MICHAEL JACKSON, SUPERSTAR!

Above, the cover of the CD version of the PPF produced Internet Radio Michael Jackson special, circa 2001.

Every man and his dog will be writing cliche ridden blogs about the passing of Michael Jackson today.  

This is my take.

At some ungodly time early this morning I was awoken by a mail message from Yuka. Simply written in Japanese

it said "Michael Jackson has died!, true!!" I read it twice to make sure I understood, shot out of bed and flicked on

the radio, TV and computer in that order. 

The Superstar is dead!

I remember when Elvis died, and John Lennon, Princess Di. The mass outpouring of grief that followed the news of those three

was what I expected to see.  Instead CNN was showing footage of people outside the hospital singing his songs, smiling and dancing. 

Not the reaction I expected. Maybe it will come later.

The world has lost an icon, and for that I am sad.

The world has lost a superstar, and I really think that we will never see the likes of MJ ever again. The internet has changed our views and 

entertainment values. It used to be that the music industry was THE Entertainment Industry. Instead, thanks to the ease of communication via

the internet we are left with plentiful mediocrity, and there will never be that single focus like we saw in years gone by. 

No one moved like Michael, his videos HAD to be seen. 

I didn't believe all the stories about him. The media had a field day with him for too long.  As a child he was expected to act and work like an adult, as an adult he had 

a belated childhood. Nothing wrong with that!  Most toys and action figures are bought by adults for themselves these days. And if he was rich enough to do what he wanted to

do, and be what he wanted to be, well, all the best to him. Who are we to judge? 

I saw Michael Jackson in December 1996 at Tokyo Dome on the HiStory Tour. It was spectacular, it was pure entertainment from word go!

The music, the dancing, the sets, the lighting, the special effects, the entire vibe! It was brilliant.  It was to become his last world tour.

I was happy to hear he was on the come back, that 50 live shows scheduled for London had sold out! That was impressive!  People still loved him and his music.

If he had announced Japan as a destination on his farewell tour, I'd have been there!  

Forget the scandals, the rumours, the jokes, the plastic surgery and the problems, remember the music, and the feel good times that Michael provided.

POST NARRATION

Friday June 26.   At Nagoya's premier production facility TV CITY narrating a video for the world's largest integrated postal services network's international EMS  Express Mail Service. 

MICHAEL JACKSON, DEAD!

Shock! Michael Jackson has died! Despite it being on every radio station, every TV channel, it's still hard to comprehend.  Please check back later, I'll write more soon!

DINNER

Introducing~....Dinner! Yes, life sucks sometimes, and so a healthy eating plan is necessary. I eat muesli for dinner most nights for a number of reasons,...it's cheap, it's fast, just add milk, YUM! it's easy to make, it's about all I can make, it's tasty, it's healthy, it reminds me of my Grandfather who used to swear by it and introduced it to me about 30 something years ago and it's nutritious. 
A 1 kilo pack sets me back 1,300 yen and lasts about 2 to 3 weeks. Outside of that I eat out with my staff or friends a few times a week. Mmmm, Muesli!! 

AKIKO

Today's special guest on 79.5FM Radio-i was Japanese vocalist Akiko. Better known for her Jazz albums, this lady has a rock, pop and New Wave covers album hitting record shop shelves this coming Wednesday. Titled "Hit Parade, London Nites"... 

CNA

Friday June 19. Went out to Seki City, about 70Km north of Nagoya to visit the team from the Naka Nippon School of Aviation, (CNA) for a meeting with Nishitani San (above) and the team about an up coming special programme...
The Naka Nippon School of Aviation (CNA) were major sponsors of the Friendship Flight 2005 project, in which I flew a helicopter from Melbourne Australia back to Nagoya, Japan in 2005. Thanks to Taguchi Sensei and Sugihara Sensei (above) the helicopter was rebuilt in record time after being dismantled and packed in a container before being sent to Australia.
Being a helicopter fanatic, I just HAD to have another look at the schools helicopter collection, including this old Sikorsky S-62. This bird was used in the historical fantasy movie "Sengoku Jietai" about 20 years ago before being retired.
They also have this old Bell 47 G series. The students use this to learn about piston engined helicopters and basic flight control systems. Although it's not registered, it's still in working condition.  On a visit a few years back, they wheeled this out side for me to start her up and run the engine. Next time, we might try some hovering manoeuvres! 
Retired Bell 206 Jet Ranger police helicopters are used as training platforms for turbine aircraft and hydraulic systems. Listen out for details of this special programme, and CNA's participation. 

100

Last Sunday, my regular column "Domo Domo Domo" in the Yomiuri Newspaper passed the 100th column mark. To celebrate, the quarter page 100th edition was staged in a 100 Yen shop.... a disposals store where everything is 100 Yen. 

100th edition in a 100 Yen shop,...Guess I'd better start planning for edition 200! 

CHAMPERS

Wednesday June 17,...At the Nagoya Hilton for their Champagne and Sweets event, celebrating the  opening of their new champagne bar. Once again, the event was attended by Nagoya's Rich and Famous, business leaders, media...etc.  (how I ended up here is anybody's guess)  The sweets were fine, it's just that I don't drink, so the champagne was held, but the water drunk,...

STORM CLOUDS

Tuesday June 16, 5:45 pm. Heading out of the office to attend the opening event for the new Chez Shibata restaurant and patisserie, the sky suddenly went black and swirly, seconds later, a bright flash and a crack of thunder, the skies opened up and a blast of heavy rain fell. It was just enough to get drenched crossing the road to the restaurant, and stopped as soon as we arrived.

CHEZ SHIBATA OPENING PARTY

Tuesday June 16.  Over 800 invited guests attended the opening of Master Chef and Nagoya personality Chez Shibata's new restaurant and Patisserie in the Hisaya area's Blossa Building. In all my 15 years in Nagoya media, this would have to have been among the top 5 best opening events I've attended! 

CHEZ SHIBATA

The crowd piled in for the range of cakes and sweets, and to taste the simple but delicious menu available from June 20!

Believe me, they all tasted as good as they looked!

Being conveniently located between the office, home, and the Radio-i studios means that a few taste test visits will be in store... 

The Master, Chef Shibata and one of his assistants...(I'm taller than him even with his hat on!!)

Among the 800 or so invited guests were Nagoya-A list personalities, media people,  and leading business identities, including my friend,  Bauhause Design Workshop's Watanabe San (centre) one of the cities top graphic designers. A huge turnout and a well created buzz event.

NAGOYA CASTLE RESTORATION FORUM

Sunday June 14. Went to the new Mayor of Nagoya, Kawamura Takashi's talk event regarding the planned restoration of the Nagoya Castle Palace. 
The Mayor had invited a number of people along,. others sent letters requesting invitations, allowing all to make comment about the planned re-creation of the palace that burned down during fire bombing at the end of WW2. The castle itself was also destroyed in the firebombing,  and was rebuilt in concrete in 1959.On stage were 5 people for, and 5 people against the project. Naturally, the crowd consisted of both sides too...
My own personal view is that while I'd love to see the palace reconstructed, I believe that some of the original remaining turrets surrounding the castle and the remaining gates and stone rampart walls should be preserved first. Then when the historical parts are safe, THEN work should commence on the palace. The palace entry hall is set to open next year for the 400th anniversary of Nagoya Castle, while the rest of the palace will be completed in stages over the next 7 to 10 years.

PARTY AT MICHAEL'S

Saturday night I was invited to Scottish friend and fellow Dr. Who fan, Michael, and his wife Sayaka's home for a dinner party. Michael, resplendent in a black t-shirt and brown flame like patterned shorts showed his debonaire side and COOKED DINNER! And you know what? He did a great job too! 4 courses including sashimi, pumpkin soup, fish cakes and steak...
Dessert was my job, and so a quick trip to the fancy Mitsukoshi Department stores' underground cake and dessert specialty shops helped me score these Giotto brand cakes. 10 hours after arriving we ran out of drinks, so Michael and Sayaka threw me out at 4:30am. Good food, ...good fun, ... good friends. Who could ask for more?!!

GREATER NAGOYA UNIVERSITY LESSON

Saturday June 13, at the Sunshine Sakae Building in downtown Nagoya, the very 1st Greater Nagoya University lesson took place. Group leader, and representing Australia was yours truly, ...
28 countries were represented in this first Internationally themed event, with 28 foreigners teaming up with 28 Japanese to ride the ferris wheel atop the building and spending  15 minutes aboard the gondolas learning about another country.
Teams were chosen at random, and I teamed up with 55 year old primary school teacher, Mr. Kawabe, who had a lot of interesting questions regarding Australian and Japanese children. Oh, look, you can almost see my house in the back,...
I had always wondered why they bothered to make a ferris wheel on the top of the Sunshine Sakae building,...the view wasn't bad,...but then again, nothing you couldn't see from any other tall building in town...
All that we needed to finish it off was a rendition of "We Are The World", instead, thankfully, they opted for a group photo session instead.  

TAMURA MAIKO

This is Tamura Maiko, a new student at the PPF Radio School. Maiko grew up listening to the radio in land locked Nagano Prefecture in a home without a TV.... Very rare for modern day Japan.
Maiko had long been interested in Japanese history, and used to think that maybe her ancestors were Samurai, until her Grandmother pointed out that the family name "Tamura" isn't a Samurai name....
...So to come to the PPF offices, to be able to see Samurai armor, to be able to try on a Samurai helmet and hold a Samurai sword was a bit of a thrill for her. Also, I looked it up, there WAS a Samurai clan with the name Tamura, they were based in modern day Aomori Prefecture in the north of Japan, so maybe there IS a Samurai connection...Nice to see someone so happy!

NO RELATION...

Today Japanese pop group Kima Glenn members came to 79.5FM Radio-i... Couldn't resist this shot,...Chris Glenn meets Kima Glenn. I should get some of their royalties on name value alone!

BUSY DAY

What a busy day! First the Yomiuri newspaper shoot in the morning, then back to the PPF office to edit some sound recordings,...then off to Radio-i for my program, back to the office and a meeting with an official from Nagoya City about an international event in August. That was followed by a meeting with a group from the Greater Nagoya University (above) for an event on Saturday. From there, back into the PPF studio for a video narration recording, sent that off, then a PPF Radio School lesson, more sound recording editing, a quick dinner, drive my manager Yuka home, then back to the office to tidy up a few loose ends... They say there's no rest for the wicked, but I really don't know what I did that was so bad!!  LOL

ONE HUNDRED!

Every Sunday in the Yomiuri Newspaper, the World's most circulated newspaper, I write a column called "Domo Domo Domo". Next Sunday is the 100th column, and to celebrate, Yomiuri's staff writer Oguri San and Cameraman Inagaki San joined me for a shoot at a 100 Yen shop! (100 times, 100 yen) Usually I take the pictures, or illustrate the column myself, however, the very first column was like this one, more of an interview style, and the cameraman for that shoot was Inagaki San,...so by that reckoning, the next time I'll see him will be in 2 years time for the 200th column??

PERCEPTION IS REALITY

Today on my radio show PMi, it was rock, rock and more rock! The reason being, in Japanese slang, the date, June 9 is pronounced Ro-Ku (6th month, 9th day) hence today was ROCK day!!

I may not have the ability to play guitar, but baby, I got the moves!! Shove over Pete Townshend,  I ROCK!!! 

STAR WARS GARDEN

Wandering the streets of Nagoya City recently I found an interesting road side garden...

Amongst the shrubs and plants and rocks were .....Star Wars Pepsi Bottle Cap figures!!!...

I'd love to do this sort of thing myself, but I treasure my collection too much. LOL!

NIS GRADUATION

Sun. 7.  While the ANZCCJ members were enjoying a BBQ (see below) their Chairman (me) was giving an address at the Nagoya International Schools Graduation Ceremony before the 21 graduating students, their parents, staff and faculty members and guests. Their class motto was "If you think the world should be different, take actions to make it different. It's as simple as that" ..and so that's what I based my talk around. 
A group shot with the kids just before before the graduation ceremony began...It was an honour to be asked to address them, and an honour to meet such well spoken, mature students. 
One of the graduates was a practitioner of the sword discipline of Iaido, and asked me to sign the scabbard of his sword. I was hesitant at first, thinking it may not have been appropriate to the sword and his teacher, but that's what he wanted, so  ....

Hope he does well in his chosen field as well as in Iaido.   Good luck to them all! 

ANZCCJ BBQ

Sunday 9th. Up at 8am to be at Nagoya's Shonai Ryokuchi Koen park to set up the Australia New Zealand Chamber of Commerce (ANZCCJ) Central Japan Chapter BBQ. The "Meat Guy" Jason Morgan was to provide a talk and cook the BBQ, however Committee member Steve Burson (above, helping setting the tents) and myself could only participate in the set up due to other commitments during the day.
As we were all there early to secure a good location within the park, committee member, James Hanna cooked breakfast of eggs and bacon, and naturally there was Vegimite too!
Once all was set up, Steve and myself headed off to the Nagoya International School, where Steve is a board member, leaving Bryce and James to look after the 47 participating members and (red, centre) Meat Guy Jason. 

HOME PARTY

Saturday June 6. Went to an Australian friends' Home Party. Lots of Aussies and assorted foreigners there, with home cooked pizza, quiche, and other great dishes. It was nice to be able to relax and enjoy and not have to think about work or business...talk rubbish with some Aussies and have a fun time,...must do it again sometime!