More Japanese Beatboxing

Last year, I posted some videos of Japanese Beatboxer, Hikakin. He's come out with some new stuff, and I saw this one recently:

Shibuya, Then and Now

A recent post by Danny Choo showed Shibuya in 1952:



This made me think about what the place looks like today, and going over to Google Earth, I find:


Not too different, right? ;)

(Previously: A "Then-and-Now" comparison of New York City)

Complaint Choirs: Who Says you Can't Complain in an Upbeat Manner?

In a recent jaunt through YouTube, I came across the Tokyo Complaint Choir:

And from there to so many more:

Birmingham, England


Helsinki, Finland


Hamburg, Germany


St. Petersburg, Russia


Budapest, Hungary


Chicago, USA


Singapore


Hong Kong


Florence, Italy


Turns out that this is really an organized thing, complete with a website and a Wikipedia entry:

Complaints Choir is a community art project that invites people to sing about their complaints in a choir together with fellow complainers. The first Complaints Choir was organized in Birmingham (UK) in 2005, followed by the Complaints Choirs of Helsinki, Hamburg and St. Petersburg in 2006. The project was initiated by artists Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen. A video installation consisting of the documentation of the public performances of the four choirs were shown at Kiasma (Helsinki, Finland), S.M.A.K. (Ghent, Belgium) and Museum Fridericianium Kassel (Germany) among other venues. When the video clips of the choirs were distributed through online magazines and video sharing websites, the idea spread quickly to many other countries. To date additional Complaints Choirs have been organized in Bodø (Norway), Poikkilaakso primary school (Helsinki, Finland), Budapest (Hungary), Chicago (Illinois, United States), Juneau (Alaska), Gabriola Island (Canada), Melbourne (Australia), Jerusalem (Israel), Singapore, Breslau (Poland), Hong Kong, Philadelphia, Enschede in The Netherlands (as part of its international Grenswerk art festival) in the Netherlands and Tokyo (Japan).

I guess the shitty world economy has exacerbated the desire to kvetch, but to do it in style. After all, anyone can bellyache, squawk, and whine all they want. However, melodious complaining makes it all the more fun to actually listen to.

A YouTube search for "Complaint Choir" also pulls up a lot of other places. Interestingly, I don't find any complaint choir entries for France, or in Latin America. Hrm. Maybe I'm just not looking hard enough.

Tuesday Video: Japanese Juggling

Mesmerizing:


Awesome kids!


Lots of variety!

Saturday Omphaloskepsis: The US economic recovery in context

Via The Dish:

All told, the recent U.S. financial crisis looks very similar to the historical crises as detailed by Reinhart and Rogoff – your “garden variety, severe financial crisis.” However the US labor market has performed better than 4 of the previous Big 5 crises and Japan’s economic and employment experience over the past twenty years is unique in its own right.

In other words, it's not happy times, but it's far better other world financial crises of the same scale. (And considering the financial shitstorm that's happening in the EU - which is having knock-on effects on the US and is something that the US can't directly control - it's actually awesome.)

Oh, and Japan is almost through its second "lost decade".

Tuesday Video: Comparative video of Japanese trains

Regional and local trains and trolleys (1969)


The promotional video of the Japanese bullet train (1975)


Thanks to my friend for linking to this video. EXCELLENT STUFF!

And now, today, the new local trains are still running (unlike most of the US):


Regional trains also do continued service to rural towns:


And a more updated ride on the Japanese bullet train (traversing the length of Japan's main island in less than one day, all in highly ordered and precise comfort):

Japanese Beat Boxin'

I was reminded about the presence of Japanese beat boxing when I saw this video on the Daily Dish:



I had a look for Hikakin, the featured beat boxer above, and he even does his version of "Crazy Japanese stuff", including:

Curiosity Cola


CC Lemon Strong (Sparkling Strong)


Cherry Cola (in Japan!)


But in addition to doing his reviews of Japanese sundries, he has a bunch of beat boxing videos:




Also some collabs. In these two cases with (and against) Daichi




And from looking around on Hikakin's channel, I find AIBO! She's got crazy skills!






So there you go. Japanese male and female beat boxers! Whodathunkit?

Robot always beats you...

... at "roshambo" or "jan-ken-pon" or "rock, paper, scissors"



And it does it by being faster at pattern recognition and response than the human eye can detect and the human body can respond. In other words, it wins by cheating. It would be either as successful as random guessing (or completely fail if, for example, it only does "rock" when given no stimulus) if a visual barrier were put in front of it.

WTF is きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ?

I have no idea about who きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ is. Seriously, I don't. I can tell that she is a type of J-Pop star. I can tell that she's likely, too, a corporate-made star, and she fits into the mold of Japanese "cuteness".

Her songs aren't too masterful, and her choreography is ... well judge for yourself:

PONPONPON


Here, in Candy Candy, きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ tackles the difficulties of running in a sailor-moon-hair wig and the really difficult English words of candy, sweetie, girls, love, and chewing.


She didn't even sing anything in this one! (Or really dance, either.)

Hot and sticky Japanese summers

As we start what is expected to be yet another really hot not-quite-summer-even-though-it-feels-like-summer day, I remember back to what a Tokyo end-of-summer felt (and sounded) like. This pretty much sums up the feeling:


Ad Agency: Dentsu Kansai.

via CopyRanter

I want to go back to see Japan...

It's been over a decade since I went to Japan. The last time I was there was 2001. It's been even longer since I went to visit Yokohama (about 2 decades). The photos of a day in Yokohama during winter - from Danny Choo - really pulls on my sense of nostalgia. However, it's not just a feeling of nostalgia about the Japan of 2001 (or 1992), but of the changes that have happened since then - the good, the bad, and the ugly changes. However, Choo rarely shows the bad and the ugly, so enjoy some of the good:

Songs that make me cry (or at least start to tear up)

Sometimes, when I listen to songs from the deep depths of my childhood, tears start to come. These aren't moving arias. These aren't symphonic miracles. These don't have mind-blowing powerchords. These are - I must admit - almost all folk songs. Many of them written generations ago and now seem to be almost nothing more than distant memory for an aging generation. However, perhaps because I was the very youngest of all my cousins - born 12 years after my youngest cousin on my father's side and 6 years after my youngest cousin on my mother's side (but about 25 years after my oldest cousins on both sides) - I have inherited an "old ear". I certainly wasn't surrounded by classmates who sang these songs (so I have only my parents to "blame").

Too, due to my mixed heritage, these songs are both Japanese folk songs as well as American folk songs. It is, unfortunately, sometimes difficult to find songs that move me so much partly because I don't remember all the folk songs of my childhood. However, these are a few that tug greatly on my heartstrings:

"Aka tombou"


... and a different singing of it by the same artist (sung for Cyndi Lauper):


The second one really do cut right to the quick. The haunting aspect to the timbre really connects with something very deep-seated in me. Also, the style of singing is just so foreign in this world of pop hits and heavy rhythms. It all harkens back to a time that I never knew, but could imagine with as much longing as the words of the song - and the voices of the singers - convey.

I know that there are other Japanese folk songs that would evoke a similar reaction. However, these fall (unfortunately) in the category of not being able to remember the names of the songs that I heard when I was so very young. Perhaps, on a cassette somewhere in a box somewhere in my parents' home that has similar songs. However, I also remember growing up with this - somewhat famous even in the US - song:

"Ue wo muite arukou" (上を向いて歩こう) a.k.a. "Sukiyaki Song"


This one, though, only makes me sad when I start to sing along... However - moving over to US folk songs - this one is like "Aka tombou" above, jerking tears from my eyes with little problem:

"My Grandfather's Clock"


I also really get moved by "Old Man River". Especially Lawrence Beamen's 2009 audition version for America's Got Talent


Thanks to the cassette tapes that my parents had when I was growing up, I also got to learn the songs of Harry Belafonte. And while I like the songs that perhaps most people know - "Banana Boat Song," and "Jump in the Line" - one of the songs that I heard was "Island in the Sun":

It spoke to me - a child who was born on Guam (an island in the sun) who moved away from it so young. The feelings that would fill me every time that I listened to this song when I was in adolescence - when we were visiting Guam on occasion - I would have fleeting memories of the warm sun, the gritty sand, and the sounds of the waves and it taught me very early about the word "nostalgia."

Another one of Harry Belafonte's songs from that cassette tape of my parents' was "Cu Cu Ru Cu Cu Paloma":

I didn't even know the meaning of the words, and it wasn't until I listened to it recently - after I learned a decent amount of Spanish - that I could understand the lyrics. Still, the emotion poured into the words... moved me even as a child.

And my mom really liked the songs of John Denver, too. I must have listened to all the songs - famous and obscure - that he released during his career. One of my favorites - perhaps what piqued my interest in biology and science - was "Calypso"

True, "Rocky Mountain High" also lifts me (yeah, yeah), but nothing like this song. Strange, though, that it wasn't until MUCH later that I learned that the song was an homage to Jacques Cousteau and the name of his boat: Calypso. (Hell, I ended up going into marine biology at St. Andrews without ever having - knowingly - seen anything from Jacques Cousteau, heresy though that may seem.)

Then there are some songs that are - to me - just haunting in their rendition:
"Skye Boat Song"


and "Pokarekare Ana"


Okay, okay, I grew to like some Scottish folk songs - Scotland the Brave, Flower o' Scotland, Loch Lomond, etc. - a nod to the time that I spent in Scotland. (And a late toast to Burns Night, just 4 nights ago.) However, they weren't songs that I heard when I was growing up, so I won't include them here (also because this list is getting rather lengthy).

Therefore, I'll end with one more; a song that doesn't really fit in with the above. It's not "haunting"; it's not Japanese nor is it American; it's not from any single singer that my parents listened to. However, it's stuck in my mind as one of the songs of my childhood; one that can - at times - make me start to tear up a little bit: "Cielito Lindo":

Although this one was made by the Banamex bank, I really like its multi-regionality. It's strange that I remember hearing this song growing up, since it is one of the very few Mexican songs that my mother actually knew and had (and liked). Again, like "Cu Cu Ru Cu Cu Paloma," I had no idea of the meaning of the words before I listened to it again after learning Spanish.

Okay... I've got to stop now. It's getting too emotional for me. So, here's one to lighten the mood and go in completely the other direction:
"Birdhouse in your soul"

(Thanks to my brother to introducing me to this song.)

Testing out Japanese drinks

Matt Alt and others (aka: Néojaponisme) try out some "third category beer":


The men continue with highballs:


Who'd've thunk it? I'd like to try and make a video cast for Michigan beers... but maybe there are already some people who did that. (And plus, I think that I really like most of the MI beers that I've tried, much unlike the tone of these vids seem to me.)

Painting 3D goldfish

Via TreeHugger

The hyper-real gold fish by Ryusuke Fukahori aren't actually real... They are painted in layers on acrylic, coming to artificial life with the clear acrylic. Kind of mesmerizing...

For more information (in Japanese) go to: http://goldfishing.info/

Real commuter bikes: Why they are necessary

One thing that I dislike about the cycling movement in the US is that it (still) seems to be dominated by what I would call "specialist" riders: road-bike and mountain-bike enthusiasts. By "enthusiast" I mean people who might drive their bike to a place in order to best utilize it for the purpose of riding smoothly and quickly on paved roads or race downhill and over rough terrain. These aren't usually the bikes that people would use for comfortable commuting. It's something that I've noticed as one thing that is very different between cycling culture in the US and in other countries with large bike-using populations. I personally think that one way of improving the biking culture in the US (as opposed to some places that are already "bike friendly") is to create the prototypical "US commuter bike".

A recent short YouTube film that takes one through the basic features of a Dutch commuter bike merely emphasized a major point about commuter bikes in the Netherlands: the comfort for the rider and the robustness of the design:



And this isn't only with the Dutch. From Denmark there is the Velorbis (and bikes like it):



In Japan, there is the ubiquitous mamachari:



Even when I was growing up in Japan (during the late '80s), I would see policemen, postmen, and mothers riding these mamachari (or versions of bike that looked a lot like them) up and down the lanes and roads. Every kōban (a police box that would serve as a neighborhood "post" for one or two policemen) would invariably have such a bike sitting outside of it, ready for use. I even saw (as I was riding around on my entry-level Bridgestone road bike) one electric assist mamachari that easily glided past me on one of the climbs up to my school (which was perched up on a hill with a steep grade).

The thing that all of these bikes have is a common design that speaks to people in those countries and announces, "I am the common bike." Its basic form is not fancy, although you can definitely customize them and make them more fancy. Its basic use is almost purely one of utility. And it is this form that you see chained up and parked throughout cities, instead of mountain bikes and road bikes (which can operate as commuters, but aren't necessarily the best for that purpose, at least IMHO).

Now, I don't have anything against those who are specialist cyclists, but my point is that if the general populace is to change their opinion about cycling as a valid method of transportation, then one of the things that they have to get rid of is the mental image of spandex-clad weekend road-bikers or downhill/off-road dirt-bikers and (instead) be able to include (to a large extent) the sedate and relatively untaxing ease of a commuter bike.

You will likely say, "But, Umlud, there already are commuter bikes from the major bike companies in the US." Indeed, I owned a so-called commuter bike. However, it was (still, in my opinion) not an optimal commuter bike (IMHO), because its ride wasn't a comfortable one for a person with a goal of reaching his or her destination without too much strain of cycling. In other words, it was a more-upright posture than a mountain bike with more road-worthy tires, but it seemed (to me) to be more of a means of cutting costs than providing a good alternative means for transportation. After riding my bike for two years, I learned that my daily commute of 3 miles each way (plus occasional wanderings of up to 10 miles) was too much for that particular model of high-middle-end bike. WTF? My neighbor's mamachari had still been going strong after more than a decade of daily use. (And, yes, I took my commuter bike in for maintenance and repairs.) It just doesn't seem like Giant (and possibly other manufacturers) weren't really investing strongly in the commuter bike market. (Perhaps it was because people tend to have a strange expectation of what $500 will buy in a new not-road bike.)

True, my solution - to buy a custom-made bike - was not to build a commuter bike for comfort, but for durability (something that my previous bike lacked) in all weather (also something that my last bike couldn't do) with the ability to haul decent weight (got sturdy front and back racks on my bike). Oh, it's not the most comfortable bike to ride for hours on end, but it will get me (surprisingly quickly and smoothly) from my home to work with a (usually) minimum amount of fuss every day of the year.

Still, in the end, I really do believe that one thing that needs changing in the US is the perception about what constitutes a bike rider. As for myself, I'm a guy who really doesn't care much about what others think of some of my choices, and for that I was able to build a really awesome bike - one which has been (according to people at Great Lakes Cycling) copied and modified by people around town. (Apparently my design for an efficient, low-maintenance, all-weather bike was a hit.) However, I also had a strong idea about the type of things that I wanted to do with my bike and an imaginative guy at Great Lakes Cycling to bounce ideas and designs off of (well, he proposed a lot of designs, and I queried him about various aspects of them), and I knew from the outset that I didn't want a traditional bike (i.e., like those being sold on the racks in the store). Even now, I go in and talk with the team there about how to make my bike even more awesome for my needs - changing the handlebars, adding a dynamo hub, etc. - all to make something that (I hope) will become my ultimate commuting and middle-distance bike that so obviously doesn't fit into any other category than "commuter". This is why I am such a fan of things like the "Best Utility Bike" competition that took place in Portland; without a national biking culture, a bike prototype is needed. (Well, that's one path to making the US more of a cycling nation, but not the only one.)

Christmas Godzilla

One thing that I love about Japan is how it celebrates Christmas. As an almost completely not-at-all Christian country - one that doesn't even share roots of religion with Christianity, either, Japan is a very ... interesting ... national lens through which to view cultural displays and practices surrounding Christmas (especially living through FoxNews' "War on Christmas" segments).

To that end, I give you: GODZILLA!

(Okay, this one is photoshopped, using this human-sized Godzilla):

This one was from an even in 2000 at Odaiba Aqua City Hall:

This was from 2007, also at Odaiba:

From super-realistic origami to static ring juggling to dancing robots, to automated car parking, to accordion busking, Japan is an interesting place to look at from a non-Japanese perspective. Of course, the longer that I stay out of the country, the more my perspective shifts away from the Japanese. I've really got to get back.

More Christmas kaiju displays at AltJapan.

Origami amazingness

Like so many other videos, I happened upon this via another video.

In Japan, the art of origami (which literally means "fold paper") is something that all Japanese children are introduced to from an early age. It's an integral part of the culture. Although it's purportedly quite old, the mathematical theory of origami is only a few decades old. Before the discovery of its mathematical theory, it wasn't very easy (or possible in many cases) for people to derive new forms from the paper. (There may also have been some level of social conservativeness that slowed adoption of novel forms, but that's another topic.) However, certain forms became iconic (and still remain so), the crane being perhaps the most famous.

I like making cranes for the kids of my friends, using bits of paper I find around the place. Most are sufficiently surprised and  tickled with my quite limited ability of making this form. My brother -- a far greater origami worker -- achieved official ranking in Japan while he was still in high school, and can make far more interesting and intricate forms than me. However, the traditional crane has been (and still remains) the icon of origami (even though more realistic ones are possible).

However, with the discovery of the mathematical theory of origami, completely new shapes are able to be produced, sometimes with exquisite intricateness. These forms have exploded onto the scene in a Japan that is now far more obsessed with the novel (and new uses for traditional things) than with the conservation of tradition for traditions sake alone. Thus, we can get things like this:



The following video describes the secret of the mathematics behind origami:

Shinto Shrine Code?

Over at AltJapan, there's a story about a video that shows that Shinto Shrines act as a visual code to show the break line of tsunamis along the coast! WOAH! A tsunami hit Fukushima... and none of the shrines got destroyed?! That's got to be some major divine mojo working there!


20110820　原発建設　警告は無視された？ by PMG5

... or it's just Shinto shrines being built at the location where historical tsunami broke against the shore. As explained over at AltJapan:

It is not for nothing that Shinto shrines are generally built on high ground. One resident interviewed in the piece relates how local lore, handed down from parent to child, said to take refuge at the local shrine in the event of a tsunami. It proved true during the disaster, saving many lives.

Like the "tsunami stones" and folktales found throughout the region, these shrines represent an attempt from those who lived long ago to communicate the dangers of tsunami to future generations. It seems likely that's precisely why they were built in these specific locations.

Woah... a set of religious structures built based on observations of natural phenomenon, acting as a predictive guide to the impact of occasional catastrophic seismic events? Now that's religious encoding that works! It's almost like evidence-based predictions of flood-zones, but done before such user-friendly tools like Google existed. It's almost...... scientific! (If only they had relied on a better form of knowledge dissemination, other than oral tradition...)

It would be interesting for someone to look at sea-side Shinto shrines and correlate their location (elevation and location) based on historical records as well as predicted tsunami impacts.

Ring juggling

Wooden xylophone in the forest, operated by gravity

Only in Japan?



From Copyranter:

(via the New York Times) “We did not add any artificial music at all,” said Morihiro Harano, creative director at Japanese ad agency Drill, Inc. I find that nearly impossible to believe. The video is for the Touch Wood SH-08C, a phone with an encasement made from discarded wood (Was the xylophone also made from discarded wood?) It will be released by NTT Docomo in Japan later this year. The commercial was filmed in Kama City in Kyushu, Japan.