#tis the year of the japanese internationals!!!!

[mearpsdyke]

“rivals on the pitch but friends in life!” -ichika egashira 🇯🇵🩷

pictured: ichika egashira (left), fuko takahashi (middle), luna watanabe (right)

#torneo ypf #ichika egashira #fuko takahashi #luna watanabe #tis the year of the japanese internationals!!!!

[hellkeepers-if]

DEMO (prologue out) UPDATES

Set in an alternate version of Singapore, you're a fresh university graduate bumbling through life as you desperately look for a job.

...Or that's what your mother thinks. In a world where occult ceremonies are as common as an existential crisis, there's no way you were ever going to be a perfectly average office worker. Just like your twin brother, you work for the International Society Of Exorcists (ISOE) which deals with supernatural occurrences, demonic rituals, and the like.

When a tragic event befalls your older sister, it uproots your entire life and everything you ever knew about the supernatural. With it, comes a forced need to come to terms with a family history straight out of the movies. 

After all, how the hell did it take twenty years to find out that you're descended from the freaking king of the underworld?

"I have a duty to myself, but more importantly, my family."

——————

Inspired by Supernatural, Fullmetal Alchemist, Noragami, and the Percy Jackson series, Hellkeepers is a +18 urban fantasy/paranormal interactive fiction, involving elements of Chinese and Southeast-Asian mythology. In every playthrough, you will...

• Play as a female, male, or non-binary Chinese demigod/ess.

• Determine the relationships between you and your family members. After all, they will play a big part in your story...

• Peel apart the full truth behind you and your siblings' birthright. Your parents can't hide it forever.

• Learn more about Chinese and Southeast Asian mythology as you warp into different dimensions, unlike anything you've seen before.

• Learn more about who you were in your past life.

| Nishimura Kazuo (he/him)

Age: 26

Ethnicity: Japanese

With a penchant for mischief and a charm that woos even the most stubborn of grandmas, Kazu is the wildcard of your organization. You think he's an anarchist, and the only reason he's tied down to the ISOE is so that he has an excuse for whatever havoc he wreaks on the supernatural. 

The A-ranked exorcist is your colleague and your brother's mentor, though you rarely ever see him in his office. But if you ever need him for demon fighting, he'll be there. Most of the time.

"Mind taking that pesky thing out for me while I take a quick nap?"

| Quentin Khanh (Quan) (he/him)

Age: 25

Ethnicity: Vietnamese

Quentin, more affectionately known as Quan, was your childhood friend. After he moved overseas, the weekly texts you sent him fizzled into nothing but a lost friendship.

Since then, he's returned to Singapore as a forensics pathologist and researcher under your organisation. Whether you like it or not, you have to no choice but to work with him for most of your investigations.

"If your bribe doesn't involve a penthouse worth of money, don't talk to me."

| Reyna Aliyah Santos (she/her)

Age: 23

Ethnicity: Mixed (Filipino-Chinese)

You've never quite met someone like Reyna. A halfling with a demon mother and a human father. Being raised in Singapore all her life with little knowledge of her parents, it's natural that Reyna would come to the ISOE for help at the mere instance of a fox tail and white fur.

You've been tasked to help her mask and get comfortable with her supernatural powers, but she won't make it easy for you. After all, foxes do bite. 

"Technically, I'm not stealing anything if they don't notice."

| Song Huayun (she/her)

Age: ????

Ethnicity: "Uhh...from Hell?" Chinese

| You don't know too much about Huayun, except for the fact that she lives in Diyu, the Chinese Underworld. As Diyu's gatekeeper, Huayun has seen countless depravities committed by humans before their deaths. That alone has made it hard for her to like them, and the contempt she shows you is no different than what she shows everyone else.

But with time, maybe she'll finally learn what it is like to feel human…and what a smile is.

"If it isn't the star of tonight's show. Welcome to Diyu."

| The Arbiter of Fate (m/f)

Theyre a stranger, or so you say. But this deity knows everyone...especially you.

#interactive fiction #interactive novel #interactive game #choice of games #adult fiction #dashingdon #cog wip #if wip #if recs #upcoming if #urban fantasy #hellkeepers if

[blueskittlesart]

maybe this is a kind of obvious answer but can you talk about the symbolism of the silent princess flower in botw?

YEAH. i can <3 <3 <3 <3

so the silent princess. this flower which is so pervasive as a symbol throughout this game. most of what we are told about it comes directly from zelda in the memory where she talks about it. in the english version of the game, she says "This one here is called the silent princess. It's a rare, endangered species. Despite our efforts, we can't get them to grow domestically yet. The princess can only thrive out here in the wild. All that we can hope... is that the species will be strong enough to prosper, on its own." in japanese, she (more or less) says, "this is... it's called the silent princess, and it's an endangered flower. I started artificial cultivation [of the silent princess] a while ago, but it's not going well. it's... a princess that might become extinct." that discrepancy is interesting, i think, with the english version being altered to give zelda a slightly more hopeful outlook on the fate of the flower, musing about its potential for survival instead of thinking more negatively about the prospect of its extinction.

So. the flower's actual symbolism. It's honestly kind of heavyhanded imo, but sometimes a heavyhanded symbol still works really well. consider the flower's name, the "silent princess." consider, then, the two characters who are most obviously tied to it--zelda, the princess, who is actually named in the flower's compendium description, and link, the silent knight who seems to find the flower at every important location throughout his journey. On a certain level, the flower is representative of these characters, hence why its name evokes aspects of both of them. more specifically, though, the flower is representative of the internal struggle these two characters undergo as pieces of the bigger puzzle that is the calamity.

both zelda and link suffer "in captivity" as zelda puts it--they find themselves struggling under the weight of their destinies, zelda unable to perform to the standards of her father, link terrified to fall short of the kingdom's expectations. neither of them are able to reach their full potential when "cultivated artificially" as it were; link is mute and subdued, never showing even the slightest hint of his true personality underneath the hardened exterior, and zelda is frustrated and depressed, convinced she will never be enough to win the love and praise of her father. On a certain level, being "cultivated in captivity," being forced to live under careful observation, with a clear purpose and clear, unshakeable expectations, killed both link and zelda. link literally died at the hands of the calamity, and zelda killed her adventurous spirit and scientific curiosity in an attempt to conform to her father's expectations. when zelda, in the japanese version of the game, muses that the princess may be destined to become extinct, she is expressing kinship with the flower, believing that she, too, has no meaningful future since she can't conform to the expectations her father and her kingdom have for her. She essentially feels that if she can't be useful "in captivity" there is no way for her to live in this world, and that the only other option is "extinction."

Her more optimistic english monologue, however, is closer to the truth of the silent princess's resilience. While we know that the princess was in dire straits a hundred years ago, post-calamity hyrule sees many of the flowers taking root, often in places that were once highly-populated but have since been abandoned. what we find in a post-calamity landscape is that the silent princess, once thought to be unsavable, is THRIVING in this new world, having been released from the expectations and interference of the people trying to cultivate it. Again, this is symbolic of link and zelda: in a post-calamity landscape, we see link begin to find his voice. we see his personality begin to return--he cracks jokes, he laughs, he cooks, he takes photos, he makes connections, he buys a house and decorates it. He thrives in a world where he is not confined by the pressure to be perfect, to grow in the way that others expect of him. the silent princess can't grow in captivity, but it CAN thrive in the wild, free of outside influence, allowed to just BE.

Also worth noting that there's a side quest in botw which involves a legend that if you swear your love on a freshly-picked silent princess, you and your partner will "live a charmed life." there's definitely something to be said about The Zelink Flower being the subject of a romantic legend. but that's not actually the point of this post. anyway

#i cant remember if it's ACTUALLY implied in game or not but i always thought that that legend was probably why the princess was endangered #in the first place. too many people picking it to try and make their love last #which says something about the way love can hurt i think. especially potent a la zelda and her father #because you know he didn't MEAN to hurt her. he loved her. but he wanted her in captivity and she couldn't grow there #anyway. yeah. breath of the fucking. wild. agh #zelda analysis

[handweavers]

my uncle was a complicated man who often made it difficult to be around him - he was frequently abrasive, struggled to give affection freely, and his love and concern usually expressed itself through a harsh and abrupt, stilted demeanor. he could be very angry a lot of the time, a deep seated rage and a callousness at times that stung and wounded. but he had a difficult upbringing, and it was easy to understand why he was the way he was. he was born during the japanese occupation of malaya during ww2 when my family was interned, and many members of our family and the sikh community were targeted for beheading and lynching by the japanese imperial army. my family was very poor back then, and repeated traumas and losses and abuse had hardened him. he struggled with alcohol addiction all his life, like most in my family, and he could be very cruel when he would drink.

but i'll never forget how he made an effort to take care of me and make sure i knew he loved me. the first time i returned home to malaysia as an adult, on my own, after being kept away for many years by my father, i had to reconnect with my family on my own, with my home country on my own, without his help or guidance. and my uncle showed me a degree of kindness that no one expected, and embraced me without hesitation when i came out as trans, and enforced that among the family. no one could go against him, he was the patriarch of the entire extended family, and his word was law. his approval of me meant even those who would have shunned me had to tolerate me or risk being shunned themselves - he held that much power. and when i was going to fly back to canada he called me at the airport just to tell me he loved me and that this is my home and my family and no one can take that away from me and that i belong here and he will miss me. he rarely spoke like that to anyone, ever, even his own children. it was deeply uncomfortable and difficult for him but he did it anyway because he felt like it was important, that i was important. and he took care of me in many ways over the years, and if it weren't for him i likely would have been/would be homeless and would never have been able to go to university at all. and now without him i definitely can't afford any of that and i'm not sure what to do with myself. he made sure repeatedly and consistently to communicate in whatever way he could to tell me that he cared, in his own ways, and to step in where my father could/would not.

the last time i saw him was in august of this year when we had lunch together, and he told me i did well and he was proud of me to be the one to finally bring my dad home, knowing how awful my dad is. he and i were the closest living relatives to my dad and the people who knew him best, and i could go to him for help when my dad was making things very hard for me and he understood. he was the only other person still alive who could wrangle my dad, who could 'deal' with him, set him in his place. my other uncle could do the same, and he also took care of me and made sure to check on me and remind me that i am a part of this family and that i belong with them, but he passed away when i was 19. now it's just me left to deal with my dad without either of my uncles' help, and no one else alive who knows what it's like to be tied to him directly in the way that we are. and i didn't get to say goodbye, and i didn't get to attend the funeral nor help scatter his ashes to the sea. when i go home every part of him will be gone gone gone and never coming back and there's nothing i can do.

[girlytips]

The kanji “kei” (系) and its usage

As I still keep seeing it being used in instances where it doesn’t make sense, I thought it would be a good idea to talk a little about the kanji’s actual use within the japanese language.

系 is commonly used as a suffix to categorize and describe various things by their “type”, therefore can also be translated as such. For example, your nationality would be “country+kei+person”, stating the color of something “color+kei+object”, describing a song “genre+kei+music”, and specifying the style of your outfit “style+kei+coord”. However, in the overseas jfashion community there still persists the misunderstanding that it means “style” or “fashion”.

So where does this misunderstanding come from?

The very first instance of “kei” being used in a fashion context overseas was “visual kei” (ヴィジュアル系). During the late 90s, western media outlets discovered the genre and introduced it as unique fashion style from Japan heavily tied to music while also translating its name as “visual style”. This was the beginning of the whole misunderstanding as visual kei is only used to label a band as “visual-type”, meaning there is a heavy focus on a visual aspect. This is also why you will have a hard time shopping for the so-called visual kei fashion because it doesn’t really exist, and what is considered that overseas usually falls under the japanese goth punk (ゴスパンク) style that bangya wear.

After this, many years passed and “fairy kei” (フェアリー系) appeared within the jfashion online sphere, strenghtening the overseas conclusion that “kei” must mean “style” and therefore refers to fashions. While fairy kei is indeed used as a name for this specific 80s-inspired pastel fashion, it’s a lot more common to see it being refered to as just “fairy fashion” in japanese because “fairy-type” is also used to describe plenty of unrelated things. Meanwhile calling it fairy fashion would have been useless overseas for a similar reason and it made a lot more sense to use “fairy kei” instead.

From that point on, the international jfashion community would coin one “kei fashion” after another regardless of the styles actually being known by those names within Japan. Searching the majority of them in their japanese spelling would result in a dead end with many not even making any sense in relation to fashion, such as “mori kei” literally referring to forest types and “pop kei” to anything that’s popular at the moment.

Basically, the lesson of this post is that there is no need to include “kei” in the names of japanese fashion styles unless they are unrecognisable without it, because you are not writting in japanese using the kanji to categorize something by its style. In context of the fashion featured on this blog, it is used to differentiate the overall style genre from the english adjective that is “girly”, but not for its substyles as their names are distinct on their own.

I hope this little language lesson was useful to my readers, and if you have any requests for other jfashion-related terms to introduce or explain - just hit me up in my inbox!

#系 #kei #semi-related #japanese #jfashion #term #japanese language #japanese lesson #kei fashion #information

[taviokapudding]

In regards to being asked about the black company, Nijisanji, their allegations to having ties to Israeli money, and #SinkTheYacht

I'm disappointed in

seeing folks punish all Niji EN livers by collectively unsubbing when "sinking the yacht" would be more effective by reaching out to AnyColor Inc shareholders and partners about Nijisanji's admission of management & livers bullying and listing all the public facts surrounding why Selen was fired. The summary of facts are that Nijisanji has bullies in their team, has done nothing to remove said bullies, and they chose a sudden termination to hide the fact they let a liver attempt suicide from said bullies and didn't inform the public about it.

So I understand why people are unsubbing as a whole- why many creators, artists, and third parties have made it public they will no longer make, support, or sponsor Nijisanji.

But priority 1 is not mass unsubbing- that's what Nijisanji wants. They are made up of known bullies and they are now manipulating the public into being bullies. Instead of spreading the word to mass unsub- I encourage everyone stop spending money on official merch, do not collab with any AnyColor Inc management, and not buy stocks connected directly to all AnyColor Inc nor their shareholders.

But why am I discussing this?

Why should non-vtuber fans care?

What I'm about to discuss now is an ongoing allegation that makes all the know facts even worse. If you support Palestine, you especially need to know about this ongoing allegation:

On Feb 5, ITOCHU Corp announced they would end their contract with an Israeli Defense Firm that they started March 2023- around the same time Nijisanji EN would annouced the termination without informing Selen (now Doki) that she was terminated. ITOCHU is a known shareholder of AnyColor Inc and does has the power to ask for public distractions. They are a monster firm among Japanese companies.

I cannot endorse #SinkTheYacht knowing Nijisanji livers are some of the worst collectively and consistently paid company VTubers in the industry, but if folks want to boycott AnyColor Inc's ceo, owners, shareholders, and management for their associations and ties to indirectly causing an ongoing genocide- then I support you. Sony Group Corp Japan, Bilibili Inc, & FreakOut Holdings Inc are a few shareholders that you can file public complaints towards about AnyColor's behavior and be wary of when choosing vtubers, streamers, youtubers, etc to support. But again ITOCHU and AnyColor's relationship is an allegation and speculation.

In my opinion

From an outsider perspective I believe an investigation into Nijisanji as a whole should've happened last year when so many people left or appeared to have left from management based pressure.

But as someone who holds many of the remaining livers with respect (and is a Kyomie) if indeed Nijisanji EN is telling the truth about livers and management bullying + doing nothing to stop it, then yes- every person responsible for ongoing bullying of at least 3 years should be terminated and black listed from the vtubing industry.

That all being said (if my gut is right) and none/the majority of the EN livers are not bullies then I also believe all currently contracted EN livers should be allowed to press charges aganist Nijisanji EN & AnyColor Inc for

1. Public defamation on an international scale due to the termination wording

2. Cuts to their already weird pay caused by the company's annoucements on Feb 5 & 6 2024

3. All documented mismanagement and bullying they've reported since being employed that led to emotional, physical, and financial losses

4. Losses to old and new merch sales the same week of Feb 5, 2024

The wording of the termination of Selen Tatsuki should be headed as a warning to an ongoing and well publicly documented management issues with AnyColor Inc and all their branches. If you're a vtuber who has or is planning to join Nijisanji EN- please get an attorney or lawyer if you choose to audition or are currently work for AnyColor Inc who's familiar with your nation's laws and Japan's laws. And remember to everyone, it takes hard work but being indie is possible- you don't need a company.

Thank you for reading this whole post and all fans please make the decisions and adjustments accordingly in regards to not #Sink TheYacht in such a fucking stupid fashion- don't be like the bullies who are managing your favorites. And god speed to all the EN Livers at KuroColor Inc who may end up seeing this on your private accounts- please know your fans will support you no matter what decisions you make but they hate your company and management for treating you like shit behind closed doors and out in the public. And if any of you do listen to my advice and find a legal expert to help you out, don't tell your management nor coworkers/friends/family, doubly if you don't have a copy of your most recent contract renewal/contract. Alright? Snakes can pass for tall grass, you need to be prepared to get bitten by the most unsuspecting blades when navigating your rights as a contracted streamer, entertainer, and employee.

#mun post #sinktheyacht #sink the yacht #nijisanji en #anycolor inc #anycolor #black company #nijisanji #ok now stop fucking asking me about my tweets thank you #also stan doki

[mariacallous]

In the waters of the South China Sea, Chinese coast guard vessels have clashed with Philippine ships. In the air above the Taiwan Strait, Chinese warplanes have challenged Taiwanese jet fighters. And in the valleys of the Himalayas, Chinese troops have fought Indian soldiers.

Across several frontiers, China has been using its armed forces to dispute territory not internationally recognized as part of China but nevertheless claimed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

In August 2023, Beijing laid out its current territorial claims for the world to see. The new edition of the standard map of China includes lands that are today a part of India and Russia, along with island territories such as Taiwan and comprehensive stretches of the East and South China Seas that are also claimed by Brunei, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

China often invokes historical narratives to justify these claims. Beijing, for example, has said that the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands, which it claims under the name of the Diaoyu Islands, “have been an inherent territory of China since ancient times.” Chinese officials have used the same words to back China’s right to parts of the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. The Chinese government also claims that its sovereignty over the South China Sea is based on its own historic maritime maps.

However, in certain periods since ancient times China has also held sway over other states in the region—Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Vietnam. Yet Beijing is currently not laying claim to any of these.

Instead, Beijing has embraced a selective irredentism, wielding specific chapters of China’s historical record when they suit existing aims and leaving former Chinese territories be when they don’t. Over time, as Beijing’s interests and power relations have shifted, some of these claims have faded from importance, while new ones have taken their place. Yet for Taiwan, Chinese claims remain unchanged, as the fate of the island state is tied to the very legitimacy of the CCP as well as the vitality of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s political vision.

Many of the CCP’s territorial claims have roots in the 19th and 20th centuries during the late rule of the Qing Dynasty. Following diplomatic pressure and repeated military defeats, the Qing Dynasty was forced to cede territory to several Western colonial powers, as well as the Russian and Japanese empires. These concessions are part of what are known in China as the “unequal treaties,” while the 100 years in which the treaties were signed and enforced are known as the “century of humiliation.” These territorial losses eventually passed from the dynasty to the Republic of China and then, following the Chinese Civil War, to the CCP. As a result, upon the CCP’s establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the new Chinese state inherited outstanding territorial disputes with most of its neighbors.

But despite the humiliation the Qing Dynasty’s losses had caused, the CCP proved willing to compromise and reduce its territorial aims during times of high internal unrest. Following the Tibetan uprising in 1959, for instance, the CCP negotiated territorial settlements with countries bordering the Tibet region, including Myanmar, Nepal, and India. Similarly, when unrest rocked the Uyghur region in the 1960s and ‘90s, Beijing pursued territorial compromises with several bordering countries such as Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. In the aftermath of the Great Leap Forward in the early 1960s and the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, the CCP also pursued territorial settlements with Mongolia, Laos, and Vietnam in the hopes of securing China’s borders during times of domestic instability. Instead of pursuing diversionary wars, the CCP relied on diplomacy to settle border and territory disputes.

But China has changed quite a lot since then. In recent years, the CCP has avoided the inflammatory domestic political chaos of previous decades, and its once-tentative hold over border regions, such as Tibet and the Uyghur region, has been replaced by an iron grip. With this upper hand, the CCP has little incentive to pursue peaceful resolutions to remaining territorial disputes.

“China’s national power has increased significantly, reducing the benefits of compromise and enabling China to drive a much harder bargain,” said M. Taylor Fravel, a political science professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In this context, the CCP has expanded its irredentist ambitions. After the discovery of potential oil reserves around the Senkaku Islands, and the United States’ return of the islands to Japan in the 1970s, Beijing drew on its historical record to lay claim to the islands, even though it had previously referred to them as part of the Japanese Ryukyu Islands. Similarly, though Beijing and Moscow settled a dispute over Heixiazi Island, located along China’s northeastern border, in 2004, the 2023 map of China depicted the entire island (ceded, along with vast Pacific territories, by the Qing Dynasty to the Russian Empire in 1860) as part of its domain, much to the ire of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Collin Koh Swee Lean, a senior fellow with the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, argues that the Chinese mapping of Heixiazi Island shows that Beijing holds on to certain core interests and simply waits for the opportune time to assert them.

“Given the current context of the war in Ukraine and Russia’s increased dependence on China, it might have appeared to Beijing that it has the chips in its pockets because, after all, Moscow needs Beijing more than the other way around,” Koh said on the German Marshall Fund’s China Global podcast.

This raises the question of whether territorial disputes that were settled during times of CCP weakness can be revisited and become subject to irredentist ambitions should power balances shift in China’s favor.

According to Steve Tsang, the director of the China Institute at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, there is currently a limit to how far the CCP will push territorial claims against Russia, since President Xi will need Russian support to sustain his grand ambitions for Chinese leadership on the global stage.

Although it would be a long shot, even Russia may not be safe from these ambitions indefinitely. Given that large swaths of Russia’s Pacific territories were part of China until 1860, “China could claim back the Russian Far East when it deems the time is right,” Tsang said. Such control would grant Beijing unrestricted access to the region’s abundance of coal, timber, tin, and gold while moving it geographically closer to its ambition of becoming an Arctic power.

While there is plenty of historical evidence pointing to former Chinese control over the southeastern portion of the Russian Far East, the historical record is less unequivocal about Chinese control over Taiwan. Anything resembling mainland Chinese control over Taiwan was not established until after 1684 by the Qing Dynasty, and even then central authority remained weak. In 1895, the Qing Dynasty ceded Taiwan to the Empire of Japan following the First Sino-Japanese War, and by the time Chinese authority was restored in 1945, Taiwan had undergone several decades of Japanization.

These details have not prevented the CCP from claiming that Taiwan has been an inalienable part of China since ancient times. Yet more than any other irredentist claim, Xi has made unification with Taiwan a major component of his vision to rejuvenate the Chinese nation.

Unification, however, has little to do with ancient history and more to do with the challenge that Taiwan presently poses to Xi’s aims, according to Chong Ja Ian, an associate professor who teaches about Chinese foreign policy at the National University of Singapore.

“The CCP pursues a Chinese nationalism that emphasizes unity and homogeneity centered around the CCP leadership while they also often claim that their single-party rule is acceptable to Chinese people,” Chong said.

In contrast, Taiwan holds free elections in which multiple political parties compete for the favor of a people that have increasingly developed an identity distinct from mainland China.

“The Taiwanese experience is a clear affront to the CCP narrative,” Chong said.

Control over Taiwan is also attractive to Beijing because it is key to unlocking the Chinese leadership’s broader ambition of maritime hegemony in waters where almost half of the world’s container fleet passed through in 2022.

As with the case of Taiwan, the CCP’s historical arguments regarding its claims on island groups and islets in the East and South China Seas are likewise much weaker than many of its land-based claims.

Instead, Chinese territorial intransigence in the maritime arena is more about a strategic shift in the value of the seas around China, Fravel said.

Today, it has been estimated that more than 21 percent of global trade passes through the South China Sea. And beneath these waters are not only subsea cables that carry sensitive internet data but also vast estimated reserves of oil and natural gas.

Although it may say otherwise, Beijing’s unwillingness to let up on its tenuous territorial maritime claims suggests that China is pursuing long-held ambitions and global aspirations rather than attempting to reverse past losses. So long as the CCP wields its historical record selectively and changeably to serve its aims—and is willing to back its claims up with military action—China’s neighbors will remain at risk.

[yazzydream]

I'm still confused about the Megumi/Zen'in payoff thing. Toji sold him (???) to the Zen'in clan, but not right away. Gojo got the sale cancelled (??? they already paid so who's paying them back) by getting the school to intervene? Megumi's on a work study program??? why does Gojo get money?

Also, do members of the clans not work with the school? this is just world building I don't know

(in reference to this post)

The amount of money Toji would get was based on whether Megumi had an Inherited Technique. At the time, Megumi would have been too young yet to display what technique he got yet. (He would still have been 3/4 or younger when Toji made the deal with Naobito. Most sorcerers only display their abilities around 6 years old.) Toji was either bullshitting that Megumi had great potential or it was a gut instinct.

When Megumi was old enough, Gojo interfered before the Zen'in got a hold of him. Ah, and Toji was dead too, so there probably wasn't anyone left for the money to go to. Since, y'know, Toji was dead. That was probably used as part of the argument against the Zen'in taking Megumi, actually. Lol. Though, I'm sure they would've just kidnapped him if Gojo wasn't around.

From what I read of Megumi's internal narration, Jujutsu Tech sponsored Megumi and Tsumiki for living expenses. Kind of like a loan or scholarship? In turn, Megumi would work as a sorcerer in the future.

(But actually, I don't know. Even if Megumi and Tsumiki never lived with Gojo, according to the fanbook, Gojo paid for things like utilities. So, did the college just pay for like, food and (normal) schooling, or was Gojo paying for all of it without having told Megumi different?

Cuz we know Gojo took care of/mentored Megumi because of the latter's potential. He wanted strong allies to change Jujutsu society. So, maybe the deal of "get fed as long as you become sorcerer in the future" was Gojo's one-sided decision. Who knows. Lol.)

Gojo... does not get money from the Zen'in or Megumi. 😂 Not sure where you got that.

The college is used as a base for jujutsu society in general, so I'm sure many of the higher ups are also clan members. They're affiliated, but hm... The school is an institution that also works with the Japanese government, but it's also heavily tied by the influence of the Three Great Clans... Is my take.

For example "Special Grade 1" sorcerers like Naobito and a lot of the Zen'in are graded that way because they didn't attend the school, and thus not graded by the school, but are suspected (decided) of being on the same level as Grade 1. So... they get a sparkly title of their own. Goes to show you how privileged they are, don't it?

Get what I'm saying? I'd say the clans think they're too good to attend the school but they still hold influence inside because of how it's indisputably important to Jujutsu society.

I'm not at all sure if my rambling explanation made any sense. 😂

#sorry this got long #chiarrara #Megumi also just doesn't know a lot about what gojo does lol #jujutsu kaisen

[lilyginnyblackv2]

It takes a village... - Buddy Daddies - Episode 5 - Cultural Elements

There is the famous saying “It takes a village to raise a child.” And I think that was a key focus of this episode, and one of the lessons that Kazuki and Rei had to learn. There are three social and cultural aspects of Japan that I want to look at in regards to this episode:

1. Flus at School

2. Babysitting in Japan

3. Work-Life Balance

They all connect to each other in some way.

1. Flus at School

Likely when everyone saw the notice that Kazuki and Rei got about the daycare being temporarily closed due to a virus, the initial thought was Covid. And it was likely meant to be a nod to that. But, even before Covid, the flu (influenza) has always been taken very seriously in Japan and at Japanese schools.

In Japan, I worked at elementary and junior high schools, so a bit of a different setting from the daycare (my daycare experience with Japanese kids was back in the States at a juku and learning center). But, I doubt there is too much difference. Basically, once we entered flu season, parts of the whiteboards up in the Staff Room would be dedicated to keeping track of which students had the flu and how many students had it per class. Once it reached a certain amount, everyone in that class (whether they were sick or not) would not be allowed to come to school for a number of days.

(From a study that will be linked to below, and which was published online in 2015).

In the above excerpt I included, it talks about the effective measure of school closure to prevent pandemic influenza (specifically talking about the one in 2009). When I worked in Japan (2013 - 2019) as an ALT, I never experienced a full school closure because of the flu, but I knew of other ALT who had.

2. Babysitting in Japan

In this episode we have Kazuki telling Kyutaro, “Lately, we’ve been taking on some babysitting jobs...”

Kazuki really didn’t have a plethora of options to choose from here to make any sort of plausible excuse. This likely was the best thing he could say and pick, but it also isn’t that surprising that Kyutaro didn’t buy it for a second. Not only because male babysitters are rarer in general, but also because babysitting still isn’t a normal thing in Japanese culture. From a 2014 SavvyTokyo article entitled: Babysitting Services in Japan, there is this excerpt:

However, hiring a babysitter in Japan remains a privilege reserved for high-income earners, and is nowhere near as popular as it is in Western countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, some families are forced to use babysitters due to a shortage of after-school nurseries. Some believe that a babysitter could help inject a dose of fresh air into a typical Japanese home, which can sometimes be known for its seclusion. This is particularly true today, in an ever-increasing international environment, where English education is at the forefront of most Japanese parents’ minds.

This lines up with my experiences with being a Weekend Camp Counselor for about 3 or so years when I lived close to the Tokyo area of Japan (from 2016 - 2019). My job was to play American summer camp style games and activities (Duck, Duck, Goose, Red Light, Green Light, Thunderdome, Tooty Ta Song, etc.) with native Japanese children at parks (like Yoyogi Park or Toyosu Park). The goal was to have the children get a full English immersion experience, while enjoying physical activities outdoors. But, like my boss told me, our service was also meant to allow the parents to have some free time in the day, since babysitting isn’t a big thing.

In American media, seeing a (usually) teen girl babysitting a neighbors kid is incredibly common. In Japan, there is still an expectation that the parents (mostly the mother) should be caring for their child or children, but that is getting harder and harder with the need for both parents to work, in order to get by (due to the state of inflation Japan has been in for years). One Japan Times contributor, Yuko Tamura, wrote about their experience with hiring a babysitter in a blog post entitled: Hiring a Babysitter for the First Time in Japan Taught Me a Lot. 

In this article she talked about the social and cultural aspects. First she notes, “Without grandparents in my neighborhood, I had almost no one to ask for help except my husband.” No mentions are made of siblings, cousins, aunts, or friends. In America, it wouldn’t be that uncommon to hear of any of the above (as well as, of course, grandparents) to do a little temporary babysitting for family or friends. But in Japan this just isn’t common, smaller family sizes are also likely a reason for this as well.

She also mentions lack of communication among neighbors, something that is definitely common, especially in cities in Japan, and “ I have been a highly private person; I suspect the majority of Japanese people are the same. Welcoming strangers at home could be a severe headache for people like me because it just doesn’t feel right.”

Houses in Japan are seen as very private places. Having big get togethers or parties at someone’s house in Japan is really uncommon (I have been to one or two, but it’s still not the norm). Going elsewhere to meet up, like at a karaoke place or café is far more common. So the idea of a babysitter goes against that idea, as well as the societal expectation of the mother being in caretaker mode 24/7, so it has made it harder for babysitting to become common place in Japan. 

That being said, the internet, the pandemic, the economy, women working more, and many other things are starting to shake things up a bit more in Japan. I also suggest that you give the blog post a full read (I’ll link to it below, along with every site and article I reference here), since it also touches on another concept a bit: Work-Life Balance, my last discussion point.

3. Work-Life Balance 

I won’t say too much about this, since I think the concept of Work-Life Balance is a fairly universal one and one that people are always trying to struggle with. It may be better and easier to navigate in some countries, and harder and more difficult to navigate in others. 

For Japan, it is harder, but there has been more of a push for more life and less work focus in recent years, and the pandemic has caused work-from-home, remote work, and so forth to become a bit more common in Japan. It’s still not as prevalent of a shift in work culture like we’ve been seeing happen elsewhere, but it is a start! I’ll add an article or two in the comments about this topic, just in case anyone wants to read up on it.

In this episode, we see Kazuki and Rei struggling with Work-Life Balance in a way neither has likely ever experienced before, since adding a child into the mix really does make for a very different beast. What I really like that we saw in this episode was showing Kyutaro telling Kazuki and Rei that he would look after Miri:

It’s unconventional, as noted above, but it is a good message to tell. And one that should be told more in anime and Japanese media. A sense of community is important, especially when raising a child, since as the saying goes, “It takes a village.”

#Buddy Daddies #Rei Suwa #Kazuki Kurusu #Miri Unasaka #Kyutaro Kugi #BD spoilers #Buddy Daddies spoilers #long post #meta post #Japanese culture and society

[aimeramie]

I want to talk about an interpretation I have started to see again recently.

The interpretation: Ochako changing the meaning of "Deku" for Izuku actually had a negative impact on him even if she did not intend to hurt him with her expectations.

This interpretation is based on the idea that Ochako is unintentionally responsible for this...

which I don't think is the case at all. (page 10 of chapter 285) The one most responsible for this ^^^ is actually Bakugou, and I will explain why.

So, as we all know, Ochako is the reason Izuku chooses "Deku" as his hero name.

(pages 17 and 18 of chapter 45)

She is the one who takes "Deku" and changes the meaning to "Do your best!!"

(page 12 of chapter 7)

Because of Ochako, Izuku is able to reclaim the insult Bakugou had always used to make him feel worthless and incapable of pursuing his dreams. Because of Ochako, he is able to take power away from his bully and inspire himself to become the hero he has always wanted to be.

However...

Ochako did not understand the depth of pain Izuku suffered growing up. Though she had a positive impact on him, though she undeniably made him happy, she had no idea how deeply he had internalized Bakugou's version of "Deku," the one that made him believe he was worthless and incapable of achieving anything.

So, this is where the problem lies.

Ochako may have changed the meaning of "Deku," but she did not erase the pain associated with it that Izuku carried inside his heart, pain Izuku has not really acknowledged himself.

Toga highlights the same concept:

(page 11 of chapter 395)

The reason Izuku is so desperate to live up to Ochako's version of "Deku" is because if he's not Ochako's version of "Deku" then he believes he will once again become Bakugou's version of "Deku," and he doesn't want to be that version of "Deku" anymore.

Bakugou knows he is responsible for what is happening to Izuku here...

(page 10 of chapter 285)

because the page before he remembers this...

(page 9 of chapter 285)

and because Bakugou acknowledges he has contributed to Izuku's lack of self worth and lack of concern for himself, Bakugou becomes desperate to stop Izuku from hurting himself further and to later apologize to him during the Dark Hero arc, when Izuku's mental health is at its lowest.

Here is another page where Izuku shows just how desperate he is to not be Bakugou's version of "Deku":

(page 15 of chapter 292)

Even though he was never worthless, Izuku believes he used to be, because someone he admires so much constantly told him he was.

So no, Ochako changing the meaning of "Deku" did not hurt Izuku. What hurt Izuku is all the years of being told he's worthless, all the years of that name being used to put him down and push him away, and in order for Izuku to move forward, for him to truly embrace the positive interpretation of "Deku," he needed Bakugou to acknowledge the pain he had caused him and apologize.

Which Bakugou did.

And Bakugou has now said he will no longer stand in Izuku's way. He will no longer hold him back from being the hero Bakugou truthfully always knew Izuku was capable of being.

(page 1 of chapter 409)

And he tells him to "do his best" on page 8 of chapter 410.

The officials went with something else, and I kinda dislike it since what Bakugou actually says in the Japanese has significance. It's like he's telling Izuku to fully embrace the idea of "doing his best" in his own way now that Bakugou will no longer be an obstacle in his path.

I also think "do your best" ties in well with Izuku, at the end of the latest chapter, remembering the conversation he had with Ochako about Toga and Shigaraki, while he reaffirms the ideals he and Ochako share as heroes.

#i think it's easy to have these kinds of interpretations if you don't believe bakugou's actions impacted izuku. #they did impact him though. they impacted him a lot. #boku no hero academia #bnha #midoriya izuku #bakugou katsuki #uraraka ochako #toga himiko #izuocha

[wrestlingisfake]

so... i need to know more about the House of Torture. any idea where to start?

I think the best thing I can do is run down the origins and history of the group, and link to some shows on NJPW world if you want to check them out for more information. Then I'll try to sum up their general vibe, and why Jack Perry fits into their faction.

House of Torture got its start as a part of Bullet Club, back in 2020. I think technically they're still a subgroup of Bullet Club, but the two factions don't have much to do with one another these days.

The thing about New Japan in 2020 is that the pandemic really screwed up their schedule, and the international travel restrictions left a lot of their non-Japanese roster stuck outside the country. Bullet Club was especially hit hard, since it's generally been an "evil foreigner" group. So New Japan needed to make a new star and also prop up Bullet Club with some new, domestic members.

First, EVIL turned on Los Ingobernables de Japon. He won the New Japan Cup with help from Bullet Club's Gedo (July 11, 2020). Then he beat LIJ's leader, Tetsuya Naito, at Dominion (July 12) to win the IWGP heavyweight and intercontinental titles. Bullet Club never played fair, but there was absolutely no subtlety about Evil's heel act. That title win featured a ton of run-ins, low-blows, you name it. Dick Togo, a 50-something legend from the Japanese indies, debuted to join the group as Evil's personal henchman.

Yujiro Takahashi quickly became associated with Evil and Togo, simply because there weren't a lot of other Bullet Club guys left in the country to team with. Yujiro joined Bullet Club way back in 2014, and the pimp gimmick he developed back then hasn't changed much over the years. The most notable thing about him is that he saunters to the ring with a professional go-go dancer named Pieter, but unfortunately she hasn't been brought in much since the pandemic.

Evil's big title reign didn't last long, and pundits generally considered it a failure. He only managed to get one successful title defense, against his former LIJ buddy Hiromu Takahashi at Sengoku Lord (July 25, 2020). After that, Naito won back his two belts at Summer Struggle (August 29). Evil went back down to the midcard.

The final piece of the puzzle came a year later, after SHO turned on his tag team partner YOH. They had a grudge match at Wrestle Grand Slam (September 4, 2021). Right after the match, Evil, Dick Togo, and Yujiro came to the ring wearing "House of Torture" shirts, and gave one to him. From that point on, the four men were clearly distinct from Bullet Club, even if they never officially broke away.

The defining feature of House of Torture is that they have absolutely no redeeming virtues. The rest of Bullet Club cheats and takes cheap shots, but they tend to be kind of cool and sometimes they've got a good sense of humor. House of Torture doesn't want to entertain you. They don't even want to be entertaining villains. Sometimes I think they care more about frustrating the fans than they do about winning matches. Hence the name: We're the ones being tortured.

If I had to recommend a specific storyline to understand House of Torture, I guess I'd go with their feud with Just 5 Guys in the 2023 Destruction tour. J5G had a 5-to-4 advantage against the heels, but that still could keep them from pulling their bullshit heel tactics, because on September 24 House of Torture just convinced Yoshinobu Kanemaru to switch sides! Every time the good guys think they've got a fair playing field, Evil finds a new way to skew it.

A major criticism of House of Torture has been Sho's performance. Sho is genuinely a great wrestler, but ever since he turned heel he's become this craven psycho whose best move is to hit a guy with a wrench. Half of Sho's matches these days involve trying to get out of the match, by faking an injury or claiming his opponent forfeited when he's really tied up backstage. On the other hand, Sho's on-screen personality as a babyface was pretty bland, so I can't deny that being in House of Torture has helped his character development. I'm hoping that also benefits Ren Narita (who joined in December 2023).

Jack Perry should fit right in with House of Torture. His feud with HOOK last year was textbook cheap-heat heel work. If Hook had been feuding with Evil or Sho, I think they would've pulled a lot of the same shenanigans. The whole "scapegoat" thing fits in well too, and not just because the goat-head thing is spooky-looking. Jack has gone from not caring about the fans to feeding off of their scorn and ruining matches for the sake of spite. I don't even personally blame him for what happened with CM Punk, but his character wants me to resent him for it so he can revel in that hatred. That's the kind of attitude Evil, Sho, Ren Narita, Dick Togo, Yujiro Takahashi, and Yoshinobu Kanemaru can relate to.

#njpw #house of torture #jack perry

[onegianthotmess]

Viktor thinking his younger daughter is dying when he picks her up from school after getting a call from the nurse. He didn’t even let the nurse finish because as soon as he heard the word “bleeding,” he immediately grabbed Yuuri and told him that they needed to get to the school immediately.

And Viktor doesn’t notice that his daughter is now in shorts with her jacket securely tied around her waist, nor does he notice how she doesn’t let her butt touch the back seat while he’s driving towards the nearest hospital while Yuuri is trying to get his husband to calm down.

And Viktor isn’t gonna calm down at all. His daughter, the nine year old BABY of the family is bleeding, most likely internally because he didn’t see any cuts or bloody bandages, and she’s probably dying!!! HOW IS HE SUPPOSED TO CALM DOWN?!!?

Eventually, Yuuri and Viktor are waiting outside of the room their daughter is in while the doctor is seeing what’s wrong. After a short time, the doctor domes out and she asks Yuuri and Viktor to come into the room. And the two oblige and they walk into the room to see their daughter looking both relieved and completely mortified/embarrassed.

And then the doctor explains to Yuuri and Viktor that their daughter is fine and that she just got her period very early.

Insert Yuuri giving Viktor the “I told you so, dumbass” look as the doctor explains what the school nurse tried to explain to Viktor.

And even though their older daughter has already gotten her period and they knew about it, Viktor didn’t remember much about how to help because she went to Yuuri for help usually. It made sense since Yuuri was calmer than Viktor and had a sister, so he knew what he was doing to an extent.

So, an hour later, Viktor is helping Yuuri buy a bunch of pads and pain meds because they don’t know if their older daughter has enough to share with the baby. And meanwhile the “baby” is walking beside them, white hair tucked into the hood of her hoodie and her head down, praying to whatever deity that is out there that no one knows her or recognizes her because while she does love Viktor and Yuuri, they can be incredibly embarrassing parents at times-

And when everyone is back home after that fun day, Viktor and Yuuri realize that it’s twenty minutes after the time they should be picking up their other younger daughter from school because they didn’t pick her up when they had to take her twin to the hospital. And now Yuuri is speeding off in the car while Viktor is sitting on the couch and holding out his Makkachin shaped thing of tissues while his daughter is crying on the couch and curled up in her favorite blanket while a trashy Japanese soap opera plays on the TV.

#i figured some family crack/fluff would be needed after the movie cancellation- #yuuri on ice #yuri!!! on ice #yuri on ice #yuuri katsuki #yuri katsuki #viktor nikiforov #victor nikiforov

[thececeverse]

002. CHOUKA AIKAWA … ˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

CHOUKA AIKAWA is a soloist under Republic Records, Flowerbank Entertainment, and Avex Trax. Starting out as a fashion blogger, YouTuber, former ballerina, and socialite in 2017, Chouka branched into acting in 2019, and finally made her way into the music industry in 2024. In addition to becoming a prominent fashion influencer, she has also become a prominent singer, with her debut single “Girls Don’t Cry” going on to become a chart topper.

BASICS … ˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

BIRTH NAME … Aikawa Chouka

ENGLISH NAME … Love Rose Antoinette Aikawa

KOREAN NAME … Soo Sa-rang (수사랑)

NICKNAMES … Rosie, Marie Antoinette, Cupid, Ai-chan

BIRTHDAY … March 14th, 1999

ZODIAC … Pisces

BIRTHPLACE … Milan, Italy

HOMETOWN … Milan, Italy + Kyoto, Japan + Aoyama, Tokyo, Japan + Paris, France + Berlin, Germany + Amsterdam, Netherlands + Marina Bay Sands, Singapore

ETHNICITY … Japanese

NATIONALITY … Italian-Japanese-American

SEXUALITY … Pansexual

PHYSICAL … ˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

HEIGHT … 5’7” 1/2 (171 cm)

WEIGHT … 119 lbs (53 kg)

BLOOD TYPE … O

PIERCINGS … N/A

TATTOOS …

꒰ ♡ ꒱ “Ti amerò per sempre” + located on left shoulder blade + shares with fiancé

꒰ ♡ ꒱ A rose encased in glass + located on left shoulder

CLAIMS … ˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

FACE CLAIM … Minatozaki Sana (TWICE)

VOICE CLAIM … Ariana Grande (English) + YooA (Korean / OH MY GIRL)

DANCE CLAIM … Sunmi (soloist / ex-Wonder Girls)

CAREER … ˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

COMPANY … Republic Records + Avex Trax + Flowerbank Entertainment + Wilhelmina Models + Creative Artists Agency

OCCUPATION … Singer-songwriter, social media influencer, actress, TV personality, businesswoman, model, former ballet dancer

DEBUT DATE … April 5th, 2024

TRAINEE YEARS … N/A

YEARS ACTIVE … 2024–present

SURVIVAL SHOWS … N/A

FANDOM NAME … Rosettes (로제트 + ロゼット)

COLORS … #FFA3B9 + #FFFFFF

BACKGROUND … ˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚ 🩰 … ONE. IF I WAS A RICH GIRL

Aikawa Chouka was born on March 14th, 1999 in Milan, Italy. And unlike most in her field, she was born into immense wealth and prestige. Her father, Aikawa Chujirō (also known as Michael Aikawa), is the current president and CEO of the Aikawa Group. Originally founded in 1969 as a technology conglomerate, the company sold its shares twenty years later for $20 billion, turning itself into a sprawling holdings company. Owning mostly luxury brands (including Versace), they also own multiple department stores in the United States such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Macy’s, and even Paramount. The Aikawa Group has been touted as the “Samsung of Japan,” and with a net worth of over $480 billion, the Aikawa family is the richest in the world.

Meanwhile, Chouka’s mother, Nakamura Aiko (also known as Liliane Aikawa) is an accomplished, London-born actress and designer, as the founder of luxury lifestyle brand Lily by Liliane, as well as a socialite, art dealer, and former model. Aiko was born into a family older and wealthier than her husband’s (or at least that would’ve been true in 1990), and is the only child of Nakamura Hiroaki, the president of the Nakamura Foods Company. Founded all the way back in 1909 (although the Nakamura family was rather high up in Japanese society generations prior), the food packing conglomerate is worth over $20 billion. Like her husband’s family, Aiko’s family also owns a department store, having acquired ownership of the Tokyu Department Store in 2009.

Obviously, Chouka grew up in the lap of luxury. Living in Milan for the first five years of her life, she attended a Japanese international school and learned her native language of Japanese, along with Italian and English. In 2004, Chouka and her family moved to Kyoto. And due to her family’s wealth, they would spend a lot of time moving.

During the summers of 2009 and 2010, they would live in three separate cities: Berlin, Amsterdam, and Paris. Starting in 2011, they would live in Singapore for a year. And finally, in 2015, the Aikawa family would move for the final time to the wealthy neighborhood of Aoyama in Tokyo. Chouka completed her final two years of high school there, and was involved in quite a few extracurriculars. She was a cheerleader, a member of her school’s tennis team, and she served as editor-in-chief of its newspaper club. Chouka would move again in 2016, but without her parents this time. She spent that winter at a boarding school in Switzerland, like most rich girls of her caliber.

By then, Chouka was a seasoned ballet dancer. At the age of three, she was placed in classes by her mother at the request of Chouka’s grandmother. She attended two separate ballet academies at some point: the Dutch National Ballet Academy and the Paris Opera Ballet. For years, Chouka believed that she would become the world’s next prima, but the universe had different plans.

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚ 🩰 … TWO. DRESS TO IMPRESS

For the most part, Chouka’s childhood was normal. However, when you have a designer for a mother, you tend to get dragged to a whole lot of fashion shows. At the tender age of thirteen, she attended her first show for Dior. And it wasn’t just that, either. Chouka grew up watching her grandmother order couture from Paris and Milan, she would be gifted old pieces from her mother, and her father even gifted her Louis Vuitton for her tenth birthday. After that Dior show, however, Chouka’s entire world changed.

She became quite obsessed with fashion, and she would spend hours flipping through fashion magazines or rummaging through her mother’s closet. All the balls and launch parties and red carpet events that Chouka would attend with her family changed her outlook on fashion, and after she was scouted by a modeling agency at fifteen, her interest only grew. She attended Fashion Weeks in Tokyo and New York, and modeled for brands like Betsey Johnson.

Chouka kind of knew that her career as a model was temporary, though, and her “true calling” was a fashion designer or journalist (courtesy of her mother). With the rise of the beauty guru, Chouka’s interest in fashion blogs, and all the time she spent on Instagram, however, she decided that, instead, she would become social media famous.

In 2015, Chouka launched a blog of her own: Love Moda. This was unusual for her family, as like the real-life, Japanese rendition of the Young family from Crazy Rich Asians, they were notoriously private. They would sporadically appear in news articles, Aiko would give the occasional magazine interview solely for brand reasons or to promote a new project, and Chujirō mainly limited his media appearances to business publications. Obviously, though, Chouka had vastly different aspirations. Love Moda was mentioned in an editorial she did with Tatler, and that kind of exposure—plus the fact that she had money—made interest in her blog skyrocket. By 2016, it had amassed over 10,000 readers.

By the next year, Chouka had cemented herself as a somewhat of a “baby influencer.” Despite the invites to Paris fashion shows and the articles being written about her in Vogue, however, she was far from mainstream. Her small legion of fans wanted her to be, though. Chouka was asked to start a YouTube channel by one of them, and so on May 19th, 2017, she did.

Chouka was already a bit of a “micro-celebrity,” so by the summer, her sizable following had transferred to her new channel. Her YouTube gradually begin to grow larger than her blog as the beauty community gained traction themselves, and her status as the “Aikawa Group heiress” was definitely a selling point, alongside her feminine, “rich girl” fashion and peculiar accent. By the end of 2017, the brand deals were beginning to roll in, and everyone was gradually starting to know her name.

In 2018, a particular video of Chouka’s suddenly went viral. What followed afterwards was the exact mainstream fame that she’d been looking for. She moved to Los Angeles from New York and was scoring ambassadorships with the likes of Kate Spade, Nina Ricci, and even Prada. She was getting invited to award shows, launch parties, and was a seasoned Fashion Week attendee at that point. And by 2019, Chouka blew up even further. She was named “fashion’s newest It girl,” she made her way into the acting industry, and it was pretty much impossible to escape her.

2018 was also a rather difficult year for her, though. At that point, Chouka had been a ballerina for sixteen years. But with her rising career online, she knew that she couldn’t pursue her lifelong dream of prima stardom without giving up her YouTube career.

Although ballet would always have a special place in her heart, her career aspirations had obviously changed. Even then, though, Chouka was still training, and she still wanted to attend another ballet academy. But balancing that and what clearly transformed from a hobby into her way of life was asking for too much. So that year, Chouka hung up her pointe shoes and bid goodbye to ballet. That decision was a difficult one, but it was probably for the best, as her career as an influencer has done more for her than a ballet career ever would. And there was still a whole lot more in store.

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚ 🩰 … THREE. ALL THE INFLUENCE IN THE WORLD

Within the next five years, Chouka would grow to become one of the best fashion influencers on the planet, with 11 million subscribers, over twenty brand deals, and countless successful business ventures to her name. Even with a billion dollar bank account, though, she—like most influencers nowadays—couldn’t help but branch into the music industry.

In late 2023, Chouka signed to Republic Records and Avex Trax to manage her American and Japanese activities, promising her fans a debut by the next year. And on April 5th, 2024, she fulfilled her promise. Debuting with the single “Girls Don’t Cry,” her debut was a smash hit. Surprisingly, it was received far better than the music of other influencers, nearly becoming a No. 1 hit and turning Chouka into an up and coming pop princess. Even with her previously existing and clearly successful career, Chouka has plans for an album, a Japanese debut, and a potential Korean debut. Her first single already has fans eager to see what she has next, and her next projects can turn her into not only an It girl of the fashion world, but an It girl of the music industry, as well.

Flowerbank Entertainment belongs to @pinkscaped + @venusvity ! ♡

#˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗ COME INTO THE VERSE ! #˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗ CHAR … CHOUKA ! #PROFILES ! #kpop oc #fictional kpop oc #kpop oc soloist #kpop soloist #kpop solo artist #fake kpop idol #fictional kpop idol #idol oc soloist #idol soloist #fake idol oc #idolverse #fictional idol oc #fictional idol community

[gacha-incels]

Do you think that there is a possibility of Hypergryph splitting from Yostar for global publishing of Arknights and moving it to Gryphline instead? The traditional Chinese server got moved from Long Chen to Gryphline recently, and the new ambience synesthesia concert merch is on the Gryphline store rather than yostar’s. It may just be wishful thinking as yostar and hypergryph both own large shares of each other, but if there is a planned split from yostar would it potentially be a reason why Hypergryph hasn’t made a statement condemning Yostar Korea’s actions? Is there any precedent for publisher changes for a sort of legal clause preventing them from hurting each others’ image prior to the split being announced?

Gryphline is situated in Singapore, having what I guess you could call a “proxy” company for global business in Singapore is something a lot of companies in China have done for a while, increasingly within the past couple of years, for a multitude of reasons. Last time I checked Mihoyo had “Cognosphere” in Singapore, and when you buy gachabux in that game on servers outside China I believe your bill is from Cognosphere. The slave labor fast fashion site Shein has been operating under the Singapore-registered “Roadget Business” which some have speculated makes it easier to list in the USA. Yostar has HQ in Hong Kong which used to be the proxy location but according to this FT article-“Traditionally, Hong Kong was the choice for many such companies, said Kia Meng Loh, a senior partner at Dentons Rodyk. But with Beijing “flexing its muscles” in the semi-autonomous rival finance hub, Singapore is the obvious next choice, he said.” Hypergryph has multiple games coming out in the near future, I believe a regular (non-gacha) 3D anime mobile game and a 3D Arknights spinoff that will have a weapon gacha, and I think another game that’s TBD? They could be rearranging their internal structure due to this expansion if they’ve switched around their Chinese server already, but I’m unsure if this means they will completely split with Yostar who I believe publishes the US, Japanese and Korean servers.

Admittedly I can’t say I’m super well versed with this type of business and therefore it’s harder to really predict what they will do in the future, but I’ve been watching the situation since AK KR posted that notice to see what happens. I don’t have anything against the game itself, if it comes out that somehow their hands are completely tied in the situation or something I’ll post about that as well but I’m not holding my breath. In terms of my read on the situation, I think a huge message has ready been sent to the fans as to whom the company deems most profitable to listen to, regardless of any future handwringing over the situation. I would think between a woman posting extremely basic feminist thoughts on her personal twitter (equal pay etc) and enjoying the woman’s day google doodle years ago, and the Arknights KR/Yostar employee liking extremely violent fanart on the official twitter account and hanging out on extremist, misogynistic chat boards, that the employee would be seen as more of a problem and should have been the one disciplined. In reality, not only was the woman punished by having her work deleted but the official KR account posted that diatribe calling basic feminism a “dividing force” or whatever. This action and the following statement are absolutely not neutral, especially during a time a which violent misogyny has been increasingly ripping through South Korea as a whole but also gacha games specifically. In terms of PR I do think this is something Hypergryph could address, if HG doesn’t want to rock the boat with Yostar so to speak because of some upcoming split, it seems Yostar has already rocked the boat quite a bit with this action to begin with…

in terms of a main developer punishing the publisher, one example I can think of is Fate/Grand Order’s DelightWorks (after the sakura wars fuckup FGO is developed by “Lasengle” now, but when this happened it was DW) changing an in-game reward that FGO’s Korean publisher Netmarble gave out. In terms of them splitting as well, I’m still looking into it 👍 If anyone knows anything else feel free to reply or send me stuff and I’ll post it, sometimes I feel if I wait too long to reply to messages it comes across as rude lol so I’m not getting lost in like thesis tier research

#Arknights #yostar #hypergryph #feminist ideological verification

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Dave Granlund

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

April 10, 2024 (Wednesday)

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

APR 11, 2024

Prime minister Fumio Kishida of Japan and his wife, Yuko Kishida, are in Washington, D.C., tonight at a state dinner hosted by President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden. The dinner is part of a state visit, the fifth for this administration.

Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have worked to strengthen ties to countries in the Indo-Pacific to weaken the dominance of China in the region, and Japan is the key nation in that partnership. “We celebrate the flourishing friendship between the United States and Japan,” Dr. Biden said Tuesday. “Our nations are partners in building a world where we choose creation over destruction, peace over bloodshed, and democracy over autocracy.”

During talks today, Biden and Kishida committed to strengthening the defense and security frameworks of the two countries so they can work together effectively, especially in a crisis. The new frameworks include intelligence sharing, defense production, satellite cooperation, pilot training, cybersecurity, humanitarian assistance, and technological cooperation. Affirming the ties of science and education between the countries, the leaders announced that two Japanese astronauts would join future American missions and, Biden said, “one will become the first non-American ever to land on the moon.” 

That cooperation both takes advantage of and builds on economic ties between the two countries. In a press conference with Kishida on Wednesday, Biden noted that Japan is the top foreign investor in the U.S., and the U.S. is the top foreign investor in Japan. Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have announced investments of $2.9 billion, $1 billion, and $15 billion respectively in Japan over the next several years, largely in computer and digital advances. Japanese corporations Daiichi Sankyo, Toyota, Honda Aircraft, Yaskawa Electric Corporation, Mitsui E&S, and Fujifilm announced investments in the U.S., primarily in manufacturing.

In a press conference, Kishida told reporters that “[t]he international community stands at a historical turning point. In order for Japan, the U.S., the Indo-Pacific region, and, for that matter, the whole world to enjoy peace, stability, and prosperity lasting into the future, we must resolutely defend and further solidify a free and open international order based on the rule of law.”

“This is the most significant upgrade in our alliance…since it was first established,” Biden said. While he noted that lines of communication with China remain open—he spoke with Chinese president Xi Jinping last week—the strengthening of ties to Japan comes in part from concern about the Chinese threat  to Taiwan, a self-ruled island that the Chinese government considers its own. Leaders are increasingly concerned that the Republicans’ refusal to fund Ukraine has emboldened not only Russia but also China. 

Tomorrow, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., of the Philippines will join Biden in a bilateral meeting before Marcos, Biden, and Kishida join in the first trilateral meeting of the three. Kishida will also address a joint session of Congress.

Kenneth Weinstein of the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank, suggested today that Japan “has quietly become America’s most important ally,” “playing a central role in meeting our nation’s principal strategic challenge: the threat posed by the People’s Republic of China, especially the defense of Taiwan.” Weinstein also notes that Japan’s longstanding engagement in Southeast Asia means it has “forged relations of deep trust” there among countries that often eye the U.S. with deep distrust. 

Outside of news about the Japanese prime minister’s visit, U.S. news today was consumed by reactions to yesterday’s decision by the Arizona Supreme Court to permit the enforcement of an 1864 law that is currently interpreted as a ban on all abortions except to save the mother’s life. 

President Biden issued a statement condemning the “extreme and dangerous abortion ban,” calling it “a result of the extreme agenda of Republican elected officials who are committed to ripping away women’s freedom.”

“Vice President Harris and I stand with the vast majority of Americans who support a woman’s right to choose,” he continued. “We will continue to fight to protect reproductive rights and call on Congress to pass a law restoring the protections of Roe v. Wade for women in every state.”

Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Tucson, Arizona, on Friday to respond to the ruling. According to Hans Nichols of Axios, she had been planning to travel to Arizona anyway but quickly shifted her visit to make it a campaign trip, allowing her to comment more freely on Trump and the Republicans who were responsible for the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the imposition of abortion bans since. 

Harris has been out front on the issue of reproductive rights, meeting more than 50 times with groups in at least 16 states since the Supreme Court handed down the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in June 2022, overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that recognized the right to abortion. This year, on the January 22 anniversary of the Roe decision, she announced a “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” tour. 

“Extremists across our country continue to wage a full-on attack against hard-won, hard-fought freedoms as they push their radical policies,” she said. “I will continue to fight for our fundamental freedoms while bringing together those throughout America who agree that every woman should have the right to make decisions about her own body—not the government.”

Yesterday illustrated what the overturning of Roe v. Wade has wrought. The Republicans who were celebrating that overturning two years ago are now facing an extraordinary backlash, and they are well aware that Arizona is a key state in the 2024 presidential election. Former president Trump has boasted repeatedly that he was responsible for nominating the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe, supported a national abortion ban, and even called for women who get an abortion to be punished. 

But today he swung around again, telling reporters that he would not sign a national abortion ban if it came to his desk. To be sure, as Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo notes, there’s no reason to think he wouldn’t sign such a bill, but the fact he is denying that he would and is running away from the issue shows just how much it hurts the Republicans with voters. 

Harris’s trip, along with Biden’s constant travel, shows a willingness to crisscross the country to meet voters that dovetails with new statistics out about the Biden-Harris campaign. While Trump has largely stayed at Mar-a-Lago, has fewer than five staffers in each of the battlefield states, and has closed all the offices that made up the Republican National Committee’s minority outreach program, the Biden-Harris campaign has 300 paid staffers in 9 states, and 100 offices in regions crucial to the 2024 election. 

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#Heather Cox Richardson #Letters From An American #national security #election 2024 #Japan #Dave Grandlund #China #Taiwan

[absolutebl]

Thoughts on Why Safe & Consensual Sex Is So Rare In BL

This comes out of an ask who wanted to remain anonymous. 

Specifically we were discussing Rain & Payu in Love in the Air whom we admit are hot and seem to honestly enjoy each other, and did feature (briefly) a condom (although not enough time to put it on) but no verbal consent, safe words, or lube. 

I would likely it to be so perfectly and sublimely clear to all reading that lube is a matter of safety with a-play. Okay? It’s not optional. 

Leaving aside the issues with kink (but not really) non-con and dub-con in BL, because I’ve chatted about that before i wanted to noodle on just safe sex as repped in romance dramas in general (or not, as the case may be). 

Honestly, I think this is a problem not just in BL but in all romance, much of Hollywood and also the literary side of the equation. 

The fact that they struggle just to showcase verbal consent as sexy (which it is) and safe sex as sexy (which it is) shows a profound lack of imagination and is backwards (to say the least) and probubly quite damaging. 

Some romance novelists are taking strides to correct for this but it is... rare in % of product produced no matter what media or genre you are in. In matters of cultural honestly TV always lags behind literature by 5-10 years, and international industries are going to be even slower for reasons of culture conflict. 

Lack of depictions of SSC (safe, sane, consensual) sex is primarily an issue that comes with misogyny (in BL the seme/uke being code for male/female) and the male "taking what he wants because he’d just so overwhelmed by desire" being conflated with "sexy." The more patriarchal the dominant society the less we see consent and safe sex represented in pop culture (if at all). 

There’s a narrative flaw with preparation as well (condoms, lube, other forms of protection) because it indicates premeditation (characterization). The narrative wants the seme to be spontaneous and swept away by his desires, the presence of a condom under such circumstances indicates he either thought about it before and thought the uke would be easy, or was prepared to do it with someone else (gasp). So the narrative can color preparation as a character flaw. (There are ways around this by having the crass/spunky bestie tuck a condom into his trusty tote see Pond in LBC, or have him leave in the middle of hot & heavy to go running arounds drugstores - rare but more common in het dramas.) 

There will be additional cultural components in play. Cultures with dominant religious and nationalistic agendas that are pro childbirth, for example, will rarely show condom use. Those where a man having to glove up is associated with “limiting manliness” or somehow “impinging upon control of identity,” the same again. In parts of the world where condoms are associated with gayness and disease control it can have a detrimental effect on use in general, since to use a condom is to be tied to gayness and uncleanliness. (A marketing and messaging problem. Look into some of the research on convincing doctors to wash their hands, for example. Sigh. Podcast No Stupid Questions Ep 116: Do People Pay Attention to Signs? is tangential to this.) This also will have to do with the presence or absence of socialized medicine. 

A zeitgeist change needs to happen, much as we saw happen with smoking (in some parts of the world in the late 90s - early 2000s). When neglecting to positively showcase safety in pop culture is actually seen as disgusting or unhygienic (or better: low status, inferior, weak, taboo) the more likely safe sex is to happen. (There’s not enough psyche work done in intentionally instilling disgust, if you ask me. Probably because it infringes on religion’s territory.) 

It’s best to attempt to instill a visceral gag factor response if at all possible. 

That said, Japanese cinema still loves to show a hot man smoking - clearly thinking it subversive and sexy. 

As Oscar Wilde once put it:

“As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always be regarded with fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar it will cease to be popular.” 

This essay could have been better said if I cribbed from him, 

“As long as risky sex is  regarded as wicked, it will always be regarded with fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar it will cease to be popular.” 

Also, ya know what, I’m gonna call fanfic on their shit too. It’s on you as well, you slackers. Get your sex right, especially if it’s why people are reading you. Take this as a challenge. What, you think it’s too hard to write safe sex as hot? Are you lily-livered or just incompetent? Do better. 

And you know why you should? Because your shit is free and you are doing it for fun. There’s no barrier to entry, therefore most anyone globally can read it, and therefore you owe MORE to your readers, and the next generation of fic authors and sex havers out there, not less.

“Barrier to entry.”

Heh heh. 

So clearly as far as I am concerned, the battle, it persists. 

Older post here with some earlier BL that depicts safe sex. 

This post dated Fall 2022, I’m hoping things change, but I am not responsible to update or keep track of stuff after this date. 

(source) 

#safe sex in bl #or not #thai bl #japanese bl #love in the air #safe sane consensual #barrier to entry #Oscar Wilde #romance tropes #romance narratives #secret crush on you #love by chance #You're My Sky #Dark Blue Kiss