Okinawan Dance at San Francisco Cherry Blossom Festival

Take a look at my video of Okinawan dance at the San Francisco Cherry Blossom Festival on April 12, 2008. Junichi Oshiro, Wesley Ueunten and the troop of young dancers performed admirably.  Hai Sai!

Has Anyone Noticed? Barry Eisler and Master Keaton.

Has anyone noticed the similarities between Barry Eisler and Master Keaton?  I think they may actually be one and the same.  If you compare, Master Taichi Keaton is half Japanese, half English, as is the star of Eisler’s thriller series about assassin John Rain.  Okay, technically John Rain is half American, but close enough.  Master Keaton is an investigator on behalf of the British Lloyd’s insurance syndicate and he travels around the world, depending on his survival training skills to get him out of trouble, just like John Rain.  The difference is that John Rain looks for people to kill, sort of like Tony Soprano, yeah, you know, Tony Soprano from HBO.  Master Keaton, on the other hand, looks to solve crimes, like the ones that John Rain commits.  So maybe they are mirror reflections of each other, one yin, the other yang.  Wow.  That’s really deep, man.  Whoa.  This is freakin’ me out.

Judge for yourself.  I think they’re the same.  Barry Eisler is Master Taichi Keaton.  Like they say, write what you know. 

Barry Eisler’s Blog

 

Here’s the blog for Barry Eisler, author of the thriller series about half-Japanese, half-American freelance assassin John Rain, whose specialty is making it look like natural causes.  His stories are a bit gruesome but not too unlike Gloomy Bear.  Basically, John Rain is a type of Gloomy Bear.  He can be cute and cuddly but then he strikes and draws blood, like a samurai swordsman.  I like Barry’s blog.  Take a look.

http://www.barryeisler.com/blog.html

 

Beware the Gloomy Bear–They’re Everywhere!

 

Have you heard about Gloomy Bear? The creator of Gloomy Bear is a guy named Mori Chack who lives in Osaka, Japan. Gloomy Bear has been around for a couple of years in Japan and has been gaining a lot of otaku (fans). It seems that Gloomy Bear is a reaction to the smothering cuteness that pervades Japanese society. There’s only so much Hello Kitty that a person can take and Gloomy Bear is at the opposite end of the cute spectrum, more like macabre. But I know what Mori-san means. While Mori-san says that he created Gloomy Bear as a way to show that wild animals are not meant to be pets that we can keep in cages and play with like they are toys, I see Gloomy Bear as a metaphor to the wild animals that are lurking inside of all human beings.

Gloomy Bear is a concept that speaks directly to our modern society, which in many ways is actually going backwards. Just look at the Northern Illinois shooter who shot and killed several students while they were listening to a lecture on campus just in February. The shooter was known to be a very nice person. No one ever thought he could do something so horrible. But then his gloomy bear was awakened and he did what gloomy bears are programmed to do–he attacked and killed. Look at Columbine High School in 1999. The two students who went on a shooting rampage like the Tom Cruise character did in the movie “Taps” were overcome by their gloomy bears lurking deep within their inner forest.

Look at Oklahoma City, April 19, 1995. Timothy McVeigh went gloomy bear and murdered 168 innocents. Look at Virginia Tech in April 2007, when 32 innocents were killed by a gloomy bear that could not take any more hatred and racism that fills the air we breath. Look at Abu Ghareb, the infamous prison in Iraq, where U.S. soldiers used cruel and unusual torture tactics on prisoners. The prison is a forest where gloomy bears abound.

Gloomy Bear people are wild animals underneath an exterior of calm. People have killer instincts just like wild animals. Look at the recent stabbing spree of Masahiro Kanagawa, 24, in eastern Japan where he killed a 72-year old man a week earlier and then he unleashed his gloomy bear on 8 innocents at a nearby subway station, where police were present but were unable to stop him. One person died from the attack. Masahiro later said that he just wanted to kill someone. And then he acted on this affirmation.

Gloomy Bear is pink from the faded stains of human blood! Have you ever seen a pink bear? I think that Gloomy Bears are polar bears that were once white but are now pink because of the blood that drips from human hands. Shall we all join the 9th inner-most circle of Dante Alighieri’s hell, where the frozen head of Satan sits?

hello, newman.

hello kitty.

o-hell, gloomy bear!

 

Gloomy Bears on the Rise

we have gloomy bears all around. our society is setting them off like time bombs. they can’t suppress their killer instincts as society continues to encroach on their natural habitat which consists of a sense of freedom and what is right and just. people are losing their conscience. they are becoming numb to life around them. gloomy bears are happening everywhere. you think you know a person, but society is threatening the natural balance of humans. we have been doing it to wild animals and putting them in cages and that’s what we are starting to do to ourselves. the war on terror is a hunt for the freedoms that human beings need in order to prosper. you think you know someone and then they turn into a gloomy bear. you think a wild animal is so cute and you want to own it and put it in a cage because you can. you can do it because you’re the smartest monkey species on the planet and you can do it. the dinosaurs went extinct after a huge meteor smashed into planet earth 65 million years ago. another meteor will crash into earth and start the cycle over again. the global warming that we have created through greed and human consumption, defecating in our own beds, is like blood floating in the ocean. sharks can smell that blood and they come around quickly to feast and clean the ocean. somewhere in space others are catching the scent of our demise and they will come to clean up so that life can continue on earth. the human species has come to the edge of its space on earth. there is no where left to go. gloomy bear cannibalism will be unleashed as we struggle for limited resources. gloomy bear death will spread around the globe until the earth’s gaia has come back into balance. this is the way of gloomy bear.

Here’s a clip from a BBC program called “Japanorama”. It’s an interview with Gloomy Bear creator Mori Chack.

 

Apologize, by OneRepublic

Okay, so this has nothing to do with Asia but then again maybe it does.  I just like the music.  Are you with me?

No April Fools.  Remember, it’s never too late to apologize. Here we go.

Official video of Timbaland feat. One Republic – Apologize
Mosley Music Group / Interscope Records / UMG © 2007
Enjoy Lyrics:

‘m holding on your rope,
Got me ten feet off the ground
And I’m hearing what you say but I just can’t make a sound
You tell me that you need me
Then you go and cut me down, but wait
You tell me that you’re sorry
Didn’t think I’d turn around, and say… That it’s too late to apologize, it’s too late
I said it’s too late to apologize, it’s too lateI’d take another chance, take a fall
Take a shot for you
And I need you like a heart needs a beat
But it’s nothing new – yeah yeah

I loved you with the fire red
Now it’s turning blue, and you say…
“Sorry” like the angel heaven let me think was you
But I’m afraid…

It’s too late to apologize, it’s too late
I said it’s too late to apologize, it’s too late whoa…..

It’s too late to apologize, it’s too late
I said it’s too late to apologize, it’s too late
I said it’s too late to apologize, yeah
I said it’s too late to apologize, yeah
I’m holding on your rope, got me ten feet off the ground…

Obama Speaks Language of Obama, Japan

Here’s a speech for the folks in Obama, Japan.  They know a winner when they see one.  Barack may not speak Japanese, but they know what he’s saying.  Barracuda Obama.  Gambatte, kudasai!

 

In Memory of the 2-28 Incident in Taiwan

Today is a day of memorials in Taiwan.  The 2-28 Incident was a brutal massacre that took place on February 28, 1947 in the city of Taipei. On February 27th, a Monopoly Bureau agent tried to confiscate cigarettes from a female cigarette vendor who refused to surrender them.  The woman was roughed up by the agent who then fired a warning shot that strayed and killed an innocent bystander.  The next day, word had spread and riots broke out, which ultimately lead to the slaughter of thousands of native Taiwanese, who were agitated by the corruptness of Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang administration which had fled from Mao Tse-tung and the communists on mainland China.  This was Taiwan’s equivalent of the Tian’An Men Square Massacre that happened 42 years after 2-28.

A great film that deals with the 2-28 Incident and the reign of White Terror that took place between May 1949 and July 1987, when martial law had been declared and lifted, is “City of Sadness” by Taiwan film director Hou Hsiao-hsien.  It’s an amazing film.

Cute Power: Mozzarella Moofia and the Cactus Pups

Italian interpretation of Japanese pop culture is on display at www.tokidoki.it.  Simone Legno is an artist from Rome, Italy who has come up with some interesting characters.  His Mozzarella Moofia and Cactus Pups characters are an example of a bizarre combination of Japanese cute and real world angst.  This might be the best way to combat the Mafia.  Shower them with cuteness. 

Xin Nian Kuai Le! Or Happy Lunar New Year!

Today is the first day of the lunar new year and people all over Asia, especially in China, are celebrating.  I hope this day is auspicious for you and that the Year of the Rat brings everyone peace and prosperity.

Okinawa Video with Music from Begin

There is no place quite like Okinawa, Japan.  Hope you enjoy the video.  Hai Sai!