Ose Fishermen’s Festival is an annual traditional event (April 4) at Ose Shrine in Numuzau, Shizuoka Prefecture, to pray for bountiful catches and safe journeys at sea. Video by Aquageographic with the majestic Mount Fuji as backdrop…
Japanese Hello Kitty melon
May 25, 2013 Leave a Comment
A melon producer in Furano, Hokkaido, has grown some cute cantaloupes with the image of Japanese’s favourite icon Hello Kitty engraved on the fruit surface.
The limited item (300 pieces) will be on sale until July 31. I suspect it won’t last until then despite costing 4,980 yen (US$48.53) apiece. Seems steep to most people but high quality melons are priced at this range in Japan, it’s not extraordinary.
Chinese tourists told to behave
May 20, 2013 2 Comments
Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang on Sunday reaffirmed his earlier statement that Chinese tourists should learn better manners, that “uncivilised behaviour” (talking loudly, spitting etc.) of some Chinese tourists is harming the country’s image.
China is now the number one tourism source market in the world. Many countries, especially its neighbours, are in a love-hate relationship with Chinese tourists. They brought good money, but their behaviour can be a headache lots of the times.
The fact that they usually travel in groups means that it can get really chaotic wherever they go. To be fair to the tour guides I’ve seen many trying their best to maintain order, but the Chinese tourists often seem disinterested to follow the guidelines.
It’s not that these people deliberate behaved badly abroad, it probably never crossed their mind that it’s wrong to do certain things (that they usually do) in public.
The younger generation (I’ve met quite a few) are a lot more accustomed to global culture, so they should be able to shake off the tag after a decade or two. I just don’t see it happening sooner despite the leaders’ intention, there will be too many hyper middle-age Chinese making their first trip overseas in the next few years.
Giant rubber duck deflates in Hong Kong
May 17, 2013 3 Comments
The famous giant rubber duck, a creation by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, has mysteriously deflated during its current trip in Hong Kong. The ducky was supposed to stay until June; the organiser of the exhibition is working to bring it back up.
David Beckham to retire from football
May 16, 2013 1 Comment
Former English captain David Beckham is set to retire from professional football at the end of the season. Outstanding player, never the best but arguably the most famous of his generation. If you are not a soccer fan you might not know who’s Cannavaro, Ronaldinho, or even Messi, but you probably know who’s David Beckham.
Here’s a video from 1996, Manchester United vs Wimbledon, a goal which puts the 21-year-old Beckham on global headlines (for the first time). The rest is history.
David Beckham & Chinese football
March 27, 2013 1 Comment
English football star David Beckham, who joined French club Paris Saint-Germain in late January, was in Beijing as a special ambassador for Chinese football.
China has been eagered to become a football powerhouse in the past decade. Unfortunately their men’s national team has been underwhelming despite hundred millions of dollars being spent to develop the sport; and their ambition further dampened by the corruption in the professional league in the past few years.
Beckham’s visit has created plenty of buzz, but many doubt that it serves any real purpose beside PR stunt. Despite having legion of fans, football is never a popular sport to play in China (and many parts of Asia), it’s an odd situation where people would watch hours of European games weekly but not interested to kick the ball.
In the past two decades Japan and Korea (and Australia if it counts) are the only Asian countries that made consistent progress. It helps to have proper planning and execution from grassroots to professional levels, but the cultural shift (to make people, youngsters especially, to play the sport) is the real challenge.
I imagine it’s much easier for Chinese youth to have a ping-pong or badminton match which require little space and as few as two players to start a game. And there’s also the fact that they have better chance to thrive in these sports on global stage. It’s going to take a lot more than a certain David Beckham to make the change.
