Star Trek in Japan and other things

Last Saturday I went to the theaters to see Star Trek on its opening weekend in Japan. The extra wait that movies get here from their releases in America can range from a few days to months and even years! Luckily Star Trek came out only a few weeks after its release in the US so I didn't have to wait too long. Me and my girlfriend went to the film together and I was quite surprised that the local theater was jammed packed with people. Lately the theater, the main one in the Kofu area, hadn't seen much excitement, but this past Saturday it seemed everyone wanted to go see a movie. Most went to see a movie based on a popular manga that opened the same weekend, but the theater was packed for Trek as well.

Quick review, it was awesome! It was everything I expected in watching a new Star Trek movie and more. The battles were exciting, the story was great, and the actors were great bringing the classic characters back to life. It was a fun movie, and me and my girlfriend both enjoyed it. And I also ended up picking up a nice extra at the theater by buying a nice little souvenir book for the film. These are quite common in Japan and I try to buy one for most of the films I see as they end up being quite nice. I want to see the film again, but I'll wait for the Blu-ray release as going to the movies in Japan is too expensive for multiple visits to one movie.

In other happenings this week, the swine flu has come to my prefecture. No one is panicking, as it seems people in Japan have finally come to the same realization the rest of the world has on the truth of this flu. But today I went to the local used item store and noticed they were asking in a big pamphlet outside for people to sale them their unused flu masks. Kind of strange, but I guess they want to make a bit of money from the situation. And I have also found a wonderful solution to relaxing after the frustrations of the past few weeks, and thats revisiting listening to my old anime songs. Most of the week when I get home I've been turning on my computer and listening to lots of old anime soundtracks to cheer me up. Its really helped a lot. Makes me wish my ipod wasn't busted.

And lastly this week I got my city taxes bill for the year. Thankfully I pay in four installments, which is good as they went up a lot this year as this was the first year I worked a full year and didn't have the problems I did in 2007.

This weekend will be hard for me. Sunday is sports day for my school. Sports day was fun last year, but also hard considering I have asthma. My hope this year is that I won't have any asthma problems, but I'm a little worried about it. But if anything bad happens, I will sit out some activities. I'm not supposed to run for the most part anyway, and luckily the people at work have said its OK so I will do what I can. And on the 14th I get to go to Tokyo for a day of shopping, relaxing, and having fun. I can't wait!