JIDOSHA means car ...


I like to have colorful pictures on my car. It takes much money but I think its worth it and if everybody would paint their cares more colorful and with sexcy pictures and play smash music everybody would drive along more relaxed and with less accidents.
(Kazuki, 19)

Kabuki is a traditional form of Japanese theater, sometimes also called "Japanese Opera". It was founded early in the 17th century in Kyoto, and over the next 300 years developed into a sophisticated form of theater where since early all roles have been taken by men. If you visit Japan, do not miss to visit a Kabuki performance, because you will experience the japanese soul.

Hayao Miyazaki (*1941) is Japan's greatest animation director. The entertaining plots, compelling characters, and breathtaking animation in his films have earned him international renown from critics as well as public recognition and he is a cult figure to fans of manga (comic books) and anime (animated films). He has created films the world adores, like "Princess Mononoke" and "Spirited Away", Japans highest grossing film of all times. The style, art and creativity of Hayao Miyazaki are unrivaled.

It was in 1997 when HIDETOSHI NAKATA, then 20, kicked three perfectly passes to set up each of Japan's three goals in a now famous World Cup qualifier against Iran. Japan won. "From that point on, it didn't matter what he did. Nakata had become the hero of the nation," says novelist Ryu Murakami, a fan and friend of Nakata. in 1998 Nakata took the unusual step of heading to Europe, where the pay and pressure was bigger. He signed to play with Perugia in Italy's Serie A for $3.5 million.

OZAKI YUTAKA was and still is very popular among the young generation. His songs deal with the days of his youth, searching for freedom. When he was 14, he and his friends opposed their teachers and ran away from home. In 1988, he was arrested on drug charges. Even though he is dead, Ozaki Yutaka and his songs are still loved by many people. In the middle of the 80's young boys and girls wanted a new hero. They were looking for the new star because they were loosing their own aims and drowned in a see of unrest and uproar against the world.

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PACHINKO

Mainichi Shimbun, August 18, 2000:
A girl died after a garbage truck ran over the cardboard box she had been playing in while her mother was busy with pachinko, police said.

Mainichi Shimbun, Oct.13, 2000:
A man stabbed his wife because her pachinko addiction had caused her to neglect her household duties. Police arrested Teruo Uchida, 58, on charges of attempted murder after he stabbed his 53-year-old wife in the back during an argument over pachinko.

Mainichi Shimbun, October 18, 2000:
Documents for a police investigation were stolen from the vehicle of a 52-year-old police officer while he was busy playing pachinko. The officer works in the weapons division of the Fukuoka Prefectural Police. The material included personal information, such as the names of those involved in the investigation, addresses and charts.

Mainichi Shimbun, November 9, 2000: A 57-year-old male teacher of a prefectural high school here skipped class, leaving his students to study themselves, to go to a pachinko parlor almost every day.

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below scene can be seen all over Japan and it is in complete contrast to the Japanese feeling of harmony between humans and nature.

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Q-chan, as she is known to all her many fans, became the first Japanese track and field Olympic gold medalist in Sydney and then broke the 2-hour, 20-minute time barrier at the 2001 Berlin Marathon. Indeed, many consider the 29-year old Takahashi Naoko as the best female marathon runner of all time.

Ryuichi Sakamoto is all, an author, actor, singer and Academy Award winning composer (soundtrack The Last Emperor) working comfortably in the worlds of classical and pop, acoustic and electric, stage and film. For this he is well known all over the world but he is also a powerful advocate for renewable energy sources such as windmills and solar power, and he has expanded his portfolio to include also anti-war causes.

Set in a P.O.W. camp in Java, 1942, this film examines the way emotions and relationships evolve between the idealistic, young camp commandant, Captain Yonoi (Ryuichi Sakamoto)and the new P.O.W., commando Major Jack Celliers (David Bowie).

JISHIN

We have a meeting place, so even if we are apart when an earthquake strikes, we will know where to find each other. I also have a backpack filled with food and other necessities in our house, so if we need to leave the house, we just can carry it with us. When I go to sleep, I have flash lights and a radio by my side just in case. I think I have done everything I can to prepare, but I hope I never have to use this all. There are a lot of even lagre earthquakes during these days, so I would advice everybody to be prepared as well.
(Sayaka, 9 & Yuko, 34)

a karaoke place and enjoy singing in the karaoke box till late. You can order some foods and drinks so it becomes a convenient place to spend an evening with friends. And above all it is not expensive, that is why we go there quite often to blow away our stress or just to be happy.
(The Karaoke Girls)

KABUKI

I like to go to and see Kabuki and the theatre is also very often quite crowded, but it hurts me seeing hardly any young people among the audience. I think it is necessary that Kabuki is more promoted in schools, so that the young generation can get a better under- standing and feeling for this great art.
(Satoru Tokuda, 77)

When old perverts looking up high school girls skirts from the lower steps of a train station it is terrible. It is wrong for the girls to keep their uniform skirts so short but that does not excuse the mens behavior. They need to find better entertainments.
(Chieko Akimoto, 22)











MANGA

Hi, I read mangas every day and I cannot get enough of them. Some I buy but many I get from my friends at school and very often we read mangas also at school and during lesson if the theacher does not care. For me reading mangas is much fun and I feel as if I would be in an other free world.
(Jun Watanabe, 13)

NIGO has become Japan's hottest fashion designer and an internationally famous arbiter of style, selling clothes and accessories even to some of the West's coolest celebrities, ranging from New York City graffiti artist Futura 2000 to British hip-hop legend James Lavelle to the Beastie Boys. "Nigo is by far the biggest icon of Japanese fashion," says Jun Nemoto, fashion editor at the Japanese edition of GQ. (From Oct. 11, 2004 issue of TIME )

Inside a public bath The first thing to keep in mind is that the Japanese bathtub is not for washing. It is for warming your body and relaxing your tired muscles and nerves and the Japanese like their bath hot, the water temperature might be between 38°C and 43°C. The actual business of cleaning your nude body happens around the outside of the bathtub and before entering a bath, a person must already be completely clean and having rinsed off all the soap suds by splashing with plenty of water. In large public bath-houses hair is usually shampooed, and shaving is done. Now, you can enter the tub.

Yes, I know I am now edicted to play Pachinko and this is really bad, but I just cannot help but go to play pachinko nearly every day for some hours as long as I have the money. I even skip office some days just ro play. I win quite frequently but other days I loose and I think I lost much more than I really won, but I do not care, because it is fun and exciting to play! (Someone, 26)



If I could only change one thing about Japan, it would be cleaning up the city. I really hate the way garbage piles up in Shibuya, Shinjuku and Ueno. Everything is just thrown to the ground or into a street corner and I do not understand why people who go to those places to hang out there do such things.
(Saeko Fukui, 27)

is a noodle dish that was originally imported to Japan from China. Over the last few decades, however, ramen has become a typical Japanese dish and gained great popularity inside and outside of Japan, especially because of the instant ramen (Please see also page 1). Ramen noodles are about as thin as spaghetti and are served in a soup with various toppings. There are many different ramen dishes differing in the soup base and the toppings: pork, eggs, vegetables, dumplings, etc. and several towns and cities all over Japan have their own special way of ramen. Although it is served hot, it is not only a favorite meal in winter.