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.

World Baseball Classic ’09

Do you know what the World Baseball Classic is?

World Baseball Classic logo

It’s a new international baseball competition. Like soccer’s World Cup.

The World Baseball Classic 2009 started today.
This is only the second time that the World Baseball Classic occurred.
The World Baseball Classic 2006 was the first and only other time this competition took place so far.

Japan was the champion team of the World Baseball Classic 2006 games.

The first game of the World Baseball Classic 2009 was Japan vs China. This game took place this afternoon (Japan time) at the Tokyo Dome.

Japan beat China with a final score of 4-0.
The next game will be Korea vs Taipei, also at the Tokyo Dome. Japan will face the winning team of that game on March 7th (again at the Tokyo Dome).

At the Tokyo Dome

The Japan team has high hopes of winning the World Baseball Classic again.

The host cities for the World Baseball Classic ’09 are Tokyo, Japan; Mexico City, Mexico; Toronto, Canada; San Juan, Puerto Rico; San Diego, USA; Miami, USA; and Los Angeles, USA.

The countries that have teams competing are: Japan (with Ichiro Suzuki and Daisuke Matsuzaka on the team), South Korea, China, Taipei, Australia, Canada, USA, Mexico, Dominican Republic (with Alex Rodriguez on the team), Cuba, Italy, The Netherlands, Panama, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and South Africa.

The World Baseball Classic 2009 will go from today’s game that Japan won until the final in Los Angeles on March 23, 2009.

Do you like baseball?
Are you following the World Baseball Classic? Which team are you supporting?
Did you watch the Japan vs China game today? If so, did you watch it on TV…or were you at the Tokyo Dome?

By the way, if you wanna visit the official World Baseball Classic homepage…then, click here.