I made it back to China today, and as usual when coming back to China from a trip, I was annoyed before I even got on the plane. Sometimes Chinese people have a way of doing that to me. Then my flight was delayed, and then I had to go into the office for a big meeting, so all in all it had the makings for a bad day. But actually, it was alright. Coming back to Shanghai is definitely much easier than going back to Beijing used to be, that's for usre. And now I'm going to my friend's birthday party. So actually, I'm not having as much of the vacation blues as I expected.
Since I actually managed to write (a lot) every day of the trip, I'll keep this short and give you links with summaries to my blogs from the week, all of which have many pictures:
Feb 20: Miyajima, which may have been my favorite thing this trip
Feb 21: Iwakuni, samurai costumes and Hiroshima castle. I repeat, samurai costumes.
Feb 22: Hiroshima Peace Park and our arrival at Huis Ten Bosch. If you don't know, you should read this, cause it's weird. And awesome. But more weird.
Feb 23: More Huis Ten Bosch, then on to Nagasaki, with a little side trip for a hamburger.
Feb 24: Battleship Island, then seeing the sights in Nagasaki, of which I was most impressed by Dejima.
Feb 25: Morning walk around Nagasaki, then the train back to Hiroshima. Pretty uneventful, actually.
And now it's February 26 and I'm back in China and don't want to be. But, next trip is coming up in just under a month, when I go to South Africa for a wedding.
Since I was still in Japan this morning, I'll make today the last day for Japanese music (in case you missed it, I went to karaoke in Japan and decided that while in Japan I should share Japanese music, which I used to be really into back in the day). And once again, I can't find the song I wanted to share. It's hard to find some of this Japanese stuff. But I did find a good one, anyway. At first, I wanted to share Soul Lovers, a funk/soul group that I don't think ever made it big, but that I loved. So you should listen to them if you can. But instead I decided to share Sugar Soul, because she's also wonderful and was a long time favorite of mine. So here's probably her most famous song, Garden, which features Kenji, one of the members of another great group called Dragon Ash, and one of this Japanese hip-hop godfather types.
This is a great song, but it's not my favorite by her, and not even the best version of this song. But it's the only version I could find for you. If you can find the album version, which is called the Final Version, I think it's better. But even better if you can find this album, うず (pronounced Uzu, meaning Whirlpool), even better, cause it's a great album. As is her first one, On. The song I wanted to share is 悲しみの花に (pronounced Kanashimi no Hana ni, meaning Into a Flower of Sadness), but good luck with that. Also, album version is better for that one. And then there are other wonderful songs like respectyourself, いいよ (pronounced Iiyo, meaning It's All Good), Cosmic Family, SOULMATE... The list goes on with her. Japan has got some great soul music, and Sugar Soul may just be one of their best.
Since I actually managed to write (a lot) every day of the trip, I'll keep this short and give you links with summaries to my blogs from the week, all of which have many pictures:
Feb 20: Miyajima, which may have been my favorite thing this trip
Feb 21: Iwakuni, samurai costumes and Hiroshima castle. I repeat, samurai costumes.
Feb 22: Hiroshima Peace Park and our arrival at Huis Ten Bosch. If you don't know, you should read this, cause it's weird. And awesome. But more weird.
Feb 23: More Huis Ten Bosch, then on to Nagasaki, with a little side trip for a hamburger.
Feb 24: Battleship Island, then seeing the sights in Nagasaki, of which I was most impressed by Dejima.
Feb 25: Morning walk around Nagasaki, then the train back to Hiroshima. Pretty uneventful, actually.
And now it's February 26 and I'm back in China and don't want to be. But, next trip is coming up in just under a month, when I go to South Africa for a wedding.
Since I was still in Japan this morning, I'll make today the last day for Japanese music (in case you missed it, I went to karaoke in Japan and decided that while in Japan I should share Japanese music, which I used to be really into back in the day). And once again, I can't find the song I wanted to share. It's hard to find some of this Japanese stuff. But I did find a good one, anyway. At first, I wanted to share Soul Lovers, a funk/soul group that I don't think ever made it big, but that I loved. So you should listen to them if you can. But instead I decided to share Sugar Soul, because she's also wonderful and was a long time favorite of mine. So here's probably her most famous song, Garden, which features Kenji, one of the members of another great group called Dragon Ash, and one of this Japanese hip-hop godfather types.
This is a great song, but it's not my favorite by her, and not even the best version of this song. But it's the only version I could find for you. If you can find the album version, which is called the Final Version, I think it's better. But even better if you can find this album, うず (pronounced Uzu, meaning Whirlpool), even better, cause it's a great album. As is her first one, On. The song I wanted to share is 悲しみの花に (pronounced Kanashimi no Hana ni, meaning Into a Flower of Sadness), but good luck with that. Also, album version is better for that one. And then there are other wonderful songs like respectyourself, いいよ (pronounced Iiyo, meaning It's All Good), Cosmic Family, SOULMATE... The list goes on with her. Japan has got some great soul music, and Sugar Soul may just be one of their best.
No comments:
Post a Comment