This weekend, you can meet some 20-30 food sellers from all over Japan at the Nippori Marche, a French-style market at the east side of the Nippori station on the Yamanote line. There will be live taiko performance and all kinds of fun. You can get fresh veggies from Hokkaido to Okinawa (and Tanegashima).
Support these people if you live in Tokyo! Just one more reason to get to talk to people who actually work the soil, do the harvesting, and enjoy selling their goods. Do visit for the booths from Niigata, Nagano, Fukushima, and Chiba.
People in the big city must learn how to connect, man-to-man, woman-to-woman, with the people who know how to grow food. The people in the rural areas also need to learn how to market their wares. Nippori Marche is one such event, held monthly, that makes me feel hopeful about how Tokyo and Japan will manage as we are heading towards dire straits.
I like how Nippori Marche has become a way for people in Tokyo to support the farmers and everyone in the Tohoku area. But it is more than that. As we learn how to appreciate what we eat, we also learn to appreciate the people who bring the food to our table, to our plate, to our cup. We are all connected. Without that, we are nothing.
I noticed an unusual halo around the full moon earlier tonight.
It looked much like this:
From The Astronomy Photo Of The Day:
This fairly common sight occurs when high thin clouds containing millions of tiny ice crystals cover much of the sky. Each ice crystal acts like a miniature lens. Because most of the crystals have a similar elongated hexagonal shape, light entering one crystal face and exiting through the opposing face refracts 22 degrees, which corresponds to the radius of the Moon Halo. A similar Sun Halo may be visible during the day.
Pure Land had this to say in January about the moon:
When you move from the city into the country, a considerable number of municipally peripheral things suddenly come into your life in a big way, such as the moon and the stars. Also insects, trees and animals, not to mention the sky as a whole. As well general vegetation, and a welcome absence of the masses of concrete and asphalt and people that characterize city life, as do power and phone lines overhead.
The moon doesn't play much of a role in city life, except as a kind of urban add-on one sees occasionally that is played up in movies as an extravaganza backdrop, the moon coming up between the skyscrapers. City folks actually don't have all that much to do with the moon, let alone the stars, except in a mythico-cinematico-derivativo kind of way, isn't it mystical, they say in the park, that smattering of artificial countryside city folks resort to in their free time to evoke their roots with a distant wistfulness, as in a museum where you can touch the artifacts. And the sky---in the city the sky is pretty much an artifact too, the less significant part of what metropolitans call the "skyline." Isn't it impressive they say. Well, yeah, I guess so, if you like artifacts in your eye.
Out in the country the sky stretches all the way from here to there (not the city "here and there"; such words resume their original meaning out in the country). And of course the country is where birds actually live, and enjoy themselves. By birds I don't mean panhandling pigeons, but self-supporting warblers, wheatears, grosbeaks, ducks, thrushes, egrets, pheasants, finches, redstarts, hawks, swallows, wagtails, owls, the list goes on. Real birds. Not merely the species or two that can tolerate exhaust fumes for a discernable life span, like the trees the city inserts along the avenues.
I used to be interested in Physics and Astronomy, because it seemed to provide answers to questions that were interesting. These days, there are not so many people writing about such issues. Have we lost our faith in science? I hope not. I was intrigued as a high school student to encounter The Tao of Physics and The Dancing Wu Li Masters. Books like that made it so fascinating to go to math class, and try to understand Calculus, and all the Math required for higher levels of dancing... I hoped I could unravel the mysteries of the universe, both the inner and the outer.
When I see a Full Moon Halo, like tonight, I just feel great. Something out there, that inspires me. Hope it inspires you too...
This is a country where people take their trains seriously. Special events are held for the many Steam Locomotive (SL) trains that still run, and when a Shinkansen model, the 300 Series, is about to be retired, fans go out of their way to celebrate.
The 300 Series was introduced in 1990 and has over 20 years of distinguished service which is worth commemorating - with a lunch box! The bento box costs 1100 Yen (10 Euro or 14 USD or whatever the lousy exchange rate is these days, as the Yen is stronger than ever, does anyone understand why?).
Tickets on the Shinkansen however are not cheap and they ought to introduce reduced fares, for example for people who book well in advance.
It also makes no sense that only foreign tourists can use the JR Rail Pass to ride these clever trains. What about all the foreigners that live here permanently?
A one-way trip from Tokyo to Kyoto is around 13,000 Yen (126 Euro or 170 USD).
My first trip to Kyoto was in the winter of 1989, when my brother came to visit. We went to Kyoto, stayed at the Hiraiwa Ryokan, and had a great time. Except, back then around the New Years holiday, banks were closed for several days. I had to pay cash for the ryokan, and had next to nothing for a few cold days in the ancient capital. I think Johan remembers this better than I do, but a couple of kind Kyoto University students introduced us to a cheap okonomiyaki place, that I still remember we joked was "economy-yaki" and by the time the banks finally opened, we enjoyed a very good meal. We tried to hitchhike back to Tokyo, but failed, and ended up taking the Shinkansen (probably the 100 Series) instead.
March 16, 2012 is the last run for the 300 Series, and as of February 1 they are gradually being replaced, according to Railfan.com. The 700 Series trains have a great track record and are more efficient.
Shinkansen rules, I'm using their services quite a lot each year on trips all over Japan, and I can vouch for their passenger friendly services and amazing punctuality. This is how a train service should be run. Accident-free, reliable and supported by the people.
Just for the mood, here is a cover of an enka ballad from 1976 by Alice, "While listening to the sound of a distant steam whistle," with a C571 Steam Locomotive that still runs in Yamaguchi prefecture:
A pig that flies? Already 20 years ago, this amazing anime film was released by Studio Ghibli in Tokyo. Music by Joe Hisashi, here is 時には昔の話を Toki ni wa Mukashi no Hanashi wo. I'd translate that as "Sometimes, we talk about the old days" which is the mood of the story. Time flies, anyway, and we had better just try to hang on there!
The WW1 ace pilot who has been turned into a Bogart-like pig, is now flying an amphibian, a type of airplane that was developed in Italy in the 1920s. In fact the film is very much an homage to early aviation, with accuracy that you'd expect from Miyazaki Hayao, yet how does he know how it feels to fly planes like that?? The amazing thing is, he makes the viewers feel like we also know what it must have felt like. Click here to watch the original 紅の豚 Japanese trailer on Youtube (embed not allowed).
Miyazaki originally created this as a manga, and said this: "If this were animation, I might be able to convey the grandeur of this life-or-death battle. But this is a comic. I have no choice but to rely on the imagination of you, good readers."
Amphibians or float planes were popular in Japan back in the 1930s, especially in Ibaraki prefecture, near Lake Kasumigaura and were built by all the Japanese aircraft manufaturers of the time, including Nakajima, Mitsubishi and Aichi (as well as others that I have never heard of). Many of these were used as mail planes before WW2.
In 1924, the US Army - there was no "US Air Force" until after WWII - made a daring flight with four aircraft around the world. It was the first time that any aircaft had circumnavigated the globe. The planes were Douglas "World Cruisers", a single engine biplane which could be fitted with either wheels or floats and had a crew of two. The cruising speed was 103 mph. They took off from Seattle on April 6th and within days crashed one of the ships in fog on one of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. Happily the crew survived and hiked to safety.
One of their stops was Kasumigaura, on May 22, 1924. They landed on the lake using their floats. Ultimately, two of the planes completed the flight around the world having covered over 27,500 miles and taking 371 hours of flying time. The total time for the trip was 175 days due to time on the ground for rest, repairs, and waiting out bad weather.
(Might have been the first time I commented on his Pacific Islander blog, by the way!)
Actually, the British appears to have beaten the Americans to Lake Kasumigaura, with a visit back in 1920, according to Aviation Post Card International:
In 1920/21 a British military mission of about 30 RAF personnel was in Japan assisting with the establishment of a naval air force, including the creation of the Kasumigaura school. As a result, Vickers and Supermarine supplied flying boats to the Japanese navy in the 1920s.
The front boat on the top card is a Supermarine Seagull III amphibian. This was powered by a single Napier Lion. This type was also supplied to the Royal and Australian Navies and was a fore-runner of the Walrus & Sea Otter. The other amphibian in the background is a Vickers Viking. This was a 4 seat cabin design also with a Napier Lion Two Viking Mk IV designated Type 58 were supplied to the Imperial Japanese Navy (...) other military customers included the US Navy, Dutch East Indies Air Force, Argentine Navy, Canadian A.F.
Two derivative 3 seat Vultures were built specially for a round-the-world flight attempt by S/L Maclaren in 1924 and the first G-EBGO was shipped to Japan as a back-up aircraft and this was also assembled at Kasumigaura. It was needed and was shipped to Burma to replace the crashed G-EBHO but itself forced landed off the Aleutians.
Aren't you glad you are reading Kurashi... If any of my readers can find vintage aviation-related postcards like that one, please send them to me, and I will publish them here. Here is the theme song of Porco Rosso, performed by peace activist Kato Tokiko, born in 1943 in what was then Manchukuo:
Lyrics translated:
Let's have an old tale once in a while, shall we? At that cafe that we always go to We saw horse chestnut trees by the window Spending a day on a cup of coffee Searching for the unseen tomorrow Everyone placed their dreams Blown by the hot wind of the changing era You felt the time flow with your whole body Didn't you?
There were times I slept on the roadside We couldn't go anywhere together We didn't have any money, but we still managed Poverty brought us the new day We crammed ourselves in a small student flat Causing a racket until the morning, and then we slept Like a storm every day burned up We ran till we ran out of breath Didn't we?
Look at the only photo remaining The bearded guy's you, isn't he? Now I don't know where you may be Although I have made few friends The fact that everything that day meant nothing That, I can't tell anyone Even now, just as before, searching for the endless dream You still keep on running
On Friday, we had the pleasure here in Hanno to welcome the Ukraine State Symphony Orchestra, and piano soloist Miyuji Kaneko, for an all Tchaikovsky program. Kaneko's father is Hungarian, his mother is from Japan, so I thought this video is appropriate, as he performs Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody.
Miyuji Kaneko did really well with a certain elegance, performing the 1st piano symphony in B-flat minor, and as an encore he played Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. It looked like he wanted to play more, as he almost sat down for another... I'm sure the audience would have loved it.
On March 18, you can hear him play Liszt, Bach and Bartok at the Saitama Arts Theatre in Yono, Saitama, where he will start with the Ungarische Rhapsodie.
The symphony orchestra from Odessa had a wonderful sound, that made Tchaikovsky's 5th symphony seem fresh, especially the strings, with such warm approach to the famous melodies. I think a wonderful time was had by all on a cold winter's night, as the orchestra prepared for performances this weekend at Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall and Yokohama Minato Mirai Hall. It was fun chatting with some of the players before the concert, especially the lady who said she didn't know which town she was in: "You're in Hanno, Saitama!"
The orchestra also did an ancore, from the Nutcracker Suite, and then they had to hurry back to Tokyo. I hope they enjoyed their brief visit to the boondocks, where we are not used to such rare pleasures. Some 700-800 people in Hanno would like to thank you very much.
I went to the large Supermarket Trade Fair at Tokyo Big Sight, with hundreds of boots and tens of thousands of visitors with an interest in food. I like this fair a lot with its many local food producers from all regions of Japan, as well as many foreign companies and traders. All are aiming at getting a slice of Japan's appetite for delishious and healthy foods, and many novel products are introduced each year.
This time I was surprised to see Hawaiian Rainbow papaya on display. This product was recently approved by the authorities after many, many years of wrangling. The reason is Japan's reluctance to accept anything that is genetically modified, as the consumers here are up in arms against GMOs. GM rice, for example, was on test trials around 10 years ago, but farmer after farmer dropped out of the research as there seemed to be no benefits whatsoever, except for the large multinational biotech companies like Monsanto.
The GM papaya is a result of research and development that involves patents owned by Monsanto, but that US company is so hated in Japan that it has stayed in the background, as the Hawaiians clearly understood that another PR effort was needed that disassociated the GM papaya from Monsanto. Instead, it is marketed under a pretty "Rainbow" name, with hibiscus flowers and other Hawaiian imagery. But legally, the product must be labelled with text in Japanese, stating that it has been genetically modified (遺伝子組換え Idenshi kumikae). Currently, the GM papaya is only on sale at Costco, a supermarket chain, and cannot be easily be found anywhere else.
Consumers Union of Japan has protested against the GM papaya and the main concern is that consumers will not be given a choice to avoid this, in case the fruit is cut up or used in other products, like juice. The small label appears to be strongly glued onto the skin of the GM papaya, but would the information be passed on in restaurants if it is on the menu? Many people would prefer not to eat this product, and hopefully, the campaign to introduce this will be revealed as a "Trojan Fruit" to get other GM products into Japan. The powerful GM lobby was at the Supermarket Fair in Tokyo, but they are afraid of public opinion. This could get very interesting!
First of all, we regard the cultivation and import of GM papaya as problematic. Japanese consumers who do not want to eat GM foods expect the GM label to be distinct and clear if GM papaya is to appear on the market. CUJ would like to point out the following problems with the approach taken by the Consumer Affairs Agency:
According to the suggestions, “The sticker could possibly be re-attached on the fruit, when the operator in charge deals with GM papaya only”, if the GM sticker is removed or falls off. If the manufacturer handles both GM papaya and non-GM papaya, all products from that manufacturer should be labeled as “may contain GM papaya” due to the possibility that mixing appears.
The Consumer Affairs Agency recognizes that there may be cases when the GM papaya is sold without a label because it has been removed or falls off, but takes a relaxed attitude to this possibility. This should be regarded as a serious violation. CUJ regards the act of selling GM papaya without correct GM labeling as a violation that should be severely punished by the law.
Update II: For details of the week of protests against Monsanto: http://bit.ly/wmtqjI
The week of events planned by Occupy Wall Street Maui and posted on the http://www.occupymaui.com website include:
Monday, January 23, 2012: a roundup-themed garden highlighting concerns over herbicide use. Tuesday, January 24, 2012: a march is planned past Monsanto crops along the Piilani Highway in South Maui. Wednesday, January 25, 2012: a rally in Kahului is planned to spread information on the effects of GMO products. Thursday, January 26, 2012: a march is planned in Wailuku to protest Monsanto and claims of the company’s influence in government. Friday, January 27, 2012: An Occupy with Aloha event is planned at the University of Hawaii Maui College. Saturday, January 28, 2012: Plans to Occupy local farmers markets and fruit stands, and gathering for a day of teach-ins, music, and organic food is planned. Sunday, January 29, 2012: A dusk vigil will be held for small farmers at the occupation site fronting Monsanto on Maui.
This is a very special film, about ballet, as Subaru overcomes all kinds of trouble to reach the highest level of dancing. If you like classical music, this is a motion picture that may move you, as the characters evolve. Kuroki Meisa is Subaru, based on a manga with the same name. Hong Kong-born director Chi-ngai Lee has made a beautiful film from a difficult story.
Here is part 3 of the film:
And if that is not a rather good take on the Bolero, well, who am I to judge. It gets better after this, trust me, as Kuroki Meisa is perfect.
Plot: Subaru and her twin brother Kazuma share a dream in becoming ballet dancers, but their passion is discouraged by their father. After Kazuma's death from a hereditary illness, dancing became Subaru's only happiness and she yearns to lose herself in dance. Her life takes a dramatic turn when she runs into cabaret owner Isuzu, who recognizes the talent in Subaru and trains her in her nightspot.
But to become a professional ballerina, Subaru has to overcome harsher challenges than merely satisfying the cabaret drunkards. Spurred on by her rivaling dance companions, Subaru enters an international dance competition, to vie for recognition and a scholarship to any top ballet company in the world.
Subaru and her companions soon discover that there are more to compete than the championship, and tests of friendship, betrayal and self-worth come one after another. Gradually the youngsters learn about themselves as dancers, as persons and as friends.
The debate about nuclear power in Japan just got even more interesting. In Osaka, a group has collected enough signatures to submit a petition to the city government for a vote on the issue. Now, the focus is on Tokyo.
I went to a large meeting at Waseda University on Friday with about 300-400 people who were eager to bring this issue to the attention of everyone in the nation's capital. One of the panelists even suggested that the vote should be about constructing the next nuclear reactor for Tokyo, in the middle of Tokyo. Others noted that it is unfair to ask Fukushima or Niigata to continue to provide electricity to Tokyo, after what happened on March 11, 2011.
(Top photo from Kokumintohyo.com as the campaign celebrates that enough signatures have been collected in Osaka)
The campaign is led by journalist Imai Hajime and supported by people like actor Yamamoto Taro, who participated in the event in Waseda. My friend Lena Lindahl was invited to discuss the experience from Sweden's nuclear referendum in 1980, when the vote was split in three choices, with confusing language, after the Three Mile Island accident in the United States.
Lena and Imai Hajime were keen to ask Japan to learn from the Swedish experience, and have a clear choice of "yes" or "no" as a referendum on this issue should be about nuclear power in general. "Don't do what they did in Sweden, don't divide the vote into three choices!" said Imai Hajime.
The campaign to gather signatures started on December 10, 2011 in Tokyo and Osaka, with a January 9, 2012 deadline imposed in Osaka. The number of signatures collected in Osaka reached 50,000, more than the 2 percent of voters (42,673 signatures) required to press for a referendum, as of January 9.
The Waseda University event was impressive. It was also chaotic and fun, as people in the audience shouted suggestions and asked for more details. "No need for music!" someone demanded, wanting to hear more about how to get enough signatures. "Had enough of your opinions!" someone else offered, and Imai Hajime laughed it off.
The group is still well short of the support it needs to press for a vote in Tokyo. With just one month left before the deadline for submitting signatures on Feb. 9, only 78,240 signatures had been collected as of Jan. 8. That was less than one-third of the 214,236 required to petition the governor of Tokyo to adopt referendum ordinances, the group said at a Jan. 9 meeting in Tokyo.
Back in 1964, Japan was hosting the Olympics, and the Shinkansen bullet trains were introduced from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka, and colour television was a novelty. The clever people over at Toho, the film company, just released another film with the Always cast, moving on from 1959, as we get to enjoy the characters who make a living in an imaginary Sanchome part of Tokyo, back then, in the sunset, when everything was still possible.
In the new '64 film, the Blue Impulse jets draw five rings in the sky. It is shown live on TV, but of course it is even more vivid if you step out and watch it for real, above. Bansai shouts are confused with victory in volleyball, and a precocious high school boy is found out to be a succesful manga writer. A young medical doctor is not what he seems, either.
Always - I like how they keep it real. These films are funny, the stories make me cry, and they make me wonder how a great city like this could go from that to such utter madness. Back in 1964, Japan was still not "the world's second largest economy" and now, we are back to square one. I wonder what the next sequel will focus on!
I wish there was a video on Youtube that I could add to this post, that makes justice to the 2 1/2 hours of the film. It was that good, but the clips that are called PR or promotion or whatever do in no way justice to the film. Trailers, what is that? A complete waste of my time. If you want people to go and watch your film, provide clips that actually promote your film. Not just brief cuttings that make no sense at all. Who invented "trailers" as a way to promote motion picture films? They do nothing for me. So, go and see this film, and here is to hoping that Toho and others in the film industry will make better use of Youtube and the Internet.
I just thought I'd like to mention one thing from the Yokohama anti nuclear power conference on January 14-15 that I can't get out of my head. At one of the workshops, Swedish expert Göran Bryntse, PhD, who has led the anti-nuclear movement in Sweden for a long time, talked about how citizens can change the energy policy.
First of all, he noted, energy efficiency is the best and cheapest alternative to nuclear power. For example, a country like Sweden can save up to one third of its energy consumption through heatpumps, more efficient engines, LED lights, and new whitegoods such as the latest refrigerators.
In the case of Sweden, these measures would be able to replace 4 nuclear reactors, according to Dr Bryntse. Additionally, 6 more nuclear reactors can be replaced by wind power (3), biomass and co-generation (2), and solar energy (1). Thus, all of Sweden’s current 10 nuclear reactors can easily be phased out.
Total: 32.4 nuclear reactors could be phased out in Japan if renewable energy is phased in. Add to that the 21.6 and you get 53.8 which is what we want, give or take 0.2 which are not the point anyway. All nuclear reactors can be phased out and the country can become a leader of renewable energy, rather than depending on expensive and unsustainable nuclear power.
Plus Japan, like Sweden, has not yet solved the problem of what to do with the highly radioactive waste that nuclear power plants continue to produce. "Like living in a mansion (in a high-rise apartment building) without a toilet" is an expression in Japan to describe this unfortunate situation.
I also think solar is a better choice for Japan than wind, considering the weather (we just had 35 sunny days in the Tokyo and Kanto area until the recent snowfall).
In China, they have installed PV on millions of buildings, according to Dr Bryntse, so of course Japan can do better. In fact, Dr Bryntse was invited to the award ceremony in Stockholm when Chinese solar-power entrepreneur Huang Ming received the 2011 Right Livelihood Award for his efforts to speed up the transition from fossil and nuclear energy to renewable in China and abroad:
"In the past ten years, China has become the biggest producer and market of solar energy products, around 250 million Chinese begin to use solar energy, forty percent of them are farmers," Huang said at the ceremony. "Altogether, we have saved around 300 million tons of coal and decreased 400 million tons of emission," he added.
Applying the math from Sweden (or China) to Japan is not going to give all the answers, but it is an interesting place to start. For example, Japanese people are a lot more frugal per capita compared to Swedish people. Thus, reducing consumption further may not be an easy task for an ordinary household. However, there are many other sectors in Japan that could do a lot more to become energy efficient and stop wasting power. We have to stop assuming that we can continue with "business as usual" as currently some 50 or so reactors are off-line in Japan, in the middle of the 2012 winter. TEPCO for example, is down to 1 single reactor right now, according to The Mainichi:
The No. 5 reactor at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata Prefecture will be suspended for scheduled checkups in the early hours of Wednesday, leaving only one out of a total of 17 reactors run by Tokyo Electric Power Co. in service, the utility said.
All 17 reactors will go offline by the end of March with the No. 6 reactor at the plant to be shut down by then for checkups, the utility known as TEPCO said.
Among Japan's 54 commercial reactors, only three reactors, except those of TEPCO, are currently in operation -- the No. 3 reactor at the Tomari plant in Hokkaido, the No. 3 reactor at the Takahama plant in Fukui Prefecture, and the No. 2 reactor at the Shimane plant in Shimane Prefecture.
Energy consumption per capita is actually a very interesting figure. Ever thought about it? How does your country rank on the list? In other words, how do you rank?
Data from 2007. If you live in Sweden, you use some 15,000 kWh/year while a person living in Japan uses about 7,700 kWh/year. Wow, that is less than half compared to your average Swedish citizen, quite impressive! A US citizen uses some 12,700 kWh/year and a German some 6,600 kWh/year.
Intersting to note how these figures vary, and from what I gather, consumption is increasing as of 2009.
Electricity consumption per capita, International Energy Agency (IEA) Statistics Division. 2007. Energy Balances of OECD Countries (2008 edition)--Economic Indicators and Energy Balances of Non-OECD Countries (2007 edition)--Economic Indicators. Paris: IEA http://data.iea.org/ieastore/default.asp.
Citation: ChartsBin statistics collector team 2011, Electricity Consumption Per Capita, ChartsBin.com http://chartsbin.com/view/2625.
I took a couple of photos tonight as it started snowing heavily. Click to enlarge. The first one is from Hanno Station where the workers were busy shoveling. I like how the second image came out, that's a view of the plum trees in front of my house. The third one is lit nicely by a car that came by, passing the gate to a small shinto shrine I was trying to photograph.
ニッポン食の安全ランキング - by Martin J Frid (Kodansha May, 2009) ISBN：978-4-06-214970-9
Lecture in Okayama
Lecture about food and biological diversity in Okayama: Lena Lindahl and Martin Frid Sept 11, 2010. We also spoke with 6th graders and to farmers in Fujita, Okayama on Sept 10!
Lecture at Swedish Embassy
Lecture about food safety issues in Sweden and Japan at book seminar arranged by Sustainable Sweden Association, at the Swedish Embassy in Tokyo Nov 30, 2009
Lecture about Endocrine Disrupters
Lecture in Seoul about what consumers can do to avoid endocrine disrupting chemicals, at the Consumers Korea conference in Seoul, Nov 22, 2006
Lecture about Antibiotic Resistance
Lecture in Osaka to discuss ways to avoid the risks of over-using antibiotics, showing the video produced by Japan Offspring Fund in 2005
Lecture at MCED in Seoul
Lecture at the Civil Society Forum in Seoul, March 29, 2005 as part of the UN MCED conference on environment and development
