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Nagoya Friends party - THIS SATURDAY! 9/1 2007-08-29 17:17:00 Nagoya Friends is holding it's 43rd party in Nagoya!PARTY AT Date: September 1st, 2007 (1st Saturday) Time: 18:15 - 21:15 (3 HOURS!!)Drinks will be served between 6:15pm-9:05pm. Place: Shooter's Bar (Pola Bldg, 2-9-26 Sakae, Naka-ku (very close to Fushimi Station)Fee: 3000 YenDress 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. ??? ...

World Championships Osaka 2007 2007-08-28 23:38:00 ??????Running from August 25 until September 2nd, the annual track and field world championships are now taking place in Osaka. Japan is playing host for the second time, the first being in Tokyo in 1991. This is the premier track and field event in the run up to next summer’s Beijing Olympic games.Conditions should be similar, too, which is one of many reasons the best have come to Osaka in late August. Because of the heat, events are being held in the early morning hours and then at night.In early events, Tyson Gay took honors in the men’s 100 meter dash, coming from behind to defeat Asafa Powell and Derrick Atkins. In the women’s 100, 47-year-old wonder Merlene Ottey may finally have lost in her race against age itself. She is the most decorated athlete in world championship history. However, in spite of a poor showing in Osaka, she says that she still plans on training for and participating in the Olympics.The home side has yet to win a medal. One of Japan’s sho ...

In Memoriam: Edward Seidensticker 2007-08-27 18:12:00 Edward Seidensticker (1921-2007)Translator and author Edward Seidensticker died in Tokyo on Monday after a long illness. He was 86. He was best known for his translation of Lady Shikibu's classic tale of court intrigue, The Tale of Genji. He also translated works by Nobel Laureate Yasunari Kawabata.In addition, he also authored works of his own, including Tokyo Central: A Memoir.Seidensticker studied Japanese while in the United States Navy, and he arrived in Japan in 1948 as a foreign service officer. Along with Donald Keene, he ranks as having done the most to introduce Japanese literature to the English-speaking world.The Tale of Genji: Buy this book from AmazonUSA UK JapanGoodsFromJapan.Click here for Japan book Reviews.Book a hotel in Japan with BookingsJapanese FictionHappi CoatsTagsJapan Tokyo Kyoto Tale of Genji Edward Seidensticker ...

Jingu Gaien Fireworks 2007-08-26 11:01:00 ????????Summer in Japan means the boom of the festival drum and the rat-a-tat of fireworks. One of Tokyo’s biggest summer fireworks festivals is the Jingu Gaien Fireworks Festival. This event began in 1980, and has been a major feature of summer in Tokyo ever since. This year’s was held a week and a half ago at the huge No.2 field of the Meiji Jingu Gaien Sports compound (just to the bottom right of Shinjuku Gyoen Park on the map) on August 16.In the mid-summer heat – sweltering even after sundown – thousands and thousands of people massed to either get into the grounds for 1,000 yen, or sat around on the streets and in the parks surrounding the grounds.For the 1,000 yen you were given entry, handed a blue plastic mat to sit on, a fan to help cool yourself with, and left to your own devices. The whole field was close to jam packed, but there were still enough tiny plots between groups of people just big enough to solitary me to squeeze into.There was a stage wit ...

Japan This Week 26/08/07 2007-08-26 04:58:00 ?????Japanese income inequality at its worst ever.YomiuriCop who stalked then murdered woman kills self.Japan TimesChina Airlines plane explodes at Okinawa airport.GuardianRight-winger chops off finger and posts it to PM Shinzo Abe.BBCThree aged prisoners on death row executed.BBCOsaka craftsman strives to create the perfect vibrator battery.Mainichi ShinbunFirst Japanese trains arrive in UK for use for Olympics 2012.Railway TechnologyJapan Stats Love Hotels in Japan turn over a profit of 1 trillion Yen - more than the annual profits of Toyota Corp., the anime business and gambling on horse races.There are approximately 30,000 Love Hotels in Japan.There are approximately 500 million visits to Love hotels each year.Around 1,370,000 couples use a Love Hotel each day (approx. 1% of the total population).It is estimated that 50% of all sex in Japan takes place in a Love Hotel.Last Week's Japan NewsJapanese Art - Geisha FansTakayamaBook a hotel in Japan with BookingsGay JapanTags ...

Book Review: Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman 2007-08-25 00:56:00 Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, by Haruki MurakamiThe overriding theme that coheres in this new collection of short stories spanning Murakami’s writing career is existential loneliness. Whether the protagonist is man or woman, married or single, straight or gay, young or old, none is immune to the vagaries of fate, the touch of death, the uncomfortable nudge of happenstance. Characters frequently do not know what is happening to them, why it is happening, or what to say about it. The freak wave, the poor aunt, the phantom phone caller, the ice man—all are simply manifestations of the unknowable darkness outside the campfire of quotidian human existence that waits patiently to envelope us.Standout stories are ‘Hunting Knife’, a juxtaposition of connubial complacence and familial misery; ‘Man-Eating Cats’ (which was the basis of the novel Sputnik Sweetheart), a harsh lesson in life’s unexpected twists; ‘Tony Takitani’, a study of absence that has recently been made into a ...

Japan in San Francisco 2007-08-23 01:31:00 ?????????????Unlike other American cities, signs of Japan can be found everywhere in San Francisco. In other cities, "Japan" tends to be confined to sushi bars and the occasional manga shop. In San Francisco, Japan is a part of the every day; it is ingrained in the city's soul.From the neighborhood 7-11--stocked with "gummy" sweets and green peas snacks, Calbee BBQ corn chips and high chew gum (pictured at right)--to Japan Town, Japanese culture is ubiquitous.Though the number of nissei continues to decline, and Japan Town has seen better days, Japan's influence remains strong.Catering to the many tourists from Japan, Japanese hotels such as Hotel Nikko are well represented.Moreover, a short ride from Union Square on a Muni light rail train, the Japanese tea garden in Golden Gate Park could be in Kyoto. Getting off at 9th street, you walk down past the Hotei restaurant and Honda service garage and into the park.The Japanese Tea Garden dates to 1894 and is th ...

Mazda Bongo Kitchen Cube 2007-08-21 03:14:00 ??? ???We are searching for an original Mazda 'kitchen cube' for fitting into a Mazda Bongo MPV to allow it to be used as a camper. It is quite rare as it was only fitted as an optional extra to the Mazda Bongo.If you have this car accessory or know how we may find it we'd love to hear from you.Please contact us.Book a hotel in Japan with BookingsJapanese FictionHappi CoatsTagsJapan Mazda Japanese Cars Kitchen Cube ...

Kanazawa Castle 2007-08-19 23:53:00 ??????Crossing the Ishikawa Bridge from the Kenrokuen Garden brings the visitor to one of Kanazawa's other top attractions Kanazawa Castle.Formerly the seat of power of the powerful Maeda clan (the Maeda family were the hereditary feudal lords (daimyo) of the Kaga province from 1583) Kanazawa Castle has a chequered history.Burnt down several times, only the impressive Ishikawa Gate and the Sanjikken Nagaya samurai dwelling house survive from the original construction. However as with Kumamoto Castle in Kyushu, a recent 2001 reconstruction program carried out by Sumitomo Corp. has restored the huge Gojikken Nagaya storehouse and arsenal and the Hishi-yagura and Hashizumemon Tsuzuki-yagura watchtowers adjoining the storehouse to their original state. Gojikken Nagaya means literally "the long building of fifty ken", a ken being an ancient measurement equal to about 1.8m, making the building about 90m in length.Traditional construction methods were employed in the renovation f ...

Japan This Week 19/08/07 2007-08-19 06:28:00 ?????Japan and South Korea to undertake joint survey of radiation in the Sea of Japan, called the East Sea in Korea.YomiuriAccusations of police racism and abuse in case of Nigerian night-club worker arrested in Tokyo.Japan TimesIAAF World Athletics Championships to begin in Osaka August 25.AsahiEarthquake damage to Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear reactor 'limited' according to IAEA report. BBCSex manual DVD sales booming for both men and women.Mainichi ShinbunJapan StatsJapanese expats living abroad by countryUSA 246,988China 124,476UK 48,289Japanese expats living abroad by cityNew York 48,439Shanghai 43,960Los Angeles 38,711Total number of Japanese expats living abroad1,063,695Source Japanese Foreign MinistryLast Week's Japan NewsJapanese Art - Geisha FansTakayamaBook a hotel in Japan with BookingsGay JapanTagsJapan Sex DVDs News Osaka Athletics ...

Kenrokuen Kanazawa 2007-08-17 20:22:00 ??????The main attraction in Kanazawa is undoubtedly the garden of Kenrokuen. Kenrokuen attracts thousands of visitors every day from all over Japan and abroad.Formerly the site of Lord Maeda's mansion (the Maeda family were the hereditary feudal lords of the Kaga area from 1583) the strolling, landscape garden was built and added to from the 17-19th centuries.At 114,435 square meters, Kenrokuen is the largest of Japan's "Big 3" gardens - the others being Kairakuen in Mito and Korakuen in Okayama.As Kenrokuen was over 200 years in the making it is not really one complete garden but scores of smaller gardens grouped together to form the overall harmonious effect.The name, Ken-roku-en, refers to "combined-six-garden", a reference to the six attributes of perfection of Sung-dynasty gardening in Luoyang, China: abundant fresh water, antiquity, artificiality, seclusion, space and pleasing panoramas.Pools, lakes, streams and waterfalls are certainly a major feature of Kenrokuen ...

The battle of the sexes in Japan - Ken Shimura 2007-08-16 08:40:00 ????Japan, the land of the swaggering male and the simpering female. The idea of the ‘gentleman’ is not a native Japanese one. The typical male/female couple walking down the street in Japan is characterized by the man staring straight ahead, stern, lordly and important, while two or three paces behind shuffles the woman, head bowed and dutiful. While not as ritualized among the younger generation, that basic pattern is pretty much undisturbed.Lost in TranslationNow for the great Japan cliche: scratch the surface. What you may never get the chance to witness unless, perhaps, you marry a Japanese yourself, is that same demure woman taking the man’s pay packet at the end of the month and counting out a certain number of notes into his hand. That certain number of notes is the last he will see of any of what he earned that month! Once they run out, he is grounded.Absolute control of the purse strings is the woman’s unchallenged prerogative in Japan, and adds to the myriad ...

Interview: "Doubles" Director Regge Life 2007-08-14 14:10:00 ??????? JapanVisitor.com spoke with filmmaker Regge Life while he was in Okinawa. His film Doubles: Japan and America's Intercultural Children will be screened at the upcoming Kansai International Film Festival. Life is an award-winner director: four CINE Golden Eagles, a Sony Innovator of 1991, and he has been nominated for a Daytime Emmy for work on Sesame Street. He is in addition the founder and director of the Global Film Network. Let's start with a bit about you. Well, I’m originally from New York, worked in theater, and then attended NYU film school in the‘70s. In the late ’70s early ’80s I was doing ethnographic documentaries. I returned to West Africa, where I had studied in college, I did some work in the Caribbean and also in South America. For financial reasons, however, I stopped doing the docs—they just don’t pay. My real background was in the theater, to which I then returned. What is your connection to Japan? As a filmm ...