I deal with people I am not connected to, all the time, and I make myself interested, or I start to like them because they are different, because I can learn from them, because I feel I don't have the right to stop searching for influences yet.

Alright, I feel confident no one will have read this to the end. My eyes certainly can't handle this much text in a row on one screen. I miss my Japanese friends, who are so gentle-natured that I relaxed with them and became more gentle myself.
I miss my apartment where I could stay myself and where I did not lose laundry.

NANA and other links.

2005-05-17T20:07:21Z

Yes, I still owe people a lot of stories, I promise these will come when I have edited the photo's to accompany them.

In the meantime, I will tell you about some things.
First off.
NANA: my favorite manga, and the favorite of a hellalotta girls in Japan. It's not out in English, but it's already being released in French so I expect it to be a simple matter of time before the US market picks it up as well. NANA is so great that it is now being made into a film, to be released in Japan at the end of the year.
Starring the absolutely fantastic Nakashima Mika and Narimiya Hiroki and then a slew of actors who I've "seen before somewhere" (like maybe Japanese tv).

Anyways, I got the NANA art book at the anime convention at the beginning of May.. I am a fangirl. Once a fangirl always a fangirl.. and it is the fangirl in me that cannot believe I gave away half of my manga to Japanese friends before I left for Europe. It is the mature part of me that argues that I couldn't have afforded the shipping (as it was, my credit card need be CUT IN HALF). But the mature part of me also likes NANA so we're at a bit of a power-down.

NEXT.

GROOVISUAL DIARY: My Japanese friend Toe has this fabulous blog on Music, Design and Fashion. She writes in both Japanese and English. Definitely fun for anyone interested in pop culture and sweet living.

NEXT.

Indietits: residew was so kind as to post about this on DA. Hilariously cynical webcomic, everyone go read it.

NEXT.

Orisinal: Some of the sweetest flash-animated games you or I have ever seen. Go play, it's enchanting.

NEXT.

Queen's Night, 2005. More photo's will follow, but for now: Erik, Jasper, Sotaro, Jennifer, and fireworks at the Scheveningen Peer.

～嵐ファンガールの帰国話～

2005-05-09T21:12:05Z

Yeah!

So I'm still alive. Have been all this time, even.
I hope none of you have tried emailing me at my hotmail account anymore, it died a sad, drawn-out death.
I still use it for chat, about once every ten thousand weeks when the moon is situated suchly that I feel like chatting.
..

I'm dead tired and very unfocused, but I'm aiming to edit all my digital photo's of Japan and my friends there, and put them up on some webspace that I happened onto (thank you, Marcel, thank you).

A lot has happened in the mean time, but I'm not telling you now.
Let's just say, in the eternal words of Nonimiya in the bloody amazing movie PIKANCHI DOUBLE..
「ただいまで～す。」

ok, for the non-j-readers up in here, I'm home.

roku @ 2005-02-10T21:44:00

2005-02-10T12:52:08Z

Howl, your castle is moving.

If you use any of the icons please link back to the same link I have given you, and don't forget to pass on this message.

roku @ 2005-02-09T21:03:00

2005-02-09T12:11:33Z

Ugh. The soccer match Japan vs. North-Korea (I think they're playing in Japan) started two hours ago and I'm not watching because I'm still at school.
And my vegetable drink that I am drinking purely to make up for guilt of eating bar of chocolate a day tastes exactly like what it is; squished vegetables.

At least they didn't add salad dressing.

Though if I proposed this I'm sure there would be a company who would see the hole in the market for vegetable drinks with salad dressing.
Instant (portable!) hors d'oeuvres. Yum.

roku @ 2005-02-03T16:41:00

2005-02-03T07:47:50Z

Spread the Love. World Expo 2005, Aichi, Japan.

roku @ 2005-02-01T16:10:00

2005-02-01T07:16:01Z

New photographs have been uploaded, so check 'em out. Cheers to LJ's fabulous photo system.

On request by Erik

2005-01-11T07:07:09Z

1. First name: Roxane

2. Were you named after anyone? The wife of Alexander the Great.

3. Do you wish on stars? I thought you could only wish on falling stars. And I've never seen a falling star..

4. When did you last cry? Saying bye to my Mom at Narita.

5. Do you like your handwriting? I don't really care, it's just everyone else on Earth who can't read it.

6. What is your favorite lunchmeat: Fish?

7. What is your birth date? August 18th, 1984

8. What is your most embarrassing CD? I am proud of my Hilary Duff CD! Proud!

9. If you were another person, would YOU be friends with you? No way.

10. Are you a daredevil? I don't do stuff I don't want to, or I think is stupid.

11. Have you ever told a secret you swore not to tell? I've never sworn not to tell any secrets.

12. Do looks matter? Hell yes. I am the embodiment of the Japanese 面食い (menkui); the face feeder (someone who goes for looks only).

13. How do you release anger? I mostly ignore it till it goes away.

14. Where is your second home? My family's house.. which should really be my first home.. but my little apartment is my first home now.

15. Do you trust others too easily? No, whether or not I trust others is based fully on instinct.

16. What was your favorite toy as a child? Barbie.

17. What class in high school do you think was totally useless? Physical Education.

18. Do you have a journal! This livejournal, yip.

19. Do you use sarcasm a lot? I used to. But my Japanese friends don't get it so it makes for poor jokes.. it's on hold while I'm here.

20. Favorite movie(s) 8Mile, Gladiator, Hary Potter, Moulin Rouge, Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi

21. What are your (acceptable) nicknames? Roxy, Roku

22. Would you bungee jump? Sure.

23. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? I don't tie them in the first place.

24. Do you think that you are strong? No, but stronger than some.

25. What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Chocolate.

26. Shoe size: 39 (24.5 = Japanese size)

27. What are your favorite colors? I like 'em all.

28. What is your least favorite thing about yourself? I'm lazy and always sleepy.

29. Who do you miss most? Family/friends.

32. What are you listening to right now? Orange Range, track 15; Papa.
33. Last thing you ate? Fame milk chocolate.

34. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Dark red.

35. What is the weather like right now? Cold, bright, dry.

36. Last person you talked to on the phone? Japanese teacher.

37. The first thing you notice about the opposite sex? Shape and proportions of face and body.

38. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Oh yeah :) *hugs Carolien*

39. How are you today? Tired, apprehensive, excited.

40. Favorite Drink: Japanese tea, latte.

41. Favorite sport: Nothing I'm good at.. but I'd like to play more squash and/or tennis.

42. Hair Color: Blond.

43. Eye Color: Green.

45. Favorite Food: Okonomiyaki.

46. Last Movie You Watched? Old Boy.

47. Favorite Day of the Year? The days in May where it's not so hot that you want to sit inside, but hot enough for you to sit in the sun, on the grass, with a latte and a book and know that you have no work waiting for you.

48. Scary Movies or Happy Endings? Either one, but I think I slightly prefer happy ends.

49. Summer or winter? Both.. but I like feeling my hands and toes, so maybe summer.

50. Hugs or kisses? Both.

51. What is Your Favorite Dessert? Chocolate Chunk Scone (TM Starbucks Japan)

54. Where Would You Want to Go on your Next Vacation? France/USA/Indonesia

55. What Books are you Reading? The Dante Club. (finished; was fabulous)

56. What's on your mouse pad? I don't have a mousepad. I have a Wacom Intuos3 tablet and it's Silver.

57. What did you Watch Last Night on TV? I played DDR.

58. Favorite Smells: Fresh bread, rain, wood.

59. Rolling Stones or Beatles: Neither, because I don't know the music.. but what I've heard from either end, I like well enough.

60. Do you believe in Evolution or Creationism: God came up with Evolutionism.

61. What's the furthest you've been away from home? Japan.

Please note that as with most other posts by me, I answered this survey at a quiet moment at home and took it to school to post the next day. One day I will be back on line to share in your lives and make silly comments the way people enjoyed (or didn't) once.

roku @ 2004-12-24T23:24:00

2004-12-24T14:30:59Z

Hey guys! Since I have absolutely no time, between going to dinner with every human I know in Japan, cleaning up my house for Maman coming, and reading all 11 volumes of Nana, and since I'd rather spend my money on food than on internet cafe-time, I'm not sending any of you e-cards (hey, be grateful, my inbox was loaded with about 400 kilobytes of e-card x-mas wishes, and then people sent emails complaining that they couldn't send me e-cards because my inbox was too full) but I am going to wish you the absolute best, most fun Christmas, and a very happy Turning (is that a weird term?).

It's been a really wonderful year for me, and I think my relationships and friendships with you guys is a part of it.
Big hugs and kisses to you, my dears! May your gifts be cherry red tricycles, chocolate parfait, hotchkisses and moonshine (er, wait).

And let's all remember where Santa comes from