Japan is beautiful in January … and every other month!
Tag Archives: sumo
★ 「班長」 (hanchou: morphed into the English “(Head) honcho“)
★ 「津波」 (tsunami)
★ 「人力車」 (jin-riki-sha: morphed into the English “Rick-shaw“)
Headlines
5 FebJust a few stories that were in the news that got my attention:
★ In 1985, many of the biggest pop stars in America, including Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, and Bruce Springsteen, recorded a song together titled “We Are The World“.
The aim of the song was to raise money to help Africa. In fact, the group of singers were collectively known as “USA For Africa“.
And now, twenty-five years after the song was recorded, the producer of the song, Quincy Jones, has assembled another group of today’s most popular singers in America to sing a remake of the song.
This time the song is being used to help the victims of the earthquake in Haiti…and the song is being called “We Are The World 25 For Haiti“.
★ Asashoryu, the sumo champion is Japan has retired.
Asashoryu is from Mongolia
He’s a great sumo wrestler and earned the rank of 「横綱」 (Yokozuna…”Grand Champion”)…but he’s constantly gotten into trouble both inside and out of the ring.
His latest scandal was when he recently went out drinking and seriously injured a man when he went into a drunken rampage.
★ The annual 「札幌雪まつり」 (“Sapporo Snow Festival“) in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan starts today and goes until 2010 February 11.
I went to this festival in 1992 and I can tell you the huge, elaborate snow sculptures are amazing! If you have a chance, you should go see this festival.
写楽
1 SepToday I went to a 特別展 (special exhibit) at the 江戸東京博物館 (Edo-Tokyo Museum) titled: 「写楽幻の肉筆画」 (“SHARAKU and Other Hidden Japanese Masterworks from the Land of Narsicaa”).
This is a collection of Japanese 浮世絵 (woodblock prints) and paintings that were collected by Greek art collectors (mostly the Greek Ambassador to Japan) about 100 years ago.
It seems that records were not kept in Japan about the most of the pieces and even some of the artists. So, when Japanese art scholars learned of these pieces in an art museum in Greece they were very excited and arranged for an exhibit of the pieces back in their “home” (Japan).
This 特別展 (special exhibit) ends next Sunday (2009 Sept 6).
Woodblock prints like this were sometimes used to to decorate 扇子 (Japanese fans)
The 江戸東京博物館 (Edo-Tokyo Museum) is next to the 国技館 (Tokyo Sumo Arena).
Here’s a sign advertising an upcoming Sumo tournament:
Japanese words in English
2 AugOften words or expressions from one language become part of another language. And sometimes the meaning of the word gets changed.
In Japan, alot of words of foreign origin are used in the Japanese language. Many are used quite differently in Japanese than they are in their country of origin.
For example, パン (pan) is Japanese for bread. It came from the Portuguese word “pão“, which means “bread”. And 「カステラ」 (Kasutera) is the Japanese word for a type of cake that was introduced from Portugal called “Castella“.
There are many others. From English, Japan uses words like 「アイスクリーム」 (ice cream) and バスケットボール (basketball)*.
*(Foreign sports usually keep their original name in Japanese. An exception is 「野球」 (“Yakyuu“) for “baseball”. (lit. “field globe (ball)), which isn’t called by it’s English name because it was introduced to Japan during WW2 when America was considered an enemy.)
Some words are shortened. Such as テレビ (Terebi) for “television”. And some words have morphed into something unrecognizable to English-speakers, such as 「スキンシップ」 (skinship) for “bonding”.
But it works the other way too.
America (and other countries as well, I’m sure) have adopted Japanese words into the English language. Some have retained their original meaning. But others are used with totally different meanings than the “real” Japanese meaning.
And many “Japanese words” in English are pronounced so differently that a Japanese person wouldn’t recognize it.
For example,
★ 「アニメ」 (anime: Japanese animation)
★ 「マンガ」 (manga: Japanese comics)
★ 「オタク」 (otaku: is used as “fanatic” overseas, but “a Trekkie” is closer to the Japanese meaning)
★ 「カラオケ」 (karaoke)
★ 「さようなら」 (sayonara: farewell (not used in Japan in cases when you’ll be seeing the person again before long))
★ 「台風」 (taifuu: in English, the pronunciation morphed to “typhoon”)
★ 「きもの」 (kimono)
★ 「寿司」 (sushi: isn’t “raw fish” (that’s sashimi). Sushi is vinegared-rice with a topping (such as sashimi))
★ 「(お)酒」 ((O)-saké)
★ 「すき焼き」 (sukiyaki)
★ 「相撲」 (sumo: Japan’s national sport)
★ 「芸者」 (Geisha: aren’t prostitutes)
★ 「歌舞伎」 (Kabuki)
A promo poster for a Kabuki show
★ 「班長」 (hanchou: morphed into the English “(Head) honcho“)
★ 「津波」 (tsunami)
★ 「人力車」 (jin-riki-sha: morphed into the English “Rick-shaw“)
I’m sure there are more. This is all that I could think of off the top of my head.
Do you know some other instances of Japanese words being popularly used in English (or another language)?
News summary
28 MayA few items that were in the news recently:
- Takamiyama, the first foreign sumo wrestler in Japan (he was Hawaiian (he’s become a naturalized Japanese years ago, though)), will retire this June.He’s already retired from wrestling about 25 years ago, but he has his own sumo stable (a training ring and dormitory for a group of wrestlers) and he will turn 65 years old this June, so he’s planning to completely retire from sumo next month.
- 自由の女神像 (The Statue Of Liberty) in New York City had been off-limits to tourists since the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks…but it has recently been reopened and now tourists can go all the way to the top again for the first time in nearly eight years.
- North Korea tested nuclear weapons on last Monday and Tuesday. As a result, the Peace Clock in 広島 (Hiroshima, Japan) that counts the number of days that there has been no nuclear testing in the world had to be reset back to “00001”.
- A police officer in France was arrested after he cut of the genitals of his cheating wife’s boyfriend with a box-cutter knife.
- A woman was caught shoplifting from a Wal-Mart store in America and in an attempt to escape, she threw her infant child at the store’s security guards. Almost killing the baby.
Statues and dolls
26 FebThere are many interesting statues around Japan…especially in or near train stations.
Often they are of a famous person who lived in the area, a cartoon character whose story took place in that area, or of something or someone that the area is famous for.
I have taken photos of many statues around Japan over the years…maybe oneday I’ll go through them and make a post about them all—but for now, here are just a few that I’ve taken with my ケータイ (cell-phone) camera:
両津勘吉 (Ryoutsukankichi)
At 御宿 (Onjuku, Chiba, Japan)
Tora-san
Sumo
Whale
I’ve got many more photos of statues…as I wrote above, maybe I’ll write another blog-post later about them all.
—
Next Tuesday (March 3rd) is ひな祭 (Doll Festival).
On this day, families with daughters set up elaborate sets of dolls of Japanese royalty, and eat a special type of 寿司 (sushi) called ちらし寿司 (Chirashizushi).
I have three daughters, so of course we have a ひな祭の人形 (Doll Festival dolls) set.
Click here to read my FAQ about ひな祭 (Doll Festival).
ひな祭りの人形 (Doll Festival set)
World News
30 SepSome recent news items that have occurred around the world:
- As I mentioned in this post, the 相撲 (Sumo) wrestler 若ノ鵬 (Wakanohou) was banned for life from wrestling 相撲 (Sumo) because he was caught with marijuana.Well, he has just recently claimed that the 相撲 (Sumo) Association in Japan bribes wrestlers to lose matches.
He said that if he is reinstated, he will help to clean up 相撲 (Sumo). I can’t help but wonder, if he knew about rigged matches, why didn’t he clean up 相撲 (Sumo) before he was caught with drugs!
- A forty-year old woman in 神奈川県横須賀市 (Yokosuka, Japan) was arrested for strangling her 11-year old son to death.
- A railroad signal in Japan malfunctioned on Sunday, 28 September 2008 forcing the Japan Railway Company (JR) to halt 新幹線 (Bullet train) services for about four hours, affecting thousands of passengers.
- The country of Austria has changed their age of suffrage (voting) to 16 years old. So now, any Austrian who is at least sixteen can vote in national elections.
- The legendary actor Paul Newman died on Friday, 26 September 2008 of cancer. He was 83 years old. He had acted in Hollywood for over sixty years (my personal favorite of his numerous movies is “Cool Hand Luke“).
- A woman in America found a bat in her coffee filter after she had drunk a cup of coffee. The health department couldn’t test the animal because it had been cooked by the hot water in the coffe machine…so the woman had to undergo rabies treatment.
- Four boys in Texas, America whose ages ranged from 11 to 15 often broke into the home of one their 63-year old neighbors to steal his junkfood.
The homeowner finally caught them in the act recently and confronted them with a shotgun.
The children were unarmed and never threatened or hurt the man, nor did they take anything except candies and cookies.
But still, the man pointed his gun at them and ordered them to their knees. They began to beg for their lives. He hit them with the gun and kicked them…then he shot one of the boys, who was 13, in the back and killed him!The most shocking part of this story, to me, is that the man was acquitted in court of any wrong-doing!
Ponyo
3 SepDo you know 宮崎駿 (Hayao Miyazaki)?
The Japanese master animation artist who made classic アニメ (anime (cartoons)) such as 「となりのトトロ」 (My Neighbor Totoro), 「もののけ姫」 (Princess Mononoke), 「千と千尋の神隠し」 (Spirited Away), 「ハウルの動く城」 (Howl’s Moving Castle) and many others.
I’m not a anime fan…but his movies are excellent!
He just brought his new movie, 「崖の上のポニョ」 (Ponyo On The Cliff), to the Venice International Film Festival.
After the movie’s screening, he received a standing ovation and he was mobbed by international fans.
Movie critics are giving the movie four or five stars.
As I said, I’m not an anime fan. So I won’t be going to a 映画館 (movie theater) to watch this…but when it’s shown on cable TV, I’ll watch it.
++++++
I mentioned in this post that the Russian sumo wrestler, Wakanohou, was arrested for drug possession (which isn’t taken lightly in Japan).
Because of that, all of the other sumo wrestlers had to summit to drug testing…and two more Russian Sumo wrestlers failed the test.
The brothers, Roho and Hakurozan, submitted the tests that tested positive for marijuana…just like their Russian counterpart Wakanohou. They face the possibility of deportation…as well as a life ban from Sumo.
Photos
28 AugI went thru some of my photos and decided to post a bunch of them on my blog. Mostly as Slideshows.
For convenience, here’s a menu of the pictures, slideshows, and video on this post:
First are some of the small animals that have been living in our house recently.
Our ミドリ亀 (Red-eared slider turtle):
My YouTube video of our ミドリ亀 (Red-eared slider turtle):
The アゲハ蝶 (Swallowtail Butterfly) (and his 蛹 (cocoon)).
Here’s a slideshow of our カブト虫 (Rhino beetle) eating gelatin.
[rockyou id=121255942]
A slideshow of our 蝉 (Cicada) emerging from it’s moult (outer shell).
[rockyou id=121304472]
Here’s ハロウィーン (Halloween) at 川崎 (Kawasaki):
And here’s a slideshow of the 流鏑馬 (Horseback Archery) at 鎌倉 (Kamakura):
[rockyou id=121313498]
And the 流鏑馬 (Horseback Archery) at 浅草 (Asakusa):
And here’s a slideshow of New Years at 浅草 (Asakusa):
[rockyou id=121314652]
東京ディズニーランド (Tokyo Disneyland):
[rockyou id=121257747]
A park near our house:
[rockyou id=121256593]
花見 (Cherry Blossom Viewing):
[rockyou id=121263734]
茨城県 (Ibaraki) is a countryside prefecture to the north of 東京都 (Tokyo):
[rockyou id=121260602]
横浜 (Yokohama):
[rockyou id=121261159]
亀戸天神 (Kameido-Tenjin Shrine):
[rockyou id=121269921]
原宿 (Harajuku) and 渋谷 (Shibuya):
[rockyou id=121271108]
These photos are from 上野 (Ueno):
[rockyou id=121304850]
東京タワー (Tokyo Tower):
[rockyou id=121315444]
The 東京ドーム (Tokyo Dome) area (including the amusement park and 小石川後楽園 (Koishikawa-kourakuen Japanese Gardens)). There happened to be a cosplay event on the day I took these photos:
[rockyou id=121316712]
東京駅 (Tokyo Train Station) and the 皇居 (Imperial Palace):
[rockyou id=121320484]
東京大学 (The University of Tokyo):
[rockyou id=121322650]
東武動物公園 (Tobu-Doubutsukouen Zoo):
[rockyou id=121323921]
両国 (Ryougoku), the area of Tokyo with the 国技館 (Sumo Arena):
[rockyou id=121324845]
Please leave a comment of what you think of these photos!
Tokyo Five 
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