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Wow I didn't up my blog for three days.
This is a nice Tempra art, she draw tempra everyday. We will eat Tmepra and Soba noodle tonight for dinner, it is year end custum to wish our fortune and long life.
Thank you for checking my blog this year, I will keep this blog next year too. どうぞ よろしくお願いします。
la la la I am in holilday mood already.
I found Ron Mueck arts video, I love them.
I really enjoy to read this CNN aritcle "101 Dumbest Moments in Business 2007". 4 of Japan related topics ranked in!
7. High-tech toilets - Too bad nobody gave one of these to Chuck Prince : Wow I didn't know thi snews. Fire toilet?
52. Japanese arm-wrestlers - Get a grip, Tinkerbell : It's his pride as a man?
60. Sony - Hey! That was Howard Stringer's goat! : For me, this is so shameful. Sony don't have common sense and humore too. Like I wrote, I had good image for Sony but now it has changed. (But I am Sony Vaio user too)
62. Sony - That beheaded goat on the altar was really uncalled-for : Again Sony!
Look at this robot, two arms never miss to catch cards and line them. This robot is the winner of "2007 Robot Award", great. Why do they can pick up cards because they line at randam on belt?! "LEGO mind storm" (here is the movie), "sample of body fluid system HOSPI" are prize winner too. As a robot lover, I love them. Ah here is the cute program "Robot generator". This is my robot "Samurai birdy"....poor looks.*
Tomorrow is the last working day for me, after which I will have off for 11 days!! La la la la la la la la, I am a very happy person now. I couldn't find a good topic to talk about, sorry for the short post.
I think anime eyes are not so strange, what do you think? So suprising: "Man's skin turn dark blue."
Speaking of a blue man, Desslar springs to mind. I am not sure if young people now know the old Japanese anime "Space Battleship Yamato" (Uchu Senkan Yamato). Recently two strange items are being sold on the Internet. One is Lord Desslar's wine and the other one is Cosmo Zero helmet.
Today's favorite art, he is Japanese. Click square. You can check out more of his art there. And this is today's No.2: "Otaku's Christmas" . orz..
I read an article saying that the Japanese rock group ULFULS's "ANMARI KOUTA" (a so-so song) ranks in #6 in the US ITunes chart. I don't listen to their songs very much, but I know they became famous with this song BANZAI.
In Japanese "Pochari" means plump. In Akiba there is "a plump maid cafe" and it is doing very well.
I found dark Christmas cards here and here ha ha ha, Funny :-)
Since I don't play network games, I have never heard any of them--very interesting ;Top 6 Bizarre On line Gaming Incidents.
Did you have a great Eve? There is one funny urban legend from Ustunomiya city in Tochigi pref. In Utsunomiya, there is a shopping building called "PARCO" and in the Christmas season they set up a big Christmas Tree. But the tree lost its ornamental balls before Christmas, because girls believe the urban legend that "a Christmas ornament of PARCO" will bring you love" and took them. PARCO tried to tie the ornaments up tight, but they were still taken one by one. I wonder if the tree still has any ornaments? Not sure.
I read this interesting article. Do you know about "the beautiful and super sad story a Dog of Flanders"? One day, Belgian movie director Didier Volckaert found a Japanese person crying in front of Rubens' "The Elevation of the Cross" in the church in Amtwerp. Then she was curious about why Japanese people love the story of A Dog of Flanders so much, and she and An van Dienderen made the documentary film "the documentary PATRASCHE A Dog of Flanders". A Dog of Flanders is so sad. In western culture, the story tends to be thought of as "a death of a loser". Actually in the U.S the story was made into film 5 times(!) in the past, but all of films were changed to have happy endings (hmm, I am not sure if American people love the story or hate it??). The theme of the documentary film is "why only Japanese people can accept such a sad story" and they think it is due to the Japanese aesthetic of transience or ruination. This and this is the post about the documentary film and a dog of Flanders. (Thanks for the nice posts.) By the way, I have never seen the TV animation "A Dog of Flanders". Since I can't handle sad stories, I can't see A Dog of Flanders or Grave of the Fireflies (even five minutes) or other such sad stories (especially when a child or dog has to die). But I am Japanese! I understand that people love those stories and I also love people who visit Antwerp and cry in front of the Rubens. Here is the last episode of A Dog of Flanders on Youtube.
But I understand the western way, too, because my mom doesn't like sad stories either and she didn't let me see A Dog of Flanders on TV. (in this case, she doesn't like sad stories the most--I don't think it was in her education.) At that point, I heard that Doraemon has never aired on the big three Networks in the U.S because the main character NOBITA is so dependent and negative. Is that true? I also hate NOBITA, so I understand the American thought in this case, too. But I like Doraemon; I found this today Doraemon pick collection Kawaii!! *
Merry Christmas!!!
News from foreign country. "Height of Chaos"; Indian video. Hmm, considering that it's very cold and hard to get food, I think people should find him and at least keep him warm and let him eat, but he might not be happy with that... werewolfboy in Russia.
Yasumasa Morimura is a Japanese artist who is very clever at mimicking. He can be not only Japanese but also Einsteinian and Guevaran too.
This is what's served for dinner in a Japanese prison. They say one prison sometimes serves McDonalds to give prisoners a feeling of society outside. Tonight they will eat a small cake for Christmas dinner.
Have you ever heard of the "American Anime Awards"? It's a series of awards designed to recognize excellence in the release of anime and manga in North America. The first gala awards presentation was hosted in New York City on February this year. I didn't know that, their official site disappeared already, they will have it next year again? By the way, I understand American people really love Naruto. :-) Do you know the meaning of Naruto? When the tide comes and goes, it goes round and makes a sound at the strait. That is Naruto. From that we call this fish cake "Naruto" too.
The most popular name for babies this year was released.
Boy
1.大翔 Hiroto (Haruto): In Kanji it is written like , then it has a different way to read. The Kanji has the meaning "big flying."
2.蓮 Ren: Lotus.
3.大輝 Daiki (Taiki): big lighting
4.翔太 Shota: Flying boy
5.悠斗 Yuto: distant star (I think)
5.陸 Riku: The earth ground.
Girl
1.葵 Aoi : hollyhock, The Tokugawa Shogun Family has the crest "three Aoi". . (triple hollyhock)
2.さくら Sakura : Cherry Blossom
3.優奈 Yuna : Gentle
4.結衣 Yui : This is hard to explain. Directly it means "tie clothes." We wear traditional clothes like Kimono with a lot of rope and belt (obi). Hmm, we imagine a very feminine beautiful lady with a nice Kimono with this name. But I think this name is popular this year because of Japanese idol "Yui Aragaki"..
5.陽菜 Hina: Warm sunshine
6.七海 Nanami: the seven sea
7.美咲 Misaki: Beautiful bloom
Cute cat video, , it is a cute cat "punch" with standing. We say "Neko Punch." By the way, when we say "Neko Punch," some people are reminded of a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Rourke" target="_blank">Mickey Rourke. . He was a boxer, right? And do you know he had a fight with Thai Boxer Daryl Miller in Japan in 1992? I remember I saw it on TV, and after that the Japanese gave him the nickname "Neko Punch." Here is the video of that match on YouTube, check it out.
The Tokyo said the Japanese government will let electric makers discontinue the Incandescent light bulb as an effort to combat global warming. I liked the warm mood of incandescent light, though I can get a not so bright, nice fluorescent bulb now. I appreciate the government decision.
I love mysterious topics. I plan to watch TV again after a long interval. The show is ""The prediction : Jucelino Nobreaga da Luz". I checked the wiki but they only have Portuguese and Japanese entries for this person, so I wonder if he is not famous in the world? They say he predicted the September 2007 Sumatra earthquakes, the terroristic attacks on the World Trade Center, Gore would get the Nobel prize, etc. The interesting one is he claimed in court that the U.S government should pay him a $25 million reward because the U.S caught Saddam Hussein because of his prediction. He missed most of his predictions in 2006, but he hit some of them in 2007. His closest prediction is a big earthquake in Sumatra again. I hope he misses this prediction. I wrote about how the American psychic Joseph McMoneagle found a Japanese comedian's missing father before. Both McMoaneagle and Jucelino Nobreaga predict economic bust from the NY market around 2010 or 11. Interesting, we will see.
Talking about predictions reminds me of the scientist Tomokichi Fukurai, who was a professor of Teikoku Univ (Tokyo Univ). He is known for his studies on "Nensha" (sense copying), but his theories never gained widespread popularity, and in 1919, he resigned his post at the university to continue his research. By the way, he studied the Nensha with three psychic women, Chizuko Obune, Ikuko Nagao and Satako Takahashi. Chizuko Obune is the model of the horror novel, movie of "RING"". Yes, Sadako was actual person.
Lovely!! This is a Dutch artist? "Maps by clothes." I got Europe and Africa, but I'm not sure where no.3 and no 4 are from. These are other art worksother art works from Amsterdam.
This is a Japanese Kit Kat collection on flickr. I have eaten green tea and strawberry milk. But I love the standard one most. :-)
Do you know Ochazuke? It's a kind of Japanese rice with soup, you can enjoy variations of soup and toppings. Basically we had an image of Ochazuke as a B class food; people eat it after dinner when they still need a little bit more or they don't have enough time to eat regular food. However since a few years ago, we find some Ochazuke restaurants. At lunch time there are long lines in the shops. Then today I found an Ochazuke bar. You can enjoy alcohol and finish drinking with a cup of Ochazuke. Sounds nice to me. If you want to try it, the easiest way is to get an Ochazuke powder. The most famous one is "Nagatanien" Here is the TV ad. I think you can find them in Japanese super markets. Try it.
I didn't know "Fist of the North Star" was aired in foreign countries. This is the Japanese original opening theme, and a guy made a REAL opening theme by himself. ha ha ha
Japanese government says existence of UFOs unconfirmed. Hmm, I don't think the Japanese govenment will say yes even though a UFO fell down in front of the Diet Building. Recently I really feel this country is very conservative, wimpy, and lacking in policy. By the way, NISSIN is the maker of cupnoodles, and they have instant fried noodles called "UFO." Have you ever seen it? This is crazy UFO TV ad. That American guy will be Don Frye. He says, "guys shouldn't leave a noodle, guys should leave a name."
Anyway, unfortunately no big topic in Tokyo today. Sorry for the short post.
I enjoyed reading this much: "Does Time Really Slow Down during a Frightening Event?" It's very interesting.
Black toilet paper was released already, but this is not yet: "black tissue". Hmm, I like that. A tissue box destroys the fine mood of a stylish room easily.
CyberGadget released a Famicom game adapter, "the cyber Familator Lite". Do you still have any Famicom games now?
Tonight we're having "Bonenkai" for my job section. We will go to a Sushi place. My favorite Sushi is Anago, Kohada and Botan Ebi. I hope the sushi place has them tonight.
Two cute photos ; "real bomberman" and "scary kids".
I love this news : Bamboo eco Note.. I will care about "eco" more next year; I want to live simply in eco mode. I am in such a mood. I have started "OOSOJI" (big cleaning). I cleaned up my closet and threw many items away: an old cheap photo frame which I bought at London, the small hair pins which I won as a prize over 20 years ago, small emblems of junior high and high school, etc. I thought they were something important but actually I don't use them anymore. It is a nice feeling to release something old from me. Thank you old days, hello new days. :-)
These are the photos Tokyo in 1945. The U.S military guy took all of these photos.Hmm, it is only 72 years ago. Can you believe it?
The result of the word of 2007 was not interesting at all. But on the Internet worlds, people picked other words. The winner is "ASAHIRU." When ex prime minister Shinzo Abe quit his job, the Asahi wrote, "On the Internet, people use the new word "ABE-SURU (=doing like Abe)" as a verb meaning "quit job irresponsibly." However, nobody including me had ever heard such a word as "ABE-SURU." So ASAHI's trumped-up story became "flaming" and people made the word "ASAHIRU," meaning to cook up stories. What an ironic fact. The second winner is "SWEETS (laugh)." These are women who call cakes, chocolate, and such things "SWEETS" in English, not in Japanese. Guys call them "SWEETS (laugh)" with a hint of sarcasm for their putting on airs attitude and misconception. The regular usage is "she is a SWEETS woman," "she has a SWEETS brain." I think it is very interesting, the KANJI express this year is "GI" (fake) and people are so tired of having something fake and maybe nervous something smells fake. At that point, the Asahi and Sweets woman exactly smell like fakes. I like this trend.
