Today is August 8. The opening ceremony for the 2008 Summer Olympics in 北京 (Beijing, China) will commence today at 8:08PM (China Standard Time).
Maybe you’ve heard why it’s set to begin at such an unusual time. It’s because the number eight is lucky in China (and Japan, too). So the Chinese decided to start the ceremony at ’08年8月8日午後8時8分 (’08/8/8 8:08PM).
(By the way, in China the numbers four and seven are unlucky because they have the same pronunciation as the word for “death” in Chinese. In Japan, the numbers four and nine are unlucky because they sound like “death” and “pain” in Japanese, respectively.)
The Official Website of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing is here.
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The Food & Wine website just voted Tokyo as the number one restaurant city in the world.
Paris, New York, and London were numbers 2, 3, and 4 respectively.
Click here to see their entire top-ten list.
This is after the Michelin Guide gave more stars to restaurants in Tokyo than any other city in their 2008 edition.
Click here to read the Yahoo news report about it. (from Nov 2007)
Tokyo is a shining star in the world of cuisine…
Michelin Guides Director Jean-Luc Naret
Tokyo Five 
sfrunner: It was touching to see Yao Ming and the young boy who survived the quakes. The reporter on tv said the boy saved some of his classmates from the wreckage. When asked why he did so, he said because he was the class leader and it was his job. That was amazing on so many levels to me. It really shows a sense of responsibility for one’s neighbors. It also shows how genuine and capable children are, around the world.
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fracturedpsyche…
Thanks for visiting my site and adding a comment.
I don’t think England is a “dying country”. Fourth place among all the world’s cities isn’t bad.
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I’m not surprised to see that London came fourth; British cuisine has dropped over the years to a horrifying degree. Hardly any original British food is cooked now, we’re losing our culture.
Not even the famous Red Arrows Aeroplane Show will be allowed at the London 2012 Olympics because it is “too British”. What’s wrong with that? Shouldn’t we show the world we’ve still got something of our old vitality left?
Britain is a dying country…
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sfRunner…
Thanks for the comment.
Yes, the Opening Ceremony was very good.
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Loren Wade…
Thanks for commenting on my blog.
Feel free to visit and comment often.
>That is really cool. I totally didn’t know that.
I suppose you’re referring to my post above (about the lucky and unlucky numbers in China and Japan).
In some ways China and Japan and similar…but in alot of ways they’re quite different.
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MB…
Yeah, the Olympics are supposed to be politically neutral…but they usually aren’t. America boycotted the 1980 Games because Russia was the host.
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Mb and Mom, I know where you’re both coming from as well. The Olympics are supposed to be a gathering of the athletes of the world.
Seeing the Chinese culture during the near four hours was awesome! Also, seeing the nine year old boy from Szechuan who survived the earthquake and rescued a couple of his classmates, and being a part of the Chinese team during the March Of Nations was priceless! It was very touching that the NBC reporter interviewed Yao Ming and the young boy afterwards.
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That is really cool. I totally didn’t know that. Thanks for checking out my blog.
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One more thing…I can see where sfRunner is coming from and agree that Bush should condemn Russia’s actions more consistently. But I also feel wary of America making enemies. It’s all very complicated.
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I’ll just add that I do not think we should be isolationist, but only intervene with what influence we have. The UN really should intervene to protect Georgia…and “Free Tibet”.
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The opening ceremonies were great! I was able to catch part of it. I’m surprised to see so much political talk here. I don’t want to get too much into it, but I will say that I think it’s too complex to just say that America should abandon good relations with either China or Russia. I personally think it’s best to maintain decent relations and use influence to help push for democracy. We can’t continue to police the world.
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Mom…
It’s been awhile since you’ve posted a comment!
Yes, it’s a tragedy that once again someone felt compelled to hurt other people (Olympics or not).
Regarding the politicians…politics is a game with crazy rules.
But I think since the Olympics are “politically neutral” (in theory, at least), all the leaders should attend to show support to the athletes.
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Hi, I watched the opening ceremony last night and it was truly beautiful. but then when I turned the tv on to check out the morning news and heard about the couple who were killed by a Chinese man while they were visiting some famous place, I was really saddened. what was also strange is that the first 2 news station that I watched said absolutely nothing about the incident and it was only until I turned on CNN that I heard about it! I wonder why that is? as far as Pres. Bush being viewed shaking the hand of Putin, I am not sure what to think. some here in the US think he should not even have gone to the ceremony because of all the controversy with the monks but others think he went out of goodwill and it does not in any way indicate that he does not condemn the Chinese’ policy. maybe the same thing is happening w/ the Putin-Bush handshake. I can honestly see both sides of the argument and I think it is a hard judgement call to make, but maybe I’m wrong. maybe Bush absolutely needs to take a stronger voice against any foreign policy that violates human rights. that probably is the better way to go but I think he doesn’t want to go down that path because of what has happened in Iraq and all the protest that has come along with that and also because it is near the end of his term and he wants to leave office with as much goodwill w/ other countries as possible. just my thoughts on the subject but I am interested in hearing what other people from different parts of the globe think.
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>My hope is that Tokyo will have the greatest on in 2016!
If Tokyo gets selected. I heard that the decision of which of the four cities will host the games will be made in November 2009.
Anyways, I agree that this year’s Olympic ceremony was excellent.
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Hi tokyo5. Unfortunate incident and something isolated. I don’t want to get into politics here but it saddens me to see NBC television showing leaders Putin and Bush exchanging pleasantries while there’s fighting going on between Russia and Georgia.
Let me change my tone here. The Opening Ceremonies were as great as I ever saw Friday night. My hope is that Tokyo will have the greatest on in 2016!
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Did you hear about the relatives of the US Olympic volleyball team coach being stabbed in Beijing after the opening ceremony?
The Yahoo News article about it is here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080809/ap_on_re_as/oly_china_american_killed
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>that’s very interesting about the unlucky numbers in Japan
Yes, 4 and 9 are unlucky.
So, glasses, dishes, etc aren’t sold in sets of 4. Usually five.
Also, hospitals, hotels, etc don’t have a fourth floor (or sometimes a 9th neither).
And old payphones didn’t have a “4”. This was back when phone dials were rotary…so there was a place to put your finger to dial “4”. But the number wasn’t written.
That’s old, though. Phones aren’t like that anymore.
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tokyo5, that’s very interesting about the unlucky numbers in Japan. Here in SF, everything will be on tape delay. I’ll try very hard not to be on the internet tomorrow so the Opening Ceremonies be a surprise to me.
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