Japanese movie directors

Do you like Japanese movies? We will tell you about Japanese movie directors.


Akira Kurosawa


He is known as a great movie director all over the world. He was born at Tokyo in 1910. He was absorbed in reading Russian literature in his junior high school student age. This influenced his skill as a movie director. His famous movies are “Shitinin no Samurai”, “Yojinbo”, “Kakushitoride no Sanakunin”, “Rashomon”, and more... Especially, “Shitinin no Samurai” was very popular all over the world, and many movie directors were influenced by it. Some of his work was made with foriegn movie studios. He won a Nobel prize in 1990. At that time, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg said that Akira Kurosawa is the greatest movie director in the world. He died in 1998. He is called “Sekai no Kurosawa” by many Japnese people.

http://blog.oricon.co.jp/kinren/archive/139/0




Yasuziro Ozu

He was born in 1903 in Tokyo. When he was 9 years old, he moved in Mie. He was absorbed in going to the movie theater, so he often skipped class. He failed 3 university examinations. However, he became a substitute teacher. In 1923, he went to Tokyo and entered a movie studio. In 1927, he directed a movie for the first time. The movie's name is “Zange no Yaiba”. In the Second World War, he went to Singapore, so he watched a lot of movie. After the war, he directored his masterpiece. For example, “Baku-syu,” “Tokyo-Monogatari”, and more. He won a lot of prizes for these movies. He died in 1963.
http://mozartant.blog4.fc2.com/blog-entry-8.html


Takashi Shimizu

He is one of the most famous movie directors in Japan. He likes to make horror movies, for example “TOMIE” and “SENRITSUMEIKYU”. Above all, scariest and mose popular movie is “THE JUON”. This movie is a ghostly story. In this movie, two ghosts appear. Their names are “Kayoko” and “Toshio”. Toshio is a little boy and Kayoko is a women who has long hair. They are ghost parents. Their scary point is that they are bloody and their skin color is snow white. And they killed a lot of people by the power of a curse. However, thers charactors are very popular in Japan. Kei Shimizu made a JUON SERIES in U.S. That movie title is “The Grudge”. It was popularized in the HOLLYWOOD, so Takashi Shimizu is famous all over the world.

http://www.moviecollection.jp/news/image.html?p=439&image=4&chk=

By, Yoshihiro Hikosaka, Yusei Watanabe, Ryuto Sasaki.

World Natural Heritage in Japan

YAKUSHIMA

Yakushima is an island that is near Kagoshima. In 1993, Yakushima was registered on the World Heritage list. This island has a rich natural environment. "Zyomonsugi" is one of them. There are many Japanese cedars, but this is the biggest. This Japanese cedar is about 7,200 yars old, 25.3 meters in height, and a circumference of 16.2 meters. This is the biggest Japanese cedar in Japan. Also, we can see many animals and waterfalls, soak in a hot spring and dive in the sea. This island has various charms. If you visit there, you can enjoy nature and relax very much.

http://www.nanka-e-tabi.com/kokunai/hiidurukuni/world/information/yakushima.htmlmation/yakushima.html

SHIRETOKO

Shiretoko is a UNESCO’s Would Natural Heritage site in Japan. It was registered in 2005. This place is to the east of Hokkaido. The reason it was chosen is that we can see the ecosystem of sea and shore. Also, there are many rare plants and animals. For example, brown bear, seal and violets of Shiretoko. There are also many highlights. For example, Shiretoko Gap, Furepe Falls and Cape Puyuni. We can see beautiful fantastic scenery. On one hand, local people try to manage the forest, sea and river. So beautiful and important Shiretoko is preserved. We must keep this nature.

THE MOUNTAINOUS REGION OF SHIRAKAMI

The whole area of the mountainous region of Shirakami is 130,000 ha. Of this area, 17,000 ha were registered as a world heritage in 1993. 74 percent of this area is in Aomori, the remainder is in Akita. There are a lot of mountains and forest in the registered area.
Two places are highlights. One is Anomon falls. Anomon falls is such a beautiful falls and has a lot of water. To arrive there, you must go up and down many stairs, so you should wear sneakers. Another is Tsugaru Pass. The highlight of there is a large tree called "Mother Tree" and this tree is 400 years old. There is guide sign in a parking space. When you follow the sig, it will take 5 minutes.

You can watch many animals when you follow a natural trail. Black woodpeckers are a natural monument. They belong to the woodpecker family. Females have a black body and red head. They are so pretty. Other birds are harlequin ducks, hawk eagles, golden eagles, and so on. They are rare birds. In addition to birds, there are Japanese monkies, antelopes, and Asiatic black bears.

Nature is very beautiful! So, please come to Shirakami.

By Ayaka Yokoi, Keiko Narumi, and Shizuka Oribe

Japanese baseball comic

Baseball is very famous in japan. and comic is very popular in japan.
I like baseball and comic very much.
I will introduce japanese baseball comic.








This comic is 「Dokaben」.It is most popular basebal comic in japan.This comic`s hero is taro yamada (＝Dokaben) He is very fat boy! But power is great! Another character is also srange. masami iwaki , his batting is very funny. kazuto tonoma,his diffence is precise. satoru satonaka , his a breaking ball is very good.the others people are strange! please read this comic!

This comic is 「Gyakyo nine」 This is enthusiastic gag sports comic. when I read , I cannot help laughing. this comic`s hero is toushi hukutsu(＝不屈闘志) He is very strange person.his play is not well. but his spirit is grate! Please read this comic!

This comic is my best baseball comic. I had read this comic in high school baseball`s club room.Other club member had read. Everyone says, good! This comic`s hero is busujima.he is stopper and set upper. His ball is very fast. but, the beginning , he could not throw a breaking ball. so He keeps on effort. he can throw a circre change. This comic is interesting. please read this comic!

Baseball is interesting. and comic is interesting. Please read japanese basenall comic in your free time!

By Masatoshi Nakagawa

Japanese "Manga"

Japanese “Manga”

One Piece & Dragon ball

Let we introduce about “Manga” to you. Manga mean Japanese comic. Every year , about 10 thousand books come out .305 comic magazine exist in Japan. It was draw by black-and-white. And it was high story. For that reason , manga is known in the world. It was come out “Manga” that was translated in various countries. Before it was changed Japanese pattern for American pattern. But recently it was published with Japanese pattern.

One piece is one of famous Japanese comic. It is written and illustrated by oda eiichiro.That has been serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump since August 4 1997. The individual chapters are being published in tankobon volumes by shueisha, with the first released on December 24, 1997 and the 55th volume released as of September 2009.In 2009, Shueisha announced that they sold 176 million volumes of One piece manga in history.This story’s main character is Monkey D Luffy, inspired by his childhood hero ‘Red hairs Shanks, set out on a jouney to find One piece, the legendary treasure of the King of the Pirates Gol D Roger. To accomplish this, he must reach the end of the most deadly and dangerous ocean; The Grand Line.His greatest ambition is obtain the world’s ultimate treasure, One piece, a thereby become the next King of the Pirates. He goes adventure with his crew to get his dream…

Dragon Ball is one of popular manga too.It’s written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1984 through 1995, and later the 519 individual chapters were published into 42 tankobon volumes by shueisha.The 42 tankobon have been adapted into three anime series produced by Toei Animation.

Japanese manga is very high quality and interesting.We want you read them.Thank you.

Macha sweets

We are going to introduce about Japanese foods. Now, we especially introduce about macha. Macha is a traditional Japanese tea.Its looks are powder and the color is green.

And the taste is very bitter.Traditional way is that it melts into hot water. It has many manners. Most of Japanese don’t know rules. It is difficult. We too, we don’t know. But some of my friend belongs to Macha club. So we don’t drink it on daily. 　
But it uses many kind of food. Especially it uses sweets. Because Macha controls not to taste too sweet.

Japanese girls love sweets. But they always worry to grow fat. Sweets use macha is not so sweet. So we feel these are healthy.You think it is to ease their mind, but we can’t worry about it. And, now some of sweets we introduce for you! For example,daihuku, Annmitu,monaka,candy,senbei,youkann,dorayaki,macaron. Especially I introduce about daihuku.

Daihuku is a Japanese traditional sweet. Sweet bean taste in rice cake. And sometimes in fruits.

It is very sweet. So macha’s bitter taste is best much!

Macha daihuku.

Strawberry macha daihuku

They look very good! I want to eat daihuku! Macha is not only uses Japanese sweets.

For example, Icecream,Creampuff,cake,pudding,jelly,parfait, chocolate,macaron.
Macha is Japanese traditional food. But it is very useful, so it uses many country’s sweets. And these are delicious. One of the famous macha sweets is ice cream. Macha ice cream is very popular in Japan. Its ranking is the third .The prices are various low and high.so,many people eating it. It is loved all generations. I love macha ice cream too.

If you come to Japan, please eating macha sweets by all means!!

by Fumi Iwasaki and Naho Maruyama

Jiburi

Castle in the sky was open to the public in 1986.This movie was supervised by Hayao Miyazaki.

A Boy named Pazu who works in a mine town helps Sheeta who fell slowly from the sky with a blue light, and gives her shelter in his house.The blue light was the flying stone's light and she was Laputa's heir to the throne.Pazu's father found Laputain in the past,but nobody believed this story.
The next day,Pazu and Sheeta were caught by the army that was looking for Laputa.And only Pazu was released.When a broken robot that has fallen from the sky on Sheeta before is shown, the truth about Sheeta being royal family Laputa's descendant is told, and cooperation is urged in exchange for Pazu's life. He borrowed the power of the Do-ra family who tried to obtain the flying stone, and he helped her out.

They go out on a trip by seaching for Laputa. And they finally reach the legendary Laputa.
In the Laputa,they fought against Muska.

http://image-search.yahoo.co.jp/search?ei=UTF-8&p=%E5%A4%A9%E7%A9%BA%E3%81%AE%E5%9F%8E%E3%83%A9%E3%83%94%E3%83%A5%E3%82%BF

I want to introduce "Tonarinototoro".
Tonarinototoro is produced by HayaoMiyazaki.It's one of the Jiburi moves and a long running animation of Japan.This movie was first shown in April 1988.The title in English is "My Neighbor Totoro".

It has been well liked by people for a long time.This movie's story is a fantasy of Japan in 1958.

The main characters are Satsuki who is an elementary school student and May who is five years old.One day, they move to the countryside with their father from the city.It's a beautiful house in the air to greet their moter who will leave the hospital soon.And one day they meet the big Totoro there.May goes to the hospital for her mother who entered the hospital.But she loses the way.Satsuki asks for help from Totoro because she can not find May.

Dose Totoro really help them?

http://image-search.yahoo.co.jp/detail?ei=UTF-8&p=%E3%81%A8%E3%81%AA%E3%82%8A%E3%81%AE%E3%83%88%E3%83%88%E3%83%AD&ib=4

Sento Chihirono Kamikakushi is a very famous movie in Japan.

It's a one of the Ziburi movie.This movie released in July 2001.

Ogino Chihiro is a commonplace 10-year-old girl.

Chihiro and her parents were lost in the forest on their way to a new place.Then, they found a strange tunnel there.

Chihiro foresaw bad things, but her parents went into the tunnel. So,Chihiro went into the tunnel reluctantly.

A vast grassland spread out at the end of the tunnel. And, they found a silent town, and the smell was very appetizing from the town.

Her parents finally found a restaurant from the smell. Moreover, they ate the restaurant's food without permission. Really, the food was good food.

They fallen under a curse because of they ate the food without permission.

Surprisingly, they became pigs!! So, Chihiro was alone.

Therefore, Chihiro determined to help her parents. Chihiro is going to meet many people and she experiences many unexpected events.
What will be her fate?

http://img4-a.dena.ne.jp/ex42/20070512/21/86461973_1.jpg

By Sayo Iida, Tomoko Yamashita and Misato Sugio

"Ramen" is delicious food!!

Chinese noodle is called “Ramen” in Japan. Chinese noodle is very popular with many Japanese. Ramen is almost thought of as Japanese foods in Japan.
　Ramen has many kinds of taste. Especially, Soy sauce, Soybean paste, Salt, Pork bones soups are famous tastes in Japan. By the way, I like salt soup Ramen. Very delicious!!!
　Ramen differ taste at every area. For example, Sapporo ramen in Hokkaido is soybean paste taste. Kitakata ramen in Fukushima is pork bones soup taste. Tokyo ramen is soy sauce taste. Taiwan ramen in Aichi is blend chicken soup and soy sauce taste. Kyoto ramen is blend pork bones soup and soy sauce taste. Hakata ramen in Fukuoka is pork bones soup taste, but it is plain. There are all kinds of ramen in Japan. Noodle hardness and kind of ingredient are differ every area.

　One day, I want to eat every kind of ramen!!!

We went to Takayasu in Kyoto. It's at near our university.

At first, we passed this house. Because the looks looked like beauty salon. So this house is famous for girls.

Especially,this picture's ramen is popular in this house. We actually ate the other day. the taste was pork bones soup. First impression was thick soup but anexpectedlly plain.Noodle was thin and soft. So it's easy to have eat.

And Takayasu makes a boast of fried chicken. it's very big! it's like a fist. taste was also so delicious. Curry powder was used this chicken . I think this is liked for many student.

Next,we visited Tanpopo.It's at Senbon Kitaooji St'. There is in front of Bukkyou University. So the clientele is almost student.

　Shop's mood was ramen shop from of old. It was contrasted Takayasu's mood.

But taste was so nice!

You can't miss this red color. In fact, this color is red pepper. So you will think hot. But this is not hot.

By Masaya Anshi, Kazuma Harada and Daisuke Nagahara

Famous Japanese musician

How much do you know about Japanese musicians? Today, we will tell you about famous Japanese musicians. First, do you know ''YMO'' ? ''YMO'' is an abbreviation for that is Yellow Magic Orchestra. YMO is one of the most famous Japanese musical groups. They are a techno pop group. It is composed of three members: Haruomi Hosono, Yukihiro Takahashi and Ryuichi Sakamoto. Especially, Ryuichi is a very famous pianist in the world. YMO's masterpieces are 'RYDEEN', 'TECHNOPOLIS' and 'Kimi ni mune-kyun'. They were organized in 1978 and broke up in 1983. But in 1993 and 2007, they ware reorganized. Today, YMO has become active.

http://blog.neoteny.com/eno/archives/2007_02_ymo.html

EXILE is a group of 14 men who play Japanese-Pop and dance performances. They are not only playing music but also making magazines, animated cartoons, and apparels. And some of the members are also actting as acting. When they debuted, they made dance number music. But recently they make mostly pop music. The songs they make are always bought by many people. They are very popular in Japan!

http://natalie.mu/news/show/id/19502

We will next introduce another famous rock band. L'Arc〜en〜Ciel is the Japanese rock band. It has four members, hyde, ken, tetsuya and yukihiro. The meaning of the band name is ''the arch in the sky(=rainbow)''. They started in February 1991 in Osaka. And they made their major debuted in 1994. Then, they were just like top of Japanese music. But, they stopped action in 1997 and 2001. However, in 2002, they released a new single "READY STEADY GO", they revived perfectry. Until this time, they released many popular songs. "KASO", "HEAVEN'S DRIVE", "Killing Me" and so on. But to our regret, their concert won't be held until 2011.

http://www.nautiljon.com/people/l-arc-en-ciel.html

Up to today, many Japanese artists have played an active part. We have expectations for them, and want to listen to good songs. How about you? Do you have expectations for your country's musicians?

By, Taro Nakatani, Ryosuke sakaguchi

MUSIC LIFE in JAPAN

As you know, KARAOKE is popular in Japan. After we enter the university and make new friends, we have a lot of parties to get to know each other. At that kind of party, we usually go to KARAOKE after having a couple of drinks and food. Strangely, although we can't talk much in a KARAOKE room with loud music, singing together bonds our friendship. Everyone has more than one favorite song which they can sing well and sing it everytime when they go to KARAOKE. It's called "18ban"(no.18). (use it like "I'm gonna sing my 18ban")

HitoKara (go to KAEAOKE alone) has been becoming more common especially since some famous people said they do HitoKara in their free time on TV shows. Even some young ladies do HitoKara. They are too busy to make time for friends in the rush of modern life, so they want to release their stress whenever they want or just for practice in singing for a KARAOKE party.


Hikaru Utada is a very popular artist in Japan. She is a singer, songwriter and she also writes lyrics. Her first album "First Love" sold 8 million copies. The song "First love" is still sung at Karaoke even though it was released 10 years ago. The music and the lyrics are too beautiful to be forgotten. She sang this song when she was only 16 years old. You may know her because she made her debut in the USA in 2004 as Utada. Her first single "Devil Inside" got 1st first prize in the dance chart Billboard.

A decade ago, in Japan, there are some original type of Japanese music. "J-POP", "Enka", Mood Pop", "Idol Pop", "Youthfulness Punk" and etc.. The most popular type, a symbol of Japanese music, is "Enka".This is the most famous singer of Enka, is Misora Hibari.She was the first woman in Japan to receive the People's Honour Award, and at the time of her death, she had recorded around 1,200 songs, and sold 68 million records. After her dead, her swan-song "Kawa no nagare no y ni" (川の流れのように) is often performed by numerous artists and orchestra's as a tribute to her.And, this is another guy, named Jero, born Jerome Charles White, Jr. in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.He is a Japanese Enka singer who is American-born of African-American and Japanese descent. His maternal grandmother was Japanese. He is the first black enka singer in Japanese music history.And his first single, Umiyuki (海雪), was released in Japan on 2008. It entered the Oricon charts at number 4.

BY Sawako, Shizuka, Hayato

Disney Land

Disney Land


　We will introduce the differences between Tokyo and Hong Kong Disney Land.

① Differences in theme lands

　In Tokyo Disney Land, there are 7 theme lands:

・ Clitter Country

・ Western Land

・ Adventure Land

・ Fantasy Land

・ Toontown Land

・ Tomorrow Land

・ World Bazaar

　In Hong Kong Disney Land, there are 4 theme lands:

・ Adventure Land

・ Fantasy Land

・ Tomorrow Land

・ Main Street USA

　World Bazaar and Main Street USA are similar. And three land are the same. We will show you the lands of only Tokyo Disney Land. Clitter Land is the home of small animals. Western Land is the American age of west exploitation. Toontown Land is the house of characters.

　You can enjoy the diferrences between Tokyo Disney Land and Hong Kong Disney Land when you go to both Tokyo and Hong Kong.

http://www.tokyodisneyresort.co.jp/tdl/japanese/7land/index.html

☝Site of Tokyo Disney Land theme land

http://adisneyland.disney.go.com/html/japan/HKDL_ParkMap/index.html

☝Site of Hong Kong Disney Land theme land

②　1. difference of castle

　Tokyo Dizney land has castle which is named Cinderella Castle.
It is a symble of Magic Kingdom.
Cinderella Castle’s feet is 189ft tall.It is very high.
And it has Mystery Tour which is famous for guests. Have you ever tried it? It was interesting and exiting.

　　2,　Mystery tour
　

　I’ll introduce about Mystery Tour.
Cinderella has a happy life with her prince. One day a bad man tried to take over Cinderella's Castle so the guests tried to catch the bad man.
There are a lot of attractions in it.　If guests defect the bad man with a dagger, guests are given a medal.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

　If you come Tokyo Disney land , you should try it. You can enjoy it and try to get a medal.

　Next I’ll introduce about the differences between ①Tokyo Disney Land and ②Tokyo Disney sea and thier defferent meaning.
①is for kids, but ② is for adults.
And,①’s meaning is kingdom of dream and magic,but ②’s meaning is adventure and a sea of imagination.
I’d like to introduce why it is different.
First, ①　is like an amusement park. ① has 41 kinds of attractions but ② has only 23 kinds of attractions.

There are only 23 kinds of attractions ,but we can completely enjoy them.
②　is for adults , so we can drink beer anywhere. Of course ,adults only.
-Good points of ①and ②-
① we can see Disney characters frequently and we can see a parade at noon and night.
There are a lot of characters dining .
This means that Michey or Minnie come to a restaurant and the guests and characters eat breakfast together.
②attraction are few, but even adults can enjoy them.
We can shop slowly, because ② is smaller than ①.

　Finally, I recommend both of them. Each has good points, so you should visit ①and ② someday.

③ About Disneyland and Disney Sea on New Year’s day

　From January 1 to January 5, Disneyland and Disney Sea each hold New Year’s events every year. The name is “New Year’s greeting”.

　At Tokyo Disneyland, guests are met at the entrance by big New Year’s decorative pine branches (KADOMATSU) and by Disney characters in Japanese clothes (KIMONO).

　　http://disneymaniax.jugem.jp/?eid=559

　　Disney Maniax

　It is a special event for New Year’s term, so seeing these characters is one of the guest’s pleasures.

　At Tokyo Disney Sea, characters show guests a lot of things on the stage. For example, they pound streamed rice into cakes, dance the Japanese dance and perform their tricks.

　Also, a countdown party is held in these parks at the end of the year.

　

　New Year’s goods are already sold in stores yet. Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse in the Dharma doll is a hot product now.

　　　http://www.lovedisney.net/blog/

　　Love Disney

　Disneyland and Disney Sea are frequented by guests the whole year around. They are loved by people all over JAPAN.

By Rie Tajima, Atsumi Tanaka and Fumika Miyoshi

TEA CEREMONY

〈History of tea ceremony〉
During the Muromachi Period, Murata Juko founded "Wabicha" and later, Senno Rikyuu perfected the tea ceremony. In the early days of the Edo Period, it became known as "Sado."
This is a form of traditional Japanese lifestyle culture that finds its basis in hospitality and service. With a present string of actions, all the different styles have slight differences in the way they serve tea to the guest.


We belong to tea ceremony club. We practice it twice a week in a tea house on campus. Powdered green tea tastes a little bitter,but it matches Japanese cake, "Wagashi". It is a traditional Japanese cake. It is often served with tea.Wagashi is made from natural based ingredients.There are many types of wagashi. We eat "Higashi" in autumn and winter. Higasi is dry and contains very little moisture. In spring and summer, we eat "Namagashi" . It contains a lot of moisture,so it can't last.

This below picture is Namagashi.

〈Tool of tea ceremony〉

・Chawan(Tea bowl)

It is like a tea cup. It is made of clay. Chawan is Japanese traditional handiwork.There are many regional styles, for example, Kiyomizu, Bizen, Seto, Oribe, Kiseto, and Hagi ware.

・Chasyaku(Tea scoop)
It used to scoop up the powdered green tea. It is made of ivory, bamboo, mulberry, maple cherry, ume tree and so on.

・Chasen(Tea whisk)

The chasen is used to make tea. It used to blend green powder with hot water. It is made of spared bamboo.

There are many styles of tea-serving manners, depending upon the occasion,season and so on. For example, Hatugama(First kettle), Robiraki(Open furnace), Haruchakai(Spring tea ceremony), Akichakai(Autumn tea ceremony) and so on.

There are two main ways of preparing "matcha" of tea ceremony. Thick (Koicha) is more bitter than Thin(Usucha). We prefer Thin to Thick.

She is performing tea serving manners.

We held tea ceremony of autumn, and we wore Kimono. Kimono has various patterns. It is very beautiful. We usually don't have a chance to wear Kimono,so we are looking forward to hold tea ceremony every time.

〈Temple〉

We always use famous traditional temples when we hold a tea ceremony. There are Japanese gardens. Those gardens have Sekitei(Stone garden), Tourou(Garden lantern) and so on. We can learn traditional Japanese culture in tea ceremony.

〈Way to drink〉
1.Greeting
If the tea cup is put in front of you, say "Otemae chodai itashimasu."

2.Taking the tea cup
Take the tea cup with your right hand and put it on your left,then raise it little. Place the tea cup in front of you and turn it 45 degrees clockwise.

3.Drinking
Drink in three and a half sips. Then, make a sound and drink remaining foam.

4.Wipe the edges
Wipe the place where you sipped, using three fingers,and wipe your fingers with a "Kaishi". (Kaishi is a paper that you use when eating a Wagashi.) And turn the tea cup counter clockwise until the front of the cup is in front. Finally, put the cup just outside of the edge of the Tatami.

5.Take in the view of the tea cup
Put your elbows on your knees and look at this. After that, face the front of the cup forward and put it on the edge of Tatami.

(picture)

http://www.cc.kyoto-su.ac.jp/circle/washinkai/index.html

by Mari Kunimatsu

Chihiro Fujimura

Marisa Funabashi

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