永井一郎 (Ichiro Nagai), the Japanese voice actor who was the voice of Namihei Isono on the long-running Japanese cartoon 「サザエさん」 (“Sazae-san“), as well as Yoda in the Japanese-dubbed version of “Star Wars” and many other well-known characters has died yesterday at the age of 82.
Sazae-san’s father, Namihei Isono. Mr. Nagai was the “voice” of this character for 45 years.
永井一郎 (Ichiro Nagai), 1931 May 10th – 2014 January 27th, R.I.P.
Have you ever heard of the Japanese アニメ (cartoon) called 「妖怪人間べム」 (“Monster Man Bemu”)?
It’s basically about three kind 妖怪 (monsters) who want to be human. They learn that they can become human if they protect humans from other evil monsters.
The three kind monsters, 「べム」 (“Bemu”), 「ベラ」 (“Bera”), and 「べロ」 (“Bero”) are frightening-looking monsters but they are able to assume a humanoid form…but even so, they still look like monsters.
And for that reason, they aren’t accepted by most humans. Most people judge them by their physical appearance rather than their character. That is an underlying theme of this series.
This series originally aired on TV in Japan in the late-60’s…before my wife and I were born but we’ve seen re-runs of it.
A well-known line from this show is 「早く人間になりたい！」 (“I want to be a human soon!”)…it can even be heard in the show’s opening theme song.
Here is a YouTube clip of this show’s opening and closing theme songs:
Do you know the Japanese animation studio 「スタジオジブリ」 (Ghibli Studios)?
It is the movie studio of master animator 宮崎駿 (Hayao Miyazaki).
This is the studio that released classic Japanese cartoon movies such as 「崖の上のポニョ」 (Ponyo On The Cliff), 「となりのトトロ」 (My Neighbor Totoro), 「もののけ姫」 (Princess Mononoke), 「千と千尋の神隠し」 (Spirited Away), and 「ハウルの動く城」 (Howl’s Moving Castle).
「千と千尋の神隠し」 ("Spirited Away")
Well, 「スタジオジブリ」 (Ghibli Studios) has released a new movie in Japan last month.
It’s called 「借りぐらしのアリエッティ」 (“Arietti The Borrower“).
「借りぐらしのアリエッティ」 ("Arietti The Borrower")
The movie is based on the children’s story “The Borrowers” about a family of tiny people that live in a house of a “normal sized” family…and they “borrow” small things from the house, such as a wrist watch to use as a clock. And they’re discovered by the boy that lives in the house.
The original story took place in England, I believe. But the Ghibli movie version takes place in Tokyo.
Here’s a trailer for 「借りぐらしのアリエッティ」 (“Arietti The Borrower“):
Have you ever watched a 「スタジオジブリ」 (Ghibli Studios) movie?
Which one is your favorite?
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.
I’ve mentioned before that I like the Japanese manga and anime titled 「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」 (“Gegege-no-Kitarou“).
It’s about a group of 妖怪 (ghouls) who help humans.
I have a few of the manga, I watch the anime on TV sometimes, and my family and I went to see both of the live-action movies at the theater.
I also like the artist, 水木しげる (Shigeru Mizuki). His life story is fascinating.
I wrote a bit about him and the 「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」 (“Gegege-no-Kitarou“) on another post.
Click here read it.
Anyways, 田の中勇 (Isamu Tanonaka), the 政友 (“Seiyuu“)…”voice actor”…who did the voice of one of this show’s main characters–「目玉おやじ」 (“Medama-oyaji“) died last Wednesday.
He was 77 years old.
田の中勇 (Isamu Tanonaka), R.I.P.
I wrote a post last September about the death of the artist of another popular Japanese manga…Click here to read it.
When my kids were young, they used to love a popular Japanese cartoon called 「それいけ！アンパンマン」 (“Go! Anpanman“).
This cartoon is in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the most characters. A new one is constantly being introduced by the 90-year old artist!
I wrote a post about the world record. Click here to read it.
Anpanman‘s artist, Yanase Takashi, grew up in the city of Kochi, Japan.
Last month, the city decided to honor Mr. Yanase and the characters he created that have become a part of Japanese culture by renaming a street “Yanase Takashi Road” and placing large, stone statues on the street of the cartoon’s six main characters.
Well, late last Sunday, someone destroyed the statue of the cartoon’s main “villain”, 「バイキンマン」 (“Baikinman“).
Baikinman has two antennae on his head. But some cut off one of the statue’s antennae. In Japan, vandalism isn’t very common.
Here’s what the statue used to look like:
And this is what the vandal did to it:
There’s a very popular children’s cartoon character in Japan called 「それいけ！アンパンマン」 (“Go! Anpanman“).
2009 has been a big year for 「アンパンマン」 (Anpanman) and for his artist Takashi Yanase.
This year, Takashi Yanase turned 90 years old, he’s been a professional artist for 60 years, the 「アンパンマン」 (Anpanman) comic started 40 years ago, and the 「アンパンマン」 (Anpanman) television series started 20 years ago. (Click here to see an earlier post I wrote about this).
And now, 「それいけ！アンパンマン」 (“Go! Anpanman“) is in the Guinness Book Of World Records for having the “Most Characters In A Single Animated Series“.
「それいけ！アンパンマン」 (“Go! Anpanman“) has over 2000 characters, but the Guinness Book only recognized 1768 characters…which still sets the record as the most characters.
Here are some of the main ones:
My kids grew up watching 「それいけ！アンパンマン」 (“Go! Anpanman“). It’s a wonderful cartoon for kids!
Have you ever watched 「それいけ！アンパンマン」 (“Go! Anpanman“)? I like 「バイキンマン」 (Baikinman), 「ホラーマン」 (Horror-man), and 「だいこんやくしゃ」 (Daikonyakusha) best.
Click here to see my post about the 「アンパンマン」 (Anpanman) Exhibit we went to last Spring.
Today, my wife and I went to お台場 (Odaiba, Tokyo).
お台場 (Odaiba) is a man-made island in Tokyo Bay that is most famous for the beautiful view that it offers of Tokyo’s skyline, the driverless train that connects the island to the downtown Tokyo, the shopping centers, the ferris wheel, the unique Fuji TV‘s headquarters, and the 自由の女神像 (Statue Of Liberty) there.
Fuji TV head-quarters
「自由の女神像」 (Statue Of Liberty) at Odaiba
Also, in お台場 (Odaiba) is the “Himiko” Tokyo Cruise boat that looks like a spaceship.
It was designed by the famous anime artist 松本零士 (Leiji Matsumoto).
"Himiko" Waterbus ship
My wife and I bought some 持ち帰り (take-out) 牛丼 (rice and beef) from the “Yoshinoya” Japanese ‘fast-food’ restaurant and a couple beers from a convenience store and had lunch near the “Himiko” ship.
From there, we went to the nearby 潮風公園 (Shiokaze Park).
This park is popular for family barbeques (BBQ). You don’t even need to bring anything to have a BBQ there…you can rent everything you need: utensils, plates, charcoal*, and even the food* (*the charcoal and food are sold…not rented, of course).
The reason that we went to this park today was because they have displayed an “actual size” 「ガンダム」 (Gundam) robot! It stands 18 meters (59 feet) high!
This 「ガンダム」 (Gundam) robot is on display in Odaiba until August 31 in honor of the 「ガンダム」 (Gundam) anime series’ 30th anniversary. (The anime debuted in 1979).
When we went there today they were still working on the “actual-size” robot, but it looked about finished.
Here are some of the photos I took:
Also, last year at 上井草駅 (Kami-Igusa train station) in Tokyo (not far from 新宿 (Shinjuku, Tokyo). there is a brass statue about three meters tall of the same 「ガンダム」 (Gundam) robot.
The reason this statue was built there is because the anime studio that draws 「ガンダム」 (Gundam) has their headquarters there in 上井草 (Kami-Igusa).
「ガンダム」 ("Gundam") statue in front of 上井草駅 (Kami-Igusa Stn).
Tokyo Five 
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