Taiga's A Star!

Quickly wanted to post a link to our town's website which has some pics of Taiga performing at his pre-school play:

http://www.town.kamisunagawa.hokkaido.jp/topicpage13_11.html#top

Taiga sang in Japanese, danced, and also acted in a Japanese rendition of Cinderella - way to go Taiga, you're on your way to Hollywood.

Ryuichi Sakamoto - Playing the Piano

Last week we took in another concert in the "big city" of Sapporo; we had the luck to get tickets to see Ryuichi Sakamoto.  Not sure if many outside of Japan will know his name, but he is a bonafide international music star in his own right.  He has worked alongside many international artists, though probably for the casual music listener the one chance you may know him from is a movie he did with David Bowie entitled "Merry Christmas Mr.Lawrence".

Here's the movie trailer if you wanted to jog your memory:

Not only did Sakamoto act alongside Bowie, but he also did the main soundtrack for the film and the title track is probably his most famous piece.  There's an instrumental version and also a version released as a single with lyrics sung by David Sylvian (another famous singer who most people should know, but don't!) entitled Forbidden Colours.

The music video may be dated and the acting in the movie itself a bit stilted, the piece ranks up there as one of my favourites.

The concert itself was good, but I think the first 15 minutes may have caught some listeners by surprised as Sakamoto spent the time banging his piano with mallets and various other things making noises that you usually wouldn't make with a piano.  Although I am open to mostly anything, have to admit it was too "artsy" for my liking; thankfully he spent the remainder of the concert playing more traditional pieces in a traditional way!  Anyways, it was good to see another concert and to see an artist who I have been listening to for some time.

As an aside, Sakamoto is probably one of the more vocal and famous Japanese celebrities who is part of the anti-nuclear movement here.  He has frequently attended rallies and spoke at them.  This month TEPCO, the company who is in charge of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, is scheduled to start removing used nuclear fuel which is located in the used fuel pool at Number 4 - here's hoping it goes off without a hitch.  It has been garnering a lot of international attention, even from famous Japanese-Canadian David Suzuki has rang in:

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/11/04/david-suzuki-fukushima-warning_n_4213061.html

For those who know me, you already know some of my stance on the issue.  I won't go into it right now.  I am surprised that my work peers have yet to mentioned anything about the nuclear issue - I guess life goes on.  Here's hoping it does!!!!

Happy Halloween from Hokkaido

This past weekend we celebrated Halloween in Japanese style.  The neighbouring town of Sunagawa is known for its farming and they grow many North American pumpkins.  The town annually puts on a Halloween event where they decorate pumpkins and put them around town.  The local foreign English teachers also participate and interact with the children and have fun.  The event tried to recreate "real" North American Halloween by having local stores give out candy; all the kids had the opportunity to make their own costume and walk around town and get treats.  Taiga bought his costume ahead a time; this year he decide to be his favourite superhero Ultraman!

Taiga's first big climb - 黄金山 (Mt.Kogane - 740 meters)

Taiga climbed his first "real" mountain this month.  He was a real trouper from beginning to end and he didn't complain once.  The hike was about two hours up and just over an over back down.  The terrain at the top was a little hairy and steep, but we made it back all in one piece.  It felt good to go soak in the onsen (hot springs) at the end of our journey.

On the way up we ran into a few groups coming down from the mountain and they were sincerely surprised when they saw young Taiga passing them on their way up.  One man was so impressed that he took out a big Snickers chocolate bar and gave it to Taiga; thankfully, Taiga was feeling generous and gave his tired Papa a big bite! 

Yep Taiga, to think you were on the top of that mountain!

The mountain is commonly referred to as Hokkaido's Fuji-san because of it resemblance.  

But I was told this mountain is not a volcano.

Busy October; to think it's almost November.

It's hard to believe that October is almost done. The leaves are still hanging on, but I think most parts of Hokkaido will be without colour after this weekend, at least until the white stuff shows itself.  The highlight of our month was Taiga being able to visit with his cousin; Naoko's youngest brother and his family spent a weekend with us.  Taiga and Lilyka played together as if they were best friends; nice to see them get along so well.

Every time we get the chance to visit the sea or oceanside, I can't help but wish to have had the chance to live near water.  I love our small town of Kamisunagawa, but it always feels great to get out of the inland and see the great expanse of the sea.

A view of the city of Otaru from Mount Tengu 

Otaru Canal

Concert: Yoshida Kyodai

Last night we drove into Sapporo to take in a concert to see Yoshida-Kyodai (Brothers), who are originally from Hokkaido themselves and are very well known all throughout Japan.  They are unique in that their choice of instrument is the shamisen - a traditional three stringed "guitar".  When they perform there's a lot of interplay back and forth, think of it as almost the american equivalent of "dueling banjos".

Click below to see a performance and get a little taste of Yoshida-Kyodai

The duo are known for doing both traditional tunes as well as doing modern renditions and new pieces of their own.  Here's a take on Radiohead's "National Anthem":

I was surprised last night was a fairly, umm geriatric crowd.   I thought there would be a greater mix of ages given their popularity. Regardless, the crowd still rocked out and gave the crew a good response - though, they seemed more receptive when the duo were doing their more traditional themes.  Taiga was by far the youngest and there appeared to be no other school children in the hall.  All the nice senior ladies around us commented on how well behaved Taiga was afterwards.  

Hopefully they'll be some other good acts that will come through Hokkaido; we just bought tickets to see Ryuichi Sakamoto in November - I will do a blog post on him once we see him, but he's basically a more classically trained Japanese version of David Bowie.  In fact, David and Ryuichi starred in a film together entitled "Merry Christmas Mr.Lawrence".  Anyways, shall discuss Ryuichi at a later date; he's someone who I am very excited to see!

Ultraman pays a visit to Hokkaido

Taiga's "U-RU-TO-RA-MAN" Collection

So Taiga was one happy camper this past weekend as he saw a live action performance of his favourite super hero Ultraman. The character has been around for almost fifty years and recently was inducted into the Guinness Book records for having the most spin-offs of any other television series - with the current Ultraman Ginga, it is currently on it's 27th spin off.  He is not well known like his other rubber friend Godzilla, but in Japan he definitely holds as much, if not more popularity - Eiji Tsubaraya created both rubber based series.   So if you're a fan of Godzilla and are into rubber monsters then Ultraman will definitely be your man - he will not disappoint!

Check out the official website: Ultraman Live Link - scroll down to September 29, 2013 to see two happy fans!  Also the entry on the link dated September 30th has a bunch of pictures that were drawn by children and sent to Ultraman, Taiga's was selected to be shown on the site - his is the fourth one down.

Taiga star-strucked shaking Ultraman Cosmos' hand!

Picking apples and making apple pie.   

                                         

Here's some pics of Taiga participating in an event that was held in the neighbouring town of Sunagawa where he got to pick some apples and then make some apple pie with the "fruits" of his labour.