JJNN: Subaru pareidolia

Welcome again to JJNN for March 9th, 2009. Today I will be talking about a Japanese contest.

I want to you take a look at a picture and tell me what you see. Just keep your eyes open and your mind blank and see what comes to you. Here is the picture, look hard.



So, what do you see? I will give you a hint. The giant picture is made by 339 cars. How is that a hint? Well, the picture has something to do with the cars that make up the picture. I will tell you about why all those cars came together and than I will tell you what the picture actually is.

This event all started in 2007 in Portugal. There was a group of people that want to get into the Guinness book of records. And like any respectful group that wants to get into the Guinness book of records, they decided to do something stupid. In this case it was to make a giant mosaic using just cars. They type of car that they used was a Japanese car, so some Japanese people that heard about the Guinness record decided that they should out do the Portuguese. There is Japanese pride on the line after all. So last saturday they got 339 cars made by the same company together and made a huge mosaic of that car's symbol. Did that hint help you figure out what car symbol it is? It is actually the Suburu symbol. Take a look at the symbol below and compare it to the mosaic above.



Does it actually look anything like the Suburu symbol? Well, I would say that it has a passing resemblance. But, of course before I knew what the Subuer symbol looked like I couldn't tell you what the mosaic was representing. This leads to something called pareidolia. Pareidolia is seeing an image in an random pattern (or in this case a pattern that is just hard to make out). There is also another version of pareidolia that covers hearing things in a random sound pattern.

Pareidolia has been the root cause of many different types of pseudoscience. The most obvious one is of course seeing the face of Jesus or Mary in the pattern caused by the grain of the wood or the pattern caused by the melted cheese stuck to the bottom of a pizza box. You can see one such example below.



So, why would this happen? Is Jesus really reaching out his all powerful hand and burning himself into a piece of bread for all to see? I would have to say a big "no!" to that question. What happens is that the burn pattern of the bread is natural and the image of Jesus is so engrained into everyone's heads (even those who are not religious have spent most of their lives seeing that image in different places) that it jumps out at us. All I got to say is that the next time you see the image of Jesus burnt onto some toast you better be looking for his signature in the bottom right hand corner of the burn mark before you believe it is a divine sign of anything.

JJNN Tuesday: Entertainment - 15

Welcome again to JJNN for Tuesday January 27th, 2009. Today we will be talking about a music group called Sukima-switch.

I think for the next few weeks I am going to introduce some modern Japanese music groups. The group that I am going to talk about this week is called Sukima-switch. Sukima-switch is a group that consists of Ohashi Takuya and Tokita Shintaro. Ohashi Takuya is in charge of the singing and playing the guitar while Tokita Shintaro is in charge keyboards, singing and arranging the music. The name of the group comes from the word sukima (meaning gap) and switch. According to the people in the group it has no real meaning (though no big surprise there). The group has been around since 1999 and have so far put out 10 singles, 4 albums (one of them being a "mini-album"), and two "best of" albums (one of which is their live music). All in all a good amount of music.

Here are a couple of their songs. This first song is called Aka Tsuki no Uta. Enjoy



And this next one is called Kanade.



Any way, it is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is 奏でる(かなでる). It is pronounced kanaderu and means to play an instrument or to sing. If anyone out there has ever heard me sing, they would never want to go to karaoke with me.

That's it for today. See you next time at JJNN.

JJNN Tuesday: Entertainment - 14

Welcome again to JJNN for Tuesday January 20th, 2009. Today we will be talking about studio 4°C.

There are many different studios out there that produce animation. Probably the most well known studio is Studio Ghibli. Studio Ghibli is the animation studio that did such famous movies as "Princess Mononoke" and "My Neighbor Totoro." Another one of the studios out there is called Studio 4°C. Studio 4°C was set up on May second 1986 when Tanaka Eiko and Morimoto Kouji came together. The reason for the name of the studio is the fact that water is most dense at about 4°C. The studio said they wanted all of their works to be dense with meaning and full of life.

Studio 4°C has done a lot of work on movies, but their main line of animated work is on music videos. A couple of these music videos can be seen below.





Studio 4°C also does some work on commercials. Below you can see one of their more wacky car commercials. It basically tells the story of ...something... from the sea and how a family uses their car to get it back to the sea. Extremely strange by funny.



Any way, it is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is 摂氏(せっし). It is pronounced kasshi and means Celsius. In my own personal opinion Celsius kicks Fahrenheit's ass.

That's it for today. See you next time at JJNN.

JJNN Tuesday: Entertainment - 13

Welcome again to JJNN for Tuesday October 28th, 2008. Today we will be talking about a Japanese comedy group called The Rahmens.

There are many different types of Japanese comedy groups out there. Before I talked a little about the famous group called Down Town. This time I want to talk about one that is not so famous, but is damn funny. Their name is the Rahmens. The Rahmans are a pair named Kobayashi Kentaro and Katagiri Jin. They do a lot of sketch comedy as well as stand up. I want to show a few examples of their sketch comedy. They make something called "The Japanese Tradition." It is set up like an educational film about Japanese culture, but it is really funny. I am happy someone decided to subtitle these things.

The first example I want to show is about apologizing. Take a look.



No, the Japanese don't actually apologize by laying on the floor or digging holes, but it would be funny if they did. My favorite apology stance is the ninja one. I might try that one sometime tomorrow just to see what happens.

The next video needs a little explanation. There are a few set ways to end parties in Japan. If it is a party with a school it is usually ended by singing the school song. Another way is to say "banzai" with everyone you drank with. The last way is to clap. This is called tejime and can be seen in the video below.



Personally I like the singing of the school song the best. There is always some drunk teacher around to conduct the singing with a used chopstick. Got to love it. The last video is about sushi. I think I might have shared this one with you before, but it is worth another watch if I did.



Any way, it is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is 寿司(すし). It is pronounced sushi and means sushi. I love sushi.

That's it for today. See you next time at JJNN.

JJNN Tuesday: Entertainment - 12

Welcome again to JJNN for Tuesday October 21st, 2008. Today we will be talking about random animation that I found.

I looked hard, but there was really no good entertainment news out there today. That is why I decided to do what I always do when I can't find anything else to do: I turned to youtube. I decided to find some good Japanese animations that don't use a lot (or any) Japanese) and that are entertaining. The first animation can be seen below.



It is very simple, right? That is why I like it. That, and it is almost exactly my life on the weekend. Sitting at home, reading books, watching TV, avoiding people that come to my door and poking at my cell phone. The home page of the person that made the animation can be found here.



The second video is a animated music video to a song called "Sakana no Uta." That translates roughly to "The song of the fish." It may not look like it, but apparently the person that made the animation is not a pro. There are some amazing amateurs out there, aren't there?



This last one really makes me think. The animation really only tells part of the story. I wish there was more to see. I will have to see if I can find out more about the people that made the animation. All I know is that they did it for a university project.

Any way, it is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is 自主制作(じしゅせいさく). It is pronounced jishu seisaku and means home made. Speaking of home made, I decided that I am going to learn how to make a hat, I figure if I make one I won't go and loose it like the ones that I buy.

That's it for today. See you next time at JJNN.

JJNN Tuesday: Entertainment - 11

Welcome again to JJNN for Tuesday October 14th, 2008. Today we will be talking about a traditional Japanese instrument.

As I have said on many occasions I play a traditional Japanese instrument called the shamisen. I have already talked about that a lot so today I want to talk about a different type of instrument.

This time I want to talk about daiko. Daiko are Japanese drums. They are usually huge, but they have small versions of them as well. You can see a picture of one of the huge daiko below.



There are many groups all over Japan that play the daiko. Most of the groups play daiko for festivals or other such events. There are also groups that are very famous because they play daiko. The one that is closest to my prefecture is called Kodo. They always play on Sado during the earth festival in the summer. You can see a Kodo video below.



Any way, it is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is 太鼓(だいこ). It is pronounced daiko and means daiko. I always wanted to learn how to play the taiko, but it is not really something I can practice in my apartment.

That's it for today. See you next time at JJNN.

JJNN Tuesday: Entertainment - 10

Welcome again to JJNN for Tuesday October 7th, 2008. Today we will be talking about crazy Japanese game shows.

When people that live outside of Japan think about Japan when it comes to TV shows they usually think about the "crazy" Japanese game shows. You know the kind of game shows I am talking about, right? The type of shows where people have to jump from platform to platform and if they miss they end up in water or flour or something like that. Another type of game is the one where people have to run around and do crazy stunts or end up covered in slime. All in all very entertaining. The classic example of these types of games is called Takeshi's Castle. This game show debuted in 1986 and went on to 1989. There was also a revival that aired in 2005. You can see a clip from the show below.



The company that originally produced Takeshi's Castle (TBS: Tokyo Broadcasting System) seems to own the rights to this type of game in Japan. Any game that has people doing crazy things on big sets outside is done by TBS. They have sort of gotten attached to their ideal of games like this. They have gotten so attached to it that they don't like to see anyone else do it.

Apparently TBS is suing ABC (American Broadcasting Channel) for airing a show that is sort of like Takeshi's Castle. You can see the news article here. TBS was not happy to see the ABC show called Wipeout. I have never seen the show, but apparently Wipeout resembles Takeshi's Castle to such an extent it is basically the same show. TBS told ABC not to air the show, but they ignored the order so now TBS is threatening to sue. I doubt this will go very far though.

Any way, it is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is 番組(ばんぐみ). It is pronounced bangumi and means (TV) show. Not all Japanese TV shows are crazy game shows. Those are just the ones that I like the best.

That's it for today. See you next time at JJNN.

JJNN Sunday: Leftovers - 10

Welcome again to JJNN for Sunday October 5th, 2008. Today we will be talking about a terrible movie.

I was busy all day so I didn't have enough time or energy to actually find a news story. So instead of looking for one at this point of time I am going to talk about the movie that I am watching at the moment on TV. That is the only connection with Japan...it is now playing on Japanese TV. Sorry guys.

Any way the movie that I am watching now is called the Poseidon Adventure. It was made in 2005 and is a remake of the 1972 classic movie. The basic story is about a huge ship that was suddenly flipped upside down. It is the basic man against the environment, escape the dangers and get out with your life type of movie.

So, why am I talking about this movie? Well other than it is what I am currently watching it is the fact that it sort of gives science a huge slap in the face. The ship is turned upside down in the first place because of a huge tidal wave in the middle of the ocean. You can see this scene down below.



So, what is so wrong with this scene? Well how about everything. Let's focus on the wave though. Why is there a huge wave in the middle of the ocean? In the movie itself they call it something like a "rogue wave," but that is crap. Just think about it. Have you ever seen a wave like that in the middle of the ocean? The answer is no because waves do not act like that.

How do ocean waves work? Well just like all other wave of the same type. The wave propagates (moves) though a material (water, air etc) but the material itself does not propagate with the wave. For example, with sound, the sound waves go from my mouth to some one's ear, but the air from my mouth does not go to the person's ear. The material just helps the waves move. The same thing goes for ocean waves. The energy moves though the water, but the water itself does not move.

Well than, why do we see waves on the beach? Well that is because there is still energy left over. The energy propagates though the water and as the water gets more shallow the energy actually pushes the water up and onto land. This is the same principle for normal waves and for tidal waves. The source of the energy is just different.

So, why is the wave in the movie crap? Well unless the area the ship was in was extremely shallow there would be no reason why a wave would form out of the ocean like that. And if that area of ocean was shallow the boat would be screwed any way.

I know what most of you will say. "It is a movie. Forget the science and just enjoy it." I can do that for most movies, but for some movies truly terrible science ruins my enjoyment of the movie. Especially when it is something that the rest of the movie is based of from . I guess I am just a scientist through and through.

Any way, it is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is 津波(つなみ). It is pronounced tsunami and means tidal wave. The other English name for tidal wave is tsunami. A raw English word that comes from the Japanese.

That's it for today. See you next time at JJNN.

JJNN Tuesday: Entertainment - 09

Welcome again to JJNN for Tuesday September 30th, 2008. Today we will be talking about an entertaining Japanese park.

There are many forms of entertainment in this world. They range from things like thrill rides that work on your emotions (feeling the scare before the drop of a roller coaster or laughing because you find a comedian funny) to things that entertain you because they work on other people's emotions (the best example of this is schadenfreude: feeling joy in other people's suffering). Within that range lies the human ability to entertain ourselves by making fun of things that are obviously out of place.

There is a park in Himeji (in southern Japan) called Taiyou Park that falls within that last category of entertainment. I bet you are thinking "It's a park. How could anything really be out of place?" right? The answer is everything. The park was built to have a place where all the world heritage sites can be seen in the same place. That's right, it is only a 10 minute walk from the pyramids to Tiananmen Square. Just outside of Tiananmen Square stands a giant replica of a haniwa (an ancient Japanese form of earth-ware that is in the shape of a warrior). I guess pictures speak louder than words so I will just post a few pictures of this amazing park and give a brief explanation of each.


This is a Colombian God backed by those kooky inhabitants of Easter Island, the Moai.


From the pyramid you can see a lot of things. First, on the right you can see the back of the sphinx. In the middle you can see a tiny pyramid that is about 1.2 meters tall. In the back you can see Tiananmen Square and a couple of towers from a famous temple in China.

There are a lot more good examples, but there are too many to choose from. If this park were not so far away I would definitely go there. Nothing so entertaining in this world as climbing a 2 kilometer stretch of the Great Wall of China to see an ancient Japanese castle being built off in the distance.

Any way, it is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is 公園(こうえん). It is pronounced kouen and means park. I am so happy that there is a park near my house. I would go crazy if I had absolutely no connection with nature in my area.

That's it for today. See you next time at JJNN.

JJNN Tuesday: Entertainment - 08

Welcome again to JJNN for Tuesday September 23rd, 2008. Today we will be talking about a man all the girls love.

Every year around this time of year the Japanese magazine "an an" puts out an issue that rates famous people in categories like "The most huggable man" or "The most sexy man". Before the article is put out they release the categories and over 10000 people vote on who goes where. According to this article the winner for "The most loved man" is Kimura Takuya.

This is no surprise really because Japanese woman love Kimura Takuya (Kimutaku for short). He is like a mini-God for them. Not only did he win "The most loved man" award this year, but he has for the past 15 years! Along with this 15th victory in that category he also got first place in "The man I would like to get hugged by," "The man I would love to have for a lover," "The most sexy man," and "The man with the most fashion sense." For those of you have have never heard of Kimutaku and don't know what he looks like, what do you think this guy looks like? I just want to know what kind of image you get about a guy that gets first place in all of those categories. You can see a picture of this guy below.



Personally I don't see what all the hype is about, but I am not looking at the guy though they eyes of a Japanese woman. Kimutaku is part of a Japanese music group called SMAP. They are mighty famous in Japan. Almost everyone knows just about all of the songs put out by SMAP. Below you can see one of their more popular songs.



Any way, it is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is 好き(すき). It is pronounced suki and means love. I think those awards are rigged.

That's it for today. See you next time at JJNN.

JJNN Tuesday: Entertainment - 07

Welcome again to JJNN for Tuesday September 16th, 2008. Today we will be talking about Japanese comedy.

For me there is nothing more entertaining on TV than Japanese comedy. Sure some of it can be over the top and a bit wacky, but that is exactly what makes it get to watch. The comedy show that I watch on Tuesday nights is called Lincoln. I have no idea what it is named after a president of the United States, but I don't think the people that made the show know either.

The show features a bunch of Japanese comedians doing wacky things for no real reason. The two hosts of the show are Matsumoto Hitoshi and Hamada Masatoshi. Those names are a bit of a mouth full even in Japan so people usually just call them Matsumoto and Hama-chan.

I love watching the antics of Down Town. They are older than most of the other comedians that are still working today so they get a lot of fear and respect. Hama-chan always likes to smack around the younger comedians a little. They do have a bit of a cruel streak, but they are truly fun to watch. The picture below shows Matsumoto on the left and Hama-chan on the right.



One of the most popular things they do is the special where they can't laugh at anything. If they do end up laughing (and they usually do) someone comes out to measure out some sort of punishment for them. You can see an version of this below. Enjoy.



They do a lot more than this, but I do love to watch this kind of stuff. Yes, I know it is a little bit low brow, but there is nothing wrong with be a little low brow every so often.

There is a lot more I could tell you about Down Town but I will save that for the time that I am going to talk about their show called Down Town DX. For now if you think you like their brand of humor, give them a look up on youtube. It makes for an entertaining day.

Any way, it is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is お笑い(おわらい). It is pronounced owarai and means to comedian or comedy. The comedy range in Japan goes from wacky to crazy, but never ask a Japanese person to understand sarcasm. That is something they will never really understand.

That's it for today. See you next time at JJNN.

JJNN Tuesday: Entertainment - 06

Welcome again to JJNN for Tuesday September 9th, 2008. Today we will be taking about a popular Japanese cartoon.

Take a look at the following clip.



That is the opening to a very famous anime in Japan. If you ask 100 people random on a street if they know the song or the anime more than 90 would probably say yes. The name of the anime is very simple: Sazae-san. The story of the anime is also very simple. It just follows the every day lives of the people in the Isono and Fuguta families.

So why is Sazae-san so well known? Well for one thing, simple is best. People love the simple stories of every day life that these other families go though. It is almost like becoming a part of the family, or even looking over your backyard fence at the family next door. The other reason Sazae-san is so well known is that it has been going for a long time now. It started as a comic strip (like the ones we see in newspapers) in 1946. The comic officially ended in 1974, but newspapers to this day still run reruns (is that the right word for a comic?) of the originals. The move from comic to anime happened in 1969. It is still running to this day, which means that Sazae-san is the longest running animated series ever. 39 years and still running strong. And you thought that the Simpsons was a long running series.

Well now you know what everyone knows about Sazae-san, but I didn't really say anything about the people in the show at all. The main character is Sazae Fuguta. Sazae and her husband, Masuo Fuguta, and child, Tarao Fuguta, live in the same house the with the rest of Sazae's extended family. The rest of the family is Sazae's father, Namihei Isono, mother, Fune, little brother, Katsuo, and little sister, Wakame. I know all those names are a mouth full, but they grow on you after a while because most of them are puns on different forms of sea life. You can see a picture of the extended family below.



From left to right it is Namihei(father), Katsuo(brother), Sazae, Tarao(son), Tama(cat), Masuo(husband), Wakame(sister), Fune(mother).

Any way, it is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is 船(ふね). It is pronounced fune and means boat. This is just to point out one of the many naming puns in this series. Almost everyone is named after something that has to do with the sea. The mother is named Fune which means a boat. The sister is named wakeme which is a type of seaweed. The list goes on and on.

That's it for today. See you next time at JJNN.

JJNN Sunday: Leftovers - 06

Welcome again to JJNN for Sunday September 7th, 2008. Today we will be taking about yakitori and random movies.

I have a lot of favorite Japanese foods. When asked I usually say sushi is my favorite because it is the one that I eat the most, but I think that yakitori is probably tied for first place. Yakitori has a special place in my heart because it is fast, cheap and goes well with any type of alcohol.

So, you may ask, what is yakitori? Yakitori is basically grilled chicken served on skewers. There are many different types of meat from all over the chicken (and sometimes other animals) grilled up in tasty ways. You can see a picture of a yakitori stand below.



Looks good, huh? I found a news story (it can be seen here) about a city in southern Japan called Kurume. Back in 2003 the people of Kureme found out that their city has the most yakitori stores per population in all of Japan. Ever since that fateful day they have held a "yakitori festival" once a year. This years festival started yesterday and goes on though today. If I could actually get there in time I would be heading there now. I can't imagine a better day than one I can walk around and eat lots of yakitori.

In other news, I found a random video while on youtube. What? "That's not news"? Well, yep, you're right. It's not news at all. But, I thought the video was cool so I decided I will post it any way. The name of the video is "Run!" and it is made by a person named Aoki Jun. All I got to say about this movie is that it is great! Take a look for yourself.



Aoki Jun also has other movies that he has made. This is his website. Most of them don't have any Japanese in them so they are good to watch for anyone. Enjoy them.

Any way, it is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is 焼き鳥(焼き鳥). It is pronounced yakitori and means yakitori. Yaki means bake or grill and tori means chicken. Finally a name that makes sense.

That's it for today. See you next time at JJNN.

JJNN Tuesday: Entertainment - 05

Welcome again to JJNN for Tuesday September 2nd, 2008. Today we will be taking about 20th century boys.

20th Century Boys is the name of a manga that I have been reading recently. It has a great story and the art is good so I figured I would talk a little bit about it. Recently the manga was made into a movie. That is how I first heard about it. I saw the following commercial on TV.



Needless to say that perked my interest. I liked that symbol of the eye within the eye and the hand. To me it was simple, but powerful. Any way, after I saw that I decided to dig up as much information as I could about 20th Century Boys. I found out about the manga so I decided to buy a few of the books. Needless to say I was addicted before the end of the first book.

Before I tell a little bit about the story I want to show another commercial for the movie. I know it is a little long and all in Japanese, but just take in the visuals and the music.



So, the basic story flows around a totally normal guy named Kenji. Kenji is in his mid-30s, not married, working in a convenience store, and always carrying around his sister's kid. A totally normal existence. This all changes one day when the police come. The police tell Kenji that a person that he delivers alcohol to disappeared with the rest of his family. When Kenji goes to that man's house to pick up the empty bottles he runs into that symbol with the double eye and the hand.

That symbol is a connection with Kenji's past. When Kenji was in elementary school he was in a group with his friends. He thought up many wild stories about what will happen in the future. Stories about an evil group that will try to take over the world with viral weapons, laser guns, bombs and giant robots. The symbol was the symbol of his group, but it is also being used by someone in the present day.

What's the connection? Well, that's something that you are going to have to find out yourself. I don't want to spoil the wonderful story. The writer and artist Urazawa Naoki knows how to tell a story that sucks people in. His other manga Monster is also the same. The manga is licensed by VIZ so it should be sold in English some time.

By the way, I forgot to say that this manga takes a lot of things from rock and roll. The title itself is from a song by T.Rex. I bet you all have heard the song even though you might not know the name. I will leave you all with that song.



Any way, it is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is 世紀(せいき). It is pronounced seiki and means century. The final chapter of the manga is actually put out under the title 21st century boys. I have a lot of reading before I get to that point though.

That's it for today. See you next time at JJNN.

JJNN Tuesday: Entertainment - 04

Welcome again to JJNN for Tuesday August 26th, 2008. Today we will be taking about Japanese music.

There are many different types of music in Japan. You can hear all of the stuff here that you would normally hear back home in America, but also there are different types of Japanese music. Japanese music ranges from J-rock and J-pop to traditional Japanese music. One of the categories of music that falls between those two is called enka.

Enka is a style of music that became popular after WWII. It has a style that goes with it that is very distinctive. Once you are told one song is enka you can figure out if another song is enka because it will have the same feeling to it. You can see the video of an enka song kalled "Kita Sakaba" below.



If you ever hear a Japanese song that sort of sounds like that it will probably be enka.

Lately there are even foreign enka singers. The most famous foreign enka singer now is named Jerome Charles White, Jr. In Japan they just call him Jero. He sings enka, but it is a slightly different style because he mixes traditional enka with other types of music. It is very popular because no one has thought of doing that before Jero. Here is a video of Jero.



Any way, it is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is 演歌(えんか). It is pronounced enka and means enka. When I first got to Japan I really hated enka. I thought it sounded terrible. But, after a while I got used to the sound and I like enka now. Not that you will ever catch me singing enka at a night out at karaoke.

That's it for today. See you next time at JJNN.

JJNN Sunday: Leftovers - 04

Welcome again to JJNN for Sunday August 24th, 2008. Today we will be taking about true entertainment.

Every year around this time of year people in the music industry sit up and take notice. It's not a new singer or drummer they are looking for, but a new guitarist. Well...not exactly. Actually, every year around this time of year is the world air guitar championships. There is really nothing more entertaining than watching a guy with nothing in his hands run around a stage and pretend that he is playing the guitar.

For the last two years (2006 and 2007) the champion has been Japanese. His name is Ochi Yosuke and he is from a comedy duo called Dainoji. Personally, I don't see anything special in his comedy, but he really knows how to run around with a pretend guitar. This was his performance at last years air guitar championships.



Unfortunately, this year Ochi Yosuke could not get his 3rd championship in a row. He ended up in 6th place this year. Another Japanese person named Ichikawa The Rock ended up in 4th place. All in all a good turn out of Japanese people in an international championship.

Any way, it is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is　逃す(のがす). It is pronounced nogasu and means to miss out on something. Maybe one day I will how to play air guitar.

That's it for today. See you next time at JJNN.

JJNN Tuesday: Entertainment - 03

Welcome again to JJNN for Tuesday August 19th, 2008. Today we will be taking about the Japanese and their mascots. (mascots are normally entertaining so I am keeping this under entertainment)

There is nothing that the Japanese like better than a symbol. A symbol is something that people can stand behind and become as one. When people are are attracted to a symbol there is a more of a sense of unity and the people will work together more efficiently. On one end of the symbol spectrum there are things like flags and national symbols. They are things that are basically two dimensional and all people in the country recognize and hold a least a little respect for. On the other side of the spectrum are things like mascots. Mascots are characters that are usually in some three dimensional form (though some times they are not) that a lot of people know. Notice that there is really no form of respect for mascots. There may be those that respect certain mascots, but they are few and far between.

In Japan there are mascots everywhere. Some famous examples are the ones used by Japanese baseball teams and ones that are used in various cities and prefectures. Personally I like the one shown below. His name is Shota and he is here to remind us to put out our fires.



Any way, today's news story about mascots can be found here. It seems that Nara is celebrating its 1300 year anniversary. And, of course, there is no better way to celebrate such a hug anniversary than celebrating with a mascot. The Nara mascot is named sento-kun. It can be seen below.



I know what you are thinking. "That is on ugly Mo-fo" Well, you're right. It is ugly. They tried to do too much with this mascot. They wanted to add both the Buddhist aspect (the biggest indoor Buddha is in Nara) and the deer aspect (Nara is known for deer). When those two aspects are put together you end up with that abomination.

Sento-kun was unveiled today because it is 500 days before the birthday of Nara. He will be around Nara for a little while, but in October there is going to be a mascot battle in Shiga prefecture. In the battle will be the Nara mascot, Sento-kun, and the mascot for the 400 year anniversary of the Hikone castle, Hikonyan. I will be on the edge of my seat for this battle.

Any way, it is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is 奈良(なら). It is pronounced Nara and means Nara. Nara is a famous city in western Japan. It is very close to Osaka and Kyoto. It has a lot of interesting old temples to see, but a lot of the buildings surrounding the old temples are very new. If you can shade that part of the picture, it is a great place to spend a half day or a day wandering around. Definitely a good place to visit if you are going to visit Kyoto and Osaka any way.

That's it for today. See you next time at JJNN.

JJNN Tuesday: Entertainment - 02

Welcome again to JJNN for Tuesday July 22nd, 2008. Today is entertainment day.

I won't keep you in the dark about today's news story. Today I will be talking about shadow art (man that was bad). The original story can be found here. A city in central Japan called Gero city built the first place in all of Japan were people can come and see shadow art. The name of the place is Gero-onsen-gasshou-mura. That is a mouthful so I will just tell you the gist of the name. I means the Gero spa prayer village. Now, this doesn't actually have anything to do with prayer, it is just a weird name for a place.

The point of this new place is to let the locals and anyone else that wants to visit know more about the area. They will use shadow art to tell the stories that have been passed down in the area. They will also be educating everyone about other famous places in the area. I am thinking this would be a good place to take elementary school students for a filed trip. Below you can see a picture of some of the shadow artists at work (I think those are foxes).



The group that is going to be putting on the performances is called Kakashi-za. They are fairly well known in Japan it seems. Take a look at some of the stuff they can do.



This next clip is from a music video. It takes a little while before the shadows come up, but when they do come up it looks good.



The shadow art shown in the two clips is a little bit different from the art that can be seen in Gero city. The two clips are more for entertainment value than anything else, but the art at Gero city is part of a story they want to hand down to the next generation. People have to go to great lengths to hand down culture now days.

Any way, it is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is 影絵(かげえ). It is pronounced kage-e and means shadow art. I think the only shadow I can make is a bunny, and even that looks a little bit sickly.

That's it for today. See you next time at JJNN.

JJNN Tuesday: Entertainment - 01

Welcome again to JJNN for Tuesday July 15th, 2008. Today is entertainment day.

As soon as I got back from work today I had to get to my bosses house to help prepare for a going away dinner for my friend. I helped cooked and ate and am just getting back now. I am tired and want to sleep so I won't be doing anything really in depth tonight. Sorry about that folks.

But, being that it's entertainment day, I want to talk a little about Studio Ghibli. Studio Ghibli is an animation house that makes some of the best animation in the world (in my opinion any way). Some of their famous titles are Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. I will give you an example of the art work for each one below:




Both of the movies were very good and had the common theme that almost all of Studio Ghibli's work had: be good to the environment. For example in Spirited Away there was one creature that came to the spa because it was bloated with trash and other bad things. The spirit represented a river that was really polluted. In Princess Mononoke it was the basically the story of humans encroaching onto old forests and what happens because of that. Both very excellent movies.

Studio Ghibli has a movie slated for release on the 19th of this month. The name of the movie is Gake no ue no Ponyo. That can be literally translated as something as Ponyo on Top of the Cliff. The basic story is about a young fish named Ponyo. Ponyo has just one dream, she wants to become a human. The story goes though her adventures with a young human kid from what I can tell. Here is a video that has a trailer.



I will talk about the movie more after I watch it, but now I just want to get some sleep so...

Any way, it is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is スタジオジブリ(すたじおじぶり). It is pronounced sutajio jiburi and means Studio Gibli. If you go to Japan and want to talk about Japanese people about Gibli you have to make sure to pronounce it more like jiburi or no one will know what you are saying. I learnt that the hard way.

That's it for today. See you next time at JJNN.