A blog about nerdy Japanese things, linguistics and luddism in the end-times. Playing old lesbian videogames on the deck of the Titanic.
No not the shakuhachi, the other Japanese bamboo flute. The shinobue. The easy one they give to children. It's already plenty hard for me =)
One flute I use every day, and two others I never use. Mistakes were made.
Min'yō: Folksongs, often working songs, shanties etc.
Koten-uta: A generic word for “old songs”. Often used for “city songs” (miyako-bushi) like Sakura Sakura, Edo-period koto compositions and the like.
Jiuta: Edo-period, urban ensembles of koto + shamisen + shakuhachi.
Warabe-uta: Children's folksongs.
Komori-uta: Lullabies, a surprisingly productive genre.
Tsugaru-jamisen: A distinctively fast shamisen genre from the Tsugaru peninsula, kinda power metal shredding on the shami.
The thing hidden in the sword.
Is it, like, samurai zen meditation or something?
The notes in the Japanese folksong Sakura, Sakura, namely E F A B C, form a rather sombre scale (1-4-2-1-4) that's about as iconic as the song itself; to the point where both the song and the scale are downright stereotypes. Play anything in these notes and it sounds “Japanese”. But what is the scale called?
It's not this one either.
Flower Diary: The lost diary of a young lady. Advanced magical theory mixes seamlessly with youthful ponderings.
Been thinking a lot about luddism lately, in part because the social media addiction synergises so competently with the mental fatigue I was left with after my last bout of covid. and I have been thinking about things like:
The other day I was reading Emily’s Inheritance, which deeply disappointed me because it's that bait-and-switch where a story that looks like fantasy ends up getting sci-fi rationalisations, and as a fantasy enjoyer that ruins it for me.
But in addition to that it's also straight, like not in any particularly invasive way, just by default. And thinking about that as I read, I understood why I obsess so much about that sweet sweet rep ever since stories with lesbians in it became a thing that I can access.
I was describing to someone the way that charming little European cafés are absolutely the ideal environment for me to write my thesis (as long as I leave cellphones and other devices home), and how I was getting a hell lot of text written, until I budgeted and realised the degree to which my family very much cannot afford me going every other day to charming little European cafés. And how silly I feel at my inability to replicate, at home or in public libraries or parks or anywhere else, the whatever-it-is that makes the café environment work so well for me.
Based on my unreasonably obsessive dives into the themes of Asellus from 1997 SaGa Frontier, background lore, prototype concepts, multiverse ideas from gatcha games etc. etc. (1, 2), this is how I'd make a more fleshed out Asellus chapter as a SaGa Frontier mod, if I was able to make mods. Of course this is tailored to my personal interpretation of the texts, but I do not mean it as purely creative fanfic; everything is motivated by my understanding of abandoned concepts and underlying themes.
I thought I would make an analysis of how SaGa Frontier uses a lot of kendō terminology, but Sevon already did most of the job. I still have a few remarks and I sent them as a comment, but I'm saving a copy here in case Wordpress spam moderation silently eats my comment or something.
Fig. 1: Kirikaeshi, a kendō exercise (＊写真はイメージです).
Assorted mysteries that passed my mind while writing the analysis of lesbian themes in Asellus' plot. Heavy spoilers for everything in SF1.
White Rose: Look, Lady Asellus! It's the new T-shirt for Asellus' chapter! Isn't it cute?
Asellus (internally): Dammit, right on her squishies…
Red Turnip: Girl you look great in this! Very fresh!
Asellus (internally): Red Turniiiipppp…!!
(Fan comic: Sugiyama Daria (Dah) on Pixiv.)