A Christmas Video by Sufjan Stevens

When Sufjan had a concert in Tokyo early this year this year a good friend of ours was in the show so my family got complimentary tickets; we all loved it. Rather quirky and a lot of fun, it was the first concert that my eleven year old daughter really enjoyed.

I want to wish readers a "Merry Christmas!" I hope you enjoy this delightful video by Sufjan.

Christmas Cheer

Japanese ingenuity will never cease to amaze me. Take, for example, turning your produce section into a wind ensemble. Enjoy this... unique... rendition of "Angels We Have Heard on High," and have a great Christmas season!

Looking For a Fun Way to Learn Japanese?

Learning Japanese often feels like an unending marathon with lots of effort but little to show for it. Over the years I have found that comic relief is essential and really does help with learning the language.

Here is a clip that we usually watch when we have visitors from outside Japan, if you have studied Japanese at least a little you will probably get a lot of enjoyment out of it:

A Group of Cats Learning Japanese (you will need flash installed to view this clip)
SHIMBASHI - The Yamanote Line
CHIBA - Japanese Prefectures (Thanks to Stephen Shores for the tip)

[Scot's note: these are both done by the comedy duo "The Ramens", who also did the video series I posted a little while ago]

If you have found a fun way to learn Japanese that works for you, please leave a comment.

Looking for Great Photos of Japan?

Photos of Japan are easy to come by; good photos of Japan are a little bit rarer. I have spent time slogging through different websites out there looking for great photos of Japan, and have found some gems -- several that belong to friends of mine. So, enjoy browsing through their sites. If you use any of these pictures, please give credit to the photographer!

Andy Gray - Japan Window (Various) : Andy has a tremendous collection of very good photos on his site -- this is a rich resource for photos of Japan AND for commentary on life in Japan. Andy and his family (he has three cute little girls, two of which are twins) lived next door to me for a couple of years. At that he was just getting his web site established but now, he has almost one thousand photos, organized in easy to navigate categories. A number of Andy's photos feature one or more of his daughters. [http://japanwindow.com/]

Andy Gray just sent me the following wonderful photo, and wrote "these days I'm posting more at www.photosensibility.com rather than at JapanWindow.com











For several more amazing people photos by Andy go HERE


Tim Crowson - Tim Crowson Photography (Scenery and Black Gospel Concert): During the two years Tim lived in Japan he took some exceptional photos. Many of his scenery shots are stunning, and he also has an album of photos he took at a black gospel choir concert (with mostly Japanese singers!). [http://timcrowson.smugmug.com/]

Robin White - Outlook on Japan (City Shots/Everyday Life): Robin lives in Nagoya, so he has lots of opportunities to get shots of people going about their daily business. [http://outlookonjapan.com/index.php?x=browse&pagenum=1]













Here are a few more options from people that I don't know:

TREK EARTH Trek Earth (Locations): a huge collection of photos organized by location. If you are looking for shots of a particular place in Japan, this is a great place to start. [http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Asia/Japan/]

Chuck Neel (aka Slug) - Japan Photo Gallery by Slug (People): Lots of people shots, primarily in and around Tokyo. [http://www.pbase.com/slug/japan&page=all]

Eric Lafforgue's Flickr Page (Close Ups of People): a good site for closeups of people of all fashions (ancient and modern) and ages. You'll find everything from standard to sumo to kabuki to the street fashions of Shibuya and Harajuku. [http://flickr.com/photos/mytripsmypics/sets/72057594066310184/]

"ENGRISH" Site (Humor): Engrish.com is a classic site chronicling badly used English in advertisements, signs, and translated media. Not all of it is from Japan, but a good portion is. This site is great for a laugh. [http://engrish.com/]

I hope you enjoy these pictures. Do you know of any more great sites? Do you want to put in a plug for your own photos of Japan? Leave a comment!

Thanks to Scot Eaton for his excellent editing help on this post.

Stuffing Humans on Trains in Tokyo

This video, taken on our train line, is for real. It shows one aspect of what life is like in Tokyo, it happens almost every day of the year, over the years we have experienced it many times.

A Little Humor

This post has absolutely nothing to do with worship or the arts. It's just for fun. I came across a video series called "The Japanese Tradition" by the Japanese comedy duo "The Ramens." And I almost fell out of my chair laughing. It's really understated humor, so not everyone will get it, but for those that do, it will brighten your day. The first two links are understandable by anyone, even if you're not in Japan, and from there they get a little harder to understand without some personal experience. Enjoy!

Chopsticks (3:18) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjuD52s0GBs&feature=related
Origami (6:24) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhSjtXKsSJQ&feature=related
Sushi (8:07) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIb6ZSqal64&feature=related
Shazai - How to Apologize (3:38) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4bMM73-qHo&feature=related
Green Tea [not yet subtitled] (3:00) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLtaVoH0WAc&feature=related

Kosai - Dating (27:10) - This is the best one by far. It's hilarious, but it's 27 minutes long, and requires a bit of Japanese cultural knowledge. It's split into 4 parts.
Part 1 - http://youtube.com/watch?v=PO5IDiYPXPo
Part 2 - http://youtube.com/watch?v=iPa2WIIaVY4&feature=related
Part 3 - http://youtube.com/watch?v=dID_LZwQgmI&feature=related
Part 4 - http://youtube.com/watch?v=YPrvWxittxY&feature=related

CAN Monthly January, 2008

Every month we (CAN) hold a "CAN Monthly" meeting. We have held a number of "open mic" events over the past year where participants share their gifts and abilities. We have had ballet, traditional Japanese dance, hip hop dance, hip hop music, lots of other styles of music, visual arts, film, and poetry presented. Most participants do original material, with some outstanding talent represented. It has been fun, and very rewarding to be a part of these Monthly Meetings. Our purpose includes networking, encouraging participants, and giving everyone a "safe" place to perform.

Last Saturday (1-12-08) we had our first 2008 "CAN Monthly." Going into it I thought we were going to have around five people show up, I even suggested that we cancel it. That was a really dumb idea as it turned out to be one of our best meetings. Around thirty people showed up and we had dance, music, poetry, and an illustrator who showed and talked about his art.

We met in a wonderful church building in Chiba. Kashiwa Glory Chapel is an old warehouse that the church refurbished into a warm, inviting beautiful church site.

And, the food was absolutely delicious. The pastor's wife cooked us a huge meal that included coffee and desert (see photos).

I am looking forward to the rest of this year, meeting new people, seeing people get excited about what God is doing in their lives and being a part of what CAN connected artists are doing. I plan to do a monthly report on our meetings.

The video below is of three children at our CAN meeting performing a hip hop dance. Their teacher, who was also at the meeting, is a well-known mainstream dancer in Tokyo. Great to see Christians in strategic arenas like the hip hop sub-culture in Japan (which is large).

Christmas dinner -- Japanese style

An article by AMY CHAVEZ on the Japan Times Site

Christmas in Japan has always left a little to be desired, but you can't blame the Japanese for this -- they're merely importing the parts they like. And why not? They are quite sure God understands this. I imagine the first Japanese importer went abroad to some place like the U.S., held up a Wal-Mart store with a samurai sword and said: "Give me your entire stock of blinking lights and the sparkly trees!" He then took all the decorations back to Japan and set up pachinko parlors.

Read the rest at: Christmas dinner -- Japanese style

"Eight or Nine, Maybe Ten"

"Eight or Nine, Maybe Ten" is what my Dad said when I asked him now many church dinners he and his girlfriend Aggie had attended. Now, for those of you who don't know what "church dinners" are.... There is this tradition in Minnesota where every fall churches, mostly of the Lutheran variety, serve a meal in the church. The churches charge admission (according to my Dad rates vary from $7.00 to $12.00). So, this is not a program for reaching out to the homeless. The more popular ones attract large crowds (hundreds) hungry for featured items like home made pies, ham, roast beef, turkey, Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes, gravy, lefse and yes, of course, lutefisk. Most all of them have lefse, some have Lutefisk. "It was no good" was my Dad's response to the Lutefisk he got this year.

My 86-year-old Dad and I outside his apartment in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota

Lefse & lutefisk are what a lot of people get excited about.

Lefse is a primarily potato driven, flat, soft, bread type of delicacy that purists (i.e. my family eats it) roll up and eat cold with a little butter and white sugar.

Lutefisk is a barely edible, slimy, gelatin like, white fish that they soak in lye (can you imagine eating something that has soaked in lye for weeks, perhaps months)? When I was a kid, I sold Lutefisk to our customers in the Red Owl store in Kerkhoven MN. We would get large vats full of liquid with the lutefisk floating in it. We kept these vats in the walk in cooler. People would come up to the counter and order big portions of it so I would go into the walk in, fish it out (pun intended) of the ice cold fluid, and put the slimy, nasty stuff into clear plastic bags. Made me wonder if our customers hadn't lost their minds.

Apparently, they took it home, ate it and enjoyed it because every year, late in the fall, we sold hundreds of pounds of Lutefisk. The season for Lutefisk sales in MN runs from around Halloween, ramping up to Christmas when demand is high. After Christmas, Lutefisk pretty much disappears from both stores and minds until the next season rolls around.

For those of us from a Scandinavian background, both lefse and lutefisk bring back memories of home, Christmas and of Mom cooking up all kinds of great stuff in the kitchen. I guess that is why I miss it so much.

There really are a few people who live the life of Lake Woebegone.

"COLORS" by Naomi Nethercott

Colors,

Bright, dark, and beautiful,

Someone is drawing,

The colors are acting colorful,

It feels like colors are everywhere.

This type of poem is called a Cinquain. Naomi will turn ten next month and is in fourth grade.

Reflections on Cornerstone Festival 07 by Nancy Nethercott

Cornerstone is big, it is also eclectic, which makes it difficult to imagine it unless you experience it. There are a large number of venues/stages where all kinds of concerts, workshops and other events are taking place simultaneously, all day, and late into the night.
Two of those venues are called Flickerings (primarily a place to show movies) and Imaginarium (mostly for workshops). It was these two venues that featured Japanese pop culture.

Nancy’s Cornerstone Festival experience: I went into the week wondering what I would get out of an event like this and was thrilled with what I found there. For starters, Paul's workshops targeted American youth and adults who are fans of Japanese "anime." Paul did a great job of presenting on the relationship of anime and Japanese history, culture, and religion. Paul also presented a videotaped interview that he produced of a young man who had been "hikikomori" ("a modern, Japanese hermit”) and talked about pop culture in Japan.

I attended a seminar by a Wheaton professor analyzing the theological writings of N.T. Wright - helping people sort through what is theologically sound and what is questionable. I attended a workshop on creative use of the arts in worship, another on contextualization of the gospel for missions AND in the US.

I also attended a lovely evening worship service led by a group from a Lutheran church. I walked through a well-done and meaningful art gallery focused on Christ and His work in our world. I had great conversations with a Presbyterian pastor, another Wheaton professor, TEAM MKs, TEAM staff, Asbury seminary students, a Baptist church youth group, Christian punk rock band members, EV Free Church people, etc. Naomi (nine year old daughter) was happily engaged in two areas - one a typical VBS program and the other "Art Rageous" where kids could be creative and make a mess!

Anyway, while I may not have "liked" all the music that there was at Cornerstone, the atmosphere and direction/theological soundness of the conference was not a concern. It was a place where people of all kinds could come and explore their relationship with the Lord in a safe place without being the "weird" ones (like they might be in some church settings) but with plenty of godly people there to steer them in the right direction.



Information on Cornerstone: Wikipedia

Cornerstone Photos:

1. The Nethercotts in a golf cart we borrowed from Imaginarium/Flickerings.

2. Daughter Naomi in front of Imaginarium tent -- made up to look like a fall-out shelter.

3. Paul standing beside cut out of "Totoro" a character from the movie "My Neighbor Totoro." This movie was produced by Hayao Miyazaki -- on of the most well-known creaters of Japanese anime.

Mujo No Kaze Trailer

LINK to New High Quality Trailer

I am one of the producers for this short film, which was shot on location in Tokyo during the first week of January, 2007. Mujo no Kaze is now in post production, it will be completed sometime in the summer of 07. This is a joint project with CAN and Biola University's Film Department