2015 in review

In ten days, this year will be over.  Time flies!
Google have compiled the biggest news stories for each of the past twelve months by country, according to the most popular internet searches in each country.

All links below are to related posts that I’ve written. By all means, click the links and read (and comment on) my posts!

The Biggest News Stories of 2015 in Japan:

1. (December 2015) – Star Wars
2. (November 2015) – Paris attack
3. (October 2015) – Rugby World Cup / Water on Mars
4. (September 2015) – Volkswagen emissions scandal
5. (August 2015) – (nothing was listed by Google)
6. (July 2015) – Women’s Soccer World Cup
7. (June 2015) – Japan’s Constitution change
8. (May 2015) – Respiratory Syndrome that started in South Korea and killed 36
9. (April 2015) – Nepal earthquake
10. (March 2015) – (nothing was listed by Google)
11. (February 2015) – “The dress”
12. (January 2015) – (nothing was listed by Google)

“The dress”

The Biggest News Stories of 2015 in America:

1. (December 2015) – Star Wars
2. (November 2015) – Paris attack / The Royals won the baseball World Series
3. (October 2015) – Water on Mars
4. (September 2015) – The Pope visited the U.S. / Volkswagen emissions scandal
5. (August 2015) – (nothing was listed by Google)
6. (July 2015) – Women’s Soccer World Cup / Cecil the lion / Iran nuclear deal
7. (June 2015) – Caitlyn Jenner
8. (May 2015) – Mayweather vs Pacquiao boxing match
9. (April 2015) – Nepal earthquake / Same-gender weddings legalized
10. (March 2015) – (nothing was listed by Google)
11. (February 2015) – “The dress” / The Oscars awards show
12. (January 2015) – (nothing was listed by Google)

Earth Day

Today (April 22nd, 2014) is 「アース・デイ」 (“Earth Day”).  It is observed in many countries, including Japan.

This is the day set aside to remind us to protect the environment, not only on Earth Day, but always.

At the very least, we should remember the “3Rs”…reduce, reuse and recycle.

In honor of Earth Day, a website has been made by Google and Time Magazine that allows visitors to upload their photos of “My Beautiful Earth

Click here to visit the “My Beautiful Earth” website.

Google logos for Japan

I’m sure that you know that the search engine Google often customizes their logo for special holidays and events.

But, unless you use Google Japan, you most likely see different custom logos than I do.

Here are the customized Google logos than were featured so far this year in Japan:

「成人の日」 ("Adults Day") ... 2011 January 10

100th birthday of Okamoto Taro, 2010 Feb 26
(click image to read my post about him)

「ひな祭」 ("Girls Day")... 2011 March 3rd

「七夕」 ("Star Festival") ... 2011 July 7th
(Click the image to read my post with last year's image for this holiday)

「海の日」 ("Sea Day") ... 2011 July 18

Click here to see my FAQ about all of Japan’s holidays that I wrote on my “main” website.

Have you seen any interesting Google customized logos for your country’s holidays?

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.

Japan meets India meets Mexico

Today is 「七夕」 (“Tanabata“).

(Click here to read my short FAQ about this holiday.)

「七夕」 (“Tanabata“) is on the seventh day of the seventh month (July 7) and the name literally translates to “Seventh evening”, but the English translation of the holiday’s name is “Star Festival“.

On this holiday, people in Japan write a wish for the future on a piece of paper and tie it to a bamboo tree.

Today both Yahoo Japan and Google Japan incorporated a 「七夕」 (“Tanabata“) design into their logos.

"Google Japan" Tanabata logo

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The Japanese fast-food chain “MOS Burger” is currently offering a 「ナン・タコス」 (“Indian Nan-bread Taco”) and 「ナン・チョリソカレー」 (“Indian Nan-Bread with Mexican Choziro-sausage and Curry”).

Each for ¥360.

100,000 hits

I started this blog eighteen months ago, and last night my blog reached 100,000 hits!

The first month I started this blog (2008 March), it got only about 20 hits a day…but the number steadily climbed.

These days my blog gets between 700 – 850 hits a day. At that rate, it’ll get another 100,000 by next January.

My blog's monthly stats for 2008 March - 2009 August

Sometimes I’m surprised by the search engine terms that people have used to find my blog.

Such as:

• IKEA logo (I have a post about IKEA in Japan. And their logo is on the page. Click here).
• McDonalds logo (It’s on this post).
• Gene Simmons (He’s the bassist in the rock band KISS. I have a number of KISS-related posts. This post shows his photo and a video of him performing a song written exclusively for a Japanese movie).
• Detroit Metal City (This is the Japanese movie that Gene Simmons cameos in).
• Death Note (I have this post).
• Rock And Roll Over (I did two interviews with the artist of that KISS album cover. Here and here).
• Godzilla (Maybe this post will interest you).
• Octopus (I have a post about octopi with too many legs. It’s here).
• John Lennon shot (I wrote a post about it on the 28th anniversary of that tragedy).

How did you find my blog? With a search engine? What were you searching when you found it? Did you find, on my blog, what you were looking for?

And, if you have a blog, what search engine terms do people use to commonly find your blog?