BLEACH X JJK: Espada Sashisu + Kenjaku As Aizen. These Were My Extended Pieces For @getoseasons! Shop

I tried my hand at cosplay!

Concerning the Twitter crash and burn, there's legit people encouraging others not to engage with creators trying to promote things so that Tumblr doesn't become commercialized, and I have to make something very clear:

A small creator who is encouraging people to interact with/share their stuff, trying to make their art/writing/etc known because they want a livable wage when they have NOWHERE ELSE they can turn to anymore and are trying to succeed in an internet that makes it near impossible for them is -never- gonna be the same thing as a celebrity shoving adds into your face to buy their newest clothing brand.

Don't encourage capitalism but do encourage the artists and writers that provide you most of their content for FREE and just want to pay bills like anyone else and already deal with being buried in the algorithm or having their art stolen and reposted.

We don't want adds or for this site to be monetized either, I assure you.

I’m missing my con look so much this morning 😭 Mirko was my LOOK for a second there

Normally, I don’t make these posts, but I didn’t see anything about this yet, and this is dire news. 

Texas is currently in a state of crisis. Greg Abbott signed a very dangerous law that will endanger trans youth and their families. The official statement is here. 

Also keep in mind, he has also been found out those power surges were deliberate.  Many skeptics are thinking this was signed into law to avoid people not paying attention to this tidbit of information. 

He is literally endangering the people he is supposed to govern, no matter who you are. Please pay attention on what you need to do. Please make a ruckus and spread the word and stay safe. 

Texans: If you have more information about this or I am incorrect, please let me know. Resources will be helpful too.  Any hate or trolls will be blocked and I do not intend to engage and ask you don’t either. What matters is that this is spread around for those who need to see this. 

i will take criticism and suggestions

Social Issues that Help with Understanding Buddy Daddies

Here are some political, social, and cultural aspects of Japanese culture that I think is important to keep in mind when watching Buddy Daddies. Please note: this is a super long post, with lots of pictures. 

1. Human Trafficking - Slave Labor

In Episode One, we learn that Miri’s birth father was involved in labor based human trafficking involving Southeast Asian individuals. This is currently a very big issue in Japan, since Southeast Asian immigrants (among others) are viewed as a cheap labor option and usually experience slave labor like conditions.

From The United States Department of State website:

Men, women, and children from Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Latin America, and Africa travel to Japan for employment or fraudulent marriage and are subjected to sex trafficking. Traffickers use fraudulent marriages between foreign women and Japanese men to facilitate the entry of women into Japan for sex trafficking in bars, clubs, brothels, and massage parlors. Traffickers keep victims in forced labor or commercial sex using debt-based coercion, threats of violence or deportation, blackmail, confiscation of passports and other documents, and other psychologically coercive methods.

2. Drugs in Japan

When I was living and working as an ALT in Japan, two ALTs (in a different district, but within the same company of my own), got caught with drugs. It was a big deal and ended up in the newspapers. The company I worked for had to do a lot of PR work with the elementary and junior high schools that they had contracts with, to ensure that the contracts would remain. As for me and the other ALTs? We had to sit through like five separate meetings within like two months about drugs and drug laws in Japan. 

The barebones takeaway is that, in Japan, weed is viewed as being on the same level as hardcore drugs. Charges can be steep and strict. Even just knowing that someone has drugs, and you don’t say anything to law enforcement about it, can get you in trouble. There is a grey area with drugs, which is stuff like bath salts and the like. Since the selling of things like that cannot be prohibited, so they are easily accessible to the public. 

Japan still has a very “90′s D.A.R.E.” approach to drugs. It’s catchphrase is 「ダメ。ゼッタイ。」or “No! Never.”

(Image from a Web Magazine called Nagasaki Press.)

When celebrities are caught with (what’s usually) weed, it can basically be the end of their careers, since recreational drug use of any kind (excluding alcohol, of course), is still negatively looked down upon in Japanese society. This is why it is still heavily left in the hands of the yakuza and drug kingpins, etc. Though there has been a recent increase in protests and ideology surrounding the idea of legalizing weed. Still, not much acceptance for recreational use is likely to come yet. However…

There may soon be some revision to the laws, which will allow for medical use:

Legislation changes scheduled for 2023

In 2021, the MHLW established an expert committee to review the Cannabis Control Act, and it is expected revisions will be proposed in a bill to be submitted in 2023. This will most likely allow for the use of medical cannabis. 2022/12/02

From: Euromonitor

So, something to keep in mind when Kazuki talks about a drug kingpin here is that this drug kingpin is likely not just dealing with super, hardcore drugs, but also softer ones too, like weed.

3. Child Protection Squad

There is this misconception in Japan that really young kids, like Miri’s age, can just roam free all around Japan and no one will find it odd. In Episode 1, we do see Miri roaming around the city without anyone really taking notice, but she also wasn’t in an area where there would be people that are trained to take notice.

In the above image she is at a park, which is likely close to a school somewhere. The man that approaches her here has a band around his jacket sleeve that says こども見守り隊 (kodomo mimamori-tai), which gets translated to “Child Protection Squad.” Basically, these are like crossing guards, in a way, because they do play a similar role to that, but they also do more than that as well:

(Image from the Japanese website: Nice Senior).

This people basically ensure that kids stay on the right paths on their way to school. Most of the time, when elementary school children head off to school, they will go in groups (with the 5th or 6th graders being the leaders) and there will often be older people outside their houses on their way in, keeping an eye on the children to make sure they get to school okay. 

And that’s talking about elementary school aged kids. For ones that are around Miri’s age, usually the parents (mostly mothers) will bring them by bike:

Or they will get picked up by a bus:

This one looks pretty boring in comparison to some others you might see though, like these:

(Image from the Hiyoshidai School Website)

Sometimes the daycare workers will also take them on little excursions outside using big strollers for the kids to travel around in:

(The image is obviously from a stock photo site called fotostock, but yeah, I’ve seen these before when I lived in Japan).

But a little toddler just sitting on her own at a mostly empty park with just a guy sitting at a park bench nearby watching her? That would raise attention and an eyebrow from someone who is essentially a crossing guard and whose job is to ensure the safety of kids as they travel to and from school. 

The rest is under a Read More.

Keep reading

you ever read a fanfic and just sit back and think…someone wrote something THIS good… and then just….published it on the internet….for free…..

Not Your Hero - Chapter 4

Rude Awakenings

Reyna found herself smiling at Mauve as quiet music played from the speakers he was originally built with. Sometimes, it seemed like he truly had a mind of his own.

“You know, classical music never did fit a motorcycle. But I don’t think I was expecting electro-pop either.”

Aseria couldn’t help but laugh to her mother as they made their way through the ruins of their home.

“Well, rock sounded too cliché and I think he wanted to stand out from the other models just in case I lost him in a crowd.”

Reyna winks as the music stops. An accented, yet robotic voice cuts through the quiet humming of the engine.

“I simply enjoy something more upbeat in the morbid times we are living in, madame.”

Aseria nods at the statement.

“I can’t blame you at all for that. You think one day we will be able to listen to that music in the street as a village again rather than just the three of us here?”

Reyna sighs and kicks a particularly large rock out of their way as they approach a large, broken down house. Nothing they hadn’t seen before, just off putting since it was the ruins of family memories and childhood wonders.

“One of these days, can’t say it will be soon, though. I think there will need to be a rebirth before we can officially rebuild this city for good. There has been enough destruction here on both sides to last a lifetime. Now we need to see the opposite.”

Kicking in the front door, Aseria finds herself angry that so many good memories were buried under the rubble and ash. She couldn’t help but wonder if there was someone, or maybe many people, hiding in the house for cover from the soldiers that ravaged the streets as of late.

“You said you were going to tell me about dad, why bring me here? I don’t recall him being here very much. Though I guess that was a good thing if he was as horrible as everyone made him out to be.”

Reyna didn’t say very much to her daughter at first as she whispered something to Mauve, most likely a ‘keep watch for soldiers’ as the two women took a walk down memory lane.

“He wasn’t the one that everyone was worried about. He was the scapegoat that didn’t mind having a bounty on his head if it meant keeping you, the boys and myself safe. He would do anything for all of us.”

Aseria let out a disbelieving laugh. There was no way that her father, a man that only showed up in the evenings for a bed to sleep in and only ever sent telegrams on birthdays and holidays could have possibly cared about his wife, children or anything that had to do with their well-being.

“How interesting that he was never really around yet claimed to care for us,” She sarcastically muttered under her breath and she shifted on her feet as she continued “he died on that battlefield with nothing but guilt and anger in his heart and you know it too. He was plagued by a very human disease called greed.”

She heard a deep sigh come from her mother as she decided to sit on the floor as her mom sat across from her.

“Hey, look at me.”

She glanced up at her mom only to see tears in her eyes. She grabbed her mother’s hands, something her mother used to do when she and her brothers were upset or in pain when they were younger. Her mother was always there to comfort her, now it was her turn to return that favor.

“He may not have shown it, but he really loved you all. He still does.” She paused, almost as if she was considering what she was going to say next. After a moment of silence, she nods to herself, finally accepting the truth of the situation. “He still asks about you all the time.”

Aseria’s eyes widened at the end of the statement. A man that was originally missing in action, later passed off as killed in action, still asking about her?

“You commune with the dead?”

“You truly believe he died?”

“I would rather believe that he is dead, would make the pain a little more bearable. Especially if he hasn’t made the effort to reach out to me.”

“He can’t exactly reach out to you if you won’t let anyone communicate with you unless they physically track you down. You’re not the easiest.”

Aseria dropped her head in defeat. Her mother had a point. After throwing away any communication devices for the sake of not hearing another report of her friend’s or families bodies being found dead or wounded beyond repair.

“Guess he and I have that in common then.”

Reyna stands from her position on the floor and gives her daughter a hand on the shoulder as comfort.

“When the dust settles, he will come home. That’s a promise he made to me years ago that I have no doubt he will keep.”

“So who is he the scapegoat for?” Aseria’s voice trailed off with slight fear regarding the thought of who the mastermind could be that used her father as a pawn.

“Your grandfather, actually.”

“It would be the man I’ve never met, wouldn’t it.”

“He’s not a man you’d want to meet. He wanted to destroy all the progress that everyone has made and create it in his image like a god would.”

“It’s going to take a lot more than just wishful thinking and the will of an elder to restart the villages that were destroyed by Betrothal. The ones that weren’t fully destroyed are still struggling to rebuild themselves.”

“I think we should just burn it all to the ground. That might be the only way we can truly restart.”

Both women freeze in their tracks at the new voice. It’s familiar, in any other circumstance it would be very comforting, but now it was just as haunting as the very first time they heard it on the other side of the battlefield.

“You’re not supposed to be here, my love. But it is so great to see you again, Reyna.”