Author Archives: Shirokuma

What is JDM?

What is a label? JDM stands for Japanese Domestic Market literally, but could it mean something else? Could it be something negative?   Ricer? Noob?   Could it be something positive? A hobby? A lifestyle?  Maybe…… maybe I need to back up. What is a car? What is a car to you? Could it be something useful?  Transportation?  Could it be something complex?  A relationship? A lot of nuts and bolts; funnels and tunnels; pistons and valves; explosions and heavy metal? Is a car a living, breathing being or just a scientific feat that could be mistaken for magic if you showed it to somebody 500 years ago?

 

I will be honest with you, the questions are endless. This rock category will hopefully be able to answer questions and raise some too. I will be exploring, as much as I can anyways, the world of Japanese cars and the life of those who are interested in them. Along the way, I will be searching for how this popular culture has influenced people in America. For some it comes from a movie screen or a video game, for others it may come from a tie to Japan. One of my best friends is a mixed race Nisei and his trips to Japan, as well as his interest and knowledge of the place where part of his family comes from, eventually lead to him falling in love with Japanese car culture at a young age. There are many levels of involvement, from slight interest in cars to devotion, and many different outlets, from the streets to the tracks. The one thing holding all this in common is the car and the driver. And with that in mind, here is a preview of what is to come.

Connections to Europe Connections to America Always have fun Family safe...? Bosozoku Classic JDM Bippu (VIP) My car between my best friends' cars. My car... underneath a semi trailer Initial D My favorite car as of now Dorifuto (Drifting)

 

 

 

Better Luck Tomorrow

Catharsis: the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions.

Bad Ben and his Baseball Bat Put the gun down Virgil Han has entered the ring Take the red pill already, Daric

Quixotic: exceedingly idealistic; unrealistic and impractical.

Don Quixote

Temerity: excessive confidence or boldness; audacity

Daric, put that gun down. You and Virgil shouldn’t have guns

How did Google link my favorite movie to an image search of Better Luck Tomorrow…. Betty.

So that was a lot of media. I was just experimenting with visuals that represent the connections between the words Ben studied to the movie, my knowledge, and my life. I also added a picture to connect the word quixotic to the story of Don Quixote. If you do not know the story, it was a Spanish novel written in the beginning of the 17th century during the Spanish Golden Age. It is an influential work that tells the story of an hidalgo, Spanish nobility, that ventures out into the world to bring back chivalry after growing obsessed with reading chivalric novels. The tale follows this man, who takes on the name Don Quixote, and his self-appointed sire as they encounter life and it’s trials through the lens of a knight. Needless to say, this pursuit of chivalry and medieval romance was idealistic and impractical. The word quixotic comes from the traits of Don Quixote; much like Freudian can be a way to describe someones views if they resemble those of Sigmund Freud. Only connect…

Car DISCUSSION with Sung Kang

I am somewhat a fanboy of Sung Kang and since he was in the movie  that we watched, Better Luck Tomorrow, I thought I would post this here to make a connection. This is just a short youtube series where Sung Kang holds a “car discussion” but his role is that of a terrible talk show host. In this video he is interviewing Tyrese Gibson. Enjoy!

And on a side note, for those who are fans of Fast and the Furious, I thought it was interesting that his name was Han in this movie as well.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Beautiful Country

Binh and Tam on the small fishing boat escaping from Saigon.

Binh and Tam on the small fishing boat escaping from Saigon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For starters, this movie was much better than 47 Ronin. The story of Binh was a gripping one, showing the life of a bui doi after the Vietnam War. Bui doi literally mean less than dirt and was a derogatory term used towards mixed race children with a Vietnamese mother and an American father. Binh was left behind by his mother to live in a small farming village in Vietnam while she lived in Saigon. His father left when he was young and neither Binh nor his mother heard from him ever again. This movie follows Binh’s journey to America with his young brother Tam after he got involved with a death in Saigon.

Post in progress

47 Ronin: Impressions

He looks just like me…..

 

To start off, I would give this movie a 6/10 if you like action scenes and Keanu Reeves. If you are trying to gain some knowledge about the Japanese tale of the 47 Ronin, I would give this a 2/10. The movie does provide the character’s names and it somehow manages to show the 47 ronin getting their revenge, however the entire plot revolves around witchcraft, magic, dragons and tengu, and of course a white savior. For somebody like me watching this film, I am already aware of the numerous hollywood influences that I should be looking for and I know deep down that it will not meet my expectations. This can be a double edged sword. On one hand, I can spend the entire movie picking it apart and finding its inaccuracies and fallacies. On the other hand, I can suspend my disbelief without caution because I am already aware of its shortcomings and I know it was not geared towards retelling the tale with historical accuracy. What is truly scary about this movie is that there will be many people seeing this film who have the potential to be influenced by it’s portrayal of Japan and it’s history. I like to imagine a young child seeing this movie and actually believing that Japan used to have dragons and magical beasts that roamed the mysterious lands. The narrator even states in the beginning that to understand this tale, one must first understand old Japan. And then the movie goes right into magic. So, from the perspective of somebody impressionable and unaware of the movie’s inaccuracy, this might seem like a wonderful and mystical tale of 47, well at least I think there were 47, ronin who avenge their lords death with the help of a magical outsider. This outsider is allowed to fulfill his love quest with the lords daughter, who was off limits to him, but then has to make a tragic entrance by way of ritual suicide. What a gripping tale, eh? One last thing; the fight scenes included a lot of unorthodox katana wielding and if you are trying to tell a tale of old Japan, you could at least make them look like trained samurai.