TONARI NO TOTORO

There is the movie that almost Japanese know and love. It is Hayao Miyazaki’s movie.

In his movies, especially I like “TOTORO”. TOTORO is a wood sprite and only children can see him. Some people say that TOTORO is the god of death, but I simply can believe that. Although no one can know the truth, TOTORO is a cute sprite in my mind.

My favorite character in this movie is Mei. She is a little girl and a mischievous child, so she always cause trouble for her sister. However, she is so cute that I can’t get to dislike her.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096283/

Efficacy of Coffee

I'm sorry. I'm late to write this blog.


I like coffee very much so, I often drink it when I study or wake up in the morning.
BY the way, coffee has some advantages. Do you know? For example,drinking coffee clear our heads, and prevent from various diseases like loss of flexibility.

If you know more about coffee, please click this site!
http://www.qnsgltbc.com/ko-hi-kounou/

More on Faust

Hardly anyone in the class could think of a story similar to Faust. But this is a very influential story in literature Wikipedia has a long article about Faust, which goes into comparisons of Marlowe's and Goethe's Faust stories. In fact, Wikipedia has a whole category about Faust. It also has an article about other stories based on Faust. Hmmmm. I never knew Osamu Tezuka wrote a manga about Faust. There is another Wikipedia article about deals made with the devil. You'll find a list of other stories with similar deals there. As I mentioned in class, Mephistopheles is such a fascinating character that many other authors have used him in their works of art. Wikipedia features a long list of cultural references to Mephstopheles. Many such references are recent, even current. Some of them you might even know. Check it out.

Your favorite movie!

What's your favorite movie? Mine is The Seven Samurai. I first saw this movie when I was home sick from elementary school in Los Angeles. "Ho, hum" I thought. "Another samurai movie." There are a lot of samurai movies on TV in Los Angeles. I don't like them but Quentin Tarantino became very influenced by them. I don't like Quentin Tarantino, either.

"Oh, well, there's nothing else on [in the daytime]."

"Hey, wait a minute. This is not the usual samurai movie. This is . . . What is this? The Seven Samurai? I've gotta remember this."

I did remember it. It wasn't on TV for a long time, but when it was, and I didn't have a TV (I was in college) I went over to a friend's place and made him watch it, too. I watched any other movies I could find by Akira Kurosawa. He has been a major influence on Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and other Hollywood directors. I have a large collection of his films and even taught a class about him to the foreign students here.

Many people think of Kurosawa as the Emperor of Japanese Film, which he may have been, but he didn't just make Japanese films. He made a Russian film, he made a French film (a samurai movie) and he made many Hollywood films, including work on the disasterous "Tora, Tora, Tora" but more importantly "Dreams".

Kurosawa was a famous perfectionist, and whenever people would ask him what was his best picture, he always said "The next one!" until he made "Ran" which he finally decided was his best film. It is a version of Shakespeare's "King Lear" in Japanese. Kurosawa made other Shakespeare films, and even his stories that weren't taken directly from Shakespeare, (e.g. "The Bad Sleep Well") were often heavily influenced by Shakespeare (in the case of "The Bad Sleep Well" by "Hamlet").

I could say a lot about Kurosawa, but maybe I'll just end by noting that his first film famous outside Japan was "Rashomon". It became a very influential film. It made film makers aware of the possibilities of presenting different versions of the past, a technique which has since become common in film. "Rashomon" has arguably become an English word.

For your assignment this week (due Friday) please tell the class about a film you enjoyed. Be sure to provide links, especially to its page on the Internet Movie Database. (Don't worry if you don't like foreign films. They have lots of Japanese films there, too.) Also be sure to include any other links, photos, or trailers you can find. Here's a trailer I found for "The Seven Samurai".

Japanese weather!

Last class meeting I suggested that people blog their favorite Japanese weather sites on the Internet. Imagine my shock when I found out that students didn't get their weather information from the Internet!

Weather in Japan is important information. Yes, I get it from NHK and even looking at the sky (hey, I'm not an idiot) but weather information online is always accessible with the latest data.

This is the best weather site I've been able to find for Japan. If you know another, please suggest it.

Saint☆ Young Men

Do you know this comic named "Saint Oniisan"?

I really recommend to read it!

Overcoming the end of last century, Buddha and Jesus are coming to the lower world. They are renting an apartment in Tachikawa in Tokyo.

To my fun, they live as if they were university students with little money. Sometimes Buddha gets angry because Jesus buy something on impulse.

When you read this comic, you will be required some religional knowledge.

My favorite movie

I will tell you about my favorite movie.
My favorite movie is "the Lord of the Rings" .
Several years ago, the movie was released. I think there are some people who had seen it.
This movie is the magnificent fantasy movie.The outline of this movie is Frodo, the protagonist of this movie, ventures to "the mountain of the going to ruin". He goes there at the risk of his life.
I was moved by the deep friendship between Frodo and his friends.
I like this movie's magnificent scenery too. This movie was filmed in New Zealand. I thought I want to go to New Zealand when I saw this movie.
If you are interested in it, please see it.

It's funny!

Do you know the length of time since you were born?
This web site "Re-date.com", you will soon know that.
If you put your birthday, the length of time will be caluclated.
My life's length of time is 19 years, 9 months, 3 weeks, 2 days!
Not only the length of time, but your next anniversaries are shown.
I found this site and I was really interested in.
I'm sure you can enjoy YOUR TIME in this site!

Would you like to try this comic ?

Do you know this ? It's comic that sums up 'Genji Monogatari ' written by Murasaki Shikibu . each story consists of 8 -frame comic . And a main character ; Hikaru Genji is drawn as chestnut . It's very easy for everyone to read and very interesting !! You are able to buy this through the online shop easily . If you want to read 'Genji Monigatari ' , What about trying this one ?

My favorit character

My favorite character is Care Bears. They are American characters and there are a lot of kinds: Cheer bear, Wish Bear, Friend Bear, Love-a-lot Bear etc. There are the three reasons I love them.

First, they have a meaning for instance love, courage, friendship and wish. So, we can choice things that we want.

Next, they have a colorful body. Therefore, we can find our favorite colors in all the bears. The symbol is also different in each bears. Finally, this is the best reason, they are so cute!! Every bear is not the same face, they have an expressive face. Please find you are favorite bears.

The Story Of Genji

Do you like the Japanese classics? Now that we finished taking academic examinations, would you like to enjoy sophisticated works?

I like "Genji monogatari". I knew this story because I read a comic book. The comic is"Asakiyumemisi" writen by Waki Yamato. Have you read it? This story is sad, interesting and beautiful. (It is difficult to express real Japanese feelings. I can not use match words.) If you read tthis story, you shall read the original story of genji writen by Murasakisikibu!

This is my secret. If you know almost all the story of Genji, please see this site. There are interesting things.

http://moegen.blog.shinobi.jp/

My Winter Vacation/Dr.Faustus

I'll tell you how I spent my winter vacation.
On Dec. 24, I baked my mother a christmas cake.
She had been staying at a national hospital of Hirosaki, so my sister and I visited her and gave her the cake.
It was very hard for me since I seldom make cakes.
On Jan.2, I went to Iwaki-yama shrine for beginning of the New Year.
I pulled out an omikuji there, it said dai-kichi!
May the new year bring us happiness.
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I think "Doctor Faustus" tells us about how Western people believe in the world after death.
By the way, it was surprising that Lucifer was a woman.
Is Lucifer also a woman in other movies or pictures?
In Japan, people believe that Hell's king is Enma-daiou.
Perhaps he is a man. It's interesting for me the difference very much.

I can't find any story similar to "Doctor Faustus."
I just think the story riminds me inga-ouhou.

About Doctor Faustus

I think Doctor Faustus was an unhappy person. He followed the way of corruption by his some personal seduction.

I think he had been a good doctor before, but some praise made him to go to fault way. Then when he noticed that he had been wrong, it was too late and his life was over.
Everyone has virtue and evil in one's mind. And sometimes the praise makes he or she to go to bad way. But listen carefully to public opinions, perhaps he or she notice the most important things.

He didn't take a lot of people's advice in good way. The students in a college, a god and people like that advised to him. But he didn't listen to. In conclusion, I think he didn't have enough attention in around him.
That's all.

Doctor Faustus

January 9 in 2009 , I wathed a movie called ' Doctor Faustus ' . The movie described a man who wanted omniscience and omnipotent . Doctor Faustus selled his soul to one devil , Mephistop heles , to gain them . He made a pledge with hell to obtain all power .

Doctor Faust sent his life freely . But sometimes , he wondered if he was right , and ask for help to God . To do like that , he finaly broked his pledge with hell .

I thought that having all the things human wants is not good . I think we have to make up for a weakness each other . That's life !!

Winter Vacation In Hokkaido

Winter vacation, I went back to Hokkaido. I am from Obihiro in Hokkaido. My city is famous for raw caramel. Winter vacation of univercity is short, so I relaxed in my home for a few days. In my house, I made kurikinton; this is a delicious Japanese cook in first year. It was cold and snow not only in Hirosaki but also in Obihiro but Ihad a good vacation!

"Dr. Faustus" is tragedy. I think Dr.Faustus is a miserable man. He had a keen desire for fame and money. Eventually, he wished he had got eternal life. He could not be satisfied with his present happiness. This is why he became unhappy.

Winter Vacation

The movie called "Dr.Faustus" was interesting, but I felt little frightening story. Because Dr, Faustus was really talented, therefore he seek everything of pleasure. Finally, he cast into Hell.
I thought avarice is not good thing.


I went to a cafe with my mother on Christmas Day in 2008. The cafe called "HIMAWARI". It's on the DOTEMATHI street. It was first time to go there. I like the cafe because the atmosphere is retro-style and the dishes were delicious. If you have chance, please go there. You can enjoy delicious coffee and nice meals.


By the way, 7th January on 2009, there was a fire on my neighboring house. And the fire spread to my house! My family and I were really suprised!

Fortunately, a firefighter extinguished a fire immediately. So, damage was little and there was no injured person.



… I felt fire is terrible and we have to be careful of fire.

My Winter Vacation

In winter vacation, I did a short-tirm part time job.

Actually, I did a part-time job for the first time.

My job is to sell Japanese New Year Decoration, called SHIMENAWA outside!

It was really hard to be outside all day.

When I did a part time job, it was snowing and browing everyday.

I also must be standing all day long, so I felt really tired.

But a part time job was very good experience for me.

I was happy when customers bought something and said thank you for me.

I learned many things throught a part time job.

Doctor Faustus was interesting movie.

However the actor's English is so fast that I couldn't listen so well.

I thought I could listen these English perfectly many time during watching the movie.

My vacation activities

I will tell you my winter vacation activity.

On December 31th, my father makes buckwheat noodles (soba) eaten on New Year's Eve. I helped him to make soba. I tell you how to make "soba" .

First, add some water to buckwheat flour which was calculated and knead it thoroughly.

After enough kneading, extend the dough of soba with a rolling pin.

Next, not to stick, sprinkle the dough with some starch powder.

Then, fold the dough into two or three and cut it thinly.

Finally, boil it on your liking hardness and pickle it in some water and enjoy eating in a lot of way!I like soba noodles in hot broth with tempura. Its taste is very good!!

Please try it.

Doctor Faustus

Doctor Faustus is the strange movie for me. Dr. Faustus, the hero of this story, was too clever to be satisfied with ordinary life. He was tempted by Lucifer and changed his soul for youth. After that he sought pleasure and drank too much. The expression in this scene was interesting because anything had been extremely express; a beautiful woman is not necessarily beautiful etc.

Lastly, I thought that no man can resist the temptation of beautiful woman; he was charmed by Helen.

As teacher had said, the end of this movie was not happy. I became so sad because I like a happy ending and I want to see a dream at least in the story.

By the way, I met the friends who are my friends since in my high school students in this winter vacation. We seldom met, so we had a lot of thing we want to say; Study at the university, Love, Living by oneself etc. We told as much as we want while eating delicious lunch in the AOI’s café. The Spanish omelette I ate was better than any omelet I’ve eaten. I want to go this restaurant again with the same member.

Vacation activities

I went to Nagoya Blue note with my mother and my father in December 25 2008 : Chiristmas . Blue note is jazz club . People who come to there enjoy jazz music , eating ,drinking , and talking .

On the day , we enjoyed ''Yuji Ohno & Lupintic Five　LUPIN JAZZ LIVE 2008 WINTER　～Christmas Special～ '' I like Yuji Ohno & Lupintic Five very much . because I play the jazz piano , I model Yuji Ohno ,who has composed Lupin the third ' s music . The live was very exiting!! And food , drink , and the atmosphere were great ! After the live I bought a CD composed by Yuji Ohno , and I got sign on the CD . I was satisfied very mush ! I want to go to the Blue Note , someday . (The photo of the CD I bought on the day .)