Legend

Seven persons are on a boat. It's a symbol of wealth, health and good luck.

 



Beckoning cats are often used for the same purpose.

 He gathers gold like a pirate.  福　means happiness.

It’s yummy, but you may feel too sweet.

Castle as a cultural heritage

Ｂｙ Ａｓａｈｉ Evening News:

 

  　　　         　　　 Photo by (c)Tomo Yun　http://www.yunphoto.net/

Taking advantage of the entertainment world's renewed interest in medieval warfare, local governments are offering rare views and using unorthodox refurbishments to fuel a "castle boom" among tourists.

"The main attraction of castle tourism had always been the castle keep, but in recent years, it also includes the old stone walls and the public showing of the restoration work as seen at Himeji Castle," said Hitoshi Nakai, an assistant professor at the University of Shiga Prefecture, who has penned the book "Yondara Hanashitakunaru Nihon no Shiro" (Japanese castles that you will want to talk about after reading).

"The castle boom is attracting an increasing number of authentic-minded enthusiasts," he said.

The Kansai region, home to Himeji Castle in Hyogo Prefecture and Osaka Castle, can be described as the birthplace of Japanese castles with high-rising keeps and stone walls.

The region was the base for warlords Oda Nobunaga (1534-82) and Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-98) who tried to unify the war-torn country.

A hole about 1.5 meters wide and about 8 meters deep in front of the keep of Osaka Castle has generally been closed to public viewing. A ladder runs down to the bottom of the hole, where part of a stone structure can be seen.

"This is a part of the stone wall of the 'original' Osaka Castle that Hideyoshi built," Hiroshi Kitagawa, chief of the research section at Osaka Castle Tower of the Osaka City Museum Organization, said.

The keep of the original castle was burned down during the Siege of Osaka in the summer of 1615. Tokugawa Hidetada (1579-1632), the second shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate, built a new castle on elevated ground at the site, and the current castle keep was rebuilt in the early Showa Era (1926-1989).

The stone walls and the moat of the original building remain buried, according to Kitagawa.

Osaka Castle is a major sightseeing spot that attracts visitors from home and abroad.

In April, the Osaka city government assigned a group of tourism officials to promote the charms of the castle. The group is responsible for planning wedding ceremonies, tea parties and other events using the Nishinomaru Garden at the castle.

Their projects also include the excavation of the original stone walls for public viewing.

"We want to proceed with the excavation in full swing so that we can make them available for public viewing in 2015, which marks the 400th anniversary of the summer campaign of the Siege of Osaka," Kitagawa said.

Osaka Castle has provided the setting for many historical dramas by Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK).

"Princess Toyotomi," a theatrical feature from Toho Co. released on May 28, centers on Hideyoshi's castle buried underground.

Himeji Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is known more for its graceful white walls.

The castle has been undergoing restoration work since autumn 2009. With the castle keep covered with sheets, the number of visitors in fiscal 2010 dropped by at least half that of usual years.

But in March this year, an observation facility was set up inside the sheets so that visitors can closely watch artisans do repair work.

"It is very rare to publicly show at all times how a World Heritage site is being repaired," a Himeji official said, adding that the city will promote the facility to bring back visitors.

Nakai said the origins of Japanese castles can be traced back to moats that protected villages during the Yayoi Pottery Culture (300 B.C.-A.D. 300).

During the Kamakura Period (1192-1333), it became common to surround a samurai house with water-filled moats and earthwork fortifications. In later years, "mountain castles," or fortresses built making full use of natural landscapes, emerged.

Prime examples include Gifu Castle, which served as Nobunaga's stronghold, and the ruins of Takeda Castle in Asago city, Hyogo Prefecture, also known as "the castle in the sky."

Nobunaga had Azuchi Castle built in 1576 in what is now Omi-Hachiman city, Shiga Prefecture.

The structure was characterized by the keep and its high stone walls. Building skills were carried over by Hideyoshi and became widespread across the country.

But in the Meiji Period (1868-1912), many castles were considered "leftovers from the feudal times" and were destroyed, Nakai said. Many of the remaining castles were burned down during World War II.

In the decade starting in 1955, efforts increased to rebuild castle keeps using steel-reinforced concrete, as in Nagoya Castle.

During the Heisei Period (1989- ), officials started rebuilding the structures using traditional wood construction methods, like Kakegawa Castle in Shizuoka Prefecture and Ozu Castle in Ehime Prefecture.

In addition, a visitors' center was recently established near Wakayama Castle.

At Ako Castle in Hyogo Prefecture, a castle keep will be recreated with 30,000 LED lights for the year-end Ako Gishi festival.

The Nagahama city government in Shiga Prefecture, which oversees the ruins of Odani Castle, headquarters of feudal warlord Asai Nagamasa (1545-1573), is currently holding an exhibition that started in January devoted to Asai's three daughters in tandem with neighboring Maibara city and other organizations.

In connection with the NHK historical drama series "Go," which follows the story of the warlord's daughters, the exhibition introduces the history of the Asai clan and the lives of the sisters.

A shuttle bus stops at various spots around the castle ruins.

The Hikone city government, also in Shiga Prefecture, hosted a festival in 2007 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Hikone Castle.

After the festival, the city ran a series of events related to the castle.

Hikone is also home to the ruins of Sawayama Castle, which was once resided by warlord Ishida Mitsunari.

Since March, illustrations of Mitsunari and other samurai from the popular videogame "Samurai Warriors 3" have been put on display at a tourism center in the city. A portrait of the warlord drawn by Hideki Miyashita, author of the manga series "Sengoku," and other illustrations and items are also featured.

"We'd like to attract history enthusiasts whose number has increased due to (NHK's) historical drama series and videogames," an official said.

According to the Japan Castle Foundation, Japan has about 40,000 castles, fortresses and related ruins.

Of the 12 castles that still have unspoiled keeps, the castles of Himeji, Hikone, Inuyama in Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture, and Matsumoto in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, have been designated national treasures.

Kiba Park

 



































































This area is good for jogging. If possible, I want to run with my cat. But, why cats don’t run like dogs. That might be the will of cats.

Crises of atomic power plants

APPs’ crises continues like this:




by Fukusima-minpou




















 Fukushima radioactive water could overflow soon.

Raising fresh concerns about its ability to bring the nuclear crisis under control, Tokyo Electric Power Co. announced June 3 that highly radioactive water pooled in underground pits could start rising above ground in less than three weeks.
The company said there were 105,100 tons of stagnant water with high levels of radioactivity within the power plant as of the end of May.
The water contained an estimated 720,000 terabecquerels of radioactivity (1 tera is 1 trillion), according to the operator of the plant battered by the earthquake in March. That is more than the amount of radioactivity released from the plant into the atmosphere in the wake of the accident, which is estimated at 370,000 to 630,000 terabecquerels.
TEPCO warned that the contaminated water pooled in the basement of the buildings could start flowing out as early as June 20.
The company plans to treat the radioactive water in a new facility to be completed June 15 to prevent the overflow of polluted water, but it will also consider reducing the amount of fresh water being injected into the reactors.
Radioactive water is flowing into the basement of facilities within the compound as well as the buildings housing the Nos. 1 and 4 reactors, their turbine buildings, and the radioactive waste treatment facility, according to a report submitted by TEPCO to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
The total radioactivity of the pools of contaminated water is equivalent to one seventh of the 5.2 million terabecquerels released into the atmosphere from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster in 1986.
As TEPCO continues injecting water into the reactors at the Fukushima plant to cool their nuclear fuel, the amount of highly radioactive water leaking from the reactors is expected to continue increasing.
The utility made estimates of when the contaminated water in buildings' basements could leak aboveground, under several different scenarios, suggesting that it could happen as early as June 20.
It has been confirmed that highly radioactive water was leaked into the sea twice during the crisis: first 500 tons containing 4,700 terabecquerels gushed out, with 250 tons containing 20 terabecquerels following later.
TEPCO is building a new facility to treat the highly radioactive water while storing it in equipment located within the turbine buildings.
The expected overflow could take place earlier if there is heavy rain in the area, the utility said. In that case, the company will buy time by cutting the amount of water being injected into the reactors. The polluted water in the turbine buildings of reactors 2 and 3 had been transferred to the radioactive waste treatment facility until the company stopped this operation May 26 as the total amount approached the planned capacity of 14,000 tons.
Levels of contaminated water have since been rising, partly because of rainfall.
Radioactive water in the pits to the underground tunnels coming from the reactors 2 and 3 was 21.8 centimeters from the surface of the ground as of 7 a.m. on June 3, according to the company.
The water level in the pits had been rising at a daily rate of 5.9 centimeters for the No. 2 reactor and 2.1 centimeters for the No. 3 reactor.

UNESCO's Memory of the World Program

He was the coal miner and  amateur painter. The work in coal mines must heve been tough. Today's news reported about him as follows:

A collection of paintings and diaries recording the lives of coal miners by late artist Sakubei Yamamoto has been accepted by UNESCO's Memory of the World Program, the organization said May 25.

The UNESCO director general endorsed recommendations of an advisory panel to register the Yamamoto collection. Recommendations were made by an international advisory committee that met in Manchester, England, on May 22-25.

This is the first time works by a Japanese have been registered for the Memory of the World Program, also known as the UNESCO World Documentary Heritage.

About 700 works by Yamamoto (1892-1984), mainly maintained by the Tagawa City Coal-Mining Museum in Fukuoka Prefecture, were recommended for the Memory of the World Program by Tagawa in March last year.

Yamamoto was born in what is present-day Iizuka, Fukuoka Prefecture. He worked as a miner and blacksmith in coal mines in the Chikuho district since age 7, following in the footsteps of his father.

He started painting the lives of people who worked the mines when he was about 63, when he started working as a security guard. It is believed he created nearly 2,000 pictures by the time of his death at 92.

A total of 697 works by Yamamoto--585 paintings, six volumes of diaries and 36 memo books and manuscripts kept by the city of Tagawa, and four paintings, 59 diaries, and seven other items, including manuscripts, owned by the Yamamoto family and kept by the Fukuoka Prefectural University--have been applied for UNESCO registration.

UNESCO assessed Yamamoto's paintings from the viewpoint of the individual laborer and coal miner at the Chikuho Coal Field, which supported Japan's industrial revolution. They are particularly meaningful, considering the fact most of the Japanese documents from the late Meiji Era (1868-1912) to the Showa Era (1926-1989) were ones recorded by the government or by companies.



Sacred victim 哀悼 遠藤未希さん

I'd like to talk about Miki Endo.
The newspaper reported the full story of Endo's heroic final moments. I cannot but think about her parents. Her father said “I proud of my daughter, but I feel the deepest grief”. The mother cried over her dearest daughter’s death.
She married ten months ago. She could have enjoyed ordinary happy life. She could have seen many flowers in beautiful spring. She could have talked with her intimate friends. Everything is “could have”. She never return .
The newspaper article is as follows: 

The voice is Miki Endo, a 24 year old public worker in the Crisis Management Department of the city of Minami Sanriku. She is saying, roughly, "Please run away fast."

The city was one of the hardest hit along the Miyagi Coast. Of the 17,000 residents, 10,000 are feared to be dead, but the 7,000 who survived owe everything to Endo. Endo stayed at her post, repeating her warning, until the wave struck.

Miki Endo did not let go of her microphone, even during the very moment the black waves of the tsunami engulfed the city, so that every last villager could hear her warning call. One co-worker told Miki’s mother, that he saw Miki being swept away by the tsunami wave.

Another survivor, a 61 year-old man told Endo's mother that the broadcast had saved his live. That he had heard Endo's voice and immediately jumped in his car and headed for higher ground. He told Endo's mother:

I heard the voice of your daughter the whole way.

If there's any comfort at all to be taken in the awful catastrophe in Japan, it is in these stories of true heroism. Like those 50 workers at the Fukushima nuclear reactor, who have stayed at their posts, fighting to avoid a meltdown while the entire region is evacuated, Miki Endo should be remembered as a true hero of the highest order, and remembered forever with grateful reverence.

遠藤美希さん、あなたのことは日本の誰もが忘れません。心からの感謝と哀悼と畏敬の念を申し上げます。

How did the tsunami come to?

The powerful tsunami generated by a massive magnitude 9.0 quake that hit the Pacific side of Japan that reached the coast within just 10 minutes.
The organization said the tsunami may have reached over 10 meters in height. This footage shows a CG image of the generation of the tsunami waves and how they reached the coast.
(By Mainichi Daily News)

Many kind of support

The Asahi Daily News reported about Shenyang the other day. The detail is as follows; 　
SHENYANG, China--An influential Japanese fashion blogger here has launched a charity drive to benefit victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake.
Tokyo Panda, a popular fashion blogger on China's largest online shopping site, Taobao, is selling clothes she wore in posed photos on her blog, T-shirts and dresses, with all proceeds going to help quake victims. 　　

A medical student, Tokyo Panda has, for the last two years, posted photographs of herself. wearing clothesshe purchased on Taobao. The blog has been a huge success, especially with Chinese women.

After announcing the charity drive, the fashionista posted photographs of her modeling her wardrobe in late March and early April. All 35 sets of clothing sold out in just a few seconds.
Sales totaled 3,000 yuan (38,000 yen).

Due to the success of the effort, Tokyo Panda said she wants to set up a permanent online charity shop.

Manly man



Ai Haruna. She was a man.



はるな愛さんの、日本の男に物申すといった趣旨での新聞記事が出ていました。読んで恥ずかしかった。頭に血がのぼってズキズキするのを感じた。あんた男でしょと言われているような気がした。

草食系男子がはやりだという。ネイルがうまくいかなかったねと言いながら、彼女と一緒に犬を散歩させる。そういう人が居てもいい。でも、男ってもんはもっと強くてたくましくなけりゃ駄目なんじゃないか。力をこめて立ち上がって、一歩を踏み出す。そして何かに挑戦する。それこそが男じゃないのか。女性蔑視ではないのです。性差による特性の差はあるのです。以下は、はるなさんのインタビューです。

ちかごろ、責任を取らなくちゃいけない場所には、行きたがらない男の人が増えてきた気がします。すぐに安全地帯に潜り込もうとする。夢がなさすぎ。わたしは「芸能男でアイドルになる」という夢を追い続はてきましたから、男の人にも夢を追ってほしいんです。女の子は夢を語る男に弱いの。夢というのは自分の将来のイメージですよね。それはどんな仕事をするにも必要。いま4軒の店を経営してるんですけど、従業員の面接の時には、必ず「夢、何？」って聞きます。ちゃんと自分の夢を答えられる子なら、その夢がお商売と関係ないことであっても、洗い場に配属しても配膳でも、店のこと全体に目配りが利くんです。

　ご存じの方も多いと思いますが、はるな愛は本名大西賢示です。ものごころついた時から、実感としては男の体に閉じこめられた女の子でした。小学校時代は違和感どころじゃありません。人魚姫の話を聞けば、え、わたしって王子さまの側なん？と混乱し、働くおじさんの一日を学べば、あんな仕事は絶対にでけへんわ、と震えた。「その一方で、女の人とセックスして子どもを産んでもらい、親を安心させるほうが幸せなんやろか、と考えることもありました。でもいつか親は死ぬ。その時残った家族は、だまされた奥さんとウソの愛で生まれた子どもだけ。そんなの絶対に嫌だ。そしたら、もう自分の前には、アイドルになりたいという夢しか残ってなかった。　高校を辞め「、家も飛び出し、大阪のショーパブに勤めるようになりました。地元テレビヘの出演がきっかけで東京の芸能プロにスカウトされて上京した。20代も半ばになっていました。　あ－ん、そのあたりでニューハーフブームが終わってしまい、オーディションは行けども行けども落とれた。そのころは可愛い女の子キャラです。面接でも、とにかく女の子らしさを前面に出して勝負していました。そして負け続けた。「君たちはどんなに可愛くても芸能界は無理だよ」と断言されました。戻るところなんてないのに。

　貯金は底をつき、食べていくため東京・三軒茶屋でバーを開いたんです。1人で切り盛りしてましたから、あんなにイヤでしょうがなかった男の部分も開き直って出すしかなかった。そこからです。「エアあやや」でブレークするきっかけを作ってくださった藤原紀香さんをはじめ、たくさんのお客さんが来てくださるようになったのは。　不思議ですよね－。自分のコンプレックスと向き合った時、道が開けた。こんどは賢示が、はるな愛を使って夢の実現に向かって進んでいく感じ。周囲に認められた、安全な場所から出ていくのはだれだって怖い。勇気をふるって自分を出すと、それだけでバッシングを受ける。なじられるし、笑われる。でも、自分で納得して時間を使っていけること、これ以上の幸福はないよね。そう。一歩踏みだそうよ。

M9.0 quake in Japan -3-

By Asahi Daily News



    
Everything became mere rubble.

M9.0 quake in Japan -2-



by Asahi Daily News

 The oil industrial complex exploded and burned out one after another.

Who could escape from hell fire?

M9.0 quake in Japan -1-

by Asahi Daily News

Many people may feel some kind of beauty about this. But, it was really the claw of devil, TUNAMI.