Trivia - Wednesday, August 24th

How did the musician Moby get his nickhame? What is his real name?

Yesterday's Answer (highlight line below):
Charlene

Trivia - Tuesday, August 23rd

Which one-hit wonder claimed in 1982, "I've been to paradise, but I've never been to me"?

Yesterday's Answer (highlight line below):
The Da Vinci Code

Trivia - Monday, August 22nd

Which popular Dan Brown novel from 2003 alluded to purported conspiracies within the Christian church to downplay the importance of Mary Magdalene and other Bibilical-era women?

Weekend's Answer (highlight line below):
Sri Lanka

Trivia - Saturday & Sunday, August 20th & 21st

Where was the Duran Duran video for "Hungry Like the Wolf" shot?

Friday's Answer (highlight line below):
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

Six Taisha JH 7th graders & me

6 Taisha 7th graders & me
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Here is a little preview of some of the pics coming up. New ALT, Anna, took this photo of me and six of my ichi nen sei students all decked out in their summer kimonos for the local Taisha town summer festival.

Trivia - Friday, August 19th

The TV series Alice was based on what Academy Award-winning film?

Yesterday's Answer (highlight line below):
Nathan Lane & Matthew Broderick

on vacation

I'm on vacation this week, but I should have time to post some pictures soon, so check back later this week.

Hope all is well.

-Jason

Trivia - Thursday, August 18th

Which two actors were so popular in the 2001 revival of the Broadway musical The Producers that they came back to the stage for an additional run in 2004?

Yesterday's Answer (highlight line below):
B. Pedro Almodovar

Trivia - Wednesday, August 17th

Before coming to America, Antonio Banderas was already a star in Europe for appearing in numerous films by which director?

A. Jean-Jacques Beineix
B. Pedro Almodovar
C. Fina Torres
D. Alejandro Amenabar

Yesterday's Answer (highlight line below):
Dogma 95

Trivia - Tuesday, August 16th

In 1995, a group of Scandinavian filmmakers came up with a "Vow of Chastity" for their future filmmaking endeavors that included strict adherences to on-location shooting, handheld camera work, and natural lighting. What was this manifesto widely known as?

Yesterday's Answer (highlight line below):
B. Better Off Dead

Trivia - Monday, August 15th

In which John Cusack film is he dogged by a newspaper boy reclaiming two dollars?

A. Say Anything...
B. Better Off Dead
C. One Crazy Summer
D. The Sure Thing

All of the above films are among my favorites - Cusack's early work is REALLY good, and I think he's gone on to be one of our best adult actors as well. The Sure Thing, directed by Rob Reiner, and Say Anything, directed by Cameron Crowe, are both in my top 25 films of all time.

Weekend's Answer (highlight line below):
A gold watch

Trivia - Sat & Sun, August 13th & 14th

In the Quentin Tarantino film Pulp Fiction, what object does Christopher Walken's character manage to keep hidden while in a POW camp during the Vietnam War?

Friday's Answer (highlight line below):
It was stripped of producer Phil Spector's orchestral flourishes and retitled "Let It Be...Naked."

recent happenings

So much going on lately, that I haven't updated in a while.

My Japanese studying has really kicked into high gear recently, as I've been attacking the vocab and kanji I'll need to know for the level 3 JLPT with a zeal I haven't had since college.
I do feel that my Japanese is getting better and I'm hoping that by the end of the year I'll be able to hold more conversations with my co-workers in Japanese where I use actual complete sentences! :)
Recently, a new ALT who just arrived told me that I really use my hands a lot when I talk - and I realized it's from all the quasi-sign language I employ whenever I speak with Japanese people, hoping that my hand gestures will compensate for my inablilty to adequately express myself in Japanese.

Speaking of new ALTs, we've got a few in my area, including Chris, who's from Georgia and is 23, and Titia, who's from Ohio and also 23, and Angharad, who is from England. I'll post pics soon, as I took Chris & Titia to IzumoTaisha shrine this week and I'm taking Angharad on Monday.

I haven't been able to work out with the kendo team as much this week, due to other morning activities, but I hope to get back on schedule with them soon.

Kendo has reached a bit of a plateau for me, as far as practicing with my Junior High team. I go in, and participate in the warm-up activites, and then go off to the side of the dojo where I work out alone while the team does group or pair activites leading up to small matches. I really can't impose and ask to join in the actual one-on-one fighting for a few reasons:
1 - I'm not really as good as the kids on my team - they've all been doing kendo way longer than me - and I'd most likely be a negative stimulant to their ability. Think of it like this - if I was hanging out with the tennis team or the baseball team, I wouldn' expect to have a turn at bat or play in a match - the kids need to practice against each other and not have to worry about some old guy who wants to play. :)
2 - I still can't understand all the directions the coach is giving in Japanese, so I have to watch the other players for a minute before I understand what the next drill or practice is.

So I practice by myself for about 30 minutes and then usually go lift weights for about 30 minutes. All the solo practice has honed my attacking skills, but my defensive skills are lacking, simply because I rarely get to practice against another living person who will hit me back.

Kendo has been a great experince so far, but I think when my san nen sei "retire" later this year, I may retire as well. Maybe I could find an adult class or kendo club that would take me, and then get more one-on-one instruction and guidance, but I really am not going to learn that much more from my Junior High participation.

All the working out has had its benefits. When I went for a recent medical check up (which is a story in itself), I got to see how much I weigh for the first time since arriving last year. The scale in the nurses office at my JH only goes up to 100 kilos (220 lbs) so I could never see where I was at.
I'm at 120.2 kilos or about 264 lbs. I came to Japan last year weighing around 280, so I've lost about 15 pounds. Feels good and I hope to lose even more. I'm also in better shape due to kendo and bike riding. The other morning at kendo we had to do "500 stroke" practice, which is where we take our sword and pretend to hit our opponents head 100 times in quick succession. We did this 5 times. By the end I was a little sore, because I'd chosen a heavier sword, made of solid wood, as opposed to my regular shinai which is made of bamboo strips bound together by strips of leather. The next day I was really sore - but I have muscle definition for the first time in years, so that's cool.

OK - it's now lunch time and my yummy plate of yakisoba awaits. More soon.

-Jason

Trivia - Friday, August 12th

How was the Beatles' 2003 rerelease of "Let It Be" different from the original recording?

Yesterday's Answer (highlight line below):
Cleopatra

Trivia - Thursday, August 11th

What was the name of the man-eating plant owned by Morticia Addams on the TV series The Addams Family?

Yesterday's Answer (highlight line below):
C. Citizen Kane

The thing about Kane is that I don't think many people in their 20s and 30s have seen it - perhaps because it is in Black & White, or because it was made in the 40s and seems "old" - but it is an amazingly vital and impressive film, even in the 21st century. Rent it soon and watch it if you've never seen it - or rent it and watch it again if it's been a while - it rewards repeat viewings.

Trivia - Wednesday, August 10th

Which film did the American Film Institute vote the no. 1 film of all time in 1998?

A. Gone with the Wind
B. The Wizard of Oz
C. Citizen Kane
D. Lawrence of Arabia

You really owe it to yourself to make sure you see ALL of the films listed above -all of them are great films - and I thought they made Casablanca number one, but it's not even one of the choices.

Yesterday's Answer (highlight line below):
C. Wilmington, Delaware

Trivia - Tuesday, August 9th

In what unlikely city does David Fincher's 1999 film Fight Club appear to take place?

A. Phoenix, Arizona
B. Newark, New Jersey
C. Wilmington, Delaware
D. Jacksonville, Florida

Yesterday's Answer (highlight line below):
Strictly Ballroom, William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, and Moulin Rouge

Trivia - Monday, August 8th

What three films make up Baz Luhrmann's Red Curtain Trilogy?

Weekend's Answer (highlight line below):
They lived on 358 Chauncey Street in Brooklyn; this was actually Jackie Gleason's address while growing up in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, although the show is set in Bensonhurst.

Hiroshima Peace Park (Heiwa Koen)

Hiroshima Peace Park - 8
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Saturday, August 6th, 2005 marks the 60 year anniversary of the day when the American military dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima.

There was a huge gathering of people in Hiroshima today and while I couldn't attend, I watched some footage on the news that showed the huge crowds attending the memorial service and peace concert held at the site of the original epicenter of the blast.

Touring the peace musuem near the park last May was one of the most moving experiences I've had in Japan, one filled with tremendous sadness and anger and at the end a glimmer of hope. Hiroshima has rebuilt itself into a magnificent city and flowers and trees and grass grow at the site where scientists had predicted that nothing would grow for decades.

There will be similar ceremonies happening in Nagasaki on Tuesday the 9th to mark the 60th anniversary of another bomb being dropped on that city.

I haven't been to Nagasaki yet, but I hope to go later this year.

Peace -
-Jason

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." -George Santayana, philosopher (1863-1952)

"No society that feeds its children on tales of successful violence can expect them not to believe that violence in the end is rewarded." -Margaret
Mead, anthropologist (1901-1978)

A-bomb Memorial

Hiroshima Peace Park - 12
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

I have a shot of this monument looking straight on in my blog here in the May archive. As you look through it you can see the eternal flame, that will remain lit as long as nuclear wepaons remain in the world and the Atomic Dome in the distance.

It's a small and simple memorial, and the stone box in the center holds the names of all those that have died from the initial blast and the radiation it brought. They add names each year on August 6th of all those elderly Japanese that have passed away in the past year but were in Hiroshima the day of the blast. Not many survivors are left.