The 29th Takefu International Music Festival

The annual Takefu International Music Festival was held this year, too.

The festival was held from September 9^th to 16^th and it was the 29^th to be held.

During the festival, not just daily concerts but also workshops and classes by world-class musicians were held.

I went to its opening concert held at Echizen Cultural Center on September 9^th, 2018. The concert is sort of introducing musicians who play in the festival, 

so each of them played the piano, the violin, the cello, the saxophone, the flute, and sings one or two songs each. It was a luxurious program like cherry-picking. 

The opening number was "Love's Greeting" by Elgar. Some of the other songs played were Brahms' "Hungarian Dances"and "Lullaby" and "Liebesleid" by Kreisler. The musicians played not only familiar songs but less familiar, more contemporary ones too, so it was really a varied concert.

Kansai Airport had been closed due to Typhoon No.21, 

so a few of musicians from abroad changed their flights and managed to arrive at the center just in time. They did not reveal a trace of such troubles, I was able to sense their serious attitudes and concentration from the stage. (H.S) 

Flowers I found in autumn fields

Dayflowers, its Japanese name means "Grass of morning dew"

Yesterday, I went to Karigahara ski site in Katsuyama City, Fukui Prefecture to practice drone.  And to my surprise, I found various flowers among weeds there even in this season. I thought how beautiful they were. White and yellow small butterflies were flying around the yellow and blue purple flowers.

As it is said that "There is no plant named weed.", I changed the way I look the landscape only by knowing the names of plants. It's embarrassing that I don't know names of wild plants even though I often go mountain climbing.

Now I want to learn them even little by little.
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Hogweed

Yellow foxtail shining under the morning sun

Yellow flowers whose name I don't know

The National Sports Festival of Japan will be held in Fukui for the first time in 50 years!

*This is a promotion video of the 2018 National Sports Festival, Fukui Prefecture.

 

 

Finally, the national sports festival of Japan in Fukui will begin in a few weeks! It will be the second time for it to be held in Fukui Prefecture, 50 years from the last one.

On September 29th, 2018, the opening ceremony will be held at 9・98 stadium in Fukui City, and the sports festival will be held until October 9th. After that, the National Para-Sports Festival of Japan will be held from October 13th to the 15th, 2018.

It is exciting to see that many of the great athletes in Japan will be in Fukui. They will be competing fiercely during the sports festival.

 

 

Photograph: FUKUI SHIMBUN ONLINE

 

For the opening ceremony on September 29th, 2018, the Emperor who will abdicate on April 30th next year and the Empress will be in Fukui to attend the ceremony. It will be the last time for him to attend the National Sports Festival of Japan.

It’s his first-time visiting Fukui in 9 years. I’ve never seen him in person. If I have a chance, I would like to see him before he abdicates.

 

An actor, Hiroshi Tsuda and an entertainer, Madoka Nishimura, they both are from Fukui Prefecture and will be hosting the opening ceremony. The ceremony will begin with the welcoming event performed by residents of Fukui Prefecture. Some of them are in traditional arts groups, and they will show the great traditional performances. The others conduct cultural, art and sports performances.

After that, a few events such as an event for cheering the athletes and speeches will be conducted.

 

At the end of the ceremony, a great and well known singer in Japan from Mihama Town, Fukui Prefecture, Hiroshi Itsuki will be singing.

In Japan, we say that autumn is the sports season as it is said as about foods, reading books, etc. How about cheering Japanese great athletes this autumn?

 

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The Japanese film "One Cut of the Dead"

Another lovely Japanese film was brought into the world.

It is the "One Cut of the Dead" finally released in Fukui as well.

At the beginning, I thought that it was the first time for me to see a Japanese film

whose casts are all unknown actors and I was a little nervous about that. 

So I wondered that I was fixed on film's stereotype, but it was only momentary, 

and I felt drawn into the film more and more.　

By the way, Koji Ichihashi, a producer of the film, was from Echizen City, Fukui Prefecture. And, Shinichiro Ueda, the director, was from Nagahama City, Shiga Prefecture, where is next to Fukui. So I feel a closer connection with the film.

When Ueda came to Fukui for the premiere, he said "The production cost was only three million yen, so our own making way made the film worthwhile. Also, the casts were all unknown, so the film became non-predictable." in an interview.

You can enjoy the film by various elements, and you could be happy after you

saw the film. Seeing is believing. No prior knowledge is necessary.　

Please drop in a movie theater and just enjoy the world of the film. (H.S)　

Drone simulator

I decided to use a simulator for practice drone manipulating.

I also use some mini-size quad copters so-called "Toy Drone", but frequent replacing batteries is bothersome.

I got a racing drone simulator software ($ 4.99 / about 555 yen), "FPV Freerider" . Transmitter is Futaba's T10J. I connected this to my MacBook with a simulator cable I bought from Amazon.

But how hard it is to control the aircraft with the simulator!

It is quite different from the drones I usually use for aerial photography and I cannot even hover normally. It took 2 days to get through the first gate.

I have gotten used to it little by little, but I don't know when it will be possible to turn the whole course.

I actually felt that what is called a drone is actually flying with a very delicate control.

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Eiheiji Toro-nagashi （Lantern Festival) 2018

I visited an annual summer event, Eiheiji Toro-nagashi (Lantern Festival), which was held along Kuzuryu River in Eiheiji Town, Yoshida-gun, Fukui Prefecture on August 25th, 2018. Toro-nagashi is a Japanese ceremony in which participants release candle-lit lanterns into a river as a way to help guide spirits to the other world.

This year was the 31st time for the festival to be held and it has been a seasonal tradition that tells summer will be ended soon. Many people in and out of the prefecture visit the festival every year.

There are several events held throughout the day, which are divided into daytime programs and night ones. I visited the night ones.

According to some acquaintances of mine who were there from the beginning of the festival, the daytime program was begun with a Japanese drum show at 2 p.m., visitors enjoyed live shows by a local reggae singer and comedians. Also, the visitors enjoyed a show of a TV superhero, the “Masked Rider” (Kamen Rider).

I arrived at around 6 p.m., and there were many visitors, and food stands which served Japanese festival common foods such as takoyaki (octopus dumpling) and okonomiyaki (savory Japanese-style of pancake). Some local dishes were served at the stands as well.

At 7 p.m., the Toro-nagashi ceremony began. Monks from Eiheiji Temple first read the sutra, and then participants released approximately 10,000 lanterns into the waters of the Kuzuryu River. Finally, at the end of the ceremony, a display of fireworks exploding in the night sky, was one of the highlights of the event.

If you have a chance to visit Fukui in the end of August, how about enjoying the lantern ceremony in Eiheiji Town, Yoshida-gun, Fukui Prefecture?

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Japanese-English words for soccer terms

It's already been almost two months since the final match of 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia. Time really flies. By the way, when I watch soccer games, I think that English words are often used. However, in fact, some of them do not make sense in English.

[Japanese-English] [English]
*uniform 　→　　    kit

*sta-men　　 →　　starting lineup

*group league　→   group phase

*heading　　　→　 header

*middle shoot　→　let fly from ***yards

*PK (sen) 　　 →　  penalty shootout

First of all, you might wonder whether soccer or football is right in English.
In conclusion, they are both right. In England, the country where soccer originated, it is called football, and in the United States, it is called soccer in order to differentiate from American football.

For reference, Japanese National Team's coach's English title is 'coach'.
In England, it is 'manager', in Germany it is 'trainer' and in France it is called 'sélectionneur'(selector) in French.
It's interesting because it shows each expected role depending on the country. (H.S)

      

FIFA selected the five players who burst on the scene at the World Cup. Inui of Japanese National Team was also chosen! （Photo is from FIFA's official Twitter）