If you haven’t tried out Google’s new igoogle, the personalized homepage that’s a quick and dirty way to simplify your web surfing, you should. You can create sub-menu pages with themes- for example if you type in “News,” it will suggest a bunch of popular RSS feeds, gadgets, etc. Type in “Japanese” and it will get you started with a bunch of gadgets like “Kanji of the Day” etc. Do a search and see what you can find. I was skeptical, but now I have 4 gadgets on the page that I look at everyday and are good for keeping that kanji section deep in the back of your brain alive.
After long thought, I have decided to enter the political fray with Nihonsukiaqui’s official endorsement of Barack Obama. I hope this is the real tipping point for his momentum in securing the nomination. Here are two clips that show how much Obama inspires and brings out the best in us, US voters and Japanese alike. Boy could I eat an Obama-manju right now! (I don’t care if that’s weird…) The second clip is the full 37 minutes of his most recent speech on race- long but fully inspiring. I recommend watching the whole deal.
Go to the “ニュース” link on right side of page for more streaming videos. (Not as great as Fuji News, those crazy kids, but one day they’ll have the success they deserve)
Hands down the most captivating documentary I’ve ever seen. By director Kazua Hara, it follows a 62 year old WWII veteran, Okuzaki Kenzo, who served in New Guinea and upon returning to Japan went to prison for sling-shotting steel balls at the emperor outside of the imperial palace. The movie follows Okuzaki’s journey to expose the atrocities committed upon his fellow soldiers in New Guinea- two of whom were executed even after the officers learned of Japan’s surrender. This movie is one giant ball of intensity and revelation, and gives a fierce shake to any preconceptions of the Japanese post-war psyche.
In an opening scene, we are introduced to Okuzaki driving to a wedding in his van, decorated with slogans and equipped with a megaphone. (Having spent a year in southern Kyushu and grown used to these kinds of propaganda-mobiles, known for their right-wing messages and among other things their anti-foreigner bent, I immediately cringed and got ready for what I thought would be a depressing reminder of familiar themes, but…) Okuzaki goes on to shout calls for justice and an opening of dialogues, and pursues his own form of vigilante justice through confrontation and documentation through film. It’s full of gut-wrenching scenes that make you feel both how close we all are still to these memories that haunt just below the surface, and how continually important the reminder.
