JapanNewbie » Art http://www.japannewbie.com Sat, 04 Feb 2012 10:22:27 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Bright Siren by androp http://www.japannewbie.com/2011/09/08/bright-siren-by-androp/ http://www.japannewbie.com/2011/09/08/bright-siren-by-androp/#comments Thu, 08 Sep 2011 08:54:10 +0000 harvey http://www.japannewbie.com/?p=5088 If you’re into Japanese rock and… camera flashes… you’ll probably find this to be pretty interesting. This is the video for the song Bright Siren by a Japanese band called androp.

They used 250 cameras to set this up. Pretty impressive in terms of scale!

Fun stuff. If you check their official website you can even add your own light message to the end of the video! Yippie!

Related:
Official website for androp Bright Siren.

]]> http://www.japannewbie.com/2011/09/08/bright-siren-by-androp/feed/ 3 A Poem by Misuzu Kaneko http://www.japannewbie.com/2011/07/09/a-poem-by-misuzu-kaneko/ http://www.japannewbie.com/2011/07/09/a-poem-by-misuzu-kaneko/#comments Sat, 09 Jul 2011 08:08:37 +0000 harvey http://www.japannewbie.com/?p=4895
Kaneko Misuzu

One of my good friends told me to check out this poem by Kaneko Misuzu [wiki] quite some time ago, and I finally got around to it. The poem is short and sweet, and not too difficult, so you can use it as a study tool as well. I have provided a simple translation below.

金子みすゞ

わたしが両手をひろげても
お空はちっともとべないが、
とべる小鳥はわたしのように、
地べたをはやくは走れない。

わたしがからだをゆすっても、
きれいな音はでないけど、
あの鳴るすずはわたしのように
たくさんなうたは知らないよ。

すずと、小鳥と、それからわたし、
みんなちがって、みんないい。

My weak translation. I have paid little attention to style. I have no skill in poetry, that’s my excuse.

Even if I spread wide both my arms
I cannot fly in the sky at all
but, that little bird that can fly
cannot run quickly on the ground like I can.

Even if I shake my body,
I cannot make it produce a pretty sound.
But that ringing bell
doesn’t know a lot of songs like I do.

The bell, the little bird, and then me.
We’re all different, but we’re all wonderful.

]]> http://www.japannewbie.com/2011/07/09/a-poem-by-misuzu-kaneko/feed/ 3 Tsuchinoko by Gaka http://www.japannewbie.com/2011/03/30/tsuchinoko-by-gaka/ http://www.japannewbie.com/2011/03/30/tsuchinoko-by-gaka/#comments Wed, 30 Mar 2011 02:37:41 +0000 harvey http://www.japannewbie.com/?p=4681

According to an article I read on BoingBoing, an art group called rakudasan created this video for a band called Gaka. It’s really good. If you’re the impatient type, I think this video gets better as it goes. The ending scene is really cool! Watch it to the end!

If you liked that video, then you might also like these other clips from the Japanese TV show called 欽ちゃんの仮装大賞, where the contests are based on a similar (yet different) style of performance.

Search for 欽ちゃんの仮装大賞 on youtube and you can see many more videos.

I guess the main difference between the rakudasan bit and the 欽ちゃんの仮装大賞 contest is that in rakudasan all of the actors are fully visible and they use the camera and their ability to stay in sync with each other against the black background to make the effect. 欽ちゃんの仮装大賞 is all about hiding “kuroko” against a black background and having them lift people, move objects, and create a visually surreal environment for the viewers. A bit different, but both are cool!!!

Originally spotted on BoingBoing

- Harvey

]]> http://www.japannewbie.com/2011/03/30/tsuchinoko-by-gaka/feed/ 0 Break into Manga Translation with Manga Digital Guild http://www.japannewbie.com/2011/02/10/break-into-manga-translation-with-manga-digital-guild/ http://www.japannewbie.com/2011/02/10/break-into-manga-translation-with-manga-digital-guild/#comments Thu, 10 Feb 2011 15:06:33 +0000 harvey http://www.japannewbie.com/?p=4323 Lot’s of people who study Japanese hope to get into translation some day. And when it comes to translation, many people hope to do manga or game translation, why? Cause the content is freaking fun! But how to break into the field? A friend recently introduced me to Digital Manga Guild, and it seems to be a legit way to get some experience, and to get paid as well.

If you’re serious about giving this a shot your first step will be to take one of their tests.

You can test in many aspects of the translation process, including translation, editing, and lettering. You can even form a group and plan to work together on projects.

The workflow, click to enlarge

I have never tried Digital Manga Guild myself, but it does look like a legit opportunity. They even have a profit sharing scheme going, so if you stick with it you should eventually make some change.

Translation is always great because it forces you to figure out language that you may not be familiar with, and it’s a real skill that can serve you well in the future. I encourage peeps out there to give it a shot! And if you do, let us know how it goes!

がんばれ！

- Harvey

]]> http://www.japannewbie.com/2011/02/10/break-into-manga-translation-with-manga-digital-guild/feed/ 5 Nishiki with Tatsumura Koho in Kyoto http://www.japannewbie.com/2011/02/04/nishiki-with-tatsumura-koho-in-kyoto/ http://www.japannewbie.com/2011/02/04/nishiki-with-tatsumura-koho-in-kyoto/#comments Thu, 03 Feb 2011 16:42:38 +0000 harvey http://www.japannewbie.com/?p=1705 I had the opportunity to visit Tatsumura Koho’s workshop in Kyoto during my August trip to Japan in 2009. This workshop makes Nishiki style Orimono, which is a type of Japanese weaving.

Tatsumura Koho explaining the Genji Nishiki piece

Nishiki orimono is extremely high quality, extremely beautiful, and therefore extremely expensive. If you can get a chance to visit their workshop I would highly recommend it. They seem to be open to giving tours, and they have a gift shop inside, so I bet they would be receptive if you just gave them a call and said you were interested. My visit was arranged as part of a study tour.

Tatsumura-san told us that creating the Genji piece was quite a challenge. The biggest issue wasn’t weaving the piece or creating the art itself, but it was doing the research to gather enough information so that the scene from Genji Monogatari could be created as accurately as possible.

Scene from Genji Monogatari (Click to Enlarge)

Not only was general accuracy an issue, the scene needed to be vague enough as to not attract complaints from the literary academic community. For example, special care was taken so that the kimono you see in the picture used colors that could have been worn during any season. There were special rules about the different styles and colors of kimono that would have historically been in which season, but the exact time that this scene in Genji Monogatari took place is not clearly known and apparently still debated in academic circles. Therefore, they chose a kimono color and style scene that arguably could have been used in a variety of situations and at any time of the year.

Nishiki Neckties I can't afford

This is a picture from the gift shop I mentioned. Even the neckties were way out of my price range (about $150 USD). Pretty awesome though. Someday… someday…

This is a piece depicting a bonsai tree. If you didn’t already, click the Genji Piece above so you can get a close up look at how intricate the weaving is on the orimono, it’s really amazing.

The gold color in this piece is literally gold.

This piece is more abstract, but actually uses gold in the piece itself, if I remember correctly it cost more than 10,000 USD. Fancy stuff!

You can see more of Tatsumura-san’s work on this official museum site. http://www.tatsumura.co.jp/ There is also an online gift shop where you can get those too-awesome neckties I mentioned!

Enjoy!

Harvey

]]> http://www.japannewbie.com/2011/02/04/nishiki-with-tatsumura-koho-in-kyoto/feed/ 4