FINALLY the Met Office announced that we have officially gotten rid of the rainy season. It’s said that we’re 10 days behind usual years, but because I felt like we got into it earlier than usual, the impression of my early summer this year is super gloomy and wet.
But that was only until Saturday.
Yesterday we had a super nice breeze in Tokyo: it was dry and hot but was a very nice summer day with a lot of sun. So much sun that it felt like a waste to stay inside. So I got my futon out in the sun, and oooh, I can’t tell you how comfortably I slept last night XD
Even then, evenings and mornings are rather cool – it even felt cold wearing half sleeves – and today it wasn’t as hot during the day either. Bummer, if it’s so cool in the morning and night, it can get a bit hotter during the only time I get to step outside in open air. I basically love summer so I’m okay with heat... that is to say, daytime heat. I can’t sleep on hot and humid nights.
As I declared last time, Saturday I was going to go to this summer event held by a TV broadcasting station in Odaiba and the fireworks at Sumidagawa, but because one of the members I was meeting up with came super late, we were running out of time and couldn’t go see the fireworks...
Still, I tried to watch it from a boat from Odaiba but it was surprisingly far and I could barely catch a glimpse of it. So I have no pictures that I can share with you and I’m really upset about that.
I was about to write about this news about “how happy are you?” and how happy the Japanese people are about their (or our) lives, but couldn’t get my thoughts together so I’ll save that for tomorrow. Seeya!
31 July, 2006
28 July, 2006
Makura
I might have said earlier that the weather for this week except that beautiful sunny day is going to be messy, but it’s holding for today, yeah, “holding”.
I guess a lot of you are tired with my weather pillow.
Weather Pillow... ??? Tenki no Makura... ??? Those who understand this term are true Japan experts.
A pillow is of course something you sleep on, but in Japanese language it can also be used to denote the introductory part of an essay or something you really want to get to. It is originally a term and technique used in rakugo (comic storytelling) but is rarely used anywhere nowadays. Anyway, the like in the first couple of paragraphs in my daily blog, makura can mean the intro to the main text in columns and essays.
But today my feature is real makura, pillows.
From about two to three years ago, we’ve been having this urathane foam pillow boom (I don’t even know the proper name in English... it’s this kind of material that even if you press it hard it doesn’t bounce back right away but come back slowly) and as you can tell, I got one too... only to say that it wasn’t a genuine one but a cheap mock.
Futons and beds too, but pillows are important. Think of it, it has to keep your head and hence the body posture the same way our spine and neck supports the head. The history of pillows in Japan (regardless the material) dates back to more than two thousand years ago... quite impressive.
Today the variations of pillows have grown really rich, and you know how a lot of us spend one-third of our life sleeping – a whole lot of Japanese people are becoming more and more picky about beds and bedclothing.
Having said so, coming this long with pillow discussion, I’m not using a pillow right now. Like I wrote yesterday, I sleep on a sofa bed so the rim of the sofa is kind of firm making my lower back sink, and having a pillow would worsen my neckache and backache. And eventually the entire body becomes tired each night...
Oops, I’m just complaining. I’ll get to the point about Japanese people and bedclothing some other time cuz I’ve gotta run for today.
Tomorrow I’m hoping to go see the fireworks at Sumidagawa. The crowd is going to be hectic. I’m not sure if I can get good pictures, but I’ll take my camera anyways.
To everybody out there, have a great weekend!
I guess a lot of you are tired with my weather pillow.
Weather Pillow... ??? Tenki no Makura... ??? Those who understand this term are true Japan experts.
A pillow is of course something you sleep on, but in Japanese language it can also be used to denote the introductory part of an essay or something you really want to get to. It is originally a term and technique used in rakugo (comic storytelling) but is rarely used anywhere nowadays. Anyway, the like in the first couple of paragraphs in my daily blog, makura can mean the intro to the main text in columns and essays.
But today my feature is real makura, pillows.
From about two to three years ago, we’ve been having this urathane foam pillow boom (I don’t even know the proper name in English... it’s this kind of material that even if you press it hard it doesn’t bounce back right away but come back slowly) and as you can tell, I got one too... only to say that it wasn’t a genuine one but a cheap mock.
Futons and beds too, but pillows are important. Think of it, it has to keep your head and hence the body posture the same way our spine and neck supports the head. The history of pillows in Japan (regardless the material) dates back to more than two thousand years ago... quite impressive.
Today the variations of pillows have grown really rich, and you know how a lot of us spend one-third of our life sleeping – a whole lot of Japanese people are becoming more and more picky about beds and bedclothing.
Having said so, coming this long with pillow discussion, I’m not using a pillow right now. Like I wrote yesterday, I sleep on a sofa bed so the rim of the sofa is kind of firm making my lower back sink, and having a pillow would worsen my neckache and backache. And eventually the entire body becomes tired each night...
Oops, I’m just complaining. I’ll get to the point about Japanese people and bedclothing some other time cuz I’ve gotta run for today.
Tomorrow I’m hoping to go see the fireworks at Sumidagawa. The crowd is going to be hectic. I’m not sure if I can get good pictures, but I’ll take my camera anyways.
To everybody out there, have a great weekend!
27 July, 2006
Futon
First of all, Sr. Moreno thank you for your comment (July 26). I’ll try to keep on writing stuff that you’ll find interesting, hopefully. Thank you!
I had a look at your blog ... but I’m sorry to tell you that I don’t really understand the Spanish part. Still, I think it’s interesting and nice-looking, too. I like your illustration and how you display photos. And of course, the fashion part interests me a lot.
The weather today is like a bridge connecting yesterday’s sun and tomorrow’s rain. It’s not raining and it’s not sunny, but it is sunny for seconds sometimes, but looks like it’s going to rain at any time. I should have hung my futon outside yesterday... bummer.
Oh, there’s this story about futon. Many Japanese sleep on futon... of course a lot of us sleep on beds as well. Anyway, this friend of mine working at a furniture shop tells me that futon isn’t any good cuz it takes in air right above the floor containing a lot of dust, and also b/c there’s no mattress underneath, it gives your body a tough hard sleep overnight. How is it in reality? In my case, I placed my futon on top of a sofa-bed (which is a bed now) and I suppose a lot of you reading this sleep on beds right?
Yet I believe futon has its own merits.
When I was a kind, my brother and I slept on beds but my parents slept on futon. My house wasn’t a big one so they took out futon at nights to sleep and put them back in the closet in the morning. That gave a lot of space we could make use of during the day, and I think that’s how and why we have had futon for centuries.
Although, I kind of noticed that, from watching movies and TV shows from the West, some people sort of live on beds like reading books, watching TV, talk on the phone and eat sometimes.
Doing the same on futon is called “mannen-doko” (never-made beds) and is a symbol of laziness giving rather negative impression on people who see them.
Hey, wait a sec. Mine’s kind of a mannen-doko now...
Alright, I’ll hang my futon next time we have sun, and I’ll sit on my sofa for the first time in months!
End of cloudy-day report.
I had a look at your blog ... but I’m sorry to tell you that I don’t really understand the Spanish part. Still, I think it’s interesting and nice-looking, too. I like your illustration and how you display photos. And of course, the fashion part interests me a lot.
The weather today is like a bridge connecting yesterday’s sun and tomorrow’s rain. It’s not raining and it’s not sunny, but it is sunny for seconds sometimes, but looks like it’s going to rain at any time. I should have hung my futon outside yesterday... bummer.
Oh, there’s this story about futon. Many Japanese sleep on futon... of course a lot of us sleep on beds as well. Anyway, this friend of mine working at a furniture shop tells me that futon isn’t any good cuz it takes in air right above the floor containing a lot of dust, and also b/c there’s no mattress underneath, it gives your body a tough hard sleep overnight. How is it in reality? In my case, I placed my futon on top of a sofa-bed (which is a bed now) and I suppose a lot of you reading this sleep on beds right?
Yet I believe futon has its own merits.
When I was a kind, my brother and I slept on beds but my parents slept on futon. My house wasn’t a big one so they took out futon at nights to sleep and put them back in the closet in the morning. That gave a lot of space we could make use of during the day, and I think that’s how and why we have had futon for centuries.
Although, I kind of noticed that, from watching movies and TV shows from the West, some people sort of live on beds like reading books, watching TV, talk on the phone and eat sometimes.
Doing the same on futon is called “mannen-doko” (never-made beds) and is a symbol of laziness giving rather negative impression on people who see them.
Hey, wait a sec. Mine’s kind of a mannen-doko now...
Alright, I’ll hang my futon next time we have sun, and I’ll sit on my sofa for the first time in months!
End of cloudy-day report.
26 July, 2006
Long Time No See
For the first time in weeks we have a blue sky here in Tokyo!! As I commuted this morning, I saw a bunch of people putting their futon mattresses and blankets out in the sun. I wanted to too, but I gave up cuz I know it’ll be all damp absorbing the evening mist even if I did hang it out to let them dry.
Many of the regions in Western Japan are said to escape the rainy season for this year. Can’t tell you how jealous I am. Anyway, I also heard on the weather forecast that the weather for Tokyo in August will be so different from what we have now: days will be way hotter and sunnier and summer might extend a bit into September.
Sadly, however, today seems to be the only day we can enjoy the bright blue sky and the sun and this so summery muggy heat. Sounds like the weekends are going to be back to rainy season... I might as well have a rainy day today and a sunny weekend if I had to have the same amount of rain anyways.
Something caught my attention this morning on the news and it’s about the average life span of Japanese people. The average for Japanese people in 2005 was 78.53 years old for men and 85.49 for women. They say that the number has slightly gone down the previous year for the first time in six years.
The essential reason behind the shortening (well, by sth like 0.10years) of average life span is the increase in deaths due to flu and suicides. Even though Japanese women continue to be the longest living people in the world today (I mean, statistically you know), men dropped from second place (2004) to fourth place (2005) falling from the top 3 for the first time in 32 years. By the way, second place for women was Hong Kong followed by Spain, and for men it was (1) Hong Kong – (2) Iceland – (3) Switzerland.
Even then, the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare claims that although there have been changes in international rankings due to irregular causes (like flu), average life span continues to grow longer in tendency. Well, I guess more people are living longer.
Becoming a country carrying a bunch of grandpas and grandmas itself is not a huge issue, or at least it won’t be only if we had enough younger population to take care of the country. One of the biggest problems this country carries, as some of you may be aware of, is the concurrence of aging and sharp decline in birthrate.
If the current pace continues or worsens, we will lose labor force in a remarkable speed leaving us to expect nothing else but stagnation in economic activities and drop of living standard. The increase in the ratio of producing generation (15-64 years old) to senior population (above 65) makes hard the healthy maintenance and balance of social security services like pension. Not only that, services and products geared towards the young generation such as video games, manga, music CDs etc will also suffer economic stagnation.
In reality, the number of issues of the manga magazines for young men has reached its peak in the mid 1990s and has been dropping, and the CD sales too are weakening in the market since late 1990s. I am very aware that there are other elements that contribute to the drop like the spreading of internet services and free downloads, but anyone can tell that Japan is going to be a country of doddering gramps and grannies.
So, what are the solutions? What should we do to improve the situation?
Okay, the problem is not the aging part but the drop in birthrate. What drops the birthrate? A lot of “losses” – loss of chances to work and make money while pregnancy and delivery (it is very costly to become pregnant and have a baby here), loss of compensation, underdevelopment in the family-friendly environment in simultaneous pursuit of work and home, the increase in the sense of burden in raising a family due to spread of nuclear families, increase in financial burden due to spiraling education cost, loss of comfortable-living environment in urban areas due to overpopulation in big cities, increase in “unofficial employees” caused by the loosening of employment regulations and increase in financially unstable population such as NEET and “freeters” caused by the loose regulations... etc. etc. The list knows no end.
The other day I saw on the news about some prefectures that have relatively high birthrates and introduced how they managed to pull up the birthrate.
For example, this prefecture encouraged companies to help young fathers spend more time at home doing house chores and child rearing. Some permitted them to take them to and from nurseries during office hours, reduced or freed tuition, built homes for young families etc. and tried to prepare an environment in which fathers and mothers can safely and comfortably raise children.
That’s the way to go. It’s always better to have more kids – it’ll be more fun and happy. We have to think and work fast to bring the society back alive.
Many of the regions in Western Japan are said to escape the rainy season for this year. Can’t tell you how jealous I am. Anyway, I also heard on the weather forecast that the weather for Tokyo in August will be so different from what we have now: days will be way hotter and sunnier and summer might extend a bit into September.
Sadly, however, today seems to be the only day we can enjoy the bright blue sky and the sun and this so summery muggy heat. Sounds like the weekends are going to be back to rainy season... I might as well have a rainy day today and a sunny weekend if I had to have the same amount of rain anyways.
Something caught my attention this morning on the news and it’s about the average life span of Japanese people. The average for Japanese people in 2005 was 78.53 years old for men and 85.49 for women. They say that the number has slightly gone down the previous year for the first time in six years.
The essential reason behind the shortening (well, by sth like 0.10years) of average life span is the increase in deaths due to flu and suicides. Even though Japanese women continue to be the longest living people in the world today (I mean, statistically you know), men dropped from second place (2004) to fourth place (2005) falling from the top 3 for the first time in 32 years. By the way, second place for women was Hong Kong followed by Spain, and for men it was (1) Hong Kong – (2) Iceland – (3) Switzerland.
Even then, the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare claims that although there have been changes in international rankings due to irregular causes (like flu), average life span continues to grow longer in tendency. Well, I guess more people are living longer.
Becoming a country carrying a bunch of grandpas and grandmas itself is not a huge issue, or at least it won’t be only if we had enough younger population to take care of the country. One of the biggest problems this country carries, as some of you may be aware of, is the concurrence of aging and sharp decline in birthrate.
If the current pace continues or worsens, we will lose labor force in a remarkable speed leaving us to expect nothing else but stagnation in economic activities and drop of living standard. The increase in the ratio of producing generation (15-64 years old) to senior population (above 65) makes hard the healthy maintenance and balance of social security services like pension. Not only that, services and products geared towards the young generation such as video games, manga, music CDs etc will also suffer economic stagnation.
In reality, the number of issues of the manga magazines for young men has reached its peak in the mid 1990s and has been dropping, and the CD sales too are weakening in the market since late 1990s. I am very aware that there are other elements that contribute to the drop like the spreading of internet services and free downloads, but anyone can tell that Japan is going to be a country of doddering gramps and grannies.
So, what are the solutions? What should we do to improve the situation?
Okay, the problem is not the aging part but the drop in birthrate. What drops the birthrate? A lot of “losses” – loss of chances to work and make money while pregnancy and delivery (it is very costly to become pregnant and have a baby here), loss of compensation, underdevelopment in the family-friendly environment in simultaneous pursuit of work and home, the increase in the sense of burden in raising a family due to spread of nuclear families, increase in financial burden due to spiraling education cost, loss of comfortable-living environment in urban areas due to overpopulation in big cities, increase in “unofficial employees” caused by the loosening of employment regulations and increase in financially unstable population such as NEET and “freeters” caused by the loose regulations... etc. etc. The list knows no end.
The other day I saw on the news about some prefectures that have relatively high birthrates and introduced how they managed to pull up the birthrate.
For example, this prefecture encouraged companies to help young fathers spend more time at home doing house chores and child rearing. Some permitted them to take them to and from nurseries during office hours, reduced or freed tuition, built homes for young families etc. and tried to prepare an environment in which fathers and mothers can safely and comfortably raise children.
That’s the way to go. It’s always better to have more kids – it’ll be more fun and happy. We have to think and work fast to bring the society back alive.
25 July, 2006
Japanese Summer
Geez it’s kinda cool again today. It makes me forget what season it is.
But I tell you, it’s going to get super hot one day so suddenly and the gap’s gonna kill me.
Some of the people who’re coming over from outside of Tokyo might be disappointed with the weather... or perhaps, some others might be feeling “great, it’s nice and cool.” I bet no one would really appreciate the rain, though.
I don’t think (more like, hope not) that we’ll enter August like this, but what were those steaming and baking days we had in the end of June and early July? When summer is this cold, I feel sorry for the people who run businesses at beaches and swimming pools. The air is still like “ok! summer’s about to start!!” but I know it’s gonna fly real fast.
I love summer so I get all excited as the days get longer each day (still, sunset is around 19:00 at the latest here in Tokyo). But sadly, because I’m a grown-up working morning to night everyday and don’t have that much of a summer vacation anymore, by the time I get out of office it’s dark and then the night air eventually starts to carry scents of autumn leaving me not enough time to feel like summer was actually here. It’s sad. It’s even sadder that I’ve been having this feeling and reality for the past few years.
So, I have committed to myself that I am going to have a fruitful summer – be it short or whatever – but specifically, what should I do to have a summer that I won’t regret?
Do you guys have summer plans yet?
(Not to forget that some of you reading this may be experiencing freezing winter.)
I googled “Japanese Summer” (nihon no natsu, in Japanese) the top site on the list was hanabi – fireworks. Oh yeah man, bring it on. How can you spend summer in Japan without fireworks?
The next one that came was matsuri, which of course are summer festivals. In fact, I’ve written about a ton of fireworks and summer festivals that’s been and will be going on this summer throughout Japan in the “Blast in Japan Summer 2006” series on JapanMode. I wrote so much that I can say I’m sort of a hanabi&matsuri wiz now.
The third one on the search was somen*...
(*somen... rehydratable noodle made of wheat flour; a traditional summer dish in Japan in which you ice the noodles with cold water and ice cubes after boiling, and eat as you dip in soup based on soy sauce.)
Well... yeah, I mean... somen is something I’d appreciate on an extremely hot summer day, but c’mon, it’s not something that can come in third place following hanabi and matsuri :P
Following somen were several kinds of commercial goods including post cards and all that.
SO according to Teacher Google, spending a Japanesey summer is about “go watch the fireworks, have fun at the festivals and have somen at home.”
Funny thing, it does sound like a typical August day I used to have when I was a kid. I think it combines superbly the key elements of Japanese summer XD
All right, sounds like a day I want to have!!
What’s your summer gonna be like?
But I tell you, it’s going to get super hot one day so suddenly and the gap’s gonna kill me.
Some of the people who’re coming over from outside of Tokyo might be disappointed with the weather... or perhaps, some others might be feeling “great, it’s nice and cool.” I bet no one would really appreciate the rain, though.
I don’t think (more like, hope not) that we’ll enter August like this, but what were those steaming and baking days we had in the end of June and early July? When summer is this cold, I feel sorry for the people who run businesses at beaches and swimming pools. The air is still like “ok! summer’s about to start!!” but I know it’s gonna fly real fast.
I love summer so I get all excited as the days get longer each day (still, sunset is around 19:00 at the latest here in Tokyo). But sadly, because I’m a grown-up working morning to night everyday and don’t have that much of a summer vacation anymore, by the time I get out of office it’s dark and then the night air eventually starts to carry scents of autumn leaving me not enough time to feel like summer was actually here. It’s sad. It’s even sadder that I’ve been having this feeling and reality for the past few years.
So, I have committed to myself that I am going to have a fruitful summer – be it short or whatever – but specifically, what should I do to have a summer that I won’t regret?
Do you guys have summer plans yet?
(Not to forget that some of you reading this may be experiencing freezing winter.)
I googled “Japanese Summer” (nihon no natsu, in Japanese) the top site on the list was hanabi – fireworks. Oh yeah man, bring it on. How can you spend summer in Japan without fireworks?
The next one that came was matsuri, which of course are summer festivals. In fact, I’ve written about a ton of fireworks and summer festivals that’s been and will be going on this summer throughout Japan in the “Blast in Japan Summer 2006” series on JapanMode. I wrote so much that I can say I’m sort of a hanabi&matsuri wiz now.
The third one on the search was somen*...
(*somen... rehydratable noodle made of wheat flour; a traditional summer dish in Japan in which you ice the noodles with cold water and ice cubes after boiling, and eat as you dip in soup based on soy sauce.)
Well... yeah, I mean... somen is something I’d appreciate on an extremely hot summer day, but c’mon, it’s not something that can come in third place following hanabi and matsuri :P
Following somen were several kinds of commercial goods including post cards and all that.
SO according to Teacher Google, spending a Japanesey summer is about “go watch the fireworks, have fun at the festivals and have somen at home.”
Funny thing, it does sound like a typical August day I used to have when I was a kid. I think it combines superbly the key elements of Japanese summer XD
All right, sounds like a day I want to have!!
What’s your summer gonna be like?
24 July, 2006
Rain Again... and the Rain and the...
When is the rainy season going to go away!?
Well it’s just drizzles and not stormy rain like other parts of Japan, but I think I had more than enough already. It seems like the same front is giving severe damage in southern Japan. On the news it looked like water flooded everywhere above floor level at the best, and in worse cases streets turned into rivers as deep as an adult’s chest level. Some parts suffer from consecutive flash floods and mudslides over and over. And of course, a lot of the farm goods and crops are no good. Nearly the entire country has turned into a flood archipelago.
I’ll have to say that I’m lucky to be in Tokyo. Tokyo has pretty much always been calm in terms of water disasters. In fact, there was a fireworks display close to my house last night (well, not that close but anyways), and although we had a tiny bit of rain I could still enjoy the coming of summer with my eyes and ears.
Going back to rain...
My stories on coral actually have a bit to do with rain. From here beyond are stories I heard from divers plus some research I did on my own.
Say, it rained on Main Island Okinawa for quite a long time, for days. Where does that water go? The sea of course. When the rainwater flows into the sea, it drags a lot of mud and sand. What it does is that 1) the blending of fresh water and sea water changes the water quality, 2) the sand (especially reddish soil) coming from industrial and agricultural districts and also from the American Base mess the water around the coral blocking the healthy growth of zooxanthella, coral’s buddy. The soil of Okinawa is extremely poor in humus layer (black) which functions as the adhesive between layers of soil so the earth is brittle to begin with naturally, and on top of that there are human factors such as ripping off green for industrial use of land.
That’s not all. The heavy rainfall spreads the ocean all kinds of chemical pollution from air and earth. Coral surrounding the islands like the brim of a hat are kept alive by the land. So the efforts to protect only the coral or only the sea most times end up in vain. Additionally, the overuse (over-appreciation, should I say?) of the divers and tourists is another coral-killer factor. When I dived, there was a jerk sitting on top of a table coral thinking it’s rock or something. Ignorance... but not knowing is never a reason good enough to forgive. It’s really sad that not many people acknowledge coral as living beings but stones and rocks.
The “healing” boom in Japan knows nowhere to stop, and from that exaggerated image of resort = healing the number of “immigrants” to Okinawa is increasing one way. To the land of people who respect and appreciate the blessings from the ocean moves in immature people who only take the value as beauty.
All right, the coral reef is worth protecting because it’s pretty. But beauty is only one of the many values of coral.
There are more than one hundred countries in the world that has coral reef, and the coral reef protects the lands of those countries from salt-water invasion. Imagine how much benefits the reefs have brought us in the past thousands of years.
Also, healthy coral reefs are located in the places with highest marine production places in the world – or it may be the other way around – and the amount of marine products mainly fish produced in these regions are estimated to be as much as one tenth of the total marine products all the human beings in the world eat.
Furthermore, coral reefs are the oldest biogeocenos on earth with a history of 500 million years, and are places where sophisticated and fragile organisms concentrate. It is expected that hundreds of unique and special medications can emerge from such reefs.
But natural coral can be broken very easily, and not to forget that a lot of the destruction is due to some kind of human influence.
Currently, efforts are being made in Main Island Okinawa to bring natural coral back to its shores by whelm a special kind of ceramic blocks to the bottom of the ocean so that coral eggs can adhere to them and will eventually grow into great reefs. The eggs flow all the way from the islands I have been talking about for the past few weeks, the Kerama... which means, that if the coral in Kerama dies, there will be no eggs to flow to the main island.
Perhaps the best thing us humans can do is to leave them alone.
If any of you became interested in visiting the Kerama reading this blog, please leave the corals as they are. Or actually, leave everything in the silent nature as they are, not only the coral.
I believe that by doing so (by not doing anything) the nature will heal you. Because you acknowledge it as the most important thing, it will give you something that is truly important.
Umm, sorry, I didn’t meant to make this sound so riddly in the end (sounds like it’s going nowhere)...
I’m planning to go to Kerama again in September, so I’ll try to give you a report. I’ll stop here with the difficult stuff.
I can’t wait to go there again... oooh the beautiful sunrise and seeing deers... I guess I’m gonna have to write them out here!
Well it’s just drizzles and not stormy rain like other parts of Japan, but I think I had more than enough already. It seems like the same front is giving severe damage in southern Japan. On the news it looked like water flooded everywhere above floor level at the best, and in worse cases streets turned into rivers as deep as an adult’s chest level. Some parts suffer from consecutive flash floods and mudslides over and over. And of course, a lot of the farm goods and crops are no good. Nearly the entire country has turned into a flood archipelago.
I’ll have to say that I’m lucky to be in Tokyo. Tokyo has pretty much always been calm in terms of water disasters. In fact, there was a fireworks display close to my house last night (well, not that close but anyways), and although we had a tiny bit of rain I could still enjoy the coming of summer with my eyes and ears.
Going back to rain...
My stories on coral actually have a bit to do with rain. From here beyond are stories I heard from divers plus some research I did on my own.
Say, it rained on Main Island Okinawa for quite a long time, for days. Where does that water go? The sea of course. When the rainwater flows into the sea, it drags a lot of mud and sand. What it does is that 1) the blending of fresh water and sea water changes the water quality, 2) the sand (especially reddish soil) coming from industrial and agricultural districts and also from the American Base mess the water around the coral blocking the healthy growth of zooxanthella, coral’s buddy. The soil of Okinawa is extremely poor in humus layer (black) which functions as the adhesive between layers of soil so the earth is brittle to begin with naturally, and on top of that there are human factors such as ripping off green for industrial use of land.
That’s not all. The heavy rainfall spreads the ocean all kinds of chemical pollution from air and earth. Coral surrounding the islands like the brim of a hat are kept alive by the land. So the efforts to protect only the coral or only the sea most times end up in vain. Additionally, the overuse (over-appreciation, should I say?) of the divers and tourists is another coral-killer factor. When I dived, there was a jerk sitting on top of a table coral thinking it’s rock or something. Ignorance... but not knowing is never a reason good enough to forgive. It’s really sad that not many people acknowledge coral as living beings but stones and rocks.
The “healing” boom in Japan knows nowhere to stop, and from that exaggerated image of resort = healing the number of “immigrants” to Okinawa is increasing one way. To the land of people who respect and appreciate the blessings from the ocean moves in immature people who only take the value as beauty.
All right, the coral reef is worth protecting because it’s pretty. But beauty is only one of the many values of coral.
There are more than one hundred countries in the world that has coral reef, and the coral reef protects the lands of those countries from salt-water invasion. Imagine how much benefits the reefs have brought us in the past thousands of years.
Also, healthy coral reefs are located in the places with highest marine production places in the world – or it may be the other way around – and the amount of marine products mainly fish produced in these regions are estimated to be as much as one tenth of the total marine products all the human beings in the world eat.
Furthermore, coral reefs are the oldest biogeocenos on earth with a history of 500 million years, and are places where sophisticated and fragile organisms concentrate. It is expected that hundreds of unique and special medications can emerge from such reefs.
But natural coral can be broken very easily, and not to forget that a lot of the destruction is due to some kind of human influence.
Currently, efforts are being made in Main Island Okinawa to bring natural coral back to its shores by whelm a special kind of ceramic blocks to the bottom of the ocean so that coral eggs can adhere to them and will eventually grow into great reefs. The eggs flow all the way from the islands I have been talking about for the past few weeks, the Kerama... which means, that if the coral in Kerama dies, there will be no eggs to flow to the main island.
Perhaps the best thing us humans can do is to leave them alone.
If any of you became interested in visiting the Kerama reading this blog, please leave the corals as they are. Or actually, leave everything in the silent nature as they are, not only the coral.
I believe that by doing so (by not doing anything) the nature will heal you. Because you acknowledge it as the most important thing, it will give you something that is truly important.
Umm, sorry, I didn’t meant to make this sound so riddly in the end (sounds like it’s going nowhere)...
I’m planning to go to Kerama again in September, so I’ll try to give you a report. I’ll stop here with the difficult stuff.
I can’t wait to go there again... oooh the beautiful sunrise and seeing deers... I guess I’m gonna have to write them out here!
21 July, 2006
The Lives of Coral, The life of Sea
Yes it’s been raining softly today in Tokyo and things aren’t too different from yesterday. Nice ’n cool.
Last night I went to bed with an extra sweatshirt so I wasn’t freezing this morning and actually I slept really comfortably. Although, the comfortableness got me to work a bit late.
So, I guess there isn’t anything else to tell you except for Okinawa.
To add a bit more information about coral bleaching, as many of you may know it’s not an issue unique to Okinawa but is a serious problem worldwide approximately 40 places including the Indian Ocean, the Caribbean and the Red Sea, and is literally a phenomenon in which corals turn dead white.
There are these 0.01mm big single cell marine microalgae called zooxanthella living inside coral photosynthesizing. But when the sea temperature goes up about 2 degrees celcius, these zooxanthella leave the corals leaving the corals no other way but to die. Corals are originally white, so the colorful corals we usually see or imagine of are actually the colors of the zooxanthella.
So what happens when corals die? How would it affect us?
In short, the coral reef is kind of like a plant that provide oxygen inside the water, so when corals die the sea becomes full of carbon dioxide eventually making it a sea of death.
I can’t go into full details here so I’ll leave that to the experts, but I’ll write here what and how I felt getting to know this fact and see the state.
I had a chance to see both dead and alive coral in the same spot I was diving in, and I tell you the views provided by each of the kind are totally different.
Like I said, because the corals lose color the difference is very clear. There were some that were broken from the roots and some were turned over like a table flipped. No matter how much and how far I look across, and no matter how colorful the others were, the white ghosty corals floating and lying there were never ignorable.
My friend who had known the place for years said it wasn’t this bad the last time he came here, and sadly feared that the view we had there would become the view of the place we were the previous day, few years later from now. When seeing such things, I feel the weakness of myself, like I can’t do anything about it. But even then, I try to come up with things we can do.
I probably wouldn’t have thought the same way if I had only seen the dead corals there at the desert island, cuz the water was still extremely clear and the fish don’t speak to you with hearable voices.
It’s not hypocrisy or anything, but I truly want to do something about it after seeing all the ghosts of the sea. It’s a natural feeling that wells up within me.
So what should be done and what can I do?
Next time I’ll try to get to that point along with some stories the divers have told me.
Last night I went to bed with an extra sweatshirt so I wasn’t freezing this morning and actually I slept really comfortably. Although, the comfortableness got me to work a bit late.
So, I guess there isn’t anything else to tell you except for Okinawa.
To add a bit more information about coral bleaching, as many of you may know it’s not an issue unique to Okinawa but is a serious problem worldwide approximately 40 places including the Indian Ocean, the Caribbean and the Red Sea, and is literally a phenomenon in which corals turn dead white.
There are these 0.01mm big single cell marine microalgae called zooxanthella living inside coral photosynthesizing. But when the sea temperature goes up about 2 degrees celcius, these zooxanthella leave the corals leaving the corals no other way but to die. Corals are originally white, so the colorful corals we usually see or imagine of are actually the colors of the zooxanthella.
So what happens when corals die? How would it affect us?
In short, the coral reef is kind of like a plant that provide oxygen inside the water, so when corals die the sea becomes full of carbon dioxide eventually making it a sea of death.
I can’t go into full details here so I’ll leave that to the experts, but I’ll write here what and how I felt getting to know this fact and see the state.
I had a chance to see both dead and alive coral in the same spot I was diving in, and I tell you the views provided by each of the kind are totally different.
Like I said, because the corals lose color the difference is very clear. There were some that were broken from the roots and some were turned over like a table flipped. No matter how much and how far I look across, and no matter how colorful the others were, the white ghosty corals floating and lying there were never ignorable.
My friend who had known the place for years said it wasn’t this bad the last time he came here, and sadly feared that the view we had there would become the view of the place we were the previous day, few years later from now. When seeing such things, I feel the weakness of myself, like I can’t do anything about it. But even then, I try to come up with things we can do.
I probably wouldn’t have thought the same way if I had only seen the dead corals there at the desert island, cuz the water was still extremely clear and the fish don’t speak to you with hearable voices.
It’s not hypocrisy or anything, but I truly want to do something about it after seeing all the ghosts of the sea. It’s a natural feeling that wells up within me.
So what should be done and what can I do?
Next time I’ll try to get to that point along with some stories the divers have told me.
20 July, 2006
The Cold Summer and Hot Okinawa
Again, I woke up feeling cold and with a cold this morning.
Like I said yesterday, it was pretty cool yesterday and even cold last night, so I did pull my blankets to my neck and went to sleep but I guess it wasn’t good enough. And now I have a nice cold that keeps me absent-minded and my body sore.
After lunch I went to the drugstore and got some medicine for myself, but then the medicine’s side-effect gets me all sleepy. Woohoo, it’s only Thursday afternoon and I got another day and a half to go before the weekend.
The office’s got its A/C turned on so it is comfortable, but when I’m like this, half-asleep and the other half mindless, it’s not so good to be feeling nice and cozy in office. Well, all I can say and do is to get myself up straight and survive the remainder of this week, and rest during the weekend.
So, I was going to tell you about the rest of Okinawa, right.
After we went to see the noctiluca, we headed to the heliport on the island. Because these islands around here are so small, instead of having established big hospitals they have heliports and helicopters in case of emergency.
We were not there for emergency, but the heliport was one good hidden spot to see the stars cuz it was apart from the lights of houses (the whole island was never so bright during night to begin with). So we had chances to see the twinkles of the sea and then the twinkles of the sky in just a couple of hours. My daily life in Tokyo doesn’t allow me to really see the sky so vastly cuz the air isn’t so clean and the lights never go off, so I was really really moved by how gorgeous the stars were.
But gazing up at the dark sky with an exhausted body did make me get sleepy quickly. I was wondering somewhere in my mind if the ancient people had the same feeling every night, and as I pondered I got back to the inn, and soon fell deep in my sleep.
The following day, I got a great chance to spend half a day on a desert island. It was beautiful, but I felt like something was missing, and I soon realized what it was. It was the corals. There were corals around the island, but the shelves were obviously fewer than the place I was the previous day, and all white, meaning they were dead. A diver who stayed at the same inn told us that there are several causes that kill the corals, like rise in sea temperature and the emergence of a particular kind of starfish. He said the corals have been dying at a remarkable pace in the past several years.
So what happens to the sea when the corals die out? Let’s talk about that tomorrow. It’ll be a worldwide topic, I guess.
All right, off to bed. Ciao.
Like I said yesterday, it was pretty cool yesterday and even cold last night, so I did pull my blankets to my neck and went to sleep but I guess it wasn’t good enough. And now I have a nice cold that keeps me absent-minded and my body sore.
After lunch I went to the drugstore and got some medicine for myself, but then the medicine’s side-effect gets me all sleepy. Woohoo, it’s only Thursday afternoon and I got another day and a half to go before the weekend.
The office’s got its A/C turned on so it is comfortable, but when I’m like this, half-asleep and the other half mindless, it’s not so good to be feeling nice and cozy in office. Well, all I can say and do is to get myself up straight and survive the remainder of this week, and rest during the weekend.
So, I was going to tell you about the rest of Okinawa, right.
After we went to see the noctiluca, we headed to the heliport on the island. Because these islands around here are so small, instead of having established big hospitals they have heliports and helicopters in case of emergency.
We were not there for emergency, but the heliport was one good hidden spot to see the stars cuz it was apart from the lights of houses (the whole island was never so bright during night to begin with). So we had chances to see the twinkles of the sea and then the twinkles of the sky in just a couple of hours. My daily life in Tokyo doesn’t allow me to really see the sky so vastly cuz the air isn’t so clean and the lights never go off, so I was really really moved by how gorgeous the stars were.
But gazing up at the dark sky with an exhausted body did make me get sleepy quickly. I was wondering somewhere in my mind if the ancient people had the same feeling every night, and as I pondered I got back to the inn, and soon fell deep in my sleep.
The following day, I got a great chance to spend half a day on a desert island. It was beautiful, but I felt like something was missing, and I soon realized what it was. It was the corals. There were corals around the island, but the shelves were obviously fewer than the place I was the previous day, and all white, meaning they were dead. A diver who stayed at the same inn told us that there are several causes that kill the corals, like rise in sea temperature and the emergence of a particular kind of starfish. He said the corals have been dying at a remarkable pace in the past several years.
So what happens to the sea when the corals die out? Let’s talk about that tomorrow. It’ll be a worldwide topic, I guess.
All right, off to bed. Ciao.
19 July, 2006
And it rains again.
This morning I got up with the chilly air. It’s been pouring since last night (actually even two nights ago) and the air temperature has gone down quite a bit, which is nice at times. But how long would we have to survive this crazy weather?
Last week, the weather forecast said we could get rid of the rain front here in Kanto region by the end of last week, but when the time came the weatherman with a straight face, corrected that the rain-front bye-bye will be postponed to next week. Boohoo.
Ooh by the way, this Sunday there’ll be fireworks in Chofu. I’m planning to go see them with my friends, but is it going to rain as well? Well, looks like it, judging from the weather forecast so far.
I gotta get back home to do some laundry today. When it rains, laundry could be a huge pain in the butt cuz I use coin laundry and it’s about 3-4 minutes away from my house by bike. Doesn’t sound so much of a problem, but when it rains all the dry stuff gets kind of damp again on my way back home. So it’s 17:00 and it seems like the rain is soft or even not raining... I dear hope it stays like this or gets better for another several hours.
When it’s this rainy, I feel really blue and tired. If there’s no big news to tell you tomorrow, I guess I’ll get back to my Okinawa stories. Man do I feel good when I think about Okinawa :-)
Last week, the weather forecast said we could get rid of the rain front here in Kanto region by the end of last week, but when the time came the weatherman with a straight face, corrected that the rain-front bye-bye will be postponed to next week. Boohoo.
Ooh by the way, this Sunday there’ll be fireworks in Chofu. I’m planning to go see them with my friends, but is it going to rain as well? Well, looks like it, judging from the weather forecast so far.
I gotta get back home to do some laundry today. When it rains, laundry could be a huge pain in the butt cuz I use coin laundry and it’s about 3-4 minutes away from my house by bike. Doesn’t sound so much of a problem, but when it rains all the dry stuff gets kind of damp again on my way back home. So it’s 17:00 and it seems like the rain is soft or even not raining... I dear hope it stays like this or gets better for another several hours.
When it’s this rainy, I feel really blue and tired. If there’s no big news to tell you tomorrow, I guess I’ll get back to my Okinawa stories. Man do I feel good when I think about Okinawa :-)
18 July, 2006
Long time waiting, Short time passing
So my precious three-day-weekend is now over.
Saturday I stayed home doing nothing really. Just relaxed and took away my weeks worth of fatigue. It was crazily hot from the morning this day, but as hours passed the sky turned dark bringing big loud thunders and lightening along with pouring rain. Although, it was more like a tropical squall which stopped in an hour or so.
I love the feeling I get on a day like this. I just turn on the A/C to dry mode and loaf around watching TV or surf on the Internet... it just makes you feel right to do these things which otherwise (like in good weather) you might think is a waste of time... or at least I would feel like a waste of time.
On the following Sunday, I went out to this place called Misaki with four good friends. Misaki is a fishing port located at the southernmost end of Kanagawa Prefecture (which is right next to Tokyo) and is known for its tuna catches.
The weather wasn’t great, but it was okay meaning we had neither sun nor rain. We could enjoy our ride and we could also have great tuna dishes. In fact, since it was still hot although it wasn’t sunny, I did regret and blamed myself for not bringing my swimming pants when we came to a nice nature park right by the water and all I could do was to feel the breeze. Instead, we happened to come across this summer festival that we didn’t know of and had a blast there.
The same night, we shot off north to the Yokohama Port International Fireworks, and despite the fact we barely made it to the fireworks, we got to see them from the best spot ever. It was not from near the launching sites, but where we were was on this big cable-stayed bridge called Bay Bridge which was close enough to the main site, and it was flippin awesome!! After that we squeezed ourselves through the insane crowd of the Yokohama China Town and had dinner at this place one of my friends recommended.
And on the final day yesterday – which was another super-stormy day – I went to see MI-3 with one of my friends whom I was with the previous day. And then we met up with another friend and went to have kushikatsu.
Kushikatsu is a Japanese dish in which you stick chopped meat and/or fish/clams with also chopped veggies on a fine stick less than a foot long, put deep fry batter on them, sprinkle them with bread crumbs and fry. The place we went to last night had fryers built to each table, and we could make our own favorite kushikatsu by picking out ingredients of our choice and frying them. It’s not just that that makes this place great; it’s an all-you-can-eat place.
Geez, all-you-can-eat-places are nuts. I mean, it was ok when we were young like college students. But the thought that always come to me when I go into one of these places is that if I want to eat more than I paid, I have to eat a lot. Even if I don’t care about getting my money’s worth, when I think that it makes no difference if I eat 10 or 100, I’ll be like “then, why not 100?” and eat a truck load anyway, usually making me super stuffed in the end.
At the table next to us, three young girls were stowing away their kushikatsu and the three of us were like, “yikes, we’ve grown so old...” and left the restaurant soon.
So that was my three-day-weekend. I guess it’s pretty typical as a Japanese.
And my impression on MI-3? Uh, it was ok. Yeah, I could enjoy it. Well, it was more like a spectacular Tom Cruise promotion movie. But because I won’t stop once I start talking about flicks, I won’t go into the movie part this time :P
Saturday I stayed home doing nothing really. Just relaxed and took away my weeks worth of fatigue. It was crazily hot from the morning this day, but as hours passed the sky turned dark bringing big loud thunders and lightening along with pouring rain. Although, it was more like a tropical squall which stopped in an hour or so.
I love the feeling I get on a day like this. I just turn on the A/C to dry mode and loaf around watching TV or surf on the Internet... it just makes you feel right to do these things which otherwise (like in good weather) you might think is a waste of time... or at least I would feel like a waste of time.
On the following Sunday, I went out to this place called Misaki with four good friends. Misaki is a fishing port located at the southernmost end of Kanagawa Prefecture (which is right next to Tokyo) and is known for its tuna catches.
The weather wasn’t great, but it was okay meaning we had neither sun nor rain. We could enjoy our ride and we could also have great tuna dishes. In fact, since it was still hot although it wasn’t sunny, I did regret and blamed myself for not bringing my swimming pants when we came to a nice nature park right by the water and all I could do was to feel the breeze. Instead, we happened to come across this summer festival that we didn’t know of and had a blast there.
The same night, we shot off north to the Yokohama Port International Fireworks, and despite the fact we barely made it to the fireworks, we got to see them from the best spot ever. It was not from near the launching sites, but where we were was on this big cable-stayed bridge called Bay Bridge which was close enough to the main site, and it was flippin awesome!! After that we squeezed ourselves through the insane crowd of the Yokohama China Town and had dinner at this place one of my friends recommended.
And on the final day yesterday – which was another super-stormy day – I went to see MI-3 with one of my friends whom I was with the previous day. And then we met up with another friend and went to have kushikatsu.
Kushikatsu is a Japanese dish in which you stick chopped meat and/or fish/clams with also chopped veggies on a fine stick less than a foot long, put deep fry batter on them, sprinkle them with bread crumbs and fry. The place we went to last night had fryers built to each table, and we could make our own favorite kushikatsu by picking out ingredients of our choice and frying them. It’s not just that that makes this place great; it’s an all-you-can-eat place.
Geez, all-you-can-eat-places are nuts. I mean, it was ok when we were young like college students. But the thought that always come to me when I go into one of these places is that if I want to eat more than I paid, I have to eat a lot. Even if I don’t care about getting my money’s worth, when I think that it makes no difference if I eat 10 or 100, I’ll be like “then, why not 100?” and eat a truck load anyway, usually making me super stuffed in the end.
At the table next to us, three young girls were stowing away their kushikatsu and the three of us were like, “yikes, we’ve grown so old...” and left the restaurant soon.
So that was my three-day-weekend. I guess it’s pretty typical as a Japanese.
And my impression on MI-3? Uh, it was ok. Yeah, I could enjoy it. Well, it was more like a spectacular Tom Cruise promotion movie. But because I won’t stop once I start talking about flicks, I won’t go into the movie part this time :P
14 July, 2006
As Promised, Fresh We Go
So, yesterday I wrote something really muggy and humid and also said I’d go fresh today.
The rain yesterday afternoon wasn’t something that stayed for long. By the time I was finished with this blog it had almost stopped raining. But because of the rain it was really really hot and humid last evening, it was even hard to breathe outside.
The heat hasn’t quite died today: it’s been baking hot today whereas yesterday was more like steaming. The air today wraps and bakes you making you feel like you’re thrown into an oven.
I was like, man, how am I supposed to feel fresh in an environment like this. But then, I found something interesting in a nearby convenience store. This is the thing:
I’m not quite sure how gum is sold in other parts of the world, but this is a typical looking tablet type chewing gum sold anywhere in Tokyo... Except that, as some of you who read Japanese can tell, this one says “otoko-kaoru” which literally means, “men-scented”, and a picture of a rose on the left.
That’s right, this is a magic chewing gum that makes you smell like roses! Wow, what a perfect topic for a nice fresh blog!! ;-)
This is how it works:
This rose-scent-element called geraniol is included in the chewing gum, and when you chew – your body absorbs the scent (geraniol) from your mouth and intestines, and – then the geraniol comes out from your sweat gland along with sweat, enabling you to smell like rose.
Well, dunno how true it is, but it does make me feel like after 2-3 hours of chewing the gum I smell kind of sweet.
People around me tell me that maybe I really do smell kind of sweet.
As probably some of you can guess, this kind of chewing gum originally came out as scented gum for women, but it turned out that men wanted these more than women did so the makers decided to make some specially for men.
Kind of reminds me of some scenes from soap opera where young girls go “Yew dad, you smell bad” and I sometimes hear about similar stories, so if this gum helps the situation in any way, perhaps the daddies might be interested... hmm. Becoming kind of unfresh now :P
So, if anyone’s coming to Japan this summer, it may be interesting to get one as a silly souvenir :P
(and I don’t even know if it’s originally Japanese... or if you guys have similar stuff in your places.)
The rain yesterday afternoon wasn’t something that stayed for long. By the time I was finished with this blog it had almost stopped raining. But because of the rain it was really really hot and humid last evening, it was even hard to breathe outside.
The heat hasn’t quite died today: it’s been baking hot today whereas yesterday was more like steaming. The air today wraps and bakes you making you feel like you’re thrown into an oven.
I was like, man, how am I supposed to feel fresh in an environment like this. But then, I found something interesting in a nearby convenience store. This is the thing:
I’m not quite sure how gum is sold in other parts of the world, but this is a typical looking tablet type chewing gum sold anywhere in Tokyo... Except that, as some of you who read Japanese can tell, this one says “otoko-kaoru” which literally means, “men-scented”, and a picture of a rose on the left.
That’s right, this is a magic chewing gum that makes you smell like roses! Wow, what a perfect topic for a nice fresh blog!! ;-)
This is how it works:
This rose-scent-element called geraniol is included in the chewing gum, and when you chew – your body absorbs the scent (geraniol) from your mouth and intestines, and – then the geraniol comes out from your sweat gland along with sweat, enabling you to smell like rose.
Well, dunno how true it is, but it does make me feel like after 2-3 hours of chewing the gum I smell kind of sweet.
People around me tell me that maybe I really do smell kind of sweet.
As probably some of you can guess, this kind of chewing gum originally came out as scented gum for women, but it turned out that men wanted these more than women did so the makers decided to make some specially for men.
Kind of reminds me of some scenes from soap opera where young girls go “Yew dad, you smell bad” and I sometimes hear about similar stories, so if this gum helps the situation in any way, perhaps the daddies might be interested... hmm. Becoming kind of unfresh now :P
So, if anyone’s coming to Japan this summer, it may be interesting to get one as a silly souvenir :P
(and I don’t even know if it’s originally Japanese... or if you guys have similar stuff in your places.)
13 July, 2006
End of Rainy Season?
It’s kind of gray outside know, but it hasn’t really rained in Tokyo since last Sunday. Plus the temperature is rising higher each day making night sleeps unpleasant and day work tiring.
I think that the Met Office will announce the end of rainy season some time soon.
Next Monday is the Marine Day and its a holiday :-) The first three-day-weekend in a looong time. Can’t wait!
...and as I write, yes of course, it started to rain. I checked the weather forecast just now, and it says rain and clouds for my precious three-day-weekend...!! Does it have to take away all my weekend fun!? Geez the Tokyo sky! It’s getting hot and the Marine Day is coming up and I feel like swimming. But it says that we’ll have rain until next Wednesday... right.
I was gonna write today, alrighty the end of rainy season, and re-start the bright and fresh Okinawa story, but as it turned out, it’s another gloomy passage :-(
I think that the Met Office will announce the end of rainy season some time soon.
Next Monday is the Marine Day and its a holiday :-) The first three-day-weekend in a looong time. Can’t wait!
...and as I write, yes of course, it started to rain. I checked the weather forecast just now, and it says rain and clouds for my precious three-day-weekend...!! Does it have to take away all my weekend fun!? Geez the Tokyo sky! It’s getting hot and the Marine Day is coming up and I feel like swimming. But it says that we’ll have rain until next Wednesday... right.
I was gonna write today, alrighty the end of rainy season, and re-start the bright and fresh Okinawa story, but as it turned out, it’s another gloomy passage :-(
12 July, 2006
Kanji
Those who have visited my web site Japan Mode before may know that I have a feature on it where my team and I convert non-Japanese names into kanji. It’s one of the most popular features on my web site and we receive quite a number of e-mails from viewers requesting to have their names or their family member’s names converted into kanji. The most surprising, yet wonderful one requested us to convert her son’s and daughter’s names into kanji so that she can have them tattooed on her.
When we convert non-Japanese names into kanji, we go through several processes and it takes a bit of time. Most times we start the conversion phonetically, and then semantically. We look through the kanji and choose the ones that look pretty and at the same time create a comprehensive meaning as a complete name. All of us struggle through this process to come up with the best combination possible.
It’s a very careful process to begin with anyway, but when it comes to tattooing, we have to be even more careful cuz it’s something that stays (or, supposedly stays) on that person for his/her whole life, right? I’d have to say I was quite nervous doing these names, but consulted with the client and with great care came up with a couple of combinations.
A few days later, to my great surprise and moreover delight, she sent us a picture of her and the tattoo of her children’s names which we have suggested!!
I knew from the moment I read her first e-mail (request) that this was something big, but when I saw the picture, this great feeling struck through my body.
I realized again that I have gotten engaged with a very important part of her life, and I was deeply moved by it. I also re-felt the attraction of kanji’s meaning and beauty, and I really mean this, we all feel so grateful to her that she decided to use our suggestion as a life-long treasure. Thank you!
Today, I am updating the Japan Mode Kanji with some of the requested names that the clients agreed to have them displayed on the web site. Come have a look! The same name as yours may be on it.
The beauty of the shape, the wonder and fascination of the meanings each kanji holds...
If you are interested in kanji – not only you want your name converted – give us an e-mail anytime :-)
When we convert non-Japanese names into kanji, we go through several processes and it takes a bit of time. Most times we start the conversion phonetically, and then semantically. We look through the kanji and choose the ones that look pretty and at the same time create a comprehensive meaning as a complete name. All of us struggle through this process to come up with the best combination possible.
It’s a very careful process to begin with anyway, but when it comes to tattooing, we have to be even more careful cuz it’s something that stays (or, supposedly stays) on that person for his/her whole life, right? I’d have to say I was quite nervous doing these names, but consulted with the client and with great care came up with a couple of combinations.
A few days later, to my great surprise and moreover delight, she sent us a picture of her and the tattoo of her children’s names which we have suggested!!
I knew from the moment I read her first e-mail (request) that this was something big, but when I saw the picture, this great feeling struck through my body.
I realized again that I have gotten engaged with a very important part of her life, and I was deeply moved by it. I also re-felt the attraction of kanji’s meaning and beauty, and I really mean this, we all feel so grateful to her that she decided to use our suggestion as a life-long treasure. Thank you!
Today, I am updating the Japan Mode Kanji with some of the requested names that the clients agreed to have them displayed on the web site. Come have a look! The same name as yours may be on it.
The beauty of the shape, the wonder and fascination of the meanings each kanji holds...
If you are interested in kanji – not only you want your name converted – give us an e-mail anytime :-)
11 July, 2006
Gazillion Summer Events
Last Saturday I went to take some pictures for Japan Mode Photo Gallery to Asagao Ichi (Morning Glory Fair) in Uguisudani, and last night I went to the Hozuki Ichi (Ground Cherry Fair) in Asakusa also to take some pictures. I was at the morning glory fair in during the day and the hohzuki fair at night, and both were very crowded and made me re-feel the crazy crowd here in Tokyo.
Since both are fairs selling plants, the atmosphere was basically the same. The vendors were energetic and the customers were sort of elegant with their summer yukata on. Because I’m not originally from Tokyo, it was quite fresh and fun seeing how the summer fairs and festivals are like in Tokyo.
For the details of the fairs, give me just a little more time and I’ll post the pics on Japan Mode PHOTO. Keep tuned!
Anyway, I noticed that from July throughout August there are a BUNCH of events going on somewhere everyday. The fireworks start in the end of this month, and it really makes me feel summery. Besides the fireworks, swimming pool and sea. A number of beaches swimming pools at amusement spots have opened at once for the season just recently. There are so many swimming pools in Tokyo where you don’t just swim but play, like water sliders and wavy pools and spas where you can go in with your swimming suit on, so on so forth.
Still, my favorite is the one I went to a lot when I still lived in Osaka, and it’s called Freizeit Bentencho (it’s called Yunokuni Japon now: http://www.eeoyu.com/konamiyu/benten/benten.html ). It’s a dome style swimming pool so you can swim there all year round, and the best part was the one called Sky River. Sky River is a swimming pool built in the air with transparent boards, and because the water and boards are all transparent it makes you feel like you’re swimming in air about 5-6 meters above the floor and it’s really cool. I loved it so much. If any of you reading this live in or near Osaka, I strongly recommend the place.
For those of you who’d rather go to salt water, in Kanto the place would be Kamakura Chigasaki or Kujukurihama in Chiba. If you go a bit further down along the Pacific Coast as far as Izu, then you get more clear water. In my case, if I had to step out of Tokyo anyway, I’d go as far as Okinawa :-D
Since both are fairs selling plants, the atmosphere was basically the same. The vendors were energetic and the customers were sort of elegant with their summer yukata on. Because I’m not originally from Tokyo, it was quite fresh and fun seeing how the summer fairs and festivals are like in Tokyo.
For the details of the fairs, give me just a little more time and I’ll post the pics on Japan Mode PHOTO. Keep tuned!
Anyway, I noticed that from July throughout August there are a BUNCH of events going on somewhere everyday. The fireworks start in the end of this month, and it really makes me feel summery. Besides the fireworks, swimming pool and sea. A number of beaches swimming pools at amusement spots have opened at once for the season just recently. There are so many swimming pools in Tokyo where you don’t just swim but play, like water sliders and wavy pools and spas where you can go in with your swimming suit on, so on so forth.
Still, my favorite is the one I went to a lot when I still lived in Osaka, and it’s called Freizeit Bentencho (it’s called Yunokuni Japon now: http://www.eeoyu.com/konamiyu/benten/benten.html ). It’s a dome style swimming pool so you can swim there all year round, and the best part was the one called Sky River. Sky River is a swimming pool built in the air with transparent boards, and because the water and boards are all transparent it makes you feel like you’re swimming in air about 5-6 meters above the floor and it’s really cool. I loved it so much. If any of you reading this live in or near Osaka, I strongly recommend the place.
For those of you who’d rather go to salt water, in Kanto the place would be Kamakura Chigasaki or Kujukurihama in Chiba. If you go a bit further down along the Pacific Coast as far as Izu, then you get more clear water. In my case, if I had to step out of Tokyo anyway, I’d go as far as Okinawa :-D
10 July, 2006
Dumb-Struck
It happened at the end of the match.
After announcing his retirement from soccer after this Cup, literally the very last match, the final match.
At such “memorable” stage, he decided to work violence against his opponent.
What made him act like that, what actually happened in front of my own eyes, no one – the audience at the stadium, the TV announcers, the analysts, and me in front of the TV – could understand.
He=Zinedine Zidane left his last pitch with a red card.
I suppose every single person watching this game had the question in their minds, WHY?
Why would he do this? He knew most well that this was his last match of his professional soccer life.
Now at this point of writing this blog, nearly 12 hours have passed but the Japanese media hasn’t been able to figure out the true reason for this behavior. All we’ve been told is that he regrets it, but is not so sorry about it.
A gentleman like him, suddenly enraged like that and not feeling sorry – what was it? As far as I can guess, right before he went head-butt he looked like he was exchanging some phrases with Materazzi...
I don’t know if that was the actual trigger, or if there’s something else/more to it.
Like many people know, the result was an Italian victory after PK.
I’m actually surprised at how shocked I am not so much by the result but by my favorite player’s odd acting. It’s really depressing.
But Thank You anyway, Zidane.
I had a marvelous time watching your play over the years. You were the one who turned me into one soccer freak from a baseball boy. You got me to know another element of life that’s more than fun.
I won’t be able to see you play, but I will never forget every movement you made on the pitch with the fantastic and “kind” pass and all that.
Now there’s one less expectation in my life, but I’ll keep on being a fanatic supporter for France in terms of soccer. Because you played.
And Thank You All-French. Thank You World Cup. Thank You Soccer.
Last but not least, sorry for writing so much not only about plain soccer but about France (not Japan). I’ll get back to the normal Japan essays tomorrow (hopefully).
After announcing his retirement from soccer after this Cup, literally the very last match, the final match.
At such “memorable” stage, he decided to work violence against his opponent.
What made him act like that, what actually happened in front of my own eyes, no one – the audience at the stadium, the TV announcers, the analysts, and me in front of the TV – could understand.
He=Zinedine Zidane left his last pitch with a red card.
I suppose every single person watching this game had the question in their minds, WHY?
Why would he do this? He knew most well that this was his last match of his professional soccer life.
Now at this point of writing this blog, nearly 12 hours have passed but the Japanese media hasn’t been able to figure out the true reason for this behavior. All we’ve been told is that he regrets it, but is not so sorry about it.
A gentleman like him, suddenly enraged like that and not feeling sorry – what was it? As far as I can guess, right before he went head-butt he looked like he was exchanging some phrases with Materazzi...
I don’t know if that was the actual trigger, or if there’s something else/more to it.
Like many people know, the result was an Italian victory after PK.
I’m actually surprised at how shocked I am not so much by the result but by my favorite player’s odd acting. It’s really depressing.
But Thank You anyway, Zidane.
I had a marvelous time watching your play over the years. You were the one who turned me into one soccer freak from a baseball boy. You got me to know another element of life that’s more than fun.
I won’t be able to see you play, but I will never forget every movement you made on the pitch with the fantastic and “kind” pass and all that.
Now there’s one less expectation in my life, but I’ll keep on being a fanatic supporter for France in terms of soccer. Because you played.
And Thank You All-French. Thank You World Cup. Thank You Soccer.
Last but not least, sorry for writing so much not only about plain soccer but about France (not Japan). I’ll get back to the normal Japan essays tomorrow (hopefully).
07 July, 2006
Tanabata
I’ve been so busy these days that I didn’t even realize that it’s been a week since we entered July.
In Japan, July 7th is a festival day for Tanabata, and we write our wishes on a slip of paper and hang them on bamboo branches (leaves?). Usually, the rainy season clears soon after this Tanabata day, but I’m not really sure about this year.
The weather of Tokyo today, by the way, is cloudy and the front doesn’t look like it’s going to move away any time soon. Plus I hear a typhoon is nearing Kyushu, so I guess I’m going to have to spend a few more weekends inside my house :-(
Well I suppose it’s a good chance to rest my ragged body cuz I am exhausted this week more than the previous several weeks. And then there’s the championship match of the FIFA World Cup of course on early Monday morning (that’s before the break of dawn) so yeah, I think I can manage staying home, but I am sick of rain.
And it’s the clearance season! Bargain here bargain there... the whole city’s like a mess of cheapened stuff and people swarming. I did get the cargo pants I’ve wanted for a long time, but half because of the rain I’ve hadn’t had much chance to go see my other favorite shops.
So, I know I’d been skipping writing a bunch I want to write about. The latter part of my Okinawa stories and the North Korea’s missiles’ story, and by the time I write here on Monday the World Cup’ll be over too... that’s kinda sad. I’ll miss the big games and Zidane, too! Anyway, I hope to write about a bunch of things that’s been on my mind for days.
Okie-doke, I’m off writing my wish on the Tanabata paper... “I want to see a big wide smile on Zidane’s face” :-)
In Japan, July 7th is a festival day for Tanabata, and we write our wishes on a slip of paper and hang them on bamboo branches (leaves?). Usually, the rainy season clears soon after this Tanabata day, but I’m not really sure about this year.
The weather of Tokyo today, by the way, is cloudy and the front doesn’t look like it’s going to move away any time soon. Plus I hear a typhoon is nearing Kyushu, so I guess I’m going to have to spend a few more weekends inside my house :-(
Well I suppose it’s a good chance to rest my ragged body cuz I am exhausted this week more than the previous several weeks. And then there’s the championship match of the FIFA World Cup of course on early Monday morning (that’s before the break of dawn) so yeah, I think I can manage staying home, but I am sick of rain.
And it’s the clearance season! Bargain here bargain there... the whole city’s like a mess of cheapened stuff and people swarming. I did get the cargo pants I’ve wanted for a long time, but half because of the rain I’ve hadn’t had much chance to go see my other favorite shops.
So, I know I’d been skipping writing a bunch I want to write about. The latter part of my Okinawa stories and the North Korea’s missiles’ story, and by the time I write here on Monday the World Cup’ll be over too... that’s kinda sad. I’ll miss the big games and Zidane, too! Anyway, I hope to write about a bunch of things that’s been on my mind for days.
Okie-doke, I’m off writing my wish on the Tanabata paper... “I want to see a big wide smile on Zidane’s face” :-)
06 July, 2006
The Japanese Sense of Crisis 2
Part of the military training, right.
North Korea officially admitted the fact of launching seven ballistic missiles but their claim is that its for the strengthening of its national defense.
As far as I could see from the news today, the topic seems to be already fading to some extent. So is the whole country like, “here they go again”? And while we’re like this, North Korea made clear that they are going to continue on this...
Sooo... is this something that can be “okay-ed”? What do you guys from outside Japan think about the whole issue? I’m really curious to know how the other parts of the world consider this problem.
I suppose the people here wouldn’t really realize how big the issue is until some damage is done, and then they (or we) are going to accuse the Japanese government for not taking considerate enough care.
I feel like there are many (and I mean many) aspects in Japan where the Japanese people show this vague “so-what” kind of attitude... hard to describe, but this character of leaving things alone until some serious problem comes up. Religion, too. I guess sometimes it’s good that people aren’t so strict about holding one and only ideas, but sometimes I think it could be the downside. Maybe I’ll write down my thoughts on that sometime later.
Well the biggest thing I want to say right now is about the match this morning (of course the one between France and Portugal!!) and that it was really scary. Portugal was being quite aggressive (in sports term) and France did manage to protect the goal... and Henry got this super chance of PK and Zidane beautifully made it! But Portugal didn’t weaken in the latter half and, whoa, this one really made me tired. This time I didn’t dance with joy but instead kind of fell to the floor with relief rather than excitement.
So next, Italians! This is really going to be a marvelous game, I know it! ...except that the match is going to be on late Sunday night...
North Korea officially admitted the fact of launching seven ballistic missiles but their claim is that its for the strengthening of its national defense.
As far as I could see from the news today, the topic seems to be already fading to some extent. So is the whole country like, “here they go again”? And while we’re like this, North Korea made clear that they are going to continue on this...
Sooo... is this something that can be “okay-ed”? What do you guys from outside Japan think about the whole issue? I’m really curious to know how the other parts of the world consider this problem.
I suppose the people here wouldn’t really realize how big the issue is until some damage is done, and then they (or we) are going to accuse the Japanese government for not taking considerate enough care.
I feel like there are many (and I mean many) aspects in Japan where the Japanese people show this vague “so-what” kind of attitude... hard to describe, but this character of leaving things alone until some serious problem comes up. Religion, too. I guess sometimes it’s good that people aren’t so strict about holding one and only ideas, but sometimes I think it could be the downside. Maybe I’ll write down my thoughts on that sometime later.
Well the biggest thing I want to say right now is about the match this morning (of course the one between France and Portugal!!) and that it was really scary. Portugal was being quite aggressive (in sports term) and France did manage to protect the goal... and Henry got this super chance of PK and Zidane beautifully made it! But Portugal didn’t weaken in the latter half and, whoa, this one really made me tired. This time I didn’t dance with joy but instead kind of fell to the floor with relief rather than excitement.
So next, Italians! This is really going to be a marvelous game, I know it! ...except that the match is going to be on late Sunday night...
05 July, 2006
The Japanese Sense of Crisis
This morning all that was in my mind was, “damn it I couldn’t get up for Germany – Italy, which won?” and then I turned on the TV to see the results of the match. But what I saw on every channel were the usually cheery gossip show personalities and newscasters having this really grave expressions on their faces. I thought for a moment, “what happened?” but as I watched the show I found out that North Korea had launched out 6 consecutive missiles including ballistic ones in five hours from around 3:30-8:30am. All of them went down in to Japan Sea few hundred kilometers away from the west coast of Japan but I heard that one of the six could be Tepodon, a ballistic missile with range of 3,500-6,000 kilometers...
The Japanese government showed strong condemnation against the acts of North Korea, and decided to ban the entrance of cargo-passenger boat into Japan for 6 months starting today as well as to remonstrating.
Is that all? was my honest opinion... I mean, we could have had 6 missile attacks and all we do is to stop the boat? Isn’t that a bit too easy on them?
Okay, it’s true that our daily lives haven’t changed a bit by the attacks – we do talk about it but everything is smooth and is functioning on time and all that – and we don’t really sense any realistic danger despite being potentially targeted. But what do you guys think if 6 missiles dropped near your country?
...and as I write like this right now, here comes the seventh one. It’s just too bad that this is like the only thing they’re spending their scarce money on and knowing how they are going to be reacted.
True none of them actually hit Japan, but this is getting a bit too much and I don’t think it’s the smartest decision they can make.
Sorry I haven’t got much time, I gotta go now so this’ll continue to tomorrow (which makes Okinawa stories go on even further). Alrighty, France and Portugal tomorrow dawn! Hehe, I guess I’m also one of those that lack sense of life-threatening danger.
The Japanese government showed strong condemnation against the acts of North Korea, and decided to ban the entrance of cargo-passenger boat into Japan for 6 months starting today as well as to remonstrating.
Is that all? was my honest opinion... I mean, we could have had 6 missile attacks and all we do is to stop the boat? Isn’t that a bit too easy on them?
Okay, it’s true that our daily lives haven’t changed a bit by the attacks – we do talk about it but everything is smooth and is functioning on time and all that – and we don’t really sense any realistic danger despite being potentially targeted. But what do you guys think if 6 missiles dropped near your country?
...and as I write like this right now, here comes the seventh one. It’s just too bad that this is like the only thing they’re spending their scarce money on and knowing how they are going to be reacted.
True none of them actually hit Japan, but this is getting a bit too much and I don’t think it’s the smartest decision they can make.
Sorry I haven’t got much time, I gotta go now so this’ll continue to tomorrow (which makes Okinawa stories go on even further). Alrighty, France and Portugal tomorrow dawn! Hehe, I guess I’m also one of those that lack sense of life-threatening danger.
04 July, 2006
Caught up with reality
Umm, life is getting kind of messy and now I’m so overwhelmed with work that maybe it’s not time for me to be (spiritwise) carried away World Cup soccer and at the same time dream and be nostalgic about those fantastic days in Okinawa!
I know being busy is better than having no jobs and tasks in your hands, but I’m sorry to tell you that I might not have enough time to spare for this blog. Well, it’s not like this is a blog with a million access a day and hardly anyone’s gonna miss it :p lol
By the way, you write “to lose (lose as in die) your heart/mind)” as the kanji for “busy-ness”.
When the situation is like this, it makes me want to go to Okinawa so much more cuz its so relaxing over there... so we start from the noctiluca today.
Noctiluca – that was the first time for me to hear the word, and because I’m never really happy with anything that has to do with bugs and insects frankly I wasn’t so keen on the idea of going out to see bugs. But my friend insisted that they are not like the “bugs” I had in mind, and also said that we might not be able to see it anymore, so I said yeah why not and we went out.
Until we did so I was assuming that we were going to head towards the mountain but it turned out that he went straight for the beach. It took me seconds to learn that these noctiluca are out in the ocean.
I was still imagining that because of the sound “yakouchu” (night – light – bug/insect) it would look something like fireflies. But even when we got to the waterfront we couldn’t see anything but the black ocean and the starry sky and nothing was really glowing or flashing except for the stars above.
Then, my friend suddenly when splash splash into the water without any hesitation. And then, the water surface glowed around his feet. That was good enough to get draw me into the water. So I did, and as I did I noticed that when I moved my feet in the water something – something fluorescent – glowed around my feet, too. But it wasn’t reflection or anything of that kind. My feet were obviously hitting something in the water.
I learned later that “noctilucae” are a kind of tiny tiny protistica and they glow when something stimulates them. Well, if you say that’s that scientifically it is nothing more than protist but when you actually see it with your own eyes it’s something more illusionary and fantastic. It was fun, too, cuz they moved around along with every move I made. My friend told me that when he was here before he could see a whole lot more, but the number seems to be shrinking rather rapidly. Coral reefs, too.
So for next time, the story of the rest of the night and the coral crisis.
I know being busy is better than having no jobs and tasks in your hands, but I’m sorry to tell you that I might not have enough time to spare for this blog. Well, it’s not like this is a blog with a million access a day and hardly anyone’s gonna miss it :p lol
By the way, you write “to lose (lose as in die) your heart/mind)” as the kanji for “busy-ness”.
When the situation is like this, it makes me want to go to Okinawa so much more cuz its so relaxing over there... so we start from the noctiluca today.
Noctiluca – that was the first time for me to hear the word, and because I’m never really happy with anything that has to do with bugs and insects frankly I wasn’t so keen on the idea of going out to see bugs. But my friend insisted that they are not like the “bugs” I had in mind, and also said that we might not be able to see it anymore, so I said yeah why not and we went out.
Until we did so I was assuming that we were going to head towards the mountain but it turned out that he went straight for the beach. It took me seconds to learn that these noctiluca are out in the ocean.
I was still imagining that because of the sound “yakouchu” (night – light – bug/insect) it would look something like fireflies. But even when we got to the waterfront we couldn’t see anything but the black ocean and the starry sky and nothing was really glowing or flashing except for the stars above.
Then, my friend suddenly when splash splash into the water without any hesitation. And then, the water surface glowed around his feet. That was good enough to get draw me into the water. So I did, and as I did I noticed that when I moved my feet in the water something – something fluorescent – glowed around my feet, too. But it wasn’t reflection or anything of that kind. My feet were obviously hitting something in the water.
I learned later that “noctilucae” are a kind of tiny tiny protistica and they glow when something stimulates them. Well, if you say that’s that scientifically it is nothing more than protist but when you actually see it with your own eyes it’s something more illusionary and fantastic. It was fun, too, cuz they moved around along with every move I made. My friend told me that when he was here before he could see a whole lot more, but the number seems to be shrinking rather rapidly. Coral reefs, too.
So for next time, the story of the rest of the night and the coral crisis.
03 July, 2006
The “Bleu” Weekend
And here they go again!!
Who saw the match!? Hooray Le Bleu!! That’s the way to go!!
They’ve won the ticket to the semifinals… from the champion of champions Brazil! How more excited can I be!? We have all the matches beyond quarterfinals on ground wave so I could see the match of fate from the beginning all the way to the very end, and I did not miss one second of it. Because I didn’t have many chances to see France’s previous matches on ground wave during this World Cup, I was already too excited just to be able to watch one.
Just like any quarterfinal match this too was a match of high skills and strategy, so although it seemed to me that France led the match more than Brazil did, I could never rest my feelings cuz you just never know when Brazil’s strikes would explode!! I was so nervous during the match that after the first half ended 0-0 I couldn’t sit still and ended up going out for a short walk.
The flow from Zidane’s FK to Henry’s shot in the latter half was just excellent. It was absolutely beautiful. How could Henry jump out unmarked? What was Brazil’s DF doing? It was really amazing.
In the end Brazil had Cafu as their captain but my view is that one of the reasons for Brazil’s defeat was the inability to set one or two players as the real core of the match. I think that they did a good job against lower ranked teams with their individual high techniques, but even those skills and techniques weren’t as good as the Frenchmen’s unity of the world’s best DF players. In that sense, the match could have looked similar if they played against Italy. Well, too many talents in one team, I think.
On the other hand, Zidane was captain and center of the match, quite easy right? This way the ones with experiences on top of skills could move around making their strategy effective and didn’t leave space for the Brazilians to show their individualistic plays. That’s the way I see it, now that I’m a bit more settled excitement-wise. All I could do while the match was going on – especially the last ten minutes – was to have my eyes glued to the TV monitor and pray for the victory of France at the same time I danced with excitement and joy.
Actually, I can’t even remember the moment of victory cuz I was way too excited. After a while I suddenly realized that I had made a mess in my room with uniforms and all that :p
Coming next, Portugal! Quite energetic and most of all the great man Figo! Just the perfect team to play against. And who can miss Italy versus Germany!? Is Germany going to show its power as the host country? Or is Italy going to stand in front of them with their favorite catenaccio? The matches from now on are all going to be broadcasted from 4:00 in the morning… can I watch all of them!? And would I still be able to come to work!? And when is the Okinawa thing going to end? Keep your eyes on my scribbling here!
Who saw the match!? Hooray Le Bleu!! That’s the way to go!!
They’ve won the ticket to the semifinals… from the champion of champions Brazil! How more excited can I be!? We have all the matches beyond quarterfinals on ground wave so I could see the match of fate from the beginning all the way to the very end, and I did not miss one second of it. Because I didn’t have many chances to see France’s previous matches on ground wave during this World Cup, I was already too excited just to be able to watch one.
Just like any quarterfinal match this too was a match of high skills and strategy, so although it seemed to me that France led the match more than Brazil did, I could never rest my feelings cuz you just never know when Brazil’s strikes would explode!! I was so nervous during the match that after the first half ended 0-0 I couldn’t sit still and ended up going out for a short walk.
The flow from Zidane’s FK to Henry’s shot in the latter half was just excellent. It was absolutely beautiful. How could Henry jump out unmarked? What was Brazil’s DF doing? It was really amazing.
In the end Brazil had Cafu as their captain but my view is that one of the reasons for Brazil’s defeat was the inability to set one or two players as the real core of the match. I think that they did a good job against lower ranked teams with their individual high techniques, but even those skills and techniques weren’t as good as the Frenchmen’s unity of the world’s best DF players. In that sense, the match could have looked similar if they played against Italy. Well, too many talents in one team, I think.
On the other hand, Zidane was captain and center of the match, quite easy right? This way the ones with experiences on top of skills could move around making their strategy effective and didn’t leave space for the Brazilians to show their individualistic plays. That’s the way I see it, now that I’m a bit more settled excitement-wise. All I could do while the match was going on – especially the last ten minutes – was to have my eyes glued to the TV monitor and pray for the victory of France at the same time I danced with excitement and joy.
Actually, I can’t even remember the moment of victory cuz I was way too excited. After a while I suddenly realized that I had made a mess in my room with uniforms and all that :p
Coming next, Portugal! Quite energetic and most of all the great man Figo! Just the perfect team to play against. And who can miss Italy versus Germany!? Is Germany going to show its power as the host country? Or is Italy going to stand in front of them with their favorite catenaccio? The matches from now on are all going to be broadcasted from 4:00 in the morning… can I watch all of them!? And would I still be able to come to work!? And when is the Okinawa thing going to end? Keep your eyes on my scribbling here!
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