28 February 07 - 21:35The People of Japanese Food
I got recently email from the author of Dancing Chopsticks Website
www.dancingchopsticks.org. I rarely get so excited about a website project as I got about this. The website has such an unique and deep vision to Japanese culture, and especially the agriculture and rural culture. The photographs are great, and according to the author, there is going to be whole a lot more. I'm excited to look forward more photographs and content. There really are not too much information available on this area. And truth is that Japan is in verge of a change what comes to it's foodways.
It delights me to see such a website coming up. I will feature a review of the author sometimes in near future.
ヤーッコ - Japanese Life -
28 February 07 - 19:29Rashomon
This month's Top Story tells about Rashomon, the experimental movie from 50's. The title "Rashomon" comes from a Rashomon Gate in Kyoto. This location was in another story by Akutagawa. The story of the movie comes from Akutagawa's "In a Grove". Myself I liked the mature appeal of the characters in the movie.
Interesting >
The Rashomon effect is the effect of the subjectivity of perception on recollection, by which observers of an event are able to produce substantially different but equally plausible accounts of it. Yes, it comes from this film.
http://www.hanamiweb.com/topstory28022007.html
ヤーッコ - Japanese Movies -
28 February 07 - 13:48Haruki Murakami: Afterdark
Haruki Murakami's 12 english book is recently published.
Afterdark is again reliable work by Jay Rubin, the guy who was responsible for most of the English translations of Murakami's books. I expect the English translation to be great as usual, and have the author's original thought in it. I will write about it as soon as I get it in my hands. Probably next week.
On the meanwhile, read it in Amazon:
Haruki Murakami: Afterdark
ヤーッコ - Japanese Books -
21 February 07 - 15:45Who was Matthew Perry?
No, I'm not talking about the actor in American TV show "Friends". I'm talking about the Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, the guy who "opened" Japan in end of 1800. I'm curious about the guy, why he chose his assignment to "negotiate" the trade routes to Japan, under a Dutch flag. Why I use so many quotes is that I don't think that any negotiation can be real negotiation when there are bunch of black ships with cannons around. Perry did demonstrate that his guns are fully functional. Interesting, but rather unknown detail. If Japan would have been locked chest, Perry did not use a key to open it, but rather pried the sucker open with a brute force. Who has time to care about unnecessary formalities when the leaders of super country request RESULTS in certain timeframe?
In all the pictures I've seen of Perry, he wears a serious pose, kind of "dontgettooclose or I'll biteya"- look. And I think it is interesting point that the fleet of ships were indeed
black. No, they were not indigo or pink. That would have not been appropriate. Or think of white! How could the ships have been white? Nobody would take such commander seriously, painting his ships with such feminine colour!
The same reason as Darth Vader's helmet is shiny black, a fleet those fully armed ships were pitch black, so black that they wouldn't reflect any light at all. More to come from Mr.Perry soon. Too bad it's kind of late to get an interview of him. On the mean while, I'm going to go to watch some
Friends.
ヤーッコ - Japanese Life -
21 February 07 - 00:30A Survivor
Engadget reported about woman who plummeted into the subway tracks while she was concentrated typing an SMS in Honmachi Station in Osaka. The article got a lot of comments - most of them saying she was crazy or stupid. Myself, I don't want to make such a cruel remark. I'm glad to hear she was saved by a station attendant. From the description in Engadget it sounds it was a close call, train was coming and had to us it's emergency breaks. But well, that's what the station attendants and the emergency breaks are for, right?
Also I'd like to point out to the Engadget reporter that cellphones in Japan don't support the puny European 168 character SMS messages, they provide full email service. When you buy a phone in Japan, you get an email address. She might had her hands full replying a very long message, or perhaps quoting her favorite novel. You never know what those relaxed Kansai people think! Or it could be that she was watching a website via iMode, or maybe she was too tired from the work..
http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/20/woman-plummets-onto-subway-tracks-while-carelessly-texting/
ヤーッコ - Japanese Technology -
19 February 07 - 10:21On Planet Earth
I realized today that I do love this planet. Yes, I really do.
I love the lavender by the Lake Kawaguchi, the trees and green meadows in July. The fishes in the ponds and the cats in the alleys. Cows. Akatombo.
But the thing I love even more is the people. People on planet earth. People are always interesting and fun.
In Japan, sometimes I get this feeling that I want to shake hands with everybody, you know, wish the best for everybody. Let them live happy lives, free of pain of misery.
I feel sad to see everything getting dirtied. The trees are cut down to give room for tall buildings. Where used to be forest, now stands office building where people slave off with their corporate duties. Convenience stores.
Could the true enemy of human kind to be lack of imagination?
ヤーッコ - My Journal -
19 February 07 - 10:00About Mamoru Oshii
Have you ever heard of Mamoru Oshii? His movies Patlabor and Ghost in the Shell moved the world with their poetic stories.
He has also made a real full length movie Avalon, interesting production which was shot entirely in Poland with Polish cast. He has also wrote for many famous anime movies, such as Jin Roh, and took care of the art department in "Spoon Obaasan".
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ヤーッコ - Japanese Movies -
18 February 07 - 19:00Gentle Time
Yasashii Jikan, the TV show broadcasted 2005 in Japan, introduced a slow lifestyle of Hokkaido. The show is well made, and especially the scenery of Hokkaido is worth to see. Screenwriting is made by: Kuramoto Sou, Yoshida Noriko, Tago Akihiro (田子明弘), Kobayashi Akio (小林彰夫).
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ヤーッコ - Japanese TV -
18 February 07 - 11:42Can you trust Nova?
The famous Nova, English-conversation school (with the cute advertisement of nova bird, which sometimes is jamming in TV, singing in cute tune) has been long time having bad rap. The teachers have been complaining a lot about their various concerns, including the actual benefit for the customers. And now, the Asahi Shimbun reports that the offices of Nova were being searched over allegations the company was cheating students.
See the Asahi Shimbun article:
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200702170164.html
Can you trust Nova? Please write your comment.
ヤーッコ - Japanese Business -
17 February 07 - 20:00Haruki Murakami: Underground and the Japanese Psyche
http://www.hanamiweb.com/underground_murakami.html
I found this book recently from my book shelf and decided to read it again. The book is wonderful, especially because it describes how differently each person experienced the incident. Afterall, it seems to be that personal experience is everything.
Haruki Murakami's Underground is a non-fiction about sarin gas attack in Tokyo, 1995. The book is a composition of interviews that Murakami made with witnesses and the perpetrators themselves. Not only with those affected by sarin gas, but also the attackers themselves in hope to understand the reason for the attack.
ヤーッコ - Japanese Books -
17 February 07 - 15:11Tokyo Certain Style!
http://www.hanamiweb.com/tokyo_certain_style.html
Is Tokyo really a clinical, expensive Super City?
This book tells about the daily, oh-so-very-daily(!) japanese life and living.
Did you know that you can get small apartment 15 minutes from Shinjuku with as much as 40 000 yen per month? And when you move there, it will soon probably look like one of the pictures in Tokyo - Certain Style!
ヤーッコ - Japanese Books -
17 February 07 - 11:17More on Nampa
Thank you all for your feedback about the nampa article. The entry's title was "Why I never do nampa?". I wanted only to express why I don't feel interest to it myself. If that's your thing, just knock yourself out. Nampa may seem an exotic thing for foreigners in Japan, no difference from cosplay or some otaku culture. In other words, nampa is a sub culture.
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ヤーッコ - Feedback -
16 February 07 - 13:37Smile! :)
Many foreigners in Japan will be surprised/shocked eventually by some aspect of Japanese culture. No matter how much you'll study, you will eventually get surprised - and usually this surprise will come from somewhere unexpected. I have discovered an ultimate method how to get over this surprise, and turn it in your advantage. Read on..
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ヤーッコ - Japanese Life -
13 February 07 - 22:58Women of the Sea
A friend of mine introduced me a book about amasan, diving women. The book is a little hard to find, in fact I went through many bookshops and asked around, but nobody seems to know that the book existed.
Amasan look so cheerfull and humorous persons. I heard they were also strong for sake, and most of them seemed to lead a rather trouble free lives. I was moved by the beautiful photography of the book. It seems the photographer really loved amasan.
http://www.hanamiweb.com/ama.html
ヤーッコ - Japanese Life -
13 February 07 - 21:51Problem of the World
It's worldwide. It's all over the planet. It's spreading like a plague. The modern weakness of human kind.
The difficulty of approaching a member of opposite sex.
Japan is suffering record low birthrate and government is racking it's brain and using whatever stunts they can think of to "correct" the problem. But no, they've got it all wrong. A government sponsored speed dating or women's undies stating "stop to birthrate decline!" are not the way to ease this.
These days, if you want to talk to that cute lady next to you, first thing you have to worry whether she thinks you have some malicious, hidden agenda. No, you can't just talk to her. The chances are you are going to get some odd looks. Same goes to meeting someone in coffeeshop, bar, or even at work. There is invisible plexiglass separating us, and this chasm between the sexes is just getting worse when media is boasting off with their sexy ads. Everything is at sale, and there is no sign of that natural communication between men and women which once existed. We have forgotten what it was!
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ヤーッコ - My Journal -
08 February 07 - 12:21American Cow
It was another rainy night in Baba and I was sitting in Yoshinoya, figuring out what to order. I decided to order beef bowl. It came in two minutes. It didn't take me long time to enjoy the easy meal, when somehow, I started feeling ill. I started wondering where all this meat comes from.
Ofcourse, it comes from America.
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ヤーッコ - My Journal -
08 February 07 - 10:27MIRAQ Handmade Accessory
My friend told me about her sister's design and illustration. I was moved by the simple beauty of these, especially the KOTORI NECKLACE and PLASTIC CHAIN BRACELET.
She is doing something that nobody did before. There is mystic appeal in her design. Please visit her shop:
http://www13.ocn.ne.jp/~pink/newaccessory.html
Her main site is:
http://www13.ocn.ne.jp/~pink/
ヤーッコ - Japanese Design -
04 February 07 - 18:44Functional Simplicity, Structural Complexity
"Functional Simplicity, Structural Complexity" is a phrase in Masamune Shirow's manga Appleseed, and describes the basic principle of Olympus, a new utopic city state for mankind in the story. It translates as something which is extremely complex, but with an interface designed to serve the user, who has no knowledge of the system itself, to the full. And lately I got a small taste of it, with my very own Zaurus SLC-3100.
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acjama - Japanese Technology -
04 February 07 - 15:47Deer in Nara
I was talking to the deer I met in Nara.
I asked the deer, whether I will become happy in the future, and if there will be harmony in planet earth.
The deer said she didn't know.
Yes, ofcourse. She is not a great prophet or advisor. She is a deer. She is busy handling her deer business.
Sadly, we human beings are so different from deer.
ヤーッコ - My Journal -
04 February 07 - 12:22What will happen to aurora?
These days global warming is the trend word. Everyone is talking about it. Scientits, ecologists, meteorologists, farmers.. all express their worry about greenhouse gasses and about the holes in the ozone layer. There is no question about it - the planet's already out of whack as we experience warm winters, sakura is blooming earlier, you have to wear +100 sun cream if you don't want to get skin cancer and you can't ski in December! Everyone's worried about catastrophic polar meltdown!
But I'm worried about another thing.
What will happen to aurora? So far as I know, nobody has discussed about that. As I'm not meteorologist, I cannot be sure whether it will be affected or not. (I must call my uncle today and ask about that). But as far as I know, aurora is something that occur in COLD WINTER NIGHTS, when it's below -20C and CLEAR SKY. These days we get these boring winters here in Finland which is like God's saying "Hey sorry guys, can't help you with that, this winter (+2C) is best I can do this year..". I don't know about science or meteorology so much, but I know, I'm not seeing aurora like I used to see ten years ago. Besides how could I, when thick grey overcast is hanging on sky.
Japanese people are travelling to Finland just to see aurora. Yes, if Japanese person even hears the word "aurora" his or her eyes lit up, Aurora? Did you see it! I wanna see it? I want to go to Finland!
Aurora is like mountains of Nepal for Japanese - something they want to see, even if it's expensive and they have to sit in tourist class for ten hours. Just like there is no guarantees that you can see the mountains in Nepal (they get clouded up you know!) there are absolutely no guarantees that you can watch aurora. If you get very lucky you can. But these days to come to Finland to see aurora is like playing poker game with Russian mafia. You are more likely to lose.
Aurora is romantic. Aurora is wonderful. Aurora is like free cinema show of nature, the ultimate graphic design of the universe. And it's FREE!
Now this is being endagered just so that people could get to their supermarket in neighborhood without having to walk or cycle. I don't dig it.
Should I move to Siberia?
http://www.geo.mtu.edu/weather/aurora/
ヤーッコ - My Journal -
03 February 07 - 20:23Setsubun festival
Setsubun, or "seasonal division" is a holiday to celebrate the start of each and every season, but the most common reference is to the beginning of spring, or "risshun". It is celebrated on the 3rd of February. It is associated with the New Year of the Lunar calendar, and people celebrate it by throwing out evil demons by throwing beans at them. The story of the Setsubun is described in a legend of "Demon son-in-law".
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acjama - Japanese Life -
03 February 07 - 12:33Obi jime
Kei-san and Shi-san introduced me their wonderful obi jime and the raw materials to tie the obijime.
Look how many there are! The round obi jime has interesting feel, it's such heavy and solid, and when you squeeze it it keeps this interesting sound when the threads move against each other.
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ヤーッコ - Japanese Design -
02 February 07 - 08:14Why I never do nampa?
Yes, a Japanese guy asked me "why don't we go to Shibuya to do some nampa?" Nampa is a Japanese word that means to pick up a girl in public place, just go to talk to the girls and ask to go out to drink, then make the girl drunk and after she is too drunk to indigest a cyanide pill, well, then probably you go to a love hotel.
I said thanks for the offer and I excused myself, saying "maybe next time". But no way, dude.
Indeed, waiting a friend in front of Shibuya's Tsutaya in Friday 6PM, I witnessed some of this. The Japanese, especially girls are usually afraid to say "no". Instead they kindly just say "eeeh?" at first, and stop walking, looking at the guy like asking "are you selling for something?". And then, with some weird voodoo magic, the guys make the girls interested, even though at first the girls face looks like "where is that cyanide pill when you need one!".
But it's all just a game, and the girls who go there, maybe they might expect to be called by someone. I'm not sure.
So why I dont like it?
Here are the reasons:
1. The relationship you might get via this method will expire within approximately six hours from initial contact. Next day another person might be the one who's paying dinner for her.
2. I'm not such a person who talks to a strangers on the street, at least if I'm not extremely drunk.
3. I don't want to seek attention from the nearby police box.
4. Love hotels and bars are expensive, and if you do nampa, maybe the girl will expect YOU to pay everything. I mean YOU were the one who had this stupid idea anyway!
5. I have better things to do.
6. Why would I trust a stranger I know anything of, just someone I meet on street?
7. There is big chance that the girl I'd ask just wants to ACTUALLY GET HOME after long day at work, without being bothered by a stranger.
8. Oh yeah, and I kind of like someone.
Here is the ultimate
NAMPA SURVIVAL GUIDE for Japanese women. Read this!
1. Turn up your iPod to full blast when walking past Shibuya Tsutaya or another spot like that
2. Always carry in cyanide pills!
3. Stay at home in weekends.
4. Dress up like a man and wear a fake moustache!
5. Have a steady boyfriend clinging you your arm in Friday evening. Or borrow your cousin!
6. And for heaven's sake, don't give your phone number or cellural email to someone who shouts at you in the street!
7. Use your common sense. Some of the guys might not be so kind as they look. True gentleman never shouts at woman in the street.
Next time, I will write my opinion about "casual" dating.
ヤーッコ - My Journal -
01 February 07 - 13:42The Girl in Yamanote-sen
Yes, it was this another little a bit gloomy evening. And it was cold. It had been snowing a little in Shinagawa, and now I was heading back to Baba. In front of me sat two girls, older and younger. Could be sisters, I'm not sure. But the younger girl's mind was totally away. She looked like she was on verge of tears. If I understood their Japanese right, her mother had just died.
Yes. I dont know what happened to her mother, but it seems she had just heard the news. We sat in the same train almost all the way from Shinagawa to Baba. I tried not to stare, but somehow, her simple expression just drew my eyes on her. Her eyes had crystal clear stare on them, and she wore this yellow winter coat, and well chosen muffler, and jeans.
For a moment, she and her friend talked about something and they even laughed a little, but then she suddenly seemed to remember the situation again and her eyes lost all hope and her lower lip started tp tremble.
She managed to keep the tears away until the train arrived to Baba, but when she stepped off from the train and the doors closed, she just collapsed on the platform and cried like a baby. That was the lonelinest cry I ever heard.
Now, if there is some Power of the Universe or Cosmos or Buddha or Jesus, please give this girl no more trouble. Give her the most delicious chou créme, good friends, and a reliable boyfriend. Give her the most delicious sake there is on earth. Let her be happy for now.
Sometimes when I walk in Shinjuku station seeing the amazing number of people passing the gates, I get this feeling that I want to shake hands with everyone, you know, how I feel for a brief moment I can imagine how they feel, and I feel nothing but sympathy for them. I wish they will be happy, having the good time of their lives. That's maybe just imagination, I mean there is ofcourse no way to really tell what they are going through. I do not possess such powers.
Truth is that I cannot know what the girl feels. All I can do is imagine. Maybe her mother didn't really die. It could be that I misunderstood their japanese. But for a second I could imagine her loneliness, the feeling how the sky just collapsed on her, and there is nothing that anyone could do about it.
Probably there will be a day when I will face the same loneliness when my own mother will die. Then, I will remember her. The girl in Yamanote-sen.
ヤーッコ - My Journal -