Diary of an Alternative Mommy: Turning Japanese

Lately, I've become rather taken with modern Japanese culture. I'm obsessed with everything from the adorable lolitas to Visual Kei, music and fashion alike! I've also taken a liking to Japanese films, especially the live-action adaptions of anime series. It all started with Death Note where I fell head over hills for the lead actors Tatsuya Fujiwara and Ken'ichi Matsuyama, and I had to see more of them. I jumped on IMDb.com and looked into their other films. This is where I found out that there was a live-action adaption of Gantz, starring Matsuyama, again (looooove him!), and I discovered a movie called Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler, starring Fujiwara (gorgeous). Both movies I've only been able to find in Japanese with English subtitles, but they're totally worth it. I'm still waiting on the release of the second part of the Gantz movie series, Gantz: Perfect Answer. I have no idea when it's even supposed to come out, but I'll certainly post when it is. Another movie I watched, and absolutely loved, was another film starring Matsuyama, called Detroit Metal City. I know, sounds like Detroit Rock City, and it does feature similarly dressed rock musicians, but they're a death metal band, and the story is far different. Detroit Metal City is the name of the Japanese death metal band in the movie. It's a comedy about a guy who wants to make pop music and somehow gets stuck as the lead singer of a metal band. There are a few other films I would love to find starring either of these two, but getting a hold of Japanese films in America is costly and/or difficult. It's even harder to embrace Japanese fashion in America, as not many people, even in the bolder circles, walk around in huge lacy, poofy, doll-like dresses and wildly curled pigtails. Visual Kei is easier to make at home, but even more out there to walk around in, but I just cant get over the colored spiky hair and the awesome printed medical masks. It's the comfortable alternative to the goth-industrial gas mask. Visual Kei has a lot of fashion aspects I would love to incorporate into my tribal fusion belly dancing costumes.