Okawauchi-yama Mountain

Okawauchi-yama Mountain, originally uploaded by furyu_man18.

Ookawauchi-Yama is a site in Imari for porcelains called "Nabshima". At this site, more than 30 ceramics manufacturers display their works. Okawachiyama has three main charms I believe.
First off, needless to say, you can enjoy seeing beautiful ceramics at the shops around Okawachiyama.
Secondly, you can learn about the history and culture that surrounds the traditionally significant ceramics.

Lastly, you can appreciate the beautiful landscape that looks like some kind of black and white drawing; the small town including traditional Japanese houses is surrounded by an exotic ragged mountain.


You can comfortably and leisurely walk and enjoy seeing ceramics shops directly managed by potters who live around the small town.

You can appreciate the rich nature that varies from season to season and the significant culture of the area while taking a walk around the park.

The site is in a natural setting and has a strong cultural atmosphere. Imari-yaki was only produced for Lord Nabeshima who dominated the area around present-day Saga prefecture during the E-do era. There was a gate that prevented craftsmen from escaping this site to maintain the secrecy of these special ceramic techniques.

The tombs for unknown craftsmen;the tombs in this picture are worshiped by local people as “Muen Botoke referring to the spirits which don’t have descendants to worship. Actually, many craftsmen who used to work in Okawachyama, were forcedly brought to Japan from Korea as a result of the aggressive war led by Hideyoshi Toyotomi in 1592, and “Buroku, Keicho no Eki” in 1597.The craftsmen were uprooted from their families and homeland.So after their death, no relatives could take care of their spirits.In Japan, there is a custom to worship “Muen Botoke” voluntarily by communities. Thanks to the skills and contributions of the Korean craftsmen, various manufacturing industries have taken root in this area of Japan

Fashion of Traditional Ceramics;Imari wares are old craft works indeed. However, one potter claimed that potters have to keep in mind the trends in people’s preferences just as the fashion industry does from year to year when they design pictures or the shapes of ceramics. He said that it is very challenging to strike a balance between adopting new designs and preserving traditional ones.

“Satorare“

an early summer day, originally uploaded by furyu_man18.

“Satorare“ is one of the Japanese movies I like most. In Japanese, the word, Satorare means that thoughts are being noticed or realized by others. How would you feel if others could read your thoughts?

Satorares are rare in human society, having special abilities with the potential to bring enormous profits to their state and people. Therefore, their state protects them from cradle to grave as a national project. Also, all Satorares’ thoughts are automatically transmitted to people’s minds. In other words, they have the inability to tell lies. But Satorares don’t realize this fact. Actually, people are banned from directly or indirectly revealing this fact to Satorares. It can be easily imagined that Satorares would go crazy if they knew this fact.

One day a plane crashes, killing all passengers except for a boy. The rescued boy turns out to be a Satorare. Rescue team members can hear his voice in their minds. Since then, he is raised by his grandmother who is the only relative living in his hometown after the passing of his parents in the plane crash. All residents in the town seem to be growing tired of hearing his thoughts every day, but the town is highly dependent on the funding provided by the national government for the purpose of creating ideal circumstances in the town for the Satorare. Many security guards are secretly monitoring and protecting the Satorare 24 hours, 7 days a week.

The boy's dream is to become a medical doctor in order to help improve the lives of people. He has been wondering for years why he was the only survivor from the terrible plane crash. And he has come to the self-realization that his life must have some meaning. Actually, his role in life becomes that of a highly gifted doctor but this leads to serious problems. Consider the consequences if all of a doctor’s thoughts are conveyed to his or her patients... Furthermore, the national project team has been putting pressure on him to become a medical researcher instead of just a medical doctor; expecting great inventions from him to promote national economic interests.

Let me briefly tell you about the most touching scene involving the main character. He is finally permitted to perform surgery after it is discovered that his grandmother has been suffering from a malignant tumor. During his grandmother's operation, all residents are carefully paying attention to his thoughts, which reveal his memories and his deep love toward his grandmother. ”I’m sorry grandma …“ he is mourning again and again. "I’m sorry, I had not even noticed your bad condition. Even though you had been by my side and taken care of me every day. I’m sorry, I’m very sorry …. I’ll find a cure for you…” The operation seems to be successful in its late stages but he finds other tumors that have already spread to other organs. At that moment everyone has come to realize that it’s too late. Every time I am reminded of this scene, I can't help being moved to tears.

Well, this movie demonstrates how difficult it is for us to remain honest in this information intensive age we live in. Being honest won’t pay off in many cases. Honest people are always vulnerable to false and bad information. We have to be tactful to live well in a sense. We have to tell many lies to others or even ourselves either consciously or unconsciously to spend an easy life. At the same time, we have to be sceptical of others or about many things to protect ourselves from bad intentions. We have to be careful not to reveal too much of our private information to people.

However, as the last part of this movie shows, the Satorare has changed the minds of people sharing such thoughts, because everyone listening to his sincere feelings toward his grandmother has developed empathy for him. At the moment, they have accepted the annoying aspects of their coexistence with the Satorare. Ultimately, I’d say being honest is the only way to acquire trust and love from others. Being honest from the start has the potential to make others honest as well, even though you may end up getting hurt…I like these kinds of people very much who can’t help being honest…They deserve to be loved definitely.

Hinamatsuri

Hinamatsuri, originally uploaded by furyu_man18.

Hinamatsuri, or the doll festival, is an annual event which is held on March 3rd. At this time, people pray for the health, good growth and happy marriage of girls. Hina dolls, or kimono clad dolls, are displayed on stages in people's houses.




These dolls are fashioned in the image of the ancient aristocratic people in Japan. Hina dolls originated from ancient China, where people used to throw dolls into rivers. The dolls were believed to protect girls from evil spirits by intercepting and absorbing these evil spirits. During the Saga Hinamatsuri festival, a lot of traditional dolls are exhibited at historically significant spots. Japanese lanterns painted with images of Hina dolls are placed in the Matsubara River running alongside the Saga Shrine by parents and their daughters accompanied by traditional Japanese music

Placebos

Two weeks ago, I gave a blood-pressure gauge to my parents and a couple of days ago, my mother came to my place to express her thanks. She said to me, “Thanks to the device, my blood pressure has surely been decreasing. I’ve been using it more than three times a day.” I immediately replied, ”Oh no! That isn’t a machine for reducing your blood pressure.” She frowned and said, “I wasn’t born yesterday. I know what you are saying…
but that's true…

The next day, I told this episode to the drugstore owner who sold the blood-pressure gauge to me. He said, “Hmmm, that’s interesting. It reminds me of the so-called bathroom scale effect. Well, just stepping on a bathroom scale everyday can have a positive effect on the weight loss of someone. This is called the placebo effect.”



Many medical products and supplements seem to rely heavily on the placebo effect. Consumers consider the quality, reputation, and advertising of these products as important factors in their purchasing decisions. In general, it can be said that our mind-sets and personal situations have a strong influence on our health.


Things are not so simple, however. In fact we can’t expect too much from the placebo effect. For instance, in the past, Chinese soaps and substances derived from special seaweeds sold like hotcakes in Japan because many people believed that these things made them slender. Actually, people began to feel fed up and frustrated with these products. As a result, the Chinese soap boom faded away before long; apparently the soap in itself had no effect on a person’s ability to slim down.



Our perceptions and senses can be swayed by our own psychological conditions. An experiment demonstrated the fact that two samples of the same water can be perceived differently by a person under certain circumstances. Water in a bottle with “bless you” written on it was perceived to be sweeter than the same water in a bottle with nothing written on it.




It seems to me that we don’t always need scientific truths. In other words, truths can deceive us in various ways. There is a Japanese saying which goes, “believers will be saved.”


Here is the Amadeus effect: Mozart’s compositions make you smarter. It is often said that examinees must listen to Mozart before taking tests. The frequency of his musical works is believed to stimulate our brains to operate at optimum efficiency. Do you believe this? Surely your answer must be YES!

Spring of Trivia

There are public toilets in a city in Australia, which open automatically within 10 minutes. According to a municipal agent of the city, those toilets could deter crimes like drug abuse, kidnapping, rape, etc. Maybe they could do that to some extent but...

How about this one? A Sphinx in Egypt is looking at a signboard of Kentucky fried Chicken! How nice this combination of ancient times, modern times, cultural heritage, and fast food is!

This information was provided by a popular Japanese TV program "Spring of Trivia". I can learn useless, trivial and funny knowledge from this program. I love it! We Japanese say "Heee" when we are surprised to learn interesting things. So, commentators in this program evaluate trivial knowledge submitted by viewers by awarding "Heee points" according to how unique, funny, cute and interesting this trivial knowledge is.
One day, the MC said that the English word, “NEWS" originated from the words North, East, West and South. As you can see, "NEWS" consists of the capital letters of the each word. And news covers all the directions in the world.



Afterwards, the MC smirked and said, "Don't you believe it? Oh, I'm sorry. it's not true, Actually, "NEWS" originally came from the plural of NEW. Indeed, he confidently declared, "Now that we know the facts, let's dump this fake information! We strongly encourage you to submit confusing information to us in order to promote the worldwide eradication of this information!"

Do you have any trivial knowledge or confusing information? Don't you want "Heee" points? Actually, those points are completely useless however.

waka on Kagamiyama mountain in Karatsu

waka, originally uploaded by furyu_man18.

The Waka inscribed in this monument says “How sad she was...no matter how many times she waved her sleeve, she couldn’t stop the departure of the vessel." -- By Yamonoueno Okura. ;The woman is Sayohime.Her husband boarding the vessel as a warrior is leaving for a　country for war. She keeps seeing her husband off waving her sleeve even after the ship disappeared.

This waka is included in Manyoushu.
Manyosyu is the oldest anthology of Waka in Japan’s history. It was compiled around the 7th and 8th centuries. It consists of 20 scrolls, including more than 4,500 short poems written by the imperial family, aristocrats, a lower class of anonymous warriors called Sakimori that were dispatched to Kyushu, and commoners

Saga International Baloon Festa '2006

Saga International Balloon Festa takes place in Saga city　for 1week over the November　3th. At this festival, some international competitions for flying balloons are carried out.




In saga the November sky is clear and cosmos flowers are in full bloom.
Saga has large rice fields which are really suite for Balloons.　The period is the season of rice harvest. If you have adequate time/days you can see traditional harvest festivals in saga during this season.




Time: There are two time tables on each day.　
Part of the early evening around 7 AM and part of after noon around 3pm.
As Traffic congestions are surely expected, using public transport such shuttle buses near center of saga city or JR trains (Drop at Nabesima station) is much better that driving to this cite.



Location, Banks along Kase rive is the place where balloons launch.There is an event holding light-up demonstration of colorful balloons in the evening.That’s an amazingly spectacle view.



http://www.sibf.jp/english/