Shigeru Ban - the architect and his works

Centre Pompidou-Metz

Shigeru Ban, one of the most reliable and trustworthy architects, especially for vulnerable people in
devastated areas, civil war countries with refugees, builds remarkable architecture.  Easy and quick to build with unique materials such as paper tubes, which are incredibly strong beyond our imagination as well as reusable and easy to order anywhere in the world.  Whenever and wherever a big earthquake occurs, for example, he always rushes to the disaster area to construct shelters.  Ban was the first architect to claim the importance of ensuring privacy for refugees in camps or disaster evacuation facilities.

Honored as a Pritzker Prize winner, Ban was born in Tokyo in 1957, and had a youthful dream to play rugby at Waseda University.  However, after a disastrous defeat in an important match, he shifted his attention to his second interest, architecture.

La Seine Musicale

As soon as he graduated from high school, Ban went to the US and studied architecture at Cooper Union in New York, where internationally acclaimed architects, such as Le Corbusier and Bauhaus, particularly Alvar Aalto, the Scandinavian sage, had a huge impact on his ideas.  Their distinctive and sophisticated works inspired him to source paper tubes, his signature construction material for refugee shelters.

Not only those convenient houses, Ban designed many breathtakingly beautiful buildings, including the Centre Pompidou - Metz, La Seine Musicale, Toyota City Museum.

On December 4th, the Shimose Museum in Hiroshima, designed by Ban, was announced by UNESCO at the Prix Versailles 2024 as the World’s Most Beautiful Museum. 

Shimose Museum

Currently, over 30 projects, including the Noto disaster shelters as well as EXPO 2025 Osaka, have been directed by Shigeru Ban, the sleepless architect.

Surf & Snow in Naeba vol. 44

When did we come here to the Naeba ski resort last time?  In 2006 probably?  The Naeba Prince Hotel was totally different from my faint old memory.  The hotel was a whole Yuming world: the entrance was full of flowers celebrating Yuming, the ski hill viewing restaurant offered a special lunch with five different cocktails inspired from her songs.  And full of happy people who didn’t look like skiing at all, just like us.It is always extremely difficult to get tickets for this special annual winter concert and we were on the waiting list.  The agent let us know this was uploaded just about 20 days ago.  We also got lucky with a special five course dinner: each plate was related to her songs and the chef came over to our table to explain the meaning of every dish.

It was a very warm day, and snow was not so good for skiing, but lots of people were enjoying themselves on the slopes and the lightning was beautiful at night.

Yumi Matsutoya, Yuming, started this special annual winter concert, YUMING SURF & SNOW in Naeba in 1981 at this hotel’s restaurant, and in 1992 the hotel built a concert hall for her which she named “Blizzadium” after one of her popular winter songs “Blizzard”

The concert from 9pm, lasted for over three hours, and the hall capacity is about 1,300, so the audience is very close to the stage, just like a live house, but the stage set is always spectacularly gorgeous.  This year it started with her danceable song plus sixteen drones flying around.  We stood up, clapping hands, jumping!  The miraculous time had begun!

There is always request time, when she points to the audience to raise their hands, with the lucky one invited onto the stage, have a little chat and take a photo with her, get some presents before Yuming sings the requested song.  I knew she would never point at me but I only regret that I didn’t even try.  It was a very rare opportunity and it might have been our last chance to get tickets.  So I made up my mind that I will make the most of it for every opportunity as life is too short and seize the day!!

We went to the last day and there was the quadruple encore “Sotsugyo Shashin” and the whole audience sang along with her, which provided a very emotional moment.

I just really hope we can come again next year as well!!!!!

A miraculous day - a lifetime in the day of a superfan

 Avoiding the end of the year ceremony, having made a huge excuse, my husband and I got on the Shinano.  The train was packed like sardines with overseas tourists and Japanese families going to their hometowns for the New Year holiday, and our destination, Nagoya.  It was the 28th December, the last working day of the year.  Although we were rather uncomfortable on our journey, we were overjoyed with the prospect of being able to see the final show of our favorite singer,Yumi Matsutoya, Yuming, on her 54th concert of her tour, “The Journey “.

When we arrived at Nagoya, there was an announcement of cancellation for further service to Shinano because of some falling rocks.  We felt so lucky to have gotten on an earlier train, even though it had been a very painful two hours.

Our seat numbers of the show only came out at midday on the day of the concert on our phone, and we found out that our seats were on the 2nd lane in the arena, the best seats we’ve ever had in the seventeen previous shows we’ve been to!  We were absolutely thrilled to see that but the seat number was so tricky that we never knew if it was a real good seat or not until we were actually in the concert hall.

knick-knacks

With our huge expectations we arrived at Nihon Gaishi, and joined a long queue to purchase some concert souvenirs, such as a tin-badge unique to every venue, T-shirts, bags…. During this concert tour, concert staff had been introduced through Instagram and we felt as if they were our old acquaintances.  So when we saw the person in charge of the stalls, we greeted her, and she kindly responded with her beautiful smile, which gave us more familiarity.

After we had had a happy little chat with the sales lady, it was time for the lottery for the special pair of glasses, released as a commemoration set; we had been able to get the lottery ticket only when we bought her new CD.  Actually we bought four, even though we already had three copies : to tell you the truth, we had a little discussion about the necessity to buy this same CD just for the glasses, even though they were ‘special’.

There were lots of people in front of us and we had had no luck so far.  It was our turn.  We were at the lottery desk without any hope.  First my husband, Isamu tried and failed, of course, then me…  Goodness gracious!  I’ve made it!  Yeeeeeeees!  Hooray!  The lottery guy was so surprised that he dropped the big hand bell and there was a huge noise and he screamed ‘You got it!  Congratulations!’

I was extremely surprised and couldn’t believe it because I had never won any lottery before.  Of course I was very happy but at the same time I started being anxious about what would happen next, as we had been too lucky that day so far.

It was about 4 pm and the concert started at 6:30 pm, so we went back to our accommodation, only a ten minute walk from the hall to calm ourselves down.

At the hotel, we had a little snack, changed into the white tour T-shirt which we have always worn on this tour (our uniform) and got perfectly ready mentally and visually by 5:30 pm…and off we went back to the hall and found an excited audience of!

About 10,000 people were already there, and we lined up to find our seats, East 3 Block 2nd lane 11, 12, which were super good seats, we called ‘god’s seat’!  We were absolutely delighted and thrilled!!

We felt all the audience’s huge excitement and anticipation, the concert started with the familiar introduction, then our goddess, Yuming, was walking towards the stage in front of us!  That stage set up was centre-stage so if our seats were the opposite side of the 2nd lane, we couldn’t have seen her passing through.  So we were super lucky indeed!!

superfans 

The concert was the very best, Yuming and the other performers played so well and I felt as if I had made eye contact with Yuming a couple of times.  The absolute highlight was when she pointed at me in the middle of  ‘Mamotte Agetai’ … I almost fainted with joy.  

We were dancing, jumping, clapping our hands, waving at her frantically, screaming, singing along, enjoying ourselves every minute, I have never been happier!

At the end of the show, all the staff were on the stage and they hugged each other, which was a very emotional scene and made us cry as well: the show, the tour, The Journey really is finishing…

There was a triple encore that was very rare, and moreover Masataka Matsutoya, Yuming’s husband & producer and director of the show and a great musician himself, accompanied her on keyboards for her last song, ‘Sotsugyo Shashin’, one of her iconic tunes and the best song for the final.

Mr and Mrs Matsutoya came down from the stage and they walked past in front of us, under the thunderous applause from the crowd.

Finally the overwhelming show and our miraculous day was over. 

My Father’s Dragon

Sayuri meets her dragon!

 When I read this fabulous story for the first time, I was an elementary school student.  I fell in love with this lovely front cover picture at first sight, and as soon as I started reading it I was so much into it I had to read it all the way through, again and again for ages.  Over the year though, I forgot about until I saw an advertisement about an exhibition for the original illustrations of this book at PLAY! Museum in Tachikawa.  “I have to go there!”

Tachikawa is a well-planned, beautiful city with the Museum just a 10 minute walk from the railway station.  We arrived a little earlier than the opening time, but the smiley staff welcomed us and let us wait in the cool foyer.  At reception we got a sticker and lovely paper-craft pictures of dragons as souvenirs.  The receptionist told us we could re-enter the Museum anytime that day, using the sticker.  We were even allowed to take photos inside.

My first photo had to be with the beautiful Boris the Dragon at the entrance!  He was so lovely, just as I had imagined.  I was over the moon - I felt like my lifelong dream to see the Dragon had came true!!

As well as the original pictures, the exhibition room was full of black and white animals made me feel as though I was on ‘Wild Island’ with Elmer Elevator, the main character.  The original pictures were drawn into so much with pencils and their captions were put with which were shaped like twigs, lollipops, chewing gum, bird feathers, which were iconic items in the story.

There were also crocodiles lined-up like stepping stones which Elmer had used as a bridge in the story.  In the display the crocodiles groaned when we stepped on them, which was so much fun.

The Museum shop was really exciting too.  There were so many lovely items like T-shirts, postcards, books, posters, socks, lollipops, water-dorm, etc, etc…paradise!  I bought books, T-shirts and other trinkets! Shopping done, we went to the Museum cafe and enjoyed interesting dishes inspired by the exhibition.

‘My Father’s Dragon’ and the subsequent Ruth Stiles Garnett stories, ‘Elmer and the Dragon’ and ‘The Dragons of Blueland’ were written in 1944, being translated into Japanese and published in 1963.  I had only ever read them in Japanese before, but now I’ve got an original English version which I’m looking forward to reading and seeing the Dragon I love.

The old wooden name tag

Recently I found an old wooden name tag with my name and class room on it, which reminded me of my first summer holiday from elementary school.  So let me tell you about my bitter-sweet memory, and the shadow of my mum that still effects me deeply.

Do you like swimming?  Actually I do now, but I certainly didn't use to as I was afraid of water.  I would hide in the toilets during swimming class, and go home with my never-used-dry-swimming suit, and secretly put it in the laundry.  In the summer holidays, students had to go swimming almost everyday, with their neighbourhood friends.  When you arrived at the school pool, you needed to put your name tag on the board to show who was there.  

The author, with THAT wooden peg 

One day, when I was hiding in the toilet as usual, my teacher showed up with my mum and found me there.  I was terrified and froze in shock, bursting into tears with the horror of punishment for my bad behavior and embarrassment.  However, my teacher was rather gentle and sweet, and asked me why I was there.  After I explained my aquaphobia, he took me to the pool-side and showed me how relax and be comfortable in the water, on a hot summer's day.  He led me through the cool shower gently and took me to the big pool step by step.  Almost everyday after that, my teacher came to the swimming pool and made sure I was there safe and sound.  Gradually, my fear of water disappeared and I could even swim a little by the end of the summer holiday.  My place was very close to the elementary school, and I spotted my mum spying on me from behind the wall around the pool, with her parasol in her hand, everyday without any doubt.  I thought I couldn't hide anything or anywhere from her.

Thankfully I'm not afraid of water anymore and I can swim for a long distance, but I still feel my mum's eyes watching me everyday, even after almost half a century...she's watching.

My grandma

The author (left!)

My maternal grandma was very elegant and she always wore a kimono. She sewed kimonos by herself, and made some beautiful kimonos for me as well, which includes a special one for my coming-of-age ceremony.

She married a military officer, who was held as a detainee for seven years in a Siberian internment camp. That must have been a very difficult time for her, with three children during and after the war, but unfortunately I never had any opportunity to listen to her recollections.

I remember her sitting still and sewing a kimono in the sunshine with a beautiful picture, more than two tatami-mats in size, hanging beside her. I also remember her back when she was about to go out, which was quite often. She was a member of the Red Cross Society, LDP, Women's association and so on. She also learned traditional Japanese dance and did some volunteer work; she liked reading historical novels, such as Eiji Yoshikawa's. She always wrote as well, so she was always quite busy and seemed to get involved in something all the time.

She liked eating good food and drinking a little sake and enjoyed the company of friends. She was very pleased with my marriage and welcomed my husband so much whenever we visited her, and she gave him the full treatment with her generosity - so he liked her very much as well.

My grandma enjoyed her life in many ways with a lot of friends, she always did something fun and she was always beautiful. I would love to be like her!

The City in the Deep Sea - Yuming Matsutoya gig review

Yumi Matsutoya, Yuming's concert tour 'The city in the deep sea' will be performed on sixty-three stages, in thirty different cities from September 2021 to July 2022. Fortunately, I have had several opportunities to see the show, and the latest one was on 23rd April at Tokyo International Forum.

This time my seat was at the very center of the concert hall, which was not close enough to the stage to be excited but I could see the whole stage at one sight and enjoyed the stage-setting, and the lighting effects such as her avatar dancing, and the famous huge mirror ball, which provides a full of lighting shower as if from the heaven.

The set looked like a room of a submarine and there was a big window with a big screen at the center of the stage background, and a woman wearing diving gear sinking down to the bottom of the deep sea… and we were in her dream.

The sound of a pipe organ echoed solemnly. The concert started with my most favourite tune that I knew so well that my eyes were full of tears already, just hearing the introduction.

Yuming wore a Captain Nemo (of the Undersea Adventures) costume, and the members of the band were the crew, all sailing together in the deep sea.

As I knew the setlist quite well, I was ready for the next song and relaxed to be seated or to stand up for dancing. The audience was quite good and they seemed to get used to seeing a concert, they enjoyed themselves in their own way, so I enjoyed myself very much as well.

This concert is based on Yuming's 39th original album released in December 2020, which included the music about this world crisis, the pandemic and the fire of the Notre-Dame. When I saw the first concert, I was just happy to be able to attend such a big event in October 2021 when the pandemic seemed to be quite settled but this time we are still in the middle of the sixth wave of the pandemic and witnesses to the Ukraine War. Eventually and unexpectedly her album and this concert represent or even predict this uncertain world itself : the endless pandemic, unpeaceful world.

I enjoyed the concert very much as the perfect entertainment and also I was touched with the deep meaning of her rather prophetic music with no political messages but in style. I am going to see the same concert two more times again and am looking forward to it very much. I will never get bored no matter how many times I see the same stage, which always gives me a lot of hope and strength

Posted for super-fan Sayuri!

Sayuri's favourite antique shop

" Skogen" stands still like a secret hideaway in tranquil woods where we certainly need to be guided by the car navigation system. Looking up at a big and stylish grey house with a huge garden in front, our expectations are rising to the top. When we open a big wooden door, there is a big entrance hall with some rather simple and natural wooden furniture which gives us a welcoming feeling.

" Skogen" is a vintage furniture shop specialized in Scandinavian countries where the owner visits once in a while and imports their one of a kind products. There are eight different rooms: living room, dining room, bed room and study and each room is ideal and finely arranged with well-designed lamps, tables, sofas, chairs and adorable small goodies from Northern countries which are famous for their sophisticated design and natural fabric with warm colours.

There are big windows in the enormous living room facing the lovely garden and lots of pretty candle holders are placed beside the windows which bring us beautiful and romantic night light.

This is an experience where you'll go on a journey into Sweden and others if you love it there, then this is the place to be.

This season will start on April 1st, opening from Friday to Monday, 11:00 to 17:00, advance booking required https://www.skogen.cc

Natur in Risonare in Kobuchisawa and Natur Karuizawa are sister stores which open regularly and are highly recommended as well.

Washington Square - a happier ending

Catherine went off with Morris as soon as she arrived in New York from Europe.  Doctor Sloper was furious about it and Catherine was denied any fortune from him.  Sadly their marriage didn't last long, as Doctor Sloper had predicted, with Morris leaving her without waiting for the birth of their daughter, who was incredibly beautiful.

Their charming daughter grew up into an intelligent and adorable girl with her mother's loving much love and care, but she was physically fragile under their simple life.  As a result, when she was seven years old, she became seriously ill and desperate Catherine begged her father for his help.  As soon as he saw his granddaughter, Doctor Sloper loved her, as she reminded him of his loving wife and his cold stiff heart melted with love.  

Doctor Sloper had changed his will again, to have his granddaughter inherit all of his property, and he invited Catherine and her daughter back to his house and they lived together happily ever after.

Meanwhile Morris got on a Hudson River ship, which had just started their business as a pleasure boat, and looked for a new position.  He was so handsome and amusing that many women were attracted by his charm but all was just temporary because they found out his lazy nature easily.

The Captain of the ship was interested in Morris' reputation, he employed him as an official host of his pleasure boat to entertain people, which was perfect for Morris and soon the Hudson River Cruise became very popular and successful, Morris enjoyed himself on the boat for the rest of his life.

Posted for Sayuri

The perfect way to enjoy afternoon tea.

The perfect afternoon tea should feel like a special event so it's worth going to a fine hotel with some girlfriends for a tea party or a special friend for a tea for two, no gentleman thank you very much. At the luxurious hotel tea room there is a beautiful setting with flowers, shining silver cutlery, fine china and cake stand, and if you are lucky there would be a glass of Champagne as well.  

Our shy tea lady!

Firstly you choose your tea, a Darjeeling, an Assam, Earl Grey or more.  It's always a big issue with the milk first or needing a slice of lemon, but it's absolutely fine whatever you like, though I prefer putting the milk in last with no lemon and sugar.

When stirring your tea, try not to touch the side of the cup ( otherwise you'll get attention! ) and place it behind the cup on the saucer then drink your tea with the pinky finger sticking out like a Royal family.  

On the cake stand there would be sandwiches filled with cucumber, smoked salmon with cream cheese and egg mayonnaise with the crusts cut off and some savouries like quiche or pie and eat those first. 

Then move onto the scones following some sweets.  There are many traditions about the way to eat your scones: cut the scone in half, cover it in jam then add clotted cream or the other way around.

Most of all, the important thing is to enjoy yourself in your own way with your good friends and have an amusing conversation.  

Just have a lovely time!

Posted for Sayuri

A letter home to Durrisdeer, from the widow Alice Durie

 Dear Teruki,

As you probably know, my husband and his brother James both died in the wilderness. I'm terribly sad to lose my two loving men at once. I always loved James, even when he had gone to war and never wrote back to any of my letters. He was such an attractive man.

I married Henry because he was a kind and honest man, and a good husband. We had a peaceful time until James returned home. To be honest, I was happy for his return, but Henry was unhappy, so it was obvious they would duel.I didn't think James would lose, but he did and his body even disappeared..

James was such an unpredictable man, even following us to New York! Half of my life was spent looking for James and the other half hiding from him. I was surprised to know that Henry went to the wilderness, but he had changed a lot - not kind and honest anymore. He was obsessed about his title and his loving son; money and fame are such dangerous things.

Alice Durie (aka Sayuri)

Sayuri Super Fan - post-corona concert goer

Yuming, one of my favourite artists started her tour concert at the end of September and she came to Nagano for two days. I was very lucky to get the tickets for two concerts exactly the same one.

We (my husband and I) were so excited that we arrived at the concert hall really early but there were so many people just like us waiting for the door to open.

They used the digital ticket system so we had to have a smartphone to show the ticket onthe screen. Somehow the door person gave us a stamp on the screen ticket and we werequalified to enter the hall. First thing that we needed to do was cleaning our hands withpraying alcohol. Then they handed out a special face shield and we needed to put it onwith a mask underneath during the concert. They said that they used some special ultraviolet rays to sterilize some viruses. Also there was an announcement to ask for good behavior during the concert as the new standard after Covid 19. What is good behavior like?

The stage set looked like a room in a big submarine and we were all at the bottom of the deep sea, just like the tour title "The town in the deep sea"
Suddenly a pipe organ began to play gloriously. That was following the first song "Kageriyukuheya", my favourite song! That was her very early tune and she made it with theinspiration of Procol Harum "A Whiter Shade of Pale". I was surrounded by her solemn music and tears were coming up. It was the first live concert for me ever since this pandemic had happened. I was extremely happy!! I love music!!

Her concert was famous for the artistic stage production and the fifth song "Notre-Dame" was brilliant. On the huge screen above the stage we could see a bird's-eye view of Notre Dame and I felt like I was flying like a white dove, which was incredible.

We were so excited and stood up and started dancing and clapping hands!

On the first day, an old woman behind us complained about our bad behavior and asked us to sit down very politely but on the second day, we were on the fifth line from the front and almost the center, great seats! There was certain big fun of Yuming around, then we were all enjoying ourselves without any hesitation but not shouting off course.

In the end the day-two concert became so lively and exciting, so much better than theprevious day that the audience and the artists were all happy, satisfied and content. That's what the concert should be!

I realized how much I love music and concerts!

We need art! We need music! That makes us happy and well!

Remembering my father - Sayuri's fond memories

When I found the old photo of my father, some warm feeling was recalled immediately and made me smile.

My father was fond of literature and he was rather a romantic person. When he was a high school student, he belonged to a literature club and he organized a small funeral for the famous cat at his school festival. The cat was in the masterpiece: I am a cat, Wagahai wa neko dearu, by the great Japanese author, Soseki Natsume. He told me about it a long time ago but I didn't know a photo existed. In the old black and white photo, there was a small altar of the cat in the story and three rather serious looking boys sitting straight. One of them was my father in his high school uniform. I felt strange to see my father's youth and the figure that I hadn't known.

He liked books, newspapers, movies, and a little bit of beer. I am wondering what he would do in this self-isolated situation. Probably he would enjoy himself in his creative way of living. I miss him a lot.

Posted for Sayuri

The Trojan Horse

The Greeks and the Romans had been at war for ten years. The exhausted Greek army had been camped around the important city of Troy in ancient Turkey.  The magnificent city walls were unbreakable, and the soldiers outside were desperate for victory. 

Early one morning, while he was having his traditional power breakfast with helpless generals, the old Greek king Odysseus had a brilliant idea.  

The king decided to have a huge, hollow wooden horse built, which would be big enough for a crack squad of brave soldiers to hide inside.

Eventually the enormous horse was built by the determined Greek soldiers. A corps of elite troops got into the well-built wooden horse. Others set fires to their shabby camp as they pretended to sail back to Greece. However, all of the courageous soldiers were hiding nearby. 

As the Trojans were tired of the endless fights, they were extremely delighted to see the Greeks had left.  When they came out from the never-opened gate, they found a breathtaking wooden horse which they had never seen before. Of course, they were very curious about it.  Meanwhile, the Trojans asked the sole remaining Greek soldier about the giant wooden horse.  He explained that the distinctive wooden horse was an offering to the goddess Athena.

The Trojans accepted the gift. They tried to pull the gigantic wooden horse into the city, but it was so big that they had to tear down a part of the impregnable city wall.  The Trojans took the mighty wooden horse to the temple of Athena in the centre of the city, and had a big party to celebrate the end of the war.

Finally, the Trojans relaxed and all the exhausted soldiers fell asleep.  Exactly at that time the patient Greek soldiers crept out from their hiding place in the fortress, the wooden horse, and killed all the Trojan guards at the gate before signalling the waiting Greeks to attack the sleeping city.  

The bloody battle finished soon. The Greeks had won the historic war. The miserable Trojan men were slaughtered; the women and children were taken back to Greece as hard-working slaves.

Posted for Sayuri & Teruki

The Da Vinci tapes

Tom Hanks : "How's the movie, Lenny?"

Leonard da Vinci : "Well, it's a bit of a bizarre story but good fun really. Who in the world invented this motion picture thing by the way. It would be a great entertainment for King François the First. Quite clever."

Audrey Tautou : "Did you really draw the figure of John of the Evangelist as Mary Magdalene? Did you create a V-shape for the representative of the chalice and of a woman's womb?"

Leonardo : "Well, well, well. What do you think? If I say 'No', all those rather interesting stories would be ruined completely, wouldn't they. Oh, you are the descendant, aren't you? Your grandpa was a clever man to use my 'Vitruvian Man' though it's a shocking scene, really."

Audrey : "Were you a member of the Priory of Sion, Leonardo?"

Leonardo : "It's pretty rude to ask one's religious beliefs. Didn't you learn at school, Miss?"

Audrey : "Oh yes, but this is important!"

Tom : "Leave him alone, Audrey. He is right. This is none of your business."

Audrey : "But…"

Leonard : "It's ok, young lady. I'm quite a scientific man, you know. I believe only what I see. So…"

Audrey : "Okay, I understand that. Thanks, anyway."

Leonardo : "That's quite all right. Well actually I'm delighted how you people appreciate my art work. You put my precious Lisa del Gioconda in a huge room with bulletproof glass surrounded. I worked on it using new ideas and I had never let her go even when I went to France."

Tom : "We love your paintings and everything, Lenny. You're the most famous and the most popular artist in the world."

Leonardo : "Besides Michelangelo?"

Audrey : "Oh, he is just different. I love your art work the most!"

Leonardo : "Good girl."

Sayuri's least favourite rooms

   Our housing environment has been rather unfortunate.  We had lived in 13 different houses in 35 years, which were all company residences and most of them were extremely old and filthy : a small house with a white snake, a tilted flat which made Mum dizzy, an old flat with big centipedes, a terrible kitchen with a blocked drainage pipe, a frozen cold bedroom where bedside water had been really frozen etc… 

  The worst one was the mouldy flat where the unfaced concrete walls were all covered with mold.  We asked the company to mend them but they had just sprayed some ordinary mold remover on the walls and put some styrofoam boards with some double-sided tape on them.  

  The ceiling looked like it was made of asbestos, so we covered up with some huge sheets of 'washi' papers, just in case.

  There was no proper lighting tool so we used a simple light bulb just like an ancient life which made us rather nostalgic when we had got used to it.

  To make matters worse, our room was on a grand floor and the flat was just beside a very busy road.  There was no space for a washing machine, so we put it on the balcony.  Everytime I washed some clothes and hung them on, I felt all the drivers' eyes on me.  

  We lived there from 2004 to 2005 but we found the flat is still there now, and someone seems to live there still. 

Posted for Sayuri

Yuming's New Year appearance & TV special - super fan's review!

 Every New Year's Eve, NHK has a special music concert, with many Japanese artists performing on stage.  

The 2020 concert involved Yumi Matsutoya (‘Yuming’), who sang two of her original songs; 'Mamotteagetai', a famous hit, and her latest release 'Kiminotameni Superman', which was featured as the theme song for a non-NHK TV program called 'Small Three' (the three small comedians).  The Superman song was a big surprise which even the MC didn't know about.  I believe all Yuming fans, as well as all the audience, must have enjoyed the unexpected staging enormously.

Shimkai no Machi - Yuming's new album

As for the Yuming TV  special on 15 January, we were shown the process of making the Superman song, which included the first opportunity to see inside of Yuming's home.  She has a brilliant high quality recording studio, which under this Covid19 situation meant she could record her new original album by herself.  It was also the first time for us to observe how to create a new song, which really amazed me.  Yuming's husband, who has produced and arranged her work, had quite a power and always provided accurate advice.  On the other hand, Yuming was very humble and rather quiet, but claimed her opinion in a gentle way.  She even cared for the nervous three comedians and helped them relax.  

Yuming was supposed to hold her annual concert in Naeba ski resort in February, but it has been postponed.  I was going to go there with my famous new iPhone, so it is very very disappointing but Yuming said her new year resolution was 'Never give up!', I believe that we can go to her fabulous annual concert, and her new album tour, someday soon.

Posted for Sayuri

Super fan Sayuri - biography of her pop idol

Yumi Matsutoya, “Yuming”, is a top Japanese singer-songwriter, who has brought a new sensitivity to the Japanese pop music scene.  She was born in Hachioji on 19 January 1954, the daughter of a draper, and she has a lengthy backstory.  

As student at Tama Art University, she released her first single "Henjiha Iranai" on 5 July 1972, and her first album "Hikokigumo" in November that year, working with many famous musicians who considered her to be a brilliant artist. 

Yumi Matsutoya

On 29 November 1976 Yuming married Masataka Matsutoya, a member of a popular band who had produced and arranged her work.  Since " Delight Slight Light Kiss" in 1989, she made eight consecutive million-selling albums, and became the first female artist to sell over thirty million CDs.  

Yuming’s tour concerts are always very distinctive, creative and outstanding so it is always very difficult to get tickets.  She has appeared on a real elephant, performed with a Russian circus and sung with synchronized swimmers in a swimming pool on stage, as if in a miraculous dream.  She has also held an annual concert at Naeba ski resort since 1981; 2021 will be the forty-first edition.

'Shinkainomachi' , released on 1 December 2020, is her thirty-ninth album, featuring the notable songs '1920' (about the year of Antwerp Olympics, after the first world war and the Spanish flu epidemic) and 'Notre Dame' (related to the tragedy of the unforgettable blaze in Paris).  Even though they are serious and deep themes, her lyrics are simple and philosophical, but weaving artistry and pop as well.  Her music will be listened to for another hundred years.

Posted for Sayuri - who bought an iPhone just so she could get a digital ticket to join a TV Special tonight (15/1/2021)!

Haunting Story: Banshu Sara Yoshiki

Name of building:

Himeji Castle

Location:

Okayama prefecture

History of building:

Established in 1346, castle towers were built in 1580 by Hideyoshi.

Description of ghost: 
In 1504 Okiku, a young and clever housemade, saved Onodera, the master of the castle, while Aoyama, one of Onodera's retainers, took over the castle. Aoyama's retainer, Danshiro realized her actions, he compelled her to be his mistress but she refused. Danshiro was so angry that he broke one of ten dishes of his master's treasure and blamed her. He strangled her and threw her body into the old well.

Ghost's activity:
Okiku appeared from the old well every midnight and she counted the dishes in her painful voice, 'one, two, three…'. There should have been 10 pieces but one of them was broken by Danshiro,
so she broke down in tears for missing the 10th dish.

People's feelings:
People were sorry for Okiku. This story spread all over Japan and it became a Kabuki play or Rakugo story.

The End of the Phantom: Erik

After a long talk, Raoul and Christine took Erik with them to Norway. They built a large house beside a beautiful lake. Erik was a clever architect so he made their house nice and comfortable and kept their privacy quite well.

There was a small concert hall at their house and Christine sang her beautiful voice from time to time.

With her most generous and loving heart, Christine looked after Erik well, he had the happiest time of his life and passed away peacefully next year.

Raoul and Christine had three lovely daughters. They also had beautiful voices. The Raoul family became very popular for their musical talent, they were invited to the Opera house in Pairs. Their wonderful performance remained in the hearts of many Parisian and Parisienne for a long time.

Posted for Sayuri