With permission of the Midwest Japan Seminar, Japan Foundation and host at Ohio Wesleyan University, here is the Youtube link to the hour-long conversation recently between long-time friends and colleagues, Prs David Plath and Ezra Vogel. Hearing first-hand of their early years in the field and in Japanese Studies circles is eye-opening for one and all, no matter your scholarly generation or genealogy. Feel free to share widely with others.
2019/04/10
poems from Japan (in English translation)
Back in 2015 an artist was commissioned to hand-carve the translated Japanese poems of several centuries onto some of the large stones in the Japanese-style garden at the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in west Michigan. You can find out more about the choice of poets and see the dozen or so poems here, https://mishigan.blogspot.com/2019/04/poems-from-japan-in-english-at-meijer.html
2019/04/06
eclectic articles - Japan examples, "Atlas Obscura"
Typing a country or city into the searchbox at atlasobscura.com brings up a far-ranging collection of articles contributed by local writers.
In early April 2019 there were a few Japan examples. This sample of stories is worth a look, or might prompt readers to look for the sorts of places, events, people being documented online.
The Haunting Beauty of the Reconsecration of Shinto Shrines
Photographer Yukihito Masuura spent more than a decade documenting rituals that connect past and present.
by Jessica Leigh Hester April 05, 2019
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/photographs-of-shinto-shrines-japan
Yūbari King Melon
The most expensive melon in the world is a status symbol in Japan.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/foods/yubari-king-melon
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= via Atlas Obscura in Brooklyn, NY
The Beloved Japanese Novelist Who Became a Queer Manga Icon
Nobuko Yoshiya's stories of frustrated, forbidden love helped establish a genre read by millions.
by Sabrina Imbler April 04, 2019
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/yoshiya-nobuko-queer-manga
Nobuko Yoshiya's stories of frustrated, forbidden love helped establish a genre read by millions.
by Sabrina Imbler April 04, 2019
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/yoshiya-nobuko-queer-manga
EXCERPT
...Yoshiya never married; instead she lived with a female partner, Chiyo Monma, for 50 years. Despite a life lived against the grain, Yoshiya became one of Japan's most beloved artists. She published feminist stories that focused on the strong emotional and romantic bonds between women—one with the notable title Danasama muyo (Husbands Are Useless). The impact of her novels is still being felt, far beyond the feminist and queer communities where she has become a particularly celebrated icon. Her writing laid the groundwork for shōjo manga, a genre of comics and graphic novels aimed toward teen girls that includes iconic titles such as Sailor Moon and Revolutionary Girl Utena—widely devoured by millions upon millions all over the world. "There is not a single woman alive who doesn't know who Yoshiya Nobuko is," declared a 1935 profile published in the magazine Hanashi.
The Haunting Beauty of the Reconsecration of Shinto Shrines
Photographer Yukihito Masuura spent more than a decade documenting rituals that connect past and present.
by Jessica Leigh Hester April 05, 2019
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/photographs-of-shinto-shrines-japan
EXCERPT
...Through Masuura's lens, the images feel monumental. To hear him tell it, they hold everything a viewer needs to know about the subject of his recent series: the process of reconstructing and reconsecrating Japan's Shinto shrines.
For Masuura, this old wood represents the tug of the past in the present.
For Masuura, this old wood represents the tug of the past in the present.
Yūbari King Melon
The most expensive melon in the world is a status symbol in Japan.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/foods/yubari-king-melon
EXCERPT
... Fewer than 10,000 people remain in the sleepy former mining town of Yūbari on Japan's Hokkaido Island. A crippling financial crisis in the early 2000s drove nearly 90 percent of the town's population to seek residence elsewhere in the country. And that fiscal tragedy is crueler yet for the sad irony of the town's famous export: the Yūbari King melon, one of the most expensive fruits in the world.
2019/04/01
about the forthcoming "ReiWa" nengo announced April 1
Wikipedia already has posted the update:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_era_name [cf. in Japanese, https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%85%83%E5%8F%B7]
"The new era Reiwa (令和)[1] is expected to start on 1 May 2019, the day when Emperor Akihito's elder son, Naruhito, is expected to ascend to the throne as the 126th Emperor of Japan"
Not everyone knows that the name of each era does not have to match the years of the emperor or empress' reign, as in recent periods.
The era-name was changed when natural disasters spoiled a given period, for example. By switching to a more favorable name, the idea was to change the fortunes of people's lives. Looking again at Wikipedia there is fuller discussion of the concept.
Historical nengō
Prior to the Meiji period, era names were decided by court officials and were subjected to frequent change. A new era name was usually proclaimed within a year or two after the ascension of a new emperor. A new era name was also often designated on the first, fifth and 58th years of the sexagenary cycle, because they were inauspicious years in Onmyōdō. These three years are respectively known as kakurei, kakuun, and kakumei, and collectively known as sankaku. Era names were also changed due to other felicitous events or natural disasters.
In historical practice, the first day of a nengō (元年 gannen) starts whenever the emperor chooses; and the first year continues until the next lunar new year, which is understood to be the start of the nengō's second year
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