It was a windy day.

It was a windy day.
Originally uploaded by nofrills

Via Flickr:
Three continuous shots. View large.

Photo taken on 3rd April, 2010.
Tokyo, Japan

Boris - Rainbow

Boris - Rainbow
Originally uploaded by nofrills

Club Quattro, Shibuya, Tokyo.
21 September 2009

Setlist (if I remember correctly):
Tokyo Wonderland
Luna
Statement
My Neighbor Satan
Missing Pieces
Rainbow
Pink
Korosu
Ka Re Ha Te Ta Sa Ki
Feedbacker
Akirame Flower

Boris is a Tokyo-based rock-music group:
www.inoxia-rec.com/boris/
www.myspace.com/borisdronevil
www.last.fm/music/Boris/
... and I'm their lyrics translator. (To those who have said Boris' lyrics were mis-translated: NO. I spend a lot of time on their translation, talking with them in person to make sure what they really want to convey. Basically their lyrics do not make much "sense" - the Japanese poetry is not the same with the English poetry. And to those who are asking for the lyrics, BUY THEIR F***ING CDs from Southern Lord.)

Jim Jarmusch asked them to let him use their music for his film "the Limits of Control":
www.imdb.com/title/tt1135092/
nofrills.seesaa.net/article/128351557.html (my blog, in Japanese)

*Sorry, this image is not Creative-Commons-Licensed.

Jimi stencil

jimi stencil
Originally uploaded by nofrills

Mr Kenji Nagai in Iraq

Mr Kenji Nagai in Iraq
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

Off TV screen. Collage. See notes after clicking on the picture. Archive footages of Mr Nagai's reports from Iraq. These are what he's been doing.

About Mr Kenji Nagai:
www.flickr.com/photos/nofrills/1451789581/

--
ALSO read an excellent AFP article on 28 September 2007:
www.abs-cbnnews.com/story_page/tabid/55/cat/world/news/36...

QUOTE:
Slain Japanese journalist passionate for world hotspots
Agence France Presse

... With a shaggy head of hair and professorial glasses, Nagai was employed by APF News, a small agency based in Tokyo that specialises in reports from countries where most Japanese television networks dare not tread.

Nagai's motto was "someone's got to visit places that no one else will," said Toru Yamaji, the president and founder of APF News.

Photographs published in Japanese newspapers Friday showed Nagai shaking hands with the top brass of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas at their Syrian base and sitting for a haircut in Amman on his way into Iraq.

Hailing from a quiet town in Shikoku, the smallest of Japan's four main islands, Nagai went to the United States to learn English after university and then started roaming the world, first as a writer and then with video cameras.

...

Nagai was in Bangkok on a separate assignment when Yamaji called him. He jumped at the chance to go to Myanmar and arrived Tuesday, with at least one of his reports already broadcast on Japanese television.

Nagai felt a passion inside him to cover humanitarian suffering, his colleagues said.

Jiro Ishimaru, the chief editor of Asia Press International, a Tokyo-based cooperative of Asian photo and video journalists, said he first met Yamaji [sic] five years ago at the border between China and North Korea.

Nagai, who also produced documentary films, spent extended stretches of time with North Koreans who risked their lives by defecting from the secretive state, Ishimaru said.

"He was interviewing them very closely and carefully, taking substantial time," Ishimaru told Agence France Presse.

"He was the type of a journalist who went to places that no one goes to, like some forbidden areas of North Korea where he had to go secretly," he said.

"He was a rather quiet type and was very well received by his interviewees. I think he was driven by his desire to do something that others aren't doing."

While much of mainstream Japanese media stay away from combat zones, a small group of Japanese independent journalists is famed for heading on tough assignments.

Two Japanese freelance journalists, Shinsuke Hashida and Kotaro Ogawa, were killed in Iraq in 2004 when their car was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.

Nagai's father, Hideo Nagai, expressed outrage at his son's death.

"I want to say to those responsible in Myanmar, its government, that they cannot do something so outrageous," he said. "I don't want to see anything like this ever happen again."

THE HOTTEST EVER (16 Aug 2007)

THE HOTTEST EVER (16 Aug 2007)
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

Thursday 16 August 2007 was the hottest day in history (as far as it's recorded) for Japan. In Kumagaya City, Saitama Prefecture, and Tajimi City, Gifu Prefecture, the temperature rose to 40.9 degrees celcius, which is the highest record.

This morning (17 August 2007), it's not too bad, the sky is covered with cloud and there is no direct sunshine, which means less heat, but my thermometer tells it's already 30 degrees at 6 o'clock in the morning. It will be around 34 degrees in Tokyo today. This is "very hot", but seems okay after yesterday... it was officially 36.5 degrees.

An AP news story:
Japan Swelters in Record Heat Wave
Thursday August 16, 2007 1:16 PM
www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6854061,00.html

You can view the weather and temperature database below:
www.weather-eye.com/weatherchart/src/0708_47662.htm
* It's in Japanese, but there should be no problem as it's basically in numbers and pictogram. Numbers in red are the maximum temperartures, and numbers in blue the minimum. You see what is the problem with the Japanese summer: it's very hot even at night (because of the humidity).

Hiroshima, the 6th August - TV screen (15)

Hiroshima, the 6th August - TV screen (15)
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

Voices of American people. See notes by clicking on the picture.

-- TV screen, The TBS's News23, 6th August 2007.

Hiroshima, the 6th August - TV screen (14)

Hiroshima, the 6th August - TV screen (14)
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

The programme shows History textbooks used in American high schools.

See notes for details. I'm not going to express my opinions here. The notes are just translations of the captions and what the reporter pointed out.

-- TV screen, The TBS's News23, 6th August 2007.

--
Click on the picture and read comments.

Hiroshima, the 6th August - TV screen (13)

Hiroshima, the 6th August - TV screen (13)
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

Right after the Oppenheimer's quote, the news programme went onto Tonight's Special -- How the A-bomb is taught in the USA and how it is changing.

See notes for details.

-- TV screen, The TBS's News23, 6th August 2007.

--
BBC's report on the YouTube BBC World channel:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5k3keyGbn8

the 6th August 2007 TV news mosaic

the 6th August 2007 TV news mosaic
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

1. Hiroshima, the 6th August - TV screen (2), 2. Hiroshima, the 6th August - TV screen (6), 3. Hiroshima, the 6th August - TV screen (7), 4. Hiroshima, the 6th August - TV screen (4), 5. Hiroshima, the 6th August - TV screen (9), 6. Hiroshima, the 6th August - TV screen (3), 7. Hiroshima, the 6th August - TV screen (8), 8. Hiroshima, the 6th August - TV screen (5), 9. Hiroshima, the 6th August - TV screen (1)

Created with fd's Flickr Toys for my blog.

--
BBC's report on the YouTube BBC World channel:
youtube.com/watch?v=j5k3keyGbn8

[UPDATE]
I posted this mosaic over at the nocommentnews.com/view.php?id=1523, with a caption below:
On the bright and beautiful morning of 6th August 1945, 62 years ago, the city of Hiroshima was visited by Enola Gay and the Little Boy. The first-ever atomic bomb has since killed 253,008 people.

The survivors, who are getting old and many of whom have suffered cancer and other radiation-caused illnesses, tell their stories to younger generations. This should never happen again anywhere on the earth.

night (the speed of light)

night (the speed of light)
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

Collage of two pictures - with a car passing and without.

Nagasaki city mayor shot

Nagasaki city mayor shot
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

The mayor of Nagasaki City was shot just before 20:00, Tuesday 17 April 2007, just outside of (or at the door of) his election campaign office. He was shot from the back. He was taken to Nagasaki University Hospital and he is in critical condition - cardio-respiratory arrest (心肺停止).
www.nagasaki-np.co.jp/press/gougai/20070417/01.pdf

This pic is a TV screen collage. The NHK's Nagasaki office is very near (like 300 metres) to the shooting scene, and so the they were at the scene before the ambulance crew took the victim to hospital.

Row 1, left: Paramedics, police and crowd
Row 1, right: Crowd (passers-by) and the police
Row 2, left: Ambulance and the TV crew
Row 2, right: Ambulance
Row 3, left: The victim, Mayor of Nagasaki City, Mr Iccho Ito (伊藤一長) speaking to the public last Sunday.
Row 3, right: One witness, who happened to be near the scene.

The mayor, Mr Ito, has been strongly against nuclear arms -- Nagasaki is one of the two cities that were A-bombed in 1945, the other being Hiroshima.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Na...

The mayor's speeches, the Peace Declaration, on the A-bomb anniversary every year (9th August) have been translated into English. I did a quick search on the web and found some:
www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=6155
www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0809-03.htm
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4133572.stm
findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0XPQ/is_2002_August_12/ai...

The press says the gunman, who was arrested at the scene, is a member of the largest criminal gang (暴力団, or yakuza).

Mr Ito was born in Nagasaki in 1945 (the year the city was A-bombed). He has been the mayor of the city since 1999. The city has an election next Sunday and he runs for the forth term.
headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20070417-00000096-mai-soci

The city of Nagasaki has public bidding problems/scandals and the gunman tells the police that it was the reason.
www.chugoku-np.co.jp/News/Sp200704170369.html

But I am not fully convinced -- in 1990, Mr Motojima, mayor of Nagasaki at the time, was shot and wounded after he exprpessed his views on the war and the Emperor Hirohito. Though he was a conservative politician, he said the Emperor had the responsibility. (My translation here is very rough, so please check a more reliable source if you really want to know about this.) Anyway I know little about Nagasaki City and don't know what exactly is going on.

[UPDATE]
For news articles in English:
news.google.co.uk/news?ned=uk&ncl=1115453030&hl=e...

According to the Jiji.com news, the mayor is almost braindead. He was shot twice from the back, and the two bullets tore his heart, which means he was shot at close range.
headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20070418-00000014-jij-soci

[UPDATE 2]
He was declared dead at 02:28 (JST), 18 April 2007. 合掌.

When the wind stops

When the wind stops
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

Fun collage. view large.

Orangey Sakura Dream

Orangey Sakura Dream
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

Collage - messed around with the software called JTrim.

Street view

Street view
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

Look right, and look left.
01 April 2007, Tokyo, Japan.

Next week ...

Next week ...
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

The "Next Week on Rock Fujiyama ..." part from the ending. I took and uploaded these pictures to show our "daily" language.

Picture 1:
The katakana phrase, ゲスト：ポール・ギルバート, reads [ge-su-to: po-o-ru gi-ru-ba-a-to], and means "Guest: Paul Gilbert". Simple.

Picture 2:
The phrase ポール師匠が弾きまくる is a bit slangish. It's "The Great Master Paul has a go on his guitar" or something.

師匠 is a very formal word meaning "guru, mentor, great master" and Mr Gilbert must be a guitar genius (I don't know much about him), but as a slang, we use this word to be funny and to be somewhat formal at the same time. I think in this case, they are showing respect in a friendly and funny way.

～まくる (to be precise, it's ～しまくる) is not formal at all, and I don't know how I can put it in English. Consult a dictionary.

Picture 3:
"BIG-DETH 再結成" is "Big-Deth Reunion!" with the Big-Deth here being Paul Gilbert from the Big something (I really don't remember, what was it?) and Marty Friedman from the Megadeth.

再結成 is 再+結成, just like reunion is re+union, and means the same.

Picture 4:
To explain "ギターバトルだよ　全員集合！ (Guitar Battle, Everyone!)", I have to mention some pop-culture history.

In the 1970s and 1980s, almost all the children watched a TV comedy/variety show called "８時だよ　全員集合！ (It's Eight O'Clock! Come On Everybody)" on Saturday night. The show was hosted by the Drifters, the famous Japanese comedy team of five, led by いかりや長介 (Chosuke Ikaruya), who sadly died three years ago. It was a comedy show, a bit like Monty Python for the kids and Saturday Night Live blended together and made Japanese. They had a 15-minute comedy sketch, had various guests like pop stars and singers, and everything in the show was funny, comical and crazy - not so crazy as the Monty Python, though.

For all the craziness, it was the most popular TV programme among the children (including me) and the biggest annoyance for the parents. (I know my parents were amused to watch the show, though they would say "This programme is bad"!)

So, the name of the show has been remembered even long after the show itself is gone. It's part of our culture. Thus, there are a lot of use of the phrase "～だよ　全員集合" in our pop-culture. In other words, this is a "common language" among people who are now in their thirties and early forties. Sometimes we still use Mr Ikariya's trademark phrase おい～っす (meaning "hello"), unconsciously, between close friends and no one thinks it strange. It's so natural, a part of our generation.

Clever people know this too. Recently, the Kirin Beer used the "image" of the show in their 淡麗グリーン (Tanrei Green) advert. The music in the advert is from the 全員集合 show, and the five guys remind people of the Drifters - the tall boss, quiet one, fat one, funny one and silly one, with the "silly" doing あいーん, which is a trademark soundbite of the comedian 志村けん (Shimura Ken), the youngest of the Drifters.

The Drifters were originally a music band, as the name tells. They supported the Beatles when they came to Japan in 1966. They were a "comic band", though I was born too late to see them play music. Later they became a team of comedians, and one of them, 荒井注, quit in the 1970s (?), being replaced by Shimura.

And now, 志村けん is one of the most famous comedians in Japan. Another ex-Drifters member 加藤茶 (Kato Cha, meaning Kato the Tea: the funny) is also a top comedian. Other members, 仲本工事 (Nakamoto Koji, meaning Nakamoto the Construction/Repairs: the quiet) and 高木ブー (Takagi Boo: the fatty), seem to be retired from our comedy scene. Takagi Boo is a famous Hawaiian music player and has his own Hawaiian restaurant in Tokyo.

The late leader いかりや長介 (Chosuke Ikaruya) turned a serious actor in his later life, appearing in a lot of TV dramas and feature films. Just two or three years before his death, he appeard in a Kirin beer advert, playing the bass - it was my first time to see him as a musician.

By the way, later in my life I was interested in classic comedy films - Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy and so on, and found how the Drifters had been influenced by these great comedians. Their most remarkable influence was, I think, the Marx Brothers. When I saw the famous "mirror" scene in the Duck Soup, it was like "Ah, THAT was THIS!"

ROCK FUJIYAMA:
www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/fujiyama/

About this show (my description):
flickr.com/photos/nofrills/399643975/

At the end of the show

At the end of the show
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

The end of the show. They are just talking as usual - "It was a lot of fun" and so on. Here goes Marty saying (in Japanese) "楽しいじゃん、もう" (I don't think I can translate the feeling, but it's "It was a lot of fun, you know"), "セットチェンジの時に、和田さんと２人ですごい色々な曲にハマっちゃったんだよ" (translates: "During they changed the studio sets, me and Wada just had too much fun, you know, couldn't stop playing this song, that song, one after another.")

He added "だから結構スタッフには迷惑だったんだけどね (It was pretty much annoying for the guys removing the back drops)." But they kept on playing, I suppose.

Marty's Japanese is perfect, it's as natual as we (native speakers) talk every day. But some of the expressions he uses, you may not find in the textbooks because it's very informal, everyday kind of spoken Japanese. Some people might want to call expressions like 「～じゃん」 and 「ハマる」 "slang".

「～じゃん」 is mainly used in Tokyo and surrounding area, and is something like "innit" and "you know" in English.

「ハマる」 was introduced to our daily vocaburary around 1985 or 1990, if I remember correctly, and it means "get addicted, can't stop" because it's fun.

In other cases, like 薬物にハマる or ギャンブルにハマる, the word means "to keep doing bad things while one knows it's bad". In kanji, it's 嵌まる, "to be put into a hole and can't get out."

About this show (my description):
flickr.com/photos/nofrills/399643975/

ROCK FUJIYAMA:
www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/fujiyama/

Can you guess this song in katakana?

Can you guess this song in katakana?
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

The funniest part of the show is "Studio Jirifu スタジオ・ジリフ". The name is a parody of the name of the worldly famous animation studio of course. Jifiru is 字リフ in Japanese - 字 is "letters/characters", and リフ is "riff" (guitar riffs). They show "riffs" from three songs in katakana (without any music) and the Team Fujiyama and the guests compete how many songs they can recognise from these katakana-ised riffs. After they name a correct song, they do some air-guitar thingy on stage to the music. The winner gets a special golden skull. Very rock'n'roll.

Tonight, the first song was this (can you guess?), the second was Jimmy Page's famous riff in Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin) and the third was Black or White by Michael Jackson. These aren't so difficult, are they? But I'd put the Immigrant Song as ドッドドダドッド instead of ドッドダドドッド. Doesn't make much difference, though.

Once Marty explained (or complained) how it was difficult for a native English speaker to tell the song because the way we (Japanese) apply 字 is very different. This is only a fun quiz in a fun rock music show, but linguistically interesting.

The choice of the songs depends on the guests' favourite kind of music. The other day with a Japanese actor on the guest, progressive rock tunes were selected because the actor is a King Crimson enthusiast. (It was difficult!) Tonight's guests, the Triceratops, are in their thirties (Michael Jackson was the king when they were students), and rock musicians (familiar with rock classics like Jimi and Led Zep).

About this show (my description):
flickr.com/photos/nofrills/399643975/

ROCK FUJIYAMA:
www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/fujiyama/

Jacko's Album Art

Jacko's Album Art
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

It's Michael Jackson's Thriller on the quiz. Wada from the Triceratops was a huge fan of this album when he was a student, and has a good memory. Marty seems to have been ... well, he was a heavy metal headbanger at the time.

Marty is saying, in perfect Japanese, "英語書けないんだよ (I can't write English)" (the pic on the top: the subtitle is only attention-seeking, or highlighting; it's not a translation). A record collecter will find it amusing in the way of his representation - it's the Japanese press, with the obi (オビ) on the left.

About this show (my description):
flickr.com/photos/nofrills/399643975/

ROCK FUJIYAMA:
www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/fujiyama/

A late night TV show for rock music lovers

A late night TV show for rock music lovers
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

Rock Fujiyama is one of the most amusing late-night shows for rock music lovers. The show is hosted by Marty Friedman (ex-Megadeth), an MTV personality called Ayukai and a girl called Shelly. Rolly Teranisi, a well-known Japanese rock guitarlist/singer, and who once played Dr Frank N Furter in the musical Rocky Horror Show, appears each week as the "mad guitarist". Each week they have guests and have talks, do some sessions, and have funny Rock quiz competition.

Marty Friedman has been in Japan for several years, and he's very very fluent in Japanese. He speaks almost as natural as any Japanese native speaker. He sometimes appears on other shows - for example, an educational variety show called 英語でしゃべらナイト ([eigo de shabera naito], which translates like "Tonight we've got to go in English"), and Study English with our Juke Box, and talks about his experiences in Japan and in the Japanese language.

Marty also appears to be representing "metal", according to a Japanese iron and steel industry group.

The picture above is just before they go into a commercial break - the subtitle is for attention-seeking purposes only. (The show is in Japanese.) It reads "After the break, the most exciting live session you can imagine, with so many people on the stage!" Well, tonight's guests, the Triceratops, are a rock trio, and there's Marty, joined by Rolly, so it's five people on the small stage. Usually they have only one guest, and the stage is basically designed for three people.

The picture below is from the session; Marty on the left, the Triceratops' Wada in the middle, and Rolly (in his specially hand-made Gary Glitter jump suit) on the right. They played some "ever green" tunes including the Beatles (I don't remember which song - an early one).

ROCK FUJIYAMA:
www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/fujiyama/

The TESCO mosaic in Tokyo

The TESCO mosaic in Tokyo
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

1. Tesco
2. Tesco
3. Tesco
4. Tesco
5. Tesco
6. Tesco

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.