Who would have thought of that? I am actually publishing book reviews from time to time… incredible. And here comes a book which is done in one/two days but is absolutely worth buying… if you like the Japanese culture.

The title is Wrong about Japan and it is a report about the journey of an Australian book author and his son. Both were fans of Anime and Manga and decided to go to Japan one day. The plan was to interview Japanese authors and painters (from the Manga/Anime industry) and so to find out what is hidden to Gaijin within the stories. They also met the poor friend of the son, Takashi… to find out why I feel so much pity with him you might want to read the book by yourself…

Yesterday we saw the phantastic show of the Wadaiko Yamato – the drummers of Japan. It was great. Such powerful instruments which allow the audience to feel the music in a very direct way. Especially the big drums are very very Macho. From the other instruments played yesterday I preferred shamisen as it fit very nice to the beats. You also could hear koto and some flutes. I am really impressed and still excited although listening to this kind of music while going to the office may have some influence on your way of driving the car.

Of the songs I would recommend “Ran Ran” which includes the shamisen.

In respect of those great artists no mp3s and no images from the show here. You have to visit the show yourself and get your merchandise directly there (as I did, and it was really worth it). Get some wristbands, drum sticks and t-shirts and of course a CD and a DVD. Sadly my wife did not think that getting all of the previous mentioned was a good idea so the CD and the t-shirt were fine for me.

http://www.yamato.jp

buy DVD online

The last days I spent developing some pages dedicated to the Japanese language which I am actually learning since about one year. I'll try to publish some basic and interesting pages for non-Japanese-learners from time to time. The main work will be filling the dictionary with words I already learned. Based on that data there will be some kind of quiz too once it's finished.

http://www.hafenscher.net/nihongo/

At the moment I'll not integrate it into the main navigation as its content is not yet there where I want it to be. Oh, and as for now it's German only. Nevertheless it is prepared for multi-linguality but at the moment I do not have time for translations.

Yust received our tickets for Wadaiko Yamato – the drummers of Japan. Will be watching their great show on Dec. 22nd in Linz. Come back afterwards for a review and maybe some pics.

bambadabambadabam….

http://www.yamato.jp/