Kurashi - News From Japan

Hideaki Tokunaga has been around as long as I can remember, at least since 1988, when he had a hit with Kowarekake no Radio . This summer he performed live at the ancient Buddhist temple in Nara, a sacred site and a UNESCO World Heritage Site . This song is Hoshi to tsuki no pierce to kimi no yume . 星と月のピアスと君の夢 (anyone has any idea how to translate that?) Do watch 情熱 (Juunatsu) Passion, from the same concert in Nara. Yakushi-ji was built in the 8th century, and the East Pagoda (known as "frozen music") is still intact today, some 1300 years later. The official website mentions how the ancient stupas of India was an inspiration for these buildings, with sustainable architecture that most modern designers could learn a lot from. Images from Bernhard's pagoda photo page (in German) One of the main features is the massive, heavy hanging pillar in the center. This is the real secret of wooden pagodas. The hanging "heart pillar" is like the spine of the pagoda: No...

Great chance to see films about organic farming this weekend in Tokyo: The life I value most We are happy and grateful to announce that your support has made it possible to hold the 3rd IFOF. The last two years' IFOF have been accepted and welcomed with high regard by both old and young. Members of Steering Committee have also found the depth and the scope organic agriculture has and are deeply impressed by its implication that organic agriculture is not just how-to of farming but is a wholistic concept which enfolds how we should grasp the nature, how we are to live with forest, water, soil and all the creatures that live on our planet. We have focused our effort on these vast and deep aspects of organic agriculture to be expressed in the program of the IFOF 2009. During the last two decades, the earth and our lives underwent decay and segmentation by an idea and system that is all too simple and cold, the winner or the loser in a competitive world of economy. U...

According to Japan's daily agriculture newspaper, the Nougyou Shimbun , The DPJ-led government may cut back or eliminate subsidies for organic agriculture. This is a really bad idea. If the government decides to go ahead with slashing the budget for research and development in the agricultural field, there must be a large number of other projects that would be less important than finding ways forward for sustainable food production that is not relying on chemicals and fossile fuels. Shisaku notes that the process amounts to Japan's Subsidies Culture on Trial : Of the 244 budget requests reviewed during the first five days, 243 have been rejected. "Reapply with a new proposal," "No budget increases," "Reduce budget request," "Cease activity" have been the responses. Just one program has received the GRU's stamp of approval: a Health, Welfare and Labour Ministry fund supporting theater productions in the nation's after-school activi...

It was Labour Day on Monday, a holiday here in Japan. I wanted to go either to the event preparing for the World Social Forum or to learn more about what people here think about peak oil and food security issues. I chose the latter. The meeting was chaired by Hiroshi Nakayama, who has ideas that he calls the 2030 Vision . "Isn't Japan going to be in big trouble," he asked. We need scenarios for a "soft landing" as oil may again reach $150/barrel. And is economic growth for China and India really possible, without oil? China, as Nakayama noted, has energy self sufficiency at 94% at the moment, but if they want to copy the car based "modern" lifestyle of Japan, Europe or the US, of course that ratio isn't going to hold up, and they will need imports from - where? China is also trying to stop exporting chemical fertilizers by imposing high export tariffs - a sign that they are beginning to have problems feeding their people. Without cheap imports of...

For a blog that is supposedly about all things 暮らし　 kurashi (life, living) there is precious little sex around here, as I think you can all find enough of that elsewhere on the Internet. But, ladies and gentlemen of the blog reading inclination, I thought my attempt at a Vintage Japan series of posts could benefit from a look at - Sex Education. On a side note, the first photo here is from a Swedish film from 1953 called Sommaren med Monica , which was rather popular a long, long time ago (known in the US as "Monica: The Story of a Bad Girl" with arrests in Los Angeles when it was first screened at the Orpheum). How surprised I was to see it at Tsutaya, the video rental shop! 不良少女モニカ　 Furyuu Shoujo Monica (Juvenile Delinquent Monica) is the Japanese title, and it was a scandal here too, apparently. Harriett Andersson is very lovely in this film, but frankly it is rather dull and there is very little nudity. OK, go and rent it or see if you cannot find it on the Internet. (P...

Toyota has been making cars for over 70 years, and by 1936, the Nagoya-based company was making models that were strong and solid enough for the road conditions of the time. The Toyota AA was produced from 1936 to 1941: 1 engine (3,4 liters / 65 hp) with 353 units produced. It was Toyota Motor's first passenger car, adopting "the popular streamline style, possessed an ideally balanced load on the front wheel, and offered a superior ride which placed it above many foreign cars in terms of comfort," according to the Toyota Museum website, which claims that it was an "advanced automobile." Moreover, Toyota's production know-how was developed completely in-house, while Nissan Motor Company acquired designs for large passenger cars and production facilities from the Graham Paige Corporation of the United States (Others claim the early Toyota models were Cadillac knock-offs). During WW2, Toyota was involved in truck production for Japan's Imperial Army...

This morning I was (rudely) awakened by the call of the local gasolin truck, making his rounds for the benefit of some of my fossile fuel-burning neighbours. He has a loud sound track, on his small truck, playing a cheesy clarinet tune, and a young lady announcing, endlessly and cheerfully so, on a tape loop: "Tooyu hanbai, 18 liter, 1380 yen!" ("Selling 18 l of heating gas for 1380 yen!") while he slowly makes his rounds. Once upon a time, in a country far, far away... There was an oil company putting up metal advertising signs with its 虎印灯油 (Tiger Brand Oil) logo all over the place. It seems very retro today, and Japanese bloggers are delighted when they find one, even if it is rusty. People who were born in the bubble economy days can afford to be nostalgic, at least for now. The "Put A Tiger In Your Tank" advertising campaign introduced by US oil company Humble in 1964 was even popular in Sweden when I was a kid. Did they get the idea from Japan, or d...