Lately I’ve gotten really into BBC period dramas, they’re so incredibly well made, sometimes better than high budget feature films. I’m always taken by the beautifully lit and photographed shots of interiors, which really make me quite sad as I’ll probably never be able to live in anything like that.

It also seems that every period BBC drama has at least one scene filmed around the corner from where I live, on a street full of gorgeous Georgian silkweavers’ town houses, especially 4 Princelet Street which is used exclusively for filming and photoshoots.

I have been obsessed with this house since I moved into this neighbourhood 3 years ago, and sometimes could take a peak inside through the windows when film crews were around. Then I found its website and had a full look at the gorgeously preserved 15 rooms and I can honestly say I haven’t seen a place more beautiful. Some nights I drunkenly pass outside and touch the door and have a little cry. T_T

This area was all derelict 15 years ago, literally walls and roofs and floors falling apart, but the houses have since been purchased and restored and are now unbelievably expensive. Two have been recently sold for 1,5 million pounds, and another was for sale at 6,5 million. I’ll never have that kind of money! But the charm of a 300 year old house, with wooden paneling on the walls, creaky staircases, hidden private gardens and skylights…is simply unsurpassed.

I’m really looking forward to this film, it looks incredibly beautiful, like my dream world (minus the ghost). I’m thinking of going to see the West End play too.

この映画、本当に楽しみにしています。ぼくの夢の世界のように見えます。

The wait for the exam results was long, very long, about 6 weeks. We were supposed to receive them via email today by 5pm, so everyone spent the entire day refreshing their email accounts hysterically. I was laying in bed with the laptop on my knees looking at the screen all day. In typical SOAS administration fashion, there was still nothing at 6 but by 7 we found out the marks had been uploaded to the student services online platform. Eventually I also got the email saying I had passed. It took me a while to process I hadn’t simply passed, I’d gotten pretty good grades too…

Towards the end of the year I was in quite a state. I’d lost all my motivation, I was horribly depressed and everything was declining. By the time we started exams I was crying everyday and having panic attacks. I was convinced I would fail the year. I was having daily conversations with my teachers along the lines of:
- I’m going to fail. If I fail I’m going to kill myself.
- If you fail then a LOT of students are going to fail and then I will kill myself.

And then I’d turn to my friend Emma and go
- I don’t think Kashiwagi realises how bad I am.
- I don’t think you realise how good you are!

But despite what everyone was saying and even when I did much better in exams than I expected, I was still convinced I was going to fail. Since school officially ended 6 weeks ago I haven’t been able to be in a holiday state of mind because I had this looming over me like a bad curse. Even now it still hasn’t quite sunk in. I got an overall grade of 70 in japanese which is considered excellent (with 70+ you get a first) and a bit less in the essay based theoritical stuff (art, history and literature). So in short, I was being quite ridiculous. I don’t think it’s necessarily bad to be hard on oneself and set one’s standards high but… I may have overdone it this time.

Though to explain myself a little: SOAS is really hardcore. The rest of the university courses have a minimum of 40% to pass the year but Japanese alone is set at 50%. Apparently people who didn’t get at least that much in their first year, failed in the second. Exam papers are corrected by THREE different examiners, two of which are external. Also at SOAS there are no second chances. If you fail, you cannot retake exams and you cannot repeat the year either. Your only option is to be downgraded to an easier degree like Japanese studies, which is three years, does not have the year in Japan, and what I did in one year they do in two. In other words it wouldn’t get me anywhere near where I want to be. It would destroy all my dreams and all my plans. Also the year after next, university fees are going up to £9000 from the £3200 we pay now. Because I started with the lower fees, I will not be affected by the change, if I was to start a different degree elsewhere, I would. So overall there was a lot to worry about.

Anyhow, I’m glad that ordeal is over with. Now my next goal is to make enough money to go to Japan for at least 2-3 weeks before school starts again in October. I found out today that one of my most favourite artists ever, Hanayo, is having a little event in KOENJI of all places on the 24th of July, that’s in 10 days, but I’d love more than anything to finally meet her. Impossible??? I guess at the end of the day my expectations will always be slightly on the unreasonable side… ;)

学年末試験のときは大変でした。本当に心配して、毎日泣きました。T＿T　「きっと、試験に失敗する」と思いました。でも今日は成績が発表されました。とてもよかったです。とてもいい成績ですべて合格しました。＾＾

わたしの夢は日本に住むことなので、このコースはとっても大切です。でも本当に心配しすぎましたね・・・。来年、心配しないで、一所懸命がんばります。夢のために。

この夏の計画は、源氏物語を読まなければなりません。来年、源氏について論文を書きますから。物の哀れの概念はとてもおもしろくて、楽しみにしています。それから、日本へ行くつもりです！

I’m in love with him. <3_<3 From "The lodger: A story of the London fog" (1927).

I knew this was going to be a wonderful film within the first few minutes. So beautiful and deeply touching. Every feeling feels so real. The photography and light are breathtaking and Yuu Aoi is one of the most precious creatures I’ve ever seen! The ballet scene at the end was so beautiful I cried.

I really love slow films, that are not slow for the sake of it, but evoke meaning in their slow pace. One film that comes to mind is The taste of tea, and Hana to Arisu is another. Just a delight, you must see it!

I started watching the anime the other day and I’m seriously hooked already. A bit too violent for my taste but very intriguing. I can’t believe my two biggest japanese crushes, Ken’ichi Matsuyama and Ninomiya Kazunari are playing in the live-action. Seeing them move around in those sexy latex suits might be too much to handle.

Nino-kun <3

Ken’ichi-kun <333

I especially liked him with the bowlcut in Detroit Metal City. That geeky character is my dream boy.

I think this may be the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.

So cute :3

And he has really beautiful slender hands. n_n

I think I may have a bigger crush on him than Nino-kun, who I thought was unsurpassable. I really love his voice and even his teeth that I thought were weird at first. :P

This is my favourite Alice film. I find it the most surreal and inventive, featuring a lot of stop motion taxidermy, skulls and the like. It gets really scary at times, especially the kitchen scene were bird skulls are flying out of eggs, a piece of meat crawls out of a pot and Alice opens a can full of roaches.

It was most definitely Daisy D‘s inspiration for the set she created for the recent Alice in Junie Moon exhibition, which I missed. T_T

I’ve been meaning to watch Old boy for years. It was wonderful but the violence was so much that at times I had to look away. Now I need to check out the rest of his films.

This girl is so pretty.

There is a Blythe in it, looks like an Asian Butterly!

Usually after watching a film I head over to imdb.com to read the discussions. So today my eye caught some talk about how this film lead to some murders, and I’ll just assume it was yet another school killing in the US. It’s always the same story, some sicko kills a bunch of poor people and then they find a Marilyn Manson cd at his house and then it’s Marilyn Manson’s fault. So in this case the killer was obsessed with Oldboy so of course it was the film’s fault.

It’s incredible to me how people are always ready to blame it on the influence of art when there’s real killings, real crime and war out there. It’s incredible how they can blame the simulation of violence makes people kill and not REAL killing through wars or gun possession. I think America’s favourite scapegoat puts it pretty nicely in this interview.

Ooooh I am DYING with excitement for this. I just booked my ticket to see it in 3D. A week ago there were still plenty of seats for the premiere but I had no money. Today that I went looking, it’s booked FOR THE MONTH. I found ONE good seat, so I will go watch it on my own on the 10th. Five days after the opening! But that’s better than waiting for a month to see it with someone else.

I’ve been looking at photos of the costumes and teaser pics and trailers for months and it all looks so good. I’m worried most of it is so digital it will look like a video game…but we’ll see.

Of all the costumes this is by far my favourite. Blue velvet jacket, red waistcoat and a KILT?

I watched this wonderful film today, based on the classic book by Frances Hodgson. I believe it is meant to take place in 1905. The book came out in 1911. The performances by the children and Maggie Smith were lovely. It featured fantastic time-lapse photography of growing flowers and plants and the settings in general were incredible, the mansion, the countryside, the garden. So were the clothes. The housekeeper’s austere corseted outfits, the children’s pretty nightgowns and especially Colin’s little ensembles were charming. A must watch!