I’ve found one thing that I definitely don’t like about Japan: their damn cold houses! It was ok as long as it was summer, but now that autumn arrived and we’re heading for winter, I’m finding myself constantly freezing, and that while I’m inside the house! Something’s wrong here… My dad’s got a very good point there: why on earth have the otherwise so clever and ingenious Japanese not invented a smart way to keep their homes warm even in winter? My hostdad claims that they can’t build their houses the same way we do in Sweden, due to the high humidity in summer, which would ruin the house, or something…but at the same time the houses in for example Hokkaido, which has about the same kind of temperatures and weather as Sweden (apparently), has nice warm houses… Luckily for me this (apparently) includes the houses of Nagano, where I’ll be spending the winter. I’m definitely not used to having to walk around freezing inside the house and I do not like it! If I end up staying in Japan, I’ll make sure to order my house from the popular company Sweden House (there’s a village in Hokkaido which consists entirely of these houses, and when you go there you might wonder how on earth you ended up in Sweden… I have to go visit!), so I won’t freeze to death wintertime in Japan. It’s either that, or migrating to Sweden and my parents’ warm house during the cold winter-months, but that makes no sense at all: change Japan’s above zero degrees Celsius winters to Sweden’s way below zero, just so I won’t freeze while I’m inside the house!

Today my hostsister and I spent the day in the kitchen, the warmest room in the house. As soon as we left the room to go get something, we soon ran back inside and to the little stove in the corner, that heats up the room. It felt really good to get in to the hot bathtub this evening, and it was, as usual nowadays, quite funny to see how the hot water and my ice-cold body created fog, as soon as the water touched my skin… Now I’m really happy about my long-sleeve fleece-pajama that my parents sent me from Sweden! That and my 3 layers of covers on my bed… I really hope that it’s true that the houses in Nagano are warmer! If not I’ll be spending my nights in the nearby onsen…

By no ways a complete list, but here is a timeline of some highlights of world history.

Japan-related dates are written in red.

• 1281: Mongolia was conquering most of Asia. As the Mongolian Navy was heading to Japan to invade, a giant typhoon sunk their entire fleet. Thus saving Japan.
  That typhoon was called 「神風」 (“Kamikaze“), which means “Divine Wind“, in Japan.The World War 2 Kamikaze pilots were named after this typhoon.
• 1346: The Black Plague started and eventually killed nearly half of Europe’s population.
• 1492: Christopher Columbus lands in America. But he believed he was in India and called the inhabitants “Indians“.
• 1603: 「江戸時代」 (The “Edo Period“) begins in Japan.
• 1680: The 将軍 (Shougun), Tsunayoshi, loved dogs and enacted a number of laws protecting dogs and making harming them a criminal offense.He is therefore often called “The Dog Shogun”.
• 1776: America declares it’s independence from England.
• 1789: French Revolution began.
• 1804: Napoleon became the Emperor of France.
• 1854: U.S. Naval Commodore Matthew Perry forced Japan to open to trade with the West.At first Japan resisted and the island of Odaiba was built in Tokyo Bay to defend Japan from the American forces. But Perry’s fleet of black ships were too intimidating and Japan enacted law to allow trade with the West in general and America in particular.The resulting influx of American goods and culture sparked Japan’s “Westernization”.

An Ukiyoe portrait of Cmdr. Perry. His name is written as 「ぺルリ」 ("Peruri") because that's what it sounded like to the Japanese when Perry said his name with his American accent.

1995 January 17: 「阪神淡路大震災」 (Hanshin-awajidai-shinsai), (“The Kobe Earthquake“) destroyed the city of 神戸 (Kobe, Japan).

A collapsed overpass after the Kobe Earthquake; 1995 January.

I know that I left out many important dates. Feel free to write any that you can think of in the comments section of this post.

And did you witness any historic events?

Saving the best of my visit to Joshinetsu (上信越) for last: Nozawa Onsen.

It’s been quite a while now since last time I updated, sorry about that. I haven’t really been in the blogging-mood, and have tried to avoid my computer when I’ve been at home (which is where I usually blog). Anyway, here comes the update:

My old friend and colleague from Stallarna, Malin, came for a visit almost two weeks ago! She’s currently doing her exchange-studies in Taipei (in Taiwan for those who doesn’t know) together with her boyfriend Hasse.  Since she found a very cheap flight to Tokyo, she decided to pay me a visit for a long-weekend. On Thursday afternoon she arrived in Kawagoe, after having taken the bus from the airport all alone. We strolled around Crea Mall for a while, had dinner at the kaitensushi (sushi-go-round) at the station, then headed off home to socialize with my hostfmily. My hostfamily, by the way, is the nicest ever, they let her stay at our place during the three nights that she was here! Arigatou gozaimasu! On Friday I hooked Malin up with Kozue during the morning until early afternoon, while I had class, but I joined them in Shibuya as soon as I could. We stayed in town for quite a while, then headed back home to Kasumi for some yakiniku (grilled meat) and karaoke with Monchan and Kai.

Yakiniku…before…

…and after. You grill the meat by yourself on the table!

On Saturday I had a Chinese theatre-play to attend at TIU together with my hostfamily, so I sent Malin off to Ikebukuro by herself, where she met up with our friend Yu, who was an exchange-student back in Växjö last year. Again, I hurried to meet up with them as soon as I could, this time in Asakusa. We headed to Ueno Kouen and Shunjuku, where we later met up with Haruka and Maiko. Dinner at an Italian place this time, so we wouldn’t have to worry about Malin dying due to her horrible peanut- and soy-allergy, then again off to….karaoke!

Karaoke-time! Good time!

On Sunday we didn’t have much time before Malin had to catch the bus back to the airport, so we stayed in Kawagoe, where we strolled around some shrines/temples and in the old town, very nice! Her visit was short, but intense and nice! In two days she managed to see Ginza, Harajuku, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Asakusa, Meiji jinguu, Kawagoe and much more! It was great to have one of my old friends here visiting, come back soon again! Of course we also had time for some purikura:

When in Japan, you do as the Japanese…

After her visit was over, I had to get back to my studies and concentrate on writing a fun skit for my groups’ happyoukai, where we had to do a speech or a skit, in Japanese, in front of all our hostfamilies and friends… My class divided up in to two groups and made skits, the C and D class had to to speeches and the classes below us could choose one or the other. There were lots of speeches, but luckily a fistful of skits as well, to wake people up! Our skit was obviously the best one (^_^)v  It was about Erik and Kisa, who argued about what channel to watch, while changing them. He wanted to watch sumo and she wanted to watch some girly drama. We started off with the news however, and some commercials in between. Sina, Jay and did the different programs, and were quite busy in between the changes from being a sumo-wrestler to a girl in a love-triangle-drama. It all ended with a boring Godzilla-movie. Very funny, if I get hold of the video I’ll post it at some point. All the other people did a good job as well, and we were all impressed with the A-class’ skit/speeches, where they played Mario Kart IRL so to speak. unfortunately my camera decided to die the day before all this, so I have no pictures of my own… (T_T)

The next update is about my camera, which died. I’m a photo-freak and love to take photos, so obviously this was a disaster for me! On Sunday, the day after the happyoukai, I rushed to Akihabara with Vedette in search for a new one, and immediately fell for the new Canon Ixy Digital 930IS! It’s simply awesome, can take photos in a wide-screen mode, swap colours on stuff, accentuate a specific colour and much, much more. I have yet to discover all the functions… On our way to Akihabara we bumped in to Chris W and Daniel, who were also on their way there. They managed to find the spot where you can get the magic (and a liiiittle bit illegal) RY-cards for the Nintendo DS-consoles, and I finally could get my very own. In a few seconds my DSi became a whole lot more interesting and oh so time-consuming… Long live the R4-cards!

Today, Wednesday, it was time for our washi/mikan-trip with the JSP. 9.30 in the morning the bus headed out from TIU, and 1.5 hours later we arrived somewhere in the mountains, where we first stopped at a place to make our own paper (washi), then went to another place to pick mikan (small oranges). On the way back we stopped for some tofu-icecream, and then most people fell asleep in the bus… Obviously on the way there everyone with a DS was busy playing, until we ran out of batteries… I joined a game of Mario Kart and lost terribly… I need more practice I guess…

Very concentrated boys…

The paper-making place was quite interesting, it was fun to make paper itself then decorate the little postcards that we had made. Too bad that we all forgot to actually leave any space on the cards where to write on…oh well…

Brent making paper…

Erik, Alyssa and Brent decorating their papers.

My postcards…

We headed further up in the mountains to pick the oranges (or whatever they’re called in English), and were allowed to bring one small bag home, and eat as many as we wanted while picking…

Chris W taking a break from picking/eating mikan

Faaaar away in the back is Tokyo!

Tofu-icecream!

Tired after a long day of fun…

This trip marked the beginning of the last month of JSP-fall semester…most people will be going home, only 12 of us will stay for next semester, when 9 new people (all Americans!!! I will be the only European!!! KAI DON’T LEAVE ME!!!!) will join us. It’s quite sad, knowing that we probably will never meet again, but then again…never say never… My dad met one of his old classmates from his exchange-studies-time in Russia over 30 years ago, earlier this year… Besides, we have Skype nowadays, right?

Some awesome news by the way: I got a job in Nagano for the winter-break! I will be doing some volunteer-work in a pension over there (at this place: http://en.azekura.com/index.html) and will receive no payment, but free food and accommodation. Will be great to see something new and isolate myself amongst only Japanese people, I hope to improve my Japanese tons during this time! On the downside: it’ll be damn cold! I need to shop for some warm sweaters…didn’t really bring that many…

Well, I feel that I’m still very uninspired, so I’ll just stop here. Hopefully I’ll come out of this uninspired-ness soon and will start blogging more regularly again. Tata for now!

Wrestling in Nagano

Some of the most random events happen around here. This evening I was invited to Nagano to attend a wrestling match just like the WWF competition only all in Japanese. I was surprisingly impressed by the show and the talent of the wrestlers. They certainly had the crowd entertained. A strange observation was the shoes off policy at the big sports arena. It seemed quite odd in that environment with tile floors and plastic stuck down on top of that.  Undersized slippers come standard in Japan and supplied for everyone. They must have 4000 pairs stored away. We finished up the night at one of my favourite izakayas in central Nagano for a few beers and a good feed. A great night had by all.

(NOTE: This post originally appeared on the Japanese Bayo-blog on October 13, 2009.)

Been a long time, huh? Kamiya here, pleased that I was able to turn my recently purchased CD box set of the latest Beatles digital remasters, 20 years since they first appeared on CD, into MP3s. However, you know I’d really love to hear them on an excellent stereo system.

A little while ago, on the PlatinumGames homepage, our CEO Tatsuya Minami spoke about the PS3 version of Bayonetta. We’ve also received many opinions from users via the comments field. What I can say with complete conviction is that we want to tell you as much as we can as best we can, and above all, we want you to play our games. The demo of the game was also released on October 8 in Japan. Since we first revealed the game, I’ve always been talking about the “feeling of the game.” I never say, “I want you to buy our game.” Instead, I keep saying, “I want you to try our game!” I sincerely hope that everyone experiences what it feels like to play Bayonetta, and then make your decisions from there.

This is the only way I can broach the subject, so my apologies on that. As for this blog, there are plenty of things to cover, so let’s go through them one by one. First of all, there was Tokyo Game Show. I was busy with many things, so the novelty of a TGS report might have worn off; however, I still think I’d like to take a crack at writing one in obscurity.

Along with Hashimoto, I went to TGS for all four days, both the business days and the days open to the general public. Kai-san already mentioned it in his entry, but the Bayonetta booth was an incredibly success! Once the doors opened to the hall, there was already a 2 hour wait and the accompanying queue-controls, so there must have been tons of people who said “I came to check out Bayonetta, but I didn’t get the chance.” I really feel bad about what happened. While I was happy to see long lines, on the other hand, I really wanted everyone who wanted to play to get the chance, so I felt sad over this situation.

This TGS also holds a special place in my heart. Last year, we showed off the first gameplay footage of Bayonetta in a trailer only presentation, so there obviously wasn’t a Bayonetta booth proper. Even I didn’t really have a place to hang out, so I would just loiter around the show floor and then get dragged up all of a sudden. When we were on our way back, Hashimoto said to me, “Next year, we are going to make TGS Bayo’s.” I nodded broadly in assent, and this idea struck me as I pondered where we would be a year later.

So that brings us to this years TGS. Bayonetta had her own booth with a huge banner furled out for all to see, along with rows of demo stations lined up within. There was an indescribable feeling when I realized that this day had finally arrived.

Of course, I went to TGS to see people playing Bayonetta with my own eyes, but I also had a lot of media requests to take care of. To see so many people paying attention to Bayonetta, an original title, is something to be truly thankful for.

Picture: A shot of the chaos at the Bayonetta booth. The booth was placed right at the entrance to the hall, with a huge screen showing the Bayonetta trailer for all to see, so perhaps many people got their first dose of Bayonetta from walking by.

We did some press with media personality Hatsune Matsushima, who came by the booth to do a booth report with Hashimoto and I providing commentary. (This was for Famitsu Wave DVD.)

It was a bit out of line, but I thought to myself, “I know she is kinda… No, she’s really cute, but having to put up with giggling girls who play around while knowing nothing about games is a pain in the butt.”(Sorry!) So I ended up letting Hashimoto do most of the commentary while I stood in the back and watched. When the game started up, she was recommended to go for Easy Automatic, but Matsushima-san brushed that aside and said, “I’ll play on Normal.” I looked over at her with disdain and thought, “You can’t handle that…” (I’m really sorry about all this…)

…Then she played. Once the game started up, Hashimoto gave her a quick controls tutorial, and then Matsushima-san unleashed tons of combos without any problems at all. Then she starts trying to dodge enemy attacks and pull off “Witch Time!?” Once she pulled off Witch Time, the fight actually tightened up, and the enemies in the game pushed her to the brink of death – one more hit and she was a goner. But she got through it beautifully! Then Beloved, the stage mid-boss, appeared and Hashimoto and I were all sweaty palmed with excitement thinking this might be the end after such a wonderful fight. But then right in front of us, Matsushima-san pulls off Witch Time over and over, with the end result being Beloved’s defeat. She didn’t even take any damage!

I found out later on that Matsushima-san is actually rather well versed in games. So well versed that she calls Okami “god-like,” and seems to know quite a bit about me. The fact that I kind of mocked her left me on my hands and knees in a fit of apology and soul-searching. I’m sorry… I’ll go ahead and get in the Iron Maiden now…

You can check out her blog entry (in Japanese) at the link below…
http://ameblo.jp/matsushimasu/entry-10350064567.html

Comedian duo America Zarigani both stopped by to play Bayonetta, but I was handling a press request so I wasn’t in the booth to actually say hello. However, when I came back their filming was over and they were taking a break, so I took that chance to chat them up. I’ve been really looking for an opportunity to speak with Yanagihara-san from the group. Reason being is that Yanagihara-san picked Okami as one of his favorite games in a Famitsu interview series with celebrities that took place quite a while back.

I thought… I just have to say thanks! Which led to my first near miss with Yanagihara-san at last year’s TGS. He walked right in front of me, but since he was filming at the time, I didn’t get the chance to try and talk to him. My second near miss came on the first business day of this year’s TGS. I was trudging my way to a meeting room for an interview when I saw Yanagihara-san right in front of me! But I was so flustered to suddenly see him that I just let him walk on by… I ended up going back to the hotel beating myself up for being such an idiot…

Which brings us to the second business day of TGS: I finished up the interview and came back to the Bayo-Booth where, miraculously, I was finally able to make contact with Yanagihara-san. Yanagihara-san was incredibly kind to me, even though I walked up to him all weird introducing myself all of a sudden as, “I’m Kamiya, the director of Okami.” Thanks so much, Yanagihara-san!

Besides Bayonetta, there was also another fun event to report. It was the stage event for Ghost Trick, by the Ace Attorney series’ very own Shu Takumi (AKA Takushu). Takushu and I know each other because he joined Capcom at the same time I did, and we were both “brought up” by Shinji Mikami in the old Production Studio No. 4. Takushu got ahold of me personally, and I ended up being a guest for the Ghost Trick stage event. The stage event was held once a day for each of the two public days, and each time, I ended up getting excited talking about all sorts of memories that I have no idea if they ended up helping the game or not. (LOL) Since I was a surprise guest, I wasn’t able to make an announcement about things ahead of time; however, I suppose a few of you figured it out and came to see me, right?

While I often go out for drinks, and hang out with Takushu in my private life, standing officially on the Capcom Stage really stirred up some deep emotions, and I came away with strong feelings of hope Capcom and PlatinumGames can strength this sort of relationship and do something interesting together in the future. Thanks to Takushu for asking me to be a part of this, as well as a special thanks to producer Hironobu Takeshita and all the people who gave it their all to make the stage event happen.

As for Ghost Trick itself… It would seem disingenuous of me to heap praise on it here, so I will spare you details (for those, check out the game’s official homepage), but what made me very happy was that our game, Bayonetta, and Takushu’s game Ghost Trick, were both announced as winners of the Japan Game Awards 2009 Future Awards at TGS this year.

We were so thrilled, that during the awards ceremony, Takushu and I agreed that we should take our trophies out with us for the next stage event. Well, they engrave the logo of the game onto the trophies, so they are the kind you have to give back after the ceremony, but kind of overdid it a bit and borrowed them for a while. Takushu and I then took the trophies out with us for the Ghost Trick stage event that took place right after the awards.

The Future Awards are given to titles that haven’t been released but are on the show floor and have garnered the greatest amount of anticipation. This year, the award was given to 12 titles, including our game. I’m not really all that interested in awards; however, when you are going out there with an original game, what becomes truly important is that first step of getting people to know the product. To receive this kind of an award, and possibly have even more people be aware of the game, is something I am thankful for.

Even though the award is labeled “Future,” of the 12 games to receive it this year, only 3 were original titles. It is indicative of the present and future of the games industry, and it makes me feel very sad. Thus, for Bayonetta and Ghost Trick to hold on and be included in the limited number of original titles make both Takushu and I happy from the bottom of our hearts. When I was on stage with Takushu holding our trophies together, I was almost moved to tears. I held out though, because if I would have cried right in front of Takushu it would have ruined my reputation. LOL.

Since our game, Bayonetta, is already a part of the defined genre of 3D Action, I think that labeling Ghost Trick as a game of the “Future” is truly appropriate, as everything in the game feels completely fresh. As a fan of the Ace Attorney games, I’d feel like I’d love to see another Takushu Ace Attorney game, but since he is one of the few creators to be able to come up with something strong enough to establish a brand, I want to look forward to his new game, and I want to put my hopes in… No, I want to support Takushu himself, as a strong willed creator who will look after the future of the game’s industry. .

http://www.capcom.co.jp/ghosttrick/

Picture: Kai-san mentioned it on his blog, but I (went rogue) and made an original t-shirt which I wore on stage. Kai-san was picky about the pose to make sure it was a show of love to the original that inspired it, and Shimazaki was picky about the logo to make sure it was a show of love to the original that inspired it. I printed it out, and had my Dad iron it on to a t-shirt for me back home. It is a treasured “original Kamiya.” My Dad decided that he wanted one too, so we made an extra.

I met lots of other people at TGS as well, like Masahiro Sakurai, who stopped by the booth. We chatted for a bit, and he gave me some words of support. Thanks so much!

The famed “Koba,” now on the Sengoku Basara and Devil May Cry series, along with Devil May Cry 4’s Hideaki Itsuno also stopped by the booth. Koba told me that, “Hideo Kojima has something to talk to you about regarding Bayonetta.” I was worried that he was going to give me a lecture and I’d get depressed, so I didn’t end up going to say hello. (Sorry…)

Picture: Bayonetta in the background with Hiroyuki “Koba” Kobayashi. We will do something together one day.

At the SEGA booth, I was able to have a chat with Shuntaro Tanaka from Valkyaria Chronicles. He was showing his latest game, Valkyaria Chronicles 2, at the show, but I was surprised to hear that he went to college with Takushu! Shuntaro-san and I talked about lots of things, but they will have to remain secret for now. (LOL) Shuntaro-san, I’m not the kind of guy to say narrow-minded crap like “Well, the world’s are different, so I’m not so sure,” so if the users will have a good time, let’s put that plan into action!

http://valkyria2.jp/

The girls filling the role of “booth companion,” helping players through the demo, also seemed to take a liking to Bayonetta. I thought it might have been just lip service at first, but then I was asked for my autograph, which got the cherry boy in me excited. Basically, when a girl lends me words of support, I want to believe they are true. Guys are like that. Now if only I had written my email address along with my autograph…

But the thing that left the most lasting impression was getting to get in touch with with all the fans who took time to come to the booth. This is the best part of the show! Since I don’t really have a chance to talk to everyone except at these kinds of events, but getting to meet face-to-face and hear everyone’s words of support is a really big source of encouragement. It also my reward for sacrificing my youth in the service of all the games I have made over the years. (LOL) And taking pictures with female fans, you know I wrap my arm around their shoulder… Hehehehe…

Picture: A bottle of adult beverage I received from a fan. It’s called “Kamiya”!? I also got lots of tasty treats from other fans.

Well… There were lots of great things that happened, but I was so wrapped up in Bayonetta’s appearance at the show, that I didn’t really taken many pictures. Kind of a waste, huh… But for a game show that spawned so many memories, there is no way I could forget it. I don’t know how many years it will be until I get another opportunity to go to the show with my title having its own booth, but for now I just want to ruminate on the memories of this year’s show and look forward to Bayonetta’s release.

So that wraps up my TGS report, but there was something else I want to bring up. The day after TGS finished (September 28), I was asked to record a web radio show called Gaming Diner Table, so I went along with Hashimoto-san to the recording. We were joined by host and media personality Tomomi Isomura-san (AKA Isochi), and we got to cover lots of topics regarding Bayonetta, so I hope you are looking forward to listening to the show. Blogs tend to end up being some kind of stiff reports, and since I want to be as close to our fans as possible, I try to speak like you are here with me, whether it be this radio recording or otherwise. Whether it was Isochi-san creating an environment where it was easy to talk about things I don’t know, but I think I might have been a little too direct. (LOL)

The first airing is on 10/8 and it will be broadcast for 4 straight weeks. Even I’m looking forward to it.

http://game.biglobe.ne.jp/colweb/shoku/

One more thing. I wanted to tell you about the In-Store Demo we held on 10/3. Starting on this day and continuing forward, you’ll be able to play Bayonetta around the country at various in-store events. Since it was the first day of the series, Hashimoto-san and I decided to check out four stores in the Tokyo area to see how things were going. First up we visited Sakuraya in Shinjuku, along with Bic Camera and Yodobashi Camera, both also in Shinjuku. It seemed like it rained in the morning, but even so, a great many came to the events and they were very lively.

Picture: We first went to Sakuraya. Here is what it was like. It was actually raining a bit during the event, but thankfully, it didn’t rain too hard. It was lunchtime, so maybe that is why people seem sparse, but right after this a nice line formed.

Picture: And here is what Yodobashi Camera was like. It was around 3PM, so more people were out and about on the streets. People walking by would stop and watch what was happening on the screens.

In the evening, we went to Kasai, and a local game store there called Games Ma-ya. Games Ma-ya holds a really special place in my heart because they also held an in-store demo for Okami. With Bayonetta, it is a much easier game to grasp the concept of, and it is highly anticipated, so there are many stores participating in the in-store demos; however, with Okami, there were only three stores that signed up. Games Ma-ya paid attention to Okami back then, and gave it a really big push at retail. That’s why these days, I could never ever turn my back on Kasai.

Ma-ya did a wonderful job of supporting Bayonetta for us. During Okami, only 2 or 3 people came to check things out, so I was able to watch them playing quite carefully (LOL), but this time, the Bayonetta event was so crowded that I wasn’t even able to get near the monitors because of so many people in the shops. The inside of the store was covered with Bayonetta posters and Bayonetta displays, which kind of made it seem like the day was another place where we “made it Bayonetta’s.”

Picture: Hashimoto gazes on the Bayonetta display. It looks like he is having an emotional experience. There were also Bayonetta flags.

Picture: One side of the store was all Bayonetta! There were tons of people inside as well. Thanks so much to everyone at Games Ma-ya.

On the same day, there was also an event in the Kansai region of Japan (Western region which includes Osaka/Kyoto/Kobe). Sofmap’s Namba Saurus No.1 store held the event, which unfortunately I was unable to attend. But members of the Bayonetta team did sneak-in incognito to check things out. It seems like there were tons of people at this event, too. Getting to experience these things personally is a really emotional event for the staff involved. These events are, of course, for our users to have a good time; however, they are also a source of excitement for the development team as well.

Picture: This was the event in Osaka. If you pre-ordered at these events you got a special mouse pad; however, there were so many people that it seems some stores ran out. My sincere apologies to those who weren’t able to get one.

There was so much I had saved up to write about that this blog ended up incredibly long. It’s now October, and the release of Bayonetta is knocking at our door. Of course, we’re getting really excited here too. If there is anything new I can report, I will try to do it as quickly as possible. Well, that wraps it up for now.

P.S.: I forgot to mention the train station ads that are up in the Kanto region (Eastern Japanese region including Tokyo/Yokohama). They are up in 36 stations along the Yamanote train line for a total of 44 ads! They will be up from 10/1 until 10/31, so I absolutely want you all to take the chance to see them for yourself! (Actually, I haven’t even seen them yet, so I will check them out the next time I am in Tokyo on business.)

Picture: The model we used in the ads is a Ukrainian model named Olena. She is devoted to her studies, so once her job here was over, she returned back to her hometown in the Ukraine. Maybe it was because working as Bayonetta was excruciating… I don’t think so, at least.

P.P.S: I went back home before TGS, so I figure I’ll give a little promotional time to Shinshu.

Picture: The inside of Matsumoto Station. This is the Soba noodle shop on the Ooito Line platform. Inside they do have seats, but I like standing at the counter and slurping my noodles while feeling the Shinshu breeze.

Picture: I picked the tempura and egg soba bowl. The uneven thickness of the noodles give the food a rich texture that really piques one’s appetite.

Picture: Which is why I ordered another bowl.

Picture: A meal from Tenhou, a shop in Matsumoto that tends to its student clientele. Vegetable stir-fry, gyoza pot stickers, a half-boiled egg, soup, kimchi, and rice all for only 680 yen!

Picture: A Swiss-style cream-puff from Masamura. I eat this every time I return home. The down-home plate that my Mom used to serve this really brings back nostalgic memories for me.

Nach insgesamt 10 Wochen werde ich Tokyo verlassen. Es war eine tolle Zeit hier und ich habe viel erlebt aber jetzt muss ich einfach mal wieder was Neues sehen.
Am  25.Nov gehts ab nach Osaka wo ich fünf Tage bleiben werde um mir die Stadt ein bisschen anzuschauen und Party zu machen.  Ab 30. Nov gehts dann weiter nach Nagano wo ich meinen Job im Skiresort anfangen werden. Dort werde ich insgesamt vier Monate bleiben. Da ich dort Unterkunft und Verpflegung umsonst habe muss ich mir wenigstens ums Geld keine Sorgen mehr machen. Meine einzige Sorge ist ob vier Monate nicht etwas zu lange für diesen Job sind. Naja die Entscheidung steht fest und ich hoffe es ist die Richtige. Nach Nagano überlege ich mir vielleicht nach Osaka zu ziehen oder wieder nach Tokyo zurück zu kommen.  Mit der Entscheidung lasse ich mir aber Zeit.

Im Großen und Ganzen hat mir Tokyo sehr gut gefallen.  Es gibt viel zu sehen, immer irgendeine Party und Freunde findet man auch schnell. Mit den Jobs wars halt ein bisschen schwierig aber ein bisschen was zu verdienen hab ich ja trotzdem geschafft.

Meine letzten zwei Wochen in Tokyo werde ich noch mal richtig genießen und ordentlich Party mache.

2009-2010 sezonu ISU Grand Prx yarışmalarının dördüncüsü olan NHK Trophy, Japonya’nın Nagano kentinde 6 – 8 Kasım 2009 tarihleri arasında yapıldı. Yarışmaya 13 ülkeden 60 patenci katıldı.

Erkeklerde, Fransız Biran Joubert birinci (232.70 – kısa – serbest – gösteri), Amerikalı Johnny Weir ikinci (217.70 – kısa – serbest – gösteri), Çek Cumhuriyetiden Michal Brezina üçüncü (217.48 – kısa – serbest – gösteri) sırayı aldı.

Bayanlarda, Japon Miki Ando altın (162.55 – serbest – gösteri), Rus Alena Leonova gümüş (160.85 – serbest – gösteri), Amerikalı Ashley Wagner bronz (155.99 – serbest – gösteri) madalya kazandı. Madalya töreni – Final

Çiftlerde, Çinli Qing Pang/Jian Tong çifti birinci (199.65 – kısa – serbest – gösteri), Rus Yuko Kavaguti/Alexander Smirnov çifti ikinci (193.05 – kısa – serbest), Amerikalı Rena Inoue/John Baldwin çifti üçüncü (158.78 – kısa – gösteri)  oldu .

Buz Dansı’nda, Amerikalı Meryl Davis/Charlie White birinci (201.97 – orijinal – serbest – gösteri), İngiliz Sinead Kerr/John Kerr ikinci (177.73 – orijinal – serbest – gösteri), Kanadalı Vanessa Crone/Paul Poirier üçüncü (165.89 – orijinal – serbest – gösteri) sırayı elde etti.

ERKEKLER

Kısa ve serbest programda birinci olan Fransız Brian Joubert, altın madalya kazandı.

Teknik değerlendirmede 70.65 puan, bileşenler değerlendirmesinde de 76.70 puan alan Joubert, toplam 147.35 bölüm puanıyla serbest programda ikinci oldu. Kısa (43.10 üzerinden 46.80 + 38.55 = 85.35 puan) ve serbest program sonundsa toplam 232.70puan elde eden Joubert, genel sıralamada birinci oldu ve altın madalya kazandı.

Fransız patenci, teknik değerlendirmede, elemanlarının toplam temel değeri olan 68.49 üzerinden 70.65 puan aldı.

Paris’teki Trophée Eric Bompard yarışmasında dördüncü olan Joubert, toplam 24 puan elde etti. Joubert, büyük bir ihtimalle final yarışmasına katılamayacak.

Kısa ve serbest programda üçüncü olan Amerikalı Johnny Weir, genel sıralamada ikinciliği elde etti ve gümüş madalya kazandı.

Teknik değerlendirmede 68.15 puan, bileşenler değerlendirmesinde de 71.20 puan alan Weir, toplam 139.35 bölüm puanıyla serbest programda üçüncü oldu. Kısa (38.30 üzerinden 41.70 + 36.65 = 78.35 puan) ve serbest program sonunda toplam 217.70 puan elde eden Weir, genel sıralamada ikinciliğe yükseldi ve gümüş madalya kazandı.

Amerikalı patenci, teknik değerlendirmede, elemanlarının toplam temel değeri olan 64.03 üzerinden 68.15 puan aldı.

Moskova’daki Rostelecom Cup yarışmasında dördüncü olan Weir, toplam 22 puanla final yarışmasına kalamadı.

Kısa programda altıncı, serbest programda ikinci olan Çek Cumhuriyetinden Michal Brezina, genel sıralamada üçüncülüğe yükseldi ve 0.22 puan farkla Weir’in gerisinden kalarak bronz madalya kazandı.

Teknik değerlendirmede 78.78 puan, bileşenler değerlendirmesinde de 67.90 puan alan Brezina, toplam 146.68 bölüm puanıyla serbest programda ikinci oldu. Kısa (34.70 üzerinden 37.10 + 33.70 = 70.80 puan) ve serbest program sonunda toplam 217.48 puan alan Brezina, 0,22 puan farkla ikinciliği kaçırdı ve bronz madalya kazandı.

Çek patenci, teknik değerlendirmede, elemanlarının toplam temel değeri olan 69.08 üzerinden 78.78 puan aldı.

Brezina, üçüncü olduğu için 11 puan kazandı. Çek patencinin başka bir Grand Prix yarışmasına katılması öngörülmüyor, dolayısıyla finalde olmayacak.

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ERKEKLER SIRALAMASI

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BAYANLAR

Kısa ve serbest programda ikinci olan Japon Miki Ando, genel sıralamada birinciliğe yükseldi ve altın madalya kazandı.

Teknik değerlendirmede 48.93 puan, bileşenler değerlendirmesinde de 58.40 puan alan Ando, (düşme) 1 ceza puanı indirilmesinden sonra toplam 106.33 bölüm puanıyla serbest programda ikinci oldu. Kısa (29.50 üzerinden 28.70 + 28.52 – 1 (düşme) = 56.22 puan) ve serbest program sonunda toplam 162.55 puan elde eden Ando, genel sıralamada birinci oldu ve altın madalya kazandı.

Japon patenci, teknik değerlendirmede, elemanlarının toplam temel değeri olan 45.43 üzerinden 48.93 puan aldı.

Moskova’daki Rostelecom Cup yarışmasında da birinci olan Ando, toplam 30 puan kazandı ve final yarışmasına katılma hakkını elde etti.

Kısa programda beşinci, serbest programda birinci olan Rus Alena Leonova, genel sıralamada ikinci sırayı aldı ve gümüş madalya kazandı.

Teknik değerlendirmede 57.07 puan, bileşenler değerlendirmesinde de 51.44 puan alan Leonova, toplam 108.51 bölüm puanıyla serbest programda birinci oldu. Kısa (27.10 üzerinden 26.90 + 26.44 – 1 (düşme) = 52.34 puan) ve serbest program sonunda toplam 160.85 puan elde eden Leonova, genel sıralamada ikinci oldu ve gümüş madalya kazandı.

Rus patenci, teknik değerlendirmede, elemanlarının toplam temel değeri olan 56.77 üzerinden 57.07 puan aldı.

Moskova’daki Rostelecom Cup yarışmasında üçüncü olan Leonova, toplam 24 puan elde etti. Leonova, büyük ihtimalle final yarışmasına katılamayacak.

Kısa programda birinci, serbest programda üçüncü olan Amerikalı Ashley Wagner, genel sıralamada üçüncülüğe indi ve bronz madalya kazandı.

Teknik değerlendirmede 45.61 puan, bileşenler değerlendirmesinde de 53.84 puan alan Wagner, toplam 99.45 bölüm puanıyla serbest programda üçüncü oldu. Kısa (27.80 üzerinden 29.62 + 26.92 = 56.54 puan) ve serbest program sonunda toplam 155.99 puan elde eden Wagner, genel sıralamada üçüncülüğe indi ve bronz madalya kazandı.

Amerikalı patenci, teknik değerlendirmede, elemanlarının toplam temel değeri olan 50.81 üzerinden 45.61 puan aldı.

Moskova’daki Rostelecom Cup yarışmasında ikinci olan Wagner, toplam 24 puan elde etti. Wagner, büyük ihtimalle final yarışmasına katılamayacak.

Kısa programda sekizinci olan İsviçreli Sarah Meier, sakatlık nedeniyle yarışmadan çekildi.

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BAYANLAR SIRALAMASI

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ÇİFTLER

Kısa programda ikinci, serbest programda birinci olan Çinli Qing Pang/Jian Tong çifti, genel sıralamada birinciliği elde etti ve altın madalya kazandı.

Teknik değerlendirmede 69.63 puan, bileşenler değerlendirmesinde de 62.72 puan alan Çinli ikili, toplam 132.35 bölüm puanıyla serbest programda birinci oldu. Kısa (33.30 üzerinden 37.74 + 30.56 – 1 (süre ihlali) = 67.30 puan) ve kısa program sonunda toplam 199.65 puan elde eden Qing/Pang çifti, genel klasmanda birinciliğe yükseldi ve altın madalya kazandı.

Çinli ikili, teknik değerlendirmede, elemanlarının toplam temel değeri olan 58.95 üzerinden 69.63 puan aldı.

Moskova’daki Rostelecom Cup yarışmasında da birinci olan Pang/Tong çifti, toplam 30 puanla final yarışmasına katılmaya hak kazandı.

Kısa programda birinci, serbest programda ikinci olan Rus Yuko Kavaguti/Alexander Smirnov çifti, genel klasmanda ikinciliğe indi ve gümüş madalya kazandı.

Kavaguti/Smirnov çiftinin fırlatmalı dörtlü salchow denemesinde Kavaguti fena şekilde düştü. Çift, düşmeye bağlı olarak Kavaguti’nin omzunun çıkmasından dolayı programa ara vermek zorunda kaldı. Kavaguti’nin omzunun tekrar yerine yerleştirilmesinden dolayı çift programına kaldığı yerden devam etti. Rus ikili, düşmeden dolayı 1, programa uzun süre ara ermekten dolayı 2 ceza puanı aldı. Kavaguti/Smirnov, bu durumdan dolayı gösteriye çıkamadı.

Teknik değerlendirmede 65.39 puan, bileşenler değerlendirmesinde de 61.76 puan alan Rus çifti, (1 düşme ve programa uzun süre ara verme) 3 ceza puanı kesilmesinden sonra toplam 124.15 bölüm puanıyla serbest programda ikinci oldu. Kısa (33.30 üzerinden 38.94 + 29.96 = 68.90 puan) ve serbest program sonunda toplam 193.05 puan elde eden Kavaguti/Smirnov ikilisi, genel sıralamada ikinci oldu ve gümüş madalya kazandı.

Rus çifti, teknik değerlendirmede, elemanlarının toplam temel değeri olan 61.41 üzerinden 65.39 puan aldı.

Moskova’daki Rostelecom Cup yarışmasında da ikinci olan Kavaguti/Smirnov çifti toplam 26 puan elde etti. Final yarışmasına katılıp katılmayacağı rakiplerinina alacağı sonuçlara bağlı…

Kısa programda dördüncü, serbest programda üçüncü olan Amerikalı Rena Inoue/John Baldwin çifti, genel sırlamada üçüncülüğe yükseldi ve bronz madalya kazandı.

Teknik değerlendirmede 59.14 puan, bileşenler değerlendirmesinde de 49.12 puan alan Inoue/Baldwin çifti, (düşme ve süre ihlali) 2 ceza puanı kesilmesinden sonra toplam 106.26 bölüm puanıyla serbest programda üçüncü oldu. Kısa (30.30 üzerinden 29.04 + 24.48 – 1 (düşme) = 52.52 puan) ve serbest program sonunda toplam 158.78 puan elde eden Inoue/Baldwin ikilisi, genel sıralamada üçüncülüğe yükseldi ve bronz madalya kazandı.

Amerikalı çift, teknik değerlendirmede, elemanlarının toplam temel değeri olan 60.90 üzerinden 59.14 puan aldı.

Pariste’ki Trophée Eric Bompard yarışmasında dördüncü olan Inoue/Baldwin ikilisi, toplam 20 puanla finale kalamadı.

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ÇİFTLER SIRALAMASI

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BUZ DANSI

Üç yarışmayı da birinci sırada tamamlayan Amerikalı Meryl Davis/Charlie White çifti, altın madalya kazandı.

Teknik değerlendirmede 49.50 puan, bileşenler değerlendirmesinde de 51.29 puan alan Davis/White ikilisi, toplam 100.79 bölüm puanıyla birinci oldu. Zorunlu (15.50 üzerinden 18.90 + 19.19 = 38.09 puan), orijinal (26.70 üzerinden 31.50 + 31.59 = 63.09 puan) ve serbst dans sonunda toplam 201.97 puan elde eden Davis White çift, genel sıralamada birinci oldu ve altın madalya kazandı.

Amerikalı çift, teknik değerlendirmede, elemanlarının toplam temel değeri olan 40.80 üzerinden 49.50 puan aldı.

Moskova’daki Rostelecom Cup yarışmasında da birinci olan Davis/White çifti, toplam 30 puanla finale katılma hakkını elde etti.

Üç yarışamda da ikinci olan İngiliz Sinead Kerr/John Kerr ikilisi, gümüş madalya kazandı.

Teknik değerlendirmede 43.00 puan, bileşenler değerlendirmesinde de 43.16 puan alan Kerr/Kerr kardeşler, toplam 86.16 bölüm puanıyla serbest dansta ikinci oldu. Zorunlu (15.50 üzerinden 17.42 + 17.62 = 35.04 puan), orijinal (24.70 üzerinden 28.10 + 28.43 = 56.53 puan) ve serbest dans sonunda toplam 177.73 puan alan Kerr/Kerr çifti, genl sıralamada ikinciliği elde etti. ve gümüş madalya kazandı.

İngiliz dansçılasrı, teknik değerlendirmede, elemenalarının toplam temel değeri olan 39.30 üzerinden 43.00 puan aldı.

Paris’teki Trophée Eric Bompard yarışmasında üçüncü olan Kerr/Kerr kardeşler, toplam 24 puan elde etti. Kerr/Kerr çifti, büyük ihtimalle final yarışmasına katılamayacak.

Zorunlu dansta dördüncü, orijinal ve serbest dansta üçüncü olan Kanadalı Vanessa Crone/Paul Poirier çifti, genel klasmanda üçüncü oldu ve bronz madalya kazandı.

Teknik değerlendirmede 43.20 puan, bileşenler değerlendirmesinde de 41.31 puan alan Crone/Poirier ikilisi, toplam 81.51 bölüm puanıyla serbest dansta üçüncü oldu. Zorunlu (15.50 üzerinden 15.40 + 15.11 = 30.51 puan), orijinal (23.90 üzerinden 26.20 + 24.67 = 50.87 puan) ve serbest dans sonunda toplam 165.89 puan alan Crone/Poirier çifti, genel sıralamada üçüncülüğü elde etti ve bronz madalya kazandı.

Kanadalı çift, teknik değerlendirmede, elemanlarının toplam temel değeri olan 38.50 üzerinden 43.20 puan aldı.

Moskova’daki Rostelecom Cup yarışmasında dördüncü olan Crone/Poirier çifti, toplam 20 puanla finale kalamadı.

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BUZ DANSI SIRALAMASI

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NHK Trophy’de zorunlu dans olarak Tango Romantica belirlendi. Tango Romantica, romantik bir havası olan ve tangonun lirik ifade özelliklerine sahip bir dans olarak bilinir. Kayılmasında dansçıların kenar kullanımı çok önemlidir. Adım dizilerinin zorluğuyla bilinen dans, akıcı olmalıdır.

1976 Olimpiyatları şampiyonu Ludmilla Pakhomova ve Alexander Gorshkov ile antrenörleri Elena Çaykovskaya tarafından hazırlanan Tango Romantica, ilk kez Moskova’da 1974’te sunuldu.

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Sonuçlar için tıklayınız

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Musician Kazuhiko Kato was found dead on Saturday last week, having committed suicide. He was 62.

According to police, Kato had previously hinted at the desire to kill himself to an acquaintance and had been missing and unreachable since last Thursday. He had checked into a hotel in the Nagano Prefecture town of Karuizawa for one night and on the Saturday morning, an acquaintance phoned the hotel, saying that she was unable to reach his mobile phone. Police and hotel staff found Kato hanging in the bathroom of his hotel room, along with two suicide notes.

Kato was a music producer as well as a musician and also wrote songs for other artists. He released several hit songs both with the bands The Folk Crusadrers and Sadistic Mika Band, as well as in his solo career. His death is a great shock and he will be sorely missed.

Source: jame-world.com

by Nao

Shin-jiru, shin

The reading of this character is shin, whether it has a suffix or not. With a suffix, it becomes the verb, shin-jiru, which means to believe.

Compounds including this character are relevant to believing. For example, jishin is self-confidence. Shinnen is faith. Shinrai is reliance. Shinrai sei is reliability. Let me add meishin, which means superstition, to this group. It literally means lost in belief.

Nagano prefecture is called Shinshū and its old name is Shinano. The first character of both Shinshū and Shinano is today’s character.

Draw the left-hand side of the character first. This part is called ninben.

1. Draw the sweeping stroke from the top.
2. Draw the vertical stroke.
3. Draw the dot on the top of the right-hand side.
4. Draw the longest horizontal stroke.
5. Draw the horizontal stroke below it.
6. Draw the horizontal stroke between the previous stroke and the rectangle.
7. Begin to draw the rectangle. Draw the vertical stroke, the left side of the rectangle.
8. Draw the hook. The vertical part is bolder than the horizontal part.
9. Draw the horizontal stroke at the bottom.

Here’s some more interior details from the temple outside Nagano I blogged about earlier. It’s remarkable how much are the same in churches and temples, the candles, the incense, the statues, both kind and harsh.

信州りんご (Shinshu Gentei Shinshu Ringo) Kit Kats, bought in Nagano.  Actually, I’ve had these before, but this was a new box so I couldn’t resist it!

☆★☆

So, I am attempting to finally get caught up . . . again. It seems between work, traveling, and my general tiredness I don’t get this thing updated for a few days or even a week after I had gone on a trip. I am currently fighting with Facebook over whether or not it should upload my photos for me and I am currently losing the battle. Not to mention it went from humid, hot, and all around icky weather to sudden down pour of rain from the sky, torrential winds, and freazing weather. (Because of the Typhoon) I’m all Alice in Wonderland bewildered over the weather, not that I’m not ecstatic over it though, I’m so glad for it to be freazing instead of HOT.

So, travelling back in time to around Friday 10/2 I went to school with Toshi.

On Saturday I had my first Culture Class at the Joetsu Citizen’s Plaza, it was my introduction to Oregon class and I brought with me the “O is for Oregon” book and the supplies to make the leather pouch necklaces and polished rocks for each kid. Which turned out to only be four kids plus a few siblings and parents. We started off rocky, everyone was shy and kept looking at Nozomi instead of me because she was the one speaking the most Japanese. They had a lot of fun making the pouches for the rocks and picking their rocks to put in them. I think that next time they will be really excited and ready to read and play because now they know me and know they wont have to sit still for a long time and be bored. After my class I met with the family that I was going to do my home stay with for the weekend in Joetsu. The Yamamuro family consisted of the son named Kanato (Katu’s friend from Kindergarten), Keika who is a second grader (girl), the father named Kazuya, and the mother named Kazumi. We all piled into their car ( a Mercedes Benz by the way) and headed towards their house.

First they took me to the temple town ( tera machi) because they heard from Nozomi that I like Japanese temples and shrines. This street has more than 40 or 50 temples on it and we went to the largest one which is called Joukouji. From there they took me to their house (which is huge!) There is two floors and it is in the richer part of Joetsu, it is very modern in style but still reminded me of Japanese homes but uber modern. We had a little rest and then Kazuya took me and the kids out to Kanaya Mountain. Kanaya Mountain is where skiing was introduced to Japan by the Austrian’s, it was the first ski resort in Japan even though it’s a tiny hill compared to most of their other mountains. During the summer they have a bobsledding course, which we of course did. I was terrified the whole way up the lift (have not been on many of those) and going down the hill on the bobsled was terrifying and fun at the same time. I went sloooow though, lol. After that he took us to Gochi Kokubunji (五智) which is a large temple in near Kasugayama. It was beautiful and I wished I could have walked around a little longer but when you are with kids you have to kind of go fast or they get bored. So from there we drove to the ocean because it was so close. We watched the sunset on the ocean, playing in the water and finding sea shells (かい) until the sun was pretty much gone. Then we left the ocean and went back home to eat dinner. We had eggplant lasanga and piella, which was WAY different from the purely Japanese cuisine that I have been eating since I got to Japan. It was almost to much, lol. We also had some wine with dinner, so by the time it was over I was tired. They all took baths and then I watched some of a old Japanese movie called “Magic Hour” on tv until it was over and went to bed myself.

The next day 10/4 we got up early and went to Iwanohara Winery, the first winery in Japan (Joetsu has a lot of firsts for Japan I’ve noticed) and we did grape stomping! First we all gathered and picked grapes, way different from usual wine grapes I think they were purple muscat (really sweet). Then we went up to the actual winery and they had some vendors and music and we had a snack before we did the grape stomping. They put plastic over the grapes in the barrels before we stomped so that our feet wouldn’t turn purple. From there we went to Obuse which is in Nagano. It is known for it’s Chestnuts and there was everything from Chestnut Ice Cream to Chestnut sake. They have family crests in Japan like our European family crests and the family crest in Obuse is three Chestnuts.

We wandered around and looked at the shops and then we went to the Hokusai art exhibit they had in the city. Hokusai was a very VERY famous painter during the Edo Period of Japan, which is around the year 1620-ish. He is the most famous Ukiyoe (japanese old fashioned) painter in Japan. You may have seen some of his paintings the one of Mt. Fuji that is red and used for almost everything Japanese overseas and the wave painting his did. The artwork was beautiful and I loved going from room to room seeing the artwork on scrolls, screens, and even two floats for a festival in Nagano. After the museum we took some snacks with us to visit another temple (the name escapes me right now i’ll find it and edit this later). It’s nick name is the Frog Temple because during the summer hundreds of huge frogs come to the garden in the temple to mate. On the ceiling was a famous painting by Hokusai that was just beautiful, but hurt the neck to look up at! No pictures allowed so I don’t have any to show you but I did buy a book that has a picture of it (go figure I can’t take pictures but people who make books I have to buy can take pictures.) After that we drove home to Joetsu and had dinner at a fancy Japanese restaurant named Oto. We ate SOOOO much and drank way to much, we all slept very well that night. We all went to bed after playing a few rounds of Uno and me teaching the kids how to sing the Alligator song.

The next day I got up and went with Kazumi to Kanato’s kindergarten to meet Nozomi and Katsu when Nozomi brought Katsu for kindergarten. I went with Nozomi home and spent time with her and Taka organizing the things I bought and trying to get them to fit in with all the other stuff I have. ( I don’t really remember what we did after that but we got Katsu and had dinner.)

The next day, 10/6 I went to school with Toshi and did my class then after school I went with Tsuchiya san (a mother of a child in Katsu’s kindergarten class) and her children to a lecture being held by a famous scholar in Japan. He talked about the funny things in language and how it is used differently by each generation and different sayings in Japanese that are strange or difficult to understand the reason they are used (especially by foreigners). I understood most of it and it was pretty funny at times, he was deffinately a character who wore his pants almost Steve Urkle style (which was bordering on to high). I enjoyed it a lot and was glad that they took me with them.

On 10/7 I got up and went with Nozomi to take Katsu to Kindergarten and then around 10:30 she took me to my first Calligraphy (Shodo or Shuji) class. The teachers name is Watabe sensei (like Watanabe huh?) she was really nice and first we had tea and talked then Nozomi had to leave to pick up Katsu and we started my lesson. The Kanji I did was Oyogu (swim) she said that I was really good and I thought I wasn’t but my teacher said she was amazed at how good it was and Nozomi said it was amazing too. That was pretty much the main plan for the day so we relaxed at home after that.

On 10/8 Nozomi, Katsu, Taka, and I stayed home because of the Typhoon, it rained like CRAZY and was very very very windy. We stayed in all day and then had dinner together and went to sleep.

On 10/9 we got up in the morning and took Katsu to kindergarten and went shopping for a little while. Had lunch and did some cleaning and packing until Toshi got home and we drove to Niigata were Toshi’s parents live and arrived at their house in time to have dinner together. The Watanabe house is beautiful and old feeling, a traditional style Japanese house that smells of wood and tatami when you enter. The rooms are dark with the lights off, the hallways seemingly endless in the dark as well, once the lights are turned on in a room your eyes are treated to traditional artwork, ikebana, dolls, and many other Japan centric pieces that draw your eyes and leave you with a feeling of breathlessness. Every room seems to have a sliding door (shouji do, fusuma,) leading to somewhere else and each room seems to breathe with a life all it’s own, expressed through artwork and a simple feeling of old Japan.

Toshi’s parents are happy and kind, wonderful Japanese host and hostesses who made me feel like I was part of the family while still treating me as a important guest. As always when I meet Japanese people for the first time they are surprised and amazed at the knowlege I have of Japan and they were constantly amazed when I understood what they were saying. I had my own room and futon and slept pretty deeply that night.

(10/10 and 10/11 coming in my next post.)

Ever since first coming to Japan I have had a fascination with temples. I quickly went around to see all the major ones in Tokyo and as my list of unvisited temples grew shorter I started asking friends to take me out to less famous, local temples around Tokyo or even farther away. Apart from learning more about Japanese history and culture one of the main attractions are the beautiful additions I can get to my collection of shuin, or hand written blessings from the resident monks. In some temples, by paying a small fee, you can buy sheets of blessings or have them write calligraphy directly into your book, the actual shuincho. But more about that in a later post.

This is a temple I visited outside of Nagano in a sleepy little village. The temple was open and quite empty so I had a few silent moments to walk around and take pictures of the beautiful statues and decorations inside. I have no way of telling how old these objects are but they all share that patina of age you’ll find in most Japanese buddhist temples. Enjoy!

Full set of photos here.

This gorgeous valley is actually called Hell’s Valley in Japan (地獄谷) and it is a fitting name. Here are some more photos of the more obvious signs of volcanic activities, hot springs, sulphuric gas measurement stations and close ups of sulphur (I believe that is what the green stuff is) and the oddly colored minerals in the area. Oxidized what? Someone who is good at geology must be able to fill us in. Enjoy!

These ブルーベリー　チーズケーキ　(Blueberry Cheesecake) Kit Kats were a gift from my student, who went to Nagano during Silver Week.  Nagano seems to have many flavours of Kit Kats – why is this?!

These ones were particularly delicious!

☆★☆

Depois da morte trágica do autor Yoshito Usui, criador da popular série Crayon Shinchan, começaram as negociações para que o desenho animado continue a ser exibido na televisão. O presidente da TV Asashi, o senhor Hiroshi Hayakawa, disse aos jornalistas: “Estamos em negociações para continuarmos com a série” mostrando uma atitude positiva sobre o assunto.

Quando foi confirmada a morte do autor havia a possibilidade da série terminar, mas sobre a produção “Ela é amada e está sendo vista em todos os lugares” afirmou Hayakawa. “Estamos aguardando uma posição da família, se eles decidirem, nós iremos continuar” completou.

Citando um caso parecido, depois que o autor da série Sazae-san faleceu, ela ainda continuou a ser exibida na televisão. “Embora não tenhamos mais o autor original como referência, são então os criadores que precisam dar forma a produção” observou Hayakawa.

Yoshito Usui saiu de sua casa no dia 11 de setembro de manhã para fazer uma caminhada nas montanhas e não voltou para casa. Dado como desaparecido, a polícia começou as buscas e apenas no dia 19 conseguiu resgatar seu corpo que foi encontrado dentro de um precipício na montanha Arafune, que fica entre as províncias de Gunma e Nagano, de onde teria caído de uma altura de 120 metros.

fonte: Sanspo

DSC_1339, originally uploaded by ayakogoto.

長野美人。印：長野

DSC_1342, originally uploaded by ayakogoto.

ホテル深井。印：長野

DSC_1341, originally uploaded by ayakogoto.

ホテル深井。印：長野

Many cities in the world have a 姉妹都市 (“sister city“) partnership with a city in another country. Some cities have more than one “sister city”.

Tokyo, for example, has eleven sister cities.
- 中国北京市 (Beijing, China)
- Berlin, Germany
- Cairo, Egypt
- Jakarta, Indonesia
- Moscow, Russia
- New South Wales, Australia
- New York City, America
- Paris, France
- Rome, Italy
- Sao Paulo, Brazil, and
- Seoul, Korea
are Tokyo’s sister cities.

Cities make “sister city” contracts with other cities in the world to help promote each other’s culture, industry and tourism.

I just found out that the city I grew up in…Clearwater, Florida, USA is a sister city with 日本国長野市 (Nagano, Japan).

And that this year (2009) is the 50th year that Clearwater, Florida and Nagano, Japan have been sister cities.
To celebrate, both Nagano and Clearwater are doing more than usual to promote each other’s culture.

I also found out that every year, a small group of American students and teachers spend two weeks of the summer in Nagano, Japan…and a similar small Japanese group from Nagano visit Clearwater, Florida.
I wish I knew about that when I was a teenager in Florida! I might have applied for the program!

I remember, though, when I was in elementary school, a group of teachers from Japan visited my school in Florida. I guess they were from Nagano. I remember that they seemed very interested in my school lunch and what I thought of it (I know now that it’s because American school lunches are so very different from Japanese ones!).

What city do you live in? What’s your town’s “sister city”? Have you ever visited the sister city?

I have been to Nagano once. In 1998, to see the ‘98 Olympics that were hosted by Nagano, Japan.
And I’ve only been back to visit Clearwater, Florida once since I moved to Tokyo in 1990 (in 2004, my family and I visited Florida for a couple weeks in the summer).

As for Tokyo’s sister cities, years ago, I visited Seoul, Korea and New York City once each.

The whole “Yo (name) I’m gonna let you finish, but (Name) had one of the best (wtf ever) ever! is old, its not even a month old and its deader than Mr. Ed’s corpes after Wilbur finished him off. I’m sick of it, done, over, finished, get the fu** over it people! Stupid saying that Kayne should have been dragged outside and had the ever lovin sh*t stomped out him NY and L.A. Style and then dragged thru honey and a open pit on hungry Amazon red ants.

In sadder news Cartoonist Youshihito Usui creator of Shinchan seen recently on Adultswim on cartoonetwork and Japanese newspapers and Manga Publications was found dead at Mount Arafune near the crossroads of Gunma and the Nagano prefectures 48 hrs ago. This seems to have been a Mountain Climbing accident since he was discovered at the base of one the mountain’s cliffs battered and bruised.

There was no suicide note in his gear or caming belongings nor at his residence. He did however inform his family that he was goign to take a mountian climbing trip back on the 11th of Sept. Police are sure he may have lost his footing during part of his climb. Truly an artist that will be missed bu otaku across the globe. To The Artist who brought a loveable asian scamp name Shinnosuke Nohara to life in the manga titled “Crayon Shinchan” we salute you and grief at the loss of such a creative person.

Been doing some reading as well and I have to say The Manga Anthology called Deja-Vu is a definite good read. I know its not “Robots & Spaceships” but rather Romance and Mythology and sci fi mixed into it. Where the author used the 4 seasons to help tell the story out of two people that meet up through out history thru reincarnation and doomed to be alone from each other in each meeting, OR do they? Needless to say, IF you have it at your local library?

Its on the Tokyopop publication label with clamp doing an afterword, art done by several well respected and known artists, Yang Kyung-il, Kim Tae-hyung, Byun Byung-jun, Park Sung-woo and Lee Vin with the Story being done by Youn In-wan. I wish you happy readings and happiness in your exploration thru the mangaverse my creative explorers