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Japanese Golfers. No 1
The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. The copyright on this image is owned by Gordon McKinlay.
The 136th Open Championship.
Sergio Garcia took a giant step towards his first major title with a wonderfully controlled display of links golf at Carnoustie on Saturday.
Meanwhile the top ranked Japanese Golfer in the tournament is Taniguchi with a Total Score of 220, 16 behind from the leader.
Toru Taniguchi is officially ranked 61st in the world after recently winning the Nagashima Shigeo Invitational and is second best in Japan after Shingo Katayama who he is catching up with rapidly in the rankings.
Taniguchi was born in Nara. He was won 13 tournaments on the Japan Golf Tour topped the money list in 2002, and is eighth on the career money list. In 2001, he reached the semi-finals of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship.
Find his picture on View Images. (http://www.viewimages.com/Search.aspx?phrase=vihome )
日本の手紙
posted by Message from Japan on Saturday, July 21, 2007 0 comments
Okinawan Harmony
(Sanshin - an Okinawan musical instrument – Copyright Tim Duncan)
Okinawan music is like no other in Japan--it can sound exotic even to mainlanders, with its unique musical scale, sanshin three-stringed accompaniment and haunting lyrics.
"Flowers going out of bloom/Will never blossom again/Likewise we should give sympathy/To people who are leaving," is a translation from one song.
One non-Okinawan who is a fan of Okinawan music is the American jazz pianist Geoffrey Keezer, 36, who has performed with many of the legends of jazz since joining Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers at age 18.
He worked with Yasukatsu Oshima on a disc of traditional Okinawan songs, and the result is soothing and rather quiet. "Yasukatsu Oshima with Geoffrey Keezer" was recorded in February 2006 in New York. The two musicians will be performing across Japan this month (July 2007). (For a sample song click here.)
Eight of the disc's songs originate in Okinawa Prefecture's Okinawa Islands and Yaeyama Islands (which include Oshima's home, Ishigakijima Island); two are songs created by Oshima.
Oshima’s 2002 album "Shimajikan--Island Time" was created after his world travels and in some ways is a return in attitude to the Okinawan way of life.日本の手紙
posted by Message from Japan on Sunday, July 08, 2007 0 comments