Veteran’s Day 2013

At the 11th hour, on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the guns of war fell silent for a time. The men and women who fought in that “War to End All Wars” hoped and prayed that no one would ever hear the guns of war again…. Continue reading

A little enka music

So, the last post I talked about enka music, but didn’t bother to link to any examples. Well, this time I’m going to show you what I mean by “Japanese blues”. This one is one of my all-time favorites, “Sake yo” by Ikuzo Yoshi. I even learned enough to sing… Continue reading

Reaching Autumn: A “Calvin and Hobbes” fan movie…

This is an interesting short (13 minutes) movie, “Reaching Autumn: A Calvin and Hobbes Movie”, featuring live actors portraying the characters “Calvin” and “Susie Derkins” from the comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes” once they’ve grown up and entered society as young adults. Calvin is portrayed as a serious businessman who’s… Continue reading

“The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom”

I had heard about this documentary, “The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom”, filmed about 1 month after the Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami of March 2011. I finally got a chance to see it, and it’s both heartbreaking and hopeful, beautifully filmed scenes of people coping with the chaos,… Continue reading

Matsushima, two years later (pt. 2)

Another in my comparison between what Matsushima was like when I went there in 2010, before the tsunami, and 2012, when I returned to see how the town was affected.