完了時制 -- When do I use them? (part 3)

I've been talking about past perfect (and other perfect tenses) for a few days now. Here's the list of posts:

http://upgradeenglish.blogspot.com/2009/06/series-on-using-past-perfect.html
http://upgradeenglish.blogspot.com/2009/06/when-do-i-use-them.html
http://upgradeenglish.blogspot.com/2009/06/when-do-i-use-them-part-2.html

I mentioned that you can use past perfect to talk about something that was related to another past time. Like I said about present perfect a while back, you can also use past perfect to talk about something that continued up to a past time.

So, just like I can say:

• I have lived in Japan since 2001.

I can also say:

• I moved to Japan after I had lived in Taiwan for four and a half years.

Maybe it's more common to use past perfect continuous, though, like this:

• I had been living in Taiwan for about five months when I first experienced an earthquake. <- true!
• I had been taking a shower for about five minutes when the whole place starting shaking because of an earthquake, the second one I had ever experienced. <- also true! Notice the past perfect in the second half of the sentence.

One day when I was an elementary school student, my mom took me to the mall. In one shop, there was a red jacket with zippers on it, just like in the "Beat It" video!

I had wanted to have a jacket like that ever since seeing the video. For whatever reason, my mom wouldn't buy me the jacket. His albums "Thriller" and "Bad" still sound good to me.

Rest in peace, Michael Jackson.

• rest in peace〔魂などが〕安らかに眠る、〔霊などが〕休まる◆【略】R.I.P. ・May he rest in peace. : 彼の冥福を祈る。・May his spirit rest in peace. : 彼の魂が安らかに眠らんことを。