Japanese Youth Wow Golfing World

The country of Japan is made up of countless talented individuals – and we’re not talking solely about technology here. In fact, this nation has made its contribution in many other sectors such as arts and sports. This time, a young Japanese national is making waves in the world of golf.

Ryo Ishikawa is already known all over Japan as the newest hit in golf. Pretty soon, he just might make history if he breaks into the international scene. He was recently featured at Golf Online:

The prodigious talent, who won the Japan Tour’s Munsingwear Open KSB Cup when he was 15, has already been asked to appear at three US PGA Tour tournaments in the run up to the Augusta showpiece.

“We see this as an opportunity to expose an emerging talent on a world stage and fulfil our objective to grow the game.”

Indeed, “the Bashful Prince,” which is the English translation of his Japanese moniker Hanikami Ōji, is someone that the whole nation can be proud of. And even people from outside his country are starting to take notice. I wouldn’t be surprised if we hear more from the Prince in the near future.

Japanese Christian Martyrs To Honored

When we speak of Japan and religion, the faiths that normally come to mind are Shintoism and Buddhism. After all, these are the religions that are most practiced in the country (and many other Eastern countries). A less known fact is that there is a strong Christian community in Japan and that the country has long history relating to this major world religion.

As a testament to this, the Roman Catholic Church is beatifying Japanese Christian martyrs. What you may not know – and to be honest, I didn’t know this either – is that many Japanese people were persecuted because of their Christian faith in the 1600s. These people came from all walks of life. Some were samurais, some were housewives, some were even children!

On Monday, the Roman Catholic Church is going to hold a ceremony honoring these people. According to the tenets of this religion, this kind of ceremony is going to bestow the people an honor one step below sainthood. More than the beatification of the martyrs, however, the ceremony means a lot to the relatively small number of Christians in the country. For them, it is a show of strength, a testament to the existence of their faith in a country dominated by other religions.

Another interesting piece of trivia for you: did you know that Japan currently has a Roman Catholic Prime Minister in Taro Aso? He actually holds the distinction of being the first ever Catholic PM of the country!

Kazuki Nakajima

What is so special about the 28th of September this year? If you have been paying attention to Formula 1 on the news, you would know that history is being made as I write this. At this very moment, the very first F1 night street race is being held in Singapore and one of the drivers is Japanese.

Kazuki Nakajima drives for the Williams-Toyota team, together with Nico Rosberg. Nakajima was born in January 11, 1985 in Okazaki, Aichi, Japan. As a child, Nakajima was not a stranger to the world of racing. In fact, he was only 11 years old when he started Karting and a mere three years later, he was dubbed the champion of Suzuki Formula ICA karting. He was then subsequently snapped up by Toyota to join their Young Drivers’ Program.

Some say that he purposely went with Toyota despite his father’s strong ties with Honda, which is the former’s arch rival. The rationale is that he wanted to prove that his father has nothing to do with his success in his racing career. Well, he did prove that because in 2006, he started as a test driver for Williams and in October 9 of 2007, he finally got a break when he replaced Alexander Wurz as a driver for Williams. He drove in the final race in Brazil that year and finished in 10th place.

Today, Nakajima is a household name in the world of F1 racing. Though he has not made such big waves as the other drivers have, he certainly is someone to be proud of.

Mt. Fuji Skate For Charity

Acts of charity are always considered news worthy and this item is no different. A young British adventurer is planning a considerable feat that would benefit charity. He plans to skate down Mt. Fuji with the aim of helping The Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths.

Mt. Fuji, as you might already know, is the most popular peak in Japan. It is visited by countless tourists from all over the world as well as the locals. Year in and year out, people come in droves to experience this majestic mountain for themselves. James Langridge, however, is not only coming for his own sake.

Japan Today reports:

Langridge arrives with the aim of skateboarding down Mt Fuji for charity. This will be his first trip to Japan, so his knowledge of the mountain is limited to online articles, images from Google Earth and advice from people who have visited.

Langridge plans to get an early start, and he’s been assembling a team that’s randomly come together since he first put word out. “Some of the Outdoor Japan people [who took part in the first descent] have said they might join me. A few people have also contacted me over the internet expressing interest — one from Hawaii, one from Baltimore, and one from Sweden,” he says. “People can contact me by email if they want to join in.”

I admire this guy’s sense of adventure as well as intent. I hope that he succeeds!

63 Japanese Set For Space Burial

At the end of this month, 63 Japanese will be “buried” in space. The ceremonial burial is in fact going to include people from all over the world. This service is provided by Celestis, Inc, a company from the United States.

Celestis has been providing this service since 1997. According to a spokesman, since the space burial service was launched, the Japanese has become their second most numerous customers, the first being Americans. So what exactly is a space burial anyway?

The first step is for the deceased to be cremated here on Earth. The ashes which result from the cremation are then placed into capsules – or rather, a small amount of the ashes. The capsules range from 1 gram to 14 grams, depending on the person. The capsules containing the ashes of the deceased are the placed in a satellite, which will eventually be launched into space. Once launched, the satellite will be orbiting the Earth for several years, after which it will burn out in space.

How much will a space burial set you back? Celestis advertises different services in their web site and based on the information given there, you can spend anywhere from USD695 to USD12,500. The services range from Earth Rise Service, Earth Orbit Service, Luna Service, and Voyager Service, respectively.

For more information – whether you are merely curious or you want to make plans for your future – visit the Celestis web site.

For Expecting Mothers Only

As if carrying a child inside one’s self is not hard enough already, pregnant women can actually encounter difficulties when availing of other services – well, at least in Japan. Come to think of it, though, not all establishments are equipped with pregnant women-friendly services. That is why Ryoko Tsukuda thought of creating the “Maternity Plan,” which is a program geared towards making life comfortable for those who are with child.

Her brainchild is the product of a personal experience. When she was pregnant, she tried to make reservations at a hot spring resort for herself and her mother. However, when the management found out that she was pregnant, she was informed that she could not use the common bath. As she was working for Kinki Nippon Tourist Co, she thought of coming up with a travel plan for mothers-to-be like herself. Her company bought the idea easily and launched the program February of last year.

What Ryoko Tsukuda did was to visit inns, hotels, and other establishments that have facilities that are suitable for pregnant women. To date, the travel plan is experiencing continued success.

There are also other establishments like Hiromaru Taxi Co which cater to pregnant women. In April of this year, they launched a program called Jintsu 119. The idea is to have women register their home address and hospital in advance. When the time comes to give birth, a taxi will be sent immediately to take the woman to the hospital.

Interesting concepts, don’t you think?

Photo courtesy of Robert Whitlock

U.S. Navy Goes Manga

Not everyone loves manga, the Japanese comics. I would say that it does have a considerable following outside of Japan. Needless to say, the Japanese people have a strong passion for manga. Perhaps that is why the U.S. Navy has decided to go with this art form in an attempt to allay the concerns of Japanese citizens with regard to the George Washington, a nuclear powered aircraft carrier.

The George Washington is to be stationed in Yokosuka and will arrive there in August. The online newspaper Japan Today reports:

The U.S. Navy in Japan said Wednesday it has produced a Japanese ‘‘manga’’ comic book describing the daily life of the crew of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier George Washington which will arrive in Yokosuka in August. U.S. Naval Forces Japan, based in the city, plans to give away several thousand copies of the book to people in front of the base from noon Sunday in an apparent bid to dismiss safety concerns over the first nuclear-powered U.S. naval vessel to use a Japanese city as a homeport.

The book ‘‘Manga CVN73,’’ named after the carrier’s number in the U.S. Navy, depicts the hardships of a fictitious young U.S. sailor of Japanese descent engaging in various missions on the carrier and his experiences after the ship arrives in the port city in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo. Two Japanese cartoonists Harumi Sato and Hiroshi Kazusa did the drawings.

Cmdr Dave Waterman, the chief of the naval force’s Public Affairs Office, told reporters that readers would learn from the comic book that the crew is professional and constantly trains so that damage control in any kind of event can be addressed.

Do you think this approach will work? I cannot say, but I do think that the use of manga is a marvelous idea.

Shunsuke Nakamura

Though the Japanese may not be as well known for sports as the Chinese are, they do have their own share of nationals who have played or are playing for famous teams in other countries. In the world of football, they have Shunsuke Nakamura, who is currently playing for Celtic in the Scottish Premier League.

So why are we featuring Shunsuke Nakamura? We actually got wind of him through Patrick Brennan’s e-mail (Thanks, Patrick!). To be honest, I have never heard of him before, so I did some research, and this is what I found on Wikipedia:

He is one of the most prominent and successful Asian players to have played in Europe and on 13 September 2006 became the first Japanese player to score in the Champions League and the second Asian player to do so.

He has won the Asian Cup in 2000 and 2004 with the Japanese national football team, and was named Most Valuable Player in the 2004 competition. He has also appeared in the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, and the 2000 Summer Olympics as a member of the Japanese Under-23 team.

Apparently, his success has become a bitter pill to swallow for fans of their archrival team, the Rangers. They have started (and are continuing) a campaign, which I find particularly offensive due to its racist slant. I do not want to promote racism of any kind but perhaps, if we get the word out, we can stand up against this. The slogan that the Rangers’ fans are using has something to do with the idea that people from Japan eat dog meat – you can see a video on YouTube highlighting this.

It shouldn’t really matter, but just to set the record straight – the Japanese in general do not eat dog. Oh the complexities of race…

Nomi No Ichi – Japanese Flea Markets

A flea market by any other name is still a flea market – and in Japan, it is called nomi no ichi. This traditional name is still used by the older generation in Japan but the young people use the global term flea market. Today, flea markets still abound in Japan, perhaps even more than in the past. This should not really be a surprise as the Japanese are known to be environmentally conscious, maybe more than some other nations today. They even have the word mottainai, which refers to the concept of recycling – reduce, reuse, and recycle.

As such, one can find most anything in the nomi no ichi – everything that the Japanese people deem reusable can be found here. Flea markets can be found almost anywhere in Japan. They are normally held during on the weekends, from early morning to late afternoon. The venue is usually on temple grounds and shrine grounds. According to the Japan National Tourist Organization, some of the most popular nomi no ichi in Japan include:

*Togo-no-Mori Nomi-no-ichi at Togo Shrine in Tokyo (3-min. walk from JR Harajuku Station); 1st Sunday of every month.
*Hanazono Jinja Nomi-no-ichi at Hanazono Shrine in Tokyo (5-min. walk from Shinjuku Sanchome Station); every Sunday (except May and November).
*Kyoto Temmangu Nomi-no-ichi at Kitano Temmangu Shrine in Kyoto (30 min. by bus from JR Kyoto Station); on the 25th of every month.
*Kyoto Toji Garakuta-ichi & Kobi-ichi at the South Gate of Toji Temple in Kyoto (10-min. walk from Toji Station on Kintetsu Line); Japan’s largest flea market, the 21st of every month, with a smaller market 1st Sunday of every month.

The next time you pay Japan a visit, try roaming these grounds and you might just find something to take home with you!

Urawaza – Quirky Japanese Solutions

We all love how the Japanese think – they are just a breed of their own! I believe that nothing showcases this way of thinking more than a recently released book entitled Urawaza: Secret Everyday Tips and Tricks from Japan. Quite obviously, with the release of this book, these supposedly secret everyday tips and tricks no longer remain secret.

Written by Lisa Katayama, who was born in Tokyo, Urawaza highlights tons of quick fixes for mundane things. It could have been an ordinary collection of DIY tricks except that the solutions that Katayama are things that we probably would not have thought of – that is, unless you are Japanese.

How’s this for starters – put your plant in a water soaked diaper if you are going away on a trip and you can’t find anyone to water it for you. Over time, it will slowly soak the water from the diaper, making sure that your plant will not die. Think that’s clever? How about this one – having problems with your sled sliding smoothly down the hill? Give it a boost by spraying nonstick cooking spray! You’ll be gliding down the hill at speeds you’ve never imagined before!

If these quirky solutions have caught your attention, then you would want to get yourself a copy of Urawaza, which, by the way, is the Japanese term for “secret lifestyle tricks and techniques.” The book is available at Amazon for only $10. Even if you are too conventional to try out the tricks, it would be quite a good read.