100th birthday of Taro Okamoto

Do you know who 岡本太郎 (Taro Okamoto) was?

Taro Okamoto,
26 Feb 1911 - 7 Jan 1996

He was a Japanese abstract artist and sculptor.
He is quite famous in Japan.
His most well-know piece is probably the huge sculpture that he made for the “World Expo ’70” in Osaka titled 「太陽の塔」 (“Tower Of The Sun“). It still stands at the site of the expo in Osaka.

「太陽の塔」 ("Tower Of The Sun") by Taro Okamoto

I haven’t been to the “Taro Okamoto Museum” but I have seen three of his pieces many times…because these three pieces are displayed in public here in Tokyo.

These are the 「若い時計台」 (“Young Clock Tower“) in Ginza, Tokyo:

「若い時計台」 ("Young Clock Tower") by Taro Okamoto

The 「子供の木」 (“Children’s Tree“) which stands in front of the 「子供の城」 (“Children’s Castle“), which is a fun, educational activity-center for young children in Tokyo. I took my children to this place a few times when they were young and I saw this sculpture in front of the building.
I knew immediately that it was by Taro Okamoto because it matched his distinctive style.

 

「子供の木」 ("Children's Tree") by Taro Okamoto

And I’ve also seen his painting titled 「明日の神話」 (“Tomorrow’s Myth“). This painting is Mr. Okamoto’s depiction of the atomic bombing of Japan in World War II.
This painting had been in Mexico for about thirty years and was only returned to Japan a little over two years ago.
It’s now on display inside 渋谷駅 (Shibuya Train Station) in Tokyo.

 

「明日の神話」 ("Tomorrow's Myth") by Taro Okamoto

Well, if 岡本太郎 (Taro Okamoto) was still alive he would be 100 years old today.

I learned that today is the 100th anniversary of his birth when I accessed the Google search engine earlier today and noticed that the logo looked like Mr. Okamoto’s artwork.

Google's logo to commemorate Taro Okamoto's 100th birthday.

What would John Lennon think today’s world?

The late, great rock ‘n roll pioneer and peace activist John Lennon was born on 1940 October 9.
If he were still alive, he’d be seventy years old today.

Yoko Ono and the late John Lennon protesting the Vietnam War.

John Lennon was murdered by a lunatic “fan” almost exactly eight weeks after his 40th birthday.
(I wrote this post about that).

A number of rock musicians have a Japanese wife…including Marty Friedman and Paul Gilbert. But John Lennon’s widow is probably the most famous Japanese spouse of a western celebrity.

I’ve been a fan of The Beatles since I was a child…but John Lennon is my favorite member.
But I’m mostly a fan of heavy metal music and many of my favorite artists, including KISS, Ozzy Osbourne and Marilyn Manson, are fans of The Beatles.

The way KISS has four members who share lead vocal duties (but mainly rely on two “main members”) is just like The Beatles.
Ozzy Osbourne often wears sunglasses that are similar to the glasses that John Lennon wore.

Motley Crue did a remake of The Beatles’ song “Helter Skelter“, Aerosmith redid “Come Together“, as so many other bands have done remakes of Beatles’ songs.

Here’s a video of Ozzy Osbourne doing a remake of John Lennon’s song “Working Class Hero“, followed by a video of Marilyn Manson singing the same song:

In honor of John Lennon’s 70th birthday today, there is a YouTube channel of birthday wishes to the late artist. There are videos by Yoko Ono, Ringo Starr, Jeff Bridges and many others.
The YouTube channel is here.

Here’s the birthday wish from Aerosmith:

I wonder, if John Lennon were alive today, what he would think of the world today.

Happy birthday 水木しげるさん！

Today is the 88th birthday of 水木しげる (Shigeru Mizuki).

Mr. Shigeru Mizuki
(born 1922 March 8)

He is an anime artist that I like.

His most famous work is the 「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」 (“Ge-ge-ge-no-Kitarou“) anime series.

This series is about a group of 妖怪 (ghouls) led by Kitaro who protect humans from other, less-kind ghouls who want to hurt them.

It’s a fun series.

And Mr. Shigeru Mizuki, the artist, is a person with an interesting life story.

When he was a child he enjoyed drawing and listening to an old neighbor lady’s ghost stories.

And when he was a young man, both he and his brother were drafted by the Japanese Army to fight in World War 2.
The army sent him to help defend their base in New Guinea.

While he was there, he lost his left arm (the arm he used to draw his art with) in the Allied bombings.
Unbelievably, he taught himself to draw using his other hand.

While he was in the base hospital recovering from his injuries, he met and became close to some of the local tribes-people.
The chief of the tribe offered him some land and a position in their tribe if he married the chief’s daughter.
He decided that the offer sounded good and told an officer in the army that he wanted to stay on the island after being discharged.
The army officer told he that he could stay there…but he should first return to Japan to say goodbye to his parents. He decided to follow that advice.

But upon returning to Japan, he decided that he couldn’t go back to New Guinea because his parents were ill and had no one else to care for them since Mr. Mizuki’s brother was convicted of war crimes by the Allies and executed.
So he stayed in Japan and cared for his parents…and he became a popular anime artist.

I wrote another post about 水木しげる (Shigeru Mizuki) and the 「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」 (“Ge-ge-ge-no-Kitarou“) anime…click here.

Already 15

Today is my second daughter’s fifteenth birthday.
They grow up so fast!

Also today is 「鏡開き」 (Kagami-biraki). They day to eat 「お汁粉」 (O-shiruko)…which is a traditional bean and mochi dish.
We had it for breakfast today.

In addition, today is the Japanese holiday 「成人の日」 (Adults Day). It’s the day for young people in Japan who are twenty years old (an adult now) to dress up in suit or kimono and attend a special ceremony…after which they usually go somewhere with their friends (Tokyo Disneyland is popular).

So, if you’re in Japan today, you’ll see many young adults dressed in kimono.

Yesterday one of my favorite TV shows aired.
It’s called 「欽ちゃん＆香取慎吾の全日本仮装大賞」 (Kinchan & Shingo Katori’s All-Japan Costume Talent Contest).
This show airs only twice a year.

One of the best skits, I thought, was called 「腹ペコのカエル」 (“The Hungry Frog“).
In it, the father was the frog’s “tongue” and his two very young kids were a bumble-bee and a lady-bug.
The “lady-bug” was nervous and cried and didn’t want to participate. Her father tried to lure her with a cookie.
It was cute.
Here it is:

In the end, this family didn't win any of the prizes…but I still thought it was one of the best.

○ Click here to read my post about my favorite TV shows.

○ Click here to read my post about 「欽ちゃん＆香取慎吾の全日本仮装大賞」 (Kinchan & Shingo Katori’s All-Japan Costume Talent Contest).

○ Click here to read my post about 「鏡開き」 (Kagami-biraki)…and it also has a video from last year’s 「欽ちゃん＆香取慎吾の全日本仮装大賞」 (Kinchan & Shingo Katori’s All-Japan Costume Talent Contest) show.

○ Click here to read my post about 「成人の日」 (Adults Day).

Growing up too fast…

今日は長女の誕生日 (Today is my oldest daughter’s birthday).

She’s sixteen now. The years have gone by so fast! I remember her first day of 保育園 (nursery school)…and now she’ll be finished with high school in just a couple years!

There are many 花火大会 (fireworks festivals) today.
All three of my daughters are going to watch fireworks with their friends rather than with their parents like they used to not so long ago.

Twelve years ago, the fireworks fell on the same day as my oldest daughter’s birthday…just like this year.  At that time she just turned four years old and I told her that the fireworks were just for her on her birthday. She believed me and she was very happy about it. It was cute. 🙂
I reminded her of that story today. She didn’t remember it…but it’s one of the many memories of my children that my wife and I will always cherish!

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to my wonderful wife!

Empress Of Japan’s Birthday

Yesterday was the 74th birthday of the Empress of Japan.

As the Emperor and Empress always do on their birthdays, she released a birthday statement.
She said that she’s pleased by the healthy growth of her four grandchildren (ages 2, 6, 13 and 16…the three oldest are girls—which was cause for concern about the future heir to the throne…until Prince Hisahito was born in 2006).

The Empress made special mention of six-year old Princess Aiko starting 小学校 (Elementary School) this year.

She also said she hopes the lives of the survivors of last summer’s big earthquake in 岩手県 (Iwate, Japan) are back to normal soon.

And she offered congratulations to the Japanese who earned Nobel Prizes this year…and well as to the Japanese Olympic athletes who won medals in this year’s Olympics.

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Also in the news, the last living survivor of the sinking of the RMS Titanic had to auction off her memorabilia so that she could pay her nursing home fees.

She was a newborn baby with her parents and older brother on the Titanic when it sunk. She and her mother and brother were rescued but her father died in the ship’s sinking.

She’s 96 years old now.

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On Sunday, we went to a 健康祭 (Health Festival).

Here’s a video I took at the festival of some older people doing a traditional Japanese dance:

At the park that the festival was at, there were many バラ (roses) in bloom.

There were many ducks in the park’s pond. They must get fed by people often, because they kept rushing over to people.

Here’s a couple videos of them:

This was a very friendly cat that we saw near the park:

I like cats (and dogs too). But probably not as much as this man we saw:

On the way home, we stopped at this 八百屋 (Produce Store):

Next to the 八百屋 (Produce Store) was a small general store.

That’s a Japanese broom next to the door.

And here’s a close-up of a drink 自動販売機 (vending machine)…it sells Coca-Cola® hot and cold tea and coffee, as well as other drinks:

A とんぼ (dragonfly):

On the way home, we stopped by Daiso (you can see another post of mine in which I wrote a bit about Daiso here).

Here’s a short video I took inside Daiso:

お誕生日おめでとう

Today is my 長女 (oldest daughter)’s 誕生日 (birthday).

She fifteen today! I can’t believe it!

Time goes by so quickly.

I can easily remember when I first held her in my arms…my first baby.

And her first steps.

The first time she reached up and held my hand.

Her first day at 保育園 (nursery school).

Her first day at 小学校 (elementary school)…and then her first day at 中学校 (junior high school).

Of course, I remember those days for all three of my daughters!
They’re in such a hurry to grow up.

Slow down, you three! You may be, but your parents aren’t ready for you to grow up yet!