Do they look real? But be careful not to eat them because they're only about the size of your fingers! When just looking at photos of these artworks, it is hard to distinguish a fake miniature food from real food because of the astonishing details of the tiny artworks. According to my basic knowledge about these kinds of artworks, it takes about the same or even more amount of time as making the corresponding real foods to make these miniature figures. As a person with bad eyesight and no skills related to art, I can't imagine how people add on the little details with tweezers to complete the figures.
Japan, as it has been recognized as one of the many countries with cultures that consist of many handicrafts and skilled art, has many of its people making these miniature foods and even other things such as entire settings/locations and furniture. These miniatures when completed are usually used as decorations and are sometimes used as earrings, rings, cellphone strings, and others. Because of the realistic appearance of these artworks and relative familiarity of them, miniature art has become one of the most popular, famous types of art around the world, especially in the eastern hemisphere.
As all of you readers probably know, a devastating earthquake hit Japan on March 11, 2011. It was followed by a destructive tsunami, that swept over entire towns and villages of Japan, and destroyed lives of many, many people. Although Japan, an island country, has been aware that natural disasters can happen anytime on its land, this earthquake with the magnitude of 8.8 seems to be just unbearable and shocking to the Japanese and even people of other countries. Currently, the grief over the casualties and the issues concerning radiation are preventing Japan from functioning freely.
Now, is Japan's sorrow one of the "simple joys of my life"? Of course not. Japan and its culture have been the topics that I've talked about the most in the posts of my blog, and I wanted to remind people and myself of how we all should try to encourage and help Japan. There are many activities and events that are intended to inspire and promote helps for Japan, and one of them that I would like to turn people's attention to is "Pray for Japan".
According to the site of this group, http://prayforjapan.org, there are different kinds of prayers for each day.
Monday - Pray for the 1,700 towns and villages without a single christian church.
Tuesday - Pray for Japanese christians who represent only 1/3 of one percent of the population.
Wednesday - Pray for the missionaries and pastors in Japan.
Thursday - Pray for the Tokyo area with a population close to 20 million.
Friday - Pray for Osaka with a population of 8.6 million.
Saturday - Pray for the thousands of Japanese University students who are studying in the USA.
Sunday - Pray for Nagano. There are 43 unreached towns and villages with no churches.
Although I'm not a Christian, I thought it is very interesting and inspirational of the Christian community to try to encourage people to think of the Japanese and pray for them. Other than this group, there are many other figures who are active in helping Japan in forms of donation, encouraging messages, and many others. For example, Takehiko Inoue, the writer of "Slam Dunk", drew sketches named "Smile" to cheer up Japan and to give hope to the Japanese in despair.
Are you always worried about growing a plant because you're afraid the plant would die soon? Don't worry! With Magic Egg, you can grow little plants easily! I didn’t know about this creative item until last January when I traveled to Japan with my mom. While looking around the shops for unique items (because Japan is famous for its interesting, special products), we found a section with little plant-growing objects. There were mini flowerpots, and the Magic Egg that attracted my attention!
According to the descriptions on the instruction paper, which was inside the box with the egg, it is really easy to grow the plant. You just have to crack the top of the egg to make a small hole for the plant to grow out of. Then, you can water the plant two to three times a day, and place it in a place with a lot of sunlight. There were many different types of plants that could grow from the eggs; depending on the seeds that are inside the eggs, plants from strawberry flowers to tomatoes can grow from the Magic Eggs. Also, while searching for more information about the Magic Eggs, I found some interesting types of Magic Eggs, which are called “I Love You” Magic Eggs. They’re the same as other Magic Eggs, but their plants have messages such as “I Love You” and “Happy New Year” on the leaves. I think it would be a brilliant present for a person you want to send deliver a message to! These Magic Eggs are not really cheap, but I think it would be a good idea to have one!
Ponyo on the Cliff is a movie made by a famous Japanese movie director Hayao Miyazaki. I've watched many of his other movies, but didn't get a chance to watch this one when it first came out in 2008. Personally, I like Hayao Miyazaki's movies because his movies not only enrich the audience's eyes but also their minds; every scene in his movies contains a deep meaningwhile being portrayed with beautiful illustrations at the same time. I watched a dubbed version of the original Japanese movie, Ponyo on the Cliff; although some people might think that animation movies are just for little kids, this movie was actually very interesting and fun for me because all the characters in the movie were positive-minded and very pure, I would say. Even the adults in the movie were pure like little children; for example, Soske's mom let Ponyo stay at her house right away instead of thinking that Ponyo's story, that she turned into a human from a fish to meet Soske, was just a story made up by a child.
This is a movie trailer of the Japanese version with English subtitles.
I would definitely recommend you all to watch this movie, especially if you haven't watched any of Hayao Miyazaki's movies, because you will be able to learn lessons and enjoy the story, in which Soske and Ponyo become great friends!
Click Here for a website that has the original Japanese version of the movie divided into eleven parts. Unfortunately, there are Korean subtitles in it, but no English subtitles.. : ( By the way, I LOVE Ponyo and Soske's voices in the movie! They're so cute!
Many Japanese animations that are dubbed into Korean are broadcasted in Korea. They are usually broadcasted at four o'clock, which is the time most little kids watch television at home after they return from their schools or kindergartens. Yesterday, I got to watch an animation called Animal Yokocho for the first time, and I decided to talk write a blog post about it because I thought it's really cute and fun!
Animal Yokocho is about a girl who meets three talking dolls who eventually become her friends. These are the characters:
Name: Mr. Lee
He didn't come out much until now, but I am expecting him to be a very random, funny character who introduces the Animal Land to Ama.
Name: Yi Ssa
Yi Ssa is a panda who makes other people feel comfortable when he is talking to them. Although he looks timid and weak, he is actually very strong and he knows how to do many things.
Name: Canta
Canta is a bear who is usually nice to others, but who can be offensive sometimes.Also, he feels lonely very easily, and is often teased by Yi-Yo for his mistakes.
Name: Yi-Yo
Yi-yo is a rabbit doll with a very random characteristic. She dies (or should I say her soul exits her body) when she feels lonely or feels like she is abandoned by her friends. For example, when Ama rejects Yi-Yo's help or offer, Yi-Yo faints and her soul comes out of her body.
Name: Ama
Ama is a girl whose room has the door to the Animal Land, where the talking animal dolls live. She is surprised by the dolls at first, but later takes care of them and becomes friends with them.
Unlike what you would expect from an animation made for children, there are many comical, humorous lines in this animation that I don't think children would understand; therefore, I think Animal Yokocho is a great animation for older people too!
