September 6, 2003
Tigers on the Tower.
Hanshin Tigers, the local baseball team, is now close to the Central League championship after 18 years. And Tsutenkaku has got yellow-and-black "Tgers" stripe and the team's emblem on top of it. What an ensusiasm!
September 20, 2003
Kalles kavier.
First, I thought it's a tube of tooth-paste. No, it's a cod roe paste from Sweden, and people call it "kavier". Typically, it is served on knäckebröd, or crisp bread. My colleagues from Japan liked to make spaghetti with this paste. Personally, I like to put it on top of hard boiled egg served at Smörgasbröd.
September 23, 2003
Japan in Old Maps.
Now the daylight is getting shorter. As the weather was not so good, I have been to Kobe City Museum to see an exhibition entitled "Japan Drawn in Old Maps". It was interesting to see how the shape of Japan changes in a matter of time, but the most impressive materials for me were the world map made in Japan during the isolation policy of Yedo era. The Shogun's government decided to shut down the border on the 17th century and the isolation continued to the 19th century. These maps are copied and translated from those imported from Netherland, and still they are quite accurate. For example you can see the name of Öland and Gotland of Sweden in a map. The national borders were different from those nowadays, for example Finland was part of Swedish. How were the feelings of those who draw theses maps of foreign countries to which they were forbidden to go? Despite the isolating policy, people at this Yedo period might have had much more knowledge of foreign countries than we believe nowadays.
September 23, 2003
Frank Lloyd Wright.
I visited Yamamura House at Ashiya, designed by an American architect Frank Loyd Wright. The house is located on the slope of mount Rokko, looking down the bay of Osaka. Originally built in 1924 as a weekend house for Mr. Yamamura who was engaged in brewery business, now belongs to YODOGAWA STEEL WORKS, LTD (YODOKO). The house is one of the only two intactly remaining construction by Frank Lloyd Wright in Japan, and was designated as a National Important Cultural Asset in 1974 (The other one is Jiyu Gakuen Auditorium, Tokyo. Sadly, the most important construction Imperial Hotel, Tokyo was demolished in 1968, and only the entrance was reconstructed in Nagoya). The house went through two major renovation (the house was damaged by the earthquake at Kobe on 1995), and now it is open to public as a museum. This is one of the most impressive buidling fom 20th century in Japan, and I just lost my words by its absolute beauty.
By the way, this morning I saw a Kingfisher at Ashiya river just beneath the house. It was also an amazingly beautiful creature. I was really surprised to see Kingfisher in the mid of residential area.