Archives For photobook

For the latest volume of MEKURU Magazine [Facebook][Official Website], they are holding a special on Yu Aoi who will be turning 30! I’m not sure what’s gonna be in there (Japanese being rusty and all), but there’s gonna be an interview and (maybe?) photos by Kawashima Kotori (川島小鳥) [Portfolio], who apparently is an Ihei Kimura (木村伊兵) awarded photographer for his book Star (明星) [Amazon JP].

It’s titled Aoi Yu, Saisho de Saigo ni Ren’ai o Kataru (蒼井優、最初で最後に恋愛を語る) — you’ll have to forgive my des and nis translations.

mekuru-vol05-aug15-yu-aoi-cover

They’re totally selling it like a direct sequel to Travel Sand. xD

There will also be a poem by Shuntaro Kanikawa (谷川俊太郎) titled Aoi Yu (あおいゆう). Among other stuff I can’t make out, it’ll include 128 pages and will be listed at Y907 Yen. It’s available on Amazon JP and HMV JP.

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Oh, man~ my Japanese has gotten so bad. Or at least, my non-food related Japanese. I ran into these interviews Yu-chan did to promote the release of her last interview-PB Yu Diary book, which includes the nugget that she almost quit acting at age 23. But please, feel free to guide me through all these chunks of text.

The other interview includes info on the process of making the book… as well as these three photos of her.

— August 20th 2015 —

Ran into more shots of this shoot [1][2].

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Yu Aoi has a brand new book release simply titled 8740 DIARY 2011-2014, which is (from whatI was able to get) a collection of text and photos gathered between those years from different directors, screenwriters and co-stars. I am pretty sure there were texts from Shunji Iwai, Yuki Tanada and photographer Yoko Takahashi among many others.

The book is fairly priced… and the yen is down, so I think I might get it. We’ll see. In the meantime, Yu’s been promoting it with this cute little video for MORE Magazine, as well as the customary press event.

You can get the book on HMV Japan, which is my usual choice for Japanese items, even though YesAsia also delivers (but I find it extra pricey for them).

Yu Aoi is a Taiwan Girl!

December 8, 2012 — 3 Comments

yu aoi kaiten teburu mutsukashii taiwan de nv hai

Look what I found! It turns out that Yu’s photobook Kaiten TEBURU ha Mutsukashii, which had her followed by photographer Ivy Chen in Taiwan doing their Taiwan Cafe rounds, will be translated to traditional Chinese in a new release simply titled Taiwan’s Girl (台灣的女孩), to be out on December 27th this year. I doubt this will show up on any other online websites~

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Yup. I finally bought Kyou, Konogoro (今日、このごろ。) — roughly translated to Nowadays, Lately. — which I had put off getting for years AND YEARS because… there’s a lot of text. But, damn. I was seriously missing out. There’s not many photos for the book, but there’s TONS of goodies for Yu-chan fans. A LOT of information (movie facts about Yu’s shooting projects, dates, movie suggestions, books she’s given or received, a sorta detailed work around to some of the magazine work she’s done, etc.) — In short, loads of great information for her Wikipedia page. xD

Having to tell you that my Chinese Mandarin classes are paying off for the Japanese reading. Ha! I’m just gonna have to go through all the text bit by bit. Coz seriously, there’s a lot.

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I know I have been a very bad Yu Aoi fan. First off, I had only a faint idea she was going to release a new photobook via HMV Japan, but since her website didn’t mention a thing, I didn’t think it was such a big deal. In any case, I ran into some of the photographs in my daily runs through Weibo — and voila!

I thought I should buy it. xD

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I am pretty (99,9%) sure that this used to be called Haru Natsu Aki Fuyu Kakigoori (春夏秋冬かき氷), which I translated as Kakigoori for All Seasons or Shaved-Ice for All Seasons. But now it’s called Kyou mo Kakigoori (今日もかき氷). I don’t know when that happened. But look!

We know how much Yu lovessssssssssss shaved ice, she’s like… super passionate about it. Some people love animals from shelters, melt for abandoned puppies and other assorted pets — Yu-chan loves herself some Kakigoori. She loves Taiwan for it, and my Mandarin teacher who’s from Taiwan tells me shaved-ice in Taiwan is off the hook out of this world.

I have no illuminating knowledge about shaved ice, because apparently Peruvian raspadilla has NOTHING on Taiwanese shaved ice. But there you go! Now you know how to say shaved ice in Peruvian Spanish~ I’ll put it in katakana: ラスパディーヤ // RASUPADI~YA. LOL The root of the word comes from “raspar” which means “shave” – and while in English, there’s also what we call “snow cones,” raspadillas aren’t really served in a cone.

Another common name for shaved ice in Spanish is granizado, in katakana: グラニザード // GURANIZA~DO, which comes from the word “granizo” as in “hail” ~~~ and also the term nieve raspada (shaved snow) or in katakana: ニエーベ ラスパーダ // NIE~BE RASUPA~DA, which in itself is a wonk term because you can’t shave snow… can you?

Are you bored by now with my Kakigoori knowledge? Well, in any case Yu is willing to travel the world for the perfect Kakigoori… I guess she’s going to need to know how to call it in different names. But if my teacher is telling me the truth, then Taiwan is all Yu needs.

Here are some more photos!

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Well, I was surfing through Flickr Yu tags, and ended up with a bunch of people who have attended Yu’s 3D Exhibit — someone, namely me is very jealous — ;P

Credits and big thank you’s (and evil eyes~~~ xD) go to inucara, and himohu.

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For the phone interview I did with her.

I’m actually thinking about it, and it seems surreal. I was so nervous, I couldn’t speak any English. I mumbled a lot – at least, it feels like it – and the interview seemed like a mess in my head. However, looking at it on paper, it’s not bad, I think.

But you know how I am, right? You ask me about something I know, and I want to tell you everything about it, so when I mentioned Bibi, and Diane (she told me to call her that) asked me about her, I couldn’t keep my mouth shut. LOL But it seemed good, it seemed more of a conversation than an interview…

Diane also found peculiar that I was a Peruvian girl talking to an American songwriter about a Chinese vocalist. “How do you know a Chinese vocalist in Peru?” she asked me. That’s when the fangirl in me came out. Anyway, I’m in a short-sleeved t-shirt, and I’m freezing now at 3am. Transcript is done, and the article… at least, at the moment, has around 2010 words. And! It will show up in issue011 of YAM.

Also, don’t forget we are giving away the pop-up book Uso. by Yu Aoi. If you want to learn how to be able to enter the draw, you’re gonna have to read issue011 when it comes out next month.

My order for Yu Aoi’s newest release of Uso. the Pop-up book is finally here. Even though shipping cost me a little more than I had intended. I will review this, and then reveal the surprise I had for all of you.

First, let me tell you it is slightly weird to have an almost-real-life-sized photo of Yu’s face. It is just slightly bigger (I suppose), so it’s unsettling. The photo it’s so sharp and clear, and her skin is so flawless in it, I’m so jealous. But then again… that’s a well-lit photograph, so that’s unfair. xD

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