Substance Project - Only 3 Days to Go!

Last week I posted an entry about Substance Project by Takashi Inaba. (Click here for that entry and links to more information and a map.) Earlier this week my friend Atsu Takamatsu, a professional photographer, visied that exhibition. (Click here to visit Atsu's homepage) Here are a couple of Atsu's photos...

Washi (Photo by Atsu Takamatsu)

Inaba San with some of his mirrors
(Photo by Atsu Takamatsu)

That exhibition will be running for another 3 days. If you get the chance, please check it out.

Enjoy your Golden Week! (Click here for some Golden Week event information)

Golden Week

Golden Week is just around the corner [coming soon]! Here are a couple of events you might be interested in…

Inner Sky – Saturday, April 28th
Our friend Simon is hosting his monthly acoustic concert at Covent Garden. It’s part of Covent Garden’s anniversary celebrations so it’s free!

You can check out some photos from the March Inner Sky by clicking here - Inner Sky Photos

Ola Sam – Sunday, April 29th
Ola, our favourite bar/restaurant, is holding a special, all-night party at Sam & Dave Nagahori. It promises to be an exciting event!

You can get more information and a map by clicking here - Ola Sam

What ever you do this Golden Week; have fun!

Web Logs

“A log” is a day-by-day diary of what’s happening to someone or something. The original use of the word was “Ship’s Log,” a diary of what happened on a ship written by the ship’s captain. These days, many people keep a personal dairy on the Internet. We call these diaries “Web Logs.” (“Web” is short for the “World-Wide Web,” the “www” of most homepage addresses.) If you say “Web Log” quickly enough, it sounds like you’re saying “Blog.”

Last week, I read two articles in the newspaper related to Blogs. The first was some research done by Technorati, a company that tracks the content of Blogs. They found that in March 2005 there were 8 million [8,000,000] Blogs on the Internet. This March, there were 72 million [72,000,000], and that doesn’t count Blogs on SNS’s (Social Network Systems) like Mixi. Wow! Apparently, there are 58,000 new Blog entries every hour! Everyone’s spending so much time writing their Blogs. Who has the time to read them?

The other story I read about last week was regarding celebrity Blogs. Many famous people are starting to write about their daily lives on the Internet. The article used Victoria Beckham, wife of the famous soccer player with the fabulous first name, as an example. She’s keeping a Blog of her family’s move to L.A.

Victoria’s all packed up and ready to go! You can read all about it on Victoria Beckham's "Personal" Blog

I first found out about celebrity Blogging by accident. At the top of this page, you’ll see a button that says "Next Blog". If you click on that button, it will randomly take you to another Blog. I used to visit my best friend’s Blog (6 things) almost every day. (Unfortunately, he doesn’t write that Blog anymore.) After reading that day’s entry, I’d click on "Next Blog", just to see what came up. One day, I was rewarded with Silent Bob Speaks, the personal Blog of filmmaker Kevin Smith, the director of Clerks and Dogma. Kevin Smith appears in most of his own movies as a non-speaking character called Silent Bob. On his Blog, Silent Bob gets to talk – that’s where the name of that Blog comes from!

Silent Bob Speaks is also known as My Boring-Ass Life. Sometimes, Kevin Smith gets a little too personal – you’ve been warned!

Substance Project by Takashi Inaba

They say that success, especial in the art world, is 10% inspiration [new ideas] and 90% perspiration [sweat]. This means that it’s not enough to have talent, you have to work very, very, very hard as well.

One of the great things about living in Japan is the number of interesting, talented people I’ve got to know. I’ve met artists, sculptors [artists who make 3D art, statues and the like], photographers, writers, poets, singers, musicians, filmmakers, and actors – all of them very talented and very, very hard working.

One of the artists who I respect very much is Takashi Inaba, who also owns the oddly named Uni Pon Pon Kau Kau , a bar and art project space in Umeda. Inaba San’s inspiration to perspiration ratio is more like 50% to 50% (or more correctly, 100% to 110%!). He will be holding an exhibition of his work at galeria CERO, in Kita Horie, for 2 weeks starting from today. There will be an opening party this afternoon – all are welcome!

One of Inaba San's works. It's actually a mirror

The postcard for the exhibition

The exhibition details

By the way, “substance” means to be something; to be real; to be solid – to have meaning!

Happy Easter!

The Easter Bunny visited our house this morning -- thanks to my sisterAngela & her husband Ari

Without a doubt, the most popular Christian holiday in the world is Christmas. It’s even widely celebrated in non-Christian countries – Japan, for instance. I guess everybody loves giving & getting presents, regardless of their religion! However, probably the most important Christian holiday is Easter.

Easter is closely linked to the Jewish holiday of Passover. Passover is held the first Saturday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox [March 21st – when day and night are both exactly 12 hours]. This year, Passover fell on April 7th – yesterday! Christians believe that Jesus Christ was executed [killed by the government] on Good Friday, the day before Passover. Two days later, he came back to life, proving to everyone that he was the Son of God.

Traditionally, children celebrated Easter by decorating hard-boiled eggs and then giving them to friends & family. Recently, children are given gifts of decorated chocolate eggs, rabbits, and chicks. They are told that the chocolates were delivered to their homes by the Easter Bunny early in the morning while they were still sleeping.

The eggs, rabbits & chicks are all symbols of new life used in ancient European spring festivals celebrated thousands of years before the birth of Jesus Christ. Even the name “Easter” comes from these ancient festivals. Eastre was the ancient German goddess of spring.

Even if you’re not Christian, you can still celebrate Easter. It’s easy – just eat some chocolate!

Inner Sky this Friday

Last Month, a group of Be & Me students & friends went to Inner Sky, a live concert hosted by our friend Simon at Covent Garden, a really relaxed and friendly bar in Kita Horie.

I’ve just posted some photos from that event on our Homepage. Click on Inner Sky Photos to check them out!

Simon & Yoshi Rock!

The next Inner Sky is this Friday, April 6th. I have to teach until 9:30 pm. I might drop in for a quick drink afterwards, but I can’t make any promises.

There’s a door charge of 1,000 yen, that includes one drink. After that, you pay for all drinks & food as you order.

April 6th is Good Friday, a very important Christian holiday. If you’re Christian, you should not eat meat on Good Friday. If you’re not Christian, Go to Covent Garden hungry – they make great hamburgers!

Covent Garden’s avocado and cheese burger – yummy!

Hope to see you there!

Click here for Covent Garden’s discount coupon, map, & address