第一 J-CULT THURSJAY!

Over a year ago, I remember posting the following:

Ha! Well, that never really happened. Perhaps my little project was unreasonable considering how busy my life was at that time. Short films, theatrical productions and the like...     . . .

Instead of going all out, researching and writing a thesis on each topic that interests me, I am going to trawl the net each Thursday and find one thing I like from Japanese culture. I'm going to call this section THURS J-CULT! I'm hoping there are no horrid cults out there calling themselves this. So, this is most likely going to be from Japanese pop culture, but I wont close any doors. Not even my front door. (It's rather hot and the breeze is gently blowing up my short leg...)

Today will be the first, and I have no idea what I'm going to find. Let's have a look now. BRB......

Well, I have found something super interesting related to Japanese culture! It is also related to teddy bears, and who doesn't like soft, fluffy things!

Steiff, the maker of the very first teddy bear in the whole entire world, has just made a totoro plushie! In case you didn't know, My Neighbour Totoro (となりのトトロ) is an anime and a Hayao Miyazaki masterpiece from 1988. (Check here for a trailer!) 

(From http://yattarjapan.com/en/3008302/)

Apparently Steiff has made Hello Kitty plushies in the past, but the totoro plushie will be the first plushie from a collaboration between Steiff and Studio Ghibli. 

Unfortunately you can't buy it now, but if you get in early, you'll be able to score yourself one for about $400 sometime next year in 2015! Remember, you have to fill up the back seat of your car with soft toys and that includes Steiff teddy bears. Just don't park anywhere with a high crime rate... Steiff totoro plushies are a limited edition, so don't wait! I want one, but I am still trying to justify purchasing a giant pikachu plushie from the Pokemon Centre in Japan last year...

Notes on Yakuza

So, I've been interested in the yakuza a little recently after watching My Boss My Hero, so I decided to learn a bit more about it all. 

The following are some notes I have made from wikipedia*. I wrote them for my own use, but thought others might like to read a mini-summary (if it makes sense to you...)

* I have put "from wikipedia" in bold as I have no idea whatsoever if it is ok to take notes from wiki which are and are not in my own words and then put them on my blog. I am in no way stating that I wrote the following or am trying to pass it off as my own. Well, it's probably in such "note" form that it doesn't make sense to anyone else... but yeah, as I don't really know if it's ok to do this, I thought I'd clarify myself a bit. Did I say the following words are notes I have made from wikipedia?

---------

Yakuza

General:
- aka gokudou (or bouryokudan by police / media, or ninkyou dantai by yakuza themselves).
- members of transnational & international crime syndicates
- strict codes of conduct / organised nature

Divisions:
- tekiya (one of lowest social groups in Edo / ilicit and stolen goods / later formed own organisations, took over some commerce and admin roles in society, then allowed members to be peddlers or guards at festivals etc. / peddlers paid rent for their positions / Edo govt. formally recognised the tekiya organisations and gave the leaders permission to carry nagawakizashi (previously only noblemen and samurai could have swords on their person).
- bakuto (gambling / the lowest social class as gambling was illegal / opened small gambling houses in abandoned temples etc / the gambling houses ran loan shark businesses / bakuto looked down upon / negative aspects of yakuza originate from the bakuto - even the word yakuza refers to a losing hand in oicho-kabu blackjack.

Structure and other stuff:
- due to economic sitch in mid-period, yakuza groups were made up of delinquants / yakuza initiation ceremonies still incorporate tekiya & bakuto rituals, today's yakuza groups still may identify with one group in particular / kyushu island has been largest source of yakuza members / 60% of yakuza decendants of bakumin (a feudal outcast class) 

- obayan/kobun hierarchy / sakazumi ie. sharing of sake cup / during WWII yakuza organisations declined to focus on war efforts / yakuza members cut family ties to show loyalty to oyabun / women yakuza called nee-san / those that receive sakazumi become part of immediate family and are ranked little or big brother / kobun can offer sakazumi to underlings to form own affiliated subsidiary organisation. / yakuza full body tattoos (when playing oicho-kabu, yakuza may remove shirt to display tattoo).

Rituals:
- yubitsume (cutting of the finger as form of apology or penance / transgressor cuts tip off left little finger and gives to boss / transgressor's superior can spare him and take blame / yubitsume has origins in the holding of katana as it would weaken the grip of the sword and force the transgressor to rely more on his gang / prosthetic little fingers used to hide this from others.

Largest Groups: 
1) yamaguchi-gumi - began 1915 / 55,000 members / 850 clans / make up 50% of all yakuza
2) sumiyoshi-kai - 20,000 members / 277 clans / federation
3) inagawa-kai - 15,000 members / 313 clans

Today:
- yakuza groups have helped during disasters - such as Kobe earthquake. 
- many syndicates ban drug trafficking.
- yakuza has ties with realty and the banking market.

Ref:
Yakuza @ Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakuza
Oicho-Kabu @ Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oicho-Kabu

神道

Well, I had planned to write a little more tonight than I have, but I'm a little tired and can't concentrate enough. Sorry guys!

今晩は神道についてもっとを書くつもりだったけど、疲れていて、力を注げない。皆さん、ごめんね！

Shintoism, or kami no michi (way of the Gods), is the indigenous belief system of the Japanese people, involving a set of practices which maintain the connection between modern and Ancient Japan.　Shintoism was first recorded in the 8th century in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki.  

In Shinto belief, everything contains a kami or spirit including mountains, trees, rocks and rivers.

One of the oldest Shinto Shrines in Japan, Tsubaki Grand Shrine.

神道は日本人の土着信念体系です。神道は今の日本と古い日本の関係を保つためにの宗教的な修行です。

八世紀の日本書紀と古事記で最初に書き留められました。


神道の信念によると、すべての物の中に神がいます。神は山とか川とか木とか岩の中あります。

Ref:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinto
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/shinto/ataglance/glance.shtml

新しい日本文化研究方法！

今日は僕の日本文化計画を変わる事にします！毎月新しい日本文化についてトピックを研究する予定です。今月はもう始めましたので、二月間に次のトピックを一つ研究します。

今月のトピックは神道です。毎ブログ投稿は、僕が神道について何かを書きましょう。誰もが僕のブログ投稿を理解できるように英語とか日本語で書いてみます。


Today I decided to change my Japanese culture research project! Each month I plan to study a new topic about Japanese culture. As this month has already begun, I will study my next topic over two months. 

This month's topic is Shinto! In each blog post, I will write something about Shinto. So that everyone can understand, I will try to write in both Japanese and English.

アジア研究

みなさん！今晩自分が設計したアジア研究を勉強して決めたよ。興味があるトピックについて研究して勉強します。例えば：

- 能楽堂
- 文楽
- 歌舞伎
- 声明
- 日本の伝統的な楽器
- 雅楽
- 神道
- 日本の神話
- 善仏教
- 新宗教
- 侍
- 芸者
- 書道-
- 日本の歴史

年末までにそのトピックについてたくさん良くに分かりたいですね。：）日本について面白くて重要なトピックのお進めとか質問をあれば、ここでポストを書いてください。日本について有識者に成りたいですね。：P

A different mood.

Well, it's been a bit quiet for the last few weeks in relation to my Asian language learning. I don't know if anyone else has the same problem as me, but I often switch between my two loves - Asian languages and European languages. I started this blog during my Asian-mood and did lots and lots of Japanese study, but now I am in my Euro-mode and I've been focussing on the other languages I'm learning. This happens every so often - and I can't really control it. I will get back into studying Japanese soon - maybe in a few weeks - then again, I may return to my Asian-mood tomorrow! Until whenever that is, see you soon and thanks for reading!

It's almost a little late to post this, but a few days ago, I found this little clip on Youtube. There are four parts, so please enjoy!