Japanworldtoday (2024)

22/07/2024

Sea of Tourists

Japan saw a record 17.78 million foreign visitors in the first half of 2024, with a weak yen also boosting spending to a new quarterly high of around 2.1 trillion yen ($13 billion) in April-June.

Visitor numbers for the first 6 months of the year topped the previous high of 16.63 million set in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of foreign visitors in June totaled 3.14 million, a record for a single month and exceeding 3 million for the fourth consecutive month, the source said.

If the current pace continues, the annual number of visitors for 2024 is also expected to surpass the 2019 record of 31.88 million.

The largest number of visitors in June came from:
South Korea - 700,000,
China - 660,000,
Taiwan - 570,000,
the United States - 300,000,
Hong Kong at about 250,000.

18/07/2024

Too Hot to Move
[according to a survey by insurance company Nippon Life]
***
The company asked people how they plan to spend their summer vacation and a whopping 48.4 percent responded that they would stay home or go to places in their general area.

Domestic travel requiring overnight stays was a distant second with 16.3 percent, and going on nearby day trips was third with 10.2 percent. The top five was rounded out with returning to one’s hometown (9.6 percent) and going abroad (3.2 percent) in fourth and fifth respectively.

The rather low percentage of people returning to their hometowns is perhaps most surprising, as the August Obon holidays are traditionally a time for family to gather.

Nippon Life also found that the average budget was 58,000 yen, and at current fares for trains, buses, and planes, a family of four might have trouble pulling it off, depending on the distance.

According to online comments about the survey, while money is a big factor, it’s hardly the only factor keeping people in Japan at home this summer.

“It’s too hot to go out. The kids are better off in an air-conditioned school.”

“Even in the Hokkaido resorts it’s 34 degrees and bears have been sighted.”

“Japanese people are getting poorer and foreign tourists are increasing. So, it’s too expensive and too crowded to go anywhere.”

“I live near a tourist area, so I’m not even leaving the house.”

“I’m single and it’s too expensive during Obon. I can’t imagine what a family of four would do.”

“I usually take my kids to the pool, but now there’s so many people it’s like a heated pool.”

“Is there really any need to go places anyway?”

“The whole idea we should go away for vacation is a myth propagated by the media.”

“This might sound strange, but I feel more cramped outside than at home.”

“In this heat, spending just 10 minutes outside is exhausting.”

So, it would appear that everything sucks outside if you live in Japan, and most people are opting to stay home and save their money for something more worthwhile, like luxury sparklers and/or booze.
***
Sources: TV Asahi News, Hachima Kiko
Read more stories from SoraNews24.

13/12/2023

New Money for Japan: 2.0 24+
.."Umeko Tsuda [1864-1929], an educator who pioneered women's higher education, will grace the new 5,000 yen bill, while the 1,000 yen note will honor microbiologist Shibasaburo Kitasato [1853-1931], who developed a serum therapy for tetanus.

The reverse sides of the three banknotes will show the Tokyo Station building, Japanese wisteria flowers and a work depicting Mount Fuji by ukiyo-e artist Katsushika Hokusai, respectively.

They will include three-dimensional holograms to prevent forgery, the first use on any country's currency.

The 10,000 yen bill will feature Eiichi Shibusawa [1840-1931], known as "the father of Japanese capitalism."
***
The source:
https://japantoday.com/category/picture-of-the-day/Japan-to-issue-3-new-banknotes?

22/08/2023

Nicholas II and his Dragon

The last Russian tsar (1868-1918):
*) in 1891 in Japan (in Nagasaki city)
*) and in Russia later - on the eve of the Great War (World War One, 1914-1918) shows a tattoo on his arm (modern colorization)...

17/06/2023

Japanese Youngsters+

Japan's parliament on Friday [June, the 16th] raised the age of s*xual consent to 16 from 13, a limit which had remained unchanged for more than a century and was among the world's lowest, amid calls for greater protection of children and women.

The revision was part of a revamping of laws related to s*x crimes.

Reforms providing greater protection for victims of s*xual crimes and stricter punishment of assailants have come slowly in a country where the legislative and judicial branches have long been dominated by men.

Japan in 2017 revised its criminal code on s*xual crimes for the first time in 110 years.

A series of acquittals in cases of s*xual abuse and growing instances of s*xual images taken of girls and women without their consent have triggered public outrage, prompting the new revisions.

The changes make s*xual in*******se with someone below age 16 considered r**e. They specify eight scenarios of “consentless s*x crimes,” a new term for forced s*xual in*******se, including being assaulted under the influence of alcohol or drugs, fear, or intimidation.

They also ban the filming, distribution and possession of s*xually exploitative images taken without consent.

The statute of limitations for s*x crimes was also extended by five years, to 15 years for consentless s*xual in*******se. That crime is now subject to up to 15 years in prison, while “photo voyeurism” can be punished by up to three years' imprisonment...
https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14934890

25/01/2023

January Japan

2023: snowing outside... at a zoo in Tonosho in Kagawa Prefecture

21/12/2022

Japan and Emirates to the Moon from the U.S.A.

With a science satellite already around Mars, the UAE wants to explore the Moon: its rover, named Rashid after Dubai’s royal family, weighs just 22 pounds (10 kilograms) and will operate on the surface for about 10 days, like everything else on the mission.

A Tokyo company aimed for the moon with its own private lander Sunday, blasting off atop a SpaceX rocket with the United Arab Emirates’ first lunar rover and a toylike robot from Japan that’s designed to roll around up there in the gray dust.

It will take nearly 5 months for the lander and its experiments to reach the moon.
The company ispace designed its craft to use minimal fuel to save money and leave more room for cargo.

So it’s taking a slow, low-energy path to the moon, flying 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) from Earth before looping back and intersecting with the moon by the end of April.

Emirates project manager Hamad AlMarzooqi said landing on an unexplored part of the moon will yield “novel and highly valued” scientific data. In addition, the lunar surface is “an ideal platform” to test new tech that can be used for eventual human expeditions to Mars.

Plus there’s national pride--the rover represents “a pioneering national endeavor in the space sector and a historic moment that, if successful, will be the first Emirati and Arab mission to land on the surface of the moon,” he said in a statement following liftoff.

In addition, the lander is carrying an orange-sized sphere from the Japanese Space Agency that will transform into a wheeled robot on the moon. Also flying: a solid-state battery from a Japanese-based spark plug company; an Ottawa, Ontario, company’s flight computer with artificial intelligence for identifying geologic features seen by the UAE rover; and 360-degree cameras from a Toronto-area company.

Hitching a ride on the rocket was a small NASA laser experiment that is now bound for the moon on its own to hunt for ice in the permanently shadowed craters of the lunar south pole.

The ispace mission is called Hakuto, Japanese for white rabbit. In Asian folklore, a white rabbit is said to live on the moon. A second lunar landing by the private company is planned for 2024 and a third in 2025.

09/10/2022

Coming Soon...

16/07/2022

Floating...

Hakata Gion Yamakasa is a Japanese festival celebrated from the 1st until the 15th of July in Hakata, Fukuoka. The event is famous for the Kakiyama, that weigh around one ton and are carried around the city as an act of float-racing.

The festival is believed to be over 770 years old and attracts up to a million spectators.

The floats, called Yamakasa, are divided into two groups. The Kakiyama are the smaller, carryable floats, that are raced through the town, while the Kazariyama are stationary floats, that are built up to 13 metres high and often depict historic or mythical events of Japanese culture.

July-2022 It is the first time the event has been held in three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

03/07/2022

Hot Summer-2022 in Tokyo 😅

10/06/2022

Health, Children, We

It is believed by some that dolls can give good health and happiness to children by absorbing sickness and bad luck.

Pieces of doll-shaped paper, instead of actually dedicated dolls, are then burnt during the festival as they have done their roles to protect their young owners.

On the photo: a Shinto priest prays for dedicated dolls during an annual Shinto event called the Festival of Repayment of Kindness at Dairokuten Sakaki Jinja shrine in Tokyo.

© AP

06/05/2022

Children's day in Japan (05/05) was traditionally known as boy's day, complimenting hina matsuri / girls day on (03/03).

The day also marks the end of the week long holiday known as Golden Week.

Jimae geiko may take some well deserved time off during this time, but geiko and maiko who remain in the okiya must continue to work. It is a profitable time for business.

A photo of Gion Higashi maiko Tomitsuyu (now geiko) taken by Akihito Miyaji, courtesy of Kyoto Flowertourism on Flickr...

17/04/2022

Japan's population down 644,000 in 2021

Japan's population had its largest drop on record, falling by 644,000 to just over 125.5 million in 2021, reflecting a decline in foreign residents amid tighter border controls over the coronavirus pandemic and the rapidly aging society, government data showed Friday.

The population stood at 125,502,000 as of Oct 1, down 644,000 from a year earlier for the 11th consecutive year of decline.

The drop was the biggest since comparable data became available in 1950.

The number of foreign nationals living in Japan dropped by 25,000 to 2,722,000 following the strict border controls that were put in place to mitigate imported coronavirus cases.

Japanese nationals totaled 122,780,000, a drop of 618,000 from a year earlier.

Japan saw 831,000 births in 2021, and 1.44 million deaths.

Japan faces the dual challenge of a declining workforce and a graying population. However, the pace of population decline had slowed in recent years, helped by an increase in foreign workers coming to the country under a relaxed visa system to help ease the labor shortage.

But the coronavirus border controls prevented businesses struggling with labor shortages from hiring foreign workers and prompted the business community to call for easing the measure.

The working population, or people between 15 and 64, dropped by 584,000 to 74,504,000, accounting for 59.4 percent of the overall population, a record low.

Those 14 and below accounted for an all-time low of 11.8 percent of the total population, while people 65 and over made up a record high of 28.9 percent.
© KYODO

05/03/2022

Sony+Honda=New Electric Auto

A joint venture to start selling an electric vehicle by 2025: the plan is to bring together Honda's expertise in mobility technology with Sony's telecommunication and entertainment experiense.

A union of traditionally different manufacturing businesses is uncommon for Japan. But it makes sense in the age of electric vehicles, which lack gasoline-powered engines and have complicated electronics.

Honda makes the CR-V sport utility vehicle and Clarity plug-in hybrid and already has its own electric vehicle program, teaming up with General Motors to share platforms for EVs in North America.

The joint venture with Sony will be separate, meant to produce unexpected value "in a chemical reaction," said Honda Chief Executive Toshihiro Mibe.

Sony showed an electric car concept at the CES gadget show in Las Vegas in 2020.

Both Sony and Honda have humble beginnings in the 1940s when Japan was rebuilding from the ashes of World War II. Both had charismatic founders.

Honda was founded by Soichiro Honda, an engineer, industrialist and reputed nonconformist. He started out helping at his father's bicycle repair shop and eventually built Honda into a global powerhouse. He is often quoted as saying things like: A diploma is worthless, learn to work with your hands, or work for yourself and not a company.

Sony was founded by Akio Morita, who co-wrote "The Japan That Can Say No," which advocated for a more assertive and prouder Japan, and Masaru Ibuka.

Morita had market savvy while Ibuka was known for product development. In the 1970s when Sony was developing the Walkman portable audio player, some engineers were skeptical. But Morita insisted people would want to listen to music on-the-go.

08/02/2022

Sumo Wrestlers in 1880

Photo by Ivan Polyakov (1847 - 1887, Russia)

23/01/2022

6G by 2025?

Nippon Telegraph & Telephone will build a pilot 6G network to serve the venue for the 2025 World Expo in Osaka, Nikkei has learned, with plans to commercialize the technology by around the end of the decade.

The group already has begun designing the basic infrastructure for the network, NTT West President Mitsuyoshi Kobayashi told Nikkei in a recent interview. Details will be finalized from the fiscal year starting in April.

The 6G services will be powered by NTT's Innovative Optical and Wireless Network. The infrastructure, known as IOWN, will serve Yumeshima, Osaka's artificial island that will be the site of the World Expo.

The Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition, the group organizing the event, plans to roll out next-generation mobility services as well as a virtual expo held in a metaverse where people can participate via avatars. The sixth-generation network is expected to support such offerings.

Telecommunications networks currently make use of data centers and buildings to convert optical signals into electrical signals. But that process produces latencies and expends substantial electricity.

The U.S. and China account for nearly 80% of patent applications covering core 6G technology, according to a tally by the Cyber Creative Institute, based in Tokyo. The two countries are neck and neck in terms of holding the top share.

NTT and other Japanese companies make up just 10% of the 6G patent applications, putting them in third place. IOWN's pilot at the World Expo likely will serve as a litmus test for whether Japan can take the lead on 6G.

16/12/2021

2022, the Year of Tiger in the Chinese Zodiac

It starts on February 1.
The New Year 2022, according to Chinese astrology, is the year of the Water-Tiger. In the Chinese Zodiac, the Tiger stands at number 3. The order of the 12 Chinese Zodiac is as follows-

Rat
Ox
Tiger
Rabbit
Dragon
Snake
Horse
Goat
Monkey
Rooster
Dog
Pig

According to Chinese astrology, each year is assigned with an animal among these 12, and this cycle is repeated after every 12 years.

[Photo: a giant votive tablet featuring an illustration of a tiger is cleaned at Kumano Nachi Taisha shrine in Nachikatsuura,Wakayama Prefecture]

08/12/2021

Unknown Planet Series Under Production 🙃

Знатную леди нашли в грязном кабаке, всю в лохмотьях, заложившую свои платья для содержания старого безобразного лакея, который ежедневно колотил её и с которым она была разлучена вопреки её желанию.

И хотя муж принял её как нельзя более ласково, не сделав ей ни малейшего упрёка, она вскоре после этого ухитрилась снова улизнуть на континент к тому же поклоннику, захватив с собой все драгоценности, и с тех пор о ней нет слуху"...
И другие материалы на русском языке с картинками и видео - в Live Journal by

Andrei Martynov, Unknown Planet

https://planetarij.livejournal.com/123763.html

07/11/2021

Theatre Noh: Master of the Mask 😎 1955

Noh (能, Nō, derived from the Sino-Japanese word for "skill" or "talent") is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama since the 14th century, still regularly performed today.

Noh is often based on tales with a supernatural being transformed into human form as a hero narrating a story.

Noh integrates masks, costumes and various props in a dance-based performance. Emotions are primarily conveyed by stylized conventional gestures while the iconic masks represent the roles such as ghosts, women, deities, and demons.

Having a strong emphasis on tradition rather than innovation, Noh is extremely codified and regulated by the iemoto system.
[Wikipedia]

07/10/2021

Women Are Born to Be Warriors? Instead of... 🙃

Onna-musha (女武者) is a term referring to female warriors in pre-modern Japan. These women engaged in battle alongside samurai men mainly in times of need.

They were members of the bushi (samurai) class in feudal Japan and were trained in the use of weapons to protect their household, family, and honour in times of war. They also have an important presence in Japanese literature.

By the 19 the century - because of the influence of Edo neo-Confucianism (1600–1868), the status of the onna-musha diminished significantly.

Samurai were no longer concerned with battles and war, they became bureaucrats.

Women, specifically daughters of most upper class households, were soon pawns to dreams of success and power. The roaring ideals of fearless devotion and selflessness were gradually replaced by quiet, passive, civil obedience.

Travel during the Edo period was demanding and unsettling for many female samurai (because of heavy restrictions). They always had to be accompanied by a man, since they were not allowed to travel by themselves.

Additionally, they had to possess specific permits, establishing their business and motives. Samurai women also received much harassment from officials who manned inspection checkpoints.
Kenjutsu practitioner (Swordswoman) in a duel

The onset of the 17th century marked a significant transformation in the social acceptance of women in Japan.

Many samurai viewed women purely as child bearers; the concept of a woman being a fit companion for war was no longer conceivable. The relationship between a husband and wife could be correlated to that of a lord and his vassal.

"Husbands and wives did not even customarily sleep together. The husband would visit his wife to initiate any s*xual activity and afterwards would retire to his own room".

19/09/2021

Immortality Now! - 6G coming soon 🙃

.."an increase of 6,060 from a year earlier: the number of people aged 100+ in Japan is estimated at 86,510, with the number of men reaching the milestone topping 10,000 for the first time.

Of the 86,510, women accounted for 88.4 percent or 76,450, up 5,475 from a year earlier and men totaled 10,060, up 585.

When the survey started in 1963, the number of centenarians in the country stood at 153, but it eclipsed 1,000 in 1981 and surpassed 10,000 in 1998, due mainly to advances in medical technology.

In July, the ministry said average life expectancy in Japan, one of the most rapidly aging populations in the world, rose to record highs for both genders in 2020 -- 87.74 for women and 81.64 for men.

Kane Tanaka, a 118-year-old resident of Fukuoka, has been recognized as the oldest living person by Guinness Records.
Tanaka was born in 1903, the year the Wright brothers flew the world's first powered airplane.

Mikizo Ueda, a 111-year-old resident of Nara, is the oldest Japanese man.

By prefecture, Shimane in western Japan has the highest number of centenarians per 100,000 people for the ninth straight year at 134.75, followed by Kochi and Kagoshima at 126.29 and 118.74, respectively. The nationwide average stands at 68.54.

© KYODO

09/09/2021

Love Autumn in the green of Nanzen-ji garden Itsuki at Sakura Crane in front of Nanzen-ji temple.

The Sakura Crane of the former nakayama pass, built in the Taisho period (1912-1926) in front of Nanzen-ji temple, is open as a wedding site in the higashiyama area.

14/08/2021

Food and Oxygen to the Moon

Japan's government and food and tech companies will launch research on developing a sustainable food source on the Moon.

The public-private joint study could start by March-2022, spearheaded by Space Foodsphere, a Tokyo-based space food research group comprised of dozens of entities including the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, seasoning maker Ajinomoto Co. and system integrator NTT Data Corp.

The research is designed to meet demand for a supply of food on the Moon for long-term lunar missions involving many crew members, which would make constant food shipments from Earth impractical.

The public-private team will begin research at a domestic facility and then may move to a location similar to the lunar environment, such as Antarctica.

Their study aims to help develop technologies to operate a plant factory for indoor crop yields on the Moon where the temperatures are below minus 100 C and there is a lack of water and air necessary for growing crops.

The study will also include how to maintain healthy mental and physical conditions in a confined space for long periods of time.

These technologies, if developed, are also expected to solve issues of farming under desertification and climate change on Earth.

Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa is also planning to orbit the Moon on the world's first-ever private space trip, organized by U.S. firm SpaceX for 2023.

The global space industry is estimated to generate revenue of more than $1 trillion in 2040, up from the current $350 billion, according to a Morgan Stanley report.

*) Japan, Israel startups will team up to make oxygen on Moon, a potential technology that could make possible long-term lunar missions independent of Earth in the future.

Israel's Helios Project Ltd. Will extract oxygen by melting lunar soil at a high temperature and electrolyzing it. Japan's Ispace Inc. will deliver equipment for the experiments twice in 2023-2025.

Helios CEO Jonathan Geifman said that extracting oxygen from lunar soil is vital for humans to engage in activities on the Moon in the future. This is the first Japan-Israel collaboration by private companies in space.

Helios has been developing a reactor that can process lunar soil to extract oxygen and metals such as iron, aluminum and silicon, in order to allow Moon colonists to "live off the land." The reactor is also being developed to process Martian soil.

The Israeli firm expects 250 kilograms of oxygen out of 1 ton of lunar soil.

In 2023, Ispace will launch a lunar lander from the US aboard a SpaceX rocket.

Ispace is picked by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration to gather samples from the Moon's surface as part of NASA's lunar exploration program. It aims to be the first Japanese private firm to launch two landers on the Moon.

Long-term travel to the Moon is becoming increasingly likely, with lunar exploration projects launched by the United States, China and other countries. Japan is involved in the NASA-led Artemis program, which outlines the exploration and utilization of resources in space including those on the Moon.

13/08/2021

Japanese Creation Myth

Izanagi and Izanami, (“He Who Invites” and “She Who Invites”) are the central deities (kami) in the Japanese creation myth. They were the eighth pair of brother-and-sister gods to appear after heaven and earth separated out of chaos.

By standing on the floating bridge of heaven and stirring the primeval ocean with a heavenly jeweled spear, they created the first landmass.

The two decided that they wished to unite—often interpreted as marriage—but their first attempt at s*xual union resulted in a deformed child, Hiruko (“Leech Child,” known in later Shintō mythology as the god Ebisu), and they set him adrift in a boat.

Attributing the mistake to a ritual error on the part of Izanami, who, as a woman, should never have spoken first, they began again and produced numerous islands and deities.

In the act of giving birth to the fire god, Izanami was fatally burned and went to Yomi, the land of darkness.

The grief-stricken Izanagi followed her there, but she had eaten the food of that place and could not leave.

She became angry when he lit a fire and saw her rotting and covered with maggots.

A horrified Izanagi fled, with a host of women and then Izanami herself in pursuit. After reaching the entrance to Yomi, Izanagi placed a stone across it, thus sealing in Izanami and breaking their union.

Izanagi bathed in the sea to purify himself from contact with the dead. As he bathed, a number of deities came into being.

The sun goddess Amaterasu was born from his left eye, the moon god Tsukiyomi was born from his right eye, and the storm god Susanoo was born from his nose.

In the Shintō religion, Izanagi’s bath is regarded as the founding of harai, the important ritual purification practices of Shintō.
[Britannica]

12/07/2021

Games in 2021

Olympic host city Tokyo entered a new state of emergency on Monday, less than two weeks before the Games begin amid worries about whether the measures can stem a rise in COVID-19 cases.

Organisers last week announced that spectators would be banned from nearly all venues. Spectators from abroad were already banned months ago, and officials are now asking residents to watch the Games on TV to keep the movement of people, which could spread contagion, to a minimum.

Opinion polls have consistently shown the Japanese public is concerned about going ahead with the Games during the pandemic.

Prime Mininster Yoshihide Suga's handling of the pandemic - including an initially slow vaccination rollout - has eroded his support. The issue is especially sensitive ahead of a national election and a ruling party leadership race due later this year.

"We would ask people to support athletes from home," Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said on a Sunday TV programme.

The Games, postponed from last year because of the pandemic, run from July 23 to August 8, while the state of emergency - the capital's fourth - lasts until August 22, shortly before the Paralympics begin.

The government and organisers had long seen the Games as a chance to display Japan's recovery from a devastating 2011 earthquake and nuclear crisis.

[the source+more: https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/host-city-tokyo-enters-fresh-coronavirus-emergency-games-near-2021-07-12/]

13/06/2021

Leonardo and Japan 😉 1498-1798...

Kitagawa Utamaro (Japanese: 喜多川歌麿; 1753-1806) was a Japanese artist. He was best known for his large-headed pictures of beautiful women of the 1790s. He also produced nature studies, particularly illustrated books of insects.

In 1804 he was arrested and manacled for fifty days for making illegal prints depicting the 16th-century military ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Died he two years later.

Little is known of Utamaro's life. His work began to appear in the 1770s, and he rose to prominence in the early 1790s with his portraits of beauties with exaggerated, elongated features. He produced over 2000 known prints and was one of the few ukiyo-e artists to achieve fame throughout Japan in his lifetime.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance. The painting "Lady with Eermin" is attributed to him (1491).

Now in Poland, where it was brought in 1798. This work is made with oils on a 54×39 cm walnut wood panel.

$Games of 2020\2021: Japan and We All 10 meter-tall puppet symbolizes the spirit of the people from the regions affected ...$

25/04/2021

Games of 2020\2021: Japan and We All

10 meter-tall puppet symbolizes the spirit of the people from the regions affected by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The puppet will travel to Tokyo in May to be in place for the Olympic Games-2020 scheduled to open on July 23 in 2021. Presumably...

Handlers control the giant puppet MOCCO during a special training session in Takamori, Nagano Prefecture, on Friday. Tokyo Olympic organizers created this.

12/03/2021

Japanese Billions for Space

Japan is planning a record space budget of $4+ billion in the fiscal year 2021, up 23.1 percent over 2020.

Japan’s proposed space budget, which encompasses planned space activities of 11 government ministries, includes $472 million set aside for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to participate in NASA’s Artemis lunar exploration program,

Japan is also planning to expand the Space Operations Squadron, a new space defense unit under the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, launched with 20 members in May 2020 to monitor and counter threats to Japan’s satellites, with its total budget undisclosed in the documents.

The squadron will undergo a restructuring this year to add 50 more members and “carry out various planning and ex*****on of activities in outer space.”

07/03/2021

Japanese Women of the 18th Century

Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806) was a Japanese artist. He is one of the most highly regarded designers of ukiyo-e woodblock prints and paintings, and is best known for his bijin ōkubi-e "large-headed pictures of beautiful women" of the 1790s. He also produced nature studies, particularly illustrated books of insects.

He produced over 2000 known prints and was one of the few ukiyo-e artists to achieve fame throughout Japan in his lifetime. In 1804 he was arrested and manacled for fifty days for making illegal prints depicting the 16th-century military ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and died two years later.

Utamaro's work reached Europe in the mid-nineteenth century, where it was very popular, enjoying particular acclaim in France.

He influenced the European Impressionists, particularly with his use of partial views and his emphasis on light and shade, which they imitated.

The reference to the "Japanese influence" among these artists often refers to the work of Utamaro.
[Wikipedia]

15/02/2021

Animation of Aviation

Hayao Miyazaki (b.1941 in Japan) and his film Porco Rosso (1992). The plot: an Italian WorldWar1 ex-fighter ace, now living as a freelance bounty hunter chasing "air pirates" in the Adriatic Sea.

An unusual curse has transformed him into an anthropomorphic pig. Once called Marco Pagot, he is now known to the world as "Porco Rosso", Italian for "Red Pig" or "Red Pork".

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