Soseki comments

Like The Passage I say: "No Ozu?" Yasujiro Ozu who collaborated with screenwriter Kogo Noda on many of Ozu's films should both have been honoured. They featured simple but telling dialogues about ordinary Japanese families: "Tokyo Story", "Late Spring", "Floating Weeds", "Equinox Flower" "An Autumn Afternoon", etc.

Sounds great. Anything that enhances the understanding of another country's culture is a good thing. I like the interactive part also. Though I much prefer an actual book, the future seems to be in electronic books and technological things can be added to them which in this case should attract younger readers.

Kurosawa deserves the honour. His "No Regrets For Our Youth", "Rashomon" and "Sugata Sanshiro" are favourites. All three are/were available on DVDs.

Enough with the multi-tasking though I imagine some would wish they were octupuses.

Thanks Lostrune2 for the tech info.. I never in-put financial data even though the phone, electric etc. companies keep urging me to do so. It's mostly beneficial for them.

Fumie Yuhi permit me to say that your English is quite good.

What about the possible negative psychological reactions? If the student who drank it all would have had a case of heartburn later that day would he have thought that the teacher was lying? The teacher's actions were inexcusable and he deserves to be fired but he will probably just be transferred to another school.

I'm skeptical. What is there to prevent this third person from going through the computer and choosing damaging information to use for their own personal gain. I would think that one would have to be very careful who they choose.

I'm not very adept with the technical aspects of computers but if you delete the cookies after using "scandalous" sites and do not add them to your favorites would not that prevent their exposure. Of course the worst case scenario would be to die (heart attack, stroke) while watching them and not even be able to turn the computer off.

Reminds me of the powerful Japanese film "The Ballad of Narayama" directed by Shohei Imamura. In a poor village all persons over the age of 70 are taken to the top of Narayama and left to die in order to lessen the financial burden on their families. I wonder if Aso has ever seen this film.

And I thought that the world had advanced past the Age of Feudalism. Guess not.

I think that it is commendable that such courtesies still exist. In some cases to omit them would put someone out of work.Regarding Irasshaimase in the USA the admonition to "Have a good day!" is way over-used.

What a beautiful village, what beautiful people. what a beautiful couple, what a beautiful wedding, what a beautiful and inspiring video.

Though it has been years since his death, I would like to add Yasujiro Ozu as one of the greats especially his Tokyo Story. My favourite actors Chishu Ryu and Setsuko Hara appeared in many of his films. Setsuko Hara gives a brilliant performance in Akira Kurosawa's No Regrets for Our Youth, far different from the demure roles she played in Ozu"s films. Thanks be for DVDs or one would not be able to see many of these great films.

Perhaps this article should be taken with a grain of salt, that is unless it contains unknown, harmful ingredients.

Thanks Apeman for the correction. They were called the 1964 Summer Olympics. Shouldn't they have been called the 1964 Autumn Olympics? :-)

Turkey also has earthquakes though not as often as Japan but it only takes one. Two occured in 2011 one in April and the other in October. However I suspect that "politics" will be the prime factor.

The 1964 summer Olympics held in Tokyo were successful. The heat and rarity of menus in English didn't seem to deter enough people from attending.

Who knows what deterrants will occur in Istanbul or Madrid or Tokyo by 2020. I hope that Tokyo is chosen.