水木しげる (Shigeru Mizuki), the author of “Ge-Ge-Ge-No-Kitaro” (an anime about monsters that I like), has died today.
Shigeru Mizuki (1922 Mar 8 – 2015 Nov 30) with two of his most famous characters.
I wrote a post about his interesting life story on his 88th birthday (Click here to read it).
(The voice actor for the anime of one of Mr. Mizuki’s most famous characters died almost six years ago. (Click here to read a post I wrote about him.)
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.
「マックドナルド」 (McDonalds Japan) is currently offering 「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」 (Ge-ge-ge-no-Kitarou) toys with their 「ハッピーセット」 (“Happy Set” (Kids Meal)).
「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」 (Ge-ge-ge-no-Kitarou) is a Japanese アニメ (anime cartoon) that I like.
鬼太郎＆目玉オヤジ
The artist and creator of the 「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」 (Ge-ge-ge-no-Kitarou) cartoon is 水木しげる (Shigeru Mizuki).
水木しげる (Shigeru Mizuki) was interested in Japanese 妖怪 (ghouls) since his childhood.
Many of the characters he draws are inspired by traditional Japanese ghosts and ghouls (just as the West has Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, etc…Japan has their own monsters).
Ukiyoe picture of a Japanese 妖怪 (monster).
水木しげる (Shigeru Mizuki) was left-handed, and drew all of his art with his left-hand, of course…but he was in the Japanese Army during WW2 and he lost his left arm during an Allied air raid. So he taught himself to draw using his right-hand!
He has drawn many WW2 cartoons and pictures…and many 妖怪 (ghouls) cartoons. He is most famous for his 「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」 (Ge-ge-ge-no-Kitarou) comics.
In Japan, you can find 「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」 (Ge-ge-ge-no-Kitarou) マンガ (comics), アニメ (cartoons), 映画 (movies), T-shirts, toys, postcards, cell-phone straps, etc…
The story of 「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」 (Ge-ge-ge-no-Kitarou) is about the main character 「鬼太郎」 (Kitaro) who is a 妖怪 (ghoul) with one eye and an assortment of powers who helps protect humans from evil 妖怪 (ghouls).
He is joined by his father 「目玉オヤジ」 (Medama-oyaji), who is basically just an eye-ball with a small body, and a group of friends who include 猫娘 (Neko-musume (Cat-Girl)), and ねずみ男 (Nezumi-Otoko (Rat-man)).
It’s a fun show. The cartoon is on Sunday mornings at 9:00 (although I seldom watch the cartoon…I did see both of the live-action movies with my family at the theaters).
All of my kids are too old for the McDonalds 「ハッピーセット」 (“Happy Set“) so I probably won’t get any of these characters, though.
Do you know the words “manga” and “anime“?
Maybe they have become commons words in Western countries…but before I came to Japan in 1990, I had never heard either of those two terms before.
They are both Japanese words.
マンガ (Manga) is the word to describe Japanese comic books. アニメ (Anime) is a Japanese word that comes from the English word “animation”…it’s the word for Japanese cartoons.
Are you a manga and/or anime fan? (You don’t call yourself an オタク (otaku)*, do you??)
*(オタク (otaku) is another Japanese word that, it seems, is being used in Western countries that was never used in America when I lived there. オタク (Otaku) are compulsive fans.)
I’m not really a fan of manga or anime. I know some of them because I have three kids.
Sometimes I watch 「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」 (Ge-ge-ge-no-Kitarou), 「ちびまる子ちゃん」 (Chibi-Maruko-chan), 「サザエさん」 (Sazae-san), 「あたしンち」 (Atashinchi), or 「クレヨンしんちゃん」 (Crayon-Shin-chan).
And sometimes I might read one of those series in manga.
I watch those anime series because they’re all funny and show average life in Japan.
I can relate.
(Well, 「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」 (Ge-ge-ge-no-Kitarou) is about 妖怪 (ghosts)).
I occasionally read a manga in order to practice reading Japanese.
One manga that I like to read is called 「ダーリンは外国人」 (“My Darling Is A Foreigner“).
It’s written by a Japanese woman whose husband is an American. They live in Tokyo and the manga is a chronicle of their life in an international marriage.
I can relate to this comic, too.
Another one I like to read is called うちの３姉妹 (“Our Three Daughters“).
(うちの３姉妹 isn’t so easy to translate accurately! Something like “Our Family’s Three Sisters” is closer…but that sounds odd in English. Anyways, it means “Our Three Daughters”.)
The author of this one is a mother of three girls close in age…like my daughters are.
Her daughters are younger than mine…but I remember when my kids acted like hers do.
I can relate to this one, as well.
Yesterday I went to the 幕張メッセ (Makuhari Messe Convention Hall) in 千葉県 (Chiba Prefecture) for the Star Wars Celebration Japan.
Star Wars Celebration Japan poster.
This event was to mark the 30th anniversary of the premiere of the first Star Wars movie in Japan in 1978.
Last week, I wrote a post about this convention.
You can read that post here.
I didn’t have tickets for the “Star Wars Celebration Japan“…but I wanted to take some photos outside the venue for my friend who is a big Star Wars fan, but was unable to attend this event.
But, there wasn’t much outside the venue to photograph (inside the venue was a different story, I’m sure).
Anyways, here are the photos I took of the 2008 Star Wars Celebration Japan:
 Darth Vader |
 Stormtrooper and a fan. |
 Stormtrooper with more fans |
 Another shot of him |
And I took four videos and uploaded them to my YouTube Page.
Like I mentioned though, there wasn’t alot for me to film since I wasn’t able to go inside the venue.
That said, here are my videos of the Star Wars Celebration Japan:
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After I left there, I met up with my wife and daughters and we went to watch the movie 「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎 (千年呪い歌)」 (Ge-Ge-Ge-No-Kitarou (1000 Year Cursed Song)).
「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」 movie poster
It was a pretty good movie. I liked the first 「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」 (Ge-Ge-Ge-No-Kitarou ) movie better though…but this sequel was still good.
One main difference between 映画館 (movie theaters) in Japan and those in America is that it’s perfectly acceptable to bring your own food and drinks into the theaters in Japan (rather than being forced to buy something at their snack counter).
(Another difference is the things that are sold at the counters in the theaters….in movie theaters in Japan, the snack counters sell programs and souvenirs for the movie, as well as sandwiches and beer (in addition to popcorn and cola)).
Anyways, we bought our food at a supermarket near the theater and carried it in.
We had 寿司 (sushi) and beer (the kids didn’t drink beer, of course! They had お茶 (Japanese green tea)).
寿司 (Sushi) in a supermarket
Today is the first day of my kids’ 夏休み (Summer vacation). They don’t have school again til September 1st!
(But unlike in America, in Japan—the new school doesn’t start after summer holidays. So my kids will be in the same grades until April (which is the start of the school year in Japan)).
Today we’re gonna go watch the 「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」の映画 (“Ge-Ge-Ge No Kitarou” movie).
(I mentioned this movie is this previous post here. )
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In the news, I heard that an Australian rent-a-car business painted “Save a whale…harpoon a Jap!” on one of their vehicles.
That’s out of line, in my opinion. Even if they’re opposed to Japan’s whaling practices.
I found a picture of the vehicle online. This is it:
Why would someone…especially a company, think that it’s alright to write derogatory remarks about other people?
I considered writing my opinion on whaling on this post…but decided against it. I’m not trying to start a controversial website.
Now it feels like Summer in Tokyo…sweltering!
Until Thursday, it had been comfortably warm…but since Friday, it’s gotten quite hot and humid here.
We went out yesterday and it got up to 37°C (99° F)!
As we were walking around, we saw this cat resting in the shade:
Although it gets very 蒸し暑い (hot and humid; muggy) in Tokyo during the Summer…there are many great Summer festivals in this city that will be starting soon!
Some photos I took yesterday:
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The main reason we went out yesterday was to buy advanced discount tickets for a movie that the five of us want to watch next weekend at the theater.
The movie is 「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎 (千年呪い歌)」 (Ge-Ge-Ge-No-Kitarou (1000 Year Cursed Song)).
It’s the second live action movie from the long-running cartoon about a group of monsters. We saw part one last year and it was good, so we’re looking forward to seeing the sequel.
The cartoon started in the ’60s and it’s on TV every Sunday (new ones…not re-runs).
This is a picture of the main characters in the cartoon:
And here they are in a movie promo picture:
After we bought the movie tickets, we went to the park and happened upon a show of two Peruvian Indians playing their traditional music.
They were quite good!
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I took a few short videos of them and uploaded them to My YouTube Page.
Tokyo Five 
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