@RR529: You need to pay more attention to fashion at home, too — trust me, the 80's are back with a vengeance

Is it true that someone who is around maybe ages 30 and up, if they end up loosing their job it would be almost impossible to find a new one? Why is the economy so bad?

Also the 80's should stay.

Because of Nintendo, my life has been dramatically affected by the Land of the Rising Sun. I love their culture and spirit. What fascinates me about the Japanese is how they can get back on their feet after isolation and destruction. After staying in almost complete isolation for hundreds of years, they got out of their shell and they prospered into the modern era in a remarkably fast pace. Just study how they grew and developed as a nation during the late 1800's. Then after they got nuked twice during WWII, they rose up from the rubble and rebuilt their country to become an economic and cultural power.

Discipline is what got the Japanese where they are today. They take great honor in that, and make no mistake, they are a tough people. They had to be in order to fend off the Mongols from conquering their land and making the most of their island resources. I studied Japanese history a month ago, and it was interesting stuff. I read about samurais and Bushido (The Way of the Warrior) when they would range from being ruthless warriors to courteous gentlemen. Then there were the ninja, and they were trained as soon as they were able to walk, not to mention that they were both male and female.

I'd love to go to Japan someday.

What's really interesting is that they originally were more or less dragged out of their isolation. The painful transition that Japan began to make in the mid 1800s makes for fascinating reading, especially when you consider how quickly those changes occurred.

Journey's in Japan was on today. The subject was the Kumano Kodo Iseji route (a spiritual pilgrimage from the Isa Jingu shrine, to the Kumano Hayatama grand shrine. It starts in Mie prefecture, in Tamaki-cho city).

An early part is the Tsuzurato Toge route. It Zigzags steeply through the hills. It's very forested. At the top you can see the ocean.

The next section is the Magose Toge route. It's the section most visited by tourists.

In Kumano city, the host picked up lunch at Kanekyu Bento shop. They specialize in "big eye" sushi (sushi so large, your eyes bug out when it's eaten).

The next part of the trip is the Matsumoto Toge route.
It has a lookout hut at the top. There, the host ate the lunch he got at Kanekyu, and it looked great!.

Hana-No-Iwaya shrine was next. Instead of a big extravagant building, you're greeted by a large sacred rock (the trip centers around traditional nature worship, and this is considered the first Shinto shrine).

Next up was Maruyama Senmaida. An extremely large field of rice patties. A beautiful part of the trip, locals offered the host Onigiri (rice balls).

In Shingu city, is the final destination, Kumano Hayatama Grand Shrine. It's a very large, and beautiful, place. It's neat to see the kind of craftmanship people were able to achieve in the past.

Seven Japanese proverbs to learn from.
1. "Ugly women are more passionate."
2. "Philandering is not stopped by a balding head." (referring to a monk)
3. "Beautiful women have no age."
4. "A protruding nail gets hammered down."
5. "People are not always what they appear to be."
6. "A wise man changes his mind."
7. "He who is defeated wins."

Is it true that someone who is around maybe ages 30 and up, if they end up loosing their job it would be almost impossible to find a new one? Why is the economy so bad?

1) Yes and no. It's difficult for older people to get jobs at times, because Japan is still a little traditional in that many organisations want to hire young people. who remain at the one company for life.

2) Books have been written on the Japanese economy. I'm not going to give you the full answer But basically? High public debt + high value yen + a dotcom bubble burst that they never recovered from.

Because of Nintendo, my life has been dramatically affected by the Land of the Rising Sun. I love their culture and spirit. What fascinates me about the Japanese is how they can get back on their feet after isolation and destruction. After staying in almost complete isolation for hundreds of years, they got out of their shell and they prospered into the modern era in a remarkably fast pace. Just study how they grew and developed as a nation during the late 1800's. Then after they got nuked twice during WWII, they rose up from the rubble and rebuilt their country to become an economic and cultural power.

Discipline is what got the Japanese where they are today. They take great honor in that, and make no mistake, they are a tough people. They had to be in order to fend off the Mongols from conquering their land and making the most of their island resources. I studied Japanese history a month ago, and it was interesting stuff. I read about samurais and Bushido (The Way of the Warrior) when they would range from being ruthless warriors to courteous gentlemen. Then there were the ninja, and they were trained as soon as they were able to walk, not to mention that they were both male and female.

What the...

I'd love to go to Japan someday.

Oh, right. Now it makes sense.

Seven Japanese proverbs to learn from.
1. "Ugly women are more passionate."
2. "Philandering is not stopped by a balding head." (referring to a monk)
3. "Beautiful women have no age."
4. "A protruding nail gets hammered down."
5. "People are not always what they appear to be."
6. "A wise man changes his mind."
7. "He who is defeated wins."

8. "No Beer and not TV make Homer something something.

Really!?!?! No wonder I saw a women at church the other week looking like she literally just traveled through time from the 80's. From hair to clothes she looked so out of place among the other people there. Loved it.

Imagine-Nation was on tonight.

They first briefly covered Project X Zone, and said it'll have over 40 characters.

They covered Code Geass: Akito the Exile. It's a spinoff of the Code Geass series, which takes place inbetween the original series and R2. It follows the story of Japan native Akito, who is fending off a Britannian invasion of Europe.

They interviewed Yoshinori (didn't catch his last name). He's responsible for the Way of the Samurai series, and they talked about his new series (which he just released the 2nd game), Dangan Ronpa. It's a series that incorporates aspects from many different genres.

I have a six pack of Sapporo sitting RIGHT HERE.

Thank the makers for Japan.

Watched Begin Japanology today.

They interviewed Dhugal Lindsay, a marine biologist (specialising in jellyfish) from Australia, who now lives in Japan, and is well known for his haiku poetry.

As a kid growing up in Australia, he was always interested in marine life. Now he works for Japan's marine biology center (can't remember it's official name), and has named 5 different kinds of jellyfish (in addition to their official Latin names, he also gives them Japanese names).

He became interested in haiku, when he was a student studying abroad in Japan, as his host mother was a haiku poet. He has published 3 poetry books of haiku (winning some awards), and has taken over the haiku organization his host mother once ran, when she passed away in 2011.

Jibtv was on today. They showed a documentary (home made), made by a family in Kesenumma in the winter of 2011. It showed how the family was getting by after the grandfather passed away, and surviving the tsunami. This was the first time I actually cried watching any of NHK World's programming. News goes by and moves on so fast in this day & age, that sometimes you forget that they aren't yet close to cleaning up all the damage, and probably won't be for years.

Cool Japan was on tonight.

They talked about games being used in schools, to teach. They even showed a school that was using DSs!

They talked about dating sims. One of the guests played through one on a PSP. They visited a girl's manga club, to ask their opinions on the genre.

They showed a mobile game that actually requires you to visit the locations in the game (by using the phone's GPS). They showed off a game that required the player to visit a shrine in Kyoto, and they pretty much had to do a scavenger hunt around the site. By going to the required locations, you get items that are required to complete the game. The game was created to help tourism in Kyoto. The creators of the game were invited to speak at GDC 2012.

The guest they had from the U.S. said that he doesn't think Japanese games could be successful in America. He said they were too "cute, kiddie, and non-violent"...

BTW, they had a Nintendo 3DS, PSP, & mobile phone in the middle of their round table.

J-Melo was on tonight. They brought together two Japanese guitar legends, Char (rock n' roll), and Kazumi Watanabe (jazz).

They first played Caravan. Then they played Here, There and Everywhere. After that was ZIG ZAG ZONE. Then Summertime. Finally came Superstition, which was the only song with vocals (I've actually heard this before, lol). A couple of very talented individuals.

They both started out in the 70's, and coincidentally, come from the same area, so they influenced each other. As for their careers now, Kazumi Watanabe wants to play all over the world, and Char wants to keep practicing, because he says you can never be perfect.

Imagine-Nation was on tonight!

They showed of Tokyo Jungle, a new first party action game for the PS3. In the game, humanity has been wiped out for some unkown reason, and you play as a wild animal trying to survive in the wilds of Tokyo's ruins. There are over 75 animals to choose from (such as various dog breeds, a chick, zebra, lion, rabbit, deer, pig, leopard, elephant, ect.), and how you play the game differs based on what animal you choose to play as. Different animals have different needs for survival, and as a herbavore you'll need to do a lot of escaping from predators, while there's a lot of hunting as a carnivore.

The host first tried playing as the chick, but kept on getting killed by a nearby beagle in 5 seconds flat, lol. Next, he tried a Labrador Retriever. As a carnivore, the basic keys to success are to hunt, and to mark your territory. First off, he killed a few crows & a rabbit (hunting also raises the probability of finding a mate. The more you hunt, the better mates you'll attrack). He then marked his territory (the front of Shibuya Station), which is also important for finding a mate. You'll want to find a mate fairly quickly, because your animal won't live forever (your young will join your "party", and you can take control of them, effectively starting the next generation). One of the funniest images was a group of 6 or 7 Pomeranians attacking a Panda.

As for play options, again you have 75 different kinds of animals, meaning you have 75 different experiences. As the Deer for example, your overall "story" objective is to find your mother. You'll also be able to find different clues about how humanity perished, but what you'll be able to find out depends on what kind of animal you're playing as (encouraging multiple playthroughs). There is also online support, allowing you to go into a world populated completely by other players. There are a few "fun" touches, such as being able to dress up your animal (I also seen a Raptor as a playable character for some reason, lol).

One thing is for sure, Sony NEEDS to bring this westward!!!

Also, they intervewed the manga artist Yusuke Kozaki (this interview has nothing to do with Tokyo Jungle). He is the artist behind No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, and Fire Emblem Kakusei.

On newsline (NHK World), they showed a parade welcoming home the Japanese Olympic team. There were lot's of people gathered (some even taking photos with their 3DS).

J-Melo was on tonight. It was a repeat (the episode where SuG & Versailles performed).

Itadakimasu! Dining with the Chef was on today.

They made Oyakodon. It's a chicken & egg dish, where small chunks of chicken thigh are simmered, then mixed with fluffy beaten egg, and finally layered on top of a bowl of rice. it looked really good!

Journeys in Japan was on today. They covered Rebun Island. It's a beautiful mountainous area, that's known for it's beautiful array of flowers and dense fog. It's a go to spot for nature photographers.

Imagine-Nation was on tonight.

They briefly covered the Gran Turismo Asian Championship 2012 in Yokohama.

The main feature was on Time Travelers, a new game for 3DS, Vita, & PSP from acclaimed developer, Level-5. It was directed by Jiro Ishii and Akihiro Hino (the latter of the two also created Professor Layton & Inazuma Eleven). The game is set in 2031, when the world is in dire straights. You follow the stories of 5 different and varied protagonists, as they travel through time to deal with the issue, and find out about the mysterious girl that appears to all of them. They 5 key characters are a Federal Agent (male), TV Anchor (female), Student (male), Vigilante (male), and a Physicist (male. fun fact: his personality and appearance were influenced by Doc Brown from "Back to the Future"). The game's writer spent a year writing the game's story. (all screenshots & video of the game were taken from the 3DS version. one host went hands-on with the Vita version, while the other played the 3DS version)

They also interviewed Yuki Kajiura. She's a composer & lyricist for many different movies, anime, games, stage productions, and TV. Two of the anime series she composed music for are NOIR & Magica Madoka.

Just throwing this here (not sure if it'd fit as well in the music thread) . Could someone recommend some good J-Rock? Something along the lines of this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnf5-qg91B0. J-rock's been a breath of fresh air for me, since it shakes up modern rock just enough to be familiar but still interesting. Also, check out how ordinary the lead singer looks! If I saw him on the street I would never guess that he could fill concert halls.