SAMURAI ARMOR DOCCUMENTARY

Inuyama City, about 30Km north of Nagoya is home to a number of national treasures, including the oldest remaining castle in Japan, Inuyama Castle. The people of Inuyama are proud of their history, and rightly so! Recently the city has been working on strengthening it's historical and cultural appeal....
One such way was to invite my teacher, samurai armor craftsman, Ogawa Sensei to open a small workshop there, and build armor for Inuyama city event purposes...
Right now a TV crew is making a documentary about the armor making going on in Inuyama, and as one of Ogawa Sensei's first armor making apprentices, I got interviewed too! The documentary is set to air early March across Central Japan on Tokai TV.

1 1 1 ! ! !

This year we will experience 4 unusual dates.... 1/1/11, ....1/11/11, ..... 11/1/11, and 11/11/11.

Here's where it gets really weird....

Take the last 2 digits of the year you were born, add that number to the age you will be this year ...and it will equal .... 111!!!

For example, I was born in 1968, and will be 43 this year. 68+43=111

This will only work this year!

SMALL SAMURAI SET

In a local bookshop. The DeAgostini group have released a series on Samurai armor, each week you get various pieces of the armor to build an 80cm high set based on the war-lord Date Masamune's armor...
I'm interested in reading the magazines, but not so interested in building a mini replica suit of armor,...not as the entire price comes to about ¥100,000、or about $1,000!!! For a little more I could spend some time and forge a full sized replica at my armor teachers' workshop! And probably learn more too!

GULLIVER'S COW

With the Head Priest of Nagoya's Ueno Tenmangu Shrine for my weekly TV Aichi program, Sanji No Tsubo. Ueno Tenmangu Shrine is rumored to have Gulliver's cow....
..And here it is, a large bronze statue of a cow, surrounded by a multitude of multicolored midget Munchkins! Not quite Gulliver's cow, but surrounded by Lilliputlians, I guess it comes close. A shrine bovine....what could you say in such a situation but,...HOLY COW!
Turns out they weren't REAL munchkins, but small dolls made in the form of a Japanese deity, male and female in 5 color variations, left by the shrine visitors.... There were thousands of the little blighters all over the shrine grounds!
Inside the dolls were fortune papers. You pay your 300 yen (About $3) and choose a doll from the box. Your fortune is written on the paper folded up inside. Luckily, mine said good fortune!

Hope it comes soon!

BABY FOR BABY (SPICE)

Baby Spice Emma Bunton (above in the pink top) has announced her engagement and the news her 2nd baby is on the way! I met the Spice Girls in Nagoya when they first debuted, and again 2 years later in '97 in Tokyo. Both interviews were great, particularly the first, as the group had just gone to No. 1 in the UK, ...I broke the news to them during my programme and all 5 went ballistic! During the interview Geri (Ginger Spice, in the red) noticed my red socks and asked what colour undies I was wearing (black, as always) ...she then unbuttoned her jeans and flashed her light pink ones at me, live on air! SPICY!

Wonder what spice Emma Buntons' baby will be, and if it will arrive on THYME! LOL!

DONCHO FESTIVAL PT.1

Sunday 23. In my Samurai armor at the National Treasure designated Inuyama Castle for a special ceremony, the unveiling of a giant tapestry that once was the main curtain at an old theatre that has since been condemned. One of Inuyama's most influential businessmen purchased the tapestry to save it from destruction. As part of the Inuyama culture and history, I took part in the Samurai procession taking the tapestry from Inuyama Castle to it's new home...
Part of the ceremony involved Shinto rites, including a blessing of the tapestry which was unveiled in the square below the ancient castle.
I addressed the crowd in my newly appointed role as Tourism Ambassador to Inuyama City...
Inuyama businessmen and dignitaries lead the procession taking the tapestry to a new museum built to display the artifact. (cont.)

DONCHO FESTIVAL PT.2

The curtain, rolled up to make a 20m long, 80 cm thick sausage, was tied to caster wheels and pulled through town in a procession featuring traditional dancers, musicians, Samurai and more, to it's new home, a specially built private museum.
I lead the Samurai procession with Mr. Honda, ( in the vermillion armour) a direct descendent of the famed Samurai general, Honda Heihachiro. Behind me in the red helmet is Mabuchi San, who came with me to Sydney last year...
At the end of the procession, the Samurai team raised their swords in victory of having the tapestry safely delivered to it's new home. ....And for the TV cameras of course!
The Inuyama Samurai team group shot at the end of the day... Looking forward to doing more events with this team soon!

WORLD HERITAGE SITE PT. 1

Friday 21. Went on location to Gifu Prefecture's northern mountainous regions for CBC TV's Dai-Namo program. This time I was reporting from the World Heritage listed village of Shirakawago.
When we arrived, it was overcast and snowing heavily. Visibility was down to about 100m. Already 185cm of snow had accumulated, and the roads had become canyons dug out between the snow.
Taken with my mobile phone during the heavy snowfall. The snow on the roof looked ready to fall any second.... That or crush the building...
About minus 2 degrees with an icy wind to add to the chill factor....(cont.)

WORLD HERITAGE SITE PT. 2

Despite the snow and bone chilling icy wind, the TV film crew bus driver, Goto San was in a short sleeved Hawaiian shirt... Obviously the man's a goose! I needed something much more fitting for the cold, as seen below.
Shirakawago is a World Heritage listed village that remains as it was since Japan's Edo Period (1603~1868) Most of the houses are over 300 years old and are still lived in by the descendants of the original families. The houses are all of a similar design, mostly tall, triangular framed, tent-shaped structures, and all feature the traditional straw thatched roofs one common in rural Japan.
One of the largest is the village head-man's home... We filmed in Mr. Wada's huge 3 story house which remains as it was 350 years ago. The home is open to the public, although the few rooms reserved for the family as living quarters have been modernised to a degree. This perfectly preserved traditional rural home and village meeting place is listed as a cultural asset by the Japanese government too.

From the former castle site overlooking the ancient village. That night the 300 year old snow covered farm houses were spectacularly lit up during snowfall. It was bitterly cold at minus 6 degrees, but such a beautiful sight, the cold was soon forgotten. CBC TV's Dai-Namo airs Wednesday nights from 7pm on CBC TV, channel 5 across central Japan.

BLOOD TEST

AAAAGH! Had another blood test recently,...sat up all night studying for it too! This time I seem to have had a student nurse take four vials of blood from me. The guy before me ended up walking off still bleeding too! I thought it was just him, but I soon knew why,...the woman must have thought she was in the javelin event,...by the time I got home from the hospital, my arm was a mess too!

Look at that! You should see the hole in my arm ! You could almost keep a pen in it!

HAIR TODAY....

My friend and hairdresser, Atsushi is moving his business to Okazaki City, about 50 Km + outside of Nagoya, and so last night the usual bunch gathered to see him off....

10 of us gathered at a local restaurant...

owned by another friend, Matsuoka San....

Atsushi had done the hair of most of the group seen above, which means we all have a problem in common,...where will we get our hair cut now?? It's a case of Hair today, gone tomorrow...

WATER TOWER

On location for TV Aichi, ...we got off the crew bus to begin filming, and the lake in front of our stop was frozen over. Well, what do you expect? it was MINUS 2 degrees!
This was our target for the episode,...after a wander thru' the local area, we approached this hill top tower...
Turns out it's a water tower! The tank at the top holds a few thousand tonnes of water...

It was designed to look like a champaign glass,...apparently,...

The view from the top was fantastic! Looking towards Nagoya city centre...

TUNNEL VISION

On location for the TV Aichi programme Sanji No Tsubo down the new Sakara Dori Subway line!
The new section of line is set to open in April, and before the trains run thru' it, we went for a walk thru' the tunnels dug about 8m under parts of eastern Nagoya!
Love the way the tunnels just disappeared into the distance! The echo was great too, after giving a shout we could still hear ourselves 8 seconds later.
At the end of each programme, I have to write a comical poem and do a quick sketch, the poem translates to "Walking down the tunnel (Japanese; toneru..) is tiring, it makes you want to sleep" (toneru)

Japanese puns,...not funny in English at all!

SNOW IN NAGOYA

On the way home from the airport Sunday morning, it started to snow HEAVILY!

I figured I could have sped thru' the city, as the number plates were covered in a frosting of snow, and the speed cameras couldn't have got me,...If only I'd known!
One of the great things about snow is that no matter how drab the city scenery is, it makes everything look pretty! I love the look of snow on traditional Japanese kawara roof tiles...

My driveway that evening was under about 5cm of snow...

Enough for someone to have made this midget munchkin snowman...

CUSTARD CREAM

Last week on a TV shoot, we dropped by a small shop specialising in custard cream puffs. They were brilliant, and so this week I took a short car ride out to the shop just north of Nagoya Castle to pick up a few...

Fresh, chilled vanilla custard cream, stuffed into a sweet, light, crusty shell....

YUM!!!

GRAND??

Jan 11. Invited to a media preview of the Hotel Grand Court Nagoya's new buffet lunch...
There was quite an array of former marine life and past farm dwelling animals on the menu!
It wasn't bad, but for a such a major hotel and restaurant, I think they could do better! What can you do but smile and wave....

Even the deserts were borderline....

Mind you, the company made things all the better! The Hotel is a great hotel, but if you decide to stay there, I'd suggest you try one of the other restaurants in the near vicinity...