#japan open 2022

[erinaonice]

WHEN I TELL YOU I GASPED HOW THAT FIRST AXEL MATCHED PERFECTLY TO THE MUSIC

this is a beautiful program and I'm so happy I watched it

[jadegoods]

via malininfan on twitter

[figureskatingcostumes]

Kao Miura's Beauty and the Beast costume at the 2022 Japan Open.

(Sources: 1 and 2)

[polishedjellyfish]

The Japan Open OTT aesthetic is really something else

[raininyourblackeyes]

My problem with any Rain, In Your Black Eyes program is that it's not Sui/Han's.

[redvelvetwishtree]

So soo happy for Iran!! And also Saudi Arabia and Japan!!!

[gofigureelectra]

Yuto Kishina - Japanese Nationals 22

Program: Bad (Michael Jackson)

Elements:

3A | 3Lo (turn) | FCS4 | 2F* (combo) | StSq3 | SS4 | ChCoS4

Score:

While I enjoyed the choreography and thought the program was very well put together, I definitely think this costume is doing him a disservice (shape, fabric, sheen — the straps and stones would look good if not for the terrible and cheap looking plasticky fabric) because it hides a lot of his upper body movement and made him look clunkier and more hunched than he should have for the choreography he was actually doing. Of course that’s not the biggest issue here, but an Ill-fitting and distracting costume never helps.

Score: 58.73 into 15th

[cheriladycl01]

Mercedes Golden Girl - Grid x MercedesSplit! Reserve Driver

Plot: You are the woman to have come the furthest in modern Formula 1, as reserve driver for 3/10th of the grid she's thrown about the shop in the season of 2024.

Y/N Y/L/N was a name in Motorsport History books. She had currently come the furthest a woman has in F1 in many years.

Following in Oscar Piastri's footsteps, you won F3 in 2022 two years after him while he was storming through F2. You had an extremely dominant season being 30 points ahead of the next person behind you.

F3 wasn't too bad, you had one other girl with you that you were able to hang out with, as the boys were all the same in F3.

It was harder in 2023 when you graduated to F2 and were the only girl on the grid. Obviously you made friends with the boys but you always felt like the outcast, you never understood the 'boys jokes' and sometimes they wouldn't invite you to stuff because 'girls wouldn't like it' and it upset you.

You were very nervous to get into F1, only assuming that gap would be larger than it was in F2. So when you won the championship it only seemed smart for Toto to Promote you to the Mercedes reserve driver, on loan to McLaren and Williams as and when needed.

You'd been in the Mercedes Young Driver and Development Programme since Karting thanks to your family connections to one of the mechanics.

He begged Toto to go see you karting and give you a change and that was when his mind was set to help you further your career where he helped you into F4 and other racing.

There was an open spot in 2024 for you to be a Reserve Driver for Mercedes with Frederick Vesti and Mick Schumacher starting to look at other racing categories like WEC and Indy Car. So having you available in a second was important for Toto, they made a clause as engine suppliers for Williams and McLaren that they could also use you as a reserve driver as long as Mercedes had first dibs on you.

You thought your 2024 season would be pretty slow, only getting to go in the F1 car in Free Practice sessions like you had before but oh boy how wrong you turned out to be.

When Lewis announced he was moving to Ferrari in 2024, you had conversations with Toto Wolff and George Russell to see if that Mercedes seat could be yours, despite their being talk of Carlos Sainz, Alex Albon, Kimi Antonelli, Mick Schumacher and Frederick Vesti all up for taking that seat you hoped that maybe you could get it.

Toto didn't confirm anything and for the first four races, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Australia and Japan you did everything you could for the team, grabbing waters, helping hospitality make food, being chauffeur to any of the drivers who were tired after the races and everyone could see how much effort you were putting in.

CHINA 2024

In China, Logan Sargeant sprained his wrist in training and by the time FP1 came around the medical team said it wasn't safe for him to drive. As the sole and only reserve driver Williams had it was up for you to race.

Williams hadn't had a good season and they were worried having a rookie in the car. Both Alex and Logan had their fair share of mistakes and they were worried about their spending this year. They couldn't afford another chassis until Miami.

They also had yet to gain points with either the boys currently.

You were a lot smaller than Logan so they spent time padding out the car to help you so your neck didn't suffer with the G-Force as much.

By the time FP1 came about the car had been padded out fully.

"And here we have a very nervous looking Y/N Y/L/N who has been confirmed to take Logan's place for the race this weekend and will be partaking in her first F1 race. Awwww look at her talking to Logan and his team..." Ted says as he sees her on screen, talking through what was probably race strategy.

"Yeah, obviously she's done these Free Practice sessions but never a race so I'm excited to see what she can do on Sunday!" Martin says looking at her as she starts to pull her race suit up and put her helmet on.

You get in the car and after some wet conditions and not everyone getting out your fourth fastest on the board.

All the interviews were joking around saying how you were a Mercedes miracle.

FP2 saw you get P12 and you were pretty happy with that result as you weren't trying to drive quickly, you were just trying to get used to the track. You'd never driven the Shanghai circuit so getting to grips on the circuit was difficult.

FP3, went better and you came P9, trying to see how confident you were on the track and you were trying to go the quickest time you could without risking the car too much.

Qualifying was not good, your breaks were faulty meaning you didn't make it pas Q1 saddling up in P16.

"How did you feel about that qualifying session Y/N?" an interviewer asks and you.

"Yeah I think I got as much out of that car as I could on that day. I'm not only learning the track... I'm still learning the car and how it's built and just how different it is from F2. Learning both at once is pretty complicated so I'm personally proud of what I've achieved and yeah I hope the team is proud of me too.

"Yeah Y/N i think you've really got to understand just how amazing what you've done so far this weekend is already amazing and no matter the result tomorrow people will still be incredibly amazed by what you've managed to do in a lower end car" he smiles and you grin back.

"Thank you really!" you grinned, nearly tearing up at the kind words.

Come the Sunday and you were ready and raring to go, Williams had come up with an impeccable strategy that you knew you'd be able to pull something off.

"IT'S LIGHTS OUT AND AWAY WE GO HERE WE ARE RACING IN SHANGHAI CHINA FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 2019. AND EVERYONE MAKES IT ROUND TURN ONE, BUT OH MY GOD CONTACT IN THE REAR WITH, WHAT THAT A WILLIAMS AGIAN?" the commentator screams and everyone in the garage is holding their breath, the dust from the gravel trap not allowing them to see which car went into the wall.

Your family were panicking thinking it was you.

"IT'S NOT! IT'S THE RB OF YUKI TSUNODA AND THE ALPINE OF ESTEBAN OCON! AND NOW VALTTERI BOTTAS IS HAVING TO STOP HIS CAR ... LETS REWATCH TO SEE WHAT OCCURED!" the commentator says as they watch the replay of Esteban taking the turn to wide and not leaving enough room for Yuki crashing into the side of him while clipping Valtteri's wheel and wing.

The race went on and you'd managed to climb all the way to 5th thanks to you having insanely good tyre management. It was always one of the things you were condemned for in the lower feeder series is how well you looked after your tyres.

"Y/N is just doing an amazing job, not only is she currently the only one to have not pitted but she's managed to climb her way up the ranks and get that distance she'll need to pit" the commentator says watching.

"I think she's really starting to struggle on those tyres though. I can imagine they'll put her on soft tyres for the last few laps to help her gain those vital positions. Everyone else seems to be on the mediums right now" he explains and on the next lap you called to pit.

However the commentators our outraged as Williams fumble, calling both you and Alex into the pits at the same time.

"Guys what the hell is going on?" you ask waiting behind Alex's car who was getting new tyres and had a very quick pitstop.

However the crew weren't prepared for the double up, so they run getting looking around for what they need for you. It ended up being a 12 second pit stop and you were crying with frustration by the end.

"Y/N I'm sorry we are looking into it" Logan's engineer says and you just ignore.

You came out of the pits in P15 so you had a lock of making up to do.

"AND FOR THE FIRST TIME THIS YEAR WILLIAMS HAVE RECIEVED POINTS, AND BOTH OF THEIR DRIVERS AT THAT DESPITE ALL THAT WAS THROWN AT THEM TODAY THEY HAVE GOT THEMSELVES THOSE VITAL POINTS THAT WILL STIR WILLIAMS IN THE RIGHT WAY!" the commentator yells and as you drive past the pitwall, all engineers from many of the teams are cheering your name making tears come from your eyes, scoring your first point in F1. P10 in your first race.

"You really were just phenomenal out there today Y/N. You had the best tyre management by statistics which is incredible for a reserve rookie... you've just amazed us all!" Naomi smiles at you.

"Honestly its such a great feeling going out there and making the team proud, i think Williams still have so much to work with and I experienced that today but with drivers like Alex and Logan who are both so driven and hard working i can really see them improving throughout the season.

"Do you think you'll do any other races this season?" he asks and you laugh.

"I think I'm lucky as a reserve driver to have been given this opportunity. Obviously my heart goes out to Logan and I hope he makes a full recovery for his home race! But ultimately i dint think I will be called on again this season." you nod.

MONACO 2024

"When you got the phone call from Toto explaining that Lewis wouldn't be able to race in Monaco, you were shocked. It would take something really big to make Lewis not race.

You'd come to the paddock pull of nerves and you felt physically sick. Mercedes, even though their car was pretty shit this year, still had a mid field car and you were going to prove that you could drive it like it was a championship winning car ... if it was any other circuit than Monaco.

Monaco was... well Monaco. It's an itty bitty small street track that didn't have a lot of room for overtakes, had twisty corners that were very unpredictable and could always have a chance of rain.

So yeah you were worried.

Too the point you actually had a panic attack, there you were in your drivers room crying and sobbing over the pressures from media day before going out to FP1.

"Y/N?" you heard from outside your drivers room making you stop completely in your tracks trying to make your crying silent but you were doing this weird little hiccupping sound as you were gasping for breaths.

"I'm coming in!" George says and he walks in, greeted by your red puffy eyes and tear-stained cheeks.

"Awwww baby" he says with a pout and pulls you into a hug as you sob more. There wasn't as much pressure on you as there were in the Williams, Mercedes had been constructors champions for 8 years in a row.

"George I'm so scared, what if i mess up!" you cry looking at him and George was nearly brough to tears himself seeing this 21 year old girl sobbing into his chest at the prospect of her messing up.

"What are you worried about messing up!" he asks.

"The race, the constructors championship! Everything!" you cry harder. George stays with you until you both are needed for the Free Practice Session.

Lewis' Mercedes has to be very packed out for you as he was a bulky man despite his height and that was the first issue in FP1. They hadn't packed you out enough and your were struggling a little with the G-Force, some corners the particularly fast ones, your head was flying to the side causing your steering to be a little off.

Despite that it made for a great weekend. George was right, you didn't have anything to worry about and you came P7 while George game P5 having car problems in qualifying meaning he'd had the better overall driver working his way up to the position he had.

"And again Y/N, how do you feel now that you are above Ollie Bearmen in the drivers Championship!" she asks and you giggle. You and Ollie despite being in different driver development programmers had a special bond. You both karted together a lot as kids and you went to the same school as him despite being a few school years above him. You had a sibling sort of bond.

"Yeah, i mean it's a little unfair to compare me at all considering he drove the second best car on his first F1 race... but i think we both stepped up to the challenge well and really took it in our strides. I'm excited to see of there are any teams willing to offer him a seat. I think so much talent from F2 is being wasted and the feeder series doesn't feel like its doing well of getting drivers into F1... so it would be interesting to see a new category added that's closer to F1 than F2 ..." you admit knowing that's how all of the washed out F2 drivers felt that will potentially never get to experience a career in F1.

SPAIN and AUSTRIA.

You were on a yacht, you didn't know whose but you were on a yacht when you had the news that George Russell had fully broken his foot in a crash Canada and they'd need you to step in for two races while it healed. He was getting surgery... of course he was and it should be healed by the time George's home race came around.

Getting to drive alongside your idol Lewis was incredible. He'd made you feel so safe and comfortable the whole weekend and you clung to him in all the media and interviews.

Not that Lewis minded, he found you adorable and didn't want you to feel left out or side-lined. He brought you out for food with some of the other drivers who you got talking to finding out their likes and dislikes. Lewis and Charles would excitedly gossip about them being team-mates for 2025 and whether Toto had found a replacement.

"Well... Carlos told me... and you cant tell anyone... promise?" Charles said seriously as the three of you were stood at the bar. And you nod.

"He's been offered a 3 year contract at Red Bull which is perfect for him to then make the move to Audi!" Charles exclaimed and you let out a breath of release.

The Mercedes seat was still up for grabs.

Spain was incredible, you'd never felt the heat and an atmosphere quite like it and you got you best result yet, coming P5. You kind of blamed that on Max and Perez crashing into each other and the debris messing with Carlos' car meaning Charles, Lewis and Lando took the podium while you and Oscar were just shy of it.

Austria was also good where you came in P8, Aston and Ferrari having had upgrades meant it was a tougher battle with everyone on the grid.

You now had 21 points, and were 10th in the constructors championship despite not being there for all the races which you were pretty impressed with. You'd scored points at all your races.

But it wasn't until Monza that the big one came.

MONZA

You were asked to fill in for Mr Oscar Piastri who had come down with what the medical team deemed invasive tonsillitis and he was not on par to drive.

Again you were nervous but having driven the Mercedes a few times you felt more and more confident.

You and Lando had pretty much spent the whole media day messing around. Lando did it, not only because he liked you but because he knew you were nervous despite the front you were putting on for everyone in the garage.

You and Lando got on like two pees in a pod and everyone found the dynamic hilarious. Lando flirting with you while you were innocently oblivious to his moves.

Lando found you insanely attractive. Every race you turned up at he'd look out for you in the paddock just so he could see you in your Mercedes gear.

Today however, you looked even better rocking the Papaya.

"You look good today!" Lando attempted as he grinned at you.

"Thank you! I got a new helmet design for this one, wanna see?" you ask and he nods. You show him your helmet which was so you, but you'd gone all out making it glittery. One side had Lando's pattern on it from his standard 2024 helmet.

"Oh woah! That looks great!" he grins, watching as you pop it on. He teasingly slaps the lid down making you try to reach up and swatch his hands away and lift the visor back up.

"Lan come on!" you cry frustrated making him chuckle.

Qualifying came and Piastri's now your car had so many issues meaning you were starting in Sunday in P11, which wasn't great. But the engineers promised to fix the issues before the race.

Lando got pole and you were overjoyed no longer caring about the shit show of your Qually.

You were jumping and hugging him as he got out the car and he enveloped you back in the hug.

"I'm so proud of you!" you'd squealed to him, and thank god his helmet was on because boy was blushing hard.

"Thank you!"

Sunday came around and it was carnage.

"AND AFTER A DIFFICULT RACE LANDO NORRIS WINS THE 2024 ITALIAN GRAND PRIX HIS FIRST EVER WIN, HERE COMES MAX VERSTAPPEN IN P2 AND Y/N Y/L/N GETTING HER MAIDEN PODIUM AS A RESERVE DRIVER FOR MCLAREN. WHAT A RACE SHE HAS HAD!" the commentator screams.

All of the Mclaren team were celebrating from the pit wall as you and Lando waved at them.

Being up there on the podium with Lando and Max was like nothing you've ever experienced. You were drenched in sticky champagne and you were laughing and joking with two friends about the victory.

"If that doesn't get her a seat next year I don't know what will" the commentators say before the Sunday Race stops broadcasting live.

Taglist:

@littlesatanicassholebitch @hockey-racing-fubol @laura-naruto-fan1998 @22yuki @simxican @sinofwriting @lewisroscoelove @cmleitora @daemyratwst @lauralarsen @the-untamed-soul @thewulf @itsjustkhaos @purplephantomwolf @chasing-liberosis @summissss @gulphulp @starfusionsworld @jspitwall @sierruhhhh @georgeparisole @youcannotcancelquidditch @tallbrownhairsarcastic @ourteenagetragedy @peachiicherries @formulas-bitch @cherry-piee @spilled-coffee-cup @mehrmonga @bigsimperika @blueberry64857959 @eiraethh @lilypadlover @curseofhecate @alliwantisadonut @dark-night-sky-99 @i-wish-this-was-me @tallrock35 @butterfly-lover @barnestatic @landossainz @darleneslane @barcelonaloverf1life @r0nnsblog @ilove-tswizzle @laneyspaulding19 @malynn @viennakarma @landosgirlxoxo @marie0v @yourbane @teamnovalak @nikfigueiredo @fionaschicken @0picels0 @seomako @urdad-hot @tinydeskwriter @ironmaiden1313 @splaterparty0-0 @formula1mount @styl1shl1v

[hiromusicarts-blog]

ただいま開催中の第50回AJAC展　　　日本と世界の現代美術 会期：9月９日〜9月16日　於：東京都美術館 （上野）

に於いて、この度、AJAC賞を受賞しました。

近年のシリーズ作「響」は、２０２２年に他の公募展で受賞していますが、本展での受賞は、休会していた時期が長く、２００４年以来、２度目の受賞となりました。

響＃３２、響＃３３  板パネル / アクリル  F30  ともに2024年作

I was recently awarded the AJAC Award at the currently ongoing 50th AJAC Exhibition: Contemporary Art from Japan and the World, held from September 9th to September 16th at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum (Ueno). My recent series "Hibiki" won an award at another open exhibition in 2022, but this is my second time winning an award at this exhibition since 2004, after a long hiatus from the exhibition.

[alexanderwales]

My Very Brief Time as a Korean Rice Farmer

When my wife had been working at her company for ten years, her boss offered her a two week trip anywhere in the world she wanted to go. It was a small company, maybe thirty people, and she'd been one of the first employees, when they were even smaller.

We had wanted to go to Japan, but this was 2022, and they were still closed for COVID when we were making the plans. We decided on South Korea instead, which was my personal preference over Japan anyway (kimchi and k-dramas and the Joseon era!). I used Duolingo to learn Hangul (the script) and not all that much actual Korean.

We went to Changdeok Palace early in the morning on our second day in Seoul, getting there just before it opened. It's a huge place that's right in the city, surrounded, as most things in Seoul are, by other buildings. The Palace is actually a number of buildings built by a number of kings from the Joseon era.

Right when we came in, we were quickly approached by a guy in a blue hanbok. "Hanbok" is a word that means "traditional clothing" or something like that, so it's not actually descriptive, but it was powder blue and looked fancy. He had glasses and a slightly uneasy smile on his face, and approached us from far enough away that I had time to wonder if he was approaching us, and if he was, what he wanted.

"Excuse me, how long were you going to be here today?" he asked.

"We don't have plans," my wife said. "We were going to be here all day, long enough to see everything."

"Would you like to participate in a festival?" he asked.

We looked at each other and told him sure, and then followed him as he talked. (We passed a group of thirty children who had just been admitted with their teacher, and they seemed excited to see foreigners, so they kept yelling "Hello!" to us, which was probably the only English they knew. We waved and said "annyeonghaseyo!" back to them.)

What I thought was going on at this point was that we were getting upsold on something. I figured that we were going to see something special and extra, and then get charged for it. Whatever, we were on vacation, I was fine with that. We hadn't been in Korean long, and I thought "maybe they just station guys like this by the gate to rope people in". It was weird, but we were in a place where we didn't understand all the customs or speak the language, and my policy had been "just roll with it".

I did think it was weird that we were hoofing it across the palaces, and thought it was more weird when we went past a gate and into a place where no one else was apparently allowed. Our guide spoke good English, but when he'd been talking it had always been "the festival" or "the event" and "you'll be there most of the day" and "we'll make sure you have what you need". We were not clear on what was going on.

He mentioned that there would be a rice harvest, which I thought was weird since we were in a historical park in the middle of Seoul.

He told us that he'd give us a tour, because there wouldn't be time later, so he guided us through the Joseon-era gardens and temples. There was no one around, because that part of the grounds wasn't open until later in the day, so we got to see everything and ask whatever questions we wanted to ask, which has got to be the best possible way to experience a place. I was mostly struck by how much work it must have taken to make all this stuff and had lots of "down with the monarchy" feelings. There's a huge pond that's in the shape of the Korean peninsula, and god damn must that have taken a ton of time without a backhoe.

We were eventually taken a small place where they were setting things up, with a bunch of people milling about, and it was only then that we saw the rice: a small plot of it, no more than twenty feet to a side.

The rice was, in historical times, planted there so the king would have some understanding of what the crop yields would be like, since rice was the lifeblood of the country. It was harvested and inspected and whatnot to get some sense of the agriculture of the country, because anything that happened to the rice in these conditions was probably happening to rice all over the kingdom.

This rice harvest wasn't something that they just do with tourists every now and then, it only happens on this single day in the entire year, and me and my wife were two of the five people who would be doing it. The other three were all Korean government people of some kind.

They took us to a building and got us changed in our hanbok. "Hanbok" means "traditional clothes", and usually is associated with a nice and historical outfit, like someone in England dressing up in Regency era clothing. Here, it just meant "traditional farmer clothes".

Problem: I am six feet tall, which is quite tall for a Korean.

This woman was trying to dress me, and both because I was a bit overweight and quite tall, it was just not going well. My wife thought it was hilarious.

The other part of the kit was some orange rubber boots, which were not traditional but did prevent us from getting covered in mud. This is the most that I have ever looked like a goose.

When they were ready for us, we were handed tools to cut the rice. The ideal motion was to grab it around the base, move the hand up, then cut at the bottom. I am pretty sure that the thing we were handed was a sickle.

We got warned five or six times that they were extremely sharp, meant for slicing through the stalks of grain, and because there was a bit of a language barrier, the guy handing them to us kept nodding as he tried to make sure we understood that there was no small amount of danger.

My wife, five seconds after being handed her sickle, lunged at me with a "Hiya!" like she meant to stab me in the stomach. I jumped, five or six Koreans around us jumped, and my wife laughed and laughed. (My wife is great.)

When the photographers got there, we went into the muck and began harvesting. There were what felt like fifty photographers taking pictures of us while very loud drums played a traditional song and some people danced around us. We preened in front of the cameras, trying to take direction as best we could, and tossing the harvested rice off to the side so that two men with giant hammers could pound on it and make it into something like mochi (I think called tteok, but there was a lot of Korean happening).

After the photographers had gone, we had a little break, then were made to harvest rice in front of a group of Korean people, most of whom were, I think, either government functionaries or personalities or something. The drums were going again, I was sweating in my hanbok, and left hoping that my glasses wouldn't fall into the mud.

A third rice harvest was done for tourists, and the drums started up. I think this was the weirdest one for me, because I was a tourist on display for other tourists.

After the last of the rice was harvested, we had an interview with the largest English-speaking TV station in South Korea. All the questions were casual chit-chat questions, and I figured that only five or ten seconds would make it on air for a puff piece (which is what happened, with my wife hogging all the screen time).

When we had finally changed back into our normal clothes, we were given gifts by way of thanks, two wooden cups that we now use in the bathroom to hold toothbrushes, along with a pound of rice each (though not the stuff we'd harvested, which was made into tteok and we did get a chance to eat).

Our guide was super nice to us, answered some questions about what it's like to live in South Korea, and talked to us about places for us to visit. Over the next few days, we were able to find a few puff pieces on the internet, all in Korean.

I'm pretty sure they do this every year, always with token foreigners, and I hope some day I'm telling this story to someone and they say "oh yeah, that happened to me too".

[jmdbjk]

Cannot wait...

Still a month away from watching these two be their adorable goober selves together:

I keep telling everyone around me I'm going to be insufferable for a while, with Jimin and Muse coming soon and then these two together, week after week ... makes me giddy. Sorry, not sorry.

We'll get teasers. I'm going to squee over all of those as well. Again, sorry, but not very sorry at all actually.

All of it takes me back to when I realized JK's 2022 Vlog was going to be centered around camping. Honestly? I was a little surprised. He has never come across as the outdoorsy type to me. But he'd never had the chance to express much of what interests him outside of BTS and outside of what we saw on various content through the years either!

This series of vlogs helped us see each member doing things they chose to do on their own and helped kick off the "solo" era in 2022.

Jungkook's delight in stopping at Korea's version of Buc-ee's and buying gas station food and eating to his heart's content was oddly satisfying. Maybe because I take great pleasure in doing such simple things too, after all, the best part of a road trip is stopping to buy snacks along the way, am I right? The service area where they stopped is called the Gapyeong Service area on the Seoul-Yangyang Expressway (60). These places are like a food court/mini mall. Just like Buc-ee's.

I am already laughing at the thought of he and Jimin stopping at a grocery store to buy deli pizza in Connecticut... IT'S GOING TO BE WOEFULLY SUBSTANDARD I FEAR!

In his 2022 vlog, Jungkook helped set up the camper he slept in and cooked and sat around the campfire drinking. And we know in past Bon Voyage seasons and other content, they've pitched tents and slept outdoors. All of these things he must have immensely enjoyed if we might be seeing them again soon with Jimin.

Then there's the recent story going around about someone spotting he and Jimin returning their rental car in Japan and learning Jungkook was driving... Jungkook got to drive on the "wrong" side of the road in Japan! He put that international driver's license to use finally!

From the preview clip the other day, it appears Jungkook also got to practice his motorcycle handling skills. Handling a Harley Davidson is a bit trickier than handling a smaller motorcycle. Those things are heavy. And it's a little different when you have a passenger sitting behind you. The two Harley helmets we saw sitting on the edge of his sofa last year... yep, he's had practice.

TMI: I was today year's old when I learned that motorcycles are banned on major roadways in Korea.

Are we going to see how Jimin scraped his knuckles while snorkeling on Jeju?

And that nekkid-in-bed live when Jungkook was begging him to come over and Jimin told him to look at the photo he sent... did Jimin get a black eye from being elbowed when they were sleeping?

And as I was running through my blog posts, I realized all of these things I previously said last year:

Me wondering if their trip to Japan was unstructured and spur of the moment...

I wondered if Closer Than This was a pre-release to an upcoming album...

I'm thankful to Tae for bringing JK along with his Wooga friends to that ski resort back in 2022. We can't know if JK had ever snowboarded before that but it appears he loved it enough to want to stick around long after they left him there. And now he had the chance to do it again with Jimin! I know they had so much fun together. At the beginning of this year, I pointed out some fun facts about Sapporo...

Skiing? Snowboarding? All of the above?

And save this for future reference, it's the onsen resort image we heard about and I mentioned in a weekly Bangtan report this past February....

Maybe none of the above will be accurate, but thinking about how much fun they had anyway has me very excited for August 8.

[white-cat-of-doom]

New character portraits from Japan as they get ready for opening night in Shizuoka tomorrow, 17 July 2024!

Kanako Fujiwara as Sillabub.

Ayaka Yoshida as Jellylorum.

Yukako Shingu as Jemima.

Nanako Yoshimura as Victoria.

Namiko Hanada as Jennyanydots.

Akane Aihara as Demeter.

Haruka Yamazaki as Bombalurina.

Rika Takeshita as Tantomile.

Ayu Shimizu as Rumpleteazer.

Ryudo Tsutaki as Mungojerrie.

Kyomi Ishibashi as Cassandra.

Junpei Sano as Tumblebrutus.

Miki Kanehara as Grizabella.

Yuto Tanaka as Mistoffelees.

Yujin Haga as Gilbert.

Suguru Fuminaga as Macavity.

Junpei Wakebe as Munkustrap.

Kazuki Kanemoto as Old Deuteronomy.

Seiji Hashimoto as Bustopher Jones and Gus.

Masaru Kitamura as Rum Tum Tugger.

Kaisaer Tatike as Skimbleshanks.

Shuichi Kawazu as Carbucketty.

Ryujiro Isshiki as Coricopat.

All photos from the previous stop in Nagoya, which took place between July 2022 and May 2024.

[jadegoods]

ilia looking cool as ever with a footbal [via malininfan on twt]

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

Harry and Meghan travel all the time away from those kids. Those kids are not used to seeing their parents. Harry disappearing for weeks on end won’t bother them one bit.

Hey, if you don't mind, can you do a summary of all the times they left the children that we know of and how long?

I Know Harry had an Invictus event very soon after Archie's birth, and I saw someone mention a hunting trip to Germany, Meghan at the US open, polo at Archie's birthday, TQ's funeral, etc

Ask from July 25th

I believe the Germany hunting trip was in 2017. Supposedly that's when Meghan got all pissy about it and made Harry give up the antique guns Philip gave him. Also, the Archie's birthday/polo clash wasn't a travel event; the polo match was just down the highway from Montecito, so I'm not counting that one.

So this is only the travel that we know about. I'm sure there's plenty of other travel that we don't know about. This also does not include the date nights and overnights in L.A. Basically, for me to include it in this list, they had to have left the state of California.

May 2019: Harry travels to The Hague for Invictus Games. It's supposed to be a two-day trip but he shortens it to one day.

May 2019: Harry travels to Italy for Sentebale polo fundraiser. He's gone at least overnight.

July 2019: Harry travels to Italy for Google Camp to give a speech on the climate crisis. A couple of days.

September 2019: Meghan travels to NYC for the US Open. Not sure how long she's gone, probably just a couple of days.

September 2019: Harry travels to Amsterdam to launch Travalyst. It's jsut one or two days.

October 2019: Harry goes to Angola and Botswana, while Meghan stays in Johannesburg wtih Archie. One or two days.

November 2019: Harry travels to Japan for rugby. It's just a couple of days.

January 2020: Harry and Meghan travel to the UK for Sandringham Summit. Archie stays in Canada with friends. They're here for about a week. Meghan flees after the Megxit statement drops.* Harry attends Sandringham Summit alone but Meghan offers to call in.

*There's a rumor that Meghan didn't flee on her own, but that she was deported. According to this rumor, The Queen summoned Meghan to BP, Meghan ignored it and went to a private engagement instead (this one), The Queen was incandescent with rage, the RPOs tracked Meghan down, took her to the airport and physically put her on the plane back to Canada. There's a variation of that rumor (a spin-off, if one will) where instead of The Queen summoning Meghan for an audience, The Queen tasked Meghan with an engagement, Meghan refused to go, then The Queen ordered Meghan to leave and RPOs put her on a plane. Regardless of the variation, supposedly this deportation is what Harry is referring to with "they know what they did" when he's demanded apologies from the BRF.

March 2020: Harry and Meghan travel to the UK for Megxit farewell tour. Archie stays behind in Canada with "friends." They're gone about a week and flee back to Canada after the Commonwealth Service because of COVID concerns.

April 2021: Harry travels to the UK for Prince Philip's funeral. He's gone about a week (he has to quarantine for 5 days before the funeral due to COVID protocols). Meghan stays home in CA with Archie.

September 2021: Harry and Meghan travel to NYC for the Global Vax Live concert and make it a mini-fauxyal tour. This is a few days long.

November 2021: Harry and Meghan travel to NYC for a Veterans Day gala on the USS Intrepid.

March 2022: Harry travels to Texas. He's papped at Stockyards Rodeo. No idea how long his trip his, maybe a couple of days.

April 2022: Harry and Meghan travel to The Hague for Invictus Games. They have a layover in London and try to see The Queen at Windsor Castle. They're away for about 2 weeks , maybe a little less than that.

May 2022: Meghan travels to Texas to support the Uvalde community. It's maybe a two-day trip.

June 2022: Harry and Meghan travel to the UK for the Platinum Jubilee. While there are still photographs that suggest the kids were with them this time, there's plausible gossip from Britain that the kids actually weren't there because no one actually saw them. I'm including this one here to hedge bets.

July 2022: Harry and Meghan are in NYC again for Mandela Day. It's at least a 2-day trip.

August 2022: Harry travels to Africa to host US officials and conservationists for a few days in his role as President of African Parks.

September 2022: Harry and Meghan travel to the UK for a fauxyal tour. It's just supposed to be a few days, but they end up getting stuck in Britain for about 3 weeks when The Queen dies due to royal mourning and her funeral.

December 2022: Harry and Meghan travel to NYC for Meghan to receive the RFK Ripple of Hope award from Kerry Kennedy. It's a couple of days. There's scalding tea that the couple were downright frosty to each other when they weren't on camera.

May 2023: Harry travels to the UK for Charles's coronation. It's not even an overnight trip.

June 2023: Harry travels to the UK for a hearing in one of his lawsuits. It's a few days.

May 2023: Meghan, Harry, and Doria travel to NYC for Meghan to get an award. It's a couple of days. They get "chased" by paparazzi. It's a few days.

August 2023: Harry travels to Japan for a conference and to Singapore for a charity polo match. He's gone a few days.

September 2023: Harry and Meghan travel to Germany for the Dusseldorf 2023 Invictus Games. They're away for at least a week. Meghan comes late because she just had to get the kids milkshakes first. (Yeah, everyone WTFs it.)

October 2023: Harry and Meghan travel to the Caribbean to relax at a Soho House beach resort. I think they were there about a week.

October 2023: Harry goes to Texas to attend F1.

October 2023: Harry and Meghan travel to NYC for some kind of panel summit thing with Carson Daly. It's a couple of days.

January 2024: Harry and Meghan travel to Jamaica for the Bob Marley movie premiere. Meghan supposedly leaves CA while Harry is receiving his award from John Travolta and he flies out to meet her. (There are rumors that Meghan is spotted being very friendly with a man not her husband before Harry arrives.)

February 2024: Harry travels to the UK to see Charles after the public announcement of his cancer diagnosis. It's an overnight trip. He's gone from CA for about 3 days.

February 2024: Harry travels to Las Vegas for a thing, something that's part of the Superbowl celebrations. (I think he went straight from London to Vegas.)

February 2024: Harry and Meghan travel to Canada for a Vancouver Invictus Games kickoff thing. It's a 4 day event.

March 2024: Harry and Meghan travel to Texas. They go to Austin and San Antonio for charity visits. It's related to Meghan's panel appearance at South X Southwest.

April 2024: Harry and Meghan travel to Miami for a series of polo matches. Maybe it's a week?

May 2024: Harry travels to the UK to attend the service of thanksgiving for Invictus Games's 10th anniversary. It's an overnight trip. Meghan meets him at the airport after the service.

May 2024: Harry and Meghan travel to Nigeria for a fauxyal tour. I believe it was a 5-day trip.

August 2024: Harry and Meghan travel to Colombia for another fauyxal tour. It's another 4-5 day trip.

I'm sure I've forgotten some.

So this is 34 37 trips in 5 years without their children. Assuming:

An average of 4 days away per trip for 30 34 trips (understanding that some were longer, others were shorter so it should balance out)

12 days for The Hague Invictus Games (includes the Windsor drop-in)

10 days for Dusseldorf Invictus Games

21 days for September 2022

They were away about 163 179 days that we know of. Just for comparison's sake, the average American school year is 180 days. And remember, this does not include overnights in L.A./Beverly Hills, of which I suspect there's quite a lot of because it's at least a 90-minute drive (without traffic) to Montecito*. Not to mention that Harry has hotel rooms somewhere in California and he may or may not have a BetterUp corporate apartment up in San Francisco. I'm guessing if we were to guesstimate how often one or both of them is staying the night elsewhere in California, we'd probably see numbers double this.

*I'm also adding my own personal bias here; if I have to drive more than an hour at night, I'm getting a hotel room. Granted, the Sussexes do have drivers so they're not exactly in the same boat, but given all the rumors about Meghan having rooms at The Beverly Hills Hotel and Harry having a whole floor of a hotel permanently reserved, I think it's a pretty safe assumption that they do have a lot of overnights away from the kids in LA.

Now just for giggles, let's count how many times Harry and Meghan traveled with their kids:

Summer 2019 summer of private flights all over Europe despite Archie being too young to fly to Balmoral.

October 2019 - to South Africa

June 2022 - to London for the Platinum Jubilee

July 2022 - to Jackson Hole, Wyoming for July 4th (pap photos of Archie at a parade; no Lili)

December 2023 - to Costa Rica (blurry pap photos, plus a People PR article)

To be clear, I'm not begrudging the fact that the Sussexes travel for work. A lot of parents travel for work, and a lot of parents travel more than this per year for work. A lot of parents travel for 'me time'. Parents gotta do what parents gotta do to feed their kids and take care of themselves to take care of their kids.

What I'm instead commenting on (and snarking about) is how much Harry and Meghan have attacked the Cambridges/Waleses for spending time with their kids, how Harry attacked Charles for being unavailable during Harry's childhood, and how much PR Meghan has put out about how she's the best mom to ever mother and her whole life revolves around her kids; their actions aren't matching up to their words, which makes the stories they do share about the kids seem hollow and unreal.

Edit: Remembered some!

[djo]

Joseph Quinn attends the opening ceremony for Tokyo Comic Con on November 25, 2022 in Chiba, Japan

[23fallencomets]

chapter 7: the one i was supposed to get done last week but didn’t

anyway, tough fp3 and qualifying huh, just really disappointed on how this session went especially since the williams looked really good and were projected to do well but i guess when one door closes another opens.

moving on, i think im gonna wrap this up around the tenth chapter or something. it’s been a real blast and im currently in a writers block (with like three/four fics on the list) so these help moving the writing juices.

enjoy 💞💞

[twitter]

user81: logan had a priv???

user82: yesss he was so unhinged on it

user83: he was so funny during fashion week of 2022

user84: brother had no media training back then

user85: bring back unhinged logan

user86: found it!!

user85: ahhh 23 year old logan you will be missed

user86: WHAT

user87: LOGAN JUST DROPPED IT AND MADE IT A COLLABED POST

user88: WHAT IS WEONG WITJ THEM

[instagram]

logansargeant made a new post!

logansargeant and oscarpiastri

liked by oscarpiastri, landonorris, lewishamilton and 10,289,378 more

logansargeant: surprise! the dynamic duo is back with the 2024 Summer Collection!! it was an absolute blast doing this campaign with Ozzie and i’m glad it’s finally out

landonorris: me next

logansargeant: i have an opening during summer break

landonorris: meet me in ibiza

oscarpiastri: hella respect for modeling because this was tiring 😓

logansargeant: i should bring you along to a fashion show

oscarpiastri: i love you but please don’t

logansargeant: 😞

user89: HELLO???

lewishamiltion: 🤫🤫

logansargeant: 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

user90: what do you know??

user91: why is no one mentioning ozzie

arthurleclerc: logan gave all of us nicknames

user91: share with the class

liamlawson30: 🙂‍↔️

liamlawson30: (im)patiently awaiting my turn

logansargeant: LIAM WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN 😫

liamlawson30: training, practicing you know the usual

logansargeant: then answer my text messages you dick

logansargeant posted a new story!

logansargeant made a new post!

liked by oscarpiastri, landonorris and lewishamilton and 11,444,812 more

logansargeant: absolutely deserved!! we have been dreaming about this moment since we were kids and im absolutely ecstatic for you!! im 100% sure i cried, love you man!! future wdc in the making!! onto the next one

[user has limited replies]

logansargeantoffical made a new tweet!

logansargeantoffical: well he can, i actually have a job to do

liamlawson30: take him along like you did that one time when i was in SF

logansargeantoffical: you complained the whole time??? and i was only in japan for three days

user92: are you guys not spending it together 😞

oscarpiastri: we are it’s just the someone 😒 has to make up all the work he missed

logansargeantoffical: you make it sound like if i work a 9-5

logansargeantoffical: and it’s only a week, you’ll survive

oscarpiastri: or i can join you