The Everything Japan Thread

Arigatou, you are the newest English teacher for me

How about people from abroad / foreign countries?

 

Tourists / visitors from overseas, immigrants is ok if you're talking in a positive way...'Japan has a lot more immigration now'..You can say foreign-immigrants in a postive way. It's just that the single word 'foreigner' sounds a little bit racist. You will see in Japan if you use the word 'foreigner' to a non Japanese person they can go a bit 'ooh'. It's a tough one and not everyone will be offended. To be honest, it's more our problem and how we now react to the word.

 

It's going to be the year of Nippon

 

The World Famous Shiretoko Peninsula in the Far North Of Japan , a haven for the World's Largest Eagle The Steller's Sea Eagle in the Winter, with around 2,000 there at the time of year and good numbers of smaller but still Massive White Tailed Eagle.
Also here throughout the year the World's Biggest Owl, the Blakiston's Owl, that feeds on Fish and Brown Bears not to mention good numbers of Killer Whales And Sperm Whales close off the coast.
A Highland birding Pal of mine was there recently and got fantastic views of both Eagles, that Owl and Whales, he says it is a beyond amazing place.

 

U.S.-based Crunchyroll held its annual Anime Awards in Tokyo for the first time this year

From sharing site to anime giant, Crunchyroll marches forward

Once a semi-legal sharing site, Crunchyroll is now a streaming giant credited with helping Japanese anime transform from a nerdy subculture into a lucrative global industry poised to conquer new markets.

This year, the U.S.-based company held its annual Anime Awards in Tokyo for the first time, with the art form's heavyweights gathering for what have become some of the industry's highest accolades -- and a sign of Crunchyroll's influence.

Sony acquired the company in 2020 for $1.17 billion and Crunchyroll now offers anime in over 10 languages on 15 platforms.

Its evolution from a site featuring user-generated content that faced copyright claims to a platform with over 10 million paying subscribers has helped drive an explosion in the popularity of Japanese anime.

"We are really excited to see it become a global movement and be adopted across the globe," Crunchyroll president Rahul Purini told AFP at the awards.

Presenters this year included "Stranger Things" actor Finn Wolfhard and filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, a testament to "how anime has not only grown but become such a part of the mainstream cultural zeitgeist", chief marketing officer Gita Rebbapragada said.

While classics like "Spirited Away" and "One Piece" have long had devoted followings, anime has grown exponentially in recent years, helped in part by a pandemic-fueled demand for indoor entertainment.

The global market for Japanese anime grew 13 percent to an all-time high of 2.74 trillion yen in 2021, according to the Association of Japanese Animations.

In the United States, "there is a surprising amount of understanding that (anime) is not kids' cartoons", Rebbapragada said. "Number one opening weekends is not uncommon anymore for an anime film."

Crunchyroll can claim some of the credit: it is now dubbed the world's largest online anime library, present in over 200 countries and territories.

It offers anime, games and manga on its platforms, distributes animation films to U.S. theaters, publishes manga and sells anime-related merchandise.

When it was founded in 2006, however, it skated along the edges of legality, with its content being largely pirated, user-generated cartoon uploads that often raised copyright issues.

It turned over a new leaf with the 2009 rollout of a fully licensed subscription plan, and has won over fans keen to give back to creators.

The company believes the range of titles it offers is part of the reason for anime's expanding market, with content going beyond traditional "shonen (boys)" anime centered on coming-of-age tales about swashbuckling heroes.

"A lot of folks are familiar with 'Dragon Ball', that's a major franchise, but there's the unique opportunities for something like 'Spy x Family'," chief operating officer Brady McCollum, referring to the recent comedy hit featuring a telepathic girl and her make-believe parents.

The ingredients for good anime are "not one size fits all", he said.

Still, for those unfamiliar with anime, who can sometimes assume the cartoon format is intended for children, violent or sexual content can come as a surprise.

Anime is a "medium that encapsulates many different genres", said Rebbapragada.

"There's going to be a huge swathe of things -- some of it is going to be less palatable to some audiences than others."

The company expects "really strong growth in anime and for ourselves" particularly in newer markets like India, said Rebbapragada.

Anime's growth has also invited competition from Japan's neighbors such as China and South Korea, with "Your Name" director Makoto Shinkai recently telling AFP that he thinks Chinese animation will "sooner or later overtake us".

Most of Crunchyroll's anime titles are still Japanese, though the firm sees major progress in Chinese anime, and will stream the adaptation of South Korea's best-selling webcomic "Solo Leveling".

"I think anime can come from anywhere," Rebbapragada said.

https://japantoday.com/category/tech/from-sharing-site-to-anime-giant-crunchyroll-marches-forward?

 

Some good ones here - Three Outlaw Samurai being a fave of mine, Ghost Dog, Zatoichi, Harakiri and The Twilight Samurai are good ones too.

10 Best Samurai Films For Beginners
https://collider.com/samurai-films/

 

Pretty cool pictures.

Buddhist Photographs of Japan in 1865

https://buddhismnow.com/2014/08/24/buddhist-photographs-of-japan-in-1865/

 

Looking forward to a couple of years time. Wife and her friend will be going to Greece for a month.
I, however, will be going to the Japanese MotoGP and will be travelling all over Japan especially on the Shinkansen.

 

The Seven Samurai got me into Japanese movies.
After work when I lived in Paisley I always watched a Japanese film to relax me before bed.

 

Had the single

 

Fire me some recommendations good sire, I've run out of Japanese films to watch.

 

At work at moment. May take a few days due to work commitments.

 

No rush geez...probably seen most of them anyway

 

Rashomon
Sanshiro Sugata
Yojimbo

 

Also

Urotsukidoji - Legend of the Overfiend
Urotsukidoji - Legend of the Demon Womb

 

Favourite though was the original series Monkey.

 

Not seen Sanshiro Sugata.

Zatoichi is great fun


I'm not a great fan of anime but did love Samurai Champloo, Violet Evergarden, Kuro Mukuro, and Kotaro Lives Alone, (which is pretty dark) on Netflix. Samurai Champloo is probably my fave anime.

 

Zatoichi looks interesting

 

Great fun that one if you've not seen it!

 

Hokkaido - Very northern Japan - The Japanese Highlands - I must go -
Aki = Autumn