Kurashi - News From Japan

I like to go to a local temple near where I live on New Year's Eve. It is cold but there is amazake, a sweet brew that is heated, and boiling hot toshi-koshi-soba. The priests do a ceremony, reading sutras to the strong beat of a drum, and several small bells are rung. Some of us do zazen in the Main Hall. But the big event as far as I am concerned is the opportunity to line up and ring the huge temple bell. 除夜の鐘 Joya no kane "To ring the bell 108 times on New Year's Eve" In Japan it is done using a rope to swing a heavy wooden log, that hangs from the ceiling of the bell tower. The kids and everyone get to try once. Some make a huge effort, and the bell responds depending on speed and force, as if it has a life of its own. Not always the huge, deep reverberating sound the temple-visitors expect. Others do it right, saying a quiet prayer before and after. The bronze bell can be heard in the entire town. There is insense and log fires in metal barrels, tended over by o...

Okinawa, the most southern prefecture in Japan, has been a major focus during 2010. It is close to Taiwan, to South Korea, to Communist China. Yet, there is a massive U.S. military based there, as if World War II/Cold War never really ended. It is far south in the sense of Hawaii being far west of the United States. Oceans connect. For Okinawa, there is the culture, the music, the food, the ancient history. Japan should celebrate that it has such an amazing stretch, it reaches from the north to the south like few other countries. Dear readers, do we really "understand" what is going on in Okinawa, and near the islands that are all the source of conflicts... Do we not have a better set of values to solve problems? I would like East Asia to create a model for how to solve local/regional/national problems. After all, these are people/countries that have had close contact with each other for some 2000 years or more. I think we can/should/must expect better. Okinawa should look to...

SL trains are a huge hit with local train afficinados. Steam locomotive trains (SL) have a lot of fans here, with tickets sold out quickly for novel rides on good lines in the countryside. For example, the SL Yamaguchi line has a dedicated C571 train in Yamaguchi prefecture to Tsuwano in western Japan. The first Japanese railroad construction goes way back 140 years to 1870. Today, the SL Yamaguchi makes the 62.9 kilometer run in 2 hours between Shin-Yamaguchi and Tsuwano on the Yamaguchi line. The Original Yamaguchi line was a narrow gauged private railroad company. It was called the "Dai-Nippon-Kido Co. Yamaguchi" between Shinmachi and Yuda, and it was opened during October 1908. But, this small railway was closed when the government railway Yamaguch line between Ogori and Yamaguchi was opened during February 1913. Later, JGR Yamaguchi line was fully opened on the 1st of April 1923. After WW2, Yamaguchi line saw service by Tsuwano depot's class D60s, but they were r...

From NHK: The Japanese government will provide subsidies to 153 corporate investment projects that aim to contribute to reducing carbon dioxide emissions in the country. As part of its emergency economic stimulus measures compiled last September, the government will subsidize domestic investment projects by up to 180 million dollars each. The assistance will target such projects as the construction of a factory that will manufacture lithium-ion batteries for electric cars. The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry has selected 153 projects as recipients of the subsidies from 285 applications. The selected projects include a battery maker's program to build a new plant and an electronics company's plan to boost production of semiconductors. The government earmarked a budget worth about 1.3 billion dollars for such subsidies while the amount of such corporate investment projects totals about 6.4 billion dollars. Officials say the projects are expected to create about 95,000 jobs a...

Kami-sama no Iu Tōri by Junji Ishiwatari & Yoshinori Sunahara + Etsuko Yakushimaru The Tatami Galaxy is a pretty good title for the Japanese title, Yojou-han Shinwa Taikai. The 4 1/2 tatami mats of course is your regular small room, with the rice straw mats that are so good to sleep on. Yet, 4 1/2 is as small as the rooms tend to get. Been there? OK, so that is where your "galaxy" revolves around. The Tatami Galaxy (四畳半神話大系, Yojōhan Shinwa Taikei: "Four-and-a-half Tatami Mythological Chronicles") is a Japanese novel by Tomihiko Morimi, originally published in December 2004 by Ohta Publishing. It was adapted into an anime television series by Madhouse and began airing on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block on April 22, 2010. If you have been to Kyoto University, it must seem very familiar. And there is more. Much more: Kyoto student is recollecting his past two years of college life. His wants to meet the girl of his dreams, which is why he joins a new soci...

Two brothers from Toyama Prefecture, using local dialect for their flash videos, as they keep on making cool anime videos that take Japan by storm. They like football, but... Oh. They do not seem to like Santa from Finland so much... By the way, is he down and out in the shopping mall in Kichijoji?

It is that Bonenkai time of the year again, when people here in Japan party to forget the old year. I thought this video from July 2010 was pretty good. Genki Sudo is a retired K-1 wrestler who also writes books when he is not performing his unique synchronized dance numbers with World Order. The tune is a 1994 hit by TRF.