Tag Archives: Japanese

Traditional Swordmaking

Posted on December 6, 2011 by bigWOWO

Handmade Portraits: The Sword Maker from Etsy on Vimeo.

Saw this on 8A and thought I’d pass it on. A Japanese man learned about swordmaking while a college student, became an apprentice, and is one of the 30 people who are in the business. What’s extra-cool about sword-making is that your craft lasts forever–or at least a very long time. It’s an important part of culture, both for the symbolism and the craft. Once an art is gone, it’s gone forever. To this day, we marvel at Incan and Mayan architecture. Hope more people will take up the torch to preserve this art.

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The Asian Rock Thread

Posted on November 2, 2011 by bigWOWO

I saw y’all’s interesting discussion on music started by Catwalq in the other thread. I agree with you, there aren’t many Asian American ROCK bands, except maybe the Morning Benders. Sorry for all the old videos; I’ve been away from the scene for a while. But these are among my favorite Asian rock songs:

My daughter likes this song by Elephant Kashimashi:

Here’s the Morning Benders:

I think it’s hard to be an AA rock band. The singer-songwriter acoustic thing seems to be more popular, regardless of who is singing.

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WTF Video of the Day: Another Day by Monkey Majik

Posted on October 14, 2010 by bigWOWO

Monkey Majik is one of the most musically and rhythmically talented bands I’ve heard recently. And they keep me guessing. I wasn’t sure if the video of “Another Day” (above) was an OMG video, a WTF video, or a LOL video. Imagine the question: “So Honey, how was work today?” Japanese guys: beware of imaginary White chicks in bikinis. :)

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Japanese Hamburg and Japanese Spaghetti

Posted on July 13, 2010 by bigWOWO

I’ve just started a new category: Stuff to make you cool.  I figure since we’re talking about empowerment all the time, I might as well post stuff that can make you cool.  This post is one of those.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, absolutelyfobulous, for posting the video above.  You have officially ended my five year search (more, if you count the time I was thinking but not searching) for Japanese hamburg.  Also, check out the tomato ketchup pasta.  Most people think of Japanese cuisine as sushi and tempura.  Most don’t know about the modified dishes, such as the Japanese versions of hamburger and spaghetti.  These recipes are absolute gems and they ought to be shared with the world.  And what’s better–this youtube channel does so with style.  The talking dog is totally cool.

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"Orange Days": Review and Ideas

Posted on December 21, 2009 by bigWOWO
Orange Days

Orange Days

I’m going to post this with the fore-knowledge that no one is going to watch it. Like I said in my last J-Drama post, I don’t expect anyone here to watch J-dramas unless that person has a prior interest in Japanese culture and language.  Maybe that frees me a bit; I don’t have to worry about dropping spoilers. If you’re going to watch this drama, feel free to stop reading, watch, and then come back (One of the links was broken, so I had to watch about fifteen minutes of the last episode with Spanish subtitles.  You may need some knowledge of spoken Japanese and Japanese sign language to make that 15 minutes work.  :)   )  If you’re not going to watch this drama, feel free to read and comment–you won’t need to see it to understand the ideas.  For those catching up, I’ve been checking out Japanese dramas just to get a feeling of the narrative style of Japanese TV.  It’s supposed to help my writing.  It’s pretty cool to see media by and about Asian people.

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