Yo Japan

In a quiet area of Greenwich just off one of the town's main thoroughfares, Japanese culture bloomed on a fall day as leaves fell to the ground.

Hundreds of people gathered at the Greenwich Japanese School to savor Japanese food, experience a formal tea ceremony, and to watch a karate exhibition among other events as the school held a "bunka," or Japanese cultural festival, at the 270 Lake Avenue school Sunday.

Toshiro Koroyasu, president of the school's parent-teacher association, said the annual event hopes to showcase the school to its neighbors and to build strong relationships among its school population.

The lure of culture is strong for some Japanese-born teenagers living in the US, many of whom opt to study at a Japanese language high school.  Risako Kawahara, is typical of Japanese teenagers who live in the US. She enrolled in American schools but four years ago moved to the Keio Academy of New York because she wanted to fully immerse herself in Japanese while studying in America.

Wearing a kimono, Kawahara, was part of the ceremonial tea ceremony at the open house. Although she wasn't a student at the Greenwich Japanese School, the bilingual Kawahara said she enjoys passing on her country's traditions. "I want others to appreciate the serenity and beauty of Japanese culture," she said.

Greenwich resident Kimberly Kuppenheimer, along with her husband Greg and two boys Grant, 8, and Hayden, 5, have experienced Japanese culture first hand. The family lived in Tokyo for about two years due to her husband's work in finance.  She said spending time in a foreign country enriched her and her family's life and appreciation of other countries.

"It was very interesting, it forced you to live outside of your comfort zone," she said about being a visible minority in Japan and not knowing the language. "I think it's very important for us, as Americans, to experience other cultures."

Abu Dhabi's KALIMA project announced publishing the translation of Japanese Okakura Kakuzo's "The Book of Tea" into Arabic for the first time.

The Japanese book is considered to be one of the most important classic works in the world, and has been translated since it was first written nearly a century ago to dozens of languages.

It is thought to be the first book dealing with the tea ritual and its philosophy in relation to Oriental culture and spirituality. In the book, Kakuzo shows how tea has affected nearly every aspect of Japanese culture, thought, and life.

The 1906 book had attempted to correct the lack of knowledge by Westerners regarding the significance of tea ceremonies in Japanese culture. He also sought to defend Japanese culture from wide misconceptions at the time.

"This book offers us a key lesson that motivates us to pay more attention to our deep-rooted identity, which is what the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) sets to achieve in general, and an aim of KALIMA in particular," said Dr. Ali bin Tamim, Kalima Project Manager.

"The translation is only a thorough understanding of ourselves through the diverse contexts of others," he added.

The work, published in elegant copies that include pictures and illustrations, is translated by Samer Abu Hawwash, who has worked on a number of KALIMA translations. KALIMA, a translation initiative by ADACH, aims to provide Arab readers with the latest publications in the international scene.

It seeks to translate at least 100 books every year from world languages into Arabic.

During his trade mission to Japan, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels over the weekend announced the 2010 Indiana State Fair will feature a contemporary Japanese exhibit in the Grand Hall at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis.

The fair will be held Aug. 6 to 22.  A different country is expected to be featured each year, Daniels’ office said in a news release.  The exhibits will feature performing arts, cuisine, interactive displays, educational opportunities and other exhibts presenting Japanese culture and society.

“With so many Hoosiers now employed by Japanese companies, this is a great opportunity to showcase the economic and cultural impact that Japan has on our state,” Daniels said in the release. “This is the first exhibit of its kind at the state fair so there’s no more appropriate place to feature first than Japan.”

Daniels is in the second week of a two-week trade mission to China and Japan.  Over the weekend, Daniels attended a ceremony to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Indiana’s sister-state relationship with Japan’s Tochigi Prefecture.

He also gave a speech about Indiana’s economic climate at a symposium hosted by Tochigi Gov. Fukuda for representatives of Japanese businesses interested in expanding into U.S. markets.

Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, best known for work inspired by sexually explicit cartoons, will star in the next in a series of major exhibitions at the Palace of Versailles, the museum said Wednesday.

During an event to promote this year's launch of a show of work by French pop artist Xavier Veilhan, Versailles museum director Jean-Jacques said that Murakami had been chosen to appear in 2010.

The 47-year-old Japanese artist's work draws on the look of "manga" comic books, perhaps most famously in the 1997 statue Hiropon, which depicts a large chested girl skipping over a "rope" of spurting breast milk.

Last year, Murakami was the only visual artist in Time magazine's list of the world's 100 most influential people.  Murakami has a global cult following outside of Japan, but his brash and colourful style -- not to mention his sometimes gleefully obscene subject matter -- may raise the hackles of some of the more traditionalist French gallery visitors.

Last year's equivalent exhibition in Versailles, a massive exhibition of American pop artist Jeff Koons' work, faced a legal challenge from a French aristocrat and heir of the palace's original resident Louis XIV.

Prince Charles-Emmanuel de Bourbon-Parme felt the "pornographic" exhibition dishonoured his family's illustrious past, but he failed to get it banned.

Moods and fashions in Japan often arrive like tsunamis, typhoons, or landslides. After more than 50 years of almost uninterrupted power, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has been buried in a general election.

The world, fixated on China's rise, was slow to pay attention to this seismic shift in the politics of the globe's second largest economy.

The main reason for this is, of course, that Japanese politics was dull, at least since the mid-1950s, when the LDP consolidated its monopoly on power.  Corruption scandals erupted from time to time, but these, too, were usually part of intra-party manoeuvres to rein-in politicians who got too big for their boots, or who tried to grab power before their time.

The system worked after a fashion: LDP faction bosses took turns as prime minister, palms were greased by various business interests, more or less capable bureaucrats decided on domestic economic policies, and the United States took care of Japan's security (and much of its foreign policy, too). Some thought this system would last forever.

Indeed, it has often been said, by Japanese as well as foreign commentators, that a de facto one-party state suits the Japanese. Stability, based on soft authoritarianism, is the Asian way, now followed by China. Asians don't like the messy contentiousness of parliamentary democracy. But the argument that Japanese, or other Asians, are culturally averse to political competition is not historically true.

In fact, Japanese history is full of strife and rebellion, and Japan was the first independent Asian country with a multi-party system. Its early postwar democracy was so unruly, with mass demonstrations, militant trade unions, and vigorous left-wing parties, that a deliberate attempt was made to squeeze politics out of the system and impose the boredom of a one-party state.

Right now we are at the beginning of a new eara in Japanese politics.

If you are out and about in Japan on August 29th and 30th (Saturday and Sunday) you might see people wearing yellow shirts holding up small boxes and asking for money. These people are volunteers for the annual 24 Hour Television – Love Saves the Earth charity drive sponsored by the Japanese Nippon Television Network Corporation and its affiliates.

This year marks the 32nd annual telethon traditionally held around the end of August. During the event Nippon Television and affiliated networks countrywide air a series of special programs aimed to promote the charity drive. One of the main events this year involves a famous Japanese TV personality, Ayako Imoto, running three full marathons (126.585 km or about 78.65 miles).

Other promotional events include a 42 km (26 miles) relay swim across the Tsugaru Strait (the waters connecting Honshu and Hokkaido in northern Japan), an attempt at a record-breaking eight-hour long ping pong rally, and other TV programs with special host NEWS - a Japanese pop group.

There are also fundraising drives for 24 Hour Television at numerous stores around the country. AEON, one of Japan’s large shopping mall chains, is a main participate. For those in the Tokyo area, there will be a special event at the Nissan Global Headquarters’ Gallery in Yokohama.

To hear a Japanese toy company tell it, those remarkable collars worn by the animated dogs of Pixar's "Up," which translate their thoughts into human speech, aren't all that far-fetched.

The Japanese company, Takara Tomy, recently unveiled the "Bowlingual Voice" translator, which it claims can distinguish between six distinct dog emotions: sadness, joy, alertness to danger, neediness, happiness and frustration. The device then translates those emotions into human phrases, such as "I feel sad" and "Play with me."

For the equivalent of about $215, Japanese consumers can purchase Bowlingual Voice, which includes both a microphone that attaches to the dog's collar and a wireless receiver to be carried by its owner. The receiver contains both a speaker, through which the dog's "thoughts" are broadcast, and a screen onto which they appear in written form. A similar product was launched in Japan seven years ago, but the original product didn't include sound.

A stroll through San Francisco's Japantown takes you past exquisite Victorian homes that escaped the urban-renewal wrecking ball, significant historic sites and elegant temples.

Today Japantown - generally comprising an area between Fillmore and Laguna to the east-west and Geary and Bush to the north-south - is only a remnant of its pre-World War II self. This is because Japantown was emptied during the war when its citizens were forced into internment camps. After the war, some Japanese returned, creating the core of today's Japantown, or Nihonmachi. The area suffered a second blow during the '50s and '60s, when block after block of Victorians were razed to widen Geary Boulevard and create the Japan Center malls.

At Post and Buchanan, the heart of Japan Center, look up at the five-tiered Peace Pagoda. Rising 100 feet over Japantown, the pagoda was designed by Japanese architect Yoshiro Taniguchi and presented as a gift to San Francisco from sister city Osaka. Flanking the pagoda are indoor malls filled with restaurants and shops. Near the entrance to the Kintetsu Mall is an interpretive sign for the first stop of the Japantown History Walk, a self-guided tour through Japantown focusing on history and culture.

From the pagoda, cross Post to walk through Osaka Way (Buchanan Street), the outdoor pedestrian mall. Look at the circular benches and lotus-blossom fountains (now waterless) designed by sculptor Ruth Asawa. Wonderful shops line the mall. Step into the Paper Tree (1743 Buchanan St.), an origami store with a gallery of intricate origami works.

At Sutter, turn right and walk past gorgeous Victorians to the Japanese American Citizens League headquarters (1765 Sutter St.). The JACL works to ensure civil and human rights for Japanese Americans. At Sutter and Laguna, you will find two of Japantown's many religious institutions: the Buddhist Soto Zen Mission Sokoji (1691 Laguna St.), where students of Zen come to meditate, and the Christ United Presbyterian Church (1700 Sutter St.).

Turn left on Laguna and walk north one block to Bush to see the Konko Church of San Francisco (1909 Bush St.). "Konko" means "teaching of the golden light" and teaches Tenchi Kane No Kami, the parent of the universe existing in all things. Open the door and walk inside to feel the room's peaceful simplicity.

The producers behind “Get Smart” and “The International” have acquired the rights to make a live-action feature based on the Japanese robot-lion property “Voltron.”

Based on Japanese anime properties Beast King GoLion and Kikou Kantai Dairugger XV, “Voltron” features a “Transformers”-like conceit, in which a band of five robot-lions combine to form one super lion. A group of five pilots control the lions, which are charged with defending the planet Arus from villain King Zarkon, who dispatches evil creatures called Robobeats to fight the Voltron robots.

“Voltron” aired on U.S. television in 1984 and 1985. Since then, the property has remained a favorite in diverse communities, from the fanboy to the hip-hop worlds.