It’s been a while. A little under 2 years in fact. But that’s life, it has a tendency to keep moving forward. Even when you aren’t ready for it to. I’m currently in year 4 of living in Japan, and it feels like not much has changed. I’m still struggling to pick up Japanese and […]
Nov 20, 2025 • Subscribe
More like this
お久しぶりですね。 I was so disheartened by the untimely demise of my...
お久しぶりですね。 I was so disheartened by the untimely demise of my comment system that I couldn't bear to update this tumblr for almost a year. OK maybe my embarrassment…
It’s All Right, My Friend (だいじょうぶマイフレンド, Ryu Murakami, 1983)
Bandmates help a stranded alien recover his ability to fly to Ryu Murakami’s forgotten surreal countercultural blockbuster.
Belonging (とりつくしま, Kahori Higashi, 2024)
The recently deceased watch over their loved ones from the vantage point of a familiar object in Kahori Higashi’s wistful drama.
"How About Saying 入りましょう Instead of 入ります?" #learnjapanese
Learn Japanese with Me - https://bit.ly/4drmyU2
のだ
A subtle but important tip for written Japanese - How to Japanese - August 2023
Vlad Love (ぶらどらぶ) Guest Review by Megan
Today is my favorite kind of day – we have a brand new Guest Reviewer here on Okazu! Many of you will have noticed that Megan has been…
Cross Game 50 (End) もう終わりましたょ。世界中で一番のアニメかもね TT_TT Too good, no...
Cross Game 50 (End) もう終わりましたょ。世界中で一番のアニメかもね TT_TT Too good, no words.
Ushiku (牛久, Thomas Ash, 2021)
Filmed mainly with hidden camera, Thomas Ash’s harrowing documentary exposes a series of human rights abuses at the Ushiku immigration detention centre
More on だけ
Quick follow-up on my newsletter from last month about the particle だけ (dake). I mostly discussed the non-“only” meaning of the word, which can be replaced with くらい…
いただき
The newsletter is out, and the podcast is online: This month I wrote about いただき (itadaki). Yes, just いただき. I had this bizarre internal sense that いただき was…
Futari ha Daitai Konna Kanji (ふたりはだいたいこんなかんじ)
In the Yuri world Ikeda Takashi is best known for Sasamekikoto / Whispered Words in English, from One Peace Books. That series made fun of every Yuri trope,…
Girl with the Fire Banner (唄祭りかんざし纏, Kinnosuke Fukada, 1958)
Hibari Misora puts out the fires of the Bakumatsu in another musical jidaigeki adventure.
Just Remembering (ちょっと思い出しただけ, Daigo Matsui, 2021) [Fantasia 2022]
Former lovers are confronted by reminders of their failed romance amid the loneliness of the coronavirus pandemic in Daigo Matsui’s melancholy drama.
Onna Tomodachi to Kekkonshitemita, Volume 1 (女ともだちと結婚してみた。)
If you are a regular reader here, you probably know how much I like Usui Shio’s recent work in Comic Yuri Hime. I’ve been really happy with Kaketa…
Onna Tomodachi to Kekkonshitemita, Volume 2 (女ともだちと結婚してみた。)
People are complex systems. Relationships are complex systems made up of complex systems. Even with clear boundaries, even when sex is not an issue, relationships get messy when…
からだの美
Yōko Ogawa’s 2023 collection からだの美 brings together sixteen short essays on the theme of bodies and physicality. The three primary topics are sports, performing arts, and animals. The…
Kyurin (by Rokurinsha) [久臨 by 六厘舎]
I can’t believe I’ll blog about food, but this tsukumen stall is just too good and I need to spread word about it! I’ve heard nothing but rave…
アニメ業界のロックンロール – ウェブ系としてのりょーちもロングインタビュー
The post アニメ業界のロックンロール – ウェブ系としてのりょーちもロングインタビュー appeared first on fullfrontal.moe.
Yamabuki (やまぶき, Juichiro Yamasaki, 2022)
The lives of a series of dejected souls in a moribund quarry town intersect in unexpected ways in a poetical drama from Juichiro Yamasaki
When I Get Home, My Wife Always Pretends to be Dead (家に帰ると妻が必ず死んだふりをしています。, Toshio Lee, 2018)
A dull and aggressively conventional salaryman is confused when his wife develops a habit of pretending to be dead when he gets home in Toshio Lee’s marital comedy.
Suizou Ga Kowaretara, Sukoshi Ikiyasuku Narimashita. (膵臓がこわれたら、少し生きやすくなりました。)
In her last book about her physical health, My Alcoholic Escape From Reality, Nagata Kabi-sensei explained the circumstances that landed her in the hospital with alcoholic pancreatitis. We…
How to Use the Sentence-ending Particle ね ne
Learn Japanese with Yuta: https://bit.ly/3hyXcYh Support me on Patreon: https://goo.gl/aiWNd5 Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThatYuta Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thatyuta/ Facebook: https://bit.ly/381qpHS Blog: http://www.yutaaoki.com/blog/
Futari ha Daitai Konna Kanji, Volume 3 (ふたりはだいたいこんなかんじ)
One of the defining characteristics of an adult life is facing setbacks. You can work really hard, gambare with all you have and still not achieve the goal.…
Futari ha Daitai Konna Kanji, Volume 4 (ふたりはだいたいこんなかんじ)
In Futari ha Daitai Konna Kanji, Volume 4 (ふたりはだいたいこんなかんじ) Ikeda Takashi brings his specific brand of wacky slice-of-life to a fantastic conclusion. In the first three volumes of…
Futari ha Daitai Konna Kanji, Volume 2 (ふたりはだいたいこんなかんじ)
Okay, so here’s a mood. You like a creator, so when they announce a new book or series, you’re cautiously optimistic at the least. You know it might…
お湯割り
In the newsletter this month I wrote about 角ハイ (kakuhai). This is a combination of 角瓶 (kakubin), Suntory’s flagship whiskey, and ハイボール (highball), a mixed drink made from…
Basic Japanese Sentence Structure No. 22 呼ぶ #learnjapanese
Learn Japanese with Me - https://bit.ly/4drmyU2
Clouds at Sunset / あかね雲 / Akane-gumo (1967)
Obscure Japanese Film #169 Shima Iwashita 1937. After a prologue in which we see two soldiers deserting – one of whom is quickly capture...
Back To That Day (幕が下りたら会いましょう, Seira Maeda, 2021)
A young woman facing a life crisis is forced to reevaluate her relationships with art, friends, and family after learning that her estranged younger sister has suddenly passed…
入りませんか? vs 入ります? #learnjapanese
Learn Japanese with Me - https://bit.ly/4drmyU2
Get ’em All (「みな殺しの歌」より 拳銃よさらば, Eizo Sugawa, 1960)
A recently released young man is forced onto a nihilistic path of meaningless violence when his bank robber brother is killed in a hit and run in Eizo…
伊藤詩織の裏切り:正義の味方は誰でしょうか
ホテル側に直接取材した。結論は映画公開に何の異議も唱えていない。それなのに誰がこの映像の使用に怒っているのか?
Itoshii Koishi, Volume 3 (いとしこいし)
Hina is a high school senior with a secret -she’s dating an older woman. She wants very much to share that secret with her friends, she just needs…
What Can You Do about It だってしょうがないじゃない (2019) Director: Yoshifumi Tsubota
“What Can You Do about It?”, from director Yoshifumi Tsubota, is a heartfelt documentary that transforms from depicting his relationship with a distant relative with a developmental dis…
iyashikei 癒し系
A blog about Japanese words in anime and manga, with romaji and explanations.
you da ようだ - Meaning in Japanese
What you da means in Japanese.
How to Japanese Podcast – Episode 42 – のだ
I remember vividly learning how to use んだ in Japanese. My third year teacher did a section on storytelling/explaining, and she had us tell different stories over and…
Tomodachi (ともだち, Yukihiro Sawada, 1974)
A little girl suffering from asthma caused by industrial pollution is rejected by her classmates in Yukihiro Sawada’s environmentally conscious educational film
Wild Ducks and Green Onions (カモとねぎ, Senkichi Taniguchi, 1968)
A gang of crooks find themselves in hot water after a mysterious woman steals their loot out from under them in Senkichi Taniguchi’s zany crime comedy.
Douseiseikatsu 3 Watashi ha Anata dake no mono (同棲生活3 わたしは貴方だけのもの)
Douseiseikatsu 3 Watashi ha Anata dake no mono (同棲生活3 わたしは貴方だけのもの) is the third volume of Miyuki and Yuuko doing absolutely nothing and I’m pleased as punch about it.…
Douseiseikatsu 3 Watashi ha Anata dake no mono (同棲生活3 わたしは貴方だけのもの)
Douseiseikatsu 3 Watashi ha Anata dake no mono (同棲生活3 わたしは貴方だけのもの) is the third volume of Miyuki and Yuuko doing absolutely nothing and I’m pleased as punch about it.…
「MASTER キートン」風なコマ割りをお見せします。How to draw a “MASTER KEATON”-esque layout
漫画家・浦沢直樹の「浦沢チャンネル」。「MASTER キートン」電子版解禁を記念して、花鳥風月を感じる"キートン風コマ割り"を描く様子をお見せします。 “Urasawa Channel” by a Japanese manga artist, Naoki Urasawa. To celebrate the digitalization of “MASTER KEATON”, Naoki Urasawa shows how to draw a “MASTER KEATON”-esque layout, which…
傘の下、ふたり
Author & Artist: ぢゅん子 (Junko)Released March 2012 by Kaiohsha’s Gush ComicsGenre: Drama, Romance
Totsuzen Nantonaku Tonari no Seki no Douryou to Kiss Shitaku Narimashita.(突然何となく隣の席の同僚とキスしたくなりました。)
I am so pleased to be reviewing this book today. Miura Kozumi’s Totsuzen Nantonaku Tonari no Seki no Douryou to Kiss Shitaku Narimashita.(突然何となく隣の席の同僚とキスしたくなりました。) is the first Yuri collectio…
I Go Gaga, Welcome Home Mom (ぼけますから、よろしくお願いします。~おかえりお母さん~, Naoko Nobutomo, 2022)
In a followup to her hugely popular documentary, Naoko Nobutomo follows her parents as her mother’s health continues to decline.
"Can I Say したい Instead of ほしい?" #learnjapanese
Learn Japanese with Me - https://bit.ly/4drmyU2