Chapter 7 | Magazines & Books

Otaku Asia July-August 2015 issue

Last month, I bought this mini magazine from Book Sale at SM Calamba after I just saw it. It was a good thing that I still have money left that day and I said “I’ll buy this now!!” Why? Because it was an anime related magazine. Yes, I’m an otaku. Otaku is a Japanese term for people with obsessive interests, commonly the anime and manga fandom.  The magazine I bought is entitled Otaku Asia (July-August 2015 issue) and it has Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku (Mikagura School Suite) as its cover page and that time when I bought it I was currently watching that anime too.  I was about to share why I also buy these kinds of magazines. It’s not just because it’s specifically for anime but some of the contents are inspiring and reflective too. Anyway, I found another one of my Otaku Asia magazine but it’s the March 2014 issue. 

Otaku Asia March 2015 issue

Otaku Asia’s not only for anime reviews and such. It is also used as an advertisement tool for Japanese stores/shops and products as well. There is this article in the March 2014 issue about東京バブルティー (Tokyo Bubble Tea) telling their story and about their products. Based on the pictures in the magazines, it really resembles dishes like their sushi and gyudon. There is also an advertisement article is the about a Cosplay Shop where you can buy clothes, wigs and other equipment needed for cosplay., which is reaaaally helpful for people who want to cosplay a character but don't know how to get materials and costumes. 

Tokyo Bubble Tea in Manila

Another article is about a Japanese food entitled “A fish that is not a fish?!” And that food is called “taiyaki.” Taiyaki is a Japanese fish-shaped cake. The most common filling is red bean paste that is made from sweetened azuki beans. Other common fillings may be custard, chocolate, cheese, or sweet potato. Some shops even sell taiyaki with okonomiyaki, gyoza filling, or a sausage inside. Seeing these products will make you realize how creative Japanese people are, aren’t they? 

Red Been Paste filled taiyaki

It also has an article about “Anime Hair Tutorials” which is really helpful for people who are having difficulties in drawing hair for the character they want to draw. It provides a lot of hair styles too.

And another article is about an anime movie called HAL. I don’t usually watch an anime movie but reading the article made me want to watch that certain movie and guess what, it was amazing! The 3 main characters were voiced by the voice actors that I admire. I have a lot of voice actors that I admire and a character that was in that movie was voice my most favorite voice actor, Mamoru Miyano, so I really had to watch! 

There are also articles introducing newly released manga. Manga are comics created in Japan or by creators in the Japanese language, conforming to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century.  They have a long and complex pre-history in earlier Japanese art. The term manga is a Japanese word referring both to comics and cartooning. "Manga" as a term used outside Japan refers specifically to comics originally published in Japan. So this falls down to the book category since it is, after all a book. Here are examples of manga:

Owari no Seraph (Seraph of the End)

Aoharu x Kikanjuu (Aoharu x Machinegun) 

i just got this from google, i don't really know the title

Buying just one issue gives me a lot more Japanese related stuff that I do not know of. And I really enjoy reading these kinds of magazines. 

Chapter 6 | Internet vs. Textbooks

As students, we research for school works and reliable information we need. We research for answers, experiments, problems, thesis, projects and even essays related on the information that we seek. Internet and textbooks are two sources used by students, and other people as references for research. These are two very comparable terms for they provide enough valuable information, but immeasurably differ when we equate the time taken to give the information. Before the internet was accessible, books were the only basis we turned to for getting information. One seeks at the amount of information and speed with which one can get information regarding anything. 

Internet is said to be as a worldwide computer network that provides information on many subjects. Nowadays, people are getting attached on internet to gather information because its accessibility. You just have to type a particular keyword in and it will give you a list of several websites that relates your topic. However, one must indeed be careful in picking information on the internet because there are websites that are unreliable and can be faked or false. Everyone can publish a website and writing anything in it which may completely be defective and changeable. Thus, people rely on internet for an easy and fast research.

Book is a piece of writing that contains information. Not a lot of people have plenty of books at home, right? Commonly, others borrow and use books from libraries. Some people do not use books for study because it is difficult to look for the right book because you need to browse books one by one that you think has the certain topic you seek for to find it. However, there are libraries that have websites where you can look for books online as well. Professional book writers are knowledgeable about what they write and there are many steps before you can publish a certain book so you can be ensured that your source is reliable and trustworthy. 

Both have advantages and disadvantages based on accessibility and promptness. Internet is better but books are more dependable. Internet takes lesser time than books for inquiries. You can copy-paste a certain article for your information then print it right away which make it easier. A huge amount of time is allotted to get information in books. You need to find the perfect book and you may need several books but with only one topic. And you have to write the evident and certified information, but indeed it is more trustworthy. On the contrary, internet is much more convenient than books. And books are much more reliable than the internet. It's still a win-win.

Chapter 5 | Expressing Yourself

“Some things are better left unsaid.” This quote had been bugging me ever since I’ve read it. Indeed it is true but what’s behind it? What can you understand about that one sentence? For me, feelings are something that is better left unsaid, but not all times. There are different types of feelings that are better shared to everyone. There are also some types of feelings which should not be known and you tend to hide it. Everyone has a secret or two they tend to hide, right? 

A lot of teens nowadays find it difficult to express themselves directly. So they make new media help them in sharing what they are not able to in person. It is with the help of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

I too, admit that I have difficulty dealing with myself; with how I want my feelings to be understood by many but I can’t seem to express them directly. My only way of escape is in RPW (it’s in my entry 2 weeks ago), where people don’t really know me but I get comfortable talking to them. I have a friend whom I call as “Sis” in RPW and I believe that she knows be better than anyone, even my family. I have known her for about 3-4 years I think. She’s very kind and understanding and she’s made me cry several times. Not negatively, but positively. Every time I feel relieve telling about what’s disturbing me, she never fails to cheer me up, and by that I know you she cares about me and I feel so relieved that there is someone like her that cares for me. I just can’t help but feel happy and crying ate the same time. Here’s what she told me after reading my birthday message for her. 

Twitter is my online journal, though I am not that active. I even tweet about nonsense stuff. I can say whatever I want without the need to talk to anyone and not care about what other people will say. I have more freedom in Twitter than in reality; a lot of youth see it that way too, right? Twitter also helps me feel relieve temporarily. And oh! It kind of helps me know trending issues though I do not really care about some of it.

Another social media that helps me express is Instgram. Instagram tends to be my online photo journal. As a multimedia arts student, I want to improve my photography skills and sometimes I just use Instagram to compile my shots. Sometimes I just take picture of things that instantly catch my eye and even take pictures of what I’m currently doing as well. I admit that I am not good at thing of captions for my pictures. Some of the shots I uploaded in Instagram don't have captions explains it. Some of it only had emojis that relates to the photo itself. And sometimes I just let my followers give meaning to what they see in my shots.

Here are some of the pictures taken from my Instagram account.

these pictures are all taken when I was still in Japan

The youth these days also use social media to escape from reality. They also use social media to help them express their feelings which they can't tell anybody directly because they might be afraid of being ignored and being judged by other people. Our society is not cruel, it's the people in it that's cruel. We should not be afraid of sharing what we really feel inside so that people will understand what we want to tell and let them understand what we feel. Of course a lot of us have trust issues but we all have a friend or two whom you can talk to really comfortably, right? I have 3 best friends from high school but I still have difficulty in sharing what's been troubling me because I am afraid of ruining the mood of our conversations because we rarely meet and talk nowadays; I tend to keep it inside me. And sometimes I find it troublesome to share my problems because I am too lazy to type and in person, I am not that much of a straight story teller. I tend to stutter sometimes and can't find the right words to say and if I get distracted for a few seconds I tend to forget what I am telling them. 

Anyway, I just want to tell you that you should not be afraid at expressing yourselves! There are several ways for you to express your thoughts and feelings not just through social media. You can do it drawings or paintings if you're artistically inclined and you could also do it through music. There are several ways which you can decide to that can fit your personality and passion as well!