I sometimes wonder if anyone reads what I write...well, to say that is a bit of an understatement perhaps. Rather, it might be best to say I'm positive no one reads what I write. But if I don't write what I'm thinking here then I'm afraid I will end up not having written it anywhere, and if I haven't written it anywhere then there is no way to assertain for certain whether or not it was actually at some point in time ever really thought, and thus being the state of things I might have well been better to have never even so much as thought it in the first place and so save myself the trouble of having to think of nothing whatsoever. And so I write. And so are you free to chose to read. And if by some chance you do happen to be reading these....
I thank you ( ;_;)...though I'm afraid this time appears to be leaning a bit more than is perhaps best towards the side of whimsey. It's really my fault, for doing something rather stupid that now excludes me from wearing my favorite t-shirt, the tye dye Boy George rocker one with the cho-kawaii sparklies (that's Hairy Juku Girl for Very. Kute. (^_^)........*_* now buy my clothes... ...... .... ....is the Omiyuudo working yet? ~Gwen Stefaniz~). It's funny, but I wouldn't care what Gwen did if people didn't mistake me for her follower....

Today I was...unpleasant. That happens sometimes. When I was younger I use to deal with this by banging my head on the wall, which not only left a big dent in the wall but made me the glorious lolita I am today. Had I grown up in Japan I most likely would not have been able to do that though, as the walls in many houses are still made from paper and I would simply fall through.

Well, I'm temporarily back in the US, but however well that may have worked before it's not particularly effective now, and so I don't do it. Instead, when I'm under a lot of stress or feel upset, I listen to "Minna no Uta." Has anyone heard of them? The name is English is "Everybody's Songs," and they are a collection of songs by various artists. The songs are always put to innovative art techniques and released for monthly broadcast on the Japanese television network NHK, short for "National Homogenization of Kulture" Unit. In all truth, they're meant for children. But the artists chosen are not like Morning Musume or Johny's Juniors or any of those silly bands; they tend to be somewhat older performers with their own distinct writing styles and world views. This makes each Uta unique and beautiful, and gives a different world view every time you see them.

Despite the fact that they are still unknown in the United States, everyone in Japan knows of "Minna no Uta." Most people stop watching them by the time they've hit their mid teens and early twenties, but some of the more interesting ones just kind of never stop watching them and learning from them, as there is a lot to be learned from these songs. Although they're associated with children's songs, the animation is often fantastical and avant gaurde, and the lyrics and melodies are not always like the bright children's songs I grew up with in the United States...or the highly disgusting ones either. My favorite song when I was younger was "the yucky song."

your cat has just had kittens, they're really cuddly
what a super mother kitty's turning out to be~!
Jump up here into my lap, you lovely mother cat!
...what's that in your mouth? Oh no! A DEAD AND SMELLY RAT!
Oh....yuckyyuckyyuckyyuckyyuckyyuckyaaaaahhhhhhhhh....

...like that (laughs) I use to jump around and throw pillows to that song (oh, but in the most lolita of ways~). If anyone has a copy, please let me know as I seem to have lost mine. *bejente-at-hotmail.com*

But back to the "Minna no Uta." Perhaps many foreign lolita are not aware of this, but in Japan there is a sharp distinction between bandgirl lolita and the other lolita, to the point where lolita sometimes refuse to associate with bandgirl, or even hide the fact that they like certain bands. The music they listen to is unclear, but probably does include visual kei, classical, rock...in moderation. And this is all fine. I think the last thing people should do is limit themselves in chosing the forms of art they like due to group pressure. At the same time I also couldn't help thinking that maybe there was something out there specifically for lolita, something that they could all appreciate. And for this, I eventually settled on "Minna no Uta." For what could be more in tune with lolita than childrens songs tinged with hints of sadness? Of the bringing together of the adult and the child to make something cute and fun for everyone, regardless of age (it's not the song's fault that adults don't chose to watch it).

To help give people an idea of these songs I searched for them on youtube, translated my favorite ones, and shall now post the links down below (I love the Alice one!). Incidentially I was delighted to find that Mimori Yusa and Taniyama Hiroko, two of my favorite artists, had recorded "Minna no Uta." Please research them more if you are interested, though I will probably introduce them more thoroughly at some later point. Their voices are very pure and feminine, but the two represent the flip sides of the same world, Mimori bright and hopeful, Taniyama with a dark slightly insane edge to everything she writes.

Mio Isayama's Tsuki no Waltz (Waltz of the moon)
*lyrics*
Taniyama Hiroko's Makkura Mori no Uta (Song of the Pitch Black Forest)
*lyrics*
Onuki Taeko's Metropolitan Museum
Mimori Yusa's Kuro
*lyrics*

And if anyone's interested, someone did a parody of "Makkura Mori no Uta" using Giko (2ch mascot). It's cute enough, though 2ch is...not. What a dirty place....

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