MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY HOLIDAYS 2022

we touched this same spot with our hands, our feet, our gaze and our dreams

Saturday, October 28, 2006

Tokyo woos N.Y. tourists


Sunday, Oct. 29, 2006

NEW YORK (Kyodo) The Tokyo Metropolitan Government kicked off a Tokyo Fiesta promotional event in New York on Friday as part of efforts to double the number of overseas tourists.
Visitors at the Tokyo Fiesta event in New York on Friday watch a craftsman as he makes a "chochin" lantern. KYODO PHOTO
"I understand that within the United States, New York has the greatest number of residents that travel abroad," Tokyo Vice Gov. Yasuo Sekiya said. "I hope more New Yorkers will visit Tokyo."
The two-day festival at New York's famed Grand Central Stations is focused on both traditional Japanese crafts such as "chochin" (lantern making) and ukiyo-e woodblock prints as well as new technology and art from young students and artists.
Videotapes featuring Tokyo are being shown at the venue and craftsmen are demonstrating how to make lanterns and "sudare" blinds.
A three-dimensional film showcasing Tokyo's cultural highlights, koto performances, sake tastings and Japanese cream puffs, or "choux cream," are also featured.
The event is highlighting major upcoming events in Tokyo, such as the first Tokyo Marathon in February, and an international anime fair in March.
"I'd love to go to Tokyo," said Joanna Minardi, a ukiyo-e fan who came especially to see the reproductions of 30 of Ando Hiroshige's "One Hundred Views of Famous Places in Edo."
"I think the Japanese are extremely brilliant," she added.
A 61-year-old visitor from Massachusetts who used to live in Japan said the event made him want to visit the country again.
Tokyo and New York have been sister cities since 1960. They have engaged in a series of exchanges meant to increase cultural understanding over the last 40 years, including a baseball exchange and various arts programs.
The first fiesta was held in New York in February.

Friday, October 27, 2006

List of areas where discrimination exists posted online

The locations of communities where people face discrimination in Japan has been uploaded on a popular Internet chat site, it has been learned.
Officials at the Justice Ministry's Human Rights Bureau said that it was regrettable for the list to be carried online because they believe it will only encourage more discrimination.
"As far as we know, this is the first time that the list has been posted online," one ministry official said. "We don't know if the list is correct or not. We regret it because such an act can incite discrimination."
A local government official in Mie Prefecture noticed the list on the "2-Channel" chat site on Oct. 21, according to officials of the ministry and the Osaka Municipal Government. The list is called "Buraku Chimei Sokan" in Japanese.
The official reported the discovery to a national organization formed by 35 local governments to tackle discrimination. Officials at the ministry noticed on Oct. 25 that the list had already been deleted from the site. They had intended to ask 2-Channel to remove it.
Previously, some 10 lists of communities where residents face discrimination had been found nationwide.
The Osaka prefecture chapter of the Buraku Liberation League, an organization that pledges to fight discrimination against minorities, announced on Sept. 30 that it has collected 36 floppy discs containing lists of areas where people face discrimination.
"The lists also (mistakenly) contain new locations of areas where discrimination doesn't exit. I don't know whether these two lists are the same as those formerly found," an official of the league said. "I am afraid a new type of human rights discrimination will emerge as anyone can now read such lists (on the Internet)." (Mainichi)

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Buddhism Lagging in Japan


TOKYO, Oct. 26 - The Kamiyacho Open Terrace cafe in central Tokyo has all the trappings of a trendy establishment - good coffee, homemade dessert, an airy terrace. But what makes the cafe truly interesting is its setting: inside the Buddhist Komyoji temple, one of many across Japan offering new services - concerts, discos, yoga classes - in a struggle to stay relevant despite an increasingly secular society. "For Japanese, temples were once a part of daily life," said 24-year-old owner, and monk, Keisuke Matsumoto. "I want Kamiyacho Open Terrace to be a place people can drop in casually ... and perhaps become a little curious about Buddhism." The young priest will need patience and optimism. More than a millennium after it first arrived from mainland Asia in the sixth century, Buddhism is in crisis. About 94 million Japanese were registered as Buddhist in 2005, almost three-quarters of the country's population. But for many, the only time they enter a temple is to attend a funeral - driving many of the country's 75,000 temples to the verge of bankruptcy.

Click on the title to go to the full story

Monday, October 09, 2006

Merry Christmas Mr.Lawrence

EXPO 2005 AICHI JAPAN

This sign was found in the vicinity of the
EXPO 2005 AICHI JAPAN.
Do you know what it says?

Remember the danchi life?

Can you manage this?

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