Globalization of Japan

This character is Ponyo which is a main character in the film of "Ponyo on the Cliff in the Sea".

Today, Japan takes many things from other countries like food industry and apparel industry, but I would like to write about a Japanese thing which exports to other countries, "Ghibli films".

This black cat is the character called Jiji in the film of "Kiki's Delivery Services". He is the best friend of Kiki(She is main character of this film)


Ghibli films are created by Hayao Miyazaki. He is one of the famouse film director, and also animation writer, caricaturist, and founder of Studio Ghibli which is an animation film studio. Miyazaki's films are now appreciated by many people not only in Japan but also in other countries. His popular films are "Spirited Away" (2001), "My Neighbor Totoro" (1988), and the latet one, "Ponyo on the Cliff in the Sea" (2008). Those films were released in America, and the latest one "Ponyo" were released in 927 theaters. Moreover, those films were awarded many prizes. For example, "Spirited Away" received a Golden Bear prize which is the most honorable prize at Berlin International Film Festival. It was for the first time in history that animation film received a Golden Bear prize.

The person who is in the middle is Hayao Miyazaki who creats Ghibli films.
I borrowed this picture from this site.
http://www.eiga-portal.com/butaiaisatsu/sentochihiro-kin/photo6.shtml

I took observation about Ghibli films. I took interviews to 10 foreigners, and all of them answered they knew about Ghibli films. 3 of them are American students who come to Kansai Gaidai to study Japanese. When I went to Kyoto with them and my friends, we found the shop which sold stuffs of characters of Ghibli films such as Ponyo and Totoro, and they loved those stuffs so much. In addition to that, one of my friends who lives in South Carolina, America, also knows about Ghibli films, and she can sing the song of Ponyo. She told me that she could rent DVD of Gibli films in her hometown. I found that the most popular Ghibli film among those who I took interviews was "Spirited Away" through my observation. I asked what point they like about the film, and one of them told me that he liked imagination because he could not expect those imaginations that Hayao Miyazaki created.

Ghibli films are mainly created for children, and a lot of works created by Hayao Miyazaki are loved by children. I think no children don't know about Ghibli in Japan. I, myself, loevd Ghibli films very much when I was young, especially "My Neighbor Totoro". However, Ghibli films entertain not only children but also adults. In fact, one of my professor respects him. I think the reason why Ghibli films are appreciated by people is that Hayao Miyazaki creates not just stories for children, but he satires our society. For example, he represents about protection of environment and animals in the film of "Nausica of the Valley of the Wind" (1984), and also represents anti-war in the film of "Porco Rosso" (1992).

On 20th of November, one of his films "Castle in the Sky" will be broadcasted on TV. This movie is about adventure of a boy and a girl in the imagination world which is based on Europe after the industry revolution in 19th century. The title in Japansese is "Tenku no shiro Laputa". The name of "Laputa" was taken from the book, "Gulliver's Travels", and the castle which is in the sky also appears in the film. If you are interested in this film, please check it out next month!


Links

Studio Ghibli http://www.ghibli.jp/

Ghibli museum (in Tokyo) http://www.ghibli-museum.jp/

Ghibli fan site http://www.aic.gr.jp/anime/ghibli/

They are written in Japanese.

Sport and recreation in Japan

There are many sports Japanese people play today, but I would like to write about soccer which is second most popular sport in Japan. I like watcing soccer game and I sometimes go to a stadium to see a game. The Japanese professional soccer league was set up in 1992, and has become popular. I have watched the TV program which asked children what kind of sports they like best before, and many children answered they liked soccer the best. In Japan, we have 36 professional club teams, and 18 teams of them are divided in J-1 league which is top league in Japan, and other 18 teams are divided in J-2 league. The season they play soccer is a little different from other countries. In Europe, their season starts in August or September, and finishes in May. However, in Japan, thier season starts in March and finishes in the beginning of December. The price is depends on the seat or stadium you go, but you can watch a J-league game if you pay at least 1,500 yen or 2,000 yen. In Osaka, we have 2 peofessional club teams. One of them is Gamba Osaka whose stronghold is Suita city(North part of Osaka), and the other one is Cerezo Osaka which is now J-2 league and their stronghold is Osaka city. I'm fan of Gamba Osaka since I was a high school student, and sometimes go to the stadium to watch a game with my friend. Gamba Osaka is now third place in J-1 league so there is a big possibility they become J-1 champion of this year!

In Japan, we have 4 big tournaments. One of them is called "FIFA Club World Cup", and champions from 6 continents gather in Japan, and decide the strongest club team in the world. This tournament was called "Toyota Cup" before, and there are many professional soccer player who wants to enter this tounament in Japan, and also in other countries. Gamba Osaka became Asia champion last year, and entered this tounament. They had a game with Manchester United which is very famouse club team of England. Although they lost, and score was 3-5, their positive attitude was appreciated in Japan, also in England.

Yasuhito Endo (Japanese professional soccer player)

Yasuhito Endo who plays in Gamba Osaka, and also center of Japanese national team is one of my favourite soccer player. His position is Midfilder, and his accuracy of passing a ball is appriciated by many people.

Next year, World Cup will be held in South Africa, and Japanese national team has gotten the right to enter World Cup. I'm looking forward to watching games!

J-league official cite http://www.j-league.or.jp/eng/
Gamba Osaka official cite http://www.gamba-osaka.net/en/index.html

Third picture is borrowed from this cite http://sports.livedoor.com/photo...5BF%25CE

Japanese Pop culture and Entertainment

I would like to introduce Japanese pop culture and entertainment, "Karaoke". I suppose you've already known that "Karaoke" was born in Japan, and now, it is very popular entertainment around the world. "Karaoke" is an abbreviation word for "Kara Orchestra". "Kara" means empty, so"Karaoke" means melody without voices. In Japan, we have about 10.000 Karaoke boxes. Hirakata city also has Karaoke box in front of Hirakata station. Karaoke is very popular in Japan because it is fun to sing songs, and it also reduce our stresses. Moreover, it is cheap. You can sing songs as much as you want until 9 p.m, and it costs only 800yen! Therefore, Karaoke is popular entertainment among high school students and college students. Karaoke entertains not only young people but also adult people. Some people go to karaoke after they drink in a bar with their friends. It is called "Nijikai" which means post-party party. Karaoke appears in a wedding reception too. In Japan, we have a custom to hold wedding reception when we get marry. We invite our families, relatives, collegues and friends. At the wedding reception, friends or collegues of bride and groom often sing songs to celebrate them. Those songs are usually about marriage or love songs. We use karaoke then. I, myself, was invited to a wedding reception of my friend in March, and sang a song with my friends. I was glad she appriciated our song.
Here is one short clip about modern Japanese wedding reception.

The instrument of karaoke has improved today. Before, it was the instrument for just singing songs. However, we have a system that our songs are graded now. It also calculates how much you burned calories when you finish singing a song. Karaoke will keep on entertaining us.

Here is link to the homepage of "Jankara" which is one of popular Karaoke box in Japan. It is written in Japanese. It has some information about the Karaoke box such as fee, foods and drinks.

http://jankara.ne.jp/index.html