#she speaks okinawan japanese

[d-joana-a-shippadora]

Sachiko Kurogawa || Major International Academy Book Series || @majorinternationalacademy

"Agora que eu estou parando para pensar, acho que não cheguei a me apresentar, não é mesmo? [...] Sachiko Kurogawa, yutashiku!"

"Come to think of it, I don't think I introduced myself, right? [...] Sachiko Kurogawa, yutashiku!"

[dailydemonspotlight]

Kinmamon - Day 65

Race: Enigma

Alignment: Light-Neutral

July 5th, 2024

Among the scores of demons in the SMT series, the Enigma race is one of the most curious. Made up entirely of demons whose origins are wholly unknown, or otherwise hard to track, the race as a whole is incredibly difficult to even parse, and unfortunately, today's Demon of the Day is one of those that belong to this accursed collection. Welcome Kinmamon, an incredibly strange god of Okinawa with a notable lack of sources. Yep, we have another one of these.

Kinmamom is a purported Okinawan deity originating from Ryukyuan religion, but almost everything surrounding it is vague and murky before its eventual co-opting into the Ijun religion of Ryukyu. While basically everything regarding it seems to paint it as a recent development, a god created for Ijun to be the cosmic deity above all others, there are many other sources that contest this.

Ijun, a Shinto offshoot religion native to Okinawa, is a modern religion created in 1972 to worship Kinmamom, yet there are many other things relating to this deity that make it difficult to parse- for one, a 19th century play called "Strange Tales of the Bow Moon" purportedly references Kinmamom, as this tumblr post by @yamayuandadu goes over, referenced in the Japanese wikipedia page about Kinmamom. However, of course, Wikipedia is far from a reliable source, but something else which almost ensures that this god didn't originate from Ijun is a vintage article in German that references the god by name, despite originating from over 100 years ago.

Past that, though, a good source comes from... hey, they reblogged my Backbeard post! Holy shit! Wow, I didn't expect things to come full circle like this. Anyway, one of the few sources I can work off of for this outside of several deep insights into Ijun itself is this post by @eirikrjs which talks about his role as a god of the sea who brought 'life' to the Okinawan islands. To quote,

Also known as “the God from Beyond the Sea, Marebito”, Kinmamon is an enigmatic and mysterious deity of Ryukyu Shinto, a branch of Shinto obviously practiced in the Ryukyu islands. His/her connections with sea travel and the implication that he/she brought “life” to the Ryukyu islands are thought to imply it was an introduced figure and was quite possibly Amaterasu who was introduced and then changed through lack of continual contact at the time. The kanji used for Kinmamon’s name, “  君真物 ” literally meaning “the true one”, are also thought to have been used as an honorific title for miko (shrine maidens); consequently, there is also a belief that perhaps Kinmamon is simply the evolution of the deification of miko. In addition, the kanji “ 君” is often used to write “ 神女”, megami or “goddess”, in the local Ryukyu dialect which causes even further gender confusion!Bibliography:   『琉球神道記』  袋中著    宜野座嗣剛  訳  東洋図書出版   “Records of Ryukyu Shinto” by  Hiroshi Azuma.  Orient Books Publications/Shorin Ronshu, 2001.  ISBN-10: 4947667737

But, well, you know the lack of sources is bad when almost everything out there has to be choppily translated. In Ijun, Kinmamon is an all-powerful deity who visited the founder of the religion, Takayasu Rokuro, and instructed him to seek out an ancient book called the Ryukyu Shinto-ki, as gone over in this paper by Christopher A. Reichl. As the paper goes into, Takayasu speaks of Kinmamon as a deity who was once worshipped in the very early ages, though was forgotten about after Satsuma rose to power, phasing out the religion in 1609. Of course, I cannot find any source for this, but it could possibly explain why Kinmamon is so obscure, yet still referenced in ages-old articles predating Ijun itself. A lot of the things relating to this deity are obscure, and it's very fitting for its race being, well, that of an Enigma.

Hilariously, almost all of the sources I could find for this were also confused SMT fans trying to figure out the source for this demon. We really are just an ouroboros of hyperfixated nerds, huh. I haven't played Strange Journey, so I can't give much of a take on Kinmamon's portrayal in the series, but I do find the design very cool and unique- I especially love the symbols on its head and arms, though I'm not sure what they could ultimately mean? Overall, though, I'd recommend digging deep yourselves into this demon's backstory. Maybe you all could uncover something I couldn't!

[twsthc]

twst ethnicity & language hcs 🦇

THANK U EVERYONE ON TWITTER WHO SUBMITTED HCS!! This thread took me forever, pls forgive an punctuation/general writing inconsistencies or spelling errors

warnings: none

last updated: apr 11, 2024

some collective headcanons:

i think the characters who are close to each other share words with each other and everyone kind of mixes things up (projecting)

"que... 为什么 es 你的 kouting 说了吗?!"

???? i hope this makes sense

all of them swear in their native languages when angry (minus riddle)

HEARTSLABYUL 🍓

Riddle: White British & Kinh Vietnamese, speaks Vietnamese

╰Mom: 🇻🇳 Dad: 🇬🇧

this hc is based on my vietnamese friend whos mom is the same as riddles

thank you for the hc nhi ily

Ace: Filipino, speaks Tagalog

constantly using "nanay mo" (your mom) insults

Deuce: Han Taiwanese & Yamato Japanese, speaks (正體字) Mandarin

╰Mom: 🇹🇼 Dad: 🇯🇵

his mom and ahgong speak hokkien and he doesnt, he also struggles to read traditional characters

his mom gave birth to him when she was a teen and she doesn't know the father so he's not too connected to his JP side

Cater: Hispanic Filipino of British Latin descent, speaks Filipino and Spanish

Trey: Malay Indonesian, speaks Indonesian and Malay

SAVANACLAW 🥩

Leona: Tanzanian, Kikuyu Kenyan, Malian (Mandinke)

╰Mom: 🇹🇿🇰🇪 Dad: 🇹🇿🇲🇱

i know he sucks his teeth all the damn time

tsk get out of my way herbivore tsk ugh tsk

ghana is one of the only african countries that still have a monarchy

also the lion king is based off of Mansa Musa the Malian king so YA

Ruggie: Afro-Brazilian & Gullah, speaks Southern Tutnese, Gullah, & Brazilian Portugese

╰Mom: 🇧🇷 Dad: 🇺🇸 

projection beam

uses tutnese to be sneaky, Gullah with his grandma

i know the soul food in his house on sunday goes CRAZY

more connected to his Gullah side because his grandma is AA and he doesnt know his brazilian parent, but does try to learn more about the culture just for himself

Jack: Inuit Alaskan, Tarabin Bedouin Afro-Egyptian, speaks Arabic

╰Mom: 🇪🇬 Dad: "🇺🇸"

no one submitted hcs for jacky wacky...

well he speaks the Masri dialect methinks

OCTAINEVILLE 🐚

HONORABLE MENTION: someone said they hc the octatrio speak Danish with an Omal dialect!

Azul: White Italian/Hawaiian/Afro-Hatian, speaks Hatian Creole and some Italian

╰Mom: 🇮🇹🇭🇹 Bio dad: Hawaiian

His step dad is also Hawaiian so he was able to keep that culture as well

Apparently octopi are very important to polynesian culture! very interesting

The reason the tweels don't let him cook is actually because all of his creations come out so spicy and flavorful it started scaring white customers

Floyd: Okinawan Japanese/Afro-Bajan, speaks Japanese & Patois

╰Mom: 🇯🇵 Dad: 🇯🇵🇧🇧

I think the tweels are more connected to their Japanese side than their Caribbean side, but Floyd says "gwan" all the time so who knows

He often mixes Japanese and common language. Not because he isn't fluent in common language but because he wants to

When cooking he tries to combine both cultures (sooo much curry...)

Jade: Okinawan Japanese/Afro-Bajan, speaks Japanese & Patois

Both Japan and Trinidad and Tobago have really cool tropical landscapes so i think hed be super proud of his ethnicity (AKA the greenery from where hes from)

AH i forgot to mention, but to keep up with the islander theme from the OG movies i think the tweels would be more from the Okinawa region

SCARABIA 🌞

Kalim: Punjabi Pakistani, speaks Urdu

ok i said this on twitter but i think he tries to learn Arabic for Jamil (he's awful at it but he is TRYING!)

i also said methinks he likes how the word for "no" in Arabic sounds like "la"

whenever jamil tries to make him productive he goes "lalalala" and thinks hes the funniest person in the entire world

Jamil: Persian Iranian, speaks the Syrian Arabic dialect & Urdu

always talking shit about people in arabic

especially kalim, but kalim doesnt know how to say "lazy bastard" in Arabic yet so he is oblivious

POMEFIORE 👑

Vil: Jewish German-American, speaks Hebrew, French, Russian, & Spanish

╰Mom: 🇩🇪🇺🇸 Dad: 🇮🇳

looks almost completely white

she speaks so many languages mostly for her acting career

Rook: Zulu South African, Baoulé Ivorian, Canadian French, speaks French

╰Mom: 🇨🇮🇿🇦 Dad: 🇨🇦🇿🇦

when they came to NRC they weren't fluent in the common language but sam (louisianan, speaks French Creole) helped them, as well as vil who speaks french

now theyre more fluent in common language but still has a thick Montreal accent

has that phlegm-y "h" sound in the back of their throat

Epel: Laz Turkish & Southern American, speaks English and Kartvelian

╰Mom: 🇹🇷 Dad: 🇺🇸 

when speaking english he has a little southern accent :3

hes always confusing the languages he knows if the words are too similar, he also has a little Turkish accent

IGNEHYDE 💀

Idia: Romani Greek & Turkish, white Puerto Rican, speaks Greek and Spanish

╰Mom: 🇵🇷 Dad: 🇹🇷🇬🇷 

cursing people out in rapid greek and/or spanish in COD lobbies

i also think he learned like 3 Greek poems just so he could qrt people on twitter who he disagreed with

"those who can not obtain the grape will say it is sour" but like in Greek

DIASOMNIA 🐉

Malleus: Han Chinese, speaks Mandarin, Gaelic, & a shit ton of other languages

mostly speaks Mandarin

can read/write traditional and simplified characters!

HONORABLE MENTION: someone hced him as having Jewish descent and speaking Hebrew!

Lilia: Mongolian & Chinese, speaks Cantonese, Mandarin, Gaelic, and a shit ton of other ancient languages

i think he speaks with a Northern Chinese dialect in Mandarin, I dont speak Canto or Hokkien so idk about that srry :,3

he drawls his 儿s a lot methinks mostly to get a point a cross

Sebek: Egyptian, Nenet Russian, Han Chinese, speaks Cantonese & some Gaelic

╰Mom: 🇷🇺🇪🇬 Dad: 🇨🇳

is trying really hard to be fluent in Gaelic so he can impress malleus

he already knew some Gaelic but just basic words/sentences

Silver: Han Taiwanese, Tibetan, & French speaks Mandarin

╰Mom: 🇨🇳🇹🇼 Dad: 🇫🇷

the difference between Taiwanese pronunciation vs Chinese pronunciation is that it sounds... "softer" (?)

with his character as a whole just having more slurred, soft words makes sense.

maybe he knows how to say like "hello" and "please" in Gaelic because he was pretty young when Lilia brought him in and he naturally picked up like... two words

also i hc he is tibetan because the wiki page said sleeping beauty is set in the himalayas? so i just ran with it LOL

[yarameijer]

What do you think is Tenma's and others' favourite food and drink?

Ooh, favorite foods! Okay so please bear with me, I’m not familiar with Japanese cuisine but I’ll give it a shot!

First, the first-years! Tsurugi has a sweet tooth, but he wouldn’t admit it even on pain of death and only Yuuichi knows because Tsurugi believes it’d take away from his reputation otherwise. He loves rice cakes, especially with fillings. He’s also a fan of dried beans covered with sugar.

Hikaru is also a major fan of sweets and is willing to try whatever's offered to him, but his absolute favorite is coffee jelly. He can sometimes be bribed with sweets if necessary. To finish up the sweet tooth trio, Aoi loves any type of cake, although she prefers milder tastes instead of super sweet. She and Hikaru go out to cafes to try out their menu and manage to drag Tsurugi along eventually, although he’ll pretend to come along just to humor them. These three are also the biggest fans of going to Tenma’s place, because Aki usually has some homemade baking ready.

Shinsuke really likes onigiri, it’s simple yet tasty, and easy to share with friends. No need for any fancy dishes for him! He’s also a fan of sweets, although not as bad as the three mentioned above, and he likes fruit-flavored soy milk.

Kariya likes takoyaki the most! It’s pretty easy to get, so he likes treating himself to it if he’s done well on a test or something, or if he’s just in the mood. Since he lives in an orphanage, food options are dependent on whatever gets prepared there, so while the food is good he doesn’t really have any input in dinner. Makes it extra nice to get takoyaki as a snack for himself!

If asked, Tenma’s favorite food is whatever Aki prepares because her cooking is amazing, but his favorite dish would be gōyā chanpurū, Okinawan stir fry. He’s loved it since he was young, and now that he lives in Tokyo, it reminds him of home. He also enjoys sweet snacks, particularly mitarashi dango and sata andagi (which is also from Okinawa, and he loves it for similar reasons).

Onto the second-years! Hamano loves sashimi (raw fish), but he doesn’t really have a preference for a specific type. He also likes taiyaki, fish-shaped cakes, not only because of the taste but also because they’re, well, in the shape of a fish. He and Hayami often get some if they're hanging out after school, most often with red bean paste or custard filling. Although Hayami likes taiyaki too, he prefers gyõza (Japanese dumplings). He’s also a pretty big tea fan, especially green tea, which he has in common with Shindou.

Speaking of - everyone knows Shindou is a rich kid. Influential, loaded family that goes to operas and pays for private tutoring outside of school and eats at a five star restaurant every other month. And yet, ironically, his absolute favorite food turns out to be homemade ramen from Rairaiken (after his friends have introduced him to it, of course). He likes to experiment with toppings and is delighted whenever he finds a new combination he enjoys.

Kirino’s favorite food is sushi, also because there’s such a wide variety of it, and he can pick whatever he feels like at that moment. Luckily for him, he’s best friends with rich kid Shindou, and whenever they hang out at his manor, the staff knows to prepare sushi. Kirino takes full advantage of this and claims it’s payment for dealing with Shindou’s soccer strategy ramblings. Just like Shindou and Hayami, he likes green tea, but he prefers royal milk tea.

Nishiki picked up a love for Italian cuisine during his time abroad. He loves ravioli (stuffed pasta) and he’s got a preference for ciabatta bread. He’s lucky enough not to be lactose intolerant like many other Japanese people, and he absolutely LOVED spending time in a country with countless cheese options, in which Japan is, unsurprisingly, lacking. He’s cooked for his friends a few times and it was a pretty big success.

Midori and Kurama, surprisingly enough, share their favorite food: kushiyaki, skewered and grilled foods. Midori loves grilled pork skewers, whereas Kurama’s favorite are grilled vegetable skewers. Midori likes other types as well, but Kurama’s a picky eater so he'll stick to his vegetables, thank you very much.

Akane can usually be found with various types of bread in her bento, the specific kind switching every day. It’s her favorite snack and she usually brings some to eat during afternoon practice. Her favorites are melonpan and anpan (filled with red bean paste). She brings enough for the entire team as a treat if they’ve won a particularly hard match. She also really loves bubble tea (her favorite is honeydew milk tea), and often drags Aoi and Midori along. Aoi’s favorite is matcha milk tea, and Midori’s is black milk tea.

Aoyama, as mentioned in the AR one-shot collection, is obsessed with noodles. His favorite is kitsune udon, but he likes switching it up so he also orders other dishes quite regularly. Ichino also appreciates udon and other noodle foods (he doesn’t really have a choice, being best friends with Aoyama), and he’s also a big fan of shaved ice.

Finally the third-years! They’ve actually got a pretty big thing in common there: they all prefer the company over the food, really. Sangoku, for example, doesn’t really have a favorite food. He loves cooking, and cooking for others, and he’s a fan of trying out new recipes, although he favors traditional Japanese meals. He originally taught himself how to cook because his mother is usually busy with work, but discovered a love for it and he likes seeing his friends enjoy his food. He does really enjoy a good cup of green tea, though, like Shindou and Hayami.

Next, Kurumada! If asked, he claims he likes going to yakiniku (grilled meat) restaurants with his friends most. He thinks it’s tasty, and he likes having multiple options for food and being able to just get whatever he’s in the mood for at the time. It’s only made better by the company, although inviting his team along has been known to end in chaos.

Amagi’s favorite food is katsudon, which he has in common with Mahoro. When they were kids, he, Mahoro and their childhood friend Kousaka Yukie would eat it as often as their parents would allow - that’s where his love for shared meals began, because it’s much more fun to eat together than alone.

…I may have gone a bit overboard with this. Whoops?

Hope you enjoyed!

[therealkaidertrash21]

If I remember correctly, you previously mentioned your Japanese/Okinawan heritage. I find that very interesting, especially since you’re based in Argentina! Do you think you could speak more on that, such as things you like about your Asian culture, whether it’s things you do or have learned about that you personally find interesting

Small warning: this post got WAYYY longer than I thought it would be so, sorry about that

Yeah, my grandfather and my grandmother's parents from my mother's side immigrated from there.

Sadly, I don't know much about my culture from my Okinawan side. Which is something that I really regret (and low-key resent my parents for lol). My grandma was born and raised here in Argentina and she never learned the language (Uchinaaguchi, language from Okinawa that now is not spoken much). My grandfather does speak Uchinaaguchi cause he was born and raised in Okinawa but didn't teach it to my mother cause I guess they thought it would be strange to speak something my grandma didn't understand. So my mom never learned which means I never learned either *screams internally*.

There is a community of immigrants from Okinawa here and my grandpa did (and still does) participate a lot in it, and my mother did too. When she was younger my mom learned to dance there. BUT I was never involved in that either (meaning: I never learned an instrument there, dancing or went to the events) because my mom didn't want me too! In her experience that life took a lot of dedication and she didn't like it growing up so she just decided it wouldn't be a part of my life at all!!! *Screams internally again*. Technically I could choose to go but it's complicated.

Anyway, that's why I don't know much about that part of my culture!

But I did grow up eating some traditional foods like Iricha and like variations of it. That's mostly it when it comes to food. My mom does know how to cook others but I didn't really grow up with those but I do eat them occasionally. Like also mochi, manjuu, and other things with Anko (which is fucking delicious). And also, sushi which I LOVE but for some reason we never make it, which is sad because the sushi u can buy here is not nearly as good and it's super inaccurate to how it's supposed to be (for example cream cheese and avocado in sushi could give my grandpa a heart attack, he hates it). But I don't eat much of that again, because of my mum. But that's probably because she doesn't feel like making elaborate meals, and even though she's genetically fully asian, she was born and raised in Argentina. And my grandma too, she was like 90% porteña 10% Okinawan.

The only thing I did eat quite a lot of was rice. Especially when I saw my grandpa every week, there was always rice on the side. But since my mother tries to be "healthy" we don't eat it on a daily basis or have a rice cooker *eye roll* . And OF COURSE we make it THE RIGHT WAY. Tbh I don't know why I feel so strongly about this but I really don't like the way white people make rice, like WDYM YOU DON'T WASH IT BEFORE COOKING IT?? WDYM IT'S NOT STICKY??? WDYM YOU STRAIN YOUR RICE???? Ugh idk it just feels wrong, it's impractical too.

Anyway, I also know very few words like:

Tea = ocha

Grandpa = oji

Grandma = oba

Soy sauce = soyu

Good night = oyasuminasai

Yeah... That's a very poor list. But for once that's not my mom's fault cause she can't speak it either lmao.

Anyway, that's my trauma life! And thanks for the ask, anon!

[glaciiermonarch]

❀ *◦ sen mitsuji. genderfluid. he/she/they. demiromantic homosexual. ⇝ hey, isn’t that takaharu mochizuki? i think that the thirty-five-year-old from adelaide, south australia, works as dj at the boom boom room, music producer & engineer, and drummer of vain rogues & the ghost orchestra; but outside of that people describe them as perpetual busyness to prevent the chance of an emotion occurring; a pristine but empty-feeling mansion with too many rooms; perfectly pouty lips pulling up in a smirk over a private joke; and a robin's egg blue drum kit with every possible bell and whistle on the market. i hear they are moody & distant, but they are also known to be cerebral & generous. consider giving them a visit at their home in winterwood estates and get to know why they’re called the ice queen.

➙ this character uses he/him, they/them, AND she/her pronouns freely! the writer will be using ALL of them, sometimes within the same paragraph, so please extend the same courtesy! ➙ taka is attracted to men and masc-presenting enbies and just calls themself gay!

full name: takaharu mochizuki ➙ this is in "western" order since taka grew up in english-speaking countries ➙ kanji: 望月 貴陽 (Mochizuki Takaharu)  望 (mochi) meaning "wish, desire" and 月 (tsuki) meaning "moon;” together meaning “full moon” 貴 (taka) meaning “precious” and 陽 (haru) meaning “sun”

nicknames: taka, taki, tako, haru, mochi-san, tsuki-san

dob: 17 august 1989

place of birth: adelaide, south australia, australia

languages: japanese (native); australian english (native); korean (advanced); german (advanced); arabic (advanced); hindi (strong); mandarin (strong); okinawan (some)

education: bachelor’s degree in philosophy and asian & middle eastern studies, duke university

strengths: educated; cerebral; generous; loyal; resolute; shrewd; creative; captivating; wise; patient

weaknesses: cold; moody; gloomy; judgmental; harsh; disconnected; distant; crass

hobbies: playing drums, guitar, piano, and clarinet; surfing; skateboarding; playing video games; smoking weed; napping; reading

likes: warm weather & beaches; fashion;

dislikes: messy people; uncreative people; children (friends' kids are an exception)

disabilities & health: major depression; chronic back and knee pain

even the silverest of spoons being in your mouth when you're born doesn't shield you from the unhappiness of life, but it does slap a bandage over a festering wound so you can ignore it a while longer. kenta mochizuki, a dermatologist originally from japan. beth mcnulty, general legal counsel for one of the biggest energy companies in all of australia. married a little later than either of their families would have liked, but in their defense, they were both busy being successful. and they barely slowed down long enough to have their only child, takaharu.

though of an ornery countenance since birth, taka was always still popular and favored because he was pretty and rich. clarinet lessons, piano lessons, drum lessons, surfing lessons, she was set up for success from the very beginning. her childhood memories are mostly accompanied by nannies and tutors, though her father, an earnest and excitable man, always made an effort to be present in his child's life, eager to see her succeed.

there was always a distance between taka and their mother, though; taka knows now that beth never wanted to be a parent. this attitude became clearly evident when she didn't show up to taka's tenth birthday dinner. it was soon revealed that she'd forgotten, and more of the truth came tumbling out: she shirked her parental duties for an affair. and this apparently had been going on for quite some time, seeing other men that weren't her heartbreakingly devoted husband.

a divorce ensued, and taka sided with his kind, loving father, who had also always made an effort to keep japanese culture alive in the home. when taka was barely into her teens, her father sat her down to tell her about a woman he'd met online, one he'd fallen in love with. the catch was that she lived in malibu. taka was given the choice to live with her mother or move to the united states with her father. she easily chose the latter.

lashonda rhimes, successful anesthesiologist to the stars, and kenta's second wife. she was a few years younger, though not egregiously so, but still childless. and she treated taka like her own child, which might have been externally brushed off by the surly teenager, but taka came to appreciate it. he was popular in his new home, with his accent and his money and his looks. being so intelligent, the transition to a new continent wasn't difficult at all, and he finished high school near the top of his class.

he didn't really have a plan for his life, and all his parents really wanted out of him was just for him to go to college. an acceptance to duke university was sweetened by some scholarships, and whatever those didn't cover was easily made up for by the wads of cash his family had. taka had started smoking weed not long after landing in the US, but she branched out into new drugs while in durham, north carolina, for college.

acid trips were unpleasant every time she tried dropping; and she didn't like injecting anything to leave marks behind on her pretty body. but she soon found a bad habit in cocaine. she would sniff a few lines, party for several hours, go home and do homework, go to class, and go to modeling shoots, and do it all over again. somehow, using sheer ambition probably, she finished college within 4 years, even with a double major and a couple semesters spent studying abroad.

bouncing around the US for a year or so; living with his aunt in japan for a couple years; and then landing in anchorage for the next adventure around 2016

these days, taka keep busy in any way she knows how: too long with her own thoughts can be dangerous and make her itch to return to her cocaine habit. but they've done a good job of staying clean. taka doesn't need to work for money—his mother sends him gobs of money to curry his favor, and his father and stepmother have nobody else to spoil—but he does work to stay busy, spinning tunes at the boom boom room; modeling for small indie publications and brands; and gaining some traction as a music producer.

with more money than one person should ever need, taka gives a lot of it away. there are a few charities she routinely makes generous donations to; but she also likes to take care of her friends. she'll buy her closest friends whatever they want, buy their groceries, offer to pay rent or even let them stay in her house, offer to pay their medical bills... seriously, what is one lonely person gonna do with all those digits in their bank account? besides, spending money is the only way she knows how to show love.

[regarding-stories]

Win some, lose some: Rounding up more Winter Anime Season 2025 shows

We got a mixed bag in our hands, and make no mistake. Let's dive in.

OKITSURA: Fell in Love with an Okinawan Girl, but I Just Wish I Know What She's Saying

"OKITSURA" is a fun show with a simple premise: Mainland Japanese teenager transfers to an Okinawa high school. He quickly develops a crush on a girl in his class, but she talks a lot in Okinawa Islander "dialect" (or rather: language) and another girl, her friend, jumps in to translate.

Seems pretty clear he's going to end up with the translator, he just doesn't know it yet. The show is chockful with lore about the island of Okinawa, making it colorful and cute. It's also funny and plays its various cultural and romantic embarrassments well.

3 episodes in, all good.

Ameku M.D.: Doctor Detective

This is a mix of Sherlock Holmes and "House, MD", really. Smol but brilliant pathologist solves medical and criminal mysteries. She of courses is brash, oversteps boundaries, and way too full of herself.

But the show is doing good mysteries, so definitely worth a watch. (4 episodes so far.)

Anyway, I'm Falling in Love with You

Childhood friends, one girl, four boys, the heady days of youth, yada yada. The one who will win her in the end is her simple guy childhood friend aka hot guy #1, pretty sure. There's a potential love triangle set up with generic hot guy #2. She's the generic "can't make up my mind" heroine.

Everything's generic about this show which tries to win us over by reminding us that COVID robbed many young people in Japan of what they thought of the best days of their youth. Except when the show isn't bland, it's actually about the comparatively pushy moves hot guy #1 makes on her. And no character in sight to care about in the least. Dropped after episode 2.

Sakamoto Days

Once the best hitman of them all, he is now a family man, running a shop, with a big pot belly and old man look to him. But he's still got it!

Two episodes in, the cast is still assembling, but basically Sakamoto is kicking ass while also trying to keep the promise he made to his wife.

So far, funny. Likes its occasional action gore. One of the shows where you best not think about the logic much.

I'm Getting Married to a Girl I Hate in My Class

Speaking of "don't think too hard", the premise of this show is that two teens are made to cohabitate, aiming for marriage (or already married?) by their blackmailing grandparents. Of course they had this strong love-hate relationship already before.

Yes, it's a silly premise. But it's basically your classical rom-com in a nutshell. We already know she's crushing on him, so basically what we get is him shaping up, her stopping to be such a nag, and a lot of togetherness building an actual tender relationship between them.

There's definitely stupid elements in there, no doubt. It works, though, in spite of its typical anime flaws. Probably because it has a lot of cute and shy moments.

Magic Maker: How to Make Magic in Another World

Even though I talked a lot about formulaic Isekai shows in my last post (and some good ones), this one actually stands out. Because it isn't formulaic!

A salaryman gets reincarnated into the body of a baby boy. He hoped against hope in our world that magic was real and his sole desire for his next life is experiencing magic as real. Except: He finds his world has monsters and fantasy vibes, but no magic!

One day he and his childhood friends find a force powered by emotions that fits the bill, except not everybody can see it. None of the adults can! Naturally he wants to master it - even if he has to invent it first.

3 episodes in so far, and nobody has said "S-Rank", nobody has opened a status screen, nobody knows they are level 7, and while the boy has uttered things like "Fireball!" he has done so to no effect. Also, the show implies there will be social repercussions for being different... Intrigued!!

Reincarnated as a Sword

I thought the title was dumb. The show sure isn't!

Guy gets, well, reincarnated as a magical sword, and he's setting out to make himself OP. Except he never gets so OP that the story gets dull. Plus, a cute and poor cat girl becomes his bearer. From there on out it's almost all win.

The show is seriously cute, has great action, is well-balanced when it comes to challenge vs character skill, and has good storytelling. It also has its nice emotional moments and makes you laugh out loud.

Great show!

Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf!

This one has an interesting premise. Guy drifts into fantasy world at night where he keeps having adventures in another world with complete continuity since he was a child. He also knows this elf girl there. One day, she ends up next to him in bed in Japan.

The show mixes a fantasy part (when they sleep) with a "Oh, we're discovering Japan!" part. Lots about loving the food and having baths is super-nice. She's of course over-the-top cute and secretly in love with him.

Cute enough to pull it off, but don't expect much in terms of drama or suspense, I'd say.

Honey Lemon Soda

Puh, on the fence about dropping this one. She's super shy and introverted and getting bullied for it. Her bullies call her "Stony" ("Ishi" means "stone" and is part of her name) because she freezes up when she's insecure.

He is a young guy with attitude (but no delinquent) and can't make up his mind if he's her white knight or just mean to her (supposedly for her own good). He certainly stands up for her and teaches her how to ask for help and enjoy her youth. She of course falls for him hard but can't act on it, he is not admitting to himself that he does this because he's in love with her.

The side cast is slowly developing (and likable), the bullying is rather brutal (including physical threats to a girl), but this might actually turn out well if the "I'm not good enough and should shut up" vibe doesn't get too strong. I might still drop it, but it might actually be a decent show.

The Returnees

"The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You" is back and making a lot of funny fourth wall breaking jokes which is just as well since there's no chance you can take this show serious.

Back for more in late 2024 was "Ron Kamonohashi's Forbidden Deductions" and it stays brilliant, even though it sets out on its foreshadowed Moriarty storyline. Usually the introduction of Moriarty (or his descendants or successors) spells doom for any detective show because it becomes all stupid head games, but here it's okay, and thankfully it doesn't swallow the whole season.

Then there's season 2 of "Solo Leveling", and I wonder if the "I have an undead army" gimmick is breaking the show's balance too much, so carefully established before. (Also, discovering the game aspects of the phenomenon is sidelined a lot in comparison.) It's not as suspenseful as season 1, that's for sure, but so far, still good.

Didn't mention it before, but also still going is "A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School!" which is a silly show which I do tend to watch as a filler. Human teacher is hired in Yokai (Japanese mythical monsters and spirits) school. Lots of silly hijinks define this show. Sometimes trash.

Finally, "Blue Box". The love triangle vibes in this one are getting strong!

[syvlanas-writes]

lost - bleach, a kurosaki ichigo fic

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, settings, or plots canon to Bleach, as noted above. They are copyrighted to Kubo Tite. I only own characters, settings, and plots not canon to Bleach.

Summary: Ichigo never felt utter defeat until he clashed with Yhwach for the first time. With his Fullbring broken, Ōetsu sent Ichigo home to do some soul-searching. How could he protect anyone if he doesn't know who he is? Once he comes to terms with his history, Ichigo still has one last trial: forming his true zanpakuto.

Word count: 7k+, 1/2 chapters (word count to be updated)

Relationship(s)/Pairing(s): Kurosaki Ichigo/fem!OC, Kurosaki Ichigo & Zangetsu

Contains: canon divergence - thousand year blood war arc, not fullbringer arc compliant, disabled character of color (OC), emotional baggage, kurosaki ichigo has ptsd, suggestive themes, physical touch as a love language, inspired by a linkin park song

Notes: Ines is a disable character of color; she became deaf at a young age. She is multilingual--she uses Japanese sign language, and can speak Okinawan, Japanese, and Spanish. In this fic, she speaks in Japanese and uses sign language simultaneously. It is written with italics inside quotation marks (" ") and colored lavender here on tumblr. If she's only using sign language, it will be written inside brackets ( { } ).

Chapter 1: Memories (in the rain)

summary: ichigo is sent back to the world of the living, broken. he really didn't want anyone to see him in that sorry state, but the world always has a funny way of keeping ines in his life. of course, ichigo can never spend time with his girlfriend without his father interrupting. this time, it's for a good reason: the real reason for his mother's death.

Chapter 2: THE BLADE is ME (1/28/25)

summary: with his family history fully revealed, ichigo goes back to Ōetsu to have his zanpakuto reforged. now, he has to have a conversation in his inner world, with his zanpakuto spirit. but is zangetsu really who he says he is? in his final battle against zangetsu, ichigo makes a revelation.

divider credit: @/saradika-graphics & @/cafekitsune

fic banner made by me in canva, with official art by kubo tite

[soupiyamashuu]

haruka HR alt.

Basic Information

Her name is Haruka Aragaki (荒垣春果)

Hero Name: Shi no Tenshi (lit. Angel of Death) - 死の天使

Agender (any pronouns)

Sapphic

She was born on Zamami Island, Okinawa, Japan on August 15.

He speaks Japanese, Okinawan, Hokkien, and extremely basic English.

blood type: AB

Power Type

Psychic Spirit Medium - specifically able to communicate with and make use of spirits, demons, and other supernatural forces in fighting.

Typically summons ghosts and other spirits to fight for her. However, due to there also being the psychic element to this … she can kind of force the other person to hallucinate a specific thing. like if she wanted the opponent to see something they were afraid of or wanted them to specifically be plagued by like. idk smile dog KHGKHFGHK she could force that image to show up in the other person’s mind.

Often communicates with the deceased for both just casual conversations and as “fortune telling” methods.

Likes & Dislikes

Likes: a lot of spooky things (horror games, movies, literature) but also. jpop and vocaloid songs..

Dislikes: uncleanliness, darkness, and getting close to others

Hobbies: seances and collecting bones..

Fave/Least Fave Animals: cats // ???

Fave/Least Fave Colors:  ??? // ???

Fears: Rejection

Family

Haruka grew up on Zamami Island in Okinawa and was hardly exposed to anyone close to her age. She has no siblings or extended family members and therefore had to play by herself for the most part growing up.

To cope with this, she made up “imaginary friends” but realized eventually those were just like. spirits and ghosts. She figured that talking to the deceased was better than talking to absolutely nobody at all.

Her closest friend is Maika, an Angel that she met on a trip to the Japanese Alps in Nagano prefecture. They made a summoning contract to work together, though Maika eventually came to Okinawa to live and ‘work’ with Haruka anyway.

Appearance

Long purple hair, usually braided in the back.

Dark green eyes

5 ft 3

Slender and toned.

Asian; she has dark skin due to being a native Okinawan (Ryukyuan) and also from living on an island for her entire life.

She is usually smiling but in the Makima way where it’s .. kind of suspicious idk.

Usually wears non-descript clothing in white or black colors only.

Hero Outfit: depends...

Has piercings on both ears.

Personality

Has often been described with terms like “cryptic” or “mysterious”. Her superhero persona and skillset have also resulted in her being considered ominous and frightening.

Haruka is very calm and methodical about most things. A lot of people are suspicious of her, but she has always pretended to be unfazed by this, though she is actually quite lonely sometimes. After all, it’s not like she chose her power set.

Then again, he is not really a particularly warm or openly compassionate person either. Usually tends to be reserved and aloof because he feels it’s easier to be detached from people.

Design Lore

Shin, Haruka, Mikiko, and Rin all represent an interpretation of the four horsemen of the apocalypse – Haruka = Death – the four of them are known by the Japanese name “Yohane no Mokushiroku no Yonkishi” (literal translation of the four horsemen)

august 15 is a common day of Obon - a holiday celebrated to honor the spirits of one’s ancestors

Trivia

Although he likes a lot of ominous stuff, he also just kind of likes watching anime and reading manga like a normal person. He likes the manga “Slam Dunk” a lot.

[mafuyutism]

here's one (1) set of main OCs! this is about to get real long, so get ready! introductions will be from left to right.

》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ * 。° 。 •˚《

【Miles Chauhan】

Pronouns: He/Him

Birthday: October 1st

Bio: A transfer student from India along with his """"little sister""""", Anaya. He is rather secretive and prefers to keep to his little circle of friends, so not many people know too much about him. Despite all this, he is very popular and regularly gets love confessions from people who barely know his name. He may seem standoffish at first, but he's completely chill once you get to know him. On a totally unrelated note, Miles is able to see into the future.

Likes: Just about any food as long as its sweet (surprisingly)

Dislikes: anything that is sour. oh yeah, he doesn't like belut either. actually, he just doesn't like eels in general. he will get unreasonably angry with you if you come at him with anything with an eel in it.

Worthless trivia: Anyone who has attempted to track down his family heritage has ended up just going in circles. On that note, Miles is the older sibling. He is most certainly the older sibling! This is very true, very easily verifiable information.

》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ * 。° 。 •˚《

【Anaya Chauhan】

Pronouns: She/Her

Birthday: October 1st

Bio: Transfer student from India along with her """""little brother"""", Miles. Contrary to her sibling, she is plenty easygoing and is the more chill of the two of them. This certainly doesn’t mean she can’t get angry; if anything, she is 20x worse than Miles when she’s angry. Luckily for the people around her, it’s almost impossible to make her upset, but if you decide to lay a hand on one of her friends, you should start saying your prayers. And run *very* far, preferably to a different continent. Despite that, she is very dependable as a friend, and is willing to let just about anyone into her circle of friends, much to Miles’ chagrin. Much like her brother, she is quite popular and regularly gets love confessions from strangers. Anyways, she has the power to always know how someone feels, regardless of how much they lie about it.

Likes: Just about everything

Dislikes: Not much…

Worthless trivia: If Anaya is speaking in Hindi, there’s a 99% chance that she is shit talking either you or someone in the general vicinity. Or she’s just having a private conversation that she doesn’t want English speakers eavesdropping on. And no, there is no way you can tell the difference. Oh, and she is the older sibling! This is very true, verifiable information.

》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ * 。° 。 •˚《

【Chihiro Suzumiya】

Pronouns: He/Him (?????)

Birthday: August 4th (?????)

Bio: 15 year old from Okinawa and is a younger sibling to a sister that he very much does not like and will make great effort to never mention. Unlike the rest of his friends, Chihiro is relatively sheltered and naïve, making him more vulnerable to people wanting to take advantage of him. He's also pretty docile, so it's pretty much impossible to make him angry. On that note... whether he wants to admit it or not, he has a massive savior complex, and will get very angry with you if you decide to bring it up. He also allegedly has a crush on Kala, but that's just a theory. A game theory.

All that aside, Chihiro has a pretty dark past that he doesn't like to talk about. His friends barely know anything about him other than the fact that he exists and is a sophomore. Hell, they don't even know that he has an older sibling. He's pretty much a blank slate of a human as far as they're concerned. He is also completely powerless.

Likes: Kala. Not much.

Dislikes: His older sister that will not be named. Not much else.

Worthless trivia: Chihiro speaks in Okinawan Japanese, and he'll fall into it if he gets angry or nervous. Granted there's not many differences between Okinawan Japanese and mainland Japanese, and it's more like a dialect like Kansai-ben, but still, I thought it was interesting to mention.

》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ * 。° 。 •˚《

【Kala Jelani】

Pronouns: She/Her

Birthday: July 9th

Bio: Kala is a 15 yr old whose main languages are Swahili (from her father) and Hindi (her mother). She is pretty introverted, but is willing to open up once you get to know her. In her school, she's known for being a quote un quote "slut" simply because she has more friends that are boys than girls, and for acting more masculine than her peers... and sleeping in class. She once had a phase where she was hyper feminine, but she doesn't like to talk about it much. Kala is interested in video games, and usually stays up all night playing them.

(SLIGHT TW FOR SUICIDE!!! PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!)

Sure she seems carefree on the surface, but deep inside Kala suffers from severe depression, which causes her to disappear from school for days at a time whenever she experiences an episode. Not many people notice, or care, but her friends (Chihiro & Anaya in particular) sure do. More often than not, Kala wants to disappear thanks to her overbearing mother who does some... less than savory things to keep her child in check. Kala doesn't enjoy speaking about her home life because of it.

On a lighter note, she allegedly as a crush on Chihiro, but no one knows if that's true or not. She's also part of a tiering guild, which is the main reason for her sleeping in class. Not that it's an excuse.

Likes: It's a secret????

Dislikes: Her mother

Worthless trivia: Girlie is basically running on energy drinks and the spite she feels for her mother. Also!!! She also has an ability of her own...! Kind of... she has the ability to make shields and then pop them like bubbles; but since she got said ability recently, she pretty much sucks at handling it.

》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ * 。° 。 •˚《

OH MY FUCK T HIS IS FINALLY DONE. HELP. THIS TOOK ME A MONTH. I got stuck on Chihiro's because I didn't want to relay every last bit of his life, I wanted to make him appear more like a character with not much of a personality outside of being the therapist friend, but that was hard to do.

Likes/Dislikes are hard to write, too. So they may be updated. Maybe. Until then, have at this.

[yzafre]

eyyyyy, I went on wikipedia binge vaguely in this direction for my OCs a couple months ago, let's see if I can recycle the research/thoughts.

I'm staying inside the Japanese weapons portion of Wikipedia for this (though also including the Okinawan page - that's actually where the bō, nunchaku, and sai are listed!) - fitting the theme of ninja + what Splinter's more likely to have on hand. I thought about extending to the Chinese weapons, given Tang Shen's heritage - then I remembered she was explicitly against being part of the ninja clan in 2012, so.

Let's start with Leo and the Nakamaki. Still a sword - it's hard to separate the idea of Leo from swords! But you can do some fun symbolism with it.

According to wikipedia, there's a theorized weapon evolution that goes Ōdachi > nakamaki no tachi > nagamaki. Basically, the thought is that the Odachi blade was sometimes too long to use properly, so they would wrap cord above the sword guard, and grip the sword there; eventually that evolved into just lengthening the hilt.

Not to re-use a metaphor I applied to an OC, but... it's a really great metaphor for biting off more than you can chew, isn't it? Wouldn't that be a great bit of symbolism for Leo - wanting to be the Leader, before he really understands what that is? Like yes, he's the responsible one... but also its very clear he wants to see himself as a cool hero (hello, Captain Ryan), and what's cooler than a big fuck-off sword? That he.... then struggles to wield, and has to modify.

And! You have two good directions for further changes! Either taking the cord off to go back to the Ōdachi to represent him coming into his own, OR have him replace the handle to move towards the Nagamaki, representing him accepting his limitations and his need for help.

Another direction - sooo okay. Brief diversion to '03 - Leo brings up Bushido there, which is a samurai thing, not a ninja. And, thought we often associate the katana with samurai, from my very amateur reading it seems like pole-arms would have been a lot more common? So giving the naginata to Leo, rather than Donnie, could be interesting.

Next, uhh... this is less thinking about the characters, and more my child-hood "archers are cool!" thing coming out, but... would love for one of them to use the bow/yumi/whatever. A) because it's cool, B) because it would be very different! A true ranged user on the team, one that could lean into the stealth aspect, almost doing sniper things...

It wouldn't happen in the actual show, I don't think, because, well - action show. BUT! If it did, I think it would be either Leo or Donnie?

It would be a very weird choice for Leo, in some ways - a weapon for the Leader that requires him to stay back? But he's kinda all about the focus and precision, which I think would translate over. It also would be interesting thematically, for him to have a weapon that forces him to not be in the front lines.

In theory, staying up high and back to aim would also allow him to see the whole battlefield, to then call out directions to his team - pushing him to act more as a tactical/strategic lead than an Action Hero lead.

With Donnie, it mostly comes down to the math brain - all the angles and calculations and stuff. Considering when Metalhead was made under the reasoning of having something else fight for you, while you stayed safe, I don't think he'd be opposed to a weapon that let him hang back.

Speaking of Donnie - did you know the hanbō/half-staff is listed as only being a few inches different in length from the japanese blow-gun? I could see Donnie attempting to make a franken-weapon - and experimenting with different poisons/chemical weapons with the darts.

This is very silly - but if he's staying with a spear, the pictures of the bisentō look really hecking cool.

Moving on to the warm-colored turtles.

I think Raph would enjoy playing into the image of a kanabō, but I'm not sure that's the best idea, long-term. Like I think he'd want to - and I even think he'd be skilled with it! But... I don't know.

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, I actually think it would be interesting to see him with a chain/rope weapon (kusarigama, kusari-fundo, kyoketsu-shoge, ect). I mean, he'd hate learning it, I'm pretty sure. It seems like they'd have a steep learning curve. And I do not see him choosing it for himself. But!

So, like... I've seen a lot of fan works pointing out the "controlled chaos" connection with Mikey - having to master the momentum, let it flow with him. And... I actually think you could translate that over for symbolism/metaphor's with Raph's anger issues?

Like... the anger is going to happen (you have to have the momentum for the weapon to work) - how do you go along with it, control it, to have a productive outcome and not have it interfere with your team mates or snap back and hurt you (how do you ride the waves of anger, so you don't self-destruct)?

A weapon I find interesting for either Raph or Mikey would be the suntestsu/yawara type - pressure-point strikers, basically. Raph likes to get up-close and personal, Mikey likes to dance around his opponents, both would lend well to that type of damage - and it would require both of them to work on focus.

I saw someone said give Mikey a Battleaxe and... yeah, I can see it. The imagery is great, I think he'd figure out how to master that momentum. Though I do wonder if having to cart it around would hamper his agility/acrobatics? (his brother's might appreciate it slowing him down, lol)

It made me quickly think of Amy Rose from Sonic, actually - and that's an affectionate, excited reference. Big hammer (the ōtsuchi, maybe?), not a Battle Axe - but if he could figure out how to break physics to do that hammer-launched jump she does? Not realistic at all, but it would fit his image well!

Also! We see them all using throwing stars in the show - but I think Mikey could really master thrown weapons? Part of this comes from the episode with the water balloons (and Leo's where were you hiding those??? lmao) - but also... I can just picture him bouncing all around the scenery, flinging weapons from every angles, doing trick shots. I can also see it driving Donnie crazy - he can do the trick shots, but has to think about it, run all the calculations, it takes time to set up - but Mikey can just do them on instinct.

((Also: slightly off-topic, but did you know there's a sword-and shield combo called the Tinbe-Rochin - with one of the common materials for the shield being listed as turtle shell? A bit morbid for the boys, but could be a very interesting choice for a villain.))

Uhhh... realizing I might be a bit off on the question - you might have meant what they'd choose to switch to (in character perspective) and not what would be interesting for them (meta perspective). But. Hopefully that will help somehow?

I have a Thought/question I want some opinions on. I have some of my own ideas, but if any of the turtles (particularly the 2012 versions) were to switch or learn to use a different weapon what would that weapon be? This doesn’t have to be limited to weapons we’ve seen used in tmnt before, go nuts.

[mostly-mundane-atla]

In a modern AU where most of the cast is not originally from Alaska, where do you think they'd be from?

I don't know, I've seen people from just about every irl cultural inspiration for the show in Fairbanks (except maybe folks from Tibet, but I never actually asked so), the majority of them living there with their family and still speaking their languages, so I never really thought about back stories where everyone 20 and younger wasn't simultaneously born in Alaska and still being raised in a non-American culture. It never occured to me that was something I might need to do. Alaska is ridiculously diverse and no one ever talks about it.

I guess I do have cultural backgrounds, so I guess that could be where they're from? I dunno if that counts though.

Sokka and Katara's family is always Bering Straits Inupiaq. Exactly which village they're from isn't always specified (honestly just assume King Island unless stated otherwise because I like to be important), but they typically have family in nome.

I haven't written much with Aang, but I end up conceptualixing him as Thai a lot because most Buddhists I've seen were Thai. I should probably put more effort into thinking of him as Tibetan.

Ozai and Iroh are Chinese and Ursa is Okinawan with family in Hawai'i. One idea i keep getting is Zuko saying he's Japanese on his mom's side and when someone brings up that he said his mom is Okinawan he says "My dad says it's the same thing."

Suki is Ainu and Siberian Yup'ik

Toph is Chinese and depending on the day you ask, she was either taught English along with Mandarin Chinese by her bilingual nanny or learned English exclusively from Mel Brooks movies she technically wasn't allowed to watch. She also speaks French and Hebrew, claiming "I just like the way they sound."

Haru is Korean and Haida. The parents he refers to are technically his aunt and uncle on the Korean side, but as they can't have kids and he's been in their care for as long as he can remember, they're Mom and Dad to him. He has plenty of contact with his Haida relatives and there's a lot of planning ahead so that he has equal exposure to each culture.

Jet is Koyukon, Gwitchin, and Tanana, though he doesn't know how much of each.

Might add more at a later date

[writingwithcolor]

Japanese-coded girl from future

@writergeek-cos asked:

Dear writingwithcolor,

I’m writing a story about a girl from the year 3026 who travels back to 2026 to save the world from a disastrous future. She is Japanese, but was not born on Earth. How can I acknowledge her Japanese heritage, while at the same time conveying that she is from the future, having lived off-world her whole life?

Basically in her timeline, a giant weapons manufacturing company takes over the world in a massive attack in 2026. The attack forces much of humanity to move off world, its damage was so catastrophic. However, the war follows them into space, and the conflict turns into a war between most of humanity and this giant corporation. In 3026, the character decides she will travel back in time to prevent the initial takeover from ever happening.

Given Japan’s relationship with WMDs, it is realistic to have a Japanese character who opposes military armament proliferation (Even with the rise of the pro-military Japanese far right, the majority of Japan still opposes an alteration to Article 9). Though Japan censors their war crimes from textbooks, anti-war and pacifist ideology are still important to mandatory education curricula. For form’s sake, I would love for you to do more research into civilian grassroots organizations (particularly in Hiroshima and Nagasaki) for hibakusha and other stakeholders to get a cultural sense of how loud Japanese opposition would be to these companies.

There is concern that as more veterans and WWII survivors pass away, the younger generations will become increasingly ignorant about the necessity for Japan’s pacifism, however the Nikkei* communities and the multiracial Japanese communities within Japan have a high social media presence and talk to each other a fair deal. My grandparents were doing forced labor for the Imperial Army as middle school students and my conversations with my Okinawan counterparts of their family experiences with genocide have hardened our collective hatred of the Japanese right. We (multi-racial and Nikkei Japanese) are also the only growing segment of the Japanese population, so I can envision futures for either an increasingly pacifist OR an increasingly hawkish Japanese society. The one thing I request is that you do not make Japan the country that causes the cataclysm. We may be war criminals, but the legacy of the A-bombs runs very deep even to this day. I don’t think a non-Japanese person has the cultural competency to envision a Japanese society that OKs WMD use.

As to heritage, I don’t think you need to look far to realize that you don’t need “Japan the country” to be “Japanese” (by whatever metric one measures that term). Firstly, our Nikkei diaspora prove this. You are essentially adapting a diaspora narrative to space. Secondly, and arguably more importantly,  please be mindful that Japanese is a national heritage designation, not an ethnic one, so you’ll need to delve into your character’s background a good deal. What is her ethnicity? Where is she from? Does she speak a dialect? Please see the 2020 report for the Nikkei Global Research Project by Nippon Zaidan on Nikkei and Japanese cultures to get a sense of how Japanese diaspora preserve their culture and sense of Japanese-ness. I also recommend heading over to @wearejapanese, a tumblr blog dedicated to Japanese diaspora, including those from minority groups. 

For me, personally, the real fun of reading your story will be to see how you adapt Japanese cultural values to life in space via your world-building. I imagine different cultures will bring different skills to the table depending on their values. For humanity to survive, I imagine that a society focused around inclusion and harmony would make more sense, so I look forward to this story. 

I have a big question mark when it comes to how the 2026 portion of the plot will work, so I advise you to come up with your future world-building first (including factors that lead to the cataclysm and humanity’s evacuation from Earth) and write us another ask when you’ve got more of the story under your belt. 

- Marika

*I’m not dismissing the right-wing history of many Nikkei American and Peruvian organizations, however, I think it is fair to say the majority of the younger Nikkei Japanese oppose Japanese imperialism because imperialist movements tend to be exclusionary. 

[rotzaprachim]

Four i'm currently working on that are NEED TO KNOWS -

spanish (ideological feeling + functional second language of my n@ti0nality) + solidarity + personal cultural heritage + it's beautiful) - know some

modern hebrew and classical hebrew (which i truly believe all jews including anglophone diaspora jews should take a stab at! essential for modern jewish connection/leftism and mizrachi, sephardi, arab-israeli perspectives - know some

local indigenous language under revival - solidarity and decolonization, personal heritage of my adopted land

yiddish - ashkenazi heritage language + I LOVE IT

2 I haven't really started that I need to know

Tagalog - heritage language, family language, language of my diaspora

Arabic esp levantine and palestinian arabic - essential imho to bridge arabic and hebrew divides and support medinas yisrael as hebrew/arabic/english speaking nation

others + family languages

Korean - first language of my closest family and relatives

ladino - love of ladino culture, would like to support the revival

German - my grandmother's first language (not yiddish), heritage language + personal interest in midwest german/diaspora german in the america

Japanese - grew up in a predominantly japanese diaspora community and with a lot of attachment to japanese culture, japanese was the first "foreign" language that I learned in school

Okinawan - know a woman heavily involved in a diasporic okinawan language revival effort who is trying to collect any young people she can find to help support it

Others i'm interested in, more for academic research and vibes:

romanian (THE mixed language, many interesting parallels to Yiddish), ukrainian, norwegian and swedish, persian, etc.), portuguese

Like so far I haven't chosen a language because I love it, I've chosen a language that I felt I NEEDED to learn in some way and worked from there and fallen in love along the way. i don't think you can start learning a language and not fall in love with it along the way tbh

i totally support learning whatever language for the fun of it but a lot of my language learning has been guided by just what i feel i *need* to know and i've somehow worked up a list of 6 languages to learn/maintain anyway

[btzone]

Commonality of Buck-Tick member names

I was thinking that if you’re not Japanese, you might not know how common or rare the various Japanese names are. For Buck-Tick, the names of the band members are fairly common first names and surnames, not really anything unusual happening there. No native speaker should have trouble reading their names. However, the most interesting thing to note is that Hisashi’s kanji is not usually how one would think to read that name, which is how it ended up that on their very first release on an independent label, his name was typo-ed as Kotobuki instead of Hisashi. (To keep that kanji and reading, it is likely to add one more kanji to make Hisashi, much like how Atsushi’s name is 2 kanji.) Our Hisashi Imai is not the only one with that kanji and name reading, but it’s not the default way to read it. This is why when you fill out forms in Japan, you not only write your name’s kanji but you also write down how to read it because you never know what combos a parent came up with.

Some basic info about their surnames, such as how common it is and where in Japan is it most common. Excluding Hokkaido and Tokyo as the majority of people who live in those two places are “immigrants”, so to speak, and not native for several generations. (If you meet someone from those 2 places, ask them where their grandparents are from.) I need you to be able to track your family history in that general area for at least 150-200 years in Japan to call you a native of that region, sorry. (If you can’t claim that you’re the 19th generation descendant of so-and-so, what is your worth?) This sort of tracking is quite easy to do in Japan because we have family registry books that note the genealogy (patriarchal because who needs to remember the names of women) and also serves as a way of establishing citizenship. It’s also fairly common IMHO for the history of a surname to be like, well 1000 years ago this person did something good for the emperor/king so they were granted a gift and the gift was this name and some land. But, I digress. (Trust me, this whole paragraph is hilarious if you’re Japanese with a sense of humor because it’s true.)

Focusing on family names here. No info on their first names as I looked up what were the most common names given to boys in the years the members were born and though their names are common enough, only one of the members have a name in the top 10 most popular boys names for the year they were born. Takashi (same kanji as B-T member; real first name of Toll) was the 9th most common name given to a boy in 1962 (same year as Takashi the drummer). Yutaka gets an honorable mention. Yutaka (same kanji as B-T member) was the 3rd most common name given to a boy in 1962 and 1963; the 6th most common name given to a boy in 1964; the 7th most common name given to a boy in 1965 (Yutaka the bassist was born in 1967). Minor note: though the kanji is different, Atsushi was the 10th most common name given to a boy in 1968 (Atsushi the singer was born in 1966). To the rest of the band members, don’t feel so bad as my name isn’t in the top 10 either! And who can even read child names today. It’s crazy, right? (mic check, um, can I get a chuckle?)

What is not so commonly shared and do not expect to ever know this stuff is the family crest. The family crest is VERY specific to the son that you descended from. Japan be like, “We can’t have each of George Foreman’s kids named George AND have the same family crest!” This ain’t no google search thing. This ain’t no ask a librarian. This is in the family genealogical book and the only people who get to see that is family. Sure, there’s crests online. But don’t think that’s your crest or your favorite celebrity crest. That’s just some common crest that made it’s way to a scanner. Also, if you study a craft, it could be that craft is from a “school” that passes on a pseudonym once you’ve mastered the craft, complete with kanji and crest so unless you know the master’s birth name, you’re not even looking in the right direction. Example, one year someone with the same family name and kanji as mine got really famous in Japan and even made international headlines. Like, you’ve probably heard of this person famous. My mom was curious if we’re related (internet says there’s only 5400 of us so maybe) and while she was visiting relatives, happened to find out that we have different family crests, thus she gave up the search and declared we are not related. (She did not want to bother to go back 19 generations or so to the story of the king who passed out names.., see paragraph 2 above.)

On to the names! For reference, all Buck-Tick members are from Gunma prefecture. Japan has a population of 126,476,461 people. The most common surnames are Satō, Suzuki, Takahashi, Tanaka, Itō, Watanabe, Yamamoto, Nakamura, and Kobayashi. Each of those surnames have over 1,000,000 people with that name residing in Japan. What’s a rare surname? Something with either 1 or 4+ kanji. (Except Hayashi.) They exist but. Really rare surnames? Well, those would be the names the Japanese government declared cannot exist anymore so those names tend to exist only outside of Japan. (Happened to one part of my family so I know this shit exists. Only 460 left. How did they get away with it? And how can I get hanko with this?)

Name info source: https://myoji-yurai.net/

桜井 (sakurai) literal meaning: cherry blossom-well (like a water well) This kanji for Sakurai is ranked #106 for most common surnames in Japan. This is the most common kanji for Sakurai. It is commonly found in Kanagawa, Saitama, and Chiba prefectures. (Kanto region) For cities, Takasaki, Gunma and Uonuma, Niigata have the most people named Sakurai. Roughly 172,000 people in the entire nation are named 桜井. In Gunma, almost 5% of Kanna town has this surname. Other famous Sakurais? Argh, someone in The Alfee. Better than that, Ao from Cali≠Gari.

櫻井 (sakurai) Same name as above, just different cherry blossom kanji (older version). This kanji for Sakurai is ranked #813 for most common surnames in Japan. It is commonly found in Kanagawa, Aichi, and Chiba prefectures (Kanto and Chubu regions) For cities, Takasaki, Gunma and Akashi, Hyogo have the most people named Sakurai. Roughly 23,600 people in the entire nation are named 櫻井. (The people who couldn’t be sussed to simplify their kanji.) 

今井 (imai) literal meaning: now-well (like a water well) This kanji for Imai is ranked #75 for most common surname in Japan. This is the most common kanji for Imai. It is commonly found in Kanagawa, Saitama, and Aichi prefectures. (Kanto region) For cities, Gero, Gifu and Ichinomiya, Aichi have the most people named Imai. Roughly 212,000 people in the entire nation are named 今井. In Gunma, 20% of Ueno village has this surname. Other famous Imais? Miki Imai, singer, wife to Tomoyasu Hotei. 星野 (hoshino) literal meaning: star-field This kanji for Hoshino is ranked #147 for most common surnames in Japan. This is the most common kanji for Hoshino. It is commonly found in Gunma, Saitama, and Kanagawa prefectures (Kanto region). For cities, Kiryu, Gunma and Nagaoka, Niigata have the most people named Hoshino. Roughly 137,000 people in the entire nation are named 星野. In Gunma, almost 36% of Katashina village has this surname. Other famous Hoshinos? Gen Hoshino wrote a song during the pandemic that got very popular and even Hisashi Imai posted a video of him playing along to that song.

樋口 (higuchi) literal meaning: gutter-mouth This kanji for Higuchi is ranked #132 for most common surnames in Japan. This is the most common kanji for Higuchi. It is commonly found in Fukuoka, Osaka, Niigata, and Kanagawa prefectures (Kansai to Chubu regions) but it’s safe to say it is common throughout all of Japan except for Okinawa. Roughly 146,000 people in the entire nation are named 樋口. In Gunma, there’s roughly 1,000 people named Higuchi in Takasaki and guess where our bassist is from. Other famous Higuchis? How about Yutaka Higuchi the figure skater.

Yagami...the stage name of the drummer. He never writes this in kanji but I imagined that if he did, he would write it as 八神. Or did he write it like that once so that’s why I imagine it that way? Anyway, there’s many possible kanji variations and I was surprised that the most common way to write it is actually 谷上. (For me, I’m like is that Tanuye? Taniue? because I’m Okinawan and we have weird place names.)

[sensitivityreaders]

sensitivity reader

name: Lee Ohara

pronouns: he/him, she/her, they/them

age: 18+

reads for: I am an AFAB genderfluid person of color. I'm specifically mixed, being half Chamorro (hailing from Guam), a quarter Okinawan/Japanese, and a quarter white. I grew up with my Okinawan grandmother majority of the time, so I am more properly knowledgeable about Okinawan/Japanese culture. I'm officially diagnosed with Level 1 Autism, Inattentive Type ADHD (formerly known as ADD), Generalized Depression, Generalized Anxiety, and a dissociative disorder. I'm polyamorous and currently identify as bisexual/questioning lesbian. I grew up poor/come from a low-income household that relied mainly on social security benefits and my parents are divorced and had split custody over me

sensitivity reading:

general questions and discussion: yes in-depth discussion of plots and characters: yes partial read (relevant sections): yes full read: yes

willing to read: original work, fanfiction (my list of fandoms is large enough that it'll be essier to generalize. I consume mainly animanga content and video games in JRPG, Open World Adventure, Otome, or similar genres, like the Persona series, the Tales series, Breath of the Wild, etc. I know very little about live action series), erotica/nsfw/explicit scenes

unwilling to read: Large romantic age gaps in non-fantasy settings (ask for clarification if needed), nail and eye trauma, and animal abuse/abandonment

rates: $0.007 per word, in US Dollars

contact: available upon request

additional notes: Please use tone indicators when speaking with me! I may also ask for clarification of tone regarding a lot of dialogue and in general tend to ask a lot of clarifications so I fully understand context/your intent with your writing. I live in the Pacific Standard Timezone, so please keep that in mind regarding response times as well, though I will try to be as quick as I can in replying