As I said before, I'm interested in NARUTO recently.
NARUTO uses a lot of old expressions and difficult Kanji characters. For example, 傀儡 is not Kairai but kugutsu. Do you read the Kanji character 蠍? It is Sasori (a scorpion). A mysterious organization pursuing Naruto is called Akatsuki （暁）. While I am watching NARUTO with my son on TV, I feel Japanese Kanji characters are so COOL. These days, there is a flood of foreign words & odd Katakana English in our everyday Japanese language. Kanji characters are much more stylish than those false nonsense Katakana English words, I think.

There are some elderly characters in NARUTO. Those elderly people are greatly respected by many young ninjas. Although those elderly people are very old of course, they still have a lot of strength and remarkable skills. Needless to say, they have a good knowledge of everything and always stay calm. I think it shows something of the good old days of Japan, like, 'Respect for the elderly'.

Apparently, my son likes Naruto's headband （額当て）. He wanted to get the replica. That costed me 500 yen (lol). Whenever he plays the card game machine, he wants to wear this headband. I feel a little bit ashamed, but he doesn't care at all. He seems to think that's cool...
Don't blame me, my son, if one of your friends says, "You're wearing such a toy headband. Grow up, kid! That's so uncool!"

BTW, do you know Naruto's favorite phrase 「だってばよ！」 This phrase is replaced with "Believe it!" in English. So funny, huh?
See below for details.
Wikipedia: Naruto Uzumaki 3. Personality

I'd like to use this phrase "Believe it!" to English native speakers who really like NARUTO. Is anybody else interested in Naruto around here? Let's talk about NARUTO.
That is so much fun. Believe it! 絶対に楽しいってばよ！


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Recently my son is really into NARUTO. He likes watching TV series and playing a card game machine called 'Narutimate mission' (ナルティメットミッション). (Needless to say, Narutimate mission is a pun for 'ultimate mission' (究極任務).)

He and I went to see 'NARUTO: Shippuden the Movie' during this summer vacation, of course. I think that was so interesting. It seems that NARUTO has achieved great popularity among young people in other foreign countries.

Naruto is a ninja. However, his ninjutsu (ninja art) is outside the reach of traditional Japanese ninja skills. When he uses his Multiple Shadow Clone Technique (影分身の術), hundreds of Narutos show up. That scene is so spectacular.
Strictly speaking, that might not be ninjutsu anymore. We should call it a kind of magic. So some people criticize NARUTO for giving a false impression about Japanese ninjas to non-Japanese people. I suspect so.
But, think about it - a lot of people in other countries are talking about Nine-tailed Demon Fox (九尾の妖狐) or Missing-nin (抜け忍)... Isn't it interesting, huh? At least, you can learn a lot by knowing how they translate those old Japanese words into English. If you are interested in those translations, check this out! → Wikipedia: Naruto

BTW, I put this article into 'Karen's hobby' category, instead of 'Karen's family' category. No special reason, but I also have an interest in NARUTO, maybe.

To be continued...


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I'd really appreciate it if you could vote for this blog, which cheers me up so much!

On my previous article, I said, "I have a large repetoire of songs." But truth be told, I don't have so much repetoire especially in the field of Western songs. When I leaf through the pages of those karaoke books, I rarely come across songs I'm familiar with.

But that's not so bad. You don't have so many songs to sing that it doesn't take a long time to decide what to sing. You can sing your favorite song soon. You can sing that song over and over again.

I really love sound of English language, English pronunciation. That's why I want to sing Western songs in English. I believe singing a lot of songs in English will improve my skills of pronunciation.
If you go to karaoke alone, you can practice singing English songs without minding your BAD & POOR pronunciation. This is the real pleasure & merit of going to karaoke alone, I think.

What kind of songs do you think I always sing? I will give you a couple of examples.
Well, I sing the songs of Madonna. I think her songs are easy to sing; relatively, I mean.
I sing ♪Yeah, you made me feel... Shiny and 'nu'...♪ (Yes, I always say Nu York instead of New York. Is that cool? Or...)

I'm so ashamed to sing My Heart Will Go On in front of my friends, but I can sing it alone.
♪You're here, there's nothing I fear
And I know that my heart will go on...♪

I've heard that Celine's first language is French. So she might speak or sing English with a French accent, but I don't care.
I love the climax of this song. I can't explain my feelings well, but I always feel that sound of YOU is so DEEP. I think Celine puts her deep love & emotion into the word 'you', which touched me deeply.

Although I didn't expect this at all, the other day, I found my favorite song of recent date in a karaoke book. Do you wanna know what the song is? I - will - not - tell - you. That's is a so passionate love song that I feel a little bit awkward to name it. Believe it or not, I am shyer than you expected, seriously.

I love karaoke （カラオケ）. I love to sing a song. When I feel depressed, I can release my stress by singing many songs in a loud voice. (Do you sometimes wanna shout out loud, huh?)
So I don't need any audience. Or rather, it would be better if there was no audience. When I sing alone, I don't have to care about others' reaction or feelings. I can sing only my favorite songs one after another without intermission. Wow, how happy I am!

Come to think about it, this kind of woman is called 'Ohitorisama' （おひとりさま）, right? Some people might say that going to karaoke alone （一人カラオケ） is so pathetic. But I don't think so.
I can enjoy time alone to the fullest and know how to take full advantage of free time. I could be respected as an independent woman with a strong will. (lol)

I don't mean to brag, and I wonder if it is regarded as some brag, I have a large repetoire of songs, ranging from J-pop, anime songs to Western music.
Among J-pop, Mikazuki by Ayaka and Flavor Of Life by Hikaru Utada are my favorites in these days. Oh, I also like WINDING ROAD by Ayaka*Kobukuro. Those songs are so great, aren't they?

Among anime songs... oh, I won't talk about this category. I'm so sure you must realize how geeky I am if I mention the titiles of anime songs I always sing. I'd like to stay an ordinary housewife at least on the net... Ha ha.

Speaking of Western songs... I'll talk about it later. See you then, bye!

I talked about the animation 'MAJOR'（メジャー） on the previous article.
The leading character Goro had one misfortune after another.
But this disaster didn't discourage him from playing baseball.

His kindergarten teacher Momoko decided to adopt and raise him. Thanks to her selfless affection toward him, Goro became a straightforward & acitve boy. Later, his mother Momoko got married to Hideki Shigeno, who is a famous professional baseball player and a best friend of Goro's real father. Goro's adopted parents, Hideki & Momoko, are really respectable. I'm sure they must be a good role model for every parent.

Goro really loves baseball. Everyone calls him 'natural-born baseball boy' (天然野球小僧). He just loves playing baseball and he's thinking about baseball all the time. He feels happy when he has a great baseball player as an opponent.
Although he was admitted to Kaido high school, which is a prestige school in baseball, he decided to drop out. JUST because he wanted to play a match against great players in Kaido high school. What a passion he has!

His passion is so infectious. His attitude toward baseball always have a positive impact on people around him.

Recently, it is said that many people in Japan don't have a desire for something. It seems that they can't find something to live for and they just lead a dull life without finding their own dream.
However, whenever I watch Goro enjoy playing baseball to the fullest, I feel like doing anything I can do right here right now. I don't care how old I am! The point is whether I have a passion like his or not.

FYI:
Goro pitches straight fastballs (about 150 km/h). Some people insist that he pitches the mysterious magical fastball 'Gyroball'（ジャイロボール）.
Speaking of the Gyroball, many Americans discuss the mystery of the Gyroball when talking about Dice-K, right?
I don't have a good knowledge of baseball, but only the word 'Gyroball' excites me.
Goro likes straightforward approach not only in the games but also in every other situation. He always reminds me of something I forgot in my monotonous life.
I'll keep watching him as long as he keeps going. If you are interested, check it out!