No News is Good News?

Hello! I'm back! I will try to catch my blog up to all of the big events that have happened this year that have been preventing me from blogging! For now though, I have a different topic on my mind.

I have heard the phrase "no news is good news" before and it seems to be a true statement. In reading back through my blog posts of this year, I came across my posting for Japan's tsunami. Isn't it funny that when this tragic event happened you couldn't go anywhere without hearing about it. The rising death toll. New satellite photos. Fukushima's nuclear disaster.

I still see the occasional "donate to Japan" on some websites (might be more frequent for a person like me who visits Asian websites...), but I don't really hear any news about what is going on. I would assume that Japan is getting on with rebuilding and turning their misfortune around.

I have made the decision to visit Japan after graduating from Oregon State next year, and with this decision comes a need to convince my parents. My mom brought up this topic of rebuilding, so I decided to see what I could find on the internet for any news.

One article stated that 7 of the 9 regions reported an up in the economy views. As I read the rest of the article, it appears that the the economies are doing a little better, but some regions are still in a severe state. With the Fukushima incident, there are several obstacles in the way of reopening and utilizing that power. Production is encouraged to go overseas, and consumers are told to limit their use of power to prevent a black out. Another article reported that the man appointed as the Disaster Reconstruction Minister has stepped down already after scolding a governor of one of Japan's regions not doing well. If you want to read either of these articles, here they are:

BOJ: 7 Out of 9 Japan Regions Up Econ Views
Matsumoto Quits as Japan Cabinet Minister

So it looks things are moving towards progress, but I don't think anyone can say it's "good news" yet. On a lighter note, here is a fun bike helmet I'm looking at, from a website that allows you to buy hard-to-find-things from Japan! (I've also added this website to my links).

Tsunami

It is amazing to me how news can travel so fast in this world. We live over 7,000 miles away from Japan, and yet, moments after a devastating incident, we know about it. It's too bad we don't have a way to prevent these things from happening. The wonderful thing that comes from our current technology, is that we can send help and aid that much faster. Even Lady Gaga is contributing by selling bracelets.

Somewhat-comforting thoughts are that of all countries to get hit with this, Japan is most prepared (at least for the earthquake part). Less people have died than could have, but that is still people who are gone and family and friends left to miss them.

As you may or may not know, I'm trying to get an internship in Japan for Fall term 2011. I know by then Japan will be up and running again, but I feel so sad for what's happened.

Here's a good article about what's happened in Japan. And I leave with the image of the Great Wave.

A Loyal Dog

I recently watched the movie Hachi: A Dog's Tale with my family. It's Christmas break, so I'm watching movies :)

Hachi was filmed in 2009 starring Richard Gere and Joan Allen. I was a little reluctant to want to watch this movie. My family came back from their day with a stack of movies, none looked very promising to me. Across the cover of this one said the immortal words "Based on a True Story," so it was obviously my mother's first choice.

I was pleasantly surprised, because I actually enjoyed the movie. Here was a movie with a fairly simple plot about a dog, that was done well (much better than that ridiculous Marley and Me). I was ready to give this movie a thumbs up until the end of the film, when the words on the screen said that the true story was actually about a Japanese professor at a Japanese train station. Pfft.

If you know much about be, then you know that I am currently obsessed with all things Asian, most of all Japan. So to find out that this movie could have actually been in a Japanese setting really put me out! To think I was excited about the one Japanese character in the film, and the discussion of the Japanese history of the dog!

If you don't want me to ruin the movie for you by totally revealing the plot, please, read no further. The real story of the dog Hachi started when he was born in Odate, Japan, in the Akita prefecture in November of 1923. He was sold to Professor Hidesaburo Ueno, an agricultural engineer professor at the University of Tokyo.

From what information I can gather between the film, the ever reliable Wikipedia, and other random websites, is that Hachi would walk with his master to Shibuya station everyday, go home, then at the end of the day come back to the station to pick him up. After two years of owning the dog, one day the professor boarded the train and then never came back. Hachiko waited for him to return, in fact, this dog came back to the station every day for nine years after his master died, every day until he died.

The loyalty of this dog is what makes this story so famous, famous in Japan. According to what I've read, there was more than one newspaper article printed up about the dog while he was alive, praising him for his loyalty. After the dog's death their was a film made in Japan in 1987 (Hachiko Monogatari). A bronze statue has been placed at the Shibuya station and is one of the most popular meeting places in Japan.

Every year in April there is a ceremony at this statue for this dog, where lots of dog lovers from all over Japan come to participate. There are also two other statues of this dog in Japan, one in Odate where he was born and one in front of the Akita Dog Museum. (Akita is the breed of dog that Hachi was, also Japanese).

This movie did lead me to a neat bit of history about Japan, so I am happy about that. I have one more thing to add to my list of places to visit when I go to Japan!(Maybe I could meet someone at Hachi's statue!)

Here is the statue of Hachi:


This post makes me think of two things: (1)this seems to me like the second Japanese movie remake that Richard Gere is a part of, and (2) we have an American dog hero statue... Balto. Perhaps I'll post about it in the future.

Adventures in Japantown

Back in September, I had the opportunity to go and visit my baby sister in San Francisco and attend the "J-Pop Festival" held in Japantown. It was a great experience and a lot of fun! The funny part about our trip, is that we had intended on going to San Francisco to take part in the "Moon Festival" held in Chinatown. Needless to say we spent pretty much the entire weekend in Japantown.

One of the exciting attractions for the J-pop festival, was that they had Mori Chack there signing t-shirts! What? You don't know who Mori Chack is? Mori Chack is the man who created Gloomy Bears. Let me give you a little background about Gloomy Bears.

I had not even heard of Gloomy Bears until early September, when I was staying at a friend's house for a disc golf tournament. One of the other ladies that was there, Miranda, filled me in on the exciting tale of Gloomy Bears. I noticed a cute little bear on her cell phone, and asked her about it. Miranda is a person full of amazing life experiences, like many people. If I were to start writing biographies on people, I would love to write one on Miranda, it seems that every time I spend time with her, I learn something new.

One of the experiences that Miranda had was living in Japan for a time as an Illustrator. When Miranda was telling me about Gloomy Bears she began by explaining that there is a district in Japan, where artists gather to sell their art. They might be really good, really bad, but they are all there. Apparently, Mori Chack started there as an artist, until someone discovered his unique artwork and the story behind it.

Gloomy was an abandoned Grizzly bear, who was adopted by the kid, Pitty. This child loved and cared for Gloomy, and Gloomy loved Pitty. Gloomy grew older and started growing claws, and teeth, and because bears will be bears, he attacks Pitty.

So all of this artwork that Mori Chack created was this adorable pink bear gruesomely attacking children, specifically, a little boy named Pitty. Miranda told me about a new Japanese store that opened up in the Bend area, and that when she made her first visit she told the cashier that she was looking for one thing. If they did not have this one thing she would not consider them a legitimate Japanese store. She asked if they had any Gloomy Bears, and sure enough, they had a whole wall full of Gloomy Bear merchandise. This is where Miranda found her cute little keychains that were on her phone and her keys.

I didn't end up being able to get an autographed t-shirt by Mori Chack, because the time we got there all of the shirts were sold out and they weren't allowing any other merchandise to get signed. But I did get a some sweet pictures:

Mori Chack signing a bear's head, there is even a little drawing on it! :)


Mori Chack and a fan!


And this was the back of her hat, so awesome!



In our shopping around Japantown, I found some of my own must-have Gloomy Bear merchandise:




I know that it's kind of horrible, the idea of this bear beating up this kid, but it really appeals to me. I think that part of it is that I have never understood the infatuation with Teddy Bears, because bears are only kind of cute and they aren't sweet either (same with Hippos, but that's another story). These Gloomy bears are ridiculously adorable, but still have the realistic side that they are bears and they are not nice.

People, blogs, and links!

It's about time I update my blog a little bit. First, I would like to introduce some awesome people who's blogs I've been reading and I think you should definitely take a peek at. The first blog is Chic Steals, which is written by Carly J. Cais. I had the pleasure of meeting her at Portland Fashion Week back in October. She is full of really great fashion information, and I'm happy to have a different perspective for viewing designers.

The reason I got to meet this lady was all because of my friend Amanda, who writes Grishley's. Both her and Nicole (author of Cut & Sew) are talented young women I get to take classes with. Go take a look at their blogs too!

The main reason I am updating my links and blogs, is because a disc golf store called discgolfstation.com contacted me about posting a link about them in my blog if they gave me a disc. I was first of all, very excited and a bit surprised that they found me through my blog! They are sending me a lightweight Buzzz, and I'll be sure to post again when I actually get it!

The last new link I want to mention is a link to an online store called Yes Asia! It is so amazing! I have had a really difficult time finding some of the Japanese artists I've become addicted to over Youtube on the internet. This website not only has all of these awesome music artists, but they also have DVDs of the Taiwanese drama "Basketball" (or Bullfighting) that I watched over the summer. (Be careful to start watching, it is very addicting and not all of the episodes are available on youtube!) Maybe I can start making a list on here of what I want for Christmas/ Birthday! :D

November

I find it so odd that everyone gets into the writing mood in November. November is the month for writing Novels, and apparently for posting a blog everyday. I had no idea. Well, that's not completely true. A couple years ago, I did create an account for NaNoWriMo, but that's about as far as I got.

Today I am in the mood to write, but all of those could-be blogs that are floating around in my head require a little research, or uploading pictures, or other terribly difficult tasks like that. So instead I start reading what my friends are writing about. Everyone has so many interesting things going on in their life, it's great to hear about it.

In my life, I am currently swamped at school with one of the busiest terms of college I have ever had. This was unexpected, and I am hoping that my next couple of terms will be as easy as I am planning on them being. I have also been thinking a lot about the future. One of those things in my immediate future are deciding on what internships to apply for and where I want to spend my Fall 2011 term. I'm kind of thinking about Tokyo, but that will require a little more looking into.

So this has been my random blog post for the month, maybe November will prove to be an inspiring month of writing. It's already included some great reading, here is a link to a great post I read about Construction Worker uniforms in Japan. Very cool.

Happy reading & blogging my friends!