Bounenkai

I called my best friend in Japan last weekend and he was attending a 'bounenkai', and yesterday I got an email from another friend in Japan and she said she is having 5 bounenkai in the next few weeks. Five bounenkai? Yes, it's normal she said, if you are in Japan you will be invited to 'bounenkai' parties by friends, family, company, the division you work for, etc. Lucky you! I said, for me I normally have one 'bounenkai' only which we call it Christmas party and for me November - December are the busiest months at work, can't afford to have five parties.

'Bounenkai', literally means 'forget-the-year party, or you can call it year-end party where people get together at an izakaya, eat and drink, forget the bad things from the past year and expecting the better one to come, have fun and get ready to be drunk!

Ganbaru

Over the past week I have been watching TV and searching the news on the web for all the latest updates on the disaster and nuclear crises in Japan, and today a little article on News really caught my attention. A nine-year-old Toshihito Aisawa pictured at an evacuation centre in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, with two handwritten signs as he continues his search for his father, mother, grandmother, and two cousins lost in the quake and tsunami. One is written their names, on the other 'I will come again tomorrow'.

This 'I-won't-give-up' kid reminds me of one word that Japanese people used everyday, Ganbaru, which could be loosely translated as ' doing one's best and hanging on to the bitter end' or 'please keep up your hard work until your goal is achieved.'

Ganbaru is, for one thing, a process-oriented concept that emphasizes the moral significance of an effort, or doryoku. What is important is that one makes the sincerest effort possible, and the outcome of that effort is secondary at best. In other words, in the value system of ganbaru, the process of making an effort is intentionally dissociated from the outcome that the effort brings, so that the effort can be evaluated and admired on its own merit.

The imperative form 'Ganbate' or 'Ganbare' is also a very popular term to encourage someone undertaking a very difficult tasks. The term also means work hard and patiently, Do your best, Don't give up , Hang in there!


Ganbare Nippon!



頑張って!

(from some sources)

Benshi

Benshi is a narrator who stands beside silent films reading out the intertitles to audience and explaining the action. 

If you are into Japanese film and culture, you will get a chance to hear Kataoka Ichiro in action when the 1933 Japanese silent-film classic, The Water Magician, screens at the Playhouse on March 6 as part of Screen Live series. Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi, one of the Japan's greatest directors, the film tells a griping tale of a woman's love and sacrifice. Actress Takako Irie stars as a water juggler in a travelling circus who falls in love with a coach driver. The Water Magician, set in 1890, is one of the surviving silent films and features three trademark Mizoguchi elements: ill-fated women, extreme emotion and tragic love.

The film intertitles are in English but Ichiro will perform the film in Japanese, Ichiro will demonstrate why benshi were so beloved that many developed their own following among Japanese cinema-goers.More than 7000 benshi were working in Japan at the peak of the silent-film era. Today, a small group of benshi specialist continue to hone their skills, many are descendants of Matsuda Shunsui, a child benshi in the pre-war period who devoted himself to preserving the films and performance style of Japanese silent cinema.

(The Water Magician)

Info and buy tickets

(Source: SMH)

Eigo Rakugo

Rakugo in English?

I've never seen any rakugo performance furthermore in English, but now I got a chance to see rakugo in action in English! Here is the invitation I received from the Japan Foundation in Sydney:

English Rakugo returns to Sydney! Rakugo performer Katsura Asakichi has been performing in English since 2000 and will regale Sydney audiences with the Japanese art of 'sit-down' comedy this April.

Rakugo is a traditional form of comic storytelling which dates back more than 300 years. Performers kneel on stage and use limited props such as a fan or hand towel to help tell the story. The only other 'props' used are the performer's skill and the imagination of the audience as the Rakugoka (Rakugo performer) uses facial expressions, change of voice and mannerisms to both narrate the story and become the characters. As the performer switches from one distinct character to another, the audience is treated to a hilarious study of the follies and foibles of everyday life.

If you are Sydneysiders and interested in Japanese culture then don't miss out on this chance to see rakugo in action in English.

Here are the details:

Date : Thursday, 1st April 2010

Time : 6.30pm (for 7:00pm start) - 8:00pm

Venue : Eastern Avenue Auditorium

Eastern Avenue, University of Sydney.

Admission: Fee but bookings essential

RSVP: reception@jpf.org.au or phone 02 8239 0055

Happy Tiger Year!

Wanna wish you all: Happy Tiger Year!

I bought some Japanese clipart books from Japan that come with the CD's contain hundreds of kinda cute Cliparts, here are two of them.

World Cosplay Champion

It's the first time Japanese team won the World Cosplay Camphionship! 30 Cosplay lovers from 15 countries participated in World Cosplay Championship as a part of World Cosplay Summit held in Nagoya earlier this month. Yuri and Rie from Japan won the title with their samurai warrior costumes from video game series 'Sengoku Basara' and their spectacular sword fight performance, while Spanish team won the runner-up with their 'Candy Candy' costumes.

Teams were given three minutes each to present their costumes and were judged on their expression, creativity, entertainment and faithfulness to the orginal story.

(Source: Mainichi News)

Pictures courtesy of Mainichi

2009 World Cosplay Champion

Japan City

Japan city is a franchise retail selling a huge range of Japan-related product from giftware to small furniture, from ocha (green tea) to Japanese remedies and from noren to yukata. Noren is a traditional Japanese fabric divider, hung between room or in doorways while yukata is a casual summer kimono, girls wearing yukata are common sight at Natsu matsuri (summer fesvital) in Japan.

Back to Japan City, there are several stores accross the city and those in The Galleries Victoria and World Square shopping centre are the ones I usually browse around for window shopping or when I just want to satisfy my eyes with some cute Japanese crafts and homewares. There are only a few things I ever bought from this store but last week we got a beautiful dinner set from friends as a present and yes they got it from Japan City, these friends do know my 'taste' and passion.

Here is the Aoi Hana (literally means blue flower) Dinner set comes with a set of chopstiks.

Otaku

Otaku literally means a fan of any particular topic, but recently Otaku has been used especially for anime, manga or game mania. This Otaku industri has become a successful industry not only in Japan but also spread accross Asia and western countries as well.

This Otaku word came accross my mind when I was hanging around in the city and passed by a Tokyo Anime Fair 2009 poster hanged on the wall of a Japanese Travel agent who offers a special tour to this biggest anime fair.

One of some famous works about otaku is Densha Otoko (Train Man), is allegedly true story about a Japanese geek who saves an 'office lady' from a drunken on a train. You can read the review on this lil fella's post about Densha Otoko movie.

Here are some of last year photos taken from Sydney Animania, you can see the folks queeing for at least 2 hours in a chilly winter morning and I was somewhere on the line :-)

Piggy bank

Only in Japan!

In all the devastating news about the global financial melting down time I reckon we need to spend wisely and start saving more money. Giving your kids a piggy bank could encourage them to save some coins from their pocket money, but don't give them any of these... :-)

I found this 'most unique' Piggy bank from rakuten, a famous online shopping web in Japan. The 'couple' on the top will start humping  without censor when you insert coin into it. You can order this piggy bank for 1,980 yen plus shipping.

Natsu Matsuri

It's time for Natsu Matsuri (Summer Festival), a time when you can mingle with Japanese people and see the girls dressed up in Yukatas (summer kimono). Indeed it wasn't as big as the ones in Japan where thousands of folk having a great time out with friends and enjoying spectacular fireworks when the sun sets.

There were some booths selling tempting Japanese food including takoyaki and daifuku (mochi), where I got my Ichigo Daifuku. Despite the drizles, the folks did enjoy some performaces like Taiko drum, duo claps (the world yoyo champions from Japan), traditional Japanese bon-dance, Soran dance, Hip Hop dance by Dancekool Studio, Noriko Tadano playing tsugaru shamisen (Japanese banjo) and singing folk song, and the list still goes on. Unfortunately I didn't manage to stay till 9 pm when the final soran and bon dance closed the great festival.

Here some photos from Natsu Matsuri at Harbourside Amphitheatre, Darling Harbour Sydney presented by Japan Club of Sydney last week

Soran dance 

Japanase traditional bon-dance

Omusubi

Omusubi, literally means Japanese handmade rice balls, a traditional and healthy Japanese delicacies, but this time I'd like to talk about Japan Foundation Sydney's online magazine called Omusubi. In this term, Omusubi comes from the Japanese verb musubu, which means to join, to unite or to form a connection. Omusubi features information about the Japan Foundation, Sydney's events and Japanese film screenings, Japan-related event information around Australia, ideas and resources for school teachers of Japanese, and a range of articles focusing on Japanese culture and Australia-Japan related issues.

Last night I got email from Omusubi saying that I've won a double-pass for the 12^th Japanese Film Festival in Sydney as a compliment for taking part of their survey, Arigato Omusubi !

This is what Omusubi (Onigiri) look like

Ikebana

Ikebana is a Japanese art of flower arrangement, using any plant material such as branches, leaves, grasses, and flowers. Ikebana started in the 14^th century and has developed many different styles of arrangement, many different Ikebana schools has developed along the way as well. Talking about Ikebana, I have a best friend living in Kobe who loves Ikebana and now she is in Ikenobo School. You can see her beautiful and outstanding creation on the Ikebana pictures above. Arigato Kumi-san for trusting me to share your lovely Ikebana pictures on my blog! Looking forward to seeing you again in the near future!

Animania Festival

Saturday, 23 August 2008, it was a quite chilly and windy morning when I joined hundreds flock queuing outside The Australian Technology Park building for about 1 hour before getting to the registration desk and took $35 out of my pocket to enter the venue of Animania Festival 2008 in Sydney.

It’s a big exhibition hall packed with anime manias showing off their fantastic costumes, playing games on the big screen, enjoying the hip-hop dance on the stage, and some stalls selling anime arts and even a Takoyaki stall! In order to source the young talents (especially sydneysiders), some anime drawing lessons and competitions were held on different spots.

Anyone who interested to find out more about this Animania Festival could click this link.

Graphic Designer

This friend of mine is a talented graphic designer, love drawing and holding architecture degree from a reputable University in Indonesia. He also is a freelance graphic designer so anyone wish to design something I would be very happy to refer him to you.

I knew him for years and I would say he is a reliable person, easy going and caring guy. One more thing, he is an Anime Mania !

This gorgeous art is one of his drawing.

Hi Mr. So Deep, thanks for giving me your drawing ! great job! wish you all the best!