I'm still alive and I still intend on blogging, even with my long long absence. I just didn't feel like writing at all and I still feel very uncreative. I'm just a lost cause when it comes to consistency. That's why I decided to write about something else than usual. I decided, as the title already says, to write about the things I never talk about. I guess, I have a lot of these bundled up and sometimes they just need to go. I'm the person who always is willing to listen to everyone and everything, but actually never talks about anything. So I'll try and let some things go now.
Well, what does this mean "Lost in Translation"? What are the points I want to discuss with this? And how do I feel about translations in general? These are the questions I want to battle today and maybe we can find some answers to them.
What annoys me lately is the strange popularity with being/ becoming vegan/ vegetarian. I find it extremely annoying, that people act like they are something special, only because they decided to live a vegan/ vegetarian life, two days ago. I mean, sure it is a nice thing to eat no animals and not even products by them, like eggs or milk, but they still do not have to act the way most of them do (or at least it feels like it is getting popular to act this way).
It also feels like it is getting more and more popular to become vegan/ vegetarian. Sometimes I think I missed something… Someone please tell me what is going on!
Since I am a vegetarian myself I can not say anything against it, but it annoys me so much that people start to act as if being vegan/ vegetarian means they are a better person. I do not believe that!
It makes one a different person, but not a better one.
Sure everyone has to decide for themselves if they want to become a vegan/ vegetarian, but they should not try to persuade others to become the same. I do not like that at all. Especially when they are only something like two month in it. I am a vegetarian for almost ten years now and I never tried to persuade someone of it. I mean what is the reason to do so? Everyone can have their own opinion on that. The same as everyone can live a life they want. No one should be forced into something, e.g. my sister would die without meat, like I would die without chocolate. That is why we just accepted the decision of the other one.
When the family comes together to have a meal, everyone always gets their special wishes for it. Me the one without meat, my mother without cheese, and so on… sometimes we have four different variations of the same dish. You can see that it perfectly works being vegan/ vegetarian without persuading others too live the same way.
I do not want to say you should stay away from a vegan/ vegetarian lifestyle, I only wonder why it is so popular at the time being. Even book stores are packed with a lot of vegan and vegetarian cookbooks. While I think it is good to finally have more of them in book stores, I also think of it as just being a part of a new big hype.
Some of you might say I should be glad about it, but I just think it is wrong to want to be a part of something only because it is popular or someone else want you to. You should always be able to decide for yourself.
So do not stay away from it, but think properly about it, before deciding something like this.
I am myself a big fan of vegan food and even cookies and cakes, but I know I would miss certain things if I would (suddenly) become vegan. I now, there is vegan chocolate out there, but nothing is better than Milka and Kinder chocolate… and I love camembert, mozzarella and yoghurt so much, that I decided on a vegetarian life instead of a life completely free of these things.
What do you think about all of this?
Do you believe that this is just a big hype or something different?
Are you on the vegan or vegetarian side of life or not?
Do you think it is only kinda popular, because of the new hype to live a healthier life?
Please tell me your opinion on this or if you think I'm kinda overreacting. I just want to know if others think about that too. It is just, that since I entered school again, a lot of people are vegan/ vegetarian and always act like they are "oh so special and better" and a few years ago I was like the only one out there and still did not try to persuade people to live the same way as me. I just try to understand the whole matter…
I got inspired to write this entry by the announcement of the withdrawal and the cancelation of contract of KAT-TUN's member Tanaka Koki, which got published on 9th October and shocked quite a few people and a whole fandom got woken up about it.
To be hones it's not only that matter, but just the whole Idol Industry in Japan and Korea which always gave me a headache in some way. That's why this entry will not be based on actual facts, nut my opinion and only mine. don't know anything about the whole thing or at least not that much. I'm also not really involved nor active in this kind of field. I just write down my thoughts on it.
The reason why I got inspired is that KAT-TUN is my one and only Jpop band I listen to. To be honest I never called myself a real fan nor a Hyphen (which is what KAT-TUN fans are called), I just like it to listen to them on occasion and when I feel like it or when I need a little cheer up and yes at the meantime I'm able to sing along with nearly every of their songs. That's why even I was shocked about these news. I never thought that something like that will ever hurt my little heart, but it seems like I like them a lot more as expected.
The thing is that I don't get this whole Idol thing. I just can't understand how someone wants to become an Idol, being under so much pressure and following so many rules of an agency. You have to sing, dance, act and if you're popular enough you even get your own little shows or you have to host some variety shows. Even participating in variety shows is a must to get known. It doesn't matter if you're becoming a korean or a japanese Idol, the fact is that you have to do a lot of stupid things, maybe even some more or less inhuman things.
And all these stupid rules by agencies, like no girlfriend/boyfriend until a certain age, no tattoos, no twitter account, no whatever it is else... (I'm not in all this and I don't know for sure if anything I'm writing is right so please bear with me and my lack of knowledge regarding these things.)
I just can't understand how someone can send their child/ children to such an agency. Is it really only for the money? Do they really think that they will ever see something of it?
Let's be honest, most of the money goes to the agencies no matter what you want to believe. It'll go there and when it's only to pay for all those expensive shows and stupid costumes. (Which I actually not believe, but let's pretend it's the way it works.)
So you get send there by your parents, might have said something like "I wanna be an Idol" at the age of five, you have to work your ass off and in the end if you're not popular enough or "behaving bad" you get cut down, downgraded, punishment of various sorts or the most drastic way, just fired.
It's not counting what fans say or band members or who else. If it seems like you're not worth it or you just don't bring enough money you're out of it.
According to the german article on WikipediaIdols singed to Johnny & Associates just get a fixed income and some promotions for special activities. That's a reason why I wonder someone would ever send their child to such a company. At least they get something out of it. No one knows how high it is and that's not the reason why I write about this all.
I just really can't understand all the hype about Idols. No matter if they japanese or korean or whatever nationality. I'm not sure if this is really a business to support. For me it sounds more like human slavery or something. Now a lot of people will say that they only try to make a living or that they wanted it of their own free will, but I actually think that only the fewest went there on their own idea. I really think that a lot of the Idols got send to some agency by their parents, because they wanted it that way.
There also was another incident at the beginning of the year. It regarded the events around a female Idol from AKB48. These news went around the world, because she cut of all her hair and recorded a video where she apologized for her bad behavior. Which was staying over night at her boyfriends home at the age of 20 or something.
this is the video I'm talking about
Now there are fans who claim that she did it on her own free will. And I have to add that I don't know anything about them, except their super popular in Japan and always have theses really strange PVs which so not compliment their "oh so innocent" image.
I actually think that it was not that free of mind to do that, even when she decided to do it. I think it's only because of all these stupid rules and the pressure of the agencies/ companies for an "oh so innocent" image. Who want to ask someone if their allowed to love someone or stay over night or what ever. There is always a rule which forbids exactly the thing you want to do. It's always there. Always!
Regarding the punishment she got lucky and just got downgraded. But there always are punishments like canceling a tour, no drama contracts (for a while), no advertisement contracts (for a while), canceling the contract with the agency, maybe even less money. Regarding the tour cancelation it happened to KAT-TUN this year and I think that this is more a punishment for all their fans than for the member who was troublesome or misbehaving. The same goes for the drastic contract cancelation. Do they even think about how much pain this causes the fans. The people who spend all their money on the band of a certain agency?
I think they don't even care about that. They just care for their own money and the "oh so innocent" image of their company and their bands/ Idols in training. Every other band/ Idol already has an image to stand up to.
I just think that all this is kind of ridiculous and some kind of modern slavery. Sure they have to make a living, but they still should be allowed to have some more free time and their own opinion and thoughts. And sure there is a need for certain rules, but it mustn't be the way it is.
I wonder if this will ever change and if it change will it be as successful as it is now?
What are your thought on that topic?
Are you a fan of all the Idols?
Do you like it the way it is nowadays?
Feel free to leave your opinion in a comment or just leave me a message on one of my other sites.
