Oh no, I didn't know I neglected to write in my blog for over 10 days! Whoops!
You can move in 3D by moving the doll. Great!
"Kitano Kuni Kara" (From a Northern Country) is a very popular Japanese TV drama that aired intermittently from 1981 to 2002. Here is a great review site for the first season. "A guy "Goro" who separated from his wife went back to his hometown in "Hokkaido" (the North country) with his two children. The children were raised in Tokyo, so they are bewildered by the big change: there is no water, no gas, no electricity in the new house. But gradually they become comfortable with the environment and love the beautiful nature." The first season has 24 episodes, after that there was a 2 hour special show every other year or so until 2002. Almost 10 years has passed since the show was over, but many people still say that this is their favorite TV drama. Actually, the shooting locations of the drama are tourist spots now, especially the houses that Goro built by himself from scrap metal are popular places to visit. Here are some photos of those houses.
The window is made from the windshield of a bus!
This window is a laundry machine door.
After Winter Sonata became a big hit in 2003, Korean TV dramas and K-pop are very popular here in Japan. I won't call it a boom or trend anymore, since they seem to have a firm position in this country. Certain TV networks like Fuji (channel 8) or NTV (channel 4) seem to run K-pop or K-dramas often. On July 23rd, Japanese actor Sousuke Takaoka tweeted: "I don’t really watch channel 8 (Fuji TV) anymore. It sometimes makes me wonder if it’s a Korean channel." His tweet quickly spread and the news picked it up. Within two days, he was forced to leave his agency and he said "maybe I need to quit acting soon or later." Because of Takaoka's tweet, Japanese people are starting to complain to TV networks now (people are not complaining about Korean drama or K-pop, but are complaining about Japanese TV network and sponsors). And at the same time, we have this news: over 20% of stock in FUJI and NTV are held by foreigners. To protect the media, there is a regulation stating that the stock of certain companies (mainly media and airplanes) have a rate-cap to foreign holders and when it is broken, those companies' licenses are suspended (for broadcasting in this case). Actually now I don't wonder if NTV and Fuji have their licenses. People are starting to think that this Korean boom is supported not only by fans, but also because of TV networks' and sponsors' ulterior motives. Actually, there is a movement to boycott Kao products (one of Fuji TV's main sponsors) started this week by a radical group on 2 ch. They made a lot of negative reviews of Kao products on Amazon.jp. I can't agree with this, I understand we should boycott Fuji, but why the need to attack Kao? It 's too much. I will watch what develops on this topic. Anyways, Takaoka is staying in NY now for the stage production of "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion". I hope he won't lose his career over this.
Congratulations on your 10 year anniversery! Keep it up (^^)v
Posted by: Camilla | Saturday, August 06, 2011 at 12:49 AM
If people don't like Korean dramas they don't have to watch. I used to watch Japanese TV on weekends in the Bay Area, but ever since TV went digital and I don't have a converter box, I have not been able to watch any TV. So I surf the net.
Hopefully one day I'll get a converter box or digital TV.
Posted by: Guy | Thursday, August 04, 2011 at 02:25 PM