The Japanese film “A Man Called Pirate”

I went to see the film “A Man Called Pirate”, which was created by the film director Takashi Yamazaki and the leading actor Junichi Okada together again.
They created another film “The Eternal Zero” three years ago, which was a great hit.

The opening scene reminded me of the one of “The Eternal Zero”. However, this film’s model is existing person and not a kamikaze pilot, Sazo Idemitsu, who was the founder of Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd.

An impressive scene of harsh dredging the Imperial Japanese Navy’s oil tanks in the original novel, which won the Literary Award by Bookstores in 2013, was fully depicted in the film as well. After World War II, Japan was suffering from extreme shortage of oil.

Although oil remained in the bottom of the Navy’s oil tanks, it was a very little in sludge. It’s impossible to use pumps or machines. So the employees have to go down into the bottom 10 meters deep with strong smell and noxious fume.

Due to the gas, they could work for only ten minutes in relays. In the novel, an employee was surprised to see Tetsuzo(Sazo’s role name) who took such an assignment : “Even the daredevil navy didn’t try to do that, but he is going to try without expecting anything in return.
Now Japanese people just think about only themselves but he is different. What a man!”

 I think that such Japanese people’s willingness to work hard at any task has created today’s Japan.

Tetzuzo shouted “Oil is blood of a country!”, and the words made me think if Japan would not be able to import oil again.

 By the way, the re-enacted scene of “Nissho-maru(oil tanker) Incident” is the climax scene of the film. The director Yamazaki used amazing VFX which was his favorite, and the scene which the Nissho-maru faced the British Royal Navy’s destroyer was as if I could sense the tension of the crews over time.

 The running time is 2.5 hours but I didn’t feel that long and I felt like I also lived the life of Sazo, who was endeared by the employees. Throughout the film, I felt tears running down my face to see the people worked very hard. (H.S)

 

Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine

I visited Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine in Yoshida-cho, Yamanashi Prefecture for the company trip this fall.

As I walked through the gate of the shrine which was large and powerful, there were two large and tall trees standing on both sides of Haiden (the front shrine).

These trees are 1000 years old and called Fujitaro Sugi (Sugi means cedar trees / Fujitaro is a name of a Japanese man) and Fuji Meoto Hinoki (Hinoki means cypress trees / Meoto means a married couple in Japanese). Even the trees were very old but they still looked fresh, strong and beautiful. When I touched them, I felt very sacred.

 

There are also the main shrine, the west main shrine and the east main shrine in the precinct which are registered as important cultural properties.

 

If you have a chance, how about visiting Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine?

 

T.F

 

Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine

Informatory Sign

This is an informatory sign for the bathroom at Wakasa Mikata Jomon Museum in Wakasa, Fukui Prefecture.  Aren’t the male and female signs which look like ancient Japanese clay figurine cute?  Although I think that the most important role of the informatory sign is functionality, it becomes creative and enjoyable to look at with some ideas like this.

(T.S)

“Exhibition from Reims Museum” at Fukui Fine Art Museum

I went to the museum for the first time in a while to see the “Exhibition

from Reims Museum” which I had been looking forward to.　

Reims is an old city in the Champagne region of northern France.

Reims Museum in the center of the city was opened in 1913 with articles

donated by billionaires who made their fortunes by Champagne. 

The reason why I had been looking forward to the exhibition is because I’ve been to

Reims before. I wanted to visit Champagne maisons and made a little side trip there

from Paris.　On the way to Reims, vineyards extending in rolling hills can be seen.

The sunny scenery was not only just beautiful but also it made me realized once again that France was an agricultural country. 

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
　　　　　　　　　　　　The vineyards in Champagne

As for Champagne maisons where I wanted to visit, I went to Moet et Chandon and

PIPER-HEIDSIECK. Both companies have a good tour of the brewing process and you can learn about that.   

Reims is a quiet city where a World Heritage site, Notre Dame Cathedral presents

dignified appearance. In Reims, there was a relaxed atmosphere, the food at a restaurant was good and its garcon was nice so they were good memories of the trip.　

By the way, the exhibition’s highlight is Tsuguharu Fujita’s paintings.

Reims is a city associated with him. Because in Reims, he was baptized,

became Leonard Foujita and he built a chapel which he had always dreamed in his late life. 

70 paintings including Fujita are on display in the “Exhibition from Reims Museum”.

I like landscape paintings called the Barbizon School and my favorite out of this

exhibition is “Woman reading a book in the shade of a tree beside the river” by

Camil Corot.  

The exhibition is open until December 25^th (Sun). 

December is a busy time though, as the end of the year approaches, why don’t you feel
an elegant atmosphere viewing rare French paintings which you cannot see that often? (H.S) 　

Feel Japan / Making Bamboo Crafts at Echizen Bamboo Doll Village in Fukui, Japan

We had a shooting at Echizen Bamboo Doll Village
in Maruoka-cho, Sakai City, Fukui Prefecture with two participants.
The participants experienced making bamboo dolls and conducting a few other activities.

This was the first time for both of the participants to do anything with bamboo.
I was worried that they might cut their fingers and/or get hurt when they used knives
to cut the bamboo. They conducted and finished everything safely under the guidance
of the master of making bamboo doll. They even said that they had such a great.
experience and it was an enjoyable challenge. They hope to come back to
Echizen Bamboo Doll Village.


According to the master, he used to be a joiner and then he became
a professional bamboo maker about 45 years ago. He used to make doors
and other things for houses and it was the beginning of his craftsmanship.
Chief Director of Echizen Bamboo Doll Village, Ryuichi Morota who has
such a busy schedule, he came to our shooting gave the participants
advice for how to use knife easily and safely.  With his advice, they seemed more
comfortable using the knives, and started cutting and shaving the bamboos faster.

Overall, we all had a great experience at Echizen Bamboo Doll Village.
Please stay tuned for upcoming video of “Echizen Bamboo Doll Village”!

T.F


Echizen Bamboo Doll Village

Look down at the street when you walk down

This is a picture of the manhole cover which has same tiles as the street has.

 

Each manhole cover has been made one by one by hand to match with the designs of the tiles on the street around the manhole cover.

 

I don’t know since when people started doing such a complicated thing but I think these tiles are not as slippery as metal ones. When it rains and/or snows, walking on the manhole covers with these tiles might not be slippery as walking on the ones with just metals like most of them on the street in Japan.

 

Besides the functional parts of the manhole covers, the designs made by the tiles of the street and manhole cover look like an abstract art and it’s interesting to look at.

 

This is a simple one, but it’s done precisely.

 

When I walk down the street,

I actually see many sceneries which I want to cut out and place on the wall.

 

T.S

“Temple of the Wild Geese” and its author Mizukami’s background

I read the “Temple of the Wild Geese” written by Tsutomu Mizukami, who was one of Fukui Prefecture’s representative authors, on this occasion when we created the video, ”Walk around Kyoto after reading the books by Tsutomu Mizukami" I guess that there is nothing left to say about its picturesque description and unimagined plot in the climax of the story. Meanwhile, Mizukami’s own background borrowed its main character Jinen and how influential such a one to him was is endlessly interesting to me.

Mizukami was sent to a Zen temple in Kyoto as a trainee priest when he was nine years old. His family was very poor that they would be given change by the head of the ward doing errands. And, a child of just nine who would be nestled up to his mother walks in the snow to go to a strange temple far away. It is a very pitiable scene. I think that there are no longer such children. But at that time, actually such children as Mizukami might have been. When he looked the ticket gate out of the window in the train, he saw his mother was standing there.

While I read the novel, words such as the following from Freudian theory within my mind which a psychologist Shu Kishida mentioned in a book “ Great expressionists had problems in parent-child relationship when they were young”. Another popular Japanese author, Osamu Dazai was, too.

Tsutomu Mizukami mentioned as follows in “The Truth of the Temple of the Wild Geese” by Osamu Tsukasa and in the postscript of his collected edition. “ I have too many tough times so I can’t talk about overcoming them. I can’t do anything.” “ As I wrote in [The Temple of the Wild Geese], the chief priest tie a cord to my arm to wake me up. It was hard for me.” “In my lifetime, from nine to nineteen years old, during mentally formation, about human suffering problem that the temple taught me, I cannot get out of mind as if it was nothing. The part will follow me all my life and it will be put in my coffin.”

In the book “The Truth of the Temple of the Wild Geese”, a chief abbot, Raitei Arima of Shokokuji Temple in Kyoto, who appeared on this site “GEN” contributed an article titled “Mizukami Literature and Zen” as follows.


“Although my generation was different, I have a certain similarity to Mizukami-san And, the feelings for mother have common. Mizukami attaches to his mother. I am too. Mizukami-san calls himself “apostate”. But I think it’s all right. If he had taken the path of Zen, he must have been a foremost Zen monk. I’m glad that he became a first-class author but I wanted him to live as a Zen monk. If he had gone on that way, probably he had changed the Zen circle. I think he is such an excellent person.”

 The chief priest Shoan Yamamori of Zuishunin, Shokokuji Temple(the photo above), who was the model of “The Temple of the Wild Geese” was hit and killed by a car in Kyoto in 1959. “The Temple of the Wild Geese” was released in 1961 and won the Naoki Award in the same year. (H.S)

Autumn leaves in Japan

I visited Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine

in Yoshida-cho, Yamanashi Prefecture for the company trip last month.

 

There were gorgeous autumn leaves with yellow, red and orange ones.

The air was so clean that I felt refreshed and calm.

Autumn leaves can only be seen in the temperate area of Northern Hemisphere.

They cannot be seen anywhere in the world. Some parts of east Asia, Europe, America

and Japan, autumn leaves can be seen. It is said that the autumn leaves in Japan are

the best ones in the world.

 

Japanese autumn leaves have variety of colors.

Main color of autumn leaves in Europe and America is yellow, but Japan has red, green

and yellow ones which create quite a beautiful contrast.

 

In Japan there are 26 different kinds of deciduous tree and there are 13 of them

in Canada and Europe. Therefore, we can see such a beautiful Autumn leaves.

 

I would like to share a video of "Discover Nippon", please enjoy!

 

 

T.F

Venus

The adult cheering squad, “Venus” which has been formed by alumnae of Fukui Commercial High School “JETS” (high school cheering squad) won the third prize in pom /college cheer squad / cheer dance / adult division at “The Finals of All Japan Cheer Dance Championship 2016” which was held on November 19th, 2016 at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium in Sendagaya, Tokyo. This was the first time for them to win a prize at the championship since they were established in 2014. Congratulations!

As people expected, JETS won first place in the high school division and they are going to the NCA/NDA All-Star National Championship in the USA next year.
This was the first time for me to see cheer performance live and I found it very interesting. I had a great time watching many teams performing all day long.




At the end of the championship, the team which was surrounded by many cheer squads and won this year’s grand prize was Japan Women’s College of Physical Education.
T.S