Japanese Net Culture: Nyanmonaito ニャンモナイト

The latest trend on Japanese SNS, especially twitter is ニャンモナイト (nyanmonaito). What the heck is a nyanmonaito? Here is an example:

"This morning I turned over my covers and found the 'nyanmonaito' season has begun."

朝、毛布をめくるとニャンモナイトが出てくる季節になったか。 pic.twitter.com/ANE1IBOhjo
— Go Endo (@kasiwagi_vertec) September 30, 2014

Get it? Yes, this is what you call it when a cat curls up into a ball to sleep. The term was popularized by japanese cat-lover blogs and web communities.

"2 Nyanmonaitos"

ニャンモナイトが2つ http://t.co/vAwyqmov1B pic.twitter.com/u1ipDbphzo
— 猫の気持ち (@pet_neko) September 21, 2014

Outdoor Nyanmonaito

お外で丸くなったネコ pic.twitter.com/Udq5rjYjvX
— Sukico☆ (@SutekiSukico) April 11, 2013

Where did the word 'nyanmonaito' come from?  Nya = meow, the sound a cat makes.
The rest comes from 'anmonaito' meaning Ammonite, a type of extinct invertebrate related to the cuttlefish. Their shells make great fossils, apparently.

source: http://www.fossilmuseum.net/

This net phenomenon has brought on the question: why do cats curl up in balls? The Japanese articles give 2 explanations: to conserve body heat, and to protect themselves from rivals. Personally, I think the former is probably the more likely reason for cats.





And for dog lovers (like myself), there's Wanmonaito ('wan' = 'woof' or 'bark')

"A Wanmonaito appeared"

ワンモナイト出現 pic.twitter.com/8Ado7Xp7oA
— tomo (@tomo_oneone) October 13, 2014

fluffy wanmonaito

source: http://yooying.com/p/818765415775769792_43923108

shibe wanmonaito

source: http://ushizuwaka.blog.so-net.ne.jp/2007-10-15

 Many animals do the ammonite pose. What would a hedgehog's be called? Harimonaito?
(Hedgehog = Harinezumi [lit. needle mouse])

http://blog-imgs-31.fc2.com/h/e/d/hedogehog/2009_0116_6.jpg

You can even purchase Nyanmonaito keychains!

source: http://www.sk-japan.co.jp/products/pickup/past/2009/0906/nyanmo.html

The product description says : "「ニャンモナイト」とは、猫が丸まって寝ている姿がアンモナイトに似ていることから、猫好きのブログやコミュニティサイトで使われるようになった造語です。"  "Nyanmonaito" is when a cat curls up into a ball to sleep, and looks like an ammonite shell. The term was coined by [Japanese] cat lover blogs and web communities.

Does your pet do the ammonite pose? Take a pic and hashtag #ニャンモナイト or #ワンモナイト on twitter or instagram.


Source Articles:
http://matome.naver.jp/odai/2141213468591143701
http://matome.naver.jp/odai/2141258199594665501

Tags: Japanese internet culture, Japanese net culture, Japanese twitter trend, Japanese slang, Cats, Nyanmonaito, Nyanko, Wanko, Popular, Trending, Pop Culture, Japan

Site Changes & Tumblr Debut!

MMM's going through some changes at the moment. In the mean time, we launched our tumblr in July!! YEEEEEE! Go check it out and don't forget to follow for your daily kawaii fix!  申し訳ありません、現在このサイトは準備中ですが、7月にTumblrを始めました！毎日かわいいものをアップしているので、ぜひフォローしてみて下さい！

Nana's Sweet Dress Up Game

My birthday present to our lovely friend Nana. This is my second time using flash, (but it's been so long I forgot most of it). I worked on this game on-and-off for the past month, and I'm proud of how it turned out. I learned a lot while doing this, and I can't wait to get started on my next project! Play on Deviant Art

Cheers!
~Usagi

The MofuMofu Crew Banner

This is the banner I made featuring all of the MofuMofu crew~! Unfortunately Alpaca (right) doesn't quite look like herself, but that's because I didn't have enough selfies to work from lol!

The poses were inspired by this picture of perfume. All three of us love perfume's music, and since they're a trio as well, I thought it would be appropriate.

Cheers!

~Usagi

☆ﾟ.*･｡☽ Nana Reviews S.H. Figuarts Sailor Moon Figure ☾☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ

Hello~Today Im reviewing for you all something I got at a recent convention! I grew up watching Sailor Moon so its something I hold dear to my heart. I was also lucky enough to get the 5 faces version, cuz it seems others only come with three...?

It took me a while to get the courage to open her box but today I finally did! And heres what have to show you ~☾☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ

Usagi's Playlist Feature: VIXX - Only U

    The music video for Only U was uploaded on both the RealVIXX and CJENMUSIC youtube channels, but as of writing this, they haven't reached 1 million views combined! This is such a waste, because it's such a great song - it deserves recognition! Only U one of my new favorite songs. I like the distorted vocal background, the beat, and most of all, VIXX's amazing vocals!

    Although there's not much action in the video, it's really well done, and super pretty. More than anything, the song is just awesome! While my other favorites of theirs have been 'dark', this video I would call 'mature'. I hope to see more of this from vixx in the future~

VIXX - Only U

   VIXX wasn't on my radar until the Hyde music video, but I was really impressed by that video, and have since kept and eye out for them. So here's a little more of what I think of VIXX.

Music Videos
VIXX - SUPER HERO Average. The chorus didn't pull me in.
VIXX - Rock Ur Body Pretty good, but not extraordinary or different. The video was interesting :)
VIXX - On and On Vixx started to get their 'dark' image in this video. Their previous songs were okay, but this song has reached the status of favorite for me. I can't help dancing when I hear it. Some of the visual effects in the MV were kinda cheesy.
VIXX - Hyde  I love both the song and music video! Another dark one. And the music video perfectly fits the theme of the song. Just watch it, it's really cool. The visual effects are much better than in On and On.
VIXX - G.R.8.U I feel the same as I did about SUPER HERO. Pretty average, did not blow me away. I prefer the dark vixx.
VIXX - Girls, why? VIXX, why? Don't go back to cutie boys. please. Not impressed by the song either.
VIXX - VOODOO DOLL The goriest video in kpop? Probably. Another great, dark video and song. They just won an award on Music Bank for this song. Congrats, boys!

Other songs of note (I like): 
Chaos - if you like On and On, you'll probably like this
그만 버티고 (Feat. 민아 of 걸스데이) - You're mine (feat. Minah of Girl's Day)
The VOODOO album (haven't heard it enough to pick my fav yet)

So are you a fan of VIXX (ST☆RLIGHT) yet? (imho, their fans should be called 'vixxens')

~Usagi

Usagi's Playlist Feature: Nine Muses - Gun

Before the main feature...

The Best Music Video of the Year??

Norazo - Wild Horse

There's really nothing I can say about this...

Now on to the real feature, Nine Muses' 건(GUN)".

    This week I was listening to a kpop playlist online and this song came up. I hadn't given this song much thought after I watched the music video (more on that below).  The song got stuck in my head - and I actually like it a lot! I really like the trumpet part.
 
    The first time I saw the music video (a while ago) I was not impressed. The video was really boring, 90% of it is just shots of them looking pretty and doing nothing else. The rest was them looking pretty while dancing. That's nice and all, but not quite my cup of tea. I don't mind a bit of camera-whoring, as long as it's accompanied by awesome dance moves or cuts to story-like scenes. By the 1:20 mark I was bored, I wish they would've switched it up a bit after that.
    I didn't give this song a chance after watching the video; just goes to show how much a music video can affect my opinion of a song. Usually it's the other way around, where I like a song I might not have liked otherwise because the music video was awesome *cough*wild horse*cough*.

(I suggest just opening a new tab and listening to this in the background.)

Nine Muses - 건(Gun)

I think Nine Muses has pretty catchy songs. The other one I'm familiar with is "Ticket". I think the music video for that left something to be desired also. Either way, I still love the music!

TLDR: 건(GUN) - good song, boring video

Comment Question: What song do you think deserved a better music video?

~Usagi