The year of the dragon, (tatsu, ryu or ryo in Japanese) is upon us - and now just hours before the New Year, I can see the dragon peeking out of his lair, counting down the seconds until he is allowed to take over the world for a year. As midnight approaches, he waits . . . 10, 9, 8, 7, ready to pounce . . . 6, 5, 4, breathing fire 3, 2, 1. . . . Happy New Year! We are engulfed in flames.
Japanese dragons are said to be benevolent but don't be fooled. They can still be very wrathful.
Take the legend of Burning Mountain, for example. Burning Mountain is in Shikoku, between temples 11 and 12 on the Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage. The name Burning Mountain comes from a legend that Kobo Daishi (774-835), the founder of Shingon Buddhism in Japan, subdued a fiery dragon who lived there. (Japan Times)
The sky-high yen and global economic downturn will likely continue to exert downward pressure on the economy in 2012, but domestic demand linked to postdisaster reconstruction work is expected to underpin growth.
Japan is stepping up its austerity measures, including preparations for raising the consumption tax as early as in 2013, amid increasing concern that any delay in fiscal rehabilitation could in the long term cause the bond market to collapse in a similar manner to eurozone nations.
The Bank of Japan, which has little room to lower its key interest rate from the current zero to 0.1 percent range, may lack alternative options to boost economic growth, although expanding its asset-purchase program could be an option. (Japan Times)
A: "Let's hit hard at the face-off and please just go with the flow after that."
B: "Gotcha! I'll put up a bit of a struggle but go with the flow."
Wink, wink.
This stranger than fiction text message exchange, just one of many which uncovered a veritable "Cheaters' Guide to Sumo," embodied the depths to which the ancient sport had fallen in 2011 - once again caught with its collective pants down, its sullied loincloth flapping in the wind.
To say the least, the match-fixing scandal that came to light on Feb. 2, 2011, would become the core issue. (Japan Times)
When talking about books, there are not as many polarizing issues as the contrast between chain bookstores and independent booksellers. Many people blame the former group for the gradual disappearance of the latter.
Without demonizing the big chains, independent shops have traditionally been an important part of the local community. This is particularly true for the English-language used bookstores which for many years have been serving the expatriate community across Japan. The two only surviving shops in Tokyo - Good Day Books and The Blue Parrot - are devoted to their mission and plan to stay around for many more years to come. (Japan Times)
Japan's recent efforts to move ahead with a controversial plan to relocate a key U.S. Marine base and its choice of the U.S.-led F-35 stealth fighter as its new mainstay fighter highlight its continuing priority of deepening security ties with the United States.
Tokyo's new policy of easing restrictions on a longstanding arms export ban has also created new rules that allow it to take part in joint arms development and production with close ally Washington and other friendly nations.
But with these decisions reached toward the end of 2011 despite strong opposition and not much debate, critics argue that the government's moves were ill-timed and hasty. (Japan Times)
Fishmonger Kitaichi Sakai founded Uoki K. Sakai Co. market in a city that was just rebuilding after the devastating 1906 earthquake.
For more than 105 years, the grocery survived - from the Sakai family's internment during World War II to the migration of Japanese-Americans to the suburbs. But this year, the realities of running a family business, coupled with the economic aftershocks of this year's earthquake and tsunami in Japan, led to the closure of this pillar of Japantown.
The Sakai market will close its Post Street doors at 5 p.m. Saturday, according to a sign handwritten in English and Japanese that was taped near the front door earlier this month.
"We're losing a landmark," Richard Hashimoto, president of the Japantown Merchants Association, said of the specialty food shop that packs aisles with sake, natto, nori, takenoko and daikon.
(sfexaminer.com)
Japanese tattooist Horihiro came to Melbourne for a holiday but has spent much of his time decorating the arms and backs of a lucky few.
As one of only about five masters in the world who specialise in the art of wabori - the manual tattooing of traditional images, favoured by the Japanese mafia or yakuza - Horihiro has been in high demand since arriving in December.
Using a needle attached to a wooden stick, Horihiro uses quick, rhythmic jabs to insert ink about six millimetres deep in the skin. The technique, which dates from the Eno period in 17th century Japan, produces a more vibrant, longer-lasting colour, but is much more laborious than electric machine tattooing, used widely in Australia. A full-body tattoo, favoured by the yakuza, could take more than 50 long sessions over a year.
(The Age)
