The new ベスト・キッド

I wrote an earlier post about the remake of the classic ’80s movie “The Karate Kid“.

Click here to read that earlier post. In it, I discussed the impact the original made on the world and how it almost seemed sacrilegious to attempt a remake.

Well, the remake version has been released in theaters in America on June 11th.
Here’s the U.S. flyer for the movie:

U.S. "Karate Kid" flyer

Have you watched this movie yet? What do you think? Is it good?

The date that this movie will hit theaters in Japan has been announced. The ロードショー (screen debut) will be Saturday, August 14th in Japan. I was skeptical about this movie until I saw the trailers.
You can see the U.S. trailer for this movie on my other post here or the Japanese trailer on the official 「ベスト・キッド」 (Japanese “Karate Kid”) website.

In Japan, both the original ’80s “Karate Kid” movie and this new remake are titled 「ベスト・キッド」 (“Best Kid“).

Here’s the Japanese flyer for the ’80s 「ベスト・キッド」 (“Karate Kid“):

Japanese flyer for 1984 「ベスト・キッド」 ("Karate Kid")

And here’s the new Japanese flyer for the 2010 remake version:

Japanese flyer for 2010 remake version of 「ベスト・キッド」 ("Karate Kid")

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On a different subject…

It’s now summer in Japan. There are many summer festivals in Japan.
Check out my “Festivals In Tokyo” page for a listing of some of the major festivals in summer (and the other times of year too).

One of the most popular festivals in July and August in Japan is 花火大会 (fireworks shows).

You can see a basic listing in English of the fireworks shows around Tokyo on my “Festivals In Tokyo” page by clicking here.

But for a more comprehensive listing of this year’s fireworks shows for Tokyo and anywhere else in Japan, you can visit the 「花火カレンダー２０１０」 (“2010 Fireworks Calendar”.

This fireworks calendar site is a collaboration between the “Walker Plus” magazine and Suntory 「金麦」 (Kinmugi) beer.

It’s in Japanese only though.
But if you can’t read Japanese and want help finding a fireworks show in your area, Email me and I’ll help you.

Have you ever watched a fireworks show in Japan? It’s crowded but a lot of fun.

花火

梅雨 (The rainy season) will be over soon in the Tokyo area and then the rest of summer will be filled with hot, humid, sunny days.

In Japan, 夏 (summer) means スイカ (watermelon), 祭 (festivals), 海 (the beach), 小鳥線香 (mosquito repellent coil)…

and 花火 (fireworks)!

宮島水中花火大会 in Hiroshima.

In the evenings of July and August (usually on the weekends), there are summer 花火大会 (fireworks shows) all over Japan.

If you go to a fireworks show in Japan,
– you should bring a picnic style food and drinks for yourself and your group…there’s no BBQ grilling done at fireworks shows in Japan,
– bring a plastic tarp sheet for your group to sit on…but, although many people do it, you’re not supposed to use the sheet to reserve a spot for yourself ahead of time,
– if you want to use 線香花火 (sparklers), don’t wave them around…it’s considered dangerous in Japan,
– you can wear 「ゆかた」 (summer kimono) or 「じんべい」 (Japanese traditional summer shorts / shirt outfit) if you want to,
– and Japanese people call out 「たまや！かぎや！」 (“Tamaya! Kagiya!“*) when the fireworks go up…you can yell that out too, if you want. (* Long ago, Tamaya and Kagiya were competing fireworks companies in Japan. Fireworks spectators began to call out their names to egg on their competition to make bigger and bigger displays. Today it remains popular to shout it out at fireworks shows.)

There are too many fireworks shows around Japan to list them all, even just in the Tokyo area there are too many to list.
But here’s a list of the main ones in the Tokyo area and the date of the summer 2009 shows (also you can click here to see a list of some of Tokyo’s Fireworks shows on my “Festivals in Tokyo“):

• 宮島水中花火大会 (Miyajima Suichu Fireworks Show) in 広島 (Hiroshima) – Friday, August 14
  (It’s far from Tokyo…but this show gets special mention. The photo in this post above is of this fireworks show. (The rest of the shows on this list are in Tokyo.)).
• 調布市花火大会 (Choufu-shi Fireworks Show) – Saturday, July 18
• 葛飾納涼花火大会 (Katsushika Nouryou Fireworks Show) – Tuesday, July 21
• 足立の花火大会 (Adachi Fireworks Show) – Thursday, July 23
• 隅田川花火大会 (Sumida River Fireworks Show) – Saturday, July 25
• 飯田橋花火大会 (Iidabashi Fireworks Show) – Saturday, August 1
• 江戸川花火大会 (Edo River Fireworks Show) – Saturday, August 1
• 青梅市納涼花火大会 (Oumeshi Nouryou Fireworks Show) – Saturday, August 1
• 昭島市民くじら祭夢花火 (Akishima-Residents Whale-Festival Dream-Fireworks Show) – Saturday, August 1 – Sunday, August 2
• 江東花火大会 (Koutou Fireworks Show) – Tuesday, August 4
• 日刊スポーツ主催2009神宮外苑花火大会第30回記念大会 (30th Nikkan Sports Shusai Shrine Outer-Garden Fireworks Festival 2009) – Thursday, August 6
• 東京湾大花火祭 (Tokyo Bay Grand Fireworks Festival) – Saturday, August 8
• 八丈島納涼花火大会 (Hachijyoujima Nouryou Fireworks Show) – Tuesday, August 11
• 第五回せいせき多摩川花火大会 (5th Performance Tama River Fireworks Show) – Tuesday, August 11
• 世田川区たまがわ花火大会 (Setagawa-Ward Tama River Fireworks Show) – Saturday, August 22

If you want any more information about these or other 花火大会 (Fireworks shows) in Japan (such as how to get there, the times of the shows, etc), please feel free to post a comment (click here), or contact me with this E-mail form, and I’ll help you as much as I can:

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