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meat

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Posts posted by meat

  4. Posted

    I used Tenso to transfer a bunch of my Japanese shopping to me in the UK a month ago. Two out of three parcels got held by customs and I was charged heftily for them. 

     

    I appealed against their decision and received this letter after about 3 weeks:

     

    nX5rTrx.jpg

    I don’t think it works every time but in case anyone wants to try and challenge HMRC/  Border Force’s decision, what I did was try to proof that the parcels contained “personal belongings”, which are not liable for customs under HMRC’s regulations. The proforma invoices/ custom invoices and the waybills Tenso attached to my parcels state that they are “personal effects” and I also highlighted the fact that the sender and receiver names are the same (even though one of them has Tenso.com as the sender). I sent all originals of custom declaration forms, proforma invoices, custom charge letters, charge labels and the Form BOR286 for each parcel to Border Force. If you have a photocopy of your flight ticket, that’d be even better. But I don’t in this case as I ordered everything online but I am lucky that they have reversed the charges. 

    よしあつい reacted to this

  9. Posted

    (Mods: please delete this post if it infringes on the rules, regulations, covenant, common sense, taste, or whatever)

     

    Me again. I'm still on a Merry binge and am very excited to finally getting to watch the Nonsense Market -Final- DVD tonight after some pc problems.

     

    It's such an excellent gig, just watching it got me excited.

     

    And it seems I wasn't the only person to be excited  :shock:

     

    Spoiler

    mtBhuU0.jpg

    I first thought I must have imagined it but it got worse and worse as the song goes on and he sang more and more off-key. Am I the only perv to notice this? lol

     

     

    suji reacted to this

  11. Posted

    Take it from this oldie who spent too many years at higher education here ^^ Log off of MH now (after reading the rest of this of course)! In fact, put all your social media and electronic devices away until you have done the tasks you have set yourself for that day. Browsing social media and hanging out with friends should be your end of the day treat. Set yourself realistic goals to do for each day, whether it be finish reading 100 articles or writing just 250 word chunks, and manage your time and take breaks around it.

    Since your deadline is just round the corner, stock up with easy to make meals and make sure you eat, drink and sleep properly. It's easy to forget to do so and I often ended up not understanding why I couldn't concentrate before a deadline.

    Many also find writing their essays on analogue pen and paper to be more productive than typing away on a keyboard, something about the flexibility of pen and paper meant you actually spend less time procrastinating and less likely to be distracted by cat videos on YT. You might also consider going analogue with your practice interviews too. Roleplay and read your script to yourself loudly (with or without an audience), to help you familiarise with possible answers and build confidence along the way.

    I wish you all the best!

    plastic_rainbow and platy reacted to this

  12. Posted

    That's the problem I have with most portable players as well. I used to use the iPod Classic 160GB and have switched to Cowon Plenue D for better sound and more flexible storage. The Plenue D has an internal storage of 32GB but you can stick a microSD of any size on top. So potentially you can have 288GB (internal 32GB + external 256GB)

    eiheartx reacted to this

  13. Posted

    I know Daremo Shiranai has been mentioned a few times already but I am a big fan of Koreeda's work and will happily plug anything from After Life onwards. After Life is about people who have died and before they can truly pass on, they have to recreate one single memory to be played out eternally in their minds. It's a funny and poignantly beautiful meta-film, with lots of scenes that have stuck with me for years. And his more recent works, like Still Walking, are simply masterpiece studies of the everyday, almost Ozu-like in its rhythm and sparkling energy.

     

    I also recommend checking out the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme. I attended for a few years and every year they have an excellent choice of films (that are not always mainstream) but well worth watching. http://www.jpf-film.org.uk/

  15. Posted

    My ears are quite scarred from getting piercings when I was a wee kid. And only a few holes done at professional piercers (with hollow 16g needles) remain and they are not spaced out very well  so unfortunately I don't think I can do even spaced combos like the ones you have illustrated. But yeah, I'd love full black titanium set up ^^ Otherwise, I am also looking for jewelry inspiration because the stuff I see in the UK are a bit limited

    karai · ebi reacted to this

  17. Posted

    Has anyone heard of Necronomidol?

    6fa95a96fa9f7e7f72e53d42c6b527bc03c231e8
     

    Their website (in English) says they are an "idol" group playing black metal, darkwave and NWOBHM. But I suspect they are also a bit angura inspired.

    I don't know how I feel about these guys, they seem tooooo cute and pretty for angura. But I am quite intrigued just by the fact that Maruo Suehiro did their album cover. I might go see them when they play in London in June. Anyone wanna come as well, just hit me up ^^

     

  18. Posted

    I have recently been stretching my ears and am now looking for inspiration on ear jewelry. Please pic spam here with photos of your favourite ear jewelry whether on j-rockers or not!

     

    Here's Nero who got me interested in flesh tunnel in the first place. He had a red acrylic ear stretcher/ spike many moons ago that I love but have not been able to find an image of

    t01800240_0180024011606534982.jpg

     

    And here's the idols Ladybaby whose ear jewelry combo I quite like

    Spoiler

    LADYBABY-pelo.jpg

     

  20. Posted

    Reviving the thread again. What portable players do everybody use or would recommend? I am using Cowon Plenue D, which is small and solid enough for me to go jogging with. The sound seems to be just fine but I'm not hearing anything special about it

  21. Posted

    This is a bit of a shot in the dark but it's something that's bugged me for over 20 years... Sorry, I can't remember the exact year, maybe 1996/1997. I was in Hong Kong visiting a little second hand Japanese bookshop in Causeway Bay. A stack of CDs caught my eye because they were really pretty and the shop don't normally sell CDs. The CDs were all the same: in jewel cases, no sleeves, and the CDs were plain silvery except for a white snowflake/ star pattern on it and the words "L'Arc en Ciel". Any idea which song or release that might have been?

     

    I have since tried to google image search it but to no avail. My best guess is it was a promo for an upcoming single.

     

    I am of course still kicking myself for not having bought it or I'd be driving a ferrari by now  :tw_bawling:

  23. Posted

    On 12/03/2018 at 7:54 AM, Jigsaw9 said:

    Thank you for all the translations, @meat =) 

    It’s a pleasure to be able to share MERRY-ness with others! I just hope it is alright to translate and put my spin on so much stuff, as I am sure there’s loads more people whose Japanese is better than mine and would disagree with my interpretation.

     

    If it’s alright, I did  just a little write up on a recent web TV interview with Gara.

    https://freshlive.tv/bar_boo_friends/185971

    My understanding is that Boo wanted to interview Die only but Die requested for Gara to join as well. I’m not going to go into too much details of what Die and Boo said because they are mainly DEG, X Japan, Ladies Room related. In general, Gara’s role on this show is being Die’s kouhai and reminiscent some stories from his roadie days.

     

    Spoiler

     

    When he was a roadie for DEG, it was the early days and the band didn’t have any professional roadies but they had Gara who was completely ignorant of musical instruments. He couldn’t tell apart the different guitars so his main job was to ferry equipment about. The only thing he could remember well was the placement of Shinya’s drum kit because Shinya would write lots of little notes to let him know how he prefers his kit to be assembled. Despite being a terribly ignorant roadie, he says none of the members have ever been cross with him and have always been incredibly kind, even when he got into a car accident with all the members in the car. Lol

     

    Gara says he always looked forward to seeing DEG live and catching up with the guys but he dreaded going to their after show parties because they tend to be intense drinking sessions where loads of tequila shots will suddenly be brought out and he simply can’t drink so much. He recalls a time when Die, Toshiya and Inoue (DEG manager) were downing wine, they also ordered for him but he couldn’t keep drinking so much, so he went to a nearby convenience store and bought some grape juice to sneak into his wine glass and pretend he’s actually drinking wine along with everyone else. He never told any of the DEG guys until now because he was too scared! Apparently he also used the fact that he’s a vocalist as an excuse for not downing shots as they burn his throat and make me puke.

     

    Another apologetic tale Gara can now share is about 3-4 years ago when he went to see DEG play at Budoukan. Apparently they were serving food in the corridor off the stage and Inoue caught Gara wolfing down a delicious burger and got very angry with him, “What the hell have you come here for?!” Poor little kouhai Gara didn’t realise that the band and everyone else were nervous and on edge ahead of a major Budoukan show and that the band was about to walk pass to go on stage, so he apologised for being so chillaxed. He says if it happens again, he’s gonna say Die told him it’s all right to do so. And Die jokes that if he sees Gara wolfing down food when he’s walking past, he’ll ask “Is it good?” ^^

     

    At about 1hr 48mins, Die suddenly asks “Why did you quit?” Gara didn’t quite know how to respond but stared and says, “We are gonna talk about such old stuff now?” It turns out Gara was roadie for DEG for less than a year but it was during the intense period when DEG went major. Gara quit just before their show at Shibuya Koukaido.

     

    Die talks about how he and Toshiya would go bowling together a lot especially when they are on tour but Gara confesses that Merry members don’t often hang out with each other. Even when they are on tour, each member would go out for food separately.

     

    Gara says he often sings Ouyang Feifei songs at karaoke! Lol

    Gara says he is about 174cm at 53kg and he eats the most in Merry.

    At about 1hr 3mins in, watch Gara struggle to say NMNL for NoMerryNoLife and end up saying ‘numunuru’ ^^

     

     

    Sparrow, suji, r... and 2 others reacted to this

  25. Posted

    Hello! Happy to see so many fellow learners here <3 I am hoping to be able to ask questions that I can't normally ask (*wink wink nudge nudge) and help out with questions if there are any.

     

    Name: Let's just go with Meat

    Age: Old enough to remember Kuroyume 

    Years studied: 10yrs+

    Estimated level: Got N1 certified a few years ago but still really bad at speaking from lack of exposure and have problems with kenjougo (basically, I can respect others but I don't now how to lower myself :P)

    Knowledge of Hiragana/Katakana: All

    Kanji: approx. 8000

    What is your main goal with studying Japanese?: I tell polite company that I want to be able to read Mishima Yukio but really I just want to be able to tell rude people in Japan to f-off

    What materials have you used before?: At uni we used Situational Functional Japanese. I also used JLPT N1&2 prep books and grammar dictionaries when self-studying. Nowadays I read manga, books, newspaper, etc. everyday to keep it going. And despite the lack of exposure to speaking & listening Japanese, it seems that my conversational Japanese has improved just from reading manga and listening to Jrock!

     

    Yoroshiku~

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