The Bird People in China, or 中国の鳥人, is one of the few, highly-rated, Japanese DVDs available through Netflix. I watched it last week.

The movie has many layers. Initially I thought it was a comedy. What else could you have when you strand a member of the yakuza with a “salaryman” in the middle of nowhere? I was laughing a lot during the first half hour or so.

The layers change however. The laughter mostly disappears for the mid and later sections of the movie. The characters transform and are transformed by their environment. I was reminded of extended vacations I have experienced which can turn a person into a different person, if only for a while.

The thought of multiple lives within a single lifetime also rises to the surface. I can certainly relate to that layer. Life is too short to get stuck doing the same thing, living the same way, or in the same place for too long.

The scenery is breathtaking. I was reminded of other films like Out of Africa and The Painted Veil.

The Japanese is relatively easy to understand. One reason is the characters are frequently speaking to a Chinese man whose first language isn’t Japanese.

Be prepared to be impressed, on many levels.

Posted on June 3rd, 2009 under China, Japan. Tags: reviews. Comments Off on The Bird People in China (中国の鳥人)

My copy of the 2009 Japan Pro Baseball Fan Handbook and Media Guide arrived this past week. I’m pleasantly surprised by the contents. I was expecting a cheaply produced collection of facts that may help make my visits to games in Japan later this year a bit more enjoyable. However, this is really high quality and much more useful than I bargained for. The paper quality is top notch. Every page is in full color. And the items covered are more comprehensive and interesting than I hoped. Let’s take a look at some of the sections:

Each Japanese baseball team has a two page spread as shown above with overview material. This is pretty much all I was expecting, but there is much more.

Detailed stats, and even salaries, are shown for every player, including names in both Japanese kanji and English. If nothing else it’s a good source for practicing kanji name readings. 😉

All foreign born players have additional career details provided. How many Americans, other than Tuffy Rhodes, are there with over 400 home runs who are virtually unknown to U.S. baseball fans?

Not shown here are a bunch of other sections in the book. One I particularly like is the schedules by date. So let’s say you are in Tokyo on September 26th and want to catch a game. Instead of having to flip to each team’s page to see where they are playing, you can turn to the schedules-by-date page and quickly see that you have four options: Rakuten at Seibu in Tokorozawa, Orix at Lotte in Chiba, Hiroshima at Tokyo in the dome, or Yokohama at Yakult in Jingu. Times are also listed and since two of these games start at 2 and the other two start at 6 you could actually make it a doubleheader with four different teams in one day if you want. Try doing that in a major city in the U.S.A.

Published by Wayne Graczyk and JapanBall.com, ordering information can be found here.

Posted on April 19th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: baseball, book review, reviews, seibu lions. Comments: 2

The fire sale around here continues. 😉 I’ve been going through some things in an effort to reduce the amount of stuff we will be putting into storage when we move to Japan. I came across a nice pair of binoculars that I haven’t used in years. In fact, I never used these much.

Canon no longer makes the 15×45 IS Binoculars. They’ve done a minor upgrade with the Canon 18×50 Image Stabilization Binoculars which list for $1,600, but they can usually be found online for about $1,200.

I saw a pair of the 15×45 IS binoculars (which were probably used much more than my pair) go for $850 + shipping on ebay. If you are interested I’ll let these go for $750 including shipping to addresses in the U.S. A guy recently sold these same binoculars for $250 more than what I’m asking.

Included are the binoculars, shields for the lenses, neck strap, and the hard case–all original and all in outstanding condition. These binoculars freeze whatever you are looking at with the touch of a button. They are great for astronomy, viewing wildlife, and sporting events. I haven’t used them for anything else, but I’m sure there are many other applications. Spying perhaps?

Check out the online reviews of the Canon 15×45 IS Binoculars. You won’t find any unhappy owners.

Don’t let these beauties sit in storage. Take them off my hands, enjoy them, and put them to good use.

Specs from the Canon website:
– High-magnification (15x) binoculars with built-in image stabilizer.
– Ultra-low dispersion (UD) glass elements for outstanding image quality.
– Doublet field-flattener for sharp, distortion-free images from edge-to-edge.
– Water-resistant non-slip rubber coating for superior protection and secure handling.
– Long eye relief (15 mm), wide field of view (67 degrees).

Posted on April 16th, 2009 under Other. Tags: accessories, reviews, travel related goods. Comments: 3

I don’t recall how I heard about The Twilight Samurai (Tasogare Seibei, たそがれ清兵衛). I suppose I was just browsing around on Netflix or IMDB and it showed up as a highly rated Japanese film. In any event, I recently watched it and loved it. If you are watching it to practice your Japanese you may be a bit disappointed in that regard as the language is rather difficult and dated since the setting is that of about 150 years ago.

The story is wonderful, however, as is the acting. Perhaps the best thing is the scenery. The viewer is taken back to the day and made to feel as if they are really there in the late Edo period. The sets are well done as are the nature and landscape scenes.

I don’t want to go into the story or plot line as that will ruin it for those who like to be surprised by a movie (like I do). The DVD version that I watched included an interview (in Japanese with English audio translation) with the director, Yoji Yamada. It also included an interview, completely in English, with the main actor, Hiroyuki Sanada.

Go out and get this. You won’t be disappointed. My 13-year old even enjoyed it.

Posted on March 31st, 2009 under Japan. Tags: reviews. Comments Off on The Twilight Samurai

For lunch on our second day in Portland we ate at Mother’s Bistro & Bar. The food was fantastic and reasonably priced.

I had the “Carlton Farms Pulled Pork Sandwich” which featured slow-cooked natural pork on a french roll with caramelized onions, swiss cheese, and honey-mustard barbeque sauce. It was one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had. In the upper-right portion of this photograph you can see my son’s Belgian waffle and to the left is my wife’s chicken sandwich. No one was disappointed with their meal.

One funny story about this place… As we walked in there was a picture of Bill Clinton with the employees. My 10-year old daughter, who heard Bill campaign for Hillary last year, pointed to the picture and said, “Look, there’s Hillary’s husband.”

Posted on March 28th, 2009 under Oregon. Tags: food, portland, reviews. Comments Off on Mother’s Bistro & Bar