Article Distribution
In: Communications
29 Jun 2010Japanese is spoken by about 130 million people. A part of the Japonic-Ryukyuan languages, the language is spoken mainly in Japan. It is spoken by some people in Taiwan, Korea, Philippines parts of Chinese mainland and some Pacific Islands which the Japanese occupied during World War II and later. Japanese is also spoken by the Japanese emigrant communities of Hawaii, Brazil, Peru, Argentina, the United States and Australia. There is a decline in the fluency with which the language is spoken by their descendants. The official language of Japan as well as the island nation of Palau is Japanese. The vocabulary in Japanese language is borrowed from a number of languages. The most prominent language from which words are borrowed is the Chinese language. This resulted from the interaction that has a history of over 1,500 years. Words have been borrowed also from the Indo-European languages, mostly English during the 19h century, Portuguese in the 16th century and some Dutch in the 17th century. Japanese language is made up of three different scripts. These scripts are Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. The first two are syllabic scripts of the modified Chinese characters while the third is modified Chinese characters.
In one of the highlight matches of the DREAM/K-1 Fields Dynamite! New Years Eve megacard, Japanese submission machine Shinya Aoki used a heel hook to submit a top notch opponent in Eddie Alverez at 1:32 of the first round. With the victory, Aoki sets up a rematch against reigning DREAM lightweight champion Joachim Hansen and bolsters his claim as the best lightweight fighter in the world.
A pro fighter faces the most difficult decision of his life when contemplating the prospect of retirement. Unfortunately, too many hang on well past the time when they can compete at the highest level only serving to diminish their legacy and damage their health. MMA is no different than boxing in this respect, and following his brutal knockout loss to Melvin Manhoef at DREAM 4 Japan’s legendary Kazushi Sakuraba appears to fit the description of a fighter who needs to call it quits but is unwilling to do so.
It may be a bit of a stretch to call Satoshi Ishii the Michael Phelps of Japan, but not by much. His victory in the heavyweight judo competition at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing was easily the defining moment of the games for his countrymen and was considered by most media outlets the #1 highlight of the year in all of sports. Though Japan does well at the Olympics for a country of its size and has won gold medals in a number of sports, its important to keep in mind that until the late’70s judo was the country’s most popular sport.
Mitsuharu Misawa died in Hiroshima, Japan earlier this year less than a week before his 47th birthday. He was in a tag team match for his Pro Wrestling NOAH promotion with Go Shiozaki against Bison Smith and Akitoshi Saito. Saito hit a back suplex on Misawa, which appeared to knock him unconscious. Medical staff attempted to revive him in the ring, but when CPR failed he was taken to a hospital by ambulance. He never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead on arrival.
In: Travel & Leisure
27 May 2009The Ghibli Museum in Tokyo is a place that all anime fans make an effort to visit the moment they arrive in the country. It is not just for individuals who are fans of the studio that the museum is based on, but also those who are not as familiar. This is partly due to the fact that it also shows how animation is done through traditional and modern methods.
In: Travel & Leisure
27 May 2009Visiting the Ghibli Museum in Japan has now become a practice for many anime fans who know their stuff. Even for those who are not particular fond of the work from the founder of the museum, Hayao Miyazaki, they know that missing out on a visit would be almost unthinkable. They might not like the Ghibli movies, but knowing how they were created would be extremely interesting for any fan worth his salt.
In: Travel & Leisure
26 May 2009Any anime fan who makes the trip to Japan would include the Ghibli Museum as an integral part of their itinerary. This is done not only by fans of Ghibli films, but also those who are not fond of them. The museum has more to offer for any anime fan than just memorabilia of the films and its characters.
In: Finance
21 May 2009Hello Kitty, that endearing bow-wearing kitten that everyone knows, is pretty much all over the place. She holds a wide-reaching fan base that doesn’t appear to be diminishing. If you are looking for a way to add style to your personal bank checks, and you’re a Hello Kitty fan, you might even want to think about getting checks with her image on them.
If you are looking for flights to Japan, there are a few things that you are going to want to be aware of.