しあわせ

I missed the screening of Sakuran at the ICA last week and that prompted me to check the listings.
(Sakuran is on DVD with English subs in Japan so I’ll probably get it there before any release in the UK)

There are two films screening in the next months.
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やった！

d=====(￣∇￣*)bｲｴｰｲd(*￣∇￣)=====b

I passed JLPT3 with 70%, a comfortable pass.
That listening score is low, but not bad considering I don’t think I really understood anything. But I would really have preferred to pass that section as well.
I must do some work on it.
JLPT2 next…
…decade sometime. It’s a huge leap.

My teacher, Chika-san, is giving a one day beginners kanji course at the City Lit in London on Sunday the 9th of March.
From the sounds of it it is most suitable for people who haven’t learnt any kanji yet but who can read and write kana and have the basics of Japanese grammar.
Chika-san is a good and prepared teacher and her classes are good fun so I’d expect it to be useful and enjoyable.
It will cost £31 for one day (4.5 hours) and will be held at the main City Lit campus in Keeley Street off Kingsway near Holborn Tube.

One of my fellow students, アリソン後輩、at the Big Headed Man Club has started quite a nice Japanese themed blog, Haikugirl’s Japan. I think we might all recognise this obsession with Japan in ourselves.

She got interested in Japanese through Haiku hence the name. I hope to see some haiku on the blog some day, maybe some haiku advice.

The other thing I’m looking forward to is haikugirl’s adventures in Japan as she is making the huge step to go and live in Japan. うらやましいよ!

In the meantime the weekly blog about Japanese class is interesting.

Give her a little support and encourage this blogger! よろしくおねがいします。

I was even inspired to try a haiku. (or one of my faux haiku 非俳句 at any rate, no cutting word, no kigo)

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　無
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　辺
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　空
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　ス
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　ズ
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　メ
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　い
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　そ
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　い
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　そ
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　天
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　涯
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　へ

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　驢
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　馬
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　跡

A Life More Ordinary

In February the ICA in The Mall, London are holding a short festival of contemporary Shomin-geki. 庶民劇 [しょみんげき]　The drama of ordinary people. So no yakuza, samurai, weird horror, or giant robots.

There are six films

The Milkwoman 9, 11 Feb
Strawberry Shortcakes 10 Feb
The Cat Leaves Home 12, 13 Feb
Kamikaze Girls 13, 15 Feb
No One’s Ark 16, 17 Feb.
Kaza-Hana 17 Feb

The only film I’ve seen is Kamikaze Girls; it’s an enjoyable film, worth a watch.

Prices are £8 for non-members and £6 for ICA members

Thanks to Andrew-san for telling me about this.

Strawberry Shortcake trailer
Strawberry Shortcakes review

This short film festival is organised by the Japan Foundation and will be touring the UK in February and March.

ICA (London) 9 – 17 February
Watershed Media Centre (Bristol) 15 – 21 February
Queens Film Theatre (Belfast) 22 – 28 February
Filmhouse (Edinburgh) 29 February – 6 March
Showroom (Sheffield) 6 - 22 March