Random Jennie in Hawaii

Huh, just saw an old picture of BLACKPINK Jennie scampering about the Leahi area on Kilauea Avenue where I do my afternoon walk- AS ALWAYS, I gotta ask- where was I during this shoot?

Ironically enough, the googlemaps capture of this area was taken in 2019, almost exactly as the time Jennie did her shoot, so the area looked almost exactly the same! They even still had that Coldwell Banker sign up!

Going online, I found that not only Jennie, but all four members of Blackpink Lisa,  Rose and Jisoo had taken photos there, and I decided to go down to Leahi and take new photos of the places they posed in to show just what the area looks like today! Some stuff has changed including a complete repavement of the road and LOTS of the trees and shrubbery cut back, but I think you can still recognize the place....

Jennie

Same spot today:

Lisa

Same spot today:

Rose

Same spot today:

Jisoo

Same spot today:

Looks like BLACKPINK really WAS "in my area" that day!

Too bad I missed them!

I've mentioned before, but this hilltop at Leahi and the area below it is fairly popular with celebs- Little further down the road is the place which i wrote about recently where Yuno Ohara passed by my Intermediate School...

...guess it's just a pleasing place for photo shoots!

Sequel Pet Peeves

 
Kekkon Dekinai Otoko told the tale of a man who is utterly a bachelor-for-life who somehow despite the odds ends up finding a woman whom he can truly love, and the show ends with the two being a couple. When they made a sequel,  faced with dealing with the happy ending of season one, the writers simply said, “Eh, it didn’t work out for him, so they broke up and he’s a self confirmed bachelor again!!!”

MAN, I cannot STAND when shows do this. They do not realize that it’s not just the struggles of the bachelor throughout the show that made it good, but the fact that the story had a real, conclusive (and optimistic) ending. To say “the hell with it” and scrap the ending to once again have him be single so he can go through the same stuff all over is MADDENING!

The wonderful drama “Ore Wa Hanashi was Nagai” told the story of a hopeless guy who just can’t get a real job living with his mother who, through the chance interventions of people in his life, finally takes the reins of his life and by the show’s end, makes his way to his first ever job.

It was a perfect end to a highly enjoyable show, and so when they announced a new SPECIAL SEQUEL to the series, I was naturally apprehensive, and, sure enough, just reading the synopsis had me GROANING out loud: 

“The story set in a five years later, follows Kishibe Mitsuru, who has resolved to return to work after a long NEET life but gives up after two months, as he once again begins the path to independence.”

WHY? WHY do they always DO this??? Is it THAT hard to come up with a new compelling story to follow the original series without RUINING what made the first series special in the FIRST place??

I mean, as Ore  No Hanashi wa Nagai was one of my ALL-TIEM favorite dramas, I suppose I'll HAVE top see it at SOME TIME, but even if it ends up being OK, they will still have tampered with the original ending and made it less than what it was.

Quentin Tarantino perhaps said it best when talking about that completely superfluous and totally unnecessary 4th installment of the otherwise perfect TOY STORY trilogy:

Well Put!!!

Your Monthly Keiko For March 2025

It's Keiko for March and she's looking as FINE as ever! What is our dear Keitan up to THIS month?

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On My J-Drama Wishlist:

Anata wo Ubatta Sono Hi kara

Keiko stars in a drama slightly reminiscent of Youkami no Semi, as a mother who loses a child to food poisoning and extracts revenge on the seemingly uncaring delicatessen president (Nao Omori)  responsible- by kidnapping their 3 year old child for herself.

Begins airing in April, can't wait to see it!!!

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Last month we mentioned how Keiko had become the model for jewelry brand MIKIMOTO, and a few days ago Keitan's hubby DAIGO uploaded photos of himself proudly posing on front of the HUGE window mural of her in front of the store!

Pics from DAIGO's twitter 

Can't BLAME the guy as I would be proud, too!!!

Into The World of Manga with Haru Kuroki in "Juhan Shuttai!"

Haru Kuroki as the Perpetually Perky Kokoro in "Juhan Shuttai!"

Despite how much I love actress Haru Kuroki, somehow her drama JUHAN SHUTTAI! from 2016 completely slipped under my radar, so I was excited to see it up for grabs at the J-drama forums! Wonderfully winsome and sweetly sincere, Juhan tells the story of Kokoro Kurosawa (Kuroki), an energetic and spritely young girl who never lets the negative side of life get her down and always aims for the positive! 

A one-time Olympic Judo contender, when a devastating injury takes her out of the game, she looks into herself to see what she can contribute to the world now that she has been sidelined, and, remembering how the world of manga was the original inspiration for her love of Judo, wishes to be involved in those that made those stories a reality!

Friends Sara (Rina Takeda) and  Tsukasa (Emiko Tomiyama) 

Always looking at life from the perspective of sports, she tackles the job interview for a magazine publishing company she wants to join with the same outlook: observing the opponent, predicting what they will do, and choosing the right time to make moves!

Surprising the interviewers with her energetic outlook and smart answers to their queries, she seems a shoe-in for employment...

...until she makes the mistake of applying the world of Judo to the interview too literally and accidentally judo flips an elderly janitor…who just happens to be the company PRESIDENT!!!

Anyone else would surely have NO CHANCE of getting employed after that, and even Kokoro figures she's blown it... but Kokoro’s friends remind her she has this thing called “weird luck”, and she is to find that rather than being insulted by the judo maneuver, the Company President sees much potential in her and she actually gets HIRED!!!

With her athletic background, one would assume she’d be placed in the sports department of the magazine, however the employees are shocked when she is placed right in the section she's been dreaming of getting into- the MANGA Department of VIBES Magazine!!!

Kokoro is all smiles as she meets the team-

Senior Editor Iokibe (Joe Odagiri) and Section Chief Wada (Matsushige Yutaka)

 

Kikuchi (Nagaoka Tasuku) , Yasui (Yasuda Ken), and Mibu (Arakawa Yoshiyoshi)

"Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu!!"

The employees of the Manga department don’t quite know what to make of this naive, chatty and eternally bubbly young girl, but she is eager and determined to learn all she can and do her best! And as she learns the ropes of the manga department bit by bit, she will prove to all her naysayers that she has the moxie to get the job done!

helping outside sales agent Koizumi (Sakaguchi Kentaro) promote works with bookstore clerks...

...and even when problems come up for Kokoro and Iokibe (such as dealing with doubts felt by a senior manga creator, played by Fumiyo Kohinata), Kokoro’s unorthodox insights are sometimes the very thing that can help snap out of it and get both the manga and creative team back on track!

 

Finding inspiration in the strangest palces!

Awww man, like I mentioned, I’ve always loved Haru Kuroki ever since “Mi Wo Tsukushi Ryoricho”, (as well as others like Nagi no Oitoma, Ichikei no Karasu and Boku no Neechan) and her role as the super sunshiney Kokoro has immediately become another BIG favorite of mine!!!!

As I already mentioned, this drama came out in 2016, and it makes me sad that I don't remember anyone talking about it when it was actually airing. Like I said, even I hadn't heard of this drama til recently! Such a great little show with tender moments and a LOT of heart, and worthy of viewers!

As for me, I'm gonna really enjoy this one!!!!!!