Forging a Katana

My interest for Japanese culture starts from Katana sword, not just because they are one of the most aggressive and elegant weapon,the process of forging this weapon is fascinating and worth looking into.
 
This is a well made documentary of forging a katana sword by National Geographic: Forging a Katana

Not only it shows how to forge the most well-known weapon in Japan, the process represent Japanese culture, and their spirit in life.

(this image is not from the video)

Eric

Samurai ghosts caught in photo?

 

ABC news had an intriguing story about a family vacation photo in which the supernatural appears at hand:

 

" This photo of a four-year-old girl on a beach in Zushi, Japan, seems innocent until you look closely behind her legs and back.  A closer look appears to reveal a mysterious pair of boots and part of a blue shirt peeking out from behind her The photo, which was uploaded to Reddit by a friend of the girl's father, is making the rounds on Internet. Many are speculating the photo shows a Samurai ghost because the beach the girl and her dad were on was across a samurai graveyard."

Apparently many friends vouch for the trustworthinesss of the dad, who is Canadian (a nation of trustworth people, no doubt!).  Apparently the daughter in the photo thinks its funny - and really it is - have ghost taken to photobombing now? 　信じられない (that's Japanese for "I can't believe it!")

 

 

Japanese government's attempt to stifle media criticism

An article in the Japan Times and another  article in the New York Times discussed some surprisingly dramatic media moments in Japan lately: a on-air resignation and claim by an established TV news commentator Shigeaki Koga that the conservative Abe administration is working hard to stifle free press:

 “The Abe government is showing an obsession with the media that verges on paranoia,” said Keigo Takeda, a former editor in chief at Newsweek Japan who is now a respected freelance journalist. “I have never seen this level of efforts to micromanage specific newspapers and TV programs.”


andy

Tiny apartments in Tokyo

I've seen a few statistics stating that in some areas of Tokyo apartment size is somewhere between 200 and 400 square feet. This is tiny compared to a roughly 2600 square foot American home average. This small size demands good design however. The apartments make really smart use of space and take advantage of clean lines and bright walls. The results are really beautiful! Take a look at some of the images below.

Kusozu

I've been really fascinated by Japanese kusozu imagery and its careful attention to the figure. A kusozu is “a graphic depiction of a corpse in the process of decay and decomposition.” In contrast with the European memento mori (artistic or symbolic rendering of mortality), kusozu focus on real phenomenon of bodily decomposition. Many kusozu come in a series of images which illustrate decomposition from a fleshy corpse to a pile of bones. Below is a series from the 18th century focusing on a noble woman’s death.
 

Japanese Identity in the News - from Miss Universe to War Shrines

The past couple of weeks have been a mixture of the predictable and unheard of in terms of Japan's representation on the world stage.

On the exciting end of things was the crowning of Ariana Miyamoto as Miss Universe Japan - the first "mixed race" Miss Japan ever. Miyamoto, daughter of a Japanese mother  and African-American father will now represent Japan in the Miss Universe contest.

Given deeply traditional and engrained ideas about Japanese identity and biological heritage, Miyamoto's victory is remarkable. All the same she has faced intense scrutiny and criticism from many Japanese given her ethic background, as this interview in the Japan Times discusses.

With the recent influx and great success of many non-Japanese athletes into the highest ranks of sumo wrestling hailing from Hawai'i to Mongolia,  Japan has already begun to wrestle with these issues, although in the context of female Japanese identity it is likely to introduce a whole new set of considerations.

On the more staid note, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan will be making a state visit to the U.S. next week and the New York Times took the occasion as an opportunity to comment on the need for Japan to address its historical  past - especialy World War II - as a means to make better sense of international relations today.

Such an opportunity might already be fading since  just this Tuesday Abe decided to send a gift to Yasukuni Shrine, a site where many Japanese war dead (and "war criminals")  are interred.  Visits by Japanese officials to Yasukuni has come to symbolize to many Chinese and Koreans Japan's nationalistic lack of contrition for the past atrocities people of those countries faced during the war.

Incidentally, this study trip regularly made a visit to this shrine and its war museum, in addition to the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Memorial and Museum to examine the complex history of Japan's wartime past.  While we won't be visiting these sites this time, I always recommend them as important places to bear witness.

 

Shinzo Abe foreground, the current Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko,  

who have been much more upfront about Japan's need to confront its wartime past.

andy

It is official: "No UFOs in Japan"

 

About a week ago there was a report on a rare admission from the Japanese government concerning not just international affairs, but extraterrestrial ones. As the Japan Times reports:

Defense Minister Nakatani, a sober politician with a reputation for thorough understanding, was responding to a question from flamboyant wrestler-turned-lawmaker Antonio Inoki. At a meeting Wednesday of the Upper House Budget Committee, Inoki had asked if aircraft were dispatched to meet extraterrestrial visitors and “whether studies are going on.”

Inoki, known for his outsized chin and trademark red scarf, said he did not know whether or not aliens existed, but he had once seen a mysterious flying object rocket into the air on the horizon and disappear. 

Wednesday’s exchange was not the first official Japanese pronouncement on space aliens and their aircraft.

Every country needs at least one pro-wrestler as a politician, Inoki is Japan's at the moment!

The timing is interesting considering how NASA just  reported last week that they believe that the detection of alien life may happen as early as the next 20 or 30 years!

For my part, I have observed alien life in Japan, like this crazy weevil beetle crawling across my table while staying at a Japanese inn in 2013. It should also be noted: these guys can in fact fly, which UFOs are known to do...

A beautiful book of weevil photos was actually published a few years back, called Micropresence, here is (of all things) someone flipping through its pages.

andy

Environmental Ironies: Japanese Nuclear Plants to Remain Shuttered + CO2 on the Rise

After the Fukushim Dai-Icho disaster Japan's 48 nuclear reactors across the country were shut down - after a judicial ruling this week they look  like they might remain so, at least in the short-term.

The New York Times reports that a region in Fukui prefecture (just north of Kyoto) is known as "Nuclear Alley" ( 原発銀座 ) because of the 13 reactors packed along a short stretch of coast. A judge was ordered them to remain closed, irking the national government of Shinzo Abe who wants to restart nuclear power throughout the country, though public opinion is still skeptical (as the judge is) about the safety of these reactors if a big earthquake were to hit again.

Reuters just today also reports that Japan's carbon dioxide emissions (that contribute to global warming) hit there second-highest level ever this past year- no doubt this is due in large part to the cessation of nuclear power in Japan, which now has to import and burn coal and natural gas to make up for the loss of electricity production from nuclear power which typically makes makes 26% of Japan's electricity supply.

Japan plans to propose to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 20% in the coming decades, the question is how will they do it?

andy