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Hama Rikyu Gardens 2007-06-06 00:32:10 浜離宮恩賜庭園Hama Rikyu Gardens
, a short walk from Kyu-Shiba Rikyu Gardens, and located in the Shiodome area, is one of Tokyo's most popular open spaces.The garden is the site of a Tokugawa family villa dating from 1654 when Matsudaira Tsunashige reclaimed part of the shallows of Edo Bay and created the seawater pond fed from an inlet channel to the bay. The pond was used for duck hunting (with nets) at the time and is now a sanctuary within Tokyo for a number of wild species of birds and fish. The Tokugawa elite could access the garden by boat and remains of a landing stage is still visible at Shogun O-agariba not far from the present day water bus stop.The sixth Tokugawa Shogun Ienobu later renovated the gardens which were renamed "Hama Goden" (Beach Palace). The gardens reached their final form under the eleventh Shogun, Ienari. As with Kyu-Shiba Rikyu Gardens, the property passed to the Imperial Family after the Meiji Restoration of 1868, was badly damaged by the Great Kan
Nishi Shinjuku 2007-06-04 07:02:32 西新宿Nishi Shinjuku (i.e. West Shinjuku) is Japan’s biggest concentration of skyscrapers: no less than 30 in just a square kilometer or two. As expected, it is very much a business center and lacks the rough, streety charm of Higashi (i.e. East) Shinjuku just on the other side of Shinjuku station.There’s a sound reason for Nishi Shinjuku’s glass-and-granite forest growing where it did: geology. Apparently there is a massive slab of bedrock under the whole area that absorbs seismic shocks. The lack of damage to dwellings in the area in Tokyo’s gargantuan earthquake disaster of September 1, 1923, first alerted people to its special natural endowments.It wasn’t until the post-war economy started to boom, however, that skyscrapers began being built here, one of the first being the North Building of Keio Plaza Intercontinental Hotel in 1971 which, at 47 floors, is still a respectable height – about average for the area.It is soon to be dwarfed, however, by the very boringly
Japan This Week 6/03/07 2007-06-03 01:09:11 今週の日本Japan
ese researchers find 2,000 year old melon.YomiuriJapan's Agriculture Minister hangs himself hours before an inquiry.NY TimesJapan's first openly gay candidate runs for election.GuardianRiyo Mori crowned Miss Universe.MainichiTeacher at elite Osaka high school arrested for panty snatching--from hisformer student.MainichiUS$1 million gold bath tub stolen.BBC"Boyfriend pillow" comforts Japanese singles.BBCGreenpeace faces a hard sale to turn Japanese away from whaling.BBCCell phone cameras help Japanese lose weight.CNNLast Week's Japan NewsJapanese Art - Geisha FansSex in JapanBook a hotel in Japan with BookingsGay JapanTagsJapan Tokyo News Gay Whales
Tokyo Cruise 2007-06-08 03:24:47 東京都観光汽船Listen to an announcement on a Sumida River cruiseTokyoCruise
Line, the company that runs boat services on the Sumida River and in Edo Bay is not really a commuting option in Tokyo but is a pleasant way to see some of Tokyo's riverside and bayside attractions.The company runs five water bus lines:Sumida River Line (Red)Asakusa-Odaiba Direct Line (Gray)Odaiba Line (Green)TokyoBig Sight Palette Town Line (Blue)Museum of Maritime Science/Shinagawa Aquarium Line (Purple)There are water bus stops at:Hinode PierAsakusa (Azuma Bridge)HamarikyuToyosuHarumiTokyo Rinkai Fukutoshin AreaPalette TownTokyo Big SightOoi Seashore ParkShinagawa AquariumTravel times are:Asakusa to Hinode Pier (45 minutes)Asakusa to Odaiba Seaside Park (50 minutes)Hinode Pier to Odaiba Seaside Park (20 minutes)Hinode Pier to Tokyo Big Sight (25 minutes)Hinode Pier to Shinagawa Aquarium (50 minutes)It is also possible to charter one of the company's boats starting at over 300,000 Yen for one hour.F
Kyoto Purple Sanga J.League Match 2007-06-11 21:04:17 京都サンガFCOn a blustery pre-rainy season Saturday in June, KyotoPurple
Sanga took on Montideo Yamagata in a second division (J2) match in Japan's professional soccer league.It had poured rain only a few hours before kickoff, with great thunder and lightning. Perhaps as a result, only 5,600 fans made it to the match.We bought seats in the home supporters section behind the south goal. Ominous clouds scudded across the sky, the dark purple Hankyu Line trains rolled by in the distance in 5-minute intervals, and Kyoto supporters chanted and sang (to listen, click on #5-8) for the entire 90 minutes of the match.At home, it was a must win for Kyoto. Sanga was in fourth place going into the match, the visitors third. In order to have a shot at promotion to the top division of Japanese soccer, J1, at the end of the season in November a J2 club must finish in one of the top three spots.Kyoto looked sharp in the first half and went up thanks to two early goals courtesy of Kuronuki and t Read more:League
, Match
Tokyo street promotions 2007-06-10 20:31:50 路上宣伝When it comes to promotion of goods and services, the 'flesh-and-blood' approach - in other words, the unmediated voice, eye-to-eye, hand-to-hand approach - is considered the most effective. This approach is at its most extreme at election time when sound trucks rumble through otherwise quiet neighborhoods blaring what in most other countries would be considered intolerably raucous spiels at levels which, if the truck passes you by, leave your ears almost literally ringing.In its more toned down, everyday form, this approach takes the form of people on the street handing out flyers. During business hours it is impossible to walk more than about 10 or 15 minutes through any business area of a Japanese city without being offered advertising material by a young man or woman.Most of the distributors of advertising are baito(i.e. part-timers - an abbreviation of the German frei arbeiter) and are usually dressed pretty much as they like. However, bigger companies really trying Read more:Tokyo
今週の日本
Services held in memory of victims of attac... 2007-06-10 05:40:59 今週の日本Services
held in memory of victims of attack at Ikeda Elementary School.YomiuriJapanese cop stabs himself to get off work.Guardian"Idiot parents, rotten kids, useless teachers."Japan TimesNHK children's programs TV director arrested for child molestation.MainichiJapan seniors urged to be productive.BBCJapan StatsAccording to a survey by GE (General Electric) Consumer Finance Tokyo the average "pocket money" afforded a Japanese salaryman has risen for the third straight year to 48,880 yen per month (approx. US$400). The survey was conducted with 500 working men on the Internet aged 20-50 years old.Japan is 4th in the list of countries with the largest emissions of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) with 1.3 bn metric tons which is 4.7% of the global total recorded for 2004. Japan trails the USA (5.9 bn tons/21.9%), China (4.7 bn tons/17.4%) and Russia (1.7 bn tons/6.2%).Source: US Energy Information AdministrationLast Week's Japan NewsJapanese Art - Geisha FansSex in JapanBook a hote
Hand Maiden 2007-06-10 00:25:13 ハンドメイドOsaka has a bit of an image problem. It is the proverbial second city. Everything in Tokyo is bigger, better, and more chic. Osakans reflexively, defensively compare themselves to Tokyo and Tokyoites; people in Tokyo would be hard pressed to say one positive thing about Osaka, if they think about it at all. Worse still, in western Japan, Osaka is sandwiched between the elegant port city Kobe and, to the north, Kyoto, Japan’s cultural and artistic center. And, to be honest, Osaka is a grimy industrial city with virtually no parks and little in the way of tourism.However, in addition to leading the nation in nearly every crime category, there is one area where the city takes a back seat to no one: Osaka is not just on the cutting edge of the sex industry; it is the cutting edge. Anything that becomes a nationwide trend probably started in the brothels and soaplands and blowjob factories of Namba or Umeda or Kyobashi.In keeping with that, there are now several establis Read more:Maiden
Naitai Magazine 2007-06-14 02:22:07 ナイタイマガジンJapan's sex industry is well-known for its variety, creativity, and sheer size. It has been documented in many books in English, most recently Pink Box.For those who can read Japanese, there is another window into this slightly hidden but nearly omnipresent world: brothel guides, published as monthly magazines. These magazines include Manzoku and Naitai, to name but two. They have regional issues and vary in price from about 390 yen ($3) to glossy magazines that sell for as much as 900 yen ($8)For research purposes, we went out and bought the latest issue of the Kansai issue of Naitai--pictured at right--at a book store near Osaka's Kyobashi Station.The adult section of books and magazines was prominently displayed on the shelf facing the entrance of the store. A small sign warned that those 18 and under were not allowed to browse. Much of the harder core material was moreover wrapped in clear plastic.Naitai ("night time") costs 390 yen, and the Kansai edition Read more:Magazine
Akechi Taisho Village 2007-06-12 21:12:07 明知大正村、岐阜県The village of Akechi, in the municipality of Ena in Gifu Prefecture, is a hidden gem, and makes for a pleasant day trip from nearby Nagoya to the south.Akechi has retained a large number of buildings from the Taisho Era (1911-1925), when the town had a thriving silk production industry.Now a sleepy backwater reached by the Akechi Railroad from Ena city, Akechi is attempting to re-invent itself through tourism as "Taisho Village
". The 50-minute train journey from Ena is spectacular, winding through mountain forests, verdant green paddies and pretty villages. You can even open the windows and lean out to enjoy the cool air.On arrival Akechi Station and even the adjacent toilet are both done in Taisho Era style and their is plenty of similar architecture to come. The town is a delight to stroll: the narrow footpaths along the Akechi River, the picturesque lane of "Taisho Alley" and the roads leading to the Nihon Taisho Mura (Tel:
Krispy Kreme, Shinjuku, Tokyo 2007-06-17 09:45:30 クリスピー・クリームTime: a hot early summer Sunday mid-morning. Place: Southern Terrace: one of Shinjuku ward's hippest strips - just south of Shinjuku station. A string of patient Tokyo
ites - scores, if not hundreds, of them - languish under the blazing sun in a long stretched out queue that just doesn't seem to be moving.What are they waiting for? A chance to grab a Louis Vuitton bag? To take in a leggy bimbo or a pearly toothed god of the screen? To vote? To pray? To buy a bonanza lottery ticket? No. If you look carefully at the photo you'll see the shop they're besieging is Krispie Kreme
!No matter how much you like them, the fact is that Krispy
Kremes are for Americans more of afterthought when you're paying for your gas and feeling a little hungry than a 'treat' you devote a whole morning to - waiting and waiting and waiting, before being herded into a jam-packed store for a few minutes of high-calorie chocolaty dough.The Shinjuku Krispy Kreme
opened late last ye
Japan News 17/06/07 2007-06-17 05:11:45 今週の日本Former Montreal Expos and Tokyo Giants baseball star Warren Cromartie to tag-teamwrestle in Japan
.NY TimesWar displaced Japanese lose in court again.Asahi Okinawans furious over textbook revisions.AsahiTen Pakistani sailors go AWOL in Akihabara, miss ship home, on the run in Tokyo.AsahiFilm depicts young women nurses in wartime Okinawa.Midnight EyeEarthquake-proof gravestones debut in Japan.MainichiJapan Stats30,400 children were being raised in Japanese orphanages in 2003, up 13% from 27,000 in 1998.Source: Japanese Health MinistryAichi Prefecture has the largest number of registered dogs with 438,160 canines. Tottori Prefecture has the lowest number of dogs with 29,908 reflecting the fact it has the lowest human population of any prefecture in Japan with 652,717 inhabitants.Source: Kansai Time OutLast Week's Japan NewsJapanese Art - Geisha FansSex in JapanBook a hotel in Japan with BookingsGay JapanTagsJapan Tokyo News Okinawa statistics
Velo Taxi Nagoya 2007-06-16 09:56:11 ベロタクシー名古屋A bicycle taxi service has begun in Nagoya
around the Central Business district and entertainment center of Sakai.Velotaxis began in Berlin in 1997 and where used at the 2005 Aichi Expo.Charges are around 300 yen (2.40 USD) for short trips around Sakae.www.velotaxi-nagoya.jpBook a hotel in Japan with BookingsJapanese FictionHappi CoatsTagsJapan velotaxi Nagoya Sakae
Aichi Prefectural Museum Of Art 2007-06-22 08:32:50 愛知県美術館、名古屋Aichi Prefectural Museum
Of Art in Sakae, Nagoya is adjacent to the Oasis 21 complex to the east of Nagoya TV Tower. The museum is located on the 10th floor of the Aichi Arts Center Building.The museum has permanent collections of modern arts and crafts including paintings, sculpture, ceramics, kimono and glassware. The museum also hosts visiting collections from other museums. A highlight this year has been the popular Jakuchu & The Age of Imagination exhibition. An Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition begins in November this year.The gallery spaces are large and airy and the Aichi Arts Center building offers two restaurants and a cafe.The Aichi Arts Center building has twelve floors above ground and five basement floors: including Aichi Prefectural Museum Of Art on the 10th floor, the Aichi Prefectural Arts Promotion Service, an Art Library, a rental gallery and art theaters (theater, concert hall, and mini theater).Aichi Prefectural Museum Of ArtHigash
Hostess Bar 2007-06-21 09:02:33 ホステス・バーOf all of the “mysteries” of the East and Japan, perhaps none is so puzzling as the institution the hostess bar. In any city in Japan, hundreds if not thousands of hostess bars are open for business every night of the week, all year round. They are usually concentrated in nightlife areas such as Ginza and Shinjuku (Tokyo), Umeda and Namba (Osaka), Kiyamachi and Gion (Kyoto), and so on—but they are literally everywhere.Like the experience to be had with the more exotic Geisha, the sex is implied but almost never offered at a hostess bar. Another similarity is the scripted feel of the experience. From the time one enters until the time one leaves, all the players know exactly what will happen, which role s/he will play, down to the topics of conversation. And, unless you are in a brothel masquerading as a hostess club, you will not get laid. Never.Sayonara Bar If you go with a regular, the proprietress (“Mama-san”) will be awaiting your arrival since you ca Read more:Hostess
Know your children, talk to your children 2007-06-19 07:15:16 子供のこと、どれぐらい知っていますかIf anything has characterized working life in Japan since WWII, it is overwork - usually for no extra pay.The commuter trains at 8.30pm or even 9pm are every bit as packed with homegoing men in suits as at 6pm. A wander through the streets of Tokyo even past midnight - even on weekends! - reveals any number of fluorescently lit concrete and glass cubicles with heads bents over desks.It is a truism to say that this kind of lifestyle impacts family life. While work addiction has tacitly been recognized as one of the sacrifices Japan must pay if it is to hold its nodding, bloodshot-eyed head high in the world, recognition of some of the dangers seems at last to be coming from on high.Kids that hang themselves - often for apparently trivial hurts done them, or because of intolerable bullying from peers, others that stab mom to death while she's sleeping and cut off her head, and many many more such stories of often monstrous teenage mi
Japan News 24/06/07 2007-06-24 09:21:36 今週の日本Power failure stops train service for hours in Tokyo.YomiuriWorld War Two battle island Iwo Jima renamed.GuardianOkinawan prefectural government urges Ministry of Education to change new school textbooks dealing with the the battle for Okinawa in World War II.AsahiJapan
ese universities and colleges scrambling to fill student places.NY Times1 in 4 Japanese men aged 30-34 still a virgin, according to a recent survey.MainichiHidden Tokyo - Nostalgic Bar Scene in TokyoNew York TimesThe start of the whaling season in Wadaura, a traditional fishing village north of Tokyo. Report and slideshow as a whale is caught and butchered.GuardianJapanese minister on diet to highlight growing obesity problem as Japan's middle-aged fattens up.Washington PostLast Week's Japan NewsJapanese Art - Geisha FansSex in JapanBook a hotel in Japan with BookingsGay JapanTagsJapan Tokyo News Okinawa Iwo Jima
Honnoji Temple, Kyoto 2007-06-24 08:47:21 本能寺京都Honnoji Temple
is where the great daimyo Oda Nobunaga died in 1582. The shogun was attacked at the temple and then forced by one of his trusted generals, Akechi Mitsuhide, to commit ritual suicide. This all took place during an attempted coup d’etat. While Nobunaga was dying, local farmers murdered Mitsuhide.The temple itself was founded in 1415, and is a part of the Nichiren sect. It was once located a short distance south at the intersection of Shijo and Nishinotoin streets. Like much of Kyoto
, though, it was destroyed by fire many times. It was moved to its current location in 1589. There is now a memorial to Oda Nobunaga inside the grounds of the temple.This is not the most elegant temple in Kyoto. There are two reasons however tourists visit: its historical significance as the temple where the great general Nobunaga died; and, second, its location. It is just across from City Hall, and backs onto Teramachi Street, which has many great shops. A walk up Teramachi fr
Akechi Tetsudo 2007-06-23 02:18:26 明知鉄度The Akechi Tetsudo train makes the journey between Ena and Akechi in Gifu Prefecture, not far from Nagoya. The 50 minute route through the forests, traditional villages and tiny wooden stations is a delight for mountain train enthusiasts and a reaquaintance with the joys of train travel after the horrors of a packed, sweaty, weekday commute.Trains run approximately hourly and costs 670 yen single fare Ena-Akechi. The first train from Ena is at 6.48am and the last at 21.44pm on weekdays, 20.54pm at the weekend or on public holidays.Book a hotel in Japan with BookingsJapanese FictionHappi CoatsTagsJapan Akechi Gifu Nagoya Japan trains
China in Shinjuku 2007-06-23 02:16:30 新宿に中国Perhaps the second most common language heard on the streets of Tokyo after Japanese is Chinese. Chinese tourists seem to far outnumber English speaking tourists, revealing Tokyo's magnetism as a tourist attraction for Japan's gigantic neighbor.China
is apparently doing its best to keep things mutual, and this week featured a China tourism promotion at the event plaza near Shinjuku Station's east exit, directly across the road from the Alta Studio.The plaza is always crowded even when nothing organized is going on, and is perhaps Tokyo's prime people-watching locale: a human pot pourri of everything that makes the Japanese capital tick. The blaring music, sizzling colors and mindblowing feats of the China tourism promotion vamped up the atmosphere even further and captured, even if only for a minute or two, the eyes and ears of everyone passing through. The promotion consisted mainly of song and dance - song and dance only as the Chinese can do it, that is, making th
Book Review: RackGaki 2007-06-28 06:34:14 落書きRackGaki, by Ryo Sanada and Suridh HassanHaving grown up in Philadelphia in the 1970s, I approached a book on Japanese graffiti warily. That period was the heyday of Cornbread, who is still something of a legend in the city. He was the first “bomber,” and his distinctive tag could be seen on buses, trolleys, trains, police cars, and many, many buildings all over the city. Cornbread and his imitators essentially defaced the city. After his arrest—his many arrests, for multiple crimes—he began tagging prison walls. With the exception perhaps of churches, nothing was sacred.From Cornbread to Japan.RackGaki documents the tagger and bomber scene in Japan, which got a relatively late start. By the time Cornbread was an in-and-out of prison drug addict father of 10 in the early ‘90s, graffiti was just debuting in Japan.Rackgaki Authors Ryo Sanada and Suridh Hassan trace the origins of tagging in Japan and introduce the premier Japanese “writers,” mainly in Tokyo and Osa
Utsubo Park, Osaka 2007-06-26 22:11:14 靭公園大阪Now fashionable, hip, and rose-scented, Utsubo Koen (Park) is a small slice of green mixed with European café culture right in the heart of urban Osaka
. However, it wasn’t always so.The park, which is in Nishi-ku close to Honmachi Station on the Yotsubashi subway line or Awaza Station on the Chuo subway line, was in the early part of the 20th century the only fish market in Osaka.With the opening in 1931 of the Osaka Central Market, the fish market at Utsubo soon closed due to the competition. During the Second World War, the entire area was completely destroyed by a US Air Force carpet-bombing campaign. Following the War, it served as an airport for small aircraft for US occupying forces.In the 1990s, as it was slowly becoming trendy—thanks in part to the planting of the rose garden—it also became a magnet for homeless. The two camps clashed periodically, culminating with the forced eviction of the park’s 20-30 residents in the early hours of January 30, 2006.
Sanja Matsuri Ban 2007-06-26 07:35:07 三社祭Sanja Matsuri, held in May in Asakusa, Tokyo will be a changed event in 2008.The Asakusa Shrine Association has decided to get tough with local gangsters and cancel the honja mikoshi and miyadashi parades of portable shrines as bearers, mostly members of Japan's yakuza, refused to comply with instructions from the association not to jump on and ride on top of the portable shrines.Seven bearers who rode on the mikoshi have so far been arrested by Tokyo police, having been identified from video footage.The Asakusa Shrine Association has previously warned the bearer groups that jumping on the portable shrines and turning their buttocks to the mikoshi is an insult to the gods. The annual event draws over a million visitors.Sanja Matsuri 2006Sanja Matsuri VideoBook a hotel in Japan with BookingsJapanese FictionHappi CoatsTagsJapan Tokyo Sanja Matsuri Asakusa Yakuza
Sex, of soft sorts, on Japanese TV 2007-07-02 10:13:53 セックスとスリミングPanel sales full of spurious demonstrations and ‘experiments’ of so-called wonder products form a very big part of Japanese
TV.Here is a slimming ‘documentary’ from nighttime TV just this weekend that follows the fortunes of three fat girls who – horror of horrors – could no longer fit their favorite pants and sought esthetic assistance.This particular show – with its unsubtle pushes for a certain esthetic clinic and clothing brands – is not only aimed at the obvious audience represented by its participants: working class Japanese girls. It is also about sex, and is very clearly aimed at Japanese men who like fat girls.In this 10 minute clip, big raucous Japanese girls put themselves at the mercy of thin precious estheticians, who subject them to quackish ‘therapies’ using retro sci-fi machinery, all to a background of tits and ass jokes, and sexist asides from the commentator.See how the camera slavers over the mounds of jelly-like fat
Kansai International Film Festival, Osaka 2007-07-01 04:35:54 関西国際映画祭大阪The first Kansai International
Film Festival
(KIFF) will take place this August in Osaka
. On the weekend of the 24th-26th, a lineup of thirty-two “Japanese Films Made by Foreigners!” will be shown at Planet Station in Morinomiya.The film categories include: Documentary, Culture-Clash, Experimental, The Dark Side, Wabi-Sabi ("Japanese" films), and more. The directors come from ten different countries, and will no doubt present a view of Japan quite different from that in the mainstream Japanese media.Films will be shown on each day from 12 – 9 pm, and admission is free.KIFF organizer Darryl Knickrehm will be one of the featured filmmakers. His work Rodosha will be shown twice. Other featured works include Reggie Life’s Doubles, Junko Kajino and Ed Koziarski’s Homesick Blues, Rachael Lucas’s Bondi Tsunami, and more.Details can be found on the KIFF website:kansaifilm.comCell phone usersPlace: Planet Station (map and address in Japanese) in Morinomiya
Japan News 01/07/07 2007-06-30 06:35:56 今週の日本Keio University law professor dismissed from exam committee for giving bar exam tips to students.Daily YomiuriLack of tuna is forcing sushi bars to serve up deer and horse—raw.New York TimesFamily of murdered teacher Lindsay Ann Hawker in Japan
to urge police, citizens to help in finding on the lam killer Tatsuya Ichihashi.GuardianMiss Universe coach takes Japanese candidates to the top.Japan Times“White Syndrome” destroying coral in Okinawa.Asahi Herald TribuneSexaholics meet for group therapy.Mainichi ShinbunLast Week's Japan NewsJapanese Art - Geisha FansSex in JapanBook a hotel in Japan with BookingsGay JapanTagsJapan Tokyo News Okinawa Sex
Baby Derby on Japanese TV 2007-06-28 22:14:18 ベビーダービーJapanese
TV: you could almost say that if something doesn't show up on it sometime, it hasn't been thought of yet.Japanese kids: As a people the Japanese dote on them. Childhood is seen as a time of supreme, blissful innocence, and perhaps more importantly, a time of freedom before the onerous duties of adulthood are imposed.Put them together and ...... you get a gameshow where, in each program, the members of the panel place bets on potential winners of generally off-the-wall contests - this week the contest being between crawling babies!How fast can a baby crawl across 10 meters? And how can he or she be made to do so?These are questions that you will see answered on this clip: excerpts of highlights from the seven elimination rounds, and, of course, the final championship.Selectively subtitled in English by JapanVisitor.Boo boo baa baa! (That's "Goo goo gaa gaa!" in Japanese.)Book a hotel in Japan with BookingsJapanese FictionHappi CoatsTagsJapan TV baby derb
Kyoto Graffiti 2007-07-05 02:59:52 京の落書きIn the sections of Kyoto
that still have traditional walls lining the street, you will often find one of the most ancient and most modern forms of art: tagging.On the eastern slope of the city, near Shisendo and Enkoji Temple, "Satoshi Kiyomizu" scrawled his name into the wall in front of a minor temple on the narrow road between the two aforementioned (and better known) temples.His level of skill has nothing on modern bombers, who have tagged many of the walls of Tokyo and Osaka, some quite artistically. His technique perhaps has more in common with the scrawl to be found on the grates that protect stores in Nara.Still, his work is somehow less objectionable. Whether he pulled out his penknife last week or in 1907, the end result is timeless. Perhaps I am being naive, but there is none of the anger and anti-social taint that is associated with spray-can wielding young men in hoodies.Rackgaki "Satoshi" is merely asserting his own small existence; modern "writers" on the Read more:Graffiti
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco: Blast Off 2007-07-03 07:42:28 アジア美術館サンフランシスコThe Asian
Art Museum
in San Francisco
will host a manga (Japanese comics), anime (animation), and pop culture extravaganza for aficionados and amateurs alike on July 7th. The exhibit/happening is called Blast
Off, and its lineup features:* Opening ceremony with Gen Taiko, whose drumming will hurl you into space for art and adventure* Cosplay contest - dress up as your favorite manga, anime, or game character to win prizes* Manga and anime panel discussions led by experts Frederik Schodt and Gilles Poitras* Art activities and demonstrations by local artists, illustrators, and cartoonists* Guided tours of the galleries and special exhibition Tezuka: The Marvel of Manga* The Manga Lounge - hands-on library, wild anime, toy display...* Ramen and Rice, the costumed duo that plays string renditions of anime and video game music* Multimedia performance by Live Action Cartoonists, inspired by Tezuka Osamu's The Story of a Big ForestDetailsSaturday, Ju Read more:San Francisco
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