RIP Satoshi Kon
28 Aug 2010 1 Comment
in Japan, Life Tags: anime, Movies, obituary, Satoshi Kon
Satoshi Kon, the amazing director and creator of films such as Tokyo Godfathers and Millennium Actress has passed away at the age of 46…. (as reported in The Gazette). While Kon’s movies have never reached the epic popularity of Ghibli films, he made amazing things happen on screen. His movies are deep and made with passion. I’m sad to see such a creative mind leave the world, especially with his current un-named movie unfinished.
He wrote a rambling post about the end of his time here that was posted on his blog shortly after he passed, and a fan has lovingly translated it over at “Not A Nameless Cat.
There were so many people that I wanted to see before I died, to say even one word of greeting to. Family and relatives, old friends and classmates from elementary and middle and high school, the mates I met in college, the people I met in the manga world, with whom I exchanged so much inspiration, the people in the anime world whose desks I sat next to, went drinking with, with whom I competed on on the same works, the mates with whom I shared good and bad times. The countless people I was able to know because of my position as a film director, the people who call themselves my fans not only in Japan but around the world, the friends I’d made via the web.
There are so many people that I want to see at least once (well there are some I don’t want to see too), but if I see them I’m afraid that that the thought that “I can never see this person again” will take me over, and that I wouldn’t be able to greet death gracefully. Even if I had recovered, I had very little life force left, and it took a lot of effort to see people. The more people wanted to see me, the harder it was for me to see them. What irony. In addition, my lower body was paralyzed due to the cancer spreading to my bones, and I was prone on my bed, and I didn’t want people to see my emaciated body. I wanted most of the people I knew to remember me as the Satoshi that was full of life.
I hope you’ll go over and read it. I was really moved by his words. It’s important to be reminded how short life is and how many blessings we receive while we’re here. I hope that when it’s my turn one day I can go with as much dignity as Kon did, and appreciate my life and the people in it to the very end.
~MS the Younger
How to: Woodblock Printing
18 Aug 2010 4 Comments
in Craft, Creativity, Culture, Inspiration, Japan, Japanese Culture Tags: crafts, Japan, printing, woodblock printing
First, draw your design on paper, then transfer to tracing paper. Make the lines thick and strong in pencil. Tape to your wood pencil line side down and trace again, transferring the lines to the wood.
Transferring the design.
Second, start carving! Use a set of 4 traditional wood carving tools. Carve for several days, until complete, or until your wrists fall off!
Carving carving carving!
Prepare your paints (water-based poster paints are a good choice and more traditional in Japan). Wet down your block (it shouldn’t be dry) and pat it dry. Apply the paint, not too much (or you get a weird stipple effect) and not too little (or you’ll get nothing).
Printing stage!
And print! Place your paper down and cover with some newspaper. Use your bahren, a smoother, to make sure the paper has come into firm contact with the block.
The finished products...
And you’re set! It’s a lot easier than I expected, the process at least. It takes a long time to master this process. Ukiyo-e prints actually use up to 120 prints and several block for different colors and details. But you can do a single block type and paint the colors n seperately!
~MS the Younger
Kawakita Fireworks Festival
08 Aug 2010 Leave a Comment
in Japan, Life Tags: bonfire, fire, Japan, Kawakita Fireworks Festival, summer
There were 20,000 fireworks, but I was most entranced by the 5 story tall bonfire and the men wearing the Smokey the Bear hats making sure it didn’t burn the audience down!
~MS the Younger
NPR: In Japan, Living Large in Really Tiny Houses
06 Aug 2010 1 Comment
in Architecture, Japan, links Tags: architecture, Japan, NPR, Yamashita Yasuhiro
A friend of mine pointed out this really cool article about Japanese architecture on the NPR website. They feature a lot of super-modern, expensive housing that fits on tiny lots without losing any personality or functionality. Although I’ve never seen any of these super-high-end houses in my own city, suffice it to say that even the smallest, most normal house is designed carefully to make the most the the tiny plots in Japan. I think that America can learn a lot about housing from smaller countries. Why do most people think they must own at least a quarter acre of land before they have a ‘proper’ home? Having a small place is easier to care for and also prevents squirrel-like hoarding activity!! Or so I’ve found… hopefully having a small apartment will have curtailed my purchases enough so I don’t spend an entire paycheck on shipping things back to the USA next summer!
In Japan, Living Large In Really Tiny Houses – by Lucy Craft
Lucky Drops house by Yamashita Yasuhiro
TheJapanese have long endured crowded cities and scarce living space, with homes so humble a scornful European official once branded them rabbit hutches.
But in recent years, Japanese architects have turned necessity into virtue, vying to design unorthodox and visually stunning houses on remarkably narrow pieces of land. In the process, they are also redefining the rules of home design.
Few Americans would consider a parking-space-sized lot as an adequate site to build a house. But in Japan, homes are rising on odd parcels of land, some as tiny as 300 square feet.
Yet the term “house” doesn’t really do justice to these eye-catching architectural gems, fashioned from a high-tech palate of materials like glittering glass cubes, fiber reinforced plastic and super-thin membranes of steel…
~MS the Younger
Weekly Yosh! #2 – 7/26-30
04 Aug 2010 5 Comments
in Japan, Life, Weekly Yosh! Tags: blackberry cake, taiyaki, woodblock printing
Hey all! Sorry once again for the random leave of absence. Summer vacation has finally hit in Japan, so I took off for a 5 day woodblock printing workshop in the famous Japanese handmade paper town, Echizen. Here’s a few sneak peeks at the adventures I had!
1) This poster, an advertisement for the Eiken Test (an English level test). Notice how Japanese learning English are cast as the traditional hero, Momotaro (check out an awesome interactive version of the story here), with his animal companions, while the native English speaker is cast as the giant blue scary demon (whom Momotaro fights in the original story). Oh, the understated irony. It alternately makes me cringe and laugh.
Japanese English learner = traditional hero. English speaker? Giant scaary blue monster. ^^;;;
2) One of my finished prints from the workshop! I based it off my teacher’s t-shirt that had an illustration of a taiyaki on it (a fish shaped pancake filled with custard or other tasty things). Hopefully this will lead to a series of funny food prints!
Radioactive pancake-fish, anyone?
3) This blackberry chocolate mousse cake. Because nothing finishes off a week of intense arts and crafts like a little chocolate. And the fact that you haven’t eaten a blackberry for 4 years!!
Berry, berry delicious. Har har XD
~MS the Younger
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