Talking about Shiga Prefecture, Japan
My friend Kenkichi Yagi, who lives in Otsu, wrote an interesting story about his sailing trip around Lake Biwa in 1966. He went with another friend and was able to complete the haphazard, adventurous trip in 2.5 days on a small yacht.
His story is in English now with pictures:
http://yagiken.cocolog-nifty.com/yagiken_web_site_english/
On Nov. 3, Culture Day, I went to see the Hikone Castle Parade. It was good. Here are the pictures:
http://photoguide.jp/pix/thumbnails.php?album=156
Former Yokozuna Musashimaru from Hawaii donated one of his giant Championship portraits to a nursery school in Hikone. The portrait used to hang in the Kokugikan sumo arena in Ryogoku, Tokyo where all tournament winners receive a giant portrait to hang in the Kokugikan.
As new winners have their portraits installed, the oldest ones are removed from the Kokugikan. After receiving enthusiastic letters from the nursery school children (who also do sumo at the school) requesting to have one of his giant portraits, Musashimaru obliged and the portrait was installed and unveiled at Lumbini Nursery School (彦根市河原１の「るんびにー保育園」) on Dec. 1, 2006.
It’s a nice contrast between the little kids and the huge portrait of a huge man. The portrait measures 3.3 meters tall and 2.2 meters wide, weighing 70 kg. It was to commemorate his tournament victory in Sept. 1999.
It is similar to this one here:
http://photoguide.jp/pix/displayimage.php?album=276&pos=19
Being from Hawaii myself, it’s nice to see another Hawaii-and-Shiga connection.
My English version of the song, “Biwako Shuko no Uta” (Lake Biwa Rowing Song) was sung on national television for the first time on Nov. 26, 2006 on NHK TV’s “Nodo Jiman” amateur singing contest. This show is broadcast live on Sundays from a different location each time. This time it was beamed from Mitoyo, Kagawa Prefecture.
The singers were twin sisters Jamie and Megan Thompson whom I met earlier this year and agreed to sing my English song in public on June 3, 2006 when the song was first unveiled.
They applied to appear on the show and lo and behold they were one of the 20 entrants chosen to appear on this show. They sang only the first verse of the song as they had only 1 min. to sing. The next minute was spent chatting with the MC. So they were on stage for about 2 min., which was longer than most other entrants who stood in the spotlight for about 90 sec. or less.
After about 1 min. of singing, a chime is rung once, twice, or three times to rate the singer. Three chimes mean the singer has passed (gokaku) to become a finalist. Two chimes is what most entrants receive. (No one gets a single chime.) Out of the 20 entrants, 5 or 6 of them receive the “gokaku” rating. Out of these finalists, the show’s “Champion” is selected. The Champion of each show later appears in a special “Champion Contest” Nodo Jiman show held later. (Nodo Jiman literally means, “Boastful Throat.”
The show was broadcast for 45 min. from 12:15 to 1 pm. Two guest celebrity singers also appear on the show and this time it was Fuji Ayako and Toba Ichiro. Fuji-san gave the sisters very gracious comments, “Such a beautiful harmony. It was wonderful!” 「とても美しいハーモニーです。素晴らしかったですね！」
I guess I have to run out and buy her CD in appreciation. There was a live audience of 1,500 in Mitoyo gymnasium. At the end of the show, they chose a high school girl from Takamatsu (capital city of Kagawa) to receive the Champion Award.
“Biwako Shuko no Uta” is Shiga’s most famous song and famous nationally. It is about a rowing trip around Lake Biwa where they visit lake’s famous spots. More details about the song is here:
http://photoguide.jp/txt/Biwako_Shuko_no_Uta
http://photoguide.jp/txt/Lake_Biwa_Rowing_Song
Thanks to everyone who watched the show!
