Sakura 桜-Kobukuro

Spring is coming, in Japan when you say spring or haru 春  in Japanese, the first thing that will come into your mind is the sakura 桜 or cherry blossoms.  In fact, there are lots of Japanese song entitled sakura.  So, I post here the video of Sakura by Kobukuro, dedicated to a friend of mine who happens to like this song......  

Translation Sakura

*Let's give a nameless flower a name.
There’s only one in the whole world.
It looks like it will get battered by the cold of winter.
It looks like it will be able to get up again at the sound of someone’s voice.*

There is a mass of life sleeping in the earth when you brush away the asphalt.
Whenever we meet, we share the loneliness of the times we can’t see each other,
Like the sun and the moon
Even flowers that don’t bear fruit, even flowers that die when they’re still a bud
From now on, you and someone else
Will bask in the spring wind looking at them

Every time a cherry blossom petal falls, another unfulfilled love
Is wiped out by tears and smiles
And I’ve grown up more.
This sadness that keeps chasing me
This strong, pure sadness will never, ever change
Don’t lose the love that blooms inside you

I saw you looking lonely in town,
slipping into the crowds.
Your shining clear eyes that time,
It's like the quick passage of time hasn't dirtied them.
Don't say anything, it shouldn't be put into words.
The falling tears are turned into rain, healing the wounds of my heart.
At the banks of everyone's hearts, there is a flower that you can't let go.
It is not a very strong flower,
it is a flower that sways fleetingly.
I feel the strength of living as much as the number of flower petals.
Struck by the blowing wind of the storm, too.
There is no rain that won't cease.

Every time a cherry blossom petal falls, another unfulfilled love
Is wiped out by tears and smiles
And I’ve grown up more.
This sadness that keeps chasing me
This strong, pure sadness will never, ever change
The love that blooms inside of you and me.

*repeat*

WBC: Japan won the Battle against Korea

It's really a big deal for Japan that they won the World Baseball Classic. I never knew that Japanese can go crazy over a sports game. Just like us Filipinos, a match of Manny Pacquio in boxing is a big deal for us. Workers crammed into bars and restaurants in Tokyo and other cities to watch the game, which started at 10:30 a.m. local time on Tuesday. Electronics stores selling big screen TVs were turned into public viewing galleries as the baseball-crazy nation stopped to watch as Japan defended its title. In downtown Tokyo, several hundred people gathered at the giant BIC Camera electronics store including students who skipped out on their classes and salesmen ducking out before client calls. Fans formed pods around the dozens of flat-panel televisions showing the game. In Seoul, the game blasted from a giant video screen at the Gwanghwamun crossing, a major intersection near government and financial buildings. People crossed the street with their eyes on the screen rather than the road. The South Korean government has allowed all prisoners to watch the game live, so they could relieve their stress by cheering for the nation and feel a sense of pride as South Korean citizens. To the people of both nations, it's more than just a game. The Japanese are quietly anxious of the growing success of South Korean companies like Samsung Electronics. The South Koreans, meanwhile, are showing an open sense of rivalry and see Japan as a target to be surpassed.
The game was a back-and-forth contest, fitting for international baseball's most-intense rivalry. Prior to the final, the two countries had played each other four times, with each winning two games, on the way to the championship game. Japan won the tournament in 2006. South Korea has been a rising power in baseball for years. It reached the semifinals in 2006 and, last year, the South Korean national team won the gold medal in baseball at the Summer Olympics in Beijing, beating Japan in the process.

Well, the fact that these two Asian countries were able to play against each other in the finals is something that we Asians can be proud of.

How will you say ONLY in Japanese?

Me and a friend visited a store in Jusco, the store sells interesting and funny stuffs just like Village Vanguard. While I was busy choosing for a night lamp, my friend came to me and excitingly announced that he have found something funny, out of curiosity, I followed him, he showed me this light and took a picture of it. This is the picture:

It's very common here in Japan to see such mistake in English. It can be found on everything from poorly translated signs, menus, and instruction manuals to bizarrely worded advertisements and strange t-shirt slogans. Because Japanese has only five vowels, and few consonant clusters, it's very difficult for them to recognize the difference between L and R because these sounds fall into the Ra, Ri, Ru, Re, Ro category in Japanese. Therefore, in Japanese both L and R are pronounced as one phoneme, but in English L and R are two distinct phonemes.

I admit to myself that I am not good in English there are some words which I mispronounced and my grammar is not good, but this R and L thing is really confusing. One instance, my boss was trying to point out something, he kept on saying "rok, rok, rok" in my mind I thought it's rock or 6 which is roku in Japanese. My boss went away from his desk and lock the seat beside me. That was it! rok means lock, haha in front of my boss I look stupid!

Kunio Kato: The Best Oscar's Speech

I was checking YouTube for videos of Acamedy Awards since I missed to watched it online. So, what I've found is this funny video: so, what does it have to do in Japan? well, see it for yourself... with no offense it was a great speech with a lot of sense of humor. Kunio Kato received the Best Animated Short Film trophy for “La Maison en Petits Cubes” at the 81st Annual Academy Awards. Omedeeto Kato San.

My Uncle is a fan of Amuro Namie

My aunt requested for me to burn her a CD of Amuro Namie's songs. My uncle happens to be a fan of her, and everytime Namie appear on TV, my uncle always receive a tease from my aunt and my cousin. I had difficulty finding songs of Namie on the net, instead I gave them a copy of Beyonce's song since my uncle also like Naomi, the Japanese "Beyonce". My uncle always listens to it on the car and never even change it since I gave the CD. In short he, became hook with Beyonce. We even sometimes heard him singing a part of Crazy in love and Single ladies over and over. Funny it was. After watching Music Staion, a Japanese variety show, in which Namie's one of the guest, promoting her new album, my uncle receive again as usual a tease from her daughter, a bit shy my uncle blurted out 買って (buy it) several times. That's when I decided to burn him songs of Namie.

Namie Amuro (安室 奈美恵)

Born in Naha, Okinawa. Amuro debuted at the age of fourteen as an idol in the girl group Super Monkeys. Amuro left Toshiba-EMI after releasing two more solo singles; she continued her music career as a solo singer with the then-small independent label AVEX-Trax. Under the guidance of producer Tetsuya Komuro, Amuro quickly became a commercial success, producing several million-selling records and starting several fashion trends. Her single "Can You Celebrate" (1997) became Japan's best selling single by a solo female artist. However, in late 1997, Amuro put her career on hold to focus on her pregnancy and engagement.

Over a decade since her musical debut, Amuro has remained one of the longest surviving popular female acts in Japan. She is the only Japanese female artist to have achieved a Top 10 single each year for fourteen consecutive years.

Thanks Wikepedia..

World Baseball Classic: Japan Lost to Korea

Tokyo - Korea came back from a devastating loss to Japan to turn the tables and win the final game of Pool A of the World Baseball Classic, 1-0, in a pitchers' duel on Monday night.
Japan starter Hisashi Iwakuma retired the first nine batters he faced but got himself into a jam in the top of the fourth inning. After walking leadoff man Jong Wook Lee, Iwakuma gave up a single to Keun Woo Jeong, and Tae Kyun Kim singled home Lee for the 1-0 lead.

Korean left-hander Jung Keun Bong was highly effective, allowing only three Japanese hits over the 5 1/3 innings, those being a pair of singles by Kenji Johjima and one by Hiroyuki Nakajima. Bong struck out two and walked none. Iwakuma also pitched 5 1/3 innings, giving up the one run on two hits. He struck out five and walked three. Korea finished Pool A with a 3-1 record, having defeated Chinese Taipei and China and splitting two games with Japan. Japan was 2-1, scoring victories over China and Korea. Both teams will join the winner and runner-up of Pool B (consisting of Australia, Cuba, Mexico and South Africa) to form Pool 1 and play at San Diego's PETCO Park, beginning on March 15.