Famous fathers in pop culture

Today is 「父の日」 (Fathers Day).

My wife and daughters made a delicious Mexican dinner and gave me some new clothes for a Fathers Day present.
Wonderful gifts!

For my Fathers Day blog post, I thought I’d mention the first five famous fathers in pop culture that I thought of, whether they are fictional or “real”.

So, here’s my list (in no particular order):

—Homer Simpson—

The cartoon father figure of the American TV series “The Simpsons” is a selfish, clumsy, overweight, accident-prone father of three.
He works in a nuclear power plant but treats his responsibilities with the same importance as he does with everything else in his life…not much.

Despite all of his flaws, his family always supports him.

—Archie Bunker—

If you lived in America during the ’70s, then you surely know who Archie Bunker is.
He was the father figure on the popular (during the ’70s) American TV sit-com series.

On the surface, he seemed obnoxious, impatient and un-accepting of anyone different from himself. But, as much as he tried to hide it, he actually had a good heart and would stand up and help others.

—Ozzy Osbourne—

This is the only person on my list who isn’t a fictional character…but in many ways Ozzy Osbourne’s life has been “stranger than fiction”.

He was the original lead vocalist of the English heavy metal band “Black Sabbath” but had even more success as a solo artist after he was fired from the band he helped form.
He was infamous during the early years of his solo career for such antics as biting the heads off of a dove and a bat (on two separate occasions) and urinating on “The Alamo”, a landmark in the U.S. state of Texas (which got him banned from that state for over a decade).

In the early 2000’s, he (and most of his family) became more famous for their reality show on MTV titled “The Osbournes” about their unconventional family life.

—Baka-bon-no-papa—

The Japanese cartoon 「天才バカボン」 (“Tensai-Bakabon“) is actually named after the son, who is a foolish boy…but his father, simply called “Bakabon’s papa” is even dumber than his son and has become the most famous character in the Japanese comic book and TV cartoon series.

—Darth Vader—

The scene where Darth Vader revealed that he was Luke Skywalker's father.

Darth Vader has always been my favorite Star Wars character. He made a big impression when I was seven years old and saw him for the first time.
It was also quite a shock when I was ten and Darth Vader said “Luke, I am your father!”.

—-
What famous pop culture fathers can you think of?

(And, to my own father…Happy fathers day.)

日本の食卓へ！

I saw an online ad for 「ライトセーバーチョップスティック」 (“Lightsaber Chopsticks“)!

Star Wars "Light-saber Chopsticks"

They come in red “Darth Vader” lightsaber, blue “Luke Skywalker” lightsaber, and green “Yoda” lightsaber.
The red and blue ones are 230mm “adult size” and the green pair are 200mm “child size” chopsticks.

The ad says 「日本の食卓へ！」 (“(Coming) to dinner tables in Japan!”).

I’m not a big enough of a “Star Wars” fan to buy something like this. I prefer to use normal 箸 (chopsticks).

Hollywood inspired by Tokyo

Over the years, Hollywood has remade many Japanese movies and also made original movies that were inspired by Japan.

Here’s a list of some of them that I thought of. Tell me if you can think of others that I may have forgotten.

First, HOLLYWOOD REMAKES OF JAPANESE MOVIES:

• U.S. remake: “Gatchaman”
  

  Gatchaman (scheduled for release in 2011)

  Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「ガッチャマン」 (Gacchaman)

  Original Japanese movie: 「科学忍者隊ガッチャマン」 (Science Ninjas: Gacchaman)

  

  科学忍者隊ガッチャマン

  (Click here to see my “Gatchaman” stamps.)

• U.S. remake: “Astro Boy”
  

  Astro Boy

  Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「アトム」 (ATOM)

  Original Japanese movie: 「鉄腕アトム」 (Powerful Atom)

  

  鉄腕アトム

• U.S. remake: “HACHI: A Dog’s Story”
  

  HACHI: A Dog's Story (release date 2009 Aug 8)

  Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「HACHI: 約束の犬」 (Hachi: A Faithful Dog)

  Original Japanese movie: 「ハチ公物語」 (Hachiko’s Story)

  

  ハチ公物語

  (Click here to read another post I wrote about this movie).

• U.S. remake: “Shall We Dance?”
  

  Another US remake of a Japanese movie starring Richard Gere.

  Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「Shall We ダンス？」 (Shall We Dance?)

  Original Japanese movie: 「Shall We ダンス？」 (Shall We Dance?)

  

• U.S. Remake: “The Ring“Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「ザ・リング」 (The Ring)
  Original Japanese movie: 「リング」 (Ring)
• U.S. remake: “The Grudge“Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「The Juon」
  Original Japanese movie: 「呪怨」 (Juon (Grudge))

  

• U.S. remake: “Dark Water“Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「ダーク・ウォーター」 (Dark Water)
  Original Japanese movie: 「仄暗い水の底から」 (Dark Water From Below)
• U.S. remake: “Last Man Standing“Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「ラスト・マン・スタンディング」 (Last Man Standing)
  Original Japanese movie: 「用心棒」 (The Bodyguard)

• U.S. remake: “A Fistful Of Dollars“Japanese Translation Of US Title:　「荒野の用心棒」 (The Bodyguard Of The Wilderness)
  Original Japanese movie: 「用心棒」 (The Bodyguard)
• U.S. remake: “The Bodyguard“Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「ボディガード」 (Bodyguard)
  Original Japanese movie: 「用心棒」 (The Bodyguard)
• “Eight Below“Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「南極物語」 (South Pole Story)
  Original Japanese movie: 「南極物語」 (South Pole Story)

  

• “Magnificent Seven“Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「荒野の七人」 (Seven Men Of The Wilderness)
  Original Japanese movie: 「七人の侍」 (Seven Samurai)
• “Dragonball“Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「ドラゴンボール」 (Dragonball)
  Original Japanese movie: 「ドラゴンボール」 (Dragonball)

  

  (Click here to see an earlier post I wrote about this movie).

• “Speed Racer“Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「マッハＧＯＧＯＧＯ！」(Mach GoGoGo!)
  Original Japanese movie: 「マッハＧＯＧＯＧＯ！」(Mach GoGoGo!)

  

• “Godzilla“Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「ゴジラ」 (Godzilla)
  Original Japanese movie: 「ゴジラ」 (Godzilla)

  

  (Click here to see an earlier post I wrote about this movie).

—-

And, HOLLYWOOD MOVIES THAT WERE INSPIRED BY JAPAN:

• Gung-Ho!


Gung-Ho!

• The Karate Kid
  

  「ベスト・キッド」 (The Karate Kid)

  (Click here for my post about this movie).

• Lost In Translation
  

  Lost In Translation

• Ramen Girl
  

  Ramen Girl

  (Click here for my post about this movie).

• Mr. Baseball
  

  Mr. Baseball

• Toxic Avenger II
  

  Toxic Avenger Part II

• Sgt. Kabukiman, N.Y.P.D.
  

  Sgt. Kabukiman, N.Y.P.D.

• Star Wars
  

  Star Wars

• Memoirs Of A Geisha
  

  「SAYURI」 (Memoirs Of A Geisha)

• Last Samurai
  

  Last Samurai

• Ronin
  

  Ronin

• Fast And Furious 3: Tokyo Drift
  

  「ワイルド・スピード」 (Fast & Furious) 3: Tokyo Drift

  Also, I just found this “Pixar ‘Cars’ X ‘Tokyo Drift’“:

• Black Rain
  

  Black Rain

• Blade Runner
  

  Blade Runner

• Austin Powers: Goldmember
  

  Austin Powers 3: Goldmember

• The Simpsons: 30 Minutes Over Tokyo
  (It’s not a movie…just one episode of a weekly U.S. TV show. But I wanted to include it since the characters go to Japan. And it’s funny.)

  

  The Simspons "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo"

• American Yakuza
  

  American Yakuza

• The Hunted
  

  The Hunted

• Rising Sun
  

  Rising Sun

“Star Wars Celebration Japan” (post #2)

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:

*****

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