[ Journals ] III - Yoshimoto Nara's Artworks

Nara first came to the fore of the art world during Japan’s Pop art movement in the 1990s. The subject matter of his sculptures and paintings is deceptively simple: most works depict one seemingly innocuous subject (often pastel-hued children and animals drawn with confident, cartoonish lines) with little or no background. But these children, who appear at first to be cute and even vulnerable, sometimes brandish weapons like knives and saws. Their wide eyes often hold accusatory looks that could be sleepy-eyed irritation at being awoken from a nap—or that could be undiluted expressions of hate..
Nara, however, does not see his weapon-wielding subjects as aggressors. "Look at them, they [the weapons] are so small, like toys. Do you think they could fight with those?" he says. "I don’t think so. Rather, I kind of see the children among other, bigger, bad people all around them, who are holding bigger knives…"
Nara’s own explanation of his work, then, casts us as the aggressors guilty of betraying and attacking childhood innocence. When cast in that light, Nara incriminates himself as well, for his art is above all based upon the perversion of otherwise innocent subjects.
Lauded by art critics and hipsters alike, Nara’s bizarrely intriguing works have gained him a cult following around the world.

Links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshitomo_Nara Wikipedia
http://www.nara-movie.jp/ MOVIE - Traveling with Yositomo Nara
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I. Summarize


II. Vocabulary words and phrases
i. new words/phrases
deceptively Adv. 迷惑地
depict V. 描畫; 雕出
innocuous Adj. 無害的
pastel-hued 粉蠟筆色調的; 柔和色調的
brandish V. 揮舞
accusatory Adj. 責問的;非難的
undiluted Adj. 純真的
wielding V. 揮舞
aggressor N. 侵略者
incriminate V. 暗示; 控告
hipsters N. 行家
bizarrely Adv. 奇形怪狀地
intriguing V. 激起…的好奇心

ii. useful / phrases
movement N. 活動; 動向
seemingly Adv. 表面上; 似乎是
irritation V. 激怒
light V. 點燃; 照亮
perversion N. 誤用
lauded V. 讚美
cult N. 迷信; 狂熱

III. The reason I chose this article
The first time I saw Nara’s art work was at my third grades of junior high. I like the girl he drew and I think she’s really cute. And I agreed his explanation about the weapons. If you think someone who hold a knife is evil, then you might be hurt by someone who looked like a good person. It’s true, at least I’ve met some.
And I like his painting very much. I haven’t seen the movie about his work, but I think I will buy the DVD as I start a part-time job this summer.

[ Journals ] II - Gothic geeks to teach English to otaku nerds

Wanted: Gothic geeks to teach English to otaku nerds

Geek ghetto Akihabara has become the site of Cosplish, Japan's first English conversation school featuring cosplaying foreigner teachers dressed in wacky costumes, according to Cyzo (April).
Cosplaying teachers are told to teach students how to use simple, "broken" English, while the school also plans to give instructions on "Otaku English," using mostly abbreviations, and "Anime English," which will focus on English instructions of famous lines from cartoons like Gundam.
Founder Akihiro Suzuki figured opposites would attract and started Cosplish.
"Otaku are known for their incredible customer loyalty, while schools are known for their trouble in getting customers to keep on coming back, so I figured a school for cosplayers would achieve the perfect blend," Suzuki tells Cyzo.
Suzuki has a background running maid cafes, another otaku staple. Initially, he considered dressing up foreign women as maids and getting them to give English lessons in a place he dreamed of calling Maid in English. But he decided his vision was too narrow.
"Even though the maid trade within the otaku business seems to be broad-reaching, it's actually quite narrow. It only caters to otaku who have a thing for the image of maids," he says. "I thought I'd go for something broader, which would appeal to a wider audience, which is why I decided on the cosplay idea."
Enrolling in Cosplish is simple, requiring only that students e-mail in a reservation to attend a class, with times listed on the company's official website. The monthly magazine warns that classes are often suddenly cancelled if not enough people book to take them, 20 being the required number of students needed for a class to go ahead.
Cosplish currently employs eight cosplaying teachers, most of them students recruited from universities or Japanese language schools.
"I want to start classes for kids some time in the future," Suzuki tells Cyzo. "And I'll make the teachers get dressed up in Pikachu suits." (By Ryann Connell)


http://mdn.mainichi.jp/culture/waiwai/news/20080326p2g00m0dm004000c.html

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I. Summarize


II. Vocabulary words and phrases
i. new words/phrases
geek N. 怪胎; 電腦玩家
nerd N. 笨蛋; 討厭的人
ghetto N. 少數民族居住區; 貧民區
Cosplish 角色扮演英語會話學校(日本)
enroll 終幕時的參與者名單

ii. useful / phrases
cosplay (=costume play) 角色扮演
Otaku 「御宅族」對於某事熱衷者, '80年代以後日本人多用來稱呼喜歡動漫的族群
instruction N. 教學; 使用説明
loyalty N. 忠誠; 忠心
staple N. 主樣成分; 主題
currently Adv. 現在; 一般; 流暢地


III. The reason I chose this article
　　Well, the reason I chose this article was quite simple--I'm a person who affected by Japanese Comics and Animations.

[ Journals ] I - China: Poison dumplings 'a crime'

Chinese authorities investigating a food poisoning scare surrounding dumplings sold in Japan have said they believe the dumplings were deliberately contaminated.

Wei Chuanzhong of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said he believed the case was "an isolated deliberate crime" carried out outside of China.

"We believe the Japan 'poison dumpling incident' is not a food safety problem caused by pesticide residues," he told a Beijing press conference.

"The act of contaminating the dumplings was very unlikely to have happened in China."

At least 10 people in Japan suffered pesticide poisoning last month after eating frozen dumplings - known as gyoza in Japan - which originated in a factory outside Beijing.

The dumplings were laced with a pesticide called methamidophos.

Thousands of other Japanese have complained of illness after eating dumplings from China.

The scare is the latest in a series of safety alerts to hit Chinese-made produce, with recalls in recent months hitting products such as toothpaste, car tyres and childr en's toys.

With China's economy heavily-reliant on the export market, the government has been eager to be seen taking a tough line on safety in an effort to shore up consumer confidence.

The poisoned dumpling case has also threatened to strain improving bilateral ties ahead of an expected visit to Japan by Hu Jintao, the Chinese president.

The issue was further complicated last week when meat buns imported to Japan from China contained the same pesticide.

The Chinese findings run counter to claims from Japanese authorities that the contamination of the dumplings, produced by the Tianyang Food plant outside Beijing, likely occurred in China.

"The Japanese side says there is no possibility they were poisoned in Japan. We say there is very little possibility it occurred in China," Yu Xinmin, deputy head of criminal investigation with China's Public Security Bureau, told Thursday's press conference.

Wei added that the findings "do not exclude the possibility of a person from a third country or region illegally purchasing the relevant pesticide and bringing it into Japan," but offered no details.


http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/856E8D7E-D2E4-4BC0-B7F9-2BAEA9B0F147.htm

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I. Summarize
　　Chinese government declared that including their investigating, they found out that the poison dumpling incident was “an isolated deliberate crime” carried out outside of China. And they said that it might be someone from other country to do this crime.
　　The poison dumpling incident as known the name –-Doku Gyoza—in Japan made most of people were afraid to use Chinese-made products, and it would hit the Chinese products.
　　Now Chinese government said the case might not be their responsibility because they just find out that the poisoning might have the possibility committed out side of China. But they didn’t point out who might do this crime.

II. Vocabulary words and phrases

i. new words/phrases
investigate V. 調查; 研究
deliberately Adv. 慎重地; 故意地
contaminated Adj. 弄髒的; 受毒害的
administration N. 行政; 官員的任期
inspection N. 檢察
quarantine N./V. 隔離; 檢疫
pesticide N. 殺蟲劑
residue N. 殘渣
methamidophos N. 有機磷系農藥
tyres N. 輪胎; 輪箍/ V. 給...上輪箍
reliant Adj. 依賴的; 有信心的
strain V. 拉長/ N. 張力
bilateral Adj. 對稱的; 雙方的
buns N. 人的臀部
deputy N. 代理人
bureau N. 詢問處; 司, 屬
relevant Adj. 恰當的; 關係重大的

ii. useful / phrases
isolated Adj. 被孤立的; 被隔離的
conference N. 協會; 成人補習班
lace V. 裝飾; (+into)抨擊
threatened Adj. 受到威脅的


III. The reason I chose this article
　　Liar!!!
　　I don't like China's saying. It sounds like they have no responsibility to the "poison dumplings incident." No wonder Japanese hate Chinese because they like to lie and don't wanna take responsibilities to anything.