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Post by thegl0r on May 10, 2017 19:43:00 GMT -5
I'm worried a little to know that 80% of Japan's cherries from south to north are a monoculture that can't even fertilize itself. It does keep the rotten fruit off the sidewalks, but if an insect or a fungus ever started liking those trees... what a nightmare. A disease suddenly wiping out most of Japan's cherry trees was also my first thought when I heard that most of their cherry trees are propagated by cuttings from one original plant. But it is nice to think that I could grow an authentic Japanese cherry tree in my garden - I've got a Morello cherry tree which just feeds the local birds. Every few years I might get lucky and have one or two cherries for myself.
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Post by tangerinesun on May 10, 2017 20:42:57 GMT -5
I'm worried a little to know that 80% of Japan's cherries from south to north are a monoculture that can't even fertilize itself. It does keep the rotten fruit off the sidewalks, but if an insect or a fungus ever started liking those trees... what a nightmare. A disease suddenly wiping out most of Japan's cherry trees was also my first thought when I heard that most of their cherry trees are propagated by cuttings from one original plant. But it is nice to think that I could grow an authentic Japanese cherry tree in my garden - I've got a Morello cherry tree which just feeds the local birds. Every few years I might get lucky and have one or two cherries for myself. In happier times, Washington D.C. did get a bunch of Japanese cherries as a gift of the City of Tokyo, to line the banks along the Potomac River towpath near the capitol. It's quite a story. www.history.com/news/the-drama-behind-100-years-of-washingtons-cherry-blossomsThese don't seem to be THE special sakura, any of them, but the issue isn't discussed anywhere I know of. A little more from the Japanese POV: time.com/4255998/cherry-tree-history/
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Post by tangerinesun on May 11, 2017 2:28:34 GMT -5
This is going to be a great weight off your shoulders, I know. There were 12 different varieties of cherry tree in the 1912 gift to Washington from Tokyo, and there are 12 different varieties in Potomac Park today, according to the Park Service. Supposedly, the diversity was to help ensure that at least some of the transplants would do well in their new climate. Cultivars of the super-sakura Prunus x yedoensis "Somei-yoshino" caught on and are now 70% of the herd. So there's a small reservoir of the favorite variety outside Japan. From time to time, new batches of cherry saplings are shipped back and forth. There are rafts of material linked from Wikipedia. It's really correct to call them clones. Horticulturalists were using a version of the term before anyone thought of tinkering with animal egg cells. If the genetic inheritance of an individual is all from some one other individual, it's a clone no matter how it gets started. Live and learn.
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Post by thegl0r on May 11, 2017 15:33:44 GMT -5
It's really correct to call them clones. Horticulturalists were using a version of the term before anyone thought of tinkering with animal egg cells. If the genetic inheritance of an individual is all from some one other individual, it's a clone no matter how it gets started. Live and learn. True, I was just reverting to the term which was used when my uncle taught me to take "cuttings" long before I developed acne. There still is a slight problem with Japan's favourite cherry clone though. Thankfully this won't come in the near future. The clones are taken from the new growth on a "mother" tree. Genetically, this material is the oldest part of the plant. So these new clones are genetically the same age as the original tree. Trees have a natural lifespan and eventually these cherry trees will reach old age, then fade away and die. That will be the end of them - unless future biologists/geneticists come up with a fix. But that problem is still a good few hundreds of years away and there's always the chance that an equally perfect cherry tree will come along.
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Post by tangerinesun on May 11, 2017 16:14:06 GMT -5
it's a clone no matter how it gets started. Live and learn. True, I was just reverting to the term which was used when my uncle taught me to take "cuttings" long before I developed acne. There still is a slight problem with Japan's favourite cherry clone though. Thankfully this won't come in the near future. The clones are taken from the new growth on a "mother" tree. Genetically, this material is the oldest part of the plant. So these new clones are genetically the same age as the original tree. Trees have a natural lifespan and eventually these cherry trees will reach old age, then fade away and die. That will be the end of them - unless future biologists/geneticists come up with a fix. But that problem is still a good few hundreds of years away and there's always the chance that an equally perfect cherry tree will come along. No, it's me that thought cloning meant from oocytes. B/c I never paid attention to it till they started xeroxing vertebrates. Crap. Gene therapy for trees. Since there's billions of yen to be made, somebody's thinking about creating a brand new super-cherry right now, just about guaranteed. One with pollen tubes that go all the way to the ground.
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Post by tangerinesun on Jun 12, 2017 0:16:00 GMT -5
Kansai is known for the funny
Naoko highly approves The "Yokoyama Hot Brothers" designated an Intangible Cultural Property of the City of Osaka2017 JUN 09 by staff for the Asahi Shimbun Digital Edition www.asahi.com/articles/ASK695V27K69PTIL024.html On receiving the designation, the trio commented through their affiliate office, "We feel it is an extraordinary honor, and one that is much appreciated."And here they are in 2012. Now well into their 80s, they are a little less spry these days than in the clip. The Yokoyama Hot Brothers2012 FEB 29 by tag fan (05:32) 横山ホットブラザーズ Makoto, Sezuo and Akira make hash of Enka classics and the Symphony No.5 of Beethoven on accordion, electric guitar, and musical saw. They're surviving members of a family musical comedy troupe said to have formed in 1936. ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/横山ホットブラザーズA traditional vaudeville-like variety act, like what you might get if you crossed the Smothers Brothers with the Three Stooges. Here in their prime, from the early to mid-1970s: The Yokoyama Hot Brothers (joined by father Toro Yokoyama)2013 FEB 09 by Adachi publicity, Inc. (12:55) The vaunted Kansai (Kyoto/Osaka) music and stand-up comedy team, the "Yokoyama Hot Brothers". Father Toro Yokoyama participation version. The 3 brothers appear as young, the father was a wonderful person. Dad plays the shamisen like nobody else, with a cello bow and attached chafing dish/ladle. At 10:00, tunes for chromatic nose harmonica, soprano recorder, and spinning plates.
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Post by tangerinesun on Jun 28, 2017 18:19:42 GMT -5
Tokyo guzzlerFun Japan blog well worth your time tokyoguzzler.wordpress.com Tokyo guzzler is an amateur travel blog by (mainly? exclusively?) andybix85, a Tokyo-based anglophone ex-pat, maybe late 40s / early 50s, who goes all over with his small posse and camera. When I call it amateur, that does no justice to how well organized the blog is, or how good the photography is, or how great the destinations are. If you were indulging yourself on an endless vacation in Japan, you'd be glad to go along on the trips andybix reports on. I shrank his original photo, so I compensated by screwing it up totally. For clarity. On our way back to the tube station [ in Odaiba ], we passed this happy family in Starbucks. Man, wife, dog and… owl! Even the dog looked confused!
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Post by tangerinesun on Jul 6, 2017 16:36:18 GMT -5
ALC - Brag as you like about your hometowngotcha.alc.co.jp/archive/category/アルクの勝手にお国自慢 2016 JUL 07 update by Staff for the GOTCHA blog of ALC A corner for introducing places of interest and specialties throughout Japan in English (and dialect). Our staff are proud of their hometowns.Interesting tiny amateur travelogues in local Japanese and English, by people who live in the areas they report on. What you would ideally get if you bumped into someone on the street and asked, "what's good to do around here?" GOTCHA"Study. Work. English. Delivering various 'Aha!' moments"gotcha.alc.co.jp/ The blog is aimed at helping and motivating people who want to improve their conversational English. ARK Co., Ltd. (English name: ALC PRESS INC.), publishes a whole bunch of language learning resources in Japanese.
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Post by tangerinesun on Jul 13, 2017 13:43:56 GMT -5
Iroha karuta (irohagaruta)Illustrated I-Ro-Ha syllabary playing cards Irohagaruta hiragana syllabary cards are used mainly for teaching young children to recognize the beginning reader's set of Japanese characters, and also associate them with their sounds. As a bonus, the kids are occupied for a while, and they get indoctrinated with proverbial phrases like: ゐゐのなかの かへる たいかいをしらず Wi no naka no kaheru taikai o shirazu The frog in the well knows not the great ocean You play by listening to the proverb read aloud, and racing to be first to realize which syllable card matches, so you can grab it and add it to your stash before someone else does. This used to be a popular thing to do at family gatherings on New Year's Day, and brand new card decks still get published annually for that occasion. Yes, of course the card decks are collectible! Some are beautifully illustrated, some are highly amusing, some are topical, and some cater to your personal fan fetishes. A language instructor of mine used a home-made deck of regular flash cards like this in a class, although she didn't tell us about what she was doing and I had no idea at the time. Card deck eye candy from Tofuguwww.tofugu.com/japan/karuta-japanese-cards/Simple explanation of the traditional iroha deck: www.japanya.co.uk/Karuta.aspx Nintendo Iroha Karuta at the Before Mario blogblog.beforemario.com/2013/11/nintendo-iroha-karuta-part-1.html To most readers of this blog it will be well-known that Nintendo started corporate life as card manufacturer, back in 1889… 〜〜〜 Maybe the best/worst irohagaruta page on the entire internet. You can't read the yellow-on-gray text, and it tries to bully you into installing what it says is the Adobe Flash player on your computer. So unmannerly. Smack, smack, smack. Andy's Playing Cards - Japanese Matching Cards - Iroha Karutahttp://a_pollett.tripod.com/cards58.htm Iroha decks always come as a double set of 48 subjects, for a total of 96…
…there is no standard style, therefore each manufacturer is left free to choose both the illustrations' subjects and their graphic technique…
The ordering of Iroha cards is not random: it is based on an old poem from the Heian period, for which the Buddhist monk Kukai (774-835) is traditionally credited.
In this poem all the different hiragana are used once, their sequence creating actual words, and from the three opening syllables (I, RO, HA) the composition was given its name. The set also includes two obsolete syllables, WI and WE, no longer used in modern Japanese…
The proverbs featured in these decks are traditional sayings, many of which go back in time about 200 years, and probably more…
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Post by mikado-AKA-Shoknifeman on Jul 13, 2017 22:05:36 GMT -5
I've seen those cards before, but, until now, I had no idea what they were used for.
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Post by tangerinesun on Jul 18, 2017 13:46:56 GMT -5
Japanese perceptionNot uniquely, but characteristically After a summer thunderstorm, with hail the size of marbles in Tokyo. Thunder and hail beyond amazing. Chunks of ice have been completely coming down. It seems Rikkyo [ University in Ikeburo, Tokyo ] has damage due to the hail, but look at this scene, like out of paradise.
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Post by thegl0r on Aug 8, 2017 1:35:41 GMT -5
Mmm, that delicious food that everyone loves and Haruna sings about. Japanese curry! I've now found out what she means when telling us of her fondness for "chicken cuts". Interestingly we find out that Curry is not a traditional Japanese dish. It is something which Japan imported from the west. No, not from India, it came from England! It seems that back in the 19th century when Japan was modernising its navy and was copying the British navy, they also copied the curry that was served in the British navy. Adjustments were made to suit the Japanese type of rice. The sailors loved it and curry migrated to civilian life. I do like curry noodles, but I'm not too certain about the curry doughnuts.
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Post by tangerinesun on Aug 20, 2017 18:04:37 GMT -5
Awa Odori, Minamiuchi-cho Playhousehttp://instagr.am/p/BXxPiR1FlQF Obon celebrations are over for this year, but here's a flashback to a street scene in the Minamiuchi district of Tokushima. Like the man says, good with the volume UP.
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Post by tangerinesun on Aug 26, 2017 14:03:26 GMT -5
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Post by tangerinesun on Aug 28, 2017 17:52:05 GMT -5
Who you want for your next rave is TeamLabhttp://instagr.am/p/BYVDTJOnv6p http://instagr.am/p/BX9e-ORnEQu Single Team Lab - at Shibuya HikarieThis evolution of their Light Cocoon is 〜100 multicolor motorized follow-spot pinlights under remote control by a computer that's tracking a bouncing, translucent balloon via triangulated data from a sensor array. Good chance that means realtime analysis of sensor output from calibrated surveillance video cameras. That would be cheap in terms of hardware, compared to infrared or ultrasound. I'm guessing that the balloons are all completely dumb rubber gasbags. The ability to do this from parts you can purchase readily is not all that old. When you add a good stage lighting programmer, artificial fog and a bunch of partiers… what a scene. http://instagr.am/p/BYTAOSmH6eW
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