My Personal Trends This Year

The end of the year is fast approaching.

The Miura Jun Award was announced again this year.

I wonder who or what will receive it this year? I always end up watching it when it pops up on my YouTube feed lol.

So, following the example of Jun Miura, who coined the term “my boom” (personal trend), I won't be giving out any awards myself (;^_^A, but I'd like to introduce the things that became popular for me this year (←who would even be interested lol ←well, maybe just to kill some time😆).

First up is

1. Katte ni Kanko Kyokai (Self-Appointed Tourism Association)

Yes, I think it was around spring, the first half of this year? I got hooked on the YouTube videos of “Katte ni Kanko Kyokai” where Jun Miura and Hajime Anzai travel around the country.

Since there are front and back parts for each of the 47 prefectures (I think there were some overlaps), the sense of accomplishment after watching all 100 or so episodes was like I had taken a virtual trip around Japan.

It's just a show where two middle-aged guys are messing around forever lol. But it gradually becomes addictive. It kind of makes you think, “It’s okay not to live life so seriously…” (;^_^A, a wonderful show that puts you in a positive mood to live life loosely. Plus, it even teaches you new ways to enjoy tourist spots!?
The opening song, “Yatte kimashita babanban♪,” was also on heavy rotation in my head at the time.
The local characters that appear at the end by Mr. Anzai were also fun, and I would pause the video every time to look at them.

So, thank you to the Katte ni Kanko Kyokai team!!

2. Beat Generation

I think this was around spring too?
In order to understand director Luca Guadagnino's film “QUEER” in more detail, I did some research and read several related works, and I also got hooked on the Beat Generation.

The author of “QUEER,” William Burroughs. He was an outrageous writer who killed his wife, but thanks to the movie “QUEER,” I feel like I’ve deepened my understanding of him quite a bit, and it gave me a lot to think about and learn from.

The writers of the Beat Generation, starting with William Burroughs, were also extremely interesting. It was a surprise to learn that the word “Beat” also branched out into The Beatles and Beat Takeshi, and that they had influenced various aspects of Japanese culture both directly and indirectly.

Thanks to Kerouac’s “On the Road,” I was once again made to feel like I was on a virtual trip, traveling across the American continent. I admire that so much—a transcontinental trip. But I’m sure it’s exhausting. I once traveled by bus on the US West Coast—LA to San Francisco to Las Vegas to LA—and even that was an incredible distance and exhausting. Driving 1,000 kilometers almost non-stop like Dean is madness. Everyone, please do it while you’re young and have the stamina.

By the way, I also learned a lot about Bob Dylan through the flow of the Beat Generation, so that was educational. Jun Miura also chose Timothée Chalamet for this year’s Miura Jun Award. I would have loved to see Timothée holding that strange trophy (←no offense!) lol.

So, thank you to the Beat Generation and director Luca Guadagnino!!

3. Kokuhou (National Treasure)

The movie I got so hooked on that I saw it twice during its opening week in June is the film “Kokuhou”, which represents this year—no, it has achieved the highest box office performance in the history of Japanese film and has finally become a work that represents Japanese cinema.

From the first time I saw it, I thought it would be an amazing movie, and I even wrote things like “Let’s make Ryo Yoshizawa a 10-billion-yen man somehow~!!” in the comment section of movie articles (;^_^A, but it seems it has now exceeded 18.1 billion yen in box office revenue, which is deeply moving.

And while I was thinking about going to see it one more time... time passed as I watched other movies, but recently, the morning drama “Bakebake” has been airing, and Mr. Nishikiori, played by Yoshizawa-kun, is strangely funny just by appearing on screen lol. I’ve been feeling smug that my impression of Ryo Yoshizawa’s comedy sense, which I wrote about in the article above, was correct (I had also just watched “Babanba Baban Vampire” on Amazon Prime), so my personal Ryo Yoshizawa boom has suddenly risen again, and I went to see “Kokuhou” for the third time the other day.

Well, even though it had been half a year, I thought I knew the plot, and since it was my third time, I figured the emotional impact would have faded. So, I decided to try out the audio commentary that has been available on a smartphone app since around November. Director Sang-il Lee and Ganjiro Nakamura and Kazutaro Nakamura provide behind-the-scenes stories and explanations of the Kabuki performances.

The smartphone microphone picks up the movie audio, and the commentary plays automatically through your earphones (I’m so out of touch with the times that I actually asked the staff if it was okay to take my phone out during the screening—embarrassing!). But, honestly, I didn't listen to 80% of it lol. Even on the third time, I was just as drawn into the movie, and at times I even found the three of them chatting away a bit noisy... (Sorry lol. But since I’m so immersed in the movie, it’s incredibly difficult to keep focusing on the commentary). In the end, just like last time, I think I was crying from the Sonezaki Shinju scene onwards. (;';)

If it wins an Academy Award next year, it might get another boost and reach 20 billion yen, but I wonder what will happen? (It seems screenings will continue through the New Year, so maybe it will reach 20 billion then?) Personally, I think winning an Oscar might be difficult (even though Tom Cruise has been highly recommending it). I feel like the International Feature Film category, for which it would be nominated, tends to favor socially conscious films rather than entertainment pieces like 'National Treasure.' Films that reflect the unique social conditions of that country. Besides, I don't think people overseas can really understand Kabuki or those unique nuances of Japanese culture that well. Cultural literacy isn't actually that high in other countries. Even in America, while some people in NY or LA might have it, overall, I don't think there are many people with an understanding of Kabuki or Japanese culture, even with the hit of the drama 'SHOGUN.' I feel that Japan’s overall level of cultural literacy is outstanding in the world. The high literacy rate, the education system, and the diversity and abundance of publications. Plus, our world-class manga culture is accelerating the breadth of education even for those who don't read books.

So, I don't have high expectations. ...Having said that, I do look at overseas reviews of 'National Treasure' on Rotten Tomatoes and find myself getting emotional, thinking, 'Oh, this person gets it!' or 'This person doesn't get it at all,' lol.

I became interested in Min Tanaka through the movie 'National Treasure,' read Yukio Mishima's novel Onogawa Mankiku (the character Min played), and from there, I was given the opportunity to read several books related to 'Onnagata' and Yasunari Kawabata & Yukio Mishima that I've been reading in the latter half of this year, so thank you to the movie 'National Treasure'!!

④ Air Plants

I’ve been interested in gardening since I was in elementary school, and I get hit by a plant fever every few years. The host of 'Shumi no Engei' (Gardening Hobby) back in elementary school was Midori Mori. Maybe more people don't know her now? After that, it went through Shingo Yagyu (son of Hiroshi Yagyu), bonsai artist Kaori Yamada, the previous talent Masafumi Mikami, and now the blonde gardener Tatsuyoshi Murasame. There were also periods where announcers were in charge. So, my gardening history is long, but shallow, and I think I have a decent amount of knowledge. However, I am unfortunately not a
green finger or green thumb (someone with a natural talent for growing plants), and I have repeatedly let them wither (;^_^A.

Then, around May of this year, I saw some fresh, lively? (don't talk about them like seafood lol) air plants that had just arrived at DAISO, and I suddenly thought, 'Should I buy some?' so I bought three types. Not the 100-yen ones, but three types of slightly more impressive 300-yen air plants.

Also, I had one air plant that had been with me for over 10 years—I don't remember when I bought it or what the variety name is—so I decided to grow a total of four types.

At first, I just dunked them in a bucket when I watered my other plants, took them out immediately, shook off the water, and hung them on a wire basket-like thing... that was about it.

With air plants, if they are a bit wilted, they can revive and change dramatically with that watering, but if the plant is already somewhat lively, there is no change at all for a while. So, for a few months, I managed them casually like that.

Then, around July or August? New leaves started to unfold, and they grew enough that I could really feel it, and once that happened, their cuteness suddenly increased. When they get cuter, you want to take care of them more, so I started researching on YouTube how to grow them bigger and healthier... that was the trap that led me further into the swamp lol. Once I started watching introduction videos for various types of air plants, it went from 'Wow, there are ones like this too!' to 'Wow, I want to grow them!', and I ended up going 'air plant hunting' almost every week, visiting not only local DAISO stores but also home centers and garden shops (￣▽￣;).

However, by August, it was off-season, and they weren't selling many. It seems air plants arrive at DAISO around May and October, so in August, there were only dried-up leftovers (I was lucky with the timing in May). But even among those that were drying up, I looked for ones that seemed okay, brought them home, misted them, and after about a day, they would fluff up and regain their vitality (though some rotted without recovering 😱). When that happens, it’s lovely, or cute, or I feel a sense of mission to save the dying air plants... (I’m going in a strange direction lol).

So, I haven't bought anything expensive, they are almost all things I can buy at the 100-yen shop, but now I have about 45 plants of 26 varieties (￣▽￣;). Whenever I find even a slightly better plant, I get this strange savior complex like, 'If I don't grow it, it will dry up and die here! I must save it!' (;^_^A. But recently, I’ve even started thinking some incredibly paranoid things like, 'Wait, are the DAISO staff intentionally leaving them without care to put them in a dying state, effectively stimulating the 'desire to save' in people like me?' ...That's dangerous lol.

The most expensive one is the Tillandsia known as the king of air plants, Xerographica ('Air plant' is a common name; the botanical name is 'Tillandsia.' Within that, there are variety names like 'Ionantha' and 'Caput-Medusae'). I have two of these. They are usually sold for about 2,500 yen at home centers (according to my research lol). But one time, they were on sale for half price at a nearby home center!! I was curious and asked the clerk, 'Is it sick or something?' and they said it was just because it had grown strangely and the shape was bad. That's totally fine! So I got it. Then, a few weeks later, I visited that home center again, and all the remaining Xerographica with beautiful shapes were also half price 😲. Thinking, 'What is this!? I bought the misshapen one... *sigh*,' (it seems they were all discounted because new stock had arrived), I passed on it then, but when I went again about the next week, there was only one of those half-price Xerographica left, and for some reason, I panicked and bought another one (bitter laugh). What kind of psychology is that? The panic that a bargain will sell out, or lookism—wanting a beautiful one after all? Insurance for when one of them withers? I was making up all sorts of excuses in my head. In the end, I just wanted it.

My long-time air plant that I bought in May, Stricta, is currently blooming 🌸.

Now that I've brought them all indoors, I feel like their colors have faded, but until a little while ago, I had them outside, and there were some varieties that were turning red like the leaves coming in from the side in the photo above, and I had a fresh sense of wonder, thinking, 'Wow, Tillandsias change color!'

By the way, it's the end of December now, and here is one of my mini bonsai in full autumn color lol.

My favorite air plant is probablyAndreana?

This one isCaput-Medusae.

I think the first time I learned about air plants was around the early 90s, at the Umeda LOFT that recently closed and made the news.
I was completely taken in by the sales pitch at the time: "Just leave them on your table and they'll be fine. They grow by absorbing moisture from the air." Wanting to act like a stylish student, I thought, "How chic!!" and of course, I bought one (bitter laugh).

However! The idea that "just leaving them on the table is fine" is actually almost a lie. They would just sit there with no change, looking like I couldn't tell if they were alive or not. After a month or two, when I'd touch them to see if they were still alive, they would be dry and brittle, and they'd just fall apart.

Because of that, this experience was burned into my memory like a trauma, and I had this image that "I'm bad with air plants," so I almost never thought about buying them even when I saw them at home centers or garden shops. But then, the 100-yen shops appeared.The power of "It's only 100 yen, so why not buy it?" can overcome trauma (← a bit of an exaggeration lol). I have a memory that the air plant I had at home for a long time was also probably bought at a 100-yen shop (but since it was about 15 years ago, I have absolutely no memory of where I actually bought it 😅).

When I bought that old air plant, I remember buying two or three other types as well. But the others withered at a fairly early stage. I was soaking them and letting them dry out just the same, though. So my success rate was only about 20 or 30 percent. But the fact that I was able to grow at least one type for over 10 years gave me confidence, and above all, with the development of YouTube over these 15 years, the amount of information on how to grow them has increased incomparably compared to the past, so this time, for now, they are growing safely at a rate of over 95%.
(The 5% that failed were either cases where they were shriveled from the start and I bought them hoping for a revival but they didn't recover, or cases where they looked fine at first, but after a few months there was no change at all, so when I observed and touched them, I found they had actually rotted and fallen apart. I think those probably had hidden rot from the beginning.)

So, thanks to DAISO for helping me overcome my trigger and trauma, and to the gardening YouTubers who taught me how to grow them!!

⑤ Foliage Plants

When I was watching YouTube videos related to air plants, most of those plant-related YouTubers were also growing foliage plants and often posting information about them as well. Around September or October, when my air plant fever had settled down to some extent, I watched those foliage plant videos, and in a way that was all too easy to see through, the next thing I caught wasfoliage plant fever😅.

Of course, I had been growing foliage plants normally until now.

↓ ThisPhilodendron Selloumis probably 20 years old.

ThisPothos 'Enjoy'was also bought as a potted seedling around the time they first started appearing in garden shops, so maybe the early 2010s? Or maybe even earlier? It's been over 10 years, and it has become about 5 pots.

ThisRhaphidophora Tetraspermahas also been with me for over 15 years, I think?

As for the spider plant, it's a division of one that was at my parents' house when I was in elementary school, so it's been alive for nearly 40 years 😲.

Like this, I hadn't really been deeply invested in growing things until now.
It feels more like I've been growing things that have managed to survive, even though I've bought plenty on a whim that ended up dying.

That was how it was, but one day after my air plant fever had cooled down, I saw a lime-colored Pothos at DAISO, and it started with me thinking, "It's only 100 yen, maybe I'll buy it for a bit of color?"

If there's a lime one, maybe I want a variegated marble one too...?

I bought a Global Green, drawn to the name "Global" that I vaguely remembered seeing on YouTube.

So, I started feeling the appeal of plants that just hang down from Pothos, and I learned about a vining plant I hadn't known before called
Scindapsus and

Oxicardium

With all that, I gradually started dabbling in houseplants other than the trailing types,
I got hooked on videos by overseas plant YouTubers,

and thisSummer Rayne Oakes's,

Home Tour videosvisiting the homes of plant lovers were so interesting that I watched them all...
(Seeing other people's growing environments gives me confidence that I can do it too, or maybe I'm just kidding myself, but it makes me want to try growing them 😅)

↑ The wall-to-wall plant shelf of this person is a masterpiece. I didn't know you could turn a room into such a jungle indoors with plant grow lights.

Also, for some reason, the men in NY that this Summer visits who love plants are all gay, and they are all bright, high-energy, and interesting. In Japan, there isn't an image that men who love gardening are gay, but I wonder if "men who love gardening = gay" is a stereotype in America? ← It seems like there is more prejudice in various fields than in Japan, so maybe it's a pattern where macho men don't touch gardening?

I also learned that overseas, Sansevieria is called aSnake Plant, Chlorophytum is aSpider Plant, and Pachira is aMoney Tree. ← In Japan, when we say "Money Tree," we mean the succulent Crassula genusKagetsu(that thing that used to be sold with a 5-yen coin threaded through the branches), so I wondered, why Pachira!? When I googled it, it seems there is a legend in Taiwan that a poor farmer sold this tree and made a fortune. Wow.

So, winter is approaching, and I have to bring my houseplants inside. Not that I'm like her in the video above, but I wanted to make a shelf overflowing with plants (it's easier to manage if they're all in one place), so I gathered up the steel shelves I already had, and a corner of my living room looks like this now lol.

I've made a sort of makeshift greenhouse. To cover the entire steel shelf, I bought wood at a home center to build a frame, put vinyl on the back and sides, and even added bubble wrap for some cold protection. I also put up a silver thermal sheet on the back, thinking that the light from the plant grow lights attached to the top of the frame might reflect and increase photosynthesis a little. Style is secondary now 😅. I'm aiming to keep them from weakening during the winter at the lowest possible cost, let them grow even if it's slow, and be ready for a rocket start when the growing season begins in spring. Every year, I used to basically stop watering in winter, maintain them just enough so they wouldn't die, and start by reviving the damaged (sometimes nearly dead) ones after spring arrived.

I can cover the front with a bubble wrap sheet, and I've also put a circulator (or rather, a mini fan) and a mini humidifier inside. I use a heater to send warm air when it gets cold in the morning and evening, so I'm able to keep it at about 18–25°C.
I saw that it's popular among overseas plant influencers to modify IKEA transparent cabinets into mini greenhouses, and I wondered if I could create a similar environment. Also, I saw a video saying"Filling it with carbon dioxide makes a huge difference in growth!" so I wanted a space that could be sealed to some extent (← I'm someone who is easily influenced. Though only sometimes, I generate carbon dioxide with baking soda and citric acid and make it bubble lol).

I'm basically stingy 😅, and the process of growing them is what's fun, so I'm not very interested in plants that are already finished (they'll get big eventually). I'm not a "green finger," so I think the risk of them dying & the risk of me killing them is always high (in my experience, I get obsessed for about 3 years, and after that, my management suddenly becomes sloppy and I end up killing them all (￣▽￣;). I know myself well (^^ゞ). So I don't make high-cost investments. I start with somewhat common species (= strong and easy to grow). My personal rule is to basically buy things under 1,000 yen. If possible, under 500 yen is even better... that's the feeling lol. Also, just like with air plants, I tend to get discounted items that need help, thinking, "I have to save them & lucky me, they're cheap!"

In my previous post, I wrote something like "Humans are full of greed, greed, greed, I'm tired of even having an appetite, and I'm getting bored of it..." but in the end, I am just a hopeless human being full ofplant greed(^^ゞ. For this year's New Year's Eve bell, I have to properly count my worldly desires and the number of my plants and reflect on them lol.

However, it is a fact that observing their daily growth is fun and brings a sense of vitality to my life.
I've encountered plants I've never grown before, and thanks to information online, I've been able to successfully grow plants that I've only ever failed with in the past. Even if my enthusiasm cools down in three years, the knowledge and experience I've gained this time will be useful the next time I get bitten by the plant bug, so I want to enjoy being swept up in this fever for a while longer. ← There it is, the justification lol.

So, I'm grateful to DAISO for providing the spark, the local garden centers and home improvement stores that serve as my plant hunting grounds, and the internet and YouTube for providing so much knowledge!!

⑥ Visiting Coffee Shops One After Another

To be honest, the truth is I can't even remember what I was obsessed with around the first half of this year😅. My memory has become so disastrous that sometimes I walk into a room to get something and forget what I came for😱.

So, here is the series that I'm obsessed with this month, which I still remember, and since YouTube frequently puts the next recommended videos in my feed, there's no way I could forget it,“Katappashi kara Kissaten” (Visiting Coffee Shops One After Another)。

Atown-strolling programthat searches for and visits coffee shops. It seems there are patterns with people other than drag queens and patterns without Nadja-san, but I almost only watch the episodes with

Nadja-san. I've watched a few episodes with other drag queen pairs, but something feels off. It feels like it's lacking something, or rather, the satisfaction level drops by about 20% (in my opinion). Maybe it's because Nadja-san is used to being on TV, so there's a sense of stability? She's also good at steering the conversation. Even though they all have a lot of inside jokes, there are inside jokes that outsiders can enjoy and inside jokes where you feel left behind, and I feel like Nadja-san manages things well so that even outsiders can enjoy them. What's the difference? Where is the boundary? Well, it might just be that I like Nadja-san, I'm used to seeing her, and I'm biased😅.

↑ Baby Vava-san's outfit in that, if you put a red round thing on her nose, she's a clown through and through. It's true that even if a clown were walking around a shopping street, it wouldn't feel out of place; on the contrary, it creates a gorgeous, lively, and fun atmosphere, so I think this is a project that is quite compatible. Also, when celebrities stroll through town, even if they pretend to be nice on the surface, sometimes an arrogant atmosphere or a condescending attitude comes through the screen, but in the case of the drag queens, perhaps because they have an exquisite humility at their base, like 'Sorry for surprising you with such flashy and out-of-place outfits in the middle of the day,' I don't feel bad at all watching them.

In the first place, drag queens and clowns have similar attributes, don't they? I don't mean to say 'those people are just clowns after all' in a derogatory sense, but rather that they are beings that play a role as a buffer in society, in a good sense.
In Akira Kurosawa's film 'Ran,' Peter (credited as Shinnosuke Ikehata) played the role of a jester serving the protagonist, the lord Hidetora (I don't recall there being any femininity in the role, though). Regardless of East or West, jesters are in a position to offer advice to their lords mixed with jokes and laughter. Chinese eunuchs were also somewhat drag queen-like and clown-like. Even harsh opinions can be accepted honestly when they are expressed through them without causing offense. In a sense, it's probably easier to accept them as the perspective of an outsider, someone outside the mainstream.

In this 'Visiting Coffee Shops One After Another' show, the owners of the coffee shops are often quite eccentric. If a person with common sense visits, asks the owner various things, and in the worst case, teases them, it could look very harsh or potentially belittle the owner more than necessary. However, when drag queens visit, it's rare for the owner to be more eccentric than them, and a magic is cast where the owners usually end up looking like the sensible ones.

Also, even if they are joking around the whole time or complaining, there is an implicit understanding that they carry the cross of not being able to be in the mainstream, so I feel like there is a part of them that is allowed to exist in that sense. When I see straight comedians joking around from start to finish, putting their own need to get a laugh ahead of the shop, and reporting on the town, I get fed up.

So, I'm grateful to the performers and production team of 'Visiting Coffee Shops One After Another,' which allows me to learn about wonderful coffee shops, mainly in Kansai, that have unique personalities, delicious-looking menus, and of course, where you can drink delicious coffee!

⑦ Seasonal Idol 'Yugiris'

When I was watching this video of ⑥ 'Visiting Coffee Shops One After Another',

Nadja-san said there was an idol she was currently obsessed with, and the one she was humming the song of wasYugiris.

I had never heard of Yugiris, so when I looked them up, it was about an animated idol character that appears in a channel (↓) that distributes anime on YouTube.

It's set as aseasonal idolwhose main job is running a ramen shop, and who is loved byNami-chan (← these two are the protagonists), who suddenly became able to understand what her pet catMiiko-san says. Is it a black-haired manager and a brown-haired part-timer? Since there are pictures where the part-timer sometimes looks at the manager and blushes, I've added a BL setting to it on my own lol. Seasonal idols seem to be idols who sing songs themed around the seasons (Setsubun, Halloween, etc.)😆.

I don't know if they have cemented their popularity... but this song, which started in 2023 and currently has three videos in the series, is themed around Eho-maki (lucky sushi rolls),“Eho-rin LOVE”. The direction issouth-south-east slightly south.

↓ 2024 version. Includes rap lol. The direction iseast-north-east slightly east.

The 2025 version has extra back fat and extra manliness. The direction iswest-south-west slightly west.

I had never really thought about or looked up the direction for Eho-maki (lucky direction sushi rolls) before, but it turns out there are only four possibilities. Since they say things like 'south-south-east,' I had assumed that all the minor directions between the cardinal points rotated through in order.
It seems 2026 will be the same south-south-east-by-south as 2023, so there's a high chance no new version will be unveiled next year. That's a shame. Since 2027 is the last remaining direction, 'north-north-west-by-north,' it looks like I'll have to wait a year. ← I wanted them to release a new song while my Yugiris fever was at its peak!

A live singing & noodle-draining show at the ramen shop 'Yugiriya,' the home base of Yugiris? lol.

I wonder what the song titles are? Noodle-draining songs? Maybe something like 'Love Yugirisher' or 'Yugirisher for You'? lol

The songs all sound somewhat nostalgic, like I've heard them somewhere before. Are the lyrics rhyming? Or just dad jokes? Nami-chan's call-and-response and Meeko-san's retorts are razor-sharp. I'm so impressed they came up with 'Firm noodles, soft noodles, fall in love, maiden♪.' It's been stuck in my head ever since.

Instead of putting out complicated K-pop idols, Kohaku should really have the Japanese virtual idols 'Yugiris' perform (lol). The host could say something like, 'Everyone, just for tonight, let's sing along with Yugiris while we drain our toshikoshi soba instead of ramen!!' and have them sing the song above. It's already decided that I'll be making my New Year's Eve soba while singing 'Yugirisha～!!' this year lol.

And then in a medley, they could say, 'This event is coming up in about a month. Yugiris will be singing next year's directional version, so everyone, please make sure to memorize it. Now, let's have them perform. Yugiris with 'Eho-rin LOVE 2026～!!'' or something like that. If Junretsu, who are supported by a niche fan base of public bathhouse patrons, can appear every year, then Yugiris should be able to as well. NHK, please.

So, a big thank you to Naja Grandiva for introducing me to Yugiris!!

And that concludes the various things I've been into this year.

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year, singing 'Yugirisha～!!' while you make your toshikoshi soba. m(__)m