Hamamatsucho Boy fountain November 2009

Gruesome News All: Japan News Brief 2009.10.11

Gruesome news concerning several murders has overshadowed even the diet talks grilling PM Hatoyama’s administration on their policies and President Obama’s upcoming meeting on Friday (The 13th!) with PM Hatoyama in Japan.

A young female student went missing and was later found to have been abducted while returning home from a part-time job along a mountain path late at night. Her severed head was later found in the mountains in Hiroshima prefecture, and body parts continue to be found. The poor, poor soul.

In a rare case of a female serial killer, a woman repeatedly duped men for money in a marriage scam, and murdered a number of them. First questioned by police when two men made formal complaints about having been scammed for money, on further investigation several murders, some originally thought to have been suicides or accidental deaths, have been attributed to her, and more continue to be found. Many of these men really seemed to have loved her and gladly lent her the money with her promise to repay them after marriage. It is a shame, since she seemed genuinely loved, that she didn’t just settle down into a happy married life with one of them instead creating a spree of murders. Photos of her show a portly woman, only made attractive by makeup and a winning smile. She probably didn’t get any dates in high school and has certainly taken her revenge now. Had she murdered the two men before they made their complaints, she might still have gone unfound. I wonder how many other yet undiscovered similar cases there are still out there? Perhaps there are fewer female serial murderers just because they remain under the wire?

In a harrowing story that took place already more than a year and a half ago now, a nerdy young man convinced a young female English teacher to give him private lessons and home, and he murdered her in his apartment and buried her in a sand-bin on his balcony. When the police went to his apartment to question him after she went missing, he simply ran away, in a major police guffaw, and has been on the lam until now. Apparently in the duration, he had plastic surgery and had been living and working in Osaka. When he went to a hospital in Nagoya for further plastic surgery he was recognized and the visit reported to the police. Pictures were then posted of his current face and he was reported while waiting for a ferry to take him to Okinawa. He was brought for questioning to Tokyo late last night.

Fugitive arrested in Osaka over murder of British woman

(Mainichi Japan) November 10, 2009

Police in Osaka say they have arrested the prime suspect in the 2007 killing of Briton Lindsay Ann Hawker. Tatsuya Ichihashi, 30, was arrested in Osaka's Suminoe Ward on Tuesday, on suspicion of abandoning Hawker's body. Police and other sources said investigators received a phone tip on Tuesday evening reporting a man resembling Ichihashi at a ferry terminal. Officers rushed to the scene and questioned the man, who reportedly admitted that he was Ichihashi. ...

...Ichihashi was placed on a police wanted list on March 27, 2007, on suspicion of abandoning the body of Hawker. The 22-year-old teacher's body was found on the balcony of Ichihashi's apartment in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, in March 2007.

Hawker had worked as a teacher at an English language school in Tokyo, but on March 26, 2007, a worker from her school phoned police, saying that attempts to contact her had been unsuccessful. Police found part of Ichihashi's name and his telephone number on a note in Hawker's apartment. They visited his apartment and were questioning him in front of his home at about 9:40 p.m. the same evening, when he fled barefoot. Police later found Hawker's body in a bathtub on Ichihashi's balcony, buried in sand with her knees bent.

An autopsy found that Hawker had been strangled with considerable force, and her face and limbs had been hit. After the killing, Hawker's family came to Japan several times, calling for information on the case. More...

Accused marriage scammer faces fresh arrest warrant as police probe suspicious deaths

(Mainichi Japan) November 10, 2009

Police probing the suspicious deaths of several men acquainted with a 34-year-old woman at the center of a marriage scam investigation are poised to serve the woman a fresh arrest warrant over another case of marriage fraud, investigative sources said.

Police are also carefully investigating the relationship between the woman and 41-year-old Yoshiyuki Oide, a man she had been dating who died from carbon monoxide poisoning in a rented car in a parking lot in Fujimi, Saitama Prefecture, in August.

Investigative sources said that when prefectural police analyzed the history of a computer seized from the woman's apartment, they found that the woman had been in contact with several dozen men through marriage introduction Web sites. Several men had deposited money into the woman's account or handed her cash, and investigators apparently uncovered another marriage fraud case.

Prefectural police have already arrested the woman on suspicion of swindling a total of about 3.2 million yen from men in Nagano and Shizuoka prefectures by pretending she was interested in marrying them. She was also served a fresh arrest warrant on Oct. 21 on suspicion of attempting to defraud a man in Saitama Prefecture out of around 2.1 million yen. The woman was indicted in a district court the same day on charges of fraud. Public prosecutors are expected to indict her on suspicion of attempted fraud in the near future. Original story...

Student was apparently strangled before she was decapitated

(Mainichi Japan) November 10, 2009

HIROSHIMA -- Murdered student Miyako Hiraoka was strangled before being decapitated and abandoned on a mountain in Hiroshima Prefecture, sources close to the investigation say. ...

...Hiraoka's torso was discovered in a forest on Mount Garyu (1,223 meters) on Sunday. Aside from strangulation marks, she had also suffered knife wounds to the chest. Her decapitated head showed a heavy blow to the face. There were also defense wounds, indicating she had put up a fight against her attacker. Leaf accumulation around the body points to her being abandoned a few days before she was found. ...

...Hiraoka went missing after leaving work on Oct. 26. More...

November Kimono 11月の着物

2009.11.07

Since I already has this kimono out (see below), I decided to wear it again to my yakitoriya-san on Saturday. I had wanted to dress it up nicer and wear it with a Nagoya obi this time, but after teaching in the morning, getting my hair done in the afternoon, and then getting my pictures from my Kyoto trip onto the photo-frame thingie to show my friends at the Yakitoriya-san, I didn’t have time to mess with a Nagoya obi, so I just wore this hanhaba Hakata obi in two tones with a subtle woven design of flowers, and tied it in a simple kai-no-guchi bow.




2009.11.03

November is the New Year for tea, when the new tea is freshly prepared. The third of the month is also a national holiday, Culture Day, in Japan, so Tea-sensei held a special lesson for us in the afternoon, whereas usually many of us can only come on Tuesday nights after work on normal days. Often on this day, we play a game where people are assigned roles by lottery in a game, but this time Sensei just assigned us are roles, so we could carry out the part of the tea ceremony that occurs after the kaiseki dinner. Granted this explanation probably doesn’t make a lot of sense unless you already know what I am talking about.

In any case, we were divided into two groups of four each with half being the hosts and half the guests. Then we did the whole thing again switching roles. It started out with rearranging the coals in the hearth (this is also the season when it switches to using the hearth in the floor) which occurs in a tea ceremony immediately after the guests arrive and are seated in the tea room proper. This was then followed by a serving a bean-pastry and “thick-tea,” then light confectionary and “thin tea.”

Sensei forgot to have us arrange the flowers, so after this first round she had the first guest arrange the flowers for the alcove. Then we all switched roles and did it again. I was a guest in the first round and rearranged the coals in the second round. Sensei assigned us roles we normally don’t get to do, and I have only rearranged the coals in a limited number of times during the many years I have been practicing tea. Hence, I was not too good at it. It looks easy when done well, but certainly takes practice.

Tea-sensei said we could come in regular everyday kimono, but many wore New Year’s-ish kimono in honor of the new tea. I thought the most attractive kimono was the black tsukesage my friend wore with a large motif of stylized camellia flowers with their outlines embroidered in gold-metallic thread. My friend had thought they were tachibana (orange flowers), but Sensei said they were camellias. Yesterday, I looked the motif up in a dictionary, and of course Sensei was right!

I wore this reddish-purple komon with lots of tiny flowers in different colors, paired with a tsumugi obi tied in a ya-no-ji bow. I had been talking to Sensei a week ago about this obi which I had recently bought. It is too short and narrow to be a Nagoya obi, but too wide and long to be a hanhaba (half-width) obi, so I was asking Sensei what kind of obi it was and she said she thought it must be a dance obi and asked me to wear it this time so she could see it, but since Sensei is not a dance practitioner, she didn’t have any more information about it.




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Exhibition of the Treasures of Komyoji and Pure Land Art 大本山光明寺と浄土教美術

* Click images to enlarge flyer.

Exhibition of the Treasures of Kōmyōji and Pure Land Art
大本山光明寺と浄土教美術−法然上人八百年大御忌記念−

Venue: Kamakura Museum 鎌倉国宝館
Dates: 10/23-11/29, 2009
Access: 12 min. walk from JR Kamakura Stn. or Enoden Kamakura Stn.
Map: (in Japanese)

Tawaraya Ryokan in Kyoto

Tawaraya is a place of ultimate peace and comfort, all those fortunate to be born human, should strive to stay there once


You need only wish for something, and it magically appears, or rather, before you can even imagine it, it is already there.

Off to Kyoto! (Day One) 京都へ （上巻）

More text to come...Or, maybe not

Mt. Fuji from Shinkansen 2009.10.30


Pink Edo Komon Kimono

First stop: Kimono rental near Kyoto station here (着物のステーション). I received so many compliments walking around in this kimono, now I want it for my own. I looked for something similar on Rakuten and Yahoo auctions, and found this already sold. Perhaps it is the same exact kimono?
http://item.rakuten.co.jp/kimonolife/1477554-5572/


Hosomi Museum: Suzuki Kiitsu Exhibition


Reflection of Fall Leaves

Tree-lined canal in north-eastern Kyoto near the Hosomi and other museums



Kudzu Leaves ?


Murin-an

Murin-an, villa turned hermitage, built by the wealthy statesman Yamagata Aritomo between 1894 and 1896.


Entrance to the strolling garden of the Murin-an, designed by the landscape architect Ogawa Jihee under the direction of Yamagata Aritomo, with glimpse of tea house to the left


Parlor on the second story in the Western-style brick building at the Murin-an where the famous “Murin-an Conference” was held immediately before the Russo-Japanese war by Prime Minister Katsura Taro, Minister of Foreign Affairs Komura Jutaro, Ito Hirobumi (President of the Rikken Seiyukai Party), and Yamagata Aritomo

Kansai Area Museums

* HOSOMI MUSEUM 細身美術館
Exhibition Schedule (in Japanese): http://www.emuseum.or.jp/exhibition/next_exhi.html



* IDEMITSU MUSEUM OF ART (OSAKA)
This museum closed forever on 3/23/2006



*KOBE CITY KOISO MEMORIAL MUSEUM OF ART 神戸市立小磯記念美術館
Exhibition Schedule (in Japanese): http://www.city.kobe.jp/cityoffice/57/
koiso_museum/tenrankai/schedule.html



* KOBE CITY MUSEUM 神戸市立博物館
Exhibition (in Japanese): http://www.city.kobe.jp/cityoffice/57/museum/tokuten/schedule.html



* KYOTO NATIONAL MUSEUM 京都国立博物館
Exhibition Schedule in Japanese: http://www.kyohaku.go.jp/jp/tenji/korekara/index.html



* KYOTO MUNICIPAL MUSEUM OF ART 京都市美術



* MIHO MUSEUM
Exhibition Schedule in English:
http://www.miho.jp/english/inform/new.htm
Exhibition Schedule in Japanese: http://www.miho.jp/japanese/inform/schedule2008.htm



* THE MUSEUM OF KYOTO 京都文化博物館
Exhibition Schedule (in Japanese): http://www.bunpaku.or.jp/exhi_future.html



* MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, SHIGA　滋賀県立近代美術館
Exhibition Schedule in English:
http://www.shiga-kinbi.jp/english/E-exhibition.html



* NARA PREFECTURAL MUSEUM OF ART 奈良県立美術館
Exhibition Schedule in Japanese:
(平成18年度展覧会予定)



* NARA NATIONAL MUSEUM 奈良国立博物館
Exhibition Schedule in English:
http://www.narahaku.go.jp/exhib/exhi-index_e.htm



* THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, KYOTO 京都国立近代美術館
Exhibition Schedule in English:

Exhibition Schedule in Japanese:
企画展



* OSAKA MUSEUM OF HISTORY大阪歴史博物館
Exhibition Schedule in Japanese:
平成１８年度年間行事予定
Exhibition Schedule in English



* OSAKA MUNICIPAL MUSEUM OF ART 大阪市立美術館
In Japanese:
Special Exhibitions
Exhibition Schedule in Japanese



* OTSU CITY MUSEUM OF HISTORY 大津市歴史博物館
Exhibition schedule in Japanese:
http://www.rekihaku.otsu.shiga.jp/kikaku/kikakuten.html#KIKAKU40



* YAMATO BUNKAKAN 大和文華館
Exhibition schedule in Japanese:
http://www.kintetsu.jp/kouhou/yamato/schedule/index.html




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* See also "Kyoto Latest Information Arts" at
http://kaiwai.city.kyoto.jp/raku/modules/information_en/index.php/arts.html

Fall Season TV Dramas--Auberginefleur's Picks 秋のドラマ（私の好み）

JIN
Starts October 11 (SUN), 2009 from 9 p.m.
(First episode 2 hour special)

Cast: Takao Osawa, Miki Nakatani, Haruka Ayase
URL: http://www.tbs.co.jp/jin2009/

Originally based on the serial comic “JIN” in the “Super Jump” magazine, this story is about a brain surgeon who time slips to the end of the Edo period after falling down some steps while chasing a patient who had tried to run away. Jin Minakata tries to save the people around him who are suffering from wounds and illnesses using all his knowledge and skills in a world where medical care is still so behind.Heroes of that period such as Ryoma Sakamoto also make their appearance. As soon as he goes back in time, he is faced with a dying samurai, Kyotaro, who urgently needs an operation. Jin does not understand what has happened but he performs the operation with a medical kit and a driller and a hammer that were in his hands. With the help of Kyotaro’s sister, Saki, he manages to save him. Jin desperately wants to go back to the “present” where his fiancée Miki is waiting, but one man appears in front of him…this man being one of the great heroes of that era. http://www.tbs.co.jp/eng/nowshowing/index.html#cs


Mitokomon
Currently on air Mondays from 8pm – 8:54pm

Cast: Kotaro Satomi, Ryuji Harada, Masashi Goda, Kaoru Yumi, Tento Matsui,
Sayaka Isoyama, Takashi Naito
URL: http://www.tbs.co.jp/mito/

Mitokomon was first broadcast on August 4th 1969 and celebrates its 40th anniversary this year!

The popular character in the show, Hachibei, makes his come back in this series, and is played by the Rakugo performer, Sanpei Hayashiya. In order to broaden his horizons, Hachibei decides to set off with the Mito Roko. The Mito Roko are spending a peaceful time at the Seizanso Inn when they hear news that there is trouble going on in Edo and that some men from the Mito clan are involved. The Roko set off to Edo with Suke-san and Kaku-san. Meanwhile Yashichi is working to get to the bottom of this matter… http://www.tbs.co.jp/eng/nowshowing/index.html#cs


Asami Mitsuhiko – The Last Chapter -
Starts October 21 (WED), 2009 from 9 p.m.
(First episode 2 hour special)

Cast: Ikki Sawamura, Morio Kazama, Sachie Hara, Chieko Kuroda
URL: http://www.tbs.co.jp/asami09/index-j.html

TBS has been broadcasting the “Asami Mitsuhiko” series for 15 years now in its 2-hour drama time spot. This time it returns to the screen as a serial drama. This series is not just a suspense drama, but a human drama that depicts the struggles and emotions that families go through.

Mitsuhiko Asami, a reporter for the magazine “Travel and History”, travels throughout the country to explore the history, legends, sites, and specialties of each area. He encounters various people while traveling and falls upon incidents every time. His curiosity and sense of justice push him to try to solve these incidents, and he manages to do so each time, sometimes with the help of his brother, Yoichiro, who is the chief detective at the Metropolitan Police Department.

The first episode, a 2-hour special, takes place at the Nebuta Festival, Osorezan Festival, and Towada Lake in Aomori prefecture. It depicts the unhappy lives of Shoko Fujinami, who has a tragic fate, and a man who has become full of revenge. The highlights are Mitsuhiko’s travels. Viewers can enjoy images of Japan’s beautiful sceneries while watching this drama. http://www.tbs.co.jp/eng/nowshowing/index.html#cs


Aibo Season 8
Wednesdays from 9:00 PM on TV Asahi

This is a fairly well done detective show with less predicable story lines than other similar shows. The fun of the show lies in the main character, Sugishita Ukyo (Mizutani Yutaka), portrayed as a well educated upper-class gentleman (obō-chama in Japanese) with all the humor the Japanese find in that role. His use of polite language is wonderful, and a great lesson for those interested in Japanese honorifics. He has a new sidekick this season. How well will they get along?



Sono Otoko, Fuku Shocho
Thursdays from 8:00 PM on TV Asahi



The Negotiator
Thursdays from 9:00 PM on TV Asahi



Ohitorisama
Starts October 16 (FRI), 2009 from 10 p.m.

Cast: Arisa Mizuki, Teppei Koike, Nao Matsushita, Miki Maya
URL: http://www.tbs.co.jp/ohitorisama2009/

There are many single women these days who have a job that they love and who are willing to invest a lot of money in their hobbies and beauty. However, this does not mean that they don’t want a partner to share their life with. This complex feminine state of mind and emotions are depicted in this love comedy “Ohitorisama” (in other words, “Ms. Alone”). Satomi Akiyama is a 33 year old high school history teacher. She is devoted to her job and has no time to find herself a boyfriend. She wants to and can do everything by herself (hence the nickname “Ms. Alone”). One day, a temporary teacher Shinichi Kamisaka comes to her school. He is 10 years younger than her. Shinichi is what you would call an “herbivore type” that is so common these days. At first, his helplessness irritates Satomi, but as she gets to know him better, her mind starts to change… Could a relationship between 2 people whose age, income, and status are so different work out or even possible??? http://www.tbs.co.jp/eng/nowshowing/index.html#cs

Sakura Motifs in Kimono 着物の桜模様

It strikes me that certain floral motifs, sakura (cherry blossoms) and kiku (chrysanthemum) in particular, are nearly all-seasonal. There is bound to be some species of chrysanthemum blooming at nearly anytime in Japan, and when it comes to sakura, as a design it is practically all-pervasive at all times in Japan.

That being said, or i.e. in caveat, stylized sakura designs may well be all-seasonal, but I suspect something so obvious as a sakura tree is still specific to its season. If worn with aplomb, a kimono with a fairly realistic depiction of a sakura tree would be worn just before sakura actually bloom, in late March in the case of Japan.

This (above top) is the sakura obi I bought about a month ago that engendered this conversation. You can see that it has a design of stylized sakura blossoms floating on the seigaiha-wave pattern. The shop person where I purchased it said I could wear this obi even now (in the autumn) and that this type of design could be worn all-year-round, which of course raised the question of what exactly “this type” means, and I suspect it means stylized sakura blossoms. As opposed to, this (immediately above) photo of a kimono with a design of a branch of weeping cherry blossoms found in the Utsukushii Kimono magazine of Spring 2009.




A bit unrelated but, when I dug out this photo for this post, it struck me that I didn’t really like the obi they paired it with and would myself have chosen a more subdued obi to go with this kimono. I often advise those quite a bit younger than me to choose obi with large-scale motifs (especially when pairing it with a furisode type of kimono), because large-scale motifs are inherently more young and cute according to Japanese aesthetics. Then, lo and behold, I noticed that this model also had her obi tied rather high up on her body, something I have often been criticized for in Japan because it makes me look too-leggy and out of proportion to the ideal (long-waist) Japanese body type. So either the leggy style is in, or they dressed the model too young for her age. The younger you are, the higher up you wear the obi.

The more I think about it, it is a rather odd coordination for this ensemble. The kimono design is appropriate for woman in her 30s or perhaps early 40s, but the obi design and way of wearing it is more appropriate for someone in their 20s or younger. Hmmm—what’s that all about?

I would have picked either of these two other obi depicted in the same magazine instead. Of course, I think my new obi also looks very nice with this kimono, should the magazine care to donate it to me.




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A "Brocade" of Autumn Leaves 紅葉の「錦」

日光・中禅寺湖　八丁出島、錦色に彩られ

10月16日21時52分配信 毎日新聞


　紅葉の名所として知られる栃木県日光市の中禅寺湖畔が秋色に彩られ、見ごろを迎えている。標高約１２７０メートルの湖周辺はモミジの色付きが遅れている以外はほぼ平年並み。今は華厳滝周辺から、いろは坂を駆け下りようとしていて、週末の１７、１８日にピークを迎えそう。男体山と湖を一望できる南岸の半月峠近くの展望台には多くの観光客が訪れ、湖にせり出す錦色の八丁出島をカメラに収めていた。【浅見茂晴】


Haccho Dejima Island on the Lake Chuzenji is ablaze with colorful leaves at the height of the foliage season in Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture. Famous for its beautiful autumn scenery, the area will attract many tourists over the weekend. (Mainichi)

“Brocade,” nishiki 錦 in Japanese, has long been used in Japanese poetry since about the time of the poetry collection the Man'yōshū 万葉集　(compiled around 759) to describe the brilliant colors of the autumn leaves. But, this is the first time in Japan I have really seen the fall leaves look like a brocade or tapestry.

Since I was at the university library yesterday, I decided to look up some examples of Japanese poetry using the term “brocade,” which I will post shortly once I translate them.


Kokinshū 古今集 #283

The Tatsutagawa river
Flowing with a mayhem of crimson leaves
Were I to cross this brocade,
It would be rendered apart

Tatsutagawa
Momiji midarete
Nagarumeri
Wataraba nishiki
Naka ya taenan

たつたがは
紅葉みだれて
ながるめり
わたらば錦
なかやたえなん

Shūishū "Autumn" 拾遺抄註　秋 #210

When not yet morning,
And the mountains of Arashi
Were to be cold,
In crimson leaves of brocade
Would none be unadorned

Asa madaki
Arashi no yama no
Samukereba
Momiji no nishiki
Kinu hito zo naki

朝まだき
あらしのやまの
さむければ
もみぢの錦
きぬ人ぞなき

The Kokinshū poetry collection was composed in 905 or 913 and the Shūishū poetry collection around 1005-1007. The Tatsutagawa and Arashiyama are two famous places for autumn leaves, obviously, often used in Japanese poetry. The Tatsutagawa is a river in Ikoma, located in the northwest area of Nara prefecture. Arashiyama is located in the northwest of Kyoto. I plan to visit the latter this coming weekend, so will hopefully post pics next week.