31 October 06 - 20:39Ryu Kotaro
I cannot forget the Ryu Kotaro's breathtaking preformance in Asakusa. His singing and dancing and humour has left me with astonished. His seductive movements in geisha kimono and perfect voice was something unique.
http://www.hanamiweb.com/ryu_kotaro.html
yaschan - Japanese Music -
31 October 06 - 20:27Why I think Japanprobe is not a good site?
I've been occasionally (mostly accidentally) ended up surfing in site japanprobe (dot) com. I realized before that it isn't exactly Japan-positive site. But it was the youtube video about foreigners messing around in Yamanote-sen that made me upset, or more like, the way it was presented in the site.
The site just doesn't have one single appropriate story, but all about ugly, muddy, whatever terrible rumours, which purpose seems to be to humiliate Japan as a nation. The site's owner states the following:
"I am sure that some of the stuff I post may shock or offend certain people. I haven’t created this site to bash Japan or spread false stereotypes about the Japanese. The content of this site does not necessarily reflect my personal opinions. My goal is to create a site that allows users to read interesting things about Japan."
Yes, I believe the site doesn't reflect any particular aspect of Japan. Instead it reflects the creators own personality. Sites like these won't harm Japan's reputation, I'm not worried about that. I'm more worried about the bad rap this kind of site brings to foreigners in Japan.
Has the creator ever considered how sites like these (obviously directed for foreigners) are seen by Japanese? What if someone picked up the worst, ugliest and dirtiest news from America, and kept a daily updating site from them? Although I'm sure most Japanese won't bother their minds with stuff like this, I understand the shock some might get. Let me mention few categories the Japanprobe offers: Anti-Japan, Discrimination, Panties, Porn..
The "news" on the site seems to be mostly copied from Microsoft sponsored Mainichi news, the ultimate sensation news-source. Pick the worst news you can get and mix with suspicion and American patriotic attitude, and you don't get even near. It's all bad news, with a sensational twist. There is no single Japan-positive story. It's all dark mud.
Mostly the posts in the site seems to be videos picked up from youtube.
If there was some good will in the way the authors create the content, I wouldn't bother writing this, but all of this is all anti-Japan.
I personally have better things to do than check posts taking proud of disrespectful behaviour of foreigners in Japan.
I only wish the creator would change the site's title to something like "rumours from Japan". But the name, japanprobe suggests the information-gathering type of site - which again gives the wrong feeling that this site would represent some face of Japan. I don't think it does.
It represents the face of it's creator.
yaschan - My Journal -
31 October 06 - 14:38More on autonomic imbalance
Today, a friend of mine reported he got heavy symptoms of autonomic imbalance. It appears that this disease is common among Japanese men also. He was in the age of 55 when he suffered dizzyness.
"It suddenly attacked me after dinner", he said. "It turned worse next day, so I went to hospital. I got a shot, but I couldn't stand up. I threw up pretty badly". He ended up being in hospital for a week.
Symtoms of CFS, it would seem. I can only speculate how common this must be among Japanese male workers.
Read more about autonomic imbalance:
http://www.hanamiweb.com/autonomic_imbalance_and_cfs.html
yaschan - Japanese Life -
31 October 06 - 02:29HD Video BBC Motion Gallery JAPAN!
Those who want to test their new HD display with some nice highresolution video, I recommend Apple's Quicktime site:
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/guide/hd/bbc-nhk.html
The visuals are stunning, introducing Mount Fuji, temples and other things. These are the ones broadcasted by BBC in HD quality.
I downloaded the largest version and downscaled it to fit the screen - I found you can achieve the best quality this way.
Check the BBC Motion Gallery site for other versions:
http://www.bbcmotiongallery.com
yaschan - Japanese TV -
30 October 06 - 21:42Love Hina ラブひな
I recently discovered the DVD series Love Hina from the local library. Although I'm not usually so interested about this type of popular anime, I thought I must get to know what this megalomaniac boom is all about.
The story tells life of Keitaro, twenty years old guy who made promise to his childhood love, to get to University of Tokyo. The girl promised the same.
Yubikiri genma.., and all that. But Keitaro soon finds himself as the headmaster of the girls dormitory. Embarassing situation, for him.
The characters are well drawn and the dramatic way how girls violently beat up Kentaro again and again is kind of funny, at least for a short time.
As I anticipated when Love Hina got out in 2002 it got in bad rap in US as it is little naughty. American audience is so sensitive!!
Often the jokes are involved in some accidental situation where Kentaro accudentally touches the girls. And the girls really do posses quite nice shapes.. This little naughtiness is clearly a feature of this animation, no question about it. As the author himself admitted, it was uninspired method of garnering audience. No wonder it's such boom. But also another reason would be nice voice acting.
Whether we men want to admit or not, it is maybe true that all of us have little Kentaro inside of us..
yaschan - Japanese TV -
29 October 06 - 20:59Masterpiece
Jin Roh - The Wolf Brigade was stunning animation experience. The movie tells story of Fuse, a traumatized member of elite para-military police. One day when chasing dangerous rebels, he encounters a young girl, a courier of the rebels. He fails to shoot her and she commits suicide in front of him, detonating the bomb she was supposed to deliver.
Failing to execute his orders and allowing the bomb to go off, Fuse loses his job in elite force and has to go back to training. Soon, he meets her sister who looks just like her and falls for her.
But everything isn't what it seems.
(more)
yaschan - Japanese Movies -
29 October 06 - 20:20Wagashi (Pie Books)
Wagashi- The graphics of Japanese Confection is a fantastic graphic collection of different Wagashi - the traditional Japanese sweets. The book introduces Japanese poetry and stunning graphic design by Kazuya Takaoka, Mutsuo Takahashi and Hiroshi Yoda. The book goes through seasons and the poems nicely reflect the visual feeling of the wagashi, just as well the different seasons.
The color of cherry blossoms at their peak are splendid.
The light green of just-budding willow
branches is also very beautiful.
The scene of light-green weeping branches blown
in the breeze sinks into the viewers' eyes and minds.
Kameyaiori
-Wagashi - The Graphics of Japanese Confection
Wagashi has a long tradition in Japan. In most traditional occasion, wagashi is enjoyed in tea ceremony. But it's just as good with
ocha. The book remains to be one of the most print designs I've ever seen. Mindblowing.
yaschan - Japanese Books -
29 October 06 - 20:09Sushi 4004 and Fantastic Cat
Sushi 4004 The Return of Spectacular Japanese Cubpop is peculiar and strange compilation. The music is really different from European techno. Those who have visited in Japanese RnB type of clubs might be familiar with the genre, those who haven't, this will be eye (or should I say, ear) opener! The opening track from Midnight Bowlers is really nothing special, but Fantastic Plastic Machine's "S'il Vous Plait" turns out to be one funny, and extraordinary track!
(more)
yaschan - Japanese Music -
29 October 06 - 18:14Aimai - The Ambiguous Japanese
Japanese are generally ambiguous, and often surprisingly vague when stating their opinion. This can be seen either as a sign of humility or a practical way to handle sometimes difficult topics. The word aimai generally means ambiguous, obscure, vague, double-edged or hazy. It has also other meanings such as doubtfull, non-committal, questionable or shady.
Read more in Hanami Web,
here.
yaschan - Japanese Life -
24 October 06 - 17:05Definition of Geisha part two
The electronic version of Oxford English states following:
geisha |ˈgā sh ə; ˈgē-| (also geisha girl) noun ( pl. same or -shas ) a Japanese hostess trained to entertain men with conversation, dance, and song. ORIGIN late 19th cent.: Japanese, ‘entertainer,’ from gei ‘performing arts’ + sha ‘person.’
~~
I think it is quite interesting as the dictionary seems to state that geisha is to entertain men in particular, although most of the geisha events can be enjoyed by both men and women. Also I would say that especially many foreign geisha fans would agree with me that geisha and hostess are altogether different concepts.
I'm little disappointed although I guess this could be even worse.
yaschan - Japanese Life -
22 October 06 - 18:42Konya Hitori no Beddo De 今夜ひとりのベッドで
Konya Hitori no Beddo De 今夜ひとりのベッドで (On the Single Bed Tonight) introduces the better side of Japanese drama. Broadcasted by TBS in 2005 october-december, this ten episode romantic drama offers nice characters, and some beautiful (and ever so complicated) romance.
Unlike typical Japanese TV, this drama does not have exaggerated male figures, and especially the beautiful Azusa (Okina Megumi) steals the show with her acting. The other cast isn't so bad either, although they are left pretty much as statists.
I will soon publish the review in Hanami Web.
「Broadcast period: 2005-Oct-20 to 2005-Dec-22」 Episodes: 10 ★★★★★
yaschan - Japanese Life -
19 October 06 - 19:19Autonomic Imbalance!
A Japanese friend of mine recently got disease which was categorized as Autonomic Imbalance. I was shocked and I was worried that something in her central nervous system had gone wrong, or perhaps something in her mid ear, you know that little gyroscope-kind of organ, I was worried she might keep falling over.
But she can walk just fine and her nervous system has nothing wrong. In other words, she is suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome. But women in Japan are very rarely diagnosed as CFS, in fact the entire diagnosis is missing from Japanese medical science.
Check out
the article in Hanami Web.
yaschan - Japanese Life -
15 October 06 - 15:08Our Feline Friends in Tokyo
When having a walk in the suburbs of Tokyo, a foreigner is bound to notice one thing - the large number of stray cats. There are so many of them, all of them has same rough look as homeless people in Shinjuku. Their fur is all tangled up and they have miserable look in their faces. They are all abandoned, probably while they were kittens.
Recently author Masako Bando provoked some heavy criticism by her column in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, about kittens. She wrote that every time when her cat breeds, she throws the newborn kittens off the cliff nearby her house. "Sterilizing cats for human convenience is no better than killing newborn kittens, she says."
Inspired by this, I wrote an editorial article. Please read and share your views.
http://www.hanamiweb.com/feline_friends_in_tokyo.html
yaschan - Japanese Life -
11 October 06 - 22:10Hardboiled / Hardluck
Banana Yoshimoto is a name that is well known abroad, due to her fantastic books like Kitchen or Amrita. Latest translation of her novel Hard Boiled / Hard Luck fills it's expectations. It's deep, it's nostalgic, it's sad. It handles difficult and painful topics with sensitivity and gentle humor. It's naturally moving. This time the theme is dark, much darker than N.P or Kitchen. It has also something a bit sinister in it, but nothing too much. Just enough to give a little chill in your spine.
I highly recommend!
Read full article at:
http://www.hanamiweb.com/topstory11102006.html
「ISBN:0571227821」 Faber and Faber £ 9.99 160 pages ★★★★★
yaschan - Japanese Books -
08 October 06 - 12:10Sacred life of the sea & Sea turtles
Sea is a symbol of life in Japan. Sea turtles and cranes are generally considered as a sacred animals in Japan, (and popular subjects for origami!). Japanese do seem to appreciate the elegant sea turtles or the peacefull jellyfish. I'm really curious about this relationship, and how Japanese feel about the sea. When asking question "which do you like more, mountain or sea?" Japanese, especially the women mostly say the latter.
Little more than hundred years ago, Japan literally lived from the sea. Sea gave life to people, and also it had the power to take the life. Still Japan has the same solid bond to it's watery surroundings. Afterall, you can't escape Japan without confronting the sea even somehow (if not otherwise, then from the plane's window). As Kobo Abe noted in his novel, someday Japan is eventually being flooded due to melting of the arctic sea ice.
Japanese are the perhaps only people in the world who wrap their lunch in crispy seaweed. Like the "fish flags" seen in boy's day, sea is constantly present in Japanese people's life.
Aquariums are very popular in Japan and there are several ones in Tokyo. Maybe the most famous is in Kasai Rinkai Koen. These cool and harmonious sites offering soothing ambient music and selection of various fish are popular dating sites as well. In the dark and areas surrounded by beautiful glittering fish, you can feel belonging together with that special someone. Aquariums also do important information about conveying the information of preserving the sea. In some aquariums the visitors can also touch the fish.
yaschan - Japanese Life -
07 October 06 - 06:23Tokyo - Certain Style!
I just got the famous book "Tokyo - Certain Style!" on my hands. The book is so fascinatin description about living in Tokyo, how it really is. Especially the messy rooms of student girls in Tokyo were so interesting. I will write full report here when I can soon.
yaschan - Japanese Books -