Remembering Japanese cars from the past
Just pre-ordered my copy of Arcade Mania on Amazon:
Arcarde Mania book
As the description on their site says:
Covering classic games from Space Invaders to Street Fighter, as well as the unique, quirky games found only in Japan
Sounds great! Can’t wait to receive it!
Too bad it only gets available after x-mas, otherwise I could have asked my girlfriend to buy it for me as a Christmas present. ;)
Finished After Dark by Haruki Murakami two weeks ago, shortly after I moved to my new house. It was a bit more readable book by Murakami than Kafka on the Shore or The Elephant Vanishes. There is a clear storyline with only a few mysterious or unclear passages, so it’s nothing like Norwegian Wood. I would recommend it to new Murakami readers because it is a bit in between.
After finishing After Dark I was doubting what to read after it. Because most of the books were still packaged in boxes I only had a limited choice and chose a book which is actually my girlfriends. However she didn’t had the time to read it yet.
The book I chose is The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon:
I must say I really appreciate this book: it is a very good book written about the start of the comic industry in New York. Two Jewish boys start their own comic called The Escapist. That’s about how far I came so far (one third of the book) so I don’t know yet what will happen.
The book was written in 2000 and in 2004 Dark Horse comics created an issue of The Escapist together with Chabon. I think I’ll try to find this issue in the near future. ;)
In the end I don’t really think it is a book for my GF. She really did like the The Yiddish Policemen’s Union but that’s a completely different subject that this book.
Since I finished Densha Otoko (train man) I had to start with a new book. My girlfriend already packed most of our books because we’re moving so my choice was limited.
Lucky enough she didn’t pack After Dark by Haruki Murakami so I started with that book last night.
I must say that the book starts the usual Murakami style and the same goes for the atmosphere: a lot of references to his personal favorites. Makes me more curious to some reference to the background music of the part I read last night… I had the same with The Elepehant Vanishes: I even looked for secondhand Duke Ellington on Queensday and immeditately bought every single one I found.
Just finished reading Densha Otoko. Amazing! Much better than the J-Drama: Train isn’t such a wimp in the book as in the Drama. He’s more direct to the point and the story drags less on. In the end it turns out that he’s worse than an otaku (translated into anorak): he’s really into Hentai D?jinshi (translated into fan-porn) as well! If that isn’t enough: his favorite is Sailor Moon and Keroro! ?????ยด)
For all you out there doubting whether you should buy the book or not: do buy it, it’s definitely worth it!! Otherwise you can read it all here: Densha Otaku original (Japanese) or project DENSHA:The ‘Densha Otoko’ Translation Project. IMO the online version is better than the book, but reading the book is much easier. ?????????????????
Shameless ascii-art rip:
Benwa!
I’m currently reading Densha Otoko (Train man) novel.
The book originated inside a thread on 2Channel which is a forum in Japan. This thread was meant for single men on the forum and the writer, later on called Densha Otoko (which mean train man, however Otoko is actually worse than Otaku), wrote that he saved some women on the train from a drunk man who was herassing them. He received two thank you gifts from the women, from which one of them was sent by a young girl. He actually meets the girl again and has dinner with her and that’s the actual start of a long story of “coming to age” for an otaku.
I must say the book is very readable if you are used to read forums, and lucky enough I’m quite an expert in that. ^_^
I do find some translations very annoying, like for instance otaku gets translated into “techie” or “geek” which does not cover it at all. Ah well, you can’t have everything and lucky enough I already watched the J-Drama.
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