I recently read the article posted by Steven D. Levitt (author of Freakonomics) on his New York Time’s blog. Entitled Tattoonomics, Part I (presumably there will be a Part II), Levitt raises the question, “Why get a tattoo?” I have tattoos and I get asked this question all the time. I fondly remember getting caught [...]
Archive for May, 2010
Tattoonomics: The Motivation Behind Getting a Unicorn Humping a Dolphin Tattooed on Your Ass
Posted in Ramblings, tagged constantine in tokyo, constantineintokyo, tattoo, tattoonomics, tattoos on May 29, 2010 | 10 Comments »
Midnight Runner: One Man’s Experience Teaching English in Rural China
Posted in Teaching English Abroad, tagged ALT, China, Chinese, constantine in tokyo, constantineintokyo, Harbin, Henan, teaching English, teaching English abroad, teaching English in China, teaching in Japan, Xuchang on May 24, 2010 | 13 Comments »
I sat down with my friend Phil to talk with him about his experiences teaching English in rural Henan, China. Phil has been an English teacher at Xuchang University since October 2009. However, his experiences in China reach far back – from a brief month teaching in Xi’an, Shaan’xi during college to an abortive attempt [...]
HBO’s THE PACIFIC: Part One
Posted in Book Reviews, Film Reviews, HBO's The Pacific, tagged bushido, constantine in tokyo, film review, HBO's The Pacific, Helmet for My Pillow, Japan, Japanese, Japanese history, Steven Spielberg, The Pacific, war, With the Old Breed, World War II, WWII on May 21, 2010 | 12 Comments »
Following the model laid out by Band of Brothers, The Pacific begins with actual footage of Pearl Harbor and interviews with some of the veterans of the Pacific War. We’re rapidly approaching the time when the generation who fought in WWII will be gone and I find these interviews extremely valuable. In Band of Brothers, [...]
Japanese Film Reviews #20: Takeuchi Tetsuro’s WILD ZERO (2000)
Posted in Film Reviews, Japanese Film Reviews, tagged constantineintokyo, film review, Film Reviews, guitar wolf, J-horror, Japan, Japanese, japanese film, Japanese zombie movies, takeuchi tetsuro, zombies on May 11, 2010 | 3 Comments »
Wild Zero follows the three band members of Guitar Wolf; Guitar Wolf (vocals and guitar), Bass Wolf (bass), and Drum Wolf (you guessed it, drums). This trio are the hottest musicians in rural Asahi-cho and only believe in three things; love, justice, and Rock’n’Roll. Tired of the dirty ways of their evil yakuza business manager, [...]
Japanese Film Reviews #19: Tomomatsu Naoyuki’s ZOMBIE JIETAI: ZOMBIE SELF-DEFENSE FORCE (2006)
Posted in Film Reviews, Japanese Film Reviews, tagged constantine in tokyo, film review, Film Reviews, J-horror, Japan, Japanese, japanese film, Japanese zombie movies, Tomomatsu Naoyuki, WWII, zombies on May 11, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Tomomatsu Naoyuki’s Zombie Self-Defense Force (Zombi jietai) is one of the most ridiculous genre spoofs out there…and I mean ridiculous in a good way. A UFO crashes in a forest and releases radiation that can reanimate the dead. In close vicinity to the crash are a gang of yakuza and their chinpira lackeys, a photography [...]
Japanese Film Reviews #18: Kitamura Ryuhei’s VERSUS (2000)
Posted in Film Reviews, Japanese Film Reviews, tagged constantine in tokyo, film review, Film Reviews, J-horror, Japan, Japanese, Japanese zombie movies, Kitamura Ryuhei, Sakaguchi Tak, Sakaki Hideo, zombies on May 10, 2010 | 7 Comments »
Everyone who watches Japanese film knows about Versus. And for good reason, this is an awesome movie. I tend to shy away from movies that are excessively popular. This is because having never been popular myself, I harbor a deep subconscious resentment for all things that become popular. But, in this case, I will grudgingly [...]
Japanese Film Review #17: Tomomatsu Naoyuki’s STACY (2001)
Posted in Film Reviews, Japanese Film Reviews, tagged film, film review, Japan, japanese film, Japanese zombie movies, zombie movies, zombies on May 10, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Directed by Tomomatsu Naoyuki and based on a novel by Otsuki Kenji, the 2001 film Stacy seems like a pretty good idea – what’s not to love about undead zombie schoolgirls? The film opens with the following narration: The beginning of the 21st century. Young girls aged 15 to 17 began dying one after another, [...]
Racism in Japan
Posted in Japan, Japanese Culture, Ramblings, tagged constantine in tokyo, constantineintokyo, Japan, life in Japan, racism on May 10, 2010 | 23 Comments »
As a part of the ‘Japan YouTube community’ (though somewhat reluctantly) I’ve encountered a lot of the videos that people have posted about racism in Japan. I don’t really agree or approve of a lot of these videos, because they are almost always very negative and extremely one-sided. Personally, I haven’t experienced much racism while [...]
C’est la vie Golden Week
Posted in Japan, JET Program, Ramblings on May 7, 2010 | 4 Comments »
Golden Week is over and so is Constantine’s Crazy Japan Traveling Extravaganza: Part Two. I now have more raw video footage to add to my already enormous backlog of videos that I need to edit together and post on YouTube. The editing will be slapdash and half-thought-out, as usual. =P So this upcoming month will [...]
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