images 1923, The Great Kanto Earthquake

new image site from the University of Hawaii at Manoa Library:
http://digicoll.manoa.hawaii.edu/earthquake/

The Great Kanto Earthquake Japan of 1923 provides access to 199 images from a historical album of still photos captured destruction by the deadliest
earthquake occurred on September 1st, 1923. The project was funded by the UHM Library and the National Research Center, East Asia Grant (NRC-EA).

Two years on: this 5 minute youtube video includes many comments by local people (with subtitles).

Cross linking from full article, http://japanfocus.org/events/view/177

LINK, http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vhm_mpXTQKE

Context: Dr David McNeill is the Japan correspondent for The Chronicle of Higher Education and writes for The Independent and Irish Times newspapers. He covered the nuclear disaster for all three publications, has been to Fukushima ten times since 11 March 2011, and has written the book Strong in the Rain (with Lucy Birmingham) about the disasters. He is an Asia-Pacific Journal coordinator.

online "Saving 10,000 lives" at YouTube

On March 6, 2013 the director, Dr. Rene Duignan, presented his 51 minute movie about the high rate of suicide in Japan to members of the news media & the National Diet. He documents the problem, the causes, the solutions, and the social consequences. Mental health professionals, researchers, teachers, friends and family members may benefit from this open discussion of a difficult topic.

http://tinyurl.com/saving10000 [full movie just uploaded], http://www.saving10000.com [website, including trailer for movie]

2013/02/15

info-graphics project 2010

Student project (about 11 minutes), "Japan: The Strange Country"

https://vimeo.com/9873910#embed [video description, below]

 

This visual medium is effective for showing statistics and simplifying complicated subjects.

WARNING: topic 7 (Love Hotels) and 8 (Suicide rates) would not be suitable for young learners.

But for older students and colleagues, friends and so on, this online project is worth browsing and discussing.

_________________________

 from the video page,

This is my final thesis project. I created info-graphic, motion piece. My objective is to make Japanese people to think about that everything happening here in Japan, isn't that normal. So I created this video from foreigner's point of view, rather than Japanese people's point of view.

     Both English and Japanese versions are available.
     By the way, please don't call me racist, because I am one of short, small eyes Japanese.

2013/01/22

website, 400 years of British - Japanese relations

cross-posted from H-Japan at www.h-net.org

2013 marks the 400th anniversary of Japan-British relations. King James l sent Tokugawa Ieyasu and Hidetada presents and a letter, which were
received in September, 1613. The letter survives in Tokyo University.
Ieyasu received a telescope - the first ever sent to Asia - and Hidetada a precious cup and cover. The Shogun reciprocated with two suits of armour
(which are extant), and Ieyasu gave five pairs of gold screens (lost) and a shuuinjo, which survives in Oxford University. A vast number of events is planned for 2013, including a major show at the British Museum which will open 400 to the day after the date of the shuuinjo. We aim for '400 connections for 400 years', 

http://www.japan400.com

2012/12/17

rock song of USA, Japan cliches

Here is a highly polished, context-free, series of icons and stereotypes presented in the form of a music video from USA expat in Japan, A. York.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcAscMMScc4

The presentation includes a playful, self-aware, ironic or parodic dimension.

But as an example of a Cultural Production, it is heavily laden with popular, commercial or commoditized meanings.

2012/12/05

practice listening to Japanese

[keep up with live, spoken Japanese] nice short podcasts of interviews on business and other topics: http://www.nhk.or.jp/r-asa/

2012/11/14

teaching the 3.11 triple disaster of N.E. Japan 2011

http://icc.fla.sophia.ac.jp/html/events/2012-2013/Teaching_3.11_syllabi.html

 [page description] ...syllabi that were presented at our workshop (which can also be downloaded as a compiled pdf document as well as syllabi that other individuals have kindly sent in. Below the list of syllabi you will also find a list of other relevant sources and links. If you would like to have your syllabi, blog, or other resource listed on this webpage please email us [diricc(at)sophia.ac.jp].

2012/08/11

scenes from Kansai (Sakai-city) and Fukui-ken

Students of Japanese may be curious to see how far their knowledge of kanji goes when it comes to Simplified Chinese in the slideshows gathered together about Chinese language (below). And they may like to see the photo sets from Japan, too:

a) Posted signboards all around the International Youth Hostel near KIX

b) Other examples of Japanese "in the wild" that I viewed around Sakai-city and also Fukui-ken

Here are the photos overall, http://bit.ly/echizen2012

Photos by theme/topic are grouped at http://www.slideshare.net/anthroview/presentations

The China photos (mostly around Urumqi, but also some from the silk road town of Turpan; also from up north: Altay prefecture)

are online at http://bit.ly/altay2012xuar

And the photos by theme/topic are also at http://www.slideshare.net/anthroview/slideshelf

2012/07/29

Five short summer videos - Fukui-ken

Five short video segments of the land, language and look of things middle July in Fukui-ken.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/7661305558/in/photostreamJuly 2012 at Kono-mura on the Fukui-ken coast of the Japan sea. This was Wednesday, but the summer weekends are flooded with people on beaches, roads and water. The two women searching the rocks (speaking something other than Japanese) appear to be poaching 'sazae' -not good for the ecosystem.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/7658524106/in/photostreamValleypanorama of Japan's main island west coast, Fukui-ken (July 15). Note the land use patterns: neat rice paddy irrigation system, electrical power cables, Hino River levy, homes concentrated to maximize productive spaces.

Buddhist temple bell ringing, http://youtu.be/MVS4JFWXtzUThe 7 a.m. bell at Daihou-ji, a Jodo (Pure Land) Buddhist temple, in Echizen-city, Fukui-ken in July 2012. In Japanese: includes lesson on how to achieve maximum sound when striking the bronze bell. Since nearly all such metals were melted for the Pacific War effort, this present bell dates to post-1945. Note the deep reverberation that follows the ringing.

1 minute 38 seconds

Buddhist temple interior, Jodo sect, http://youtu.be/Vi3d60gMuUYTour of hondo (main hall, 1858) of Daihou-ji in Echizen-city, Fukui-ken in July 2012. Mostly in Japanese.

6 minutes 09 seconds

Train line to Kyoto from 25 km north, http://youtu.be/hagj3YgCfREShort train window video segments on the JR West line into Kyoto from the north, along the west shore of Lake Biwa in Shiga prefecture in middle July 2012.

2 minutes 38 seconds

2012/07/28

video segments - July in Fukui prefecture

Five short video segments of the land, language and look of things middle July in Fukui-ken.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/7661305558/in/photostream

July 2012 at Kono-mura on the Fukui-ken coast of the Japan sea. This was Wednesday, but the summer weekends are flooded with people on beaches, roads and water. The two women searching the rocks (speaking something other than Japanese) appear to be poaching 'sazae' -not good for the ecosystem.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/7658524106/in/photostream

Valley panorama of Japan's main island west coast, Fukui-ken (July 15). Note the land use patterns: neat rice paddy irrigation system, electrical power cables, Hino River levy, homes concentrated to maximize productive spaces.

Buddhist temple bell ringing, http://youtu.be/MVS4JFWXtzU

The 7 a.m. bell at Daihou-ji, a Jodo (Pure Land) Buddhist temple, in Echizen-city, Fukui-ken in July 2012. In Japanese: includes lesson on how to achieve maximum sound when striking the bronze bell. Since nearly all such metals were melted for the Pacific War effort, this present bell dates to post-1945. Note the deep reverberation that follows the ringing.

1 minutes 38 seconds

Buddhist temple interior, Jodo sect, http://youtu.be/Vi3d60gMuUY

Tour of hondo (main hall, 1858) of Daihou-ji in Echizen-city, Fukui-ken in July 2012. Mostly in Japanese.

6 minutes 09 seconds

train line to Kyoto from 25 km north, http://youtu.be/hagj3YgCfRE

Short train window video segments on the JR West line into Kyoto from the north, along the west shore of Lake Biwa in Shiga prefecture in middle July 2012.

2 minutes 38 seconds

2012/05/30

young people in Japan 2012

cross-posting from Japan Foundation newsletter:

LIGHT UP NIPPON: Introducing Young People's Challenge to Energize the

Devastated Areas in Tohoku Region through Fireworks

The Japan Foundation produced a documentary film that featured challenges by the
young Japanese people supporting Tohoku's recovery for the purpose of presenting
a vivid image of today's young generation in Japan.

http://www.jpf.go.jp/e/culture/commonness/lightup-nippon/index.html

2012/05/27

conversion from Chinese characters to several E.Asian readings

http://www.cojak.org/ gives the Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Japanese, both onyomi and kunyumi, for nearly all characters according to today's electronic list for Korean Studies

2012/04/17

Yiddish-Japanese dictionary story

For Japanese Linguist, A Long And Lonely Schlep

by LUCY CRAFT

http://www.npr.org/2012/04/16/150723840/for-japanese-linguist-a-long-and-lonely-schlep

A smattering of Yiddish words has crept into the American vernacular: Non-Jews go for a nosh or schmooze over cocktails. Yet the language itself, once spoken by millions of Jews, is now in retreat...

2012/03/05

one year anniversary 3.11 disasters

:: Set of articles at japanfocus.org

Christopher S. Thompson,

The Great East Japan Earthquake One Year on: Reports From The Field. Introduction

William W. Kelly, NormalizationTohoku's Futures: Predicting Outcomes or Imagining Possibilities?

Alyne Elizabeth Delaney,

A Report from One Miyagi Fishing Community

Dawn Grimes-MacLellan,

Students in the field at the site of the Great East Japan Earthquake

Christopher S. Thompson,

Local Perspectives On the Tsunami Disaster: Untold Stories From the Sanriku Coast

David McNeill,

The Fukushima Nuclear Crisis and the Fight for Compensation

Sakurai Kunitoshi,

The Henoko Assessment Does Not Pass

Andrew DeWit,

Japan, the Pentagon, and the Future of Renewable Energy: Battle Lines Form

John O'Brian,

On hiroshima: Photographer Ishiuchi Miyako and John O'Brian in Conversation

:: Several related events:

1. STS (Science and Technology Studies) Forum on Fukushima,http://fukushimaforum.wordpress.com/conferences

2. Tohoku Tsunami debris flow animation‏, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17122155

3. photos 11 months on, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2099811/Eleven-months-tsunami-earthquake-ravaged-Japan-new-pictures-incredible-progress-multi-billion-pound-clear-up.html

4. more pictures: Eleven months after the tsunami and earthquake ravaged Japan,http://www.newsweekjapan.jp/stories/world/2012/02/311-2.php

5. Symposium and art exhibition about the ongoing nuclear crisis in Japan.

The Fire that Doesn't Go Out, Exhibition Organizing Committee, Exhibition: March 1-30, The Fire that Doesn't Go Out will open on March 1st, 7:00 p.m., at The Baron Gallery in the East College Street Development, Oberlin. There will be a showing of Misato Yugi's video animation, Red Dot Radiation Art, with a live score by the Cleveland group, SINUU. On March 8, the Art Department will host talks by Ellen Johnson Visiting Artists, Yuichiro Nishizawa (at noon in the Baron Gallery) and elin o'Hara slavick (at 7:00 p.m. in Hallock Auditorium).

For a schedule of events and more information on the exhibit, please go to our blog at:http://unendingfire.tumblr.com,

The symposium, Fukushima: Lessons Learned?, will be held on March 9 and 10 in the Norman C. Craig Lecture Hall. The symposium will begin at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, March 9 with a memorial for the victims of the Tohoku disaster by Leading Edge Speaker, Akira Tashiro, the award-winning editor and reporter for the Hiroshima-based Chugoku Shimbun. This will be followed by a keynote address, Dilemmas of Nuclear Energy, delivered by Dr. Kennette Benedict (OC '69), publisher of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. After a break for dinner, the first panel, Compound Catastrophe and Nuclear Aftermath, will begin at 7:00 p.m.

Detailed information about the symposium schedule and speakers is online athttp://shansi.oberlin.edu/fukushima-lessons-learned.

2012/03/01

documentary, "Sushi - The Global Catch"

cross-posting from the e-list for East Asia Anthropology, EASIANTH

In this meticulously researched documentary, filmmaker Mark Hall traces the origins of sushi in Japan to its status today as a cuisine that has spawned a lucrative worldwide industry. This explosion in demand for sushi over the past 30 years has brought with it problems of its own, as fish stocks have steadily depleted, threatening the balance of the ocean's ecosystems.

Through extensive interviews with prominent industry representatives and environmental activists, Hall carefully presents the various solutions being proposed to the vexing issue of overfishing. Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 2011 Seattle International Film Festival, Sushi: The
Global Catch raises some pressing questions that all sushi lovers should seek to address.

See the trailer at http://vimeo.com/23332161 or learn more at http://kinolorberedu.com/film.php?id=1244

cf. investigative journalism TV at 60 Minutes (12 minute segment) on the Japanese blue fin tuna market & sushi ("The King of Sushi in Trouble"):

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4423723n&tag=contentBody;storyMediaBox

2012/02/12

latest textbooks, Beginning & Intermediate Japanese

The full announcement by Tuttle Publishing links to related media (workbook and so forth). Here you have the two textbooks.

The tables of Goals include chapter by chapter targets for kanji, culture, grammar and so on.

Tuttle is pleased to announce the availability of Intermediate Japanese: Your Pathway to Dynamic Language Acquisition. In this second book of a 3-volume series, authors Michael Kluemper and Lisa Berkson continue to teach Japanese through an engaging storyline that emphasizes real-life situations in contemporary Japanese culture and authentic written, visual and oral materials. By the end of this second book, students will have mastered a cumulative total of 300 kanji, well on the way to AP- and IB-level proficiency.

...To download the introduction to either textbook immediately, just click here for Beginning Japanese or here for Intermediate Japanese.

database of lesson plans, culture notes, etc

University of Pittsburgh announces a Teacher Portal. Search the Teaching Materials Database to download the lesson plans and culture notes, read the study tour blogs, and view and/or download photos in the Photo Gallery.

http://noborders.ucis.pitt.edu/nctalib/ 

2012/02/09

USA HighSchool Students - JET Memorial Invitation Program

Opportunity for US students in grade 11 or 12 who now study Japanese.
[forwarded from EASC at Indiana University]

JET Memorial Invitation Program (JET MIP) for High School Students

The JET MIP program provides 32 high school students with the opportunity to go to Japan for two weeks as a group to meet Japanese students, experience Japanese culture, and study the language. It was created in 2011 in memory of the two beloved American teachers of English who lost their lives in the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011: Taylor Anderson(Ishinomaki, Miyagi) and Montgomery Dickson (Rikuzen-Takata, Iwate). The program is open to 11^th and 12^th graders who are currently learning Japanese, and it seeks to honor the principles which Taylor and Monty valued during their lives.  For more information, please visit http://www.jflalc.org/jle-12-jet-mip.html. 

2011/11/08

sample news stories (English) from Asahi News - including the Fukushima disaster(s)

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/asia/china/AJ2011110716782

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ2011103116205

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ2011102415638

 

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201108055290

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ2011102515713

2011/11/03

(colonial days) pre 1945 Korea photos at Library of Congress

View this rich collection of pre-1945 Korea photos now available at the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs room. The images seem to come from a Japanese photographer, judging by the hand writing on the back of the images. While the collection has been recently catalogued at http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2010645655 the images have not been fully processed for routine viewing or online reference. So to seem them in person you must follow the special procedure there.

 

Those able to read the handwritten Japanese notes that appear on the back of many photos are particularly encouraged to give the meanings or reflect on the wider significance depicted.

There are three ways to engage these reference copy images:

A. Cursor rapidly through the 250 images (some duplicates; observe only; no Japanese) in this large file, http://bit.ly/loc-colonialkr-pdf  [about 14mb, hosted on google docs]

 

B. View paired pages: obverse shows 4-6 pictures, reverse shows the Japanese writing penciled on
http://pre1945korea.blogspot.com (blog platform allows viewers to write identifying information)
Each entry gives the option to download the 2 page PDF set for easy printout, too.
[hosted on blogger.com]

C. Bundle of all 27 paired (obverse/reverse) PDF sets in one file
http://tinyurl.com/bundle27pre1945kr
[about 14mb, hosted on sites.google.com]

2011/09/23

resources September 2011

via U.Colorado-Boulder newsletter:
 
Blogger in Japan. National Geographic's Digital Nomad touched down in Japan. Andrew Evans, the National Geographic Traveler's Contributing Editor and blogger who covers every corner of the world, landed in Japan for his three-week travel through the country. To follow his travel blogs, tweets, and videos, visit http://japantravelinfo.com/andrew/index.html.
 
"Japan" – includes a Google Earth tour

2011/08/18

protest culture 2011 (movie set in the year 1963) 'Kokurikozaka kara'

cross-posting from H-JAPAN on August 17, 2011 by Peter Cave @manchester.ac.uk
Subject: The Supposedly Docile Japanese Public and 'Kokurikozaka kara'
 
As a coda to this interesting discussion on 'the supposedly docile Japanese public', last Saturday I went to see the latest Studio Ghibli film, 'Kokurikozaka kara'. An NHK Special programme about the making of this film a week or two ago described it as a story about first love. It is that, but it's a lot more. It's a fascinating tale about high school students at a private Yokohama high school in 1963, who engage in lively debates and engage in constructive opposition to plans to demolish a historical building where they hold their bungei-bu activities. The film portrays their behaviour in an entirely favourable way. I have no idea whether it bears any resemblance to the reality of high school students in the early 1960s, or whether it's more Miyazaki Hayao's ideal of what they should have been (or a mixture of the two) - this is the time between Anpo and the Gakusei Funso of the late 60s, of course, so perhaps 1963 allows Miyazaki to subtly associate the story with that period and yet not directly link it to its most controversial episodes. For me, the film had a strong resonance with the current protests and debate over nuclear power, the implicit messages being, 'Think for yourself!' 'Don't just accept what the authorities do!' and 'Take action!' ...

2011/08/15

elementary school photo essay; Earthquake lessons

[via U. Colorado Teaching East Asia newsletter]

The Japan Forum. Yuta and Minami is a new webpage from the Japan Forum. It includes 43 annotated photos of the home life of two Japanese elementary students, Yuta and Minami Tanaka.  Through these photos, students can see and learn about contemporary Japanese children's daily lives including meals, school life, and hobbies. For more information, visit www.tjf.or.jp/shogakusei/yutaandminami/index_en.html.
 
Great East Japan Earthquake Link. Launched by The Japan Forum, this link features teacher resources for Japanese language as well as social studies teachers. In many Japanese classes at elementary, junior high, and senior high schools around the world, students are currently undertaking fundraising and other activities to help victims of the quake and tsunami. In this blog, The Japan Forum shares messages and ideas received from teachers participating in such projects with their students.  To view, click http://ameblo.jp/tjf2011/.

food in Japan - Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries

http://tachibanacenter.blogspot.com/2011/08/blog-post_14.html
 
a set of 28 minute-long videos (in English; a bit clunky but easy to understand)

2011/07/26

GIS?, The Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Archive on Google Earth

Even though this subject is a sad one, it can show how the many Internet services and sources can be creatively combined here.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
From: hidenori watanave <hwtnv ATsd.tmu.ac.jp>
The Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Archive on Google Earth
 
"Hiroshima Archive" that is a digital archive about the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb. http://hiroshima.mapping.jp/ 
 
"Hiroshima Archive" is a pluralistic digital archive using the digital
 virtual globe "Google Earth" to display on it in a multilayered way
 all the materials gained from such sources as the Hiroshima Peace
 Memorial Museum, the Hiroshima Jogakuin Gaines Association, and the
 Hachioji Hibakusha (A-bomb Survivors) Association. Beyond time and
 space, the user can get a panoramic view over Hiroshima to browse
 survivors' accounts, photos, maps, and other materials as of 1945,
 together with aerial photos, 3D topographical data, and building
 models as of 2010. The archive aims to promote multifaceted and
 comprehensive understanding of the reality of atomic bombing.
 
- You can also view a capture movie on YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-q00isamvs
- A description in English / Japanese, http://hiroshima.mapping.jp/concept.html
- Interface in English, http://hiroshima.mapping.jp/ge_en.html  (About 50 victim's stories are translated）
 
See also our other archives.
- The Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Archive, http://e.nagasaki.mapping.jp/ 
- The Japan Earthquake Archive, http://e.nagasaki.mapping.jp/p/japan-earthquake.html 
 
Best regards, Hidenori Watanave
Supervisor of Photon,Inc. and Associate professor, Graduate School of System Design, Tokyo Metropolitan University
 
http://www.photon01.co.jp/   http://labo.wtnv.jp/   http://twitter.com/hwtnv
 
1-5-4-905 Daiba,Minato-ku,Tokyo,Japan    +81-3-5531-2132 (TEL + FAX)

2011/07/18

video Japan appeal -A message from the residents of Fukushima

H-JAPAN (E) July 17, 2011

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zYjYtVrOro&feature=youtu.be  Here is a short YouTube appeal for help from a few of the residents about
 the safety of their children, with English subtitles. They are not panicking or sentimental, but they are afraid. (Also, see the related videos on the same page.)
 
Through the summer heat, while some pundits debate the relative severity of  the disaster and the politicos are still trying to make a plan, the residents of Fukushima are living with the threat of radiation that they do  not understand any better than the rest of us. And like a whole line of other residents, from Mayor Sakurai of Minami-Souma in the weeks after 3.11  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a78lgT6qavY), they are frustrated at the  lack of governmental support.

 

David H. Slater, Ph.D.   Faculty of Liberal Arts   Sophia University, Tokyo

2011/06/29

Univ. British Columbia, Canada: Tokugawa Maps digitized

H-JAPAN (E) June 29, 2011
....the entire "Japanese Maps of the Tokugawa Era" collection has now been digitized. All works are accessible via the database at
http://digitalcollections.library.ubc.ca/tokugawa/

.....the previously digitized flat maps in the collection. Books and atlases have now been added, as well as scrolls such as the following:
 http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/zoomify/G_7962_S24_P5_1860z.htm 

A recent article on the collection and the digitization efforts can also be
found in UBC Reports: http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/2011/06/02/library-digitizes-rare-japanese-maps/

The Asian Library's Japanese language librarian Shirin Eshghi (shirin.eshghi@ubc.ca) and the Rare Books and Special Collections librarian
Katherine Kalsbeek (katherine.kalsbeek@ubc.ca) welcome comments or queries from those with interest in the collection.

2011/06/28

about the 3.11 Tohoku Disaster - Teaching Materials

http://teach311.wordpress.com/  (announced by) Yuki Ishimatsu, C. V. Starr East Asian Library, Univ. of California at Berkeley

2011/06/27

East Asia in the Middle School (lesson plans)

Teaching East Asian in the Middle School Web site at http://www.iu.edu/~easc/outreach/educators/teams/index.shtml .
These lesson plans were originally published in 1996-98, but most of them still have relevance today.

2011/06/23

old highways of Japan - passing through Shiga prefecture

Thoughtful write-up by Phil at www.photojpn.org

The Tokaido and Nakasendo Roads were the two main roads in Japan during the samurai/Tokugawa period up to 1868. They connected Tokyo (Edo) where the shogun lived and Kyoto where the Emperor lived. Both roads went through Shiga before reaching neighboring Kyoto.

Here's a good map of the coastal Tokaido Road between Tokyo (Edo) and Kyoto. Each lodging town was numbered. Ishibe in Konan was No. 52. So 52 on this map is Ishibe: http://www.hiroshige.org.uk/hiroshige/tokaido_hoeido/images/tokaido_map.GIF Lodging towns No. 50 (Tsuchiyama) to 54 (Otsu) are all in Shiga.

Here's an excellent Web site showing Hiroshige prints of the Tokaido Road: http://www.hiroshige.org.uk/hiroshige/tokaido_editions/tokaido_editions.htm
You can see that Ishibe in Konan was the 52nd lodging town on the Tokaido Road. And you can see various print editions of each town by Hiroshige. The most well-known edition is called Hoeido. Lodging towns No. 50 (Tsuchiyama) to 54 (Otsu) are all in Shiga.

More info about the Tokaido: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/53_Stations_of_the_Tokaido

The other major road that connected Tokyo with Kyoto in the old days was called the Nakasendo Road which went through the interior instead of the Pacific coast: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/69_Stations_of_the_Nakasendo

The Nakasendo (also called Kisokaido) also passed through Shiga on the way to Kyoto. The Tokaido and Nakasendo Roads intersected at Kusatsu and Otsu. There are woodblock prints for all the Nakasendo lodging towns as well.
http://www.hiroshige.org.uk/hiroshige/kisokaido/images/Kisokaido%20map.gif
http://www.hiroshige.org.uk/hiroshige/kisokaido/kisokaido07.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sixty-Nine_Stations_of_the_Kiso_Kaido

2011/06/06

obtaining or viewing NHK documentaries

http://www.nhk.or.jp/archives/kawaguchi

2011/04/05

Disaster Details using panorama 360 photos

http://www.360cities.net/image/damage-in-rikuzen-takada-iwate-pref-17-japan?utm_campaign=clickback&utm_medium=embedded_hotspot#644.67,6.51,70.0
 
This website 360cities.net has many interesting images, including this one from the daily blog, www.boingboing.net
You can rotate to see all the destruction and follow arrow-links to additional panorama spots inside the image.

2010/11/25

visual culture - Japan (via MIT)

Commodore Perry and the Opening of Japan  (1853-1854)  by John W. Dower
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/black_ships_and_samurai/index.html

Black Ships &Samurai ll
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/black_ships_and_samurai_02/

Visual Narratives
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/black_ships_and_samurai_02/index.html

Yokohama Boomtown - Foreigners in Treaty-Port Japan (1859-1872) by John W. Dower
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/yokohama/index.html

Felice Beato's Japan: Places. An Album by the Pioneer Foreign Photographer in Yokohama. Essay by Allen Hockley  
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/beato_places/index.html

Felice Beato's Japan: People. An Album by the Pioneer Foreign Photographer in Yokohama. Essay by Allen Hockley
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/beato_people/index.html

Globetrotters' Japan: Places. Foreigners on te Tourist Circuit in Meiji Japan. Essay by Allen Hockley
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/gt_japan_places/index.html

Globetrotters' Japan: People. Foreigners on te Tourist Circuit in Meiji Japan. Essay by Allen Hockley
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/gt_japan_people/index.html

Throwing Off Asia l. Woodblock Prints of  Domestic &ldquo;Westernization (1868-1912) by John W. Dower
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/throwing_off_asia_01/index.html

Throwing Off Asia ll. Woodblock Prints of the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95) by John W. Dower
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/throwing_off_asia_02/index.html

Throwing Off Asia lll. Woodblock Prints of the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) by John W. Dower
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/throwing_off_asia_03/index.html

Asia Rising. Japanese Postcards of the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) by John W. Dower
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/asia_rising/index.html

Yellow Promise. Foreign Postcards of the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) by John W. Dower
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/yellow_promise_yellow_peril/index.html

Selling Shiseido l. Cosmetics Advertising &Design in Early 20th-Century Japan. Essay by Gennifer Weisenfeld
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/shiseido_01/index.html

Selling Shiseido ll. Cosmetics Advertising &Design in Early 20th-Century Japan. Visual Narratives
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/shiseido_02/index.html

Selling Shiseido lll. Cosmetics Advertising &Design in Early 20th-Century Japan. Image Galleries
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/shiseido_03/index.html

Tokyo Modern l. Koizumi Kishio's 100 Views of the Imperial Capital (1928-1940). Essay by James T. Ulak
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/tokyo_modern_01/index.html

Tokyo Modern ll. Koizumi Kishio 100 Views. Annotations Gallery
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/tokyo_modern_02/index.html

Tokyo Modern lll. 100 Views by 8 Artists (1928-1932). Image Galleries
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/tokyo_modern_03/index.html

Ground Zero 1945. Pictures by Atomic Bomb Survivors. Essay by John W. Dower
Ground Zero 1945: A Schoolboy's Story

http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/groundzero1945/index.html

Testimony of Akihiro Takahashi. Illustrations by Goro Shikoku
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/groundzero1945_2/index.html

2010/11/21

all about Okinawan Studies

International Institute for Okinawan Studies (IIOS) at
University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Okinawa, Japan.
 
"A hub research institution in the Asia-Pacific region beyond boundaries: Looking at the global from Okinawa's local perspectives.
IIOS is an interdisciplinary institution that integrated research centers at UR, aiming to develop multifaceted and international research projects on Okinawa and related areas."
 
includes:
* Contemporary Okinawan Studies [incl. contents of the launched in 2010
Japanese language 'International Journal of Okinawan Studies' (IJOS)
http://www.iios.u-ryukyu.ac.jp/IJOS_pub/
 
*A bi-lingual (JP,EN) site. In Nov 2010 the English language section of the site was under construction
at http://www.iios.u-ryukyu.ac.jp/en/

2010/09/10

collection of images, mainly 1930s

Postcard Collection. The collection is part of our open-access digital archive called Lafayette College East Asia Image Collections. The Lin
Collection consists of 370 Japanese postcards, mostly depicting scenes from 1930s Japan and Taiwan, but with some images of from Korea and
China. http://digital.lafayette.edu/collections/eastasia

2010/08/23

the story of 'gunkan shima' (Nagasaki-ken)

Hashima Island (also known as 'battleship island' for it's size, shape and cement sea walls): From 1905 until the coal mining ended in 1974 it was a unique community; quoting http://www.jamaipanese.com/hashima-island-documentary/

Except for the former resident who guides the movie crew, most of the 15 minute documentary is narrated in perhaps Swedish (subtitles in English).


In 1916 the largest concrete structures in all of Japan were built on Hashima Island to help protect it's inhabitants from typhoons and at it's peak in 1959 the population was over 5000 or 1,391 people per 10,000 square metres the highest population density ever recorded in the world. Please take the time to have a look at an awesome documentary video I have embedded below that tells the history of Gunkanjima from someone who grew up there as a child.

[vimeo URL, http://vimeo.com/2044441]

A trip to this island would make an amazing out of the box location to visit if/when I eventually make it to Japan, I wonder if I'd survive the trip by boast to get there though. Would you want to visit Battleship Island?
Official Website (Japanese); Hashima Island on Wikipedia

2010/07/16

Japanese Garden Dictionary online

Japanese Garden Dictionary, http://www.nabunken.go.jp/database/jgd/
 -- A Glossary for Japanese Gardens and Their History
 
...This online dictionary is based on the Bilingual [Japanese &
English] Dictionary of Japanese Garden Terms, published in 2001 ...
This online compilation, maintained by the Department of
Cultural Heritage of the Nara National Research Institute for
Cultural Properties, is intended to make the English language content
of the original dictionary more widely accessible.

Site contents, A to Z:
* English index (Over 600 entries organised alphabetically,
from abbot's quarters, aggregate lantern, aka well, Akisato Rito,
Amanohashidate, Amida hall, angler fish basin, arbor, arched bridge,
arched stone bridge, arching stone, armor pattern screen fence, and
artificial hill, [...]
through [...], milepost lantern, millstone, miniature landscape, mirror
stone, mist-shaped island, monkey pine, moon shadow stone, moss, moss
garden, mountain base stone, mountain island, mountain path stone,
mountain slope stone, and mountain-and-water landscape, [...] to
[...], waterfowl stone, waterside lantern, wave-receiving stone,
wayside stone, weathered beauty western style garden, who goes there?
lantern, wild wave stone, wing stone, wisteria yard, wooden bridge,
wooden conduit, wooden gate, wooden steps, worshiping stone, Yang
stone, yarai fence, yarimizu stream, Yin stone, Yin-Yang stones, yoko
ochi (cascade), Yosuien garden, Zen'ami, and zigzag bridge);

* Japanese index.

2010/07/10

copyright guidance

Details, as well as sample situations, for the legal use of images and other potentially copyrighted material is outlined at
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~ncc/imageuse/rightsholder.html

follow-up response on the H-Japan list, www.h-net.org for 13 July 2010
From my own experience as an author: I believe with the 1930 case, one would determine that permission is not needed since the organization is gone. (But if an artist is credited or the likeness of an individual appears in the illustration that would be a different matter.) For example, magazines I have worked with have said that it would be OK to republish advertisements from companies that are now out of business, and that their own (the magazine's) permission is not needed since it is over 50 years since publication, though I try to get it anyway if they can be contacted. I would guess that legally you need permission for the 1990s item, but perhaps there are fair use practices for such government documents? Of course, I am not a lawyer, but these are just my personal experiences with these sorts of materials.
[S. Frederick]

2010/07/03

summer lion dance, shishimai

Friends in Fukui-ken created a YouTube channel recently. They've started with two movies,
about 10 minutes each (YouTube limit on ordinary accounts):
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTIFjCIAllc [troupe based in Mie, but traveling their annual circuit of blessing]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GikgN-nSus [lots of commentary in the ?Mie-ken dialect; juggling at 6'45"]

2010/06/29

new book, Women and Family in Contemporary Japan

author Susan Holloway, s_hollo@berkeley dotedu

Women and Family in Contemporary Japan, by Cambridge University Press.

Japanese women have often been singled out for their strong commitment to the role of housewife and mother. But they are now postponing marriage and bearing fewer children, and Japan has become one of the least fertile and fastest aging countries in the world. Why are so many Japanese women opting out of family life?
 
To answer this question, the author draws on in-depth interviews and extensive survey data to examine Japanese mothers'
perspectives and experiences of marriage, parenting, and family life. The goal is to understand how, as introspective, self-aware individuals, these women interpret and respond to the barriers and opportunities afforded within the structural and ideological contexts of contemporary Japan.
 
The findings suggest a need for changes in the structure of the workplace and the education system to provide women with the opportunity to find a fulfilling balance of work and family life.

http://www.cambridge.org/us/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521180375

2010/06/18

online Japanese language learning

via Senseionline 18 June 2010:
 
...for people who would like to learn Japanese and aren't conveniently located by an institution or
a friend that will teach it to them, this might be just the information they were looking for:

*UAB NihongoCast,* http://www.uab.edu/foreignlang/nihongocast/, the online version of Japanese
101 at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, a joint production of the UAB Departments of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Communication Studies, and Theatre, taught by Tim Cook of Georgia Public Broadcasting's *Irasshai.*

2010/04/30

images from colonial Taiwan and occupied Japan

Digital Collections at Lafayette College has developed a new digital repository titled "The East Asia Image Collection." In its current state, the collection consists primarily of images, many unpublished, of colonial Taiwan. It also contains 567 color slides from occupied Japan. We shall be adding unpublished images from 1930s Japan, North and NE China, and Indonesia in the coming months.

http://digital.lafayette.edu/collections/eastasia

2010/03/15

performing arts database/multimedia

www.glopad.org/jparc
 
JPARC is an online resource center for research on and the study of the performing arts of Japan. The site includes sections for the analysis of certain topics, multimedia articles, and reference materials such as glossaries, bibliographies, browsing indexes, and timelines. Modules are collections of Web pages devoted to a specific topic such as important theatrical figures or readings and productions of a single piece.For a tour see the video Welcome to JPARC! 

2010/03/06

online magazine, The Netherlands-Japan Review

The Netherlands-Japan Review, http://magazine.sieboldhuis.org/

2010/02/27

online --Ainu Komonjo

=-=-= posted to EASIANTH email list Friday 26 Feb 2010:

 

The University of Wisconsin Digital Collection ...The UWDC has scanned [Pr. Emiko] Ohunki-Tierney's  collection of books on the Ainu by the Japanese. The books focus on the Sakhalin Ainu... The books are extremely rare and are either hand-written, with illustrations hand-drawn, or are wood block prints. Many of these early documents were authored by explorers and scholars at the order of the Bakufu or the Matsumae clan. Since these authors were sent by the Japanese government which for the first time began to be concerned with territorial expansions and boundaries, these documents often include a number of detailed maps, including the topography and Ainu place names.

The Ainu Komonjo (18th & 19th century records) -- Ohnuki Collection can be freely viewed at:
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/EastAsian.JapanRice

2010/02/13

Valentine's Day in Japan 2010

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123635365
Chocolate-giving is a ritual among everyone in Japan from schoolchildren to senior citizens. But the country has developed its own way of celebrating the erstwhile day of romance, and the custom is still evolving.
[www.npr.org on Friday, Feb. 12, 2010]

2009/09/20

online sources - Japan images

as seen at the Image Use Protocol project "links" section,
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~ncc/imageuse/usefullinks.html
 
 
Find Images
The following organizations provide digital images of Japan with clear instructions for the use:

• Image Archives
• National Diet Library
• Union catalog of the collections of the national art museums, Japan
• Artize.net Provides digital images of collections from Kyoto National Museum, Nara National Museum, and cultural heritage institutions.
• Historical Agro-Environment Browsing System Includes nearly 900 map sheets of rapid survey maps, covering the Kanto Region surrounding Tokyo. Provides detailed land use information in the areas during 1880s.
• P&P online catalog - fine prints: Japanese, pre-1915 (Library of Congress)
• The art of Asia (Minneapolis Institute of Arts)
• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
• British Museum . Objects from Japan can be located through "Collection database search".
• Victoria and Albert Museum

  Ukiyo-e Images

  • Takahashi Seiichiro Ukiyo-e Collection, Digital Gallery of Rare Books & Special Collections (Digital Gallery of Keio University Library)
  • The Floating World of Ukiyo-e, Shadows, dreams, and substance (Library of Congress)

  Historical Maps

  • Historical Agro-Environment Browsing System (National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences) Covers most of the Kanto region. Provides detailed information on the land use of Japan in the 1880s.
  • Japanese Historical Maps (East Asian Library, University of California , Berkley)

2009/07/18

RESOURCE e-Asia Digital Library

"e-Asia [est. 2001 - ed.] is a library of downloadable full text
(currently over 4000 items -- primarily books -- are available.) Focus
is on China, Japan, Taiwan, and Korea (South and North). While most
items are in Western languages, there are many items in Chinese,
Japanese, and Korean. e-Asia also offers audio, video, and special
collections.

The e-Asia project is funded by the University of Oregon Library
through the generosity of Nissho Iwai.

While the e-Asia project is based largely on resources held at the University of Oregon Library, its purpose is neither to duplicate nor displace printed traditonal materials. Rather, by providing searchable full text, the digitalization efforts
of e-Asia represent a new tool aimed at facilitating the information-gathering process.

2009/01/28

Ainu lore & readings

Chiri Yukie and Kyoko Selden, The Song the Owl God Himself Sang. An Ainu Tale
Anne-Elise Lewallen, Indigenous at last! Ainu Grassroots Organizing and the Indigenous Peoples Summit in Ainu Mosir
Chisato ("Kitty") O. Dubreuil, The Ainu and Their Culture: A Critical Twenty-First Century Assessment

http://japanfocus.org/_Katsuya_Hirano-The_Politics_of_Colonial_Translation__On_the_Narrative_of_the_Ainu_as_a_

2008/12/04

Ainu conference 2008

A. Lewallen [www.japanfocus.org Dec 4, 2008]
 
Indigenous at last! Ainu Grassroots Organizing and the
Indigenous Peoples Summit in Ainu Mosir

2008/11/11

"postcards from..." JAPAN (Time Magazine)

Tokyo - Pepsi Ice Cucumber, Anyone?
In Japan's snack and beverage market, the new, new thing is already so "last week"

Inbox
Jan. 3, 2008 ...often thought that my homeland, Japan, needs many more people from other countries to come here...475 words view cover

Japan's Booming Sex Niche: Elder Porn
Jul. 7, 2008 By Michiko Toyama...condom maker Durex, among others, Japan is repeatedly found to be...should respect them and learn from them." Tokuda, meanwhile, stresses the...706 words view cover

Postcard: Tokyo
Feb. 21, 2008 By Coco MastersSometimes a town moves only as fast as its escalators. From the subway station at Sugamo, a neighborhood in northwestern Tokyo's Toshima ward...718 words view cover

Postcard: Taiji
Oct. 15, 2007 By Hannah Beech...world opposes hunting dolphins and pilot whales. And in this part of Japan, the mercury content is off the charts. So why is deep-fried dolphin...

Japan Loves Nagoya
Mar. 28, 2005 By Jim Frederick...Nagoya in central Japan, on ground that...buses zip guests from one end of...rocket-ride pavilions on postcards as reminders of...991 words view cover

Postcards on the Edge
Nov. 10, 2003 By Liam Fitzpatrick...columns are entitled "Postcard from ... " Because unless...sent, while in Japan, there are plans...545 words view cover

Japan Thugs Beware
Mar. 14, 1988 By Howard G. Chua-Eoan...on forearms. In Japan, this is the...1,500 protest postcards to Tetsuya Aono...by 300 officers from other communities. Hamamatsu...517 words view cover

The Birdman Of Osaka
Sep. 16, 1974 ...a whisky distiller. But then, Keizo Saji, 54, chairman and president of Japan's Suntory Ltd., and coiner of the slogan, is a rather...218 words view cover

Build Small
Nov. 16, 1962 ...smaller than a postcard (4½ in..... Made by Japan's Sony...on the juice from an auto cigarette...494 words view cover

OUT OF THE FLOATING WORLD
Mar. 14, 1955 ...course. (The censure may stem from the fact that he spent...to hike up and down Japan sketching. He turned his sketches...507 words view cover

2008/10/24

visual approach to understanding life in Japan

http://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/

2008/09/18

video - Obon in Kyoto (1 minute 28 seconds)

via the LonelyPlanet travel guide (newsletter, "Comet")
http://enewsletters.lonelyplanet.com.au/ch/14dwhq0/532146/ce6d81755m.html

2008/09/03

flickr@ "social documentary" X "japan"

http://www.flickr.com/search/groups/?q=japan&w=35468135891%40N01&m=pool

2008/08/12

Ainu recognition by central gov't

Japan Recognizes Indigenous Group
by Anthony Kuhn

All Things Considered, August 12, 2008 · The Ainu are an indigenous people who have recently been recognized by the Japanese government. The group has come a long way since the Japanese government tried to assimilate it by force. The Ainu are now seen as a model of man living in harmony with nature.

2008/08/06

Japanland - collected short video segments + studyguide online

Lots of ethnographic, everyday life segments, as well as the Traditional Arts segments, shot mainly in 2004-5, but vividly relevant well into the future. Here is the blurb at the newly added set of studyguides:
 
"JAPANLAND is an action-packed and entertaining journey into a side of Japan that few outsiders get to see. It explores many unique facets of Japanese society, such a sumo wrestlers, swordmakers, ancient festivals, mountain mystics, samurai mounted archers, geishas, Buddhist monks, and even its homeless population and urban youth.
JAPANLAND is a 4-hour American Public television series, available on DVD."
 
  The study guide is at www.japanlandstudyguide.com

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