ishel comments

You can read about his work here https://www.lacquerartbysoil.com/post/urushi-design-innovation-by-taiichi-kirimoto-kohei-kirimoto

and his Instagram is @kohei_kirimoto

I will follow him as a microcosm of what happens in Wajima from now on. I hope he finds his cats soon!

She's amazing, to still be doing her show after so many years, and her autobio is definitely worth reading. On a visit to Tokyo, I explored the Todoroki Ravine in SW Tokyo which she describes (though I see that is temporarily closed at the moment for some reason).

Sadly more Hollywood pap. Not newsworthy imho. But no accounting for tastes. I guess someone has to keep the Hollywood moguls rich :P

All the people judging the lady about smartphone use... she was just trying to take photos of wildlife, seems the rail was unhelpfully low. How about a little compassion though?

Japan has so many of its own festivals, it doesn't need imported rubbish like Halloween, even the modern commercial version of Christmas for that matter.

Halloween is such a load of crap, just another excuse for businesses to sell party rubbish and make money. And the unthinking masses lap it all up. How completely shallow it all is.

The two other patients were asleep at the time he was found. There seems to be nothing to confirm they were both asleep at the time he was attacked. Very sad and troubling.

Came across this lot in Australia 50 years ago. They are an insidious and dangerous cult, pure and simple. Need to be fully outlawed in any thinking country as a danger to the welfare of the people. But they are not alone, there are many such groups, and democratic governments don't have the strength of will. Unfortunately, other forms of government which WOULD ban them are dangerous to the people in other ways. No easy answers :(

They MUST change the agency's name and purge the filthy paedophile's memory from the Japanese entertainment scene as fully as possible.

Drunkenness is no excuse for assault or any crime; he might only hope for a reduced penalty because he admitted his offence. Mainly, some sort of apology or sincere remorse would be of some small comfort to the victim. I can never understand these people who face the court and show no remorse at all.

Neither the central government in Tokyo nor the Supreme Court would dare to treat any other prefecture the way they treat Okinawa.

Okinawa is the occupied territory of the Ryukyu kingdom in the same way that the US state of Hawaii is the occupied territory of the Hawaiian kingdom. In both cases, the indigenous people suffer under the jackboot of Japanese and US imperialism, and in the case of the Ryukyu people they suffer the occupation of both empires. Learn some history before you leap to disagree.

I have yet to see any active member of any of the boy groups come out and comment on this, nor do any of the media even ask them. They all probably have a gag order from the boss.

You can be sure that even after all that has been exposed, any working member of any entertainment group, not only Johnny's, who spoke out on this would find themselves swiftly unemployed. Much as I love Japan in so many ways, this corporate refusal to face up to such crimes absolutely rankles.

Remember Tsushima :P

Another show portraying narcissists out-narcing each other. Whatever happened to families working together for a common goal. We'd much rather see people living their lives at the cutting edge of tearing each other down to climb on top of each other. No wonder real life families end up living like this, when this modelling is constantly shoved in their faces.

A political rather than a medical motivation. People want to believe it's over, and governments like to give people what they want. There is no scientific basis for this decision, because Covid-19 is not anything like the flu, and never will be.

Big fan of Mazda! After owning 6 different Toyotas, 1972 to 2001 models, we now own two Mazdas and it's definitely a step up in quality and a sense of a marque that is something to 'enjoy' rather than just drive. Our main criticism would be a fairly boring range of colour schemes, hehe.

Interesting to browse the museum site. Nothing very new there, but a nice presentation. Interesting to see that the museum completely fails to mention the management crisis of the late 70s / early 80s which is now a classic in company management which turned around their brand, in contrast to so much of what happened in Detroit. They obviously see it as a negative because the last Matsuda family member to run the show was basically incompetent, but it actually shows the company's success as a whole. Should be included.

Does it have much nutritional value, or is it just a stomach filler? I have never needed to use it myself - I feel grateful. But if it's true that it can save the poor in hard times, it's probably a good thing.

A lot of commenters here watch way too much overdramatized rubbish on streaming services. The Aussie military is a world-class force which is led by guys who know their country's laws and constitution and which follows in the time-honoured traditions which have evolved over centuries in the UK and countries which have derived their political and military traditions from the UK. This is no tool of despots such as we see in so many other nations worldwide, and I don't expect people who have no sense of the history and culture of the Australian military to be able to appreciate the stupidity of the alarmism expressed by so many. Australia is in no danger of becoming a military dictatorship.

Jim Today  01:28 pm JST

Man, I'd hate to marry a Japanese "idol". Imagine all the things she had to err "do" to get to that position.

Got to agree with you on this one! They probably have been around the block with hundreds from talent seekers to producers!

Japan is not Korea. While there are undoubtedly instances of young hopefuls in the entertainment business being exploited by more powerful managers and promoters (as is also the case in the US, what do you think Harvey W is in jail for?) this is not as much a phenomenon in Japan as wide-eyed critics like you fondly imagine. Korea is sadly another story.

She is one of the success stories out of the 48 group stable - coming along with a great list of successful drama roles. Good to see her personal life coming along successfully too.

vic.M Today  10:02 am JST

Even on You tube now, the truth is coming out.

That is the funniest thing I have seen in days - YouTube as an authority which can be relied on for the truth :P

proxy Today  12:34 am JST

What is the goal of the government in Australia?

Vaccinate 80% of the population and then open up to the world and live with it?

It's pretty much that one. And if our beloved PM had not arrogantly declared that vaccination was "not a race" but realized that actually, it IS a race, we could have been nearer that goal.

Good to see that most Aussies with an interest in Japan (enough to subscribe here) are also level headed folk with a long term view of Australia's strengths. Not too many of the loony fringe here, apart from non-Aussies who think they know what's best for a country they barely understand.

Most of Australia has state governments who are unafraid to do what's needed, apart from the fools running NSW who thought they were smarter than the virus... for a while, until it became pretty tricky to get the genie back in the bottle, which may never happen.

Sure, we would not have been in this position if the national government hadn't tried to penny pinch on vaccines, so it will now be a few more months before there's any chance we can relax very much.

cleo... all I will say in response is the old cliche, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". Not a Japanese proverb but then, Murakami is primarily appreciated outside the borders of Japan :)

Good observations, zichi! Thanks!

Perhaps one further thought about their relative pricings at auction might be that Warhol's work is older and has therefore had longer to appreciate in value. Warhol's output is now complete and there will be no more, so anyone wanting to own one must compete in that finite market. Murakami is still working and there will hopefully be more to come.

But I do appreciate all our thoughts very much. You obviously know what you are talking about!

I am happy to see that there are some people able to appreciate art in all its variety. Like it or not, Murakami is a world renowned artist in the league of Andy Warhol, for example. Of course, critics of this work probably don't like artistic soup cans either, haha.

Haha, been following Takashi Murakami since the Superflat days. Love all the critics here. Art comes in many guises, you don't have to like it, but the guy is a creative genius.

Hehe, the US actually feeling a bit left out by Japan's first security agreement in which they are not involved? Good to see them talking about resurrecting the First Fleet instead of withdrawing to Fortress America :)

Thanks for the positive supporting comments. It seems the downvoters are just silently downvoting, without any ability to give intelligent reasons. I have my suspicions, to be honest, but best not state them here for fear of a ban. Anyway, good to see other appreciative people commenting! :) Enjoy the kagura!

So funny - why are people downvoting comments about factual cultural stuff like this? Very odd... I'm genuinely curious. Maybe they are Bible bashers who object to anything religious other than their own? Who knows...