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Japan This Week 8 November 2009

noreply@blogger.com (JapanVisitor) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:32:00 PST

今週の日本

Safety Agency Rebukes Toyota Over Floor-Mat Issue

New York Times

Matsui Goes Wild, and So Do His Fans in Japan

New York Times

Lindsay Hawker murder suspect reported to have had face surgery

Guardian

Japan, U.S. to avoid bases feud for Obama visit

Washington Post

Un delirante filme japonés cierra hoy la Semana de Terror

El Pais

The rise of Japan’s 'girlie man' generation

Times Online

Demography vs. demagoguery: when politics, science collide

Japan Times

On the Dawn of a New National Ainu Policy: The “‘Ainu’ as a Situation” Today

Japan Focus

Au Japon, "une étoile tombée du ciel"

Le Monde

Three hurt in rare Japan shooting

BBC

Japan tunes in to watch Hideki Matsui make World Series history

Yahoo Sports

Last week's Japan news

Japan Statistics

Summer bonus payments at companies with at least five employees were 9.7% lower than those in the summer of 2008.

According to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, the bonuses averaged 363,104 yen this summer.

Source: Kyodo News

New car sales in October rose 12.6% from the same month a year earlier. That is the highest amount of growth in twelve years.

Source: Daily Yomiuri

Infant Mortality Rates, by country, 2005 (per 1,000 live births).

1) Singapore: 2.1
2) Sweden: 2.4
2) Hong Kong: 2.4
4) Japan: 2.8

21) England & Wales: 4.9

30) USA: 6.9

Source: Center for Disease Control and Prevention

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Tatsuya Ichihashi plastic surgery

noreply@blogger.com (JapanVisitor) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 06:06:36 PST

市橋達也リンゼイ・アン・ホーカー

On 24 March 2007, Tatsuya Ichihashi (now 30 years old), a physical fitness freak loner living in Chiba, supported by his rich parents, brutally murdered Lindsay Ann Hawker, a 22-year-old English teacher from Britain and put her body in a sand and compost-filled bathtub on his balcony. Ichihashi escaped from the group of nine Japanese police who had gathered outside his apartment to question him by running away barefoot, and since then, in spite of being on a nationwide wanted list with 10 million yen on his head (c. USD110,000, GBP65,000), the Japanese police have been unable to find him.

However, a breakthrough was announced this week. A doctor at a hospital in Nagoya brought it to police attention that a plastic surgery patient treated in late October was probably Ichihashi. While suspicion had not been raised at the time of surgery, the next day when processing the documentation, the doctor had noticed a scar from previous plastic surgery on the patient where a mole unusual in a male had been removed.

The police have just released before and after photos of Ichihashi. The sharp-eyed, reasonably good-looking slayer has transformed himself into what looks like a low-browed Neanderthal halfwit.

Rumors that he had escaped to the Philippines, a well known refuge of Japanese criminals, are obviously unfounded.

How is he managing to survive, and how is he paying (in cash) the hundreds of thousands of yen required for multiple instances of plastic surgery? Are the police monitoring possible communication between him and his rich parents? (Dad’s a doctor, mom’s a dentist.) Japan is a very difficult place to hide. The physical size of the place means you can’t travel far, there are police everywhere, no shortage of security cameras, whatever you do when it comes to anything remotely official requires ID, and Ichihashi’s photo is prominently displayed at almost every police box (or koban) in the country. (They even have an artist’s impression of Ichihashi in drag!) Perhaps this new mugshot will see overdue justice done soon.

Any sightings of Ichihashi should be reported to the police at 047 397 0110.

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Life in the Cul de Sac

noreply@blogger.com (JapanVisitor) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:27:00 PST

黒井千次

 Life in the Cul de Sac

by Senji Kuroi

Stone Bridge Press
ISBN: 1-8806-5657-4
216 pp

What began as a series of interlinking short stories, Kuroi has woven into an unsettling whole in this novel of Japanese suburban dis-ease. The various families in the titular cul-de-sac, whom we visit several times over the course of a few years, spend almost as much time speculating about their neighbours as they do preoccupied with their own problems.

And their problems are numerous: all the male-female relationships seem on the point of dissolution, with suppressed anxieties and dissatisfactions manifesting themselves as a wife's obsession with a stuffed raccoon doll, or a husband's straining to catch a glimpse of the vital young lovers in the place next door.

Kuroi spikes his prose with hallucinatory moments that he purposely does not set off from the mundane reality that has spawned them, leaving the reader momentarily off-balance and forced to work out whether they have actually happened, or are merely the product of a character's febrile imagination. Is the old well under the house overflowing, filling the kitchen? Does the little girl from next door have a thousand needles crammed into her mouth in a grotesque parody of an ancient Japanese vow of truthfulness?

Such moments capture well the domestic neurosis that can overtake family units when there is nothing much more to them than the fact that they live together. The only evidence of closeness is shown in fleeting gestures between the women of the street, who at least are able to empathise with the others’ plights. But in the end, no-one is shown as able to find their way out of their emotional cul-de-sacs.

Richard Donovan

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Tenpin Bowling in Japan

noreply@blogger.com (JapanVisitor) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:20:00 PST

ボウリング

If a recent visit to a local bowling alley in Hoshigaoka in Nagoya is anything to go by, the sport is making a comeback after a slump in popularity in the late 1990s.

Bowling was all the rage in 1970s and 1980s Japan, with most towns of any size having at least one bowling alley, but seemed to suffer a slump in popularity in the "lost decade" of the 1990s.

All the equipment at Hoshigaoka Bowl was imported from the US and there are child-friendly devices to keep your kid's bowls in the lane. Food and drinks can also be bought.

Hoshigaoka is on the Higashiyama Line of the Nagoya subway. Hoshigaoka Bowl is right outside the subway station in the Hoshigaoka Terrace mall next to the Mitsukoshi department store.

Hoshigaoka Bowl
Hoshigaoka 16-45
Hoshigaoka-motomachi
Chikusa-ku
Tel: 052 781 5656

bowling.or.jp

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Just Japs

noreply@blogger.com (JapanVisitor) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:57:00 PST

A reader sent in this image of a men's clothing store in Cape Town - Just Japs.

Strange name for a chain of shops. There is also an "Australian importer of high performance Japanese motor vehicles, parts and accessories" of the same name.

Just Japs
Shop 6205
V&A Waterfront
Tel: 021 419 5373

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Diwali Festival, Nishi-Kasai, Tokyo

noreply@blogger.com (JapanVisitor) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 07:01:00 PST

ディワリ祭り　西葛西

Last weekend I went to the Nishi-Kasai district of Tokyo, in Edogawa ward in the far east end of the city. Nishi-Kasai has the largest Indian community in Tokyo - and probably Japan - and the occasion on Saturday was the 10th celebration of the Hindu Diwali festival.

In spite of it being an Indian event, it was aimed at much at the local Japanese population as it was the Indian. The majority of the crowd was Japanese, and even the performances were largely Japanese-style and by Japanese people.

However, the Indian element was predominant in the stalls that lined the venue selling mainly Indian food, as well as clothing, incense, and jewelry. Several religious groups were proselytizing there, too, like Hare Krishnas, Sai Baba-ites, and even the Japanese, and decidedly oddball, "Happy Science" group.

But the festival was focused on performances: singing, dancing, and drama - the drama even including some manga-style futuristic gundam fighting.

Perhaps the most memorable performance was Beyonce-style stage dancing by half a dozen girls on stage, with the space below and along the stage lined with shirtless, body-painted boys drumming in vigorous unison while the girls worked their moves. Check out the YouTube video above of shirtless boys drumming and girls shaking it.

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Bledisloe Cup Rugby Match in Tokyo

noreply@blogger.com (JapanVisitor) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 07:01:00 PST

ブレディスロー・カップ

I had the fortune of getting tickets - per kind favor of the Brastel telecommunications company and New Zealand Telecom - for the Nissui Tokyo 2009 Bledisloe Cup rugby match between the New Zealand All Blacks and the Australian Wallabies at the National Sports Stadium in Tokyo's Shinjuku ward.

The massive National Sports Stadium, or Kokuritsu Kyogijo, (built for the 1964 Olympics) was close to a full house, with a crowd of about 45,000. There was a large contingent of both New Zealanders and Australians, and the excitement was palpable from long before kick off.

Of course, the main part of the audience was made up of local Japanese, reflecting the enthusiasm for rugby in Japan.

The Wallabies scored first, but the All Blacks dominated, keeping the play largely on their side of the field, and going on to win 32-19.

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Japan This Week 1 November 2009

noreply@blogger.com (JapanVisitor) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:05:00 PDT

今週の日本

Japan Says JAL Can Be Saved, With State Bailout

New York Times

Japan renews effort to free citizens abducted by North Korea

Guardian

Nintendo profit dives, others in red amid slump

Washington Post

Hitler en versión 'manga', estrella en el salón barcelonés

El Pais

Japan-U.S. ties need revamp: Hatoyama

Japan Times

Teacher held over 'black widow serial killings' in Japan

Times Online

Body Image in Japan and the United States

Japan Focus

Au Japon, une gérante de fast-food est morte de surmenage

Le Monde

Economy priority for Japan's PM

BBC

Seibu Lions win rights for 18-year-old LHP Kikuchi

Yahoo Sports

Last week's Japan news

Japan Statistics

Global Gender Gap, by country:

Norway: 1
Finland: 2
Sweden: 3
Iceland: 4
New Zealand: 5
Philippines: 6
Denmark: 7
Ireland: 8
Netherlands: 9
Latvia: 10

United Kingdom: 13

USA: 27

Japan: 98

Source: World Economic Forum

Suicides through the end of September totaled 24,846 in Japan. That is an increase of 741 on the total from the first nine months of the previous year.

Source: Kyodo News

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The Moyai of Shibuya Station

noreply@blogger.com (JapanVisitor) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:55:42 PDT

渋谷駅モヤイ像

Shibuya Station is famous for its Hachiko statue - so famous in fact that the exit near the statue is named after it. However, the south exit of Shibuya Station also has a statue - a much bigger one - that isn't as famous: the Moyai.

This massive statue is based on the moai statues of Easter Island, and was donated to Tokyo by Niijima Village in the Izu Islands south of Tokyo, which are officially a part of Tokyo. It was 1980, and the occasion was the celebration of Tokyo's 100th year as capital of Japan (which previously had been Kyoto).

Niijima Village is the source of the stone of which this statue is made. The word "moyai" is a word in the Japanese dialect of Niijima Village meaning "to work together," and by happy coincidence it sounds like "moai."

Although poor cousin to Hachiko, Shibuya Station's south exit moai is actually more memorable, in its grand, tragic simplicity, and, not least, its solitude in a spot only a minute's walk from the Shibuya shopping area - one of the Japan's most crowded places!

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Tokyo Vice Book Review

noreply@blogger.com (JapanVisitor) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:34:22 PDT

Tokyo Vice: An American reporter on the Police Beat in Japan

by Jake Adelstein

Pantheon

ISBN: 0-521-58810-3

346 pp

With so many books promising untold riches, then failing to deliver, this journalistic adventure by Jake Adelstein is rare: it is unputdownable and a real eye-opener into a side of Japanese society that foreigners and Japanese themselves very rarely see, and as such is highly recommended.

After graduating from Sophia University in the early 1990s, Adelstein became the first Western reporter for the Yomiuri Shinbun, the biggest Japanese–language newspaper in Japan (and the newspaper with the highest circulation in the world). He was soon assigned to the crime beat and after a stint in Saitama (north of Tokyo and as the author describes it, "the New Jersey of Japan") he was sent to cover the notorious red-light district of Kabukicho and the foreigner's playground of Roppongi in central Tokyo. In doing so he made contacts of pimps, prostitutes, hostesses, yakuza gangsters, various members of the police force, and other assorted characters for information.

He details the various complexities of his job and illuminates the necessity of having good connections, which means spending almost every other night wining or dining police connections, or turning up at their houses with gifts. The loyalty Adelstein has for his profession, his colleagues, and his sources is truly admirable, and the friendships he makes are unforgettable. He also makes his way between various competing factions of the police agencies, the media, the government, and other organizations to try and get what he wants.

Adelstein details his descent into this world with both glee and weariness; his evenings become drunken prowls around hostess bars, sex industry establishments, and the nightlife and detritus of Tokyo as he searches for information. His insider's view of the Lucy Blackman case and the way the police handled it are fascinating. He details his involvement in other cases involving various lowlifes of Japanese society and opens up a whole new world to the reader.

The Yakuza are very prominent throughout - indeed, it appears that there are few businesses in which they do not have some kind of presence - and the sheer power that they command, both in physical presence and financially, is breathtaking; the police's role appears to be just to keep them in check as much as possible rather than to attempt to try and eradicate them.

Adelstein eventually gets in way too deep. Knowing too much about Goto Tadamasa, leader of the Goto faction, a branch of Japan's biggest Yakuza organization, the Yamaguchi-gumi, and a man who was able to enter the USA and obtain a liver transplant despite being on various blacklists, Adelstein is threatened to "either erase the story, or we'll erase you. And maybe your family." He decides that enough is enough and to get out, but not before a showdown with Goto.

The book succeeds on all levels - it is a fascinating glimpse into Japanese society on a level rarely penetrated by Westerners and Japanese alike; it is the journey of a man who loves his job and family but wades in way too far; and it is a truly great read. With stories like these, Jake Adelstein would make a phenomenal drinking partner.

David White

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Tokugawa Yoshinobu Grave

noreply@blogger.com (JapanVisitor) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:57:19 PDT

徳川慶喜お墓

Tokugawa Yoshinobu was the 15th and final shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. He attempted to reform the shogunate system - but failed.

He resigned in late 1867, and retired into relative obscurity　(though was throughout his life close to the Imperial family).

Like Japan itself, he was swept up by the tectonic changes that overtook the country with the opening of its ports to foreign powers.

He died on November 22, 1913, and is buried in Tokyo's Yanaka Cemetery.

The cemetery and the surrounding area - Yanaka or Sendagi - is well worth a day out. It is close to Ueno Park, and can be done on foot.

To find the grave itself is not hard as there are markers (see below). You may get lost and are more likely to have crows and stray cats for company than human beings - but a bit of persistence you will find it.

The cemetery is very peaceful.

Access

The Yanaka area can be accessed from either Sendagi Station (Chiyoda subway line) or Nishi Nippori Station (Yamanote Line). For the cemetery, Nishi Nippori Station is the closest station. It is just below it and a short walk up steps.

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Nagoya Friends Halloween Party 10/31 (Sat.)

noreply@blogger.com (JapanVisitor) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:51:58 PDT

Nagoya Friends is holding it’s 75th party in Nagoya!

Date: Friday Oct 31st, 2009
Time: 6:30-9pm
Drinks will be served between 6:30pm-8:50pm.
Place: The Red Rock (2F Aster Plaza Building, 4-14-6 Sakae, Nagoya (very close to Sakae Station)
Fee: 3000 Yen
Halloween Costume Contest with a Wii Fit, digital picture frames and much more! Consolation prizes will be awarded for 2nd - 5th place as well!
Dress code: Anything (Casual, etc)
Reservations: Not necessary but recommended and appreciated. Just show up to the party!
Over 25,000 Yen worth of exciting prize giveaways each month!

There will be free food along with free drinks (beers, wine, cocktail drinks and juices).
Our party is not a dinner party, but we will have light food & snacks.
Quantities are limited, so please come early! Please free to come alone or bring your friends.
EVERYBODY is welcome to join regardless of nationality/gender. Reservation is greatly appreciated.
About 125-150+ people are expected to attend. Approximately 55% female and 45% male, 70% Japanese and 30% non-Japanese.
Pictures from previous Nagoya Friends Parties.

Map & Directions

Contact: 080-3648-1666(Japanese) 080-5469-6317(English)

Get off at Sakae Station [Exit #13]

The Red Rock (2F Aster Plaza Building,
4-14-6 Sakae, Nagoya (very close to Sakae Station)

The Red Rock is located behind the Chunichi Building in the Sakae business/shopping district.

Subway access from Sakae Station (serving the yellow and purple lines) Exit 13. It’s a big station connected to a huge underground shopping mall so you’ll need to do a little underground walking.

We’re also just a couple of minutes’ walk from the Tokyu and Precede hotels, and a 10 minute walk up Hirokoji Street from the Hilton Hotel in Fushimi.

Train Directions

From Nagoya Stn. take the Higashiyama Subway line to Sakae Station (GET OFF at Sakae Station!!) Take exit #13 and then walk straight AWAY from Hirokoji-Dori for about 3/4 of a block. TURN LEFT Red Rock is on the right side of the street in the middle of the block. Look for the sign on the sidewalk.

Sakae Station

Higashiyama Line

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Yukimi Daifuku from Lotte

noreply@blogger.com (JapanVisitor) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:05:13 PDT

雪見だいふく

Lotte, the giant confectionery maker from Korea, is huge in Japan, and, naturally, produces a lot of food and sweets here in Japan with a distinctively Japanese twist.

Mochi, or pounded rice cake, is a delicacy in Japan. So is ice cream. But you don't usually see the two together.

But Lotte has created a rice-meets-dairy product called Yukimi Daifuku - yukimi meaning "snow viewing" and daifuku meaning "dumpling," packing ice cream inside a chewy skin of rice cake.

I bought one for the first time the other day, for only 100 yen or so (i.e. less than USD1) and tried it - or, rather, them: there are actually two inside.

Gently picking up the first dumpling with the small plastic spoon provided, I was somewhat skeptical. Given the flesh-like consistency of mochi, was it going to be like kissing, or, worse still, devouring, a corpse? Or would it softly caress my lips before playfully zinging them and my teeth with pure bracing zest - a foretaste of the merry silver crackle of the winter that lay before us - and suddenly numbing my unsuspecting tongue to speechlessness with a delightful mercurial shiver?

I ate the second one too, so guess which!

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Japanese Manhole Covers From Gifu & Kofu

noreply@blogger.com (JapanVisitor) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:03:31 PDT

マンホールの蓋

These manhole covers are from Hida Hagiwara near Gero Onsen in Gifu Prefecture, Kofu in Yamanashi, Ise in Mie Prefecture, Kira in Aichi and Himakajima, a small island off the tip of the Chita Peninsula, south of Nagoya.

Japanese manhole covers are a unique form of street design and definitely worth keeping your eyes to the ground for. More often than not, the motif of the manhole cover reflects a regional characteristic or well-known local product. Thus we have a squid for Himakajima, fishing in Hagihara (a place known for its ayu sweet fish) and a pilgrim for Ise. Flowers are common too.

If you have a manhole cover shot and wish to show it on this blog please contact us if you'd like us to display it.

Manhole Covers in Japan

More Manhole Covers - Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Shimane, Hiroshima

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Kabukicho Tokyo

noreply@blogger.com (JapanVisitor) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 19:48:10 PDT

歌舞伎町

Kabukicho is one of Tokyo's largest "entertainment" areas and well-known for its red-light sleaze.

Kabukicho near Shinjuku Station is home to over three thousand bars, cinemas, hostess joints, karaoke boxes, nightclubs, pachinko parlors, love hotels, soaplands and massage establishments and has been a center of organized crime since the end of World War II.

The Koma Theater in Kabukicho is a venue for musicals and samurai dramas. the historic Hanazono-jinja (Tel 03 3200 3093) is the local shrine for success in business and leads into the Golden Gai bar alley. The shrine is illuminated at night.

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Japan This Week 25 October 2009

noreply@blogger.com (JapanVisitor) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:44:00 PDT

今週の日本

Beauty and the Bento Box

New York Times

Tokyo festival to screen Japanese dolphin slaughter film

Guardian

Japan FM: U.S. base should stay on Okinawa

Washington Post

La emperatriz Michiko cumple 75 años

El Pais

2010 bill eyed to give foreigners local-level vote

Japan Times

Welcome to All Saints Church...on the 21st floor an Osaka hotel

Times Online

Le festin médiatique d'Haruki Murakami, par Philippe Pons

Le Monde

Gates presses Japanese on Okinawa

BBC

Rising Debt a Threat to Japanese Economy

New York Times

At Tokyo Auto Show, Hybrids and Electrics Dominate

New York Times

Ex-M’s catcher Johjima urged to return to Japan

Yahoo Sports

Last week's Japan news

Japan Statistics

CO2 Emissions in 2007, by country:

China: 21.2%
USA: 19.8%
EU: 13.5%
Russia: 5.6%
India: 4.5%
Japan: 4.2%

Source: IEA

2009 Press Freedom Index. The ranking is from most free to least free.

1 Denmark
- Finland
- Ireland
- Norway
- Sweden
6 Estonia
7 Netherlands
- Switzerland
9 Iceland
10 Lithuania

17 Japan

21 United Kingdom
22 USA

33 South Africa

93 Israel

150 Israel (extra-territorial)

168 China

Source: Reporters Without Borders

Among thirty-five major cities, Tokyo was ranked 4th in terms of "functionality."

1. New York
2. London
3. Paris
4. Tokyo
5. Singapore
6. Berlin
7. Vienna
8. Amsterdam
9. Zurich
10. Hong Kong

Source: Global Power City Index

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Kameido backstreets - lost Tokyo

noreply@blogger.com (JapanVisitor) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:23:55 PDT

亀戸　裏道

Kameido, just one stop east of Kinshicho, is an area in Tokyo's east end - in Sumida ward - with a vibe more in common with Osaka than the rest of Tokyo.

Casual, unpretentious, with no aspirations to anything but life and its pleasures as lived day by day, it is not the kind of place you would associate with tourism and sightseeing.

However, for those with an interest in Tokyo as it isn't usually seen, either because it is too far off the beaten track, or because modern development has obliterated the ways of life and architecture of the past, Kinshicho offers insights not to be gotten elsewhere.

I was in Sun Street Kameido today, a shopping center closer, actually, to Kameido Station on the JR Sobu Line than to Kinshicho Station. After lunch at Sun Street Kameido (an excellent 70-minute Japanese-style buffet for only 1,782 yen), I took a few backstreets and stepped back in time.

As can be seen here, that preservation does not necessarily mean preservation in the best of conditions. An old property dominated by a gigantic willow tree covered in ivy was one of the most interesting finds. Its driveway was so packed with junk, that a wall of trash had mounted up against the inside of the locked front gate.

While old does not necessarily mean either beautiful or ugly, both could be found in roughly equal portions in the forgotten streets of Kameido and Kinshicho.

Read here about Kameido Tenjinja Shrine

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Tsukiji: The Fish Market At The Center Of The World

noreply@blogger.com (JapanVisitor) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 01:48:22 PDT

Tsukiji: The Fish Market At The Center Of The World

by Theodore C. Bestor

ISBN: 0-5202-2024-2
456 pp

Long a popular destination for foreign visitors to Tokyo, Tsukiji, the world's biggest fish market with some 450 different types of fish and a daily turnover of more than 2,000 tons of fishy products, is nevertheless facing a crisis in Japan's changing business and food culture. Though it is only a short hop from Ginza, its appeal to foreigners has left some locals bemused. A recent article in the Nikkei Shimbun marvelled at the number of tours for foreigners to this most Japanese of institutions.Luckily for us, the unique nature of this great market has been captured by Bestor, an anthropologist, in this fascinating book.

Though it is an ethnographical study of Tsukiji as a trade and economic institution, at no point does the prose lose the layman. Bestor approaches his subject from a dazzling array of angles, with the focus shifting from the lives and routines of market families, to its colourful history, to more serious discussions on its significance in Japan's economic and cultural history as well as the influence it exerts on the world fishing industry.

What Bestor manages to do is to walk his reader through this complex world and bring it all gloriously to life. He starts out with his own boozy induction to the joys of sushi and first visit to the market. This helps the reader remain anchored when the greater cultural, historical, economic, culinary and social implications of the market come to be discussed. The stall banter, wheeling and dealing, market slang and nuggets of fish lore interspersed throughout help make this much more than just an academic treatise.
The arrival of kaiten-zushi, the kombini and family restaurants, and what all that actually implies for us who live here, is also discussed.

Getting to understand Tsukiji helps to put so many more pieces of the Japanese jigsaw in place and sheds light on both past and present. No matter how familiar you may be either with Japan or her greatest market, this study, the result of a decade of research and observation, will prove rewarding. There is even a welcome guide to getting the most out of a visit to Tsukiji, which anyone will surely want to see after reading this. Indeed, most Tokyoites would learn a thing or two.

Aidan O'Connor

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Insho Domoto Museum of Fine Arts Kyoto

noreply@blogger.com (JapanVisitor) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:33:28 PDT

堂本印象美術館

A little bit of Barcelona lurks in northwest Kyoto.

Just across the main gate to Ritsumeikan University, a bit down the road from the Golden Pavilion, is one of the oddest buildings in Kyoto.

The Insho Domoto Museum of Fine Arts Kyoto was designed by the the great nihonga painter Insho Domoto, who was a painter and teacher in Kyoto until his death in 1975.

The museum, which has Gaudi like design elements on the outside and inside, is currently exhibiting nihonga works that feature Japanese women since the beginning of the twentieth century.

The exhibit runs from October 2 (Fri) until November 29 (Sun).

Most of the works are from the Taisho and Showa era, when clothing shifted from Japanese to Western styles and the "modern girl" (moga) appeared.

Some of the best works are scrolls and advertising posters for beer.

Fees

500 yen for adults

Access

26-3 Kamiyanagi-cho
Hirano Kita-ku
Kyoto
603-8355
Tel: 075 463 0007

9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (Last Admission at 4:30p.m.) Closed Mondays. Adults: 500 yen.

Access: The Insho Domoto is across the street from Ritsumeikan University's Main Gate. From JR/Kintetsu Kyoto Station take bus number 50. From Sanjo-Keihan, buses 12, 15, 59. Get off at Ritsumeikan Daigaku-mae.

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Japanese Woman in Fur Boots

noreply@blogger.com (JapanVisitor) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:40:07 PDT

女性毛衣靴

A beautiful young woman on her bike pulled up next to me and stopped to wait for the light to change in northwest Kyoto.

We had just been to an exhibit at the Domoto Museum and were on our way to a cafe.

The woman was texting, phone in her left hand. In both ears were ear pods attached to an iPod.

In addition to being attractive - and sensory overloaded - she was wearing amazing ankle boots.

Her outfit was completed by a gray scarf, black jersey, black skirt, and black tights. There was a large pink bag in her basket, a smaller purse slung over her shoulder.

But what really was striking were the boots.

Some designer had seen to fit to attach a 10 centimeter wide band of fake - we hope - fur on top of low boots.

Perfect for cycling and visiting the nearby Golden Pavilion on a fall day.

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Crows in Japan

noreply@blogger.com (JapanVisitor) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:34:36 PDT

カラス

With the possible exception of stray cats and barking dogs (both pet hates of mine), the biggest urban pest in Japan are crows - karasu (in Japanese).

Crows are the Taleban of Tokyo - large, aggressive, noisy and clad all in black.

With wingspans of around a meter and sharp claws and beaks, Japan's crows have moved in from the countryside to the towns to scavenge on the easy pickings of household garbage.

Household waste in Japan is not usually placed in a bin or can but left in a plastic bag by the side of the road to be picked up by speeding garbage trucks. Nets are used to cover the piles of plastic rubbish bags but the crows are clever enough to simply lift these off to get at the goodies within.

Some estimates put the number of crows in Tokyo at 150,000 birds and the city government is involved in an ongoing fight to cull their growing numbers. Between 2001-2008, 93,000 crows were lured into traps and poisoned in the Japanese capital.

Crows, which often make their nests in and from high-voltage power lines, have also been responsible for a number of blackouts as they eat their way through the cables, even causing the bullet train in northern Japan to temporarily shut down once.

If you have ever been buzzed by a crow or worse shat on by one of the Hitchcockian monsters, you'll be with Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara on his crow extermination campaign, as the Tokyo city authorities try to eliminate this avian menace.

Listen to the sounds of crows in Tokyo

Video by Rob Markovitz

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Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Gay and Lesbian Japan listings :: Japan Visitor
View Gay and Lesbian Japan listings: bars, clubs, listings, links, useful telephone numbers and Tokyo gay guide.

Kyoto Cityscape

noreply@blogger.com (JapanVisitor) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 18:37:30 PDT

京都町並み

Kyoto is the home and soul of traditional Japanese culture.

Seventeen World Heritage Sites are sprinkled throughout the city.

Many other sites not recognized by the UN are equally stunning.

Several hundred geisha work in the city's four licensed geisha quarters.

Moreover, unlike every other major city in Japan, it was not bombed during World War II. Kyoto remained intact in August 1945 - while Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Hiroshima, Nagasaki et al lay in ruins.

However, in the 50+ ensuing years the city itself - in the name of becoming "modern" - has essentially destroyed itself. Old buildings have been knocked down and replaced by concrete structures with no design value.

The idea that historic preservation has any inherent value is still mostly an alien concept to the powers that be in the city.

As a result, the signature features of modern Kyoto have become:

1. Pachinko parlors
2. Convenience Stores
3. Parking Lots
4. High Rise Coops known in Japan as "Mansions"
5. Telephone poles and wires

For a city that earns its much of its living from tourism, one would hope for a bit more vision and planning.

With the exception of small pockets - Shirakawa Dori, Nene no Michi - there is not one area that has retained a "Kyoto" look in its entirety. Walk around Kyoto and in your mind's eye compare the cityscape to what you would find on a street in Paris, Florence, Barcelona's Gothic Quarter, Philadelphia's Society Hill.

As a result, the World Monuments Fund recently placed Kyoto's beautiful machiya townhouses on its "2010 At Risk" list.

Perhaps this will spark a bit more of a revival of the beautiful townhouses than the current "boom" has.

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Japan This Week 18 October 2009

noreply@blogger.com (JapanVisitor) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 15:36:00 PDT

今週の日本

Obama Becomes Japan's English Teacher

New York Times

Japan Rethinks a Dam, and a Town Protests

New York Times

Japan begins to shake off US foreign policy influence

Guardian

Japan urged to solve global child custody disputes

Washington Post

Crystal Kay is having a ball

Japan Times

Investor alarm as Finance Minister blasts corporate Japan's ethics

Times Online

Enlèvements d'enfant : Huit pays demandent au Japon de reconnaître le droit parental

Le Monde

Japan's new hi-tech 'graveyards'

BBC

Taking On Skyscrapers to Protect View of an Old Friend

New York Times

Former Japanese Prime Minister Revealed as Alien! (In Movie.)

New York Times

Japan Want Stronger Challenges Than Scotland And Togo

Yahoo Sports

Last week's Japan news

Japan Statistics

Michelin three star restaurants, top three cities in the world

1. Paris (10 total)
2. Tokyo (9)
3. Kyoto (7)

New York had four, Hong Kong two, and Rome and London one apiece.

Source: Asahi Shinbun

Shipments of beer and beerlike drinks declined 2.4% in the first nine months of this year in Japan. Shipments totaled 345.25 million cases. Because of the cool summer, however, that was a drop from the previous year.

Source: Yomiuri Shinbun

The number of flu patients has doubled in the last week, now topping 640,000.

Source: Yomiuri Shinbun

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Sunshine Sakae Nagoya

noreply@blogger.com (JapanVisitor) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:54:29 PDT

サンシャインサカエ

Sunshine Sakae Building in Sakae, Nagoya is a large shopping and entertainment building with a 42m-diameter Ferris wheel tacked on to the font.

The six-story building is just west of Oasis 21 and the TV Tower. The building is illuminated by LEDs at night.

Besides the Ferris wheel (Sky Boat) which has good views of downtown Nagoya, there are a selection of restaurants, a Tsutaya DVD rental store, clothes stores, a hairdresser, a Tully's Cafe and, this being Nagoya, a pachinko parlor.

Access is through the "Grand Canyon" Square from Exit 8 of Sakae Station on the Higashiyama and Meijo Lines of the Nagoya subway. The Sky Boat costs 500 yen per ride.

Sunshine Sakae
3-24-4 Nishiki
Naka-ku
Nagoya
Tel: 052 310 2211

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The Unfettered Mind

noreply@blogger.com (JapanVisitor) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:52:46 PDT

不動智神妙録

The Unfettered Mind
by Takuan Soho
Kodansha International
Translated by William Scott Wilson
ISBN: 4-7700-2947-0

William Scott Wilson has made a name for himself translating the martial-philosophy classics of 16th-century Japan. He is best known for his version of Hagakure, also available in this Kodansha series, which reached new heights for product placement in Jim Jarmusch’s film Ghost Dog.

Not only did Kodansha’s handsome red-on-black binding feature in Forrest Whitaker’s samurai/hitman hands, but extensive quotations from Wilson’s lyrical text are a key framing device throughout - making it the literate person’s Kill Bill.

While Hagakure is little more than a quirky compendium of samurai etiquette, The Unfettered Mind provides a coherent series of insights into the timeless Zen Buddhist principles that underlie the samurai ethic.

The monk Takuan Soho (1573-1645) was a polymath, as adept at calligraphy, painting and cooking as he was at advising the Shogun on political affairs. While not a swordsman, he understood the art of the sword equally well: as with all arts, it involves the dissolution of the notion of self, unfettering the mind from the ego so as to be able to perform any action effortlessly and smoothly.

This book contains the letters he wrote to his protégé, Yagyu Muneyoshi, one of the greatest swordsmen of his time (see his own work, The Life-Giving Sword). Their influence on the samurai’s book is obvious.

Takuan tackles the great mysteries of life such as the mind and spirit with down-to-earth analogies involving plenty of fruit (that’s the gardener side of him coming out there). He is even comfortable to explain ghosts as an equally real part of the continuum of existence.

Swordplay is the pivot for his discussion, because it is such a clear interplay of life and death. Even those with no interests in the martial will find a distillation of wisdom here that can be applied to everyday life. While there are moments of obscurity that even Wilson cannot retrieve, overall his fluid prose helps elucidate Takuan’s masterpiece and keep it relevant for our age and culture.

Richard Donovan

Buy this book from Amazon USA UK Japan

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