January 16, 2025
Old Japanese schoolbook brush paintings of irises and bamboo
Exquisite brush paintings from a Meiji Era elementary schoolbook Painting Steps Part 1 (畫學階梯 前編1) published in 1892, part of the rare books archive of the Education Library of Japan’s National Institute for Educational Policy Research.
The scanned PDF of the book can be downloaded:
January 15, 2025
The key to Space Invaders’ secret was an accident
While the sound of footsteps slowly growing louder may be a sure sign of impending doom in any horror film, the pulse of video game players quickens to a different beat: the drumming of approaching space invaders.
“My heart used to beat in time to that sound,” says one fan of the 1978 hit game, Space Invaders.
January 14, 2025
Finding Zen among the Japanese clutter
A page from the book Tokyo Style by Kyoichi Tsuzuki, showing an apartment full of clutter.
Matt Alt, author of Pure Invention: How Japan Made the Modern World, expounds on our relationship with material things and why we look to Japan for ideas to simplify our homes.
However, if minimalism and decluttering is a losing battle, we might as well embrace the joys of the glorious mess.
If clutter is such an important part of everyday life here, why is it so often overlooked? The story of the world’s fascination with Japanese stuff is in many ways not about Japan at all. It is the story of our own changing desires, our social anxieties, our urges to consume and accumulate, and our realisation that possessing more things doesn’t necessarily translate into more happiness. In Japan, we believe we have found solutions to our problems.
January 13, 2025
Humorous, poignant haiku about the lowly toilet
The winners of 19th senryū contest held annually by Toto Ltd., the Japanese multinational company that makes bathroom fixtures. Senryū is basically a haiku-form poem that deals with human foibles while the traditional haiku is about nature.
The award for the most creative works went to three poems, all of them most people can relate to:
The word / I hate the most right now / is “Occupied”
Ima ichiban / kiraina kotoba / shiyōchū
今いちばん 嫌いな言葉 「使用中」
– Matchan
Hiragana chart / turns to kanji chart / on our (toilet) wall
Hiragana ga / kanji ni kawaru / kabe no hyō
ひらがなが 漢字に変わる 壁の表
–Natsuki
Refilling toilet paper / is not / automatic, you know
Kami hojū / sorewa jidōja / nai desu yo
紙補充 それは自動じゃ ないですよ
–Mother of a 3-year-old
The frustration of waiting for your turn, people ignoring the empty toilet paper holder, and the sudden realization that you have grown up.
The grand prize went to a woman who submitted a poem “describing the day when her child, who had relied on her to the extent of following her into the bathroom, grew up and left home.”
The day the child / who even followed me to the toilet / leaves home
トイレまで 追ってきた子が 出ていく日
Toire made / otte kita ko ga / dete iku hi
–Satchan
This is one of the good things about haiku: it is so short, what is left unsaid can be the message itself.
More at Toto’s website.
January 13, 2025
How Walmart makes the communities it operates in poorer
An interesting read:
When Walmart comes to town, it uses its low prices to undercut competitors and become the dominant player in a given area, forcing local mom-and-pop grocers and regional chains to slash their costs or go out of business altogether. As a result, the local farmers, bakers, and manufacturers that once sold their goods to those now-vanished retailers are gradually replaced by Walmart’s array of national and international suppliers.
Walmart used to operate in Japan but left the country in 2020.
I’m also not a great fan of Costco, one of the few successful foreign retailers in Japan, but it remains to be seen whether they will have the same detrimental effect on the local economy as Walmart does.
January 12, 2025
How to support someone with depression
“It can look like someone sleeping too much – or not sleeping at all. It can look like someone struggling through the day without any energy, or struggling to get out of bed, to wash, dress or eat. It can look like not responding to messages, cancelling plans.”
January 12, 2025
Live by Murahachibu
I’m currently listening to Murahachibu’s Live album, a 2CD release digitally remastered from the original analog master tapes, and released in 2022. Containing a total of 16 tracks (8 per disc), this is the “Complete Version.”
For many decades Murahachibu’s only album in existence, this recording was made in May 5, 1973, when Murahachi performed a free live concert in Kyoto University’s famed Western Auditorium, with the resulting album was released just two month later on July 3, 1973.
It would be the band’s last performance. Guitarist Fujio Yamaguchi announced his departure after this performance and all the other members went to the United States, effectively disbanding Murahachibu.
I unfold the square paper inside containing the liner notes and read:
Murahachibu was one of the most radical and hippest groups to emerge from the early days of Japanese rock. The band was an anomaly born out of the climate of Kyoto at a time when it was brimming with ancient Japanese culture and innovative creativity, and was the offspring of a drug culture that was even said to be impossible in Japan. Their fierce originality has greatly expanded the possibilities of Japanese rock and has had a strong influence on many artists. A mysterious and fascinating rock 'n roll sound that transcends time and space for more than 20 years and still pulsates with excitement. This CD is a complete recording of the only work released by Murahachibu. (Original Version/Elec Records No. ELW-3003 Released 1973/6/25)
An influential recording in the development of Japanese rock, this album is ranked 4th by Snoozer, and 20th by Rolling Stone Japan on their list of greatest albums by Japanese artists.
January 11, 2025
NHK Documentary: 10 Years with Hayao Miyazaki
I have just finished watching the first episode of 10 Years with Hayao Miyazaki, NHK’s four-episode documentary about Japan’s foremost living film director. The series shows a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at Miyazaki’s creative process in making his acclaimed films.
One particular segment in the video where Miyazaki visited Tate Britain museum personally resonated with me:
A trip to the UK left him with a stunning revelation. It happened during a visit to the Tate Britain art museum. He found himself transfixed by the works of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, particularly by a painting called “Ophelia.” Miyazaki was startled by the artist’s minute attention to detail, by how different amounts of light rendered subtle changes in the painting’s appearance.
Miyazaki: "I thought my work is shoddy compared to those artists. I was just astonished. At that point, it became clear to me. Our animation could not go on as before.
While I was growing up we had a book in our house called 1,000 Great Events over which I would spend countless hours reading.
Ophelia by John Everett Millais, Tate Britain
Like Miyazaki, one particular image that stayed in my mind was this painting, described in the book as The Death of Ophelia by John Everett Millais with its richly detailed colors depicting Ophelia (a character in Shakespere’s Hamlet) singing before she drowns in a river.
Of course, I was looking at a tightly cropped image in a small page. It must have been astonishing for Miyazaki to see this this 76.2 cm × 111.8 cm painting in person hanging on a wall on Tate.
I look forward to watching the rest of the series.
January 10, 2025
Wonderful photos taken with Fujifilm x100vi
These grainy, washed out photos by KikiSchmiki suddenly had me missing my Contax and Pentax film cameras. Maybe this time a Fujifilm x100vi would do just fine.
January 10, 2025
‘Life is a bunch of chemicals that take in energy in order to keep each other from reaching equilibrium.’
This video of the death of a lowly ciliate is strangely sad. This single-celled organism has reached equilibrium.
January 9, 2025
‘The internet is rapidly being overtaken by AI slop’
This is not the future of the Internet: it’s the present sorry state of the world wide web where people consume AI-generated content at an unprecedented scale.
From The Guardian:
Slop is everywhere but Facebook is positively sloshing with weird AI-generated images, including strange depictions of Jesus made out of shrimps. Rather than trying to rid its platform of AI-generated content – much of which has been created by scammers trying to drive engagement for nefarious purposes – Facebook has embraced it. A study conducted last year by researchers out of Stanford and Georgetown found Facebook’s recommendation algorithms are boosting these AI-generated posts.
January 9, 2025
Kyoto residents’ parking skills are second to none
A Kyoto resident’s exemplary parallel parking technique.
“Kyoto is famous for many things: history, temples and shrines, yatsuhashi, geishas, bubuzuke… While it’s well-known for these things and more, there’s another item we’d like to add to the list: Its residents’ exceptional parking skills.”
A typical Kyoto street with immaculately parked cars. Katana-wielding samurai are probably sent out by the city government to cut the portions that protrude out to the street.
Foreign visitors in Japan especially note the streets for being clean and car-free.
No doubt one of the reasons the country’s streets are free of parked cars is the government regulation that requires potential car owners to present a parking space certificate before they can exchange their yen for a Toyota or a Subaru.
But while a Saitama or Nagoya native may have adequate skills to put away their cars where they won’t be a nuisance on the street, Kyoto residents simply take parking proficiency to another level.
In Kyoto, inch-perfect parking is apparently the norm.
Says author and Kyoto resident Makoto-san:
When I started living in Kyoto City after entering university, the thing that surprised me the most was how many cars were parked right up against the walls of Kyoto townhouses.
Even in narrow alleys where it’s difficult to turn around, cars were parked just barely against the wall.
Having just gotten my driver’s license, I was constantly impressed every time I walked through the city.
What prompted me to consciously observe the parking techniques of Kyoto people was a light truck parked in front of a tatami mat shop.
I was astounded every time I saw a car parked with its nose rubbed up against the wall.
It helps that few Japanese are obese, because otherwise how would you get out of your car with this kind of parking?
These kinds of parking in a confined space are sure to make us uncouth car-owners here in Ibaraki squirm.
You’d expect pros such as rental car agents or car dealers using impressive skills to move cars in and out of their store lots, but Kyoto residents apparently use the same kind of skill as they go about their everyday mundane lives.
Just one of the many things in Kyoto that you might want to check out when you find yourself walking the streets of Japan’s ancient capital.
For the few Kyoto residents whose parking skills are less than stellar, an old tire propped against the wall prevents untoward accidents.
See more at Kyoto’s Girigiri Parking Collection.
January 4, 2025
How Japan uses increasingly draconian measures to weed out refugee claims
Under the guise of protecting the integrity of the asylum system, governments have taken increasingly punitive measures including detention to control and manage migrant inflows at the expense of the rights of asylum seekers. Japan is no exception. In this short article, I want to draw attention to how, in the wake of an uptick in acceptance rates in Japan, the government has begun using increasingly draconian measures to weed out supposedly fraudulent refugee claims.
People at a busy intersection in Shibuya, Tokyo (Koukichi Takahashi Unsplash)
Japan ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention in 1981 and has consistently accepted a small portion of the world’s refugees. However, despite its comparatively low acceptance rate, Japan is the fourth largest funding contributor to the UNHCR after the US, the EU and Germany – all major reception areas. Active support of the international refugee regime is an important part of Japan’s global image.
January 3, 2025
Climbing Mount Tsukuba on the third day of 2025
We purposely decided to avoid the crowds and do the night climb of Mount Tsukuba on the third day of the year, hoping to see the sunrise.
The weather forecast was clear skies, with 0% chance of precipitation so we went for it.
Torii gates are usually found at the beginning of mountain roads and trailheads, to mark the boundary of sacred areas and the secular world where people live.
A sign says: Please refrain from mountain climbing with light clothing and without a plan because it is dangerous.
This is supposedly the abode of a white snake that will make you rich if you make its acquaintance. We tried looking around with no luck.
This is the first time for K to climb Mount Tsukuba at night, so we had headlights on and dressed in sufficiently warm–but crucially, not waterproof–clothes.
Thirty minutes into the trail, we could feel a light shower of rain falling through the leaves of cypress trees above. We pressed ahead hoping it would go away.
After another hour of climbing, we saw a faint glow up ahead which we thought was the light of some sort of hut. It turned out that two other hikers had started the climb earlier than us and were taking a break from the rain under a tree.
We went past them, and then when we were resting, they passed us by in return.
By which time the light drizzle of unexpected rain had become worryingly bigger drops of rainwater mixed with round bits of hail. We were going to get seriously wet if it didn’t stop.
K inspects the white round bits of hail on the trail.
If we hurried up to the top, there would probably be a place where we could find shelter under a shrine. But we could have been soaked to the bone by the time we got there. In the end, we decided that the best course of action was to not risk it and abandon the climb and try another day.
We found out later that our two hiker friends did the same–we could see their lights above the trail on their way down.
The weather can be fickle on a mountain and it is best to not get wet especially on a cold winter night.
Just before we left the trail, we met another hiker (a gentleman of around 60 greeting us with a merry Ohayou Gozaimasu) on his way up. The rain had stopped by then, although with the gray overcast sky you never know if it would stay that way.
It was still dark when we left the trail, the bright lights of the sleeping city glowing in the distance.
January 2, 2025
Songs and books in Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days
I started the first day of 2025 on the right note by soaking up the new year sun inside my living room with my cat while listening to Dire Straits’ Making Movies album.
Our cat Lucifer, getting his daily dose of Vitamin D.
And then I watched Dune: Part Two on the TV.
Apparently, this $190-million sci-fi flick received rave reviews from critics, who probably watched it on IMAX theaters complemented by gigantic speakers. However, since I was watching on my ancient 32-inch TV in my living room, I failed to see the whole point.
I switched off the TV halfway through the movie.
Fortunately, in the afternoon I stumbled on Perfect Days, a film by German director Wim Wenders starring Koji Yakusho, who also starred in The Eel, one of my favorite movies.
The film shows the everyday life of Hirayama, a public toilet cleaner in Tokyo who lives in a modest apartment in the vicinity of Tokyo Sky Tree. Hirayama listens to cassette tapes during his morning drive through the streets of Tokyo, takes photos of trees with his point-and-shoot Olympus film camera, and reads books in his apartment.
It’s a great movie, beautifully filmed, a meditation on our ephemeral life. I look forward to watching it a second or third time.
I also found interesting Hirayama’s preference in music and literature so I listed below the songs and books that appeared in the movie.
| Song | Artist | Year |
|---|---|---|
| The House of the Rising Sun | The Animals | 1964 |
| Pale Blue Eyes | The Velvet Underground | 1969 |
| (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay | Otis Redding | 1968 |
| Redondo Beach | Patti Smith | 1975 |
| (Walkin’ Thru The) Sleepy City | The Rolling Stones | 1964 |
| Perfect Day | Lou Reed | 1972 |
| Aoi Sakana | Sachiko Kanenobu | 1972 |
| Sunny Afternoon | The Kinks | 1966 |
| Brown Eyed Girl | Van Morrison | 1967 |
| Feeling Good | Nina Simone | 1965 |
The House of the Rising Sun is also sung in Japanese in the movie, the 1971 version by Maki Asakawa entitled 朝日のあたる家 (Asahi no Ataru Ie), and a piano version of Perfect Day by Patrick Watson is played at the closing credits.
A number of literary works also appear in Perfect Days.
Hirayama can be seen reading a Japanese translation of Faulkner’s The Wild Palms (also called If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem) in his apartment, and Trees by Aya Koda (幸田文 木).
| Book | Author | Year |
|---|---|---|
| The Wild Palms | William Faulkner | 1939 |
| Trees | Aya Koda | 1992 |
| Eleven | Patricia Highsmith | 1970 |
About Faulkner’s book:
What’s the first book
Hirayama would fall asleep
reading? Without hesitation,
Wenders immediately said,
“Probably Faulkner.” Faulkner
has no new paperbacks.
They’re only found in secondhand bookstores. The
spaces between lines in
paperbacks then were very
narrow, perfect for falling
asleep while reading.
Aya Koda’s Trees (幸田文 木)
One last thing, every morning Hirayama buys the Boss Cafe Au Lait from the small vending machine outside his apartment. I used to buy this too, but I find it now too sweet for my taste.
More about this film from the Perfect Days website.