So my Japanese roommate and her friend (also Japanese) were browsing through my bookshelf one day, looking at my English language literature, when they stumbled upon an old paperback of Matsuo Basho’s Oku no Hosomichi (Narrow Road). They picked it off the shelf wondering how haiku, something so intimately Japanese, could be translated to English.
After just a few minutes browsing through the pages, my two fluent-in-English friends burst out into laughter. I overheard the uproar in an adjacent room and went over to ask what the fuss was about.. Apparently, the original message was so unbelievably lost in the translation from Japanese to English, they thought it was downright hilarious. They said it was way too modern and conjured up images of Basho wandering the forest with an iPod Nano, mobile phone (with bluetooth headset), and Macbook (which he of course used to write his haiku).
I have decided to take this idea and run with it for haloween. I’m tentatively calling it DJ Basho, and it’s gonna be rad.
Taro Aso, a direct descendant of the great 19th century political revolutionary Toshimichi Okubo, is the brashest and most charismatic prime minister since Jun’ichiro Koizumi (left). But if Koizumi is Elvis (indeed, the only foreign head of state to visit Graceland), then Aso (right) is Edward G. Robinson (middle).
Cyndi Lauper is in Japan right now doing a series of concerts. I saw her on the TV the other day as she did Time After Time, much like the following performance she did on TV in 2005.
Great news for all you lovers of wacky Japanese products out there with the announcement that Thanko has added an English portal to their Rare Mono Shop.
Remember the popular horse riding simulation machine named Joba (here and here)?
Well, it seems that some fan clippers could not help imagining what it would be like to watch their favorite female video game characters riding an equestrian contraption. Some of the kind of NSFW results after the jump.
Hey, JAPUNDITs, here’s a change to get your big break in modeling. Graphic designer Yukie Kaneko is looking for gaijin men to model her new fundoshi collection. Fundoshi are traditional Japanese undergarments that are similar to a loin cloth.
The shoots will be in Tokyo, both indoors and out. No compensation, but heck, how often is it that you can get your picture taken in the near buff.
Send e-mail here for more info: web@ichizen-jp.com
To try to earn her 2009 LPGA Tour card, Wie has entered the first stage of tour qualifying next week at Mission Hills Country Club.
Score this as a first step in the direction Wie should have been following all along.
Time will tell whether this is a genuine epiphany or just another one of those phony self-discovery stunts that are so popular these days.
In any event, let’s just hope we don’t get any more of this:
After turning pro the week of her 16th birthday, Wie has stuck to a game plan that she said was always her design, even though her parents appeared to be behind the wheel far more often than she was. And along the way, Wie drove very far off track.
In her first full year as a pro, she held at least a share of the lead in three majors in 2006. Then after she injured her wrists, Wie’s fortunes changed, her game faltered, her missteps increased and her image started taking hits.
And the fact remains that Wie hasn’t won any kind of tournament since the U.S. Women’s Public Links Championship, when she was all of 13.
Almost from that moment, her peers and others have suggested that Wie learn how to win against female players, instead of constantly loading up her playing schedule against the male pros, experiences that gained her almost nothing except more notoriety. Most of that negative, by the way.
Video highlights from the 2008 Asakusa Samba Carnival in Tokyo.
The event started off hot and sweaty then the clouds opened up and the rain poured down. The samba performers kept going though they were soaked to the bone. The Samba girls looked none the worse for it though.
Tokyo’s Asakusa Samba Carnival dances on despite showers
A Rain-soaked Samba Dancer defies downpour
Tokyo’s traditional Asakusa district once more swayed and bopped to the exotic strains of Brazilian samba music. Asakusa’s annual Samba Carnival festival took place this past Saturday, August 30th. Asakusa has been holding this event on the last Saturday of August for over twenty years and it never fails to draw a huge crowd.
Nigh-naked be-feathered dancing samba girls move to the beat of Brazilian music and the feverish whirl and click of thousands of cameras held sweatily in hand by overly-enthusiastic photographers.
Every year, the samba groups choose a theme for their presentation. The nigh-naked samba girls are nearly always the same with feathers, tiara, and sequins but their companions sport different costumes every year based on a chosen theme.
Jesus makes a guest appearance
One group’s theme was based on sumo. Two performers twirled bows similar to the way that sumo wrestlers do at the end of each day of a sumo tournament. A large float was made out to depict a Yokozuna - sumo champion. The strangest part of the group by far were four golden gals wearing masks and very little else.
A Golden Duo
This year saw a bit of Akihabara otaku (nerd) culture mixed with saucy samba. Scantily-clad girls in outlandish sci-fi outfit pretended to fire space age cannons in rhythm to the music. The musicians were dressed like the bug-eyed abducting type aliens who appear in all those UFO documentaries and redneck nightmares. There were no probes to be seen, however.
Otaku (nerd) Samba - space age cuties fire imaginary rockets
Another odd ensemble was a group of pink haired heavy metal guys pulling a float from which hung suspended in air a black pig with large pink polka dots and skull and crossbones. My favorite one that summed up Japanese cutesy-ness was the midriff-baring girls wearing polar bear paws as gloves and a polar bear head as a hat.
Pink haired Heavy Metal Rockers with their pink polka-dotted pig
Polar bear girls?
The weather in Tokyo has been strange recently and it’s dubious presence was felt at this year’s Samba event. At the beginning, it was sunny, hot, and very humid. Sweat rolled down performers and spectators alike. Then suddenly the skies darkened and shortly afterward rain began cascading downward.
Unfeathered wet dancing samba girls
Spectators either opened umbrellas or fled under awnings. The samba performers did not have either option. Surprisingly they didn’t call off or postpone the event. Undaunted by the pouring rain and the potential for electrocution by their sound systems, the samba performers wiped the rain from their brows and resolutely carried on.
Damp fairies flitter about
The samba dancing girls discarded their feathers weighed down as they were with rainwater. On the bright side, the nigh-naked once-befeathered dancing samba girls were now unfeathered wet dancing samba girls - a silver lining to our rain cloud.
Rain can’t stop a samba girl from having a good time
Next time you’re in Osaka, consider visiting the Monofuku Ando Memorial Ramen Museum, a sprawling facility commemorating the achievements of the Taiwan-born Japanese inventor of instant ramen.
In the postwar years, Japanese were eating bread made with wheat flower brought in by the occupying U.S. military, and Momofuku (then operating a small business extracting salt from seawater) wondered why they didn’t eat noodles instead, which were more familiar to the Japanese people.
In 1957, a bank he was director of went under, taking his personal finances down along with it. In order to get out of debt, he returned to his idea about noodles, trying to find a more convenient way to prepare them. The result was Chikin [sic] Ramen, a delicious chicken flavored raman that’s still being sold after fifty years. (I had some for lunch today.)
At the museum, you can see different varieties of Cup Ramen from around the world, like broccoli ramen from Germany or curry flavored noodles from India, which are made without the soup base so that the noodles can be eaten with the hands, as is the custom in that country. Cup Ramen in all Western countries have noodles that are shorter than in Japan, to make them easier to eat with a fork.
The museum sports a virtual reality room showing what happens as ramen is made, from the viewpoint of the raman itself, and afterwards you can mosey up to the Instant Ramen Bar and order some ramen with custom toppings that you can specify. (One of the most popular flavors is Seafood Milk, ugh…)
Japan has a new Prince of Tennis, by the name of Kei Nishikori, who is kicking butt in the U.S. open right now after his big win against David Ferrer over the weekend, making him the first Japanese tennis player to advance to the 4th round since 1937.
Born in in rural Shimane Prefecture in 1989, he took up a racket at the age of five and would hit balls against the side of his house for many hours, showing a remarkable aptitude for the sport.
He took the incredible step of leaving Japan behind, crossing over to the U.S. at the age of 13 to be trained at the IMG Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, which caused quite a lot of buzz at the time. As usual, Japanese who compete in the world stage and raise the image of Japan in the eyes of foreigners become overnight sensations in here, and suddenly his name is on everyone’s lips.
I certainly hope that Nishikori-kun can follow stars like Ichiro, Hideki Matsui and soccer player Hidetoshi Nakata in redefining the international image of Japan through sports.
Note: Nishikori finally was defeated and did not make it to the best 8.
It’s fair to say that when he “started playing that country gold” more than 50 years ago, there was no country and western scene in Japan. What there is today is largely down to his tireless efforts, and those of his friends.
Charlie Nagatani and his family also run a ’saloon’, Good Time Charlie, in Kumamoto city. When I spoke to him there recently, he was a busy man. But that’s his default setting - “He can’t stop,” his son told me, “He’s like one of those fish that has to keep swimming.” In between stints on stage, Charlie went around the tables chatting with every guest, many of whom are personal friends, all of whom are fans. And when not playing host, he was busily taking orders over the phone for tickets for ‘Country Gold‘ (more of which later).
I asked Charlie about how all this started.
“A friend of mine remembers when you used to play at the clubs on the US military bases when he was in the Army about 40 years ago, based at Brady Air Base, out in Saitozaki. When did you first get into C&W and how? When did you start playing C&W?”
Camp Brady reminds me of a good ol’ days and we used to go there often to perform at clubs way back in around 1968 as well as Itazuki Air Force Base, Sasebo Naval Station and Iwakuni Marine Corps Air Station. Well, on my 20th birthday one of my friends who used to work at Camp Wood US Army Base in Kumamoto presented me a Happy Birthday present and that was a country & western band. I first listened it and felt something strong in my mind. Soon I dropped out of studing at University and decided to start a band to be a country music singer. It was 1956 and country music changed my whole life. I felt it has something different compared to other music ( simplicity / sincerity / sadness) and moreover I loved its melody and lyrics.
Every time I’ve been to the bar, Good Time Charlie, he’s been there and played a set.
“How long has GTC been open? Do you play every night that you can?”
I’ve been running Good Time Charlie for almost 33 years and playing 7 nights a week except New Year’s Eve and January 1st.
The interior of the saloon is a country fan’s dream. The place is plastered from floor to ceiling with memorabilia, from photos of country legends, to vintage posters advertising the likes of Jim Reeves, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and Loretta Lynn. A cabinet contains gifts and awards, including the prestigious Jim Reeves Memorial Award, which he was awarded by the Academy of Country Music in 2005, “in recognition of outstanding contributions to the acceptance of country music throughout the world”. In an alcove hang thank you notes from presidents of the United States, and certificates denoting Charlie’s honorary citizenship of 33 American states.
But there seems to be a close connection with the state of Montana. How did that come about?
Regarding Montana, Kumamoto is a sister state with Montana so most of the Governors who visited Kumamoto come to my club to enjoy our performance of country songs from old to new and I was given an honorary citizenship by former Governor Ted Schwinden.
“So why is C&W so popular in Kyushu? I don’t think the following is that big in Tokyo, but what is your sense about the popularity of C&W in other parts of Japan?”
The reason is there are lots of country music fans in Kyushu, I was born and raised up here in Kumamoto and I really love my home town, so I wanted to remain local to spread it out to all over but it was so hard to keep it and very hard to let them know how wonderful the music is, although I know it’s easy to do it in big cities like Tokyo and Osaka. It took a long time to make country music fans around me but I always believe that country music is the best music in the world. Many American friends wonder about me because I was born in Japan and they all ask me why I love their country’s music culture so deeply more than anybody else in USA.
Country Gold is an open-air festival held every October against the stunning backdrop of Mount Aso, attended by up to 20,000 fans, and to which Charlie has attracted some of the biggest country and western stars. This year the festival (Sun. Oct 19) celebrates its 20th anniversary.
“How did Country Gold start? Was it planned or did it just sort of happen? Were you determined then to see it grow into the international occasion that it is today?”
When Former Prime Minister Hosokawa (he was our Governor before he became Prime Minister) built the world biggest out door stage at the foot of Mt. Aso called ASPECTA, he consulted me about doing a country music show there. I sent a letter to the CMA (Country Music Association in Nashville) saying that I’d like to open a country music festival in Japan so will you please introduce anyone who can help me plan it. Then I received a few letters from agents and I picked up one of them and started it and that was 1989 so this year will be 20th Anniversary! I can’t believe it. I thank Judy Seale who I picked up that first year and still she is working with me (20 great years and we are both getting old…). I’ve met many, many wonderful people through this great music in Japan and the States and it’s a treasure which money can’t buy.
I caught this amazingly talented guy on an NHK special yesterday and was totally blown away. Get ready to hear the ukelele as you probably have never heard it before.
In a documentary I saw a few years ago (and alas can’t find online) Masato Ono, an entomologist from Tokyo’s Tamagawa University, described the sensation of being stung by one as “like a hot nail through my leg. It is a pain that you can never imagine until you have experienced it. It is profoundly shocking.”
If you have come across them before, either for real or wandering about the internet, then you’re probably aware how these hornets can wreak devastation on honey bees. (video link)
I’d expect most people, like me, to be terrified of these things, but among the people of Japan, feelings about the giant hornet are mixed.
Hey, JAPUNDITs, here’s a change to get your big break in modeling. 
In a documentary I saw a few years ago (and alas can’t find online) Masato Ono, an entomologist from Tokyo’s Tamagawa University, described the sensation of being stung by one as “like a hot nail through my leg. It is a pain that you can never imagine until you have experienced it. It is profoundly shocking.”