MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY HOLIDAYS 2022

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

Friday, May 31, 2013

Marry Me Flashmob in Tokyo



I want to organize a flashmob in Tokyo. I am from Valencia, Spain, so I know it will be difficult to manage it. For that reason, I am seeking volunteers who want to help me. The
reason I want to do this is that I am going to propose to mygirlfriend, and I want it to be special. We love Japan, and she especially loves kawaii things. So I thought Tokyo would be the right place to propose. I am seeking volunteers to help me organize it. I need dancers, but there's no need to be professional, just something casual, and maybe a choreographer who can design an easy dance.
The flashmob will be between July 3 and 6.
Find more info at my webpage

Thursday, May 30, 2013

WHY I CAME TO JAPAN - WHY I STAY


Ever wondered how a life in Japan might be? 19 foreigners share their personal experiences, likes and dislikes. See the country through the eyes of, mostly western, foreign residents, who have lived in Japan between a few months and several decades.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Wolfgang Ruf's kimono collection


The Japanese specialist discovered that ‘war’ kimonos were produced over a fifty-year period from 1894 to 1942. At that time, Japan was involved in three different periods of conflict: with China (1894-95), with Russia (1904-05), later followed by a second conflict with China and the Pacific War (1937-45).

War images can be found on men’s kimonos worn either for formal occasions or in daily life. Motifs were printed on the juban (an under-kimono) or inside the haori (a jacket often made of black silk), so they were not directly visible. Discretion was part of the traditional culture of kimono wearing, said Inui. However, the war motifs were in plain sight on the kimonos of young boys.

EGYPTIAN SUMO SAN - BELIEVE IT OR NOT

Egyptian sumo wrestler gets promoted in Japan

AFP Updated May 29, 2013, 5:24 pm
 
Egyptian sumo wrestler gets promoted in JapanAFP © Egyptian sumo wrestler gets promoted in Japan
TOKYO (AFP) - The first professional sumo wrestler from either Africa or the Arab world was given a boost on Wednesday, winning promotion to the sport's second highest division in Japan.

The Japan Sumo Association promoted 21-year-old Egyptian Abdelrahman Ahmed Shaalan, who goes by the ring name of "Osunaarashi" (Great Sandstorm), to the "jyuryo" division, made of wrestlers ranked between 43rd and 70th.

"I am very glad," Shaalan told reporters in Japanese at his stable in downtown Tokyo. "I will work hard and aim higher still by practising more and more."

The 189 centimetre- (6 feet 2 inches) grappler, who weighs in at 145 kilogrammes (320 pounds), made his debut in March last year and has lost only six of his 49 regular matches in seven tournaments since.

In the latest tournament, held in Tokyo this month, he won all seven matches.

But the going will get tougher from now on, with wrestlers in the top two divisions fighting 15 times in every tournament.

A devout Muslim, Shaalan will again fast during this year's Ramadan, the Islamic holy month when adherents cannot eat or drink in daylight hours.

"I'll be alright. I can handle it," he said about this year's Ramadan, which is set to clash with the July tournament.

Shaalan belongs to one of about 40 sumo stables. His position in the top 70, known as "sekitori", affords him his own room, having previously shared with other wrestlers.

Stablemaster Tadahiro Otake said despite Shaalan's rapid rise through sumo's ranks, he needed to keep his feet on the ground.

"He has not got strong all by himself but with the help of many other people. I hope he will never forget this," he said.

"I want him to draw attention with his brand of sumo, not because he is the first from the African continent."

Friday, May 24, 2013

Turning Japanese

So you’re thinking of becoming a naturalized Japanese citizen? Here’s what to do

Be serious Changing your citizenship is, obviously, a big decision. Japan doesn’t recognize dual citizenship, meaning by law you’ll have to renounce the nationality of your homeland. You will have to give up your old passport, and you may no longer be able to live freely, work, or in some cases, own property in your former country.

Get a job As wonderful as it is to freelance, Japanese bureaucracy puts a heavy emphasis on traditional full-time employment, and you’ll need to show on your application how you make a living.

Establish residency You must have been a resident of Japan for at least five years, as reckoned from the date of landing on your gaijin card. And don’t forget to get a re-entry permit if you leave; otherwise the counter will be reset.

Get married The easiest way to expedite the process is to marry a Japanese national. You will have a much harder time becoming a Japanese citizen if you don’t.

Learn the language You should anyway, but because you will be dealing with your immigration officer in Japanese and writing an essay about why you want to naturalize, you’ll need to have your speaking and (at least some) reading and writing in order.

Pay your taxes You’ll need to prove that you have made your contribution to society.
Behave Don’t get into any legal entanglements.

Get your papers in order Among other documents, you’ll need copies of your tax and financial records, birth certificate, parents’ birth certificates, parents’ marriage license and your marriage license.

Pick a name If you’ve always wanted a cool kanji name, this is your chance. In the old days, you had to pick from a limited group of standardized names, but now you can choose your own characters. You can even write your name with katakana if you prefer.

Prepare yourself for the long haul Applying for citizenship is a trying process, designed to weed out applicants through attrition. You will need to meet multiple times with the immigration officer, so be ready to accommodate any extra requests.

'divine punishment'




By Shingo Ito

May. 24, 2013

TOKYO — Japan on Thursday accused a South Korean newspaper of “dishonorable” behavior for publishing an editorial suggesting the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were “divine punishment.”

The editorial in the Korean and English versions of the Joongang Ilbo daily on Monday said the 1945 nuclear bombs dropped by U.S. planes, which together killed more than 200,000 people, were justified.

“God often borrows the hand of a human to punish the evil deeds of men,” said the editorial, which recalled the activity of Unit 731—a covert Japanese biological and chemical research facility that carried out lethal human experiments during the war.

“The cries (of the unit’s victims) reached heaven and the bombs were dropped on Tokyo and the atomic weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” it said.

The signed editorial said the carpet-bombing of the German city of Dresden and the atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima were acts of “divine punishment and human retaliation.”

In Dresden’s case it marked retribution for the Nazi Holocaust and in Japan’s case revenge for “the Asians steamrollered by Japan’s militaristic nationalism”, it said.

At a news conference in Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga denounced the remarks as “quite dishonorable.”

“We strongly protested to the staff of South Korea’s Joongang Ilbo daily,” the top government spokesman said. “Our country is the only atom-bombed nation. We will never forgive such remarks.”

The editorial also accused the Japanese government and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of denying the worst of Japan’s wartime abuses and concluded with the warning: “God may feel that retaliation against Japan hasn’t been complete.”

The article was published as ties between the two countries have worsened after outspoken Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto said that women forced to provide sex during World War II were a military necessity.

Up to 200,000 “comfort women” from Korea, China, the Philippines and elsewhere were forcibly drafted into brothels catering to the Japanese military during WWII, mainstream historians say.
In Seoul, there were protests Thursday outside the Japanese embassy, mostly by army veterans groups angered at Hashimoto’s contention that South Korean soldiers serving in the Vietnam War had also abused women.

The protestors, carrying placards denouncing Abe and Hashimoto, scuffled with police as they chanted anti-Japanese slogans outside the mission.

Japan has also drawn opprobrium in South Korea and China after lawmakers visited a controversial war shrine, which honors the country’s 2.5 million war dead, including 14 men convicted of war crimes by a U.S.-led tribunal.

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Mount Fuji from Tokyo



Mount Fuji has become visible more often from Tokyo than half a century ago, suggesting the air around the Japanese capital has become cleaner, a survey says. In long-term observations from two schools in western Tokyo, the 12,388-foot volcano was visible on 126 days in 2012, nearly six times as often than in 1965, the Jiji news agency reported Friday. Staff at the Seikei junior high and high ...