tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35772207440663924292024-03-19T18:22:11.949+09:00JapanCeciliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061122323528396071noreply@blogger.comBlogger684125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577220744066392429.post-2495305674388653622016-07-10T22:42:00.000+09:002016-07-11T20:31:29.476+09:00(More) Dark days in Japan
Today Japan had national elections for the Upper House. They were critical elections because the Liberal Democratic Party - who are anything but liberal or democratic - already has a "super majority" in the lower house. A super majority - 2/3 - in the upper house will mean that the Constitution can be amended by a referendum that needs only 50% approval. The goal of PM Abe is to Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09752281125229102422noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577220744066392429.post-39394125082731363752016-05-11T23:21:00.001+09:002016-05-13T08:35:59.709+09:00The legend of the Namahage and Goshado
This is a direct cut and paste from the Akita prefecture page on Cultural Assets.
http://www.namahage-oga.akita.jp/english/
Picture: Dedication of a peach to the emperor Wu of the Han/Akagami Shrine collectionIn the ancient Han dynasty of China, the emperor Wu came to Oga with five bats to find a medicinal plant for an elixir of immortality. The five bats transformed into demons and Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09752281125229102422noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577220744066392429.post-24442982556795414212016-05-11T23:19:00.002+09:002016-05-11T23:19:25.091+09:00Oga, Akagami, Goshado, Namagahe
From the former lake, formerly know as Hachirogata we went to the coast of Oga Peninsula, On the map below you can see the former lake surrounded by a thin blue line (canal) with roads that are unusually straight for Japan.
Monzen, a small fishing village on the southern coast of Oga
On the sign here you can see in the bottom left series of maps that Oga used to be an island, when Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09752281125229102422noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577220744066392429.post-49741224470159616232016-05-05T22:38:00.003+09:002016-05-05T22:38:25.789+09:00Golden Week in Akita - Hachirogata and Gojo(no)meGolden week wasn't much of a week this year. Friday 29 (Showa/ Hirohito day) was a holiday. Tues 3 (Constitution Day)- was a also a holiday - though a bit of a thorny issue at the moment since the government has made laws to circumvent Article 9 of the Constitution - that Japan not fight wars of aggression or the wars of other countries. One university I teach at had Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09752281125229102422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577220744066392429.post-68916071803517047272016-05-05T07:15:00.004+09:002016-05-05T07:15:58.024+09:00A naming puzzle - NeWomanThe English on this new shopping area of Shinjuku - NeWoman - looks like the pronunciation is New Woman.
The Japanese pronunciation - as rendered by katakana - is New Man...
Clueless English, or a gender statement. I assume the former.
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09752281125229102422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577220744066392429.post-4981998840730240772015-12-19T10:51:00.001+09:002015-12-19T10:51:38.675+09:00Aruki Sumaho - Walking while using your phone.NTT's commercial speaks for itself:
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09752281125229102422noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577220744066392429.post-64501135034654371072015-11-01T10:53:00.000+09:002015-11-16T15:59:58.024+09:00Protest Japan style
Seen in Komagome yesterday... on the campaign poster for PM Abe, the kanji - noroi - has been written. Noroi means hex or curse, so "Hex on PM Abe". There was no similar message on the poster below, the local member from the same party. correction, the poster below is from a Komeito member - the junior coalition party of the LDP. She is not from the LDP.
Graffiti is Ceciliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061122323528396071noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577220744066392429.post-59839247050901271862015-09-19T11:58:00.002+09:002015-09-19T18:41:30.365+09:00Protests and pictures
The protests are broken up by the police. Not in the sense that people can't protest, but in the sense that they keep people from forming a mass group. They say it's about safety, but it's not because the police buses are parked end to end and if someone did for example have a heart attack, they are locked in by the barricades and the buses
The real reason is to stop the protesters Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09752281125229102422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577220744066392429.post-9129310652154985572015-09-19T11:36:00.000+09:002015-09-19T11:36:15.678+09:00The War Bills into law
Police and barricades outside the Diet..
From the photos above, it looks like Japan is in a state of martial law. It was so ironic that the police were there to monitor the protesters who were scrupulously obeying the law, when the politicians inside were the ones breaking the law
On December 14 last year, the Japanese PM called an early election. The reason for calling the Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09752281125229102422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577220744066392429.post-17072691491373453842015-08-19T23:12:00.004+09:002015-08-22T21:34:02.426+09:00Tambo Art, Inakadate, 2015
This year's theme at Inakadate's ricefield art was Gone with the Wind. Hiro's father has a particular fondness for the movie and so we popped into see it on our way to Mt Hakkoda. The detail that they achieve through different coloured rice is truly remarkable.
The second feature was Star Wars.
A tribute to Ken Takakura
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09752281125229102422noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577220744066392429.post-49141357267374853192015-08-19T21:36:00.001+09:002015-08-20T08:43:49.796+09:00Hachimantai 3: Late summer flowers of Hachimantai
I don't remember the names of any except the white one in the top row - umebachi. Locals are forecasting an early winter. The umebachi is an autumn flower and is already out, but to be fair according to the old Japanese calendar, autumn started last week.
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09752281125229102422noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577220744066392429.post-15345657893940035102015-08-19T18:23:00.004+09:002015-08-19T23:13:45.315+09:00Hachimantai 2: Hachimantai National Park.From Fukenoyu we went on to the opening where you can climb Mt Hachimantai itself, but since you're already so high, the summit is a stroll rather than mountain climbing. We were there in the summer two years ago but the weather conditions didn't lend themselves to walking around then.
Hachimantai National Park
The area is well signposted, though only in Japanese.
To be Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09752281125229102422noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577220744066392429.post-38452020531356473642015-08-19T08:58:00.000+09:002015-08-20T14:38:27.735+09:00Logistics of Hachimantai
A big part of the reason that tourists don't go to the area, despite it being quite beautiful
and despite it having terrific onsen
is that the transport is more complex and less frequent than the Shinkansen. This give you some idea (picture taken in 2013) so don't use for accuracy.
Bus information is now online in English. It probably needs looking at with google maps inCeciliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061122323528396071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577220744066392429.post-50526821955318051452015-08-18T15:13:00.002+09:002015-08-25T17:48:04.368+09:00Hachimantai 1 Visitor centre & Fukenoyu
Hiro's parents are avid mountain climbers, and were keen to go mountain climbing / hiking while I was up there. The first day we went to Hachimantai National Park. I have been to the visitor centre opposite Lake Onuma many times, but never to the volcano that is just behind it...
A mud volcano, a characteristic of the area
Steam rising from the mud
Hydrangeas in August!
Mud Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09752281125229102422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577220744066392429.post-24506910918556384912015-08-18T10:34:00.001+09:002015-08-18T10:38:07.063+09:00Obon - the way up
I have just returned from an Obon trip to Akita. I'd considered taking the night bus, because it's more time efficient, but being Obon, seats were fully booked by the time I got around to inquiring. But the trains are fun. They were more crowded than usual, perhaps due to the route I took, but more likely because of the Obon season. It was the first time to see people travelling Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09752281125229102422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577220744066392429.post-45873356354411705272015-06-12T23:03:00.000+09:002015-06-12T23:03:40.763+09:00A tanuki in the garden
What a surprise to see this while out and about in Tokyo today. I couldn't make out what it was. A handbag sized dog? An exotic cat, since it had the mannerisms that were akin to a cat...? I asked a passerby and she said it was a tanuki. It looks nothing like my image of a tanuki a furry "raccoon dog" according to my dictionary... apparently tanuki in many parts of Japan have Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09752281125229102422noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577220744066392429.post-40439163649859547862015-06-08T09:52:00.000+09:002015-06-08T09:52:16.071+09:00Seasonal chips
Peach, mandarin, banana flavoured potato chips
It perhaps doesn't compete with Vegemite Cadbury's dairy milk, but the supermarket last night was selling peach, mandarin and banana flavoured potato chips. Hiro, being a sucker for food novelty (which doesn't extend to Vegemite chocolate) opted to buy the peach and the mandarin. Ghastly stuff. Resist the temptation..!
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09752281125229102422noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577220744066392429.post-82288835108716938532015-05-16T11:35:00.002+09:002015-05-23T08:43:16.953+09:00Shirakami, the unexplored Akita side. Buna no Mori Koen
At Teihazaka there was a sign for Buna no Mori Koen a few kilometres down the road. Since we'd already come an hour to Tehaizaka, it seemed a pity to miss the opportunity to see what was at the "Beech Tree park". According to the welcome sigh it was opened in in Heisei 9 (1997) when Shirakami Sanchi was registered as a UNESCO Natural World Heritage sight. It was so pretty, and Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09752281125229102422noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577220744066392429.post-49861965801838638812015-05-11T18:18:00.002+09:002015-08-30T15:08:57.230+09:00Tehaizaka
In Golden Week 2011, we visited the abandoned village of Tehaizaka in Happo, northern Akita. At the time I was amazed how totally off tourism radar it was; it's still far far from the radar now. In fact it's so far off the radar that my blog is still about the only thing that comes up for it in an English Google Search....
It was stark and forlorn before. and I wanted to come Ceciliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061122323528396071noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577220744066392429.post-19571552818458676122015-05-07T22:30:00.001+09:002015-05-23T08:44:55.400+09:00Golden Week: Iwaki san
Hiro's SIL and nieces came to stay for a night. We went on a trip to Iwaki san near Hirosaki in Aomori prefecture, about an hour and a half by car. It's apple blossom season at the moment, and Hirosaki is the capital of apples in all Japan. The day was a little hazy, and we couldn't see as far as Hokkaido, but it was a very pleasant day out.
Mt Iwaki
Shirakami Sanchi World Heritage Area Ceciliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061122323528396071noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577220744066392429.post-39721666996772117852015-05-07T18:43:00.002+09:002015-05-23T08:45:45.371+09:00Golden week: Fukushima and YamagataGolden week has been and gone. The unseasonably warm weather provided ideal conditions for biking. We left the expressway at Fukushima and travelled through the lesser travelled roads of Fukushima and Yamagata.
Mt Bandai, Fukushima
Ura Bandai
Lake Hibara which is apparently a mesotrophic lake, formed when Bandai san errupted
in the late 1800s.
Lake Hibara
We took the the road aroundCeciliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061122323528396071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577220744066392429.post-42969672989922387722015-04-23T19:06:00.001+09:002015-04-23T19:08:38.424+09:00Liberation Day: a symbol of times that have changedToday, 23rd of April is the memorial day for the Liberation of Nanjing.
Living in China was the first time to hear about Nanjing Liberation Day. I assumed, naively, it was commemorating the relief and exhausted elation that must have followed the Japanese withdrawal from the city. But it wasn't.
In the decades after the war the struggle was internal: the enemy was within. Nanjing's Ceciliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061122323528396071noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577220744066392429.post-9646581899908229162015-04-19T20:28:00.001+09:002015-04-20T10:39:25.222+09:00If I were writing the history curriculum.All school curricula are ideological: what they contain reflects society's, or at least the elite's ideas about what is important. Aborigines used not to feature in Australian school history books; Australia was first settled in 1788, and there begins Australian history. Nowdays, Aboriginal history is integral to the curriculum. Countries and governments make very deliberate choices Ceciliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061122323528396071noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577220744066392429.post-79152334631834618162015-04-19T18:55:00.002+09:002015-04-19T21:34:23.050+09:00History education and a classroom anecdote
In a previous incarnation I used to be a history teacher, and as such stories about way that history is taught - or not taught - are close to my heart.
As I've already written, here Disquiet about the current government's tendency towards historical revisionism has been growing among liberals* in Japan. I've already written about this a few weeks ago. The issue of historyCeciliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061122323528396071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3577220744066392429.post-56485632981714285082015-04-13T08:35:00.000+09:002015-04-13T14:49:01.299+09:00Tokyo picture quiz
I'm teaching a course that's going to focus on tourism in Japan. Even though students are mostly from Tokyo, it often seems that many have little idea of the city. The construction site (the new fish markets) will probably be substituted before the class.
Any takers? If the place taken from and the subject are clearly different, both should be mentioned.
P.S. Many thanks to my little Ceciliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03061122323528396071noreply@blogger.com5