A Dog of Flanders

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!! *

Comments

[Ornament]

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[Sunny]

Thanks for posting this

[Ashi]

Online multiplayer games are the new trend. Not many people are aware about the new cool games hitting the industry everyday although there are many sites and forums which provide information but people are unaware about those sites and forums. I have been members of many gaming forums and sites but I am amused by few of them and one of it being http://blog.games2win.com they have a cool monkey called chimpoo who talks about the games and the gaming world, pretty cool!

[HenkZw]

I am from Flanders. The story is a lot less well-known here, although I have read a comic book that also dealt with the story and how the Japanese like it so much. During the holidays I also bought "Grave of the Fireflies" but like the other commenter, I don't have the nerve to watch it.
(by the way, Didier is a man and not a woman)

[iki]

A Dog of Flanders is the only thing that's made me get teary-eyed in years. I have Grave of the Fireflies on DVD, but haven't been brave enough to watch it. I'd like to see an animated story of Hachiko, though I'm sure it would have the same result.