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Photographs of Japan
Go to the 'Blue Dawn' web site. Its in Japanese but the pictures are stunning.
http://www.blue-dawn.sakura.ne.jp/
日本の手紙
Signing off, this is your Message from Japan. また
posted by Message from Japan on Saturday, January 20, 2007 1 comments
Takakura Ken
こんにちは
Ken Takakura (高倉健 Takakura Ken), born Gouichi Oda (小田剛一 Oda Gōichi, on 16 February 1931, in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan), is a Japanese actor best known for his brooding style and the stoic, honorable presence he brings to his roles.
Asahi Shimbun says. ‘Not only does Takakura have a huge following in China, but the president of the prestigious Beijing Film Academy (BFA), Zhang Hui Jun, is a big fan, too.’
Known as the "Clint Eastwood" of Japan, Takakura gained his streetwise swagger and tough-guy persona watching yakuza turf battles over the lucrative black market and racketeering in postwar Fukuoka. You may remember him in Black Rain.
Black Rain is a 1989 American movie starring Michael Douglas, Andy Garcia, Ken Takakura, Kate Capshaw and Yusaku Matsuda. The film was directed by Ridley Scott.
The story is centered on two New York City police officers who arrest a member of the Japanese Yakuza and must escort him back to Japan.
Takakura, a graduate of the prestigious Meiji University in Tokyo, happened by an audition in 1955 at the Toei Film Company, and decided to look in. Toei would find a natural in Takakura.
Bōryokudan (暴力団), literally "violence group", is the term used by the Japanese police to describe the organized crime groups commonly known in the English-speaking world as yakuza. The term "yakuza" is actually used in Japan to refer to individual members of these groups. They refer to themselves as "ninkyō dantai" (任侠団体 (or 仁侠団体), "chivalrous organizations").
Signing off, this is your Message from Japan.また
posted by Message from Japan on Saturday, January 20, 2007 1 comments
Lalique? Is he Japanese?
こんにちは
Remember that coloured underlining indicates a web link. Click to follow down the rabbit hole.
Kyushu Scene: Lalique's genius glassware still dazzling
The glass creations of French artist Rene Lalique (1860-1945) lend sparkle in the Kitakyushu Municipal Museum in Art's Riverwalk Gallery annex. Nearly 200 items, on display until Jan. 28, show Lalique's unique skills in mould blowing or pressing lead-based glass, then cutting or etching designs for jewellery. The museum on the next link is the wrong museum.
Kita Kyushu 北九州市
Kitakyushu, an international, industrial and trade city with a population of one million, was established in February 1963 by the amalgamation of five cities: Moji, Kokura, Wakamatsu, Yahata and Tobata.
How about the KitaKyushu Media Dome! You may see The Beatniks and Ikeda Yosuke there, or Yadokari.
Baseball? Unfortunately the closest team is the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks.
Football? New Wave Kitakyushu. I couldn’t find a bigger team. Oita Trinita and Avispa Fukuoka are nearby professional teams.
Signing off, this is your Message from Japan.また
posted by Message from Japan on Tuesday, January 09, 2007 1 comments
明けました おめでとう ございました
明けました おめでとう ございました
(Akemashita omedetou gozaimashita)
Here’s an interesting Japanese web site.
http://www.kosuichihou.com/ (湖水地方) which of course is not Japanese. It’s the web site for the Lake District. This is the second most popular destination for Japanese after London. They particularly like Beatrix Potter. Its just kawaii!
(かわいい which means pretty, cute, lovely, charming, or darling).
They have a perfect copy of Hilltop Farm in Tokyo! (Near Tokyo’s Daito Bunka University).
And of course now the film Miss Potter is due out with Renee Zellweger in the lead role.
かわいい!
Signing off, this is your Message from Japan. また
posted by Message from Japan on Tuesday, January 02, 2007 0 comments