One of my resolutions for this new year has been to read more. Lately, it seems like all I ever do read are blog posts and excerpts from IT publications.
That said, I’ve decided to combine this task with the ability for me to further pontificate on all things Japan by establishing the semi-official, Giant Enemy Crab 2010 Murakami Haruki Challenge.
This year, I will attempt to read or re-read all of the Murakami Haruki paperbacks I own that have been sitting on my bookshelf, gathering dust for a number of years.
I’ll post a summary and review of each novel as I finish them. In no particular order, I’m going to attempt to run the gauntlet of the following books:
Noticeably absent from this list is Norwegian Wood, Murakami’s most well known and acclaimed work to date. I’ve had far too many people recommend this book to me and unfortunately, due to that fact alone, I won’t be reading it at this time. I know it sounds weird or contrarian but when I decide to sample an author’s work – particularly one who has written as much as Murakami, I tend to read a bunch of their other books before diving into what the collective consciousness regards as their magnum opus.
For the bonus round of the 2010 Murakami Challenge, I will either attempt to track down an English translation of Pinball 1973 or just go buy a copy of Sputnik Sweetheart from Amazon.
And for those asking, “Who is Murakami Haruki?”, here you go: [wikipedia.org]
I’ve posted here before on how Hollywood has recently set its sights on adapting any intellectual property from the world of Japanese manga and anime that it could get its hands on.
Recently however, the Japanese film industry has taken cues from Hollywood and have begun some live action film adaptation of their own.
So without further adieu, here is the trailer for the upcoming Japanese live action adaptation of the 70s anime watershed, Space Battleship Yamato:
If you’re old enough, you may remember this show called Starblazers [wikipedia.org] that aired on TV back in the late 70s which of course was simply the original Yamato anime adapted for the English speaking world.
Of note, the Japanese live action Yamato will feature eternal, Nippon bo-hunk heart-throb, Kimura Takuya [wikipedia.org] in the role of series hero, Susumu Kodai.
This of course means that, as far as the Japanese movie-going public is concerned, this film is already a guaranteed box-office smash. Space Battleship Yamato hits Japanese theaters sometime in 2010.
According to this Yahoo article [yahoo.co.jp], after operating for 29 years in Japan, Wendy’s is closing its doors for good in the Land of the Rising Sun.
As 2010 dawns, all remaining 71 Wendy’s hamburger restaurants in Japan will close their doors, leaving Japan without any Frostees for good. The prospect of living without cups of chili, extra-thick milkshakes you eat with a spoon and essentially, very cheap, America-sized hamburgers has induced what the article refers to as “Sayonara Wendy’s Fever” as hordes of Japanese have flocked to the restaurants to grab a bite to eat before they close for good.
This has actually caused Wendy’s to run out of meat to serve customers. I guess this means a lot of people had to settle for just desert.
I used to eat at the Wendy’s at JR Kyobashi Station in Osaka all of the time. The food you could get there and the overall dining experience was almost a carbon copy of what you’d find in the US (albeit augmented with the trad awesome Japanese service and sans “Biggie” sized anything).
I am certain their departure will be missed by a good portion of Japan’s expat population as alternatives to McDonald’s and Mos Burger [mos.co.jp] are now fewer and further between.
Usually at this time of year, I’d be busy embedding youtube links into this post from the annual NHK Kohaku Utagaisen [about.com].
Unfortunately, this year, it appears that NHK – the producer and broadcaster of the annual song and dance contest has decided that Youtube is bad, mmmkaaay… and has taken action to remove as much content from last night’s broadcast from the net as possible.
Welcome to 2010. Maybe one day some one or some event will drag the big media companies in Japan kicking and screaming into the 21st century – despite how much wishful thinking that may be.
With the World Series MVP award under his belt, the New York Yankee and former Yomiuri Giant, Hideki Matsui is being traded to the Anaheim Angels [mlb.com]. The trade is not yet official, barring a positive outcome of a physical for the injury-prone Matsui but if all goes well for Godzilla, he will net around $6 million for a one year stint as the DH for the Angels.
Some Angels fans might wonder what exactly they might be getting with the 35 year old Japanese slugger. Ticket sales. A massive increase in ticket revenue may be in store for the Angel’s near future. Matsui is still considered a baseball god in Japan and considering Angel stadium’s close proximity to Disneyland, I’m sure Japanese travel agencies are already writing their ad copy for their new spring vacation package deals.
Oh Youtube, if your sole purpose in life was to bring world-wide attention to the all-out crazy that is Japanese variety show TV programming, that alone would be enough to deem you a benefit to the human race.
Below is a clip from some mid-90s Japanese variety TV special where Japanese talent perform a live action version of Street Fighter Alpha 2.
Being a bit of a car nut, I frequently hit up Jalopnik.com for news and reviews on all things automotive.
Fukushima Gate Tower - Pic courtesy of wikipedia.org
This past week, the site featured an article on Ten Awesome Feats of Automotive Infrastructure[jalopnik.com].
The striking thing about the article, other than some of the totally insane feats of civil engineering depicted, is that vast majority of the ten listed are in Asia – three of which are in Japan.
My favorite part of the article is that my old stomping ground, Osaka is mentioned not once but twice and for different stretches of the famed Hanshin Expressway [wikipedia].
The pic above is of the piece of engineering that takes the top spot in the Jalopnik article – the Fukushima Gate Tower Building [wikipedia]. I’ve been through this section of roadway and it’s one of the cooler sights in downtown Osaka – a hunk of expressway that impales the 5th, 6th and 7th floors of an office building. It’s Ridge Racer [youtube] IRL.
The best part of the tower’s story is that it was already in existence before the city built this section of the Hanshin Expressway. Read the wiki article for some history on this piece of civil engineered wizardry: It’s a story of what happens when the unstoppable force of Japanese beauracracy meets the immovable object of a Japanese firm’s stubborn reluctance.
The end result of course being that both parties have to come to a consensus – never mind how insane (or insanely cool) that consensus may be.
From the same country that brought you Shiso Pepsi [Rinkya Blog] comes a new adventure in gastronomic fear and loathing: Strawberry cream-coated Cheetos…
Photo Courtesy of ThisIsWhyYoureFat.com
OMG Japan, I am getting nauseous just looking at the bag. This and further food catastrophes can be viewed here: [This Is Why Youre Fat]
The word Itasha is a Japanese neologism that supposedly originally referred to Italian-made automobiles (particularly sports cars). As the decades have worn on, the word has taken on a new meaning and context [wikipedia.org].
Itasha has now become a sub-phenomenon of Japanese otaku culture. Essentially, otaku bored with blowing their hard earned yen on plastic figurines and dating simulators have taken their obsession and pasted it all over their Hondas and Nissans. Albeit, they’ve done it the way the Japanese typically do anything: with a freakishly insane attention to detail.
So, without further detail here is your itasha of the day:
Photo Courtesy of Motopasion.com
Interestingly, the word itasha has also become a bit of a pun as the term is a convenient mash-up of the words itai (painful) and jidousha (car) or… “painful car”. After all for some, seeing a Ferrari F430 decked out in characters from an adult anime video game can be pain inducing.
Lately, I have seen some of these things crop up around the the South Bay area in LA so it looks like this phenomenon is destined for the states… I can already hear Xzibit from Pimp My Ride: “Yo dawg, I heard you like moe, so we put some moe in your car, so you can moe moe jyan-ken while you drive!”
