Karate Kid remake?

The American actor, Will Smith, was in Tokyo recently to promote his new movie.

It’s always fun to watch his interviews when he comes to Japan. Unlike most Hollywood celebreties, Will Smith behaves in a way that fits in here. Not to say that other actors from overseas carry themselves wrong…but Will Smith remembers the names and interests of the Japanese celebreties that he has met here and always acts pleased to see them. He even treats his interpretor that way.

And he’s quite funny in his interviews.

I was surprised to learn, though, that Will Smith‘s son, Jaden, will co-star in a remake of the classic 1984 movie 「ベスト・キッド」 (The Karate Kid)!

Karate Kid Japanese movie flyer

“The Karate Kid” is called 「ベスト・キッド」 (Best Kid) in Japan, by the way.

More surprising than the news that 「ベスト・キッド」 (The Karate Kid) is being remade and that Will Smith‘s son will play the part that Ralph Macchio played in the original is the news that popular Hong-Kong actor Jackie Chan will play the part of “Mr. Miyagi“, made famous by Noriyuki “Pat” MoritaI*…and that filming for the movie will take place in 北京 (Beijing, China)!

Noriyuki "Pat" Morita as "Mr. Miyagi".

*(Noriyuki “Pat” Morita, June 1932 – November 2005, RIP).

空手 (Karate) is Japanese, 宮城さん (Mr. Miyagi) is a Japanese name…so, no disrespect to Jackie Chan, but why would they choose a Chinese actor and a Chinese city for this movie?

Noriyuki “Pat” Morita was great in the 「ベスト・キッド」 (The Karate Kid) movies! The way he watched Daniel-san get into trouble and help him without Daniel even realizing it was quite Japanese. Do you remember the scene when Daniel trashed his broken bicycle in a fit…and the next day found it repaired anonymously? And, of course, “Wax on, wax off“!

It’s a great movie! I’m not sure if a remake will do it justice.

————————update 2010 January 29———————————–

It’s seems that the new The Karate Kid movie will be in theaters in America on 2010 June 11 (no word yet of the Japan release date).

It seems that this movie was going to be titled “The Kung Fu Kid“…but I guess they decided to stick with name-recognition and call it “The Karate Kid” even though it takes place in China and the boy learns Kung-Fu.

The explanation for the title is that the boy had learned a bit of karate in America…but it does him no good in China. So he needs to learn Kung-Fu (from Jackie Chan’s character).

I watched the official trailer. I noticed many differences between the Japanese style teacher-student relationship and the Chinese style.

Instead of a remake of The Karate Kid in China…I think they should have made a movie version of the old American TV show “Kung Fu” that starred David Carradine.

Anyways here’s the official trailer for the upcoming 2010 version of “The Karate Kid“:

Sports News

I’m not a big sports fan, but a few sports-related items were in the news recently. Some good and some bad news.

• Japanese professional wrestler, 山本尚文 (Naofumi Yamamoto), has just been hired by the American World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) company.He’ll begin his training in Florida this month.
• 浅尾美紀 (Miki Asao), the 17-year old younger sister of Japanese beach-volleyball star, 浅尾美和 (Miwa Asao) just died on Friday, 5 Sept 2008, from the serious head injuries she sustained when she was hit by a car while riding her bicycle last August 12th.
• The 2008 Paralympics Games will end today.
  As of this moment, China has the most medals and Japan is in 18th place with 24 medals (5 Gold, 12 Silver, and 7 Silver).

  All of the athletes, whether they won a medal or not, are stars!

  But, Japan’s fifth gold medal was won by 国枝慎吾 (Shingo Kunieda) for wheelchair tennis.

  

Paralympics

I wonder why the Olympics is continuously in the news and shown on television during the Games…but the Paralympics goes by hardly noticed.

The Paralympics is the Olympics games for handicapped athletes. In my opinion, these athletes overcame greater obstacles to get to the Games.

They should be supported more.

This year’s Paralympics Games go from September 6-17, 2008.

As of today, China has 37 Gold medals (109 total), Great Britian has 33 Gold medal (69 total), and America has 23 Gold medals (56 total).
Japan is currently in 20th place with 3 Gold medals (12 total).

All of these athletes are stars!

Another medal for Japan?

Japanese Olympic 「ハンマー投げ」 (Hammer Throw) athlete, 室伏広治 (Kouji Murofushi) came in fifth place at the 2008 北京オリンピック (Beijing Olympics)…but the silver and bronze medalists, both from Belarus, have tested positive for doping violations and may be stripped of their Olympic medals.

If that happens, 室伏広治 (Kouji Murofushi) will get the bronze medal.

This will be the second time that this has happened to him. In the 2004 Olympics, 室伏広治 (Kouji Murofushi) won the silver Hammer Throw medal…but the Hungarian who won the gold was stripped of his medal for a doping violation, and the gold went to 室伏広治 (Kouji Murofushi).

August 15

Today is August 15. 終戦記念日 (Anniversary of the War’s End) in Japan.
In America and other Western countries it’s called “V-J Day” (Victory over Japan Day) and celebrated on August 14 (due to the time difference).
Anyways, on August 15, 1945 (Japan Time) Japan surrendered and the World War 2 ended.

So, every year on August 15, many people go to 靖国神社 (Yasukuni Shrine) in Tokyo to pay respects to those who died in the war. Among these people are numerous Japanese politicians (including, usually, the Prime Minister of Japan)…this angers Japan’s neighboring countries, because among the war dead enshrined at Yasukuni are the military officers that were found guilty of war crimes by the war trials held in Tokyo by America shortly after the war.

Because Japan colonized much of Asia before and during WW2, and committed war atrocities in those countries. They protest the annual visits to the shrine by the Prime Minister of Japan.

Today, former-Prime Minister Koizumi visited the shrine, as he did when he was the Prime Minister. But the current Prime Minister (Fukuda) didn’t want to upset Japan’s neighbors, so he didn’t go.

It’s a tricky decision for a Prime Minister to make whether to visit Yasukuni on August 15th or not. If he goes, Korea, China and other countries will see it as Japan “glorifying their war-time past” and strongly protest. But if the Prime Minister doesn’t go (as P.M. Fukuda did), then the descendants of those who died fighting for Japan will feel offended.

Speaking of the descendants, Hideki Tojo who was the Prime Minister of Japan during World War 2 was found guilty of war crimes by the war trials held in Tokyo by America shortly after the war and executed.
His grand-daughter, Yuko Tojo believes her grandfather was innocent and the trial was unfair. She also believes that Japan was only defending itself and Asia in general during WW2.
She visits Yasukuni Shrine every year on August 15 and gives a speech to like-minded listeners.

I saw her when I visited 靖国神社 (Yasukuni Shrine) on August 15th a few years ago.

I put this post up today not to try to get angry, political responses. I hope noone posts any comments that are rude or insulting toward any nationality.

I’m not saying that the grand-daughter of former Prime Minister Tojo is wrong or right.

There are some right-wing extremists who say shocking things about Japan and other countries (especially on occasions such as V-J Day), but most Japanese people admit that Japan did terrible things during the war (as did other countries) and they want the world to just be a peaceful place.
War is no good. But today’s Japan is quite different from the Japan of over sixty years ago.

Let’s all get along.

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Anyways, let’s change the subject.
Are you watching the 北京オリンピック (Beijing Olympics)?

Right now, China has the most medals.

The top seven countries (as of 2008/8/15):

1. China – 22 gold medals (35 total)
2. USA – 13 gold medals (40 total)
3. Germany – 8 gold medals (13 total)
4. Korea – 6 gold medals (16 total)
5. Italy – 6 gold medals (13 total)
6. Australia – 5 gold medals (18 total)
7. Japan – 5 gold medals (11 total)

You can see the most up-to-date listing (and all countries) at the Official Beijing Olympic Website. (Click here for the Olympics’ medals page.)

Have you seen the logo for the 北京オリンピック (Beijing Olympics)?

The red mark at the top of the logo is a 印鑑 (name stamp) that is used in lieu of a signature in China and Japan. The white mark inside looks like a man running…but it’s also the second 漢字 (Chinese / Japanese character) in the name of the city 北京 (Beijing (or Pekin, as it’s still called in Japan)).

The character is 「京」 (can your computer show it?) and, if manipulated, resembles a person running…as in the logo above. But I guess only people familiar with the Chinese or Japanese writing system can see the meaning in the logo.

By the way, the name of the Chinese capital, 北京 (Beijing (or Pekin, as it’s still called in Japan)), translates to “Northern Capital“. And the capital of Japan (where I live), 東京 (Tokyo), translates to “Eastern Capital“.

The written characters are often the same in China and Japan…but the pronunciation is usually quite different.

Also, the 東京マラソン (Tokyo Marathon) logo is the character for “big” (looks like: 「大」) arranged to look like a man running also.

Here’s the Tokyo Marathon 2007 logo (it’s the same one every year):

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Here’s another slideshow of some photos I’ve taken at various times and places around Tokyo:

[rockyou id=120311129]

2008 Olympics

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