What is 131 meters tall, changes color, and has steam coming out from under it? If you answered Kyoto Tower, then you can stop reading because you probably know more about it than I do. If not, keep reading because Kyoto Tower is one of the most iconic buildings in Japan, and you should know more about it.

By most accounts, the story of Kyoto Tower begins with the relocation of Kyoto’s Central Post Office in 1961. With this move, a large tract of land facing Kyoto Station’s Northern Central Exit became available for redevelopment. Such large parcels are rare in old cities like Kyoto, something that was not lost on businesspeople, politicians, and civic leaders of the day, so everyone agreed that the space should be used for the public good. A company was formed, a prominent architect hired, and the work of creating a suitable structure was begun.

Originally, the structure was not intended to be a tower, but rather a modern nine-story building with a modest observation facility on its roof. After all, Kyoto city had laws that limited the height of all buildings to 31 meters—the height of a nine-story structure. It seemed impossible that something taller than that could be built.

However, the 1960s had just begun; Japan’s growth rate was above 10 percent, Tokyo would be hosting the Olympics, and a new bullet train would be connecting Japan’s previous capital with its current one. The times were ripe for people to think big, and at that point in history, thinking big often meant building a tower. Osaka had Tsutenkaku (1943), Tokyo had Tokyo Tower (1957), and even Yokohama had Marine Tower (1961).

In English there is an expression, “where there is a will, there is a way”, which means that if someone wants something badly enough, he or she will find a way to get it. This certainly seems true for the people who wanted to build a tower. To overcome the obstacle of a 31-meter height limit, a loophole was found. Since even the tallest buildings were allowed to have structures like elevator shafts and water tanks on their roofs, why couldn’t a 100-meter tower be considered “a rooftop structure”? Experts were consulted, the possibility of building a rooftop tower was confirmed, and the rest is history. The 131-meter structure—which contains a hotel, restaurants, steamy public bath, and 100-meter tower—was opened to the public on December 28, 1964. Today, Kyoto Tower continues to be used for the common good. In addition to housing the facilities mentioned above, its colorfully illuminated silhouette acts as a guide to those seeking Kyoto Station after a hard day's work or a night on the town.

Photo Credit: Eva Elijas@pexels.com

Blog Quiz

 1. Before Kyoto Tower was built, what was on that land?

   a. The Central Post Office

   b. The Century Hotel

   c. Yodobashi Camera

2. Before Kyoto Tower was built, the tallest buildings in Kyoto city were around __ .

   a. 31 meters

   b. 100 meters

   c. 131 meters

3. What is the source of the steam coming out from under Kyoto Tower?

   a. A police station (Koban)

   b. A public bath

   c. The subway

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

A1. A

A2. A

A3. B

This is Part Two of Women’s Empowerment in India. 

You can read Part one here. 

In Visakhapatnam, we were introduced to very positive and active women. When we interviewed them, we tried meta-facilitation skills to find out the truth. They were eager to talk about how much effort they made to become independent. Many of them were from the poorest families and were not educated at school. Some of them could not even read or write when they first came to Mura no Mirai. They did not know how to calculate either. They never had a bank account. They never made any decisions by themselves. They did not have confidence. However, after being involved in the activity of the NPO, they learned not only how to read, write, and calculate, but also got a job at their own community bank called VVK.

Those poor women got higher self-esteem little by little though an opportunity to borrow a small amount of money from the bank. They borrowed and paid back money again and again. All the small loans were used for their living expenses and their children’s education. They sent their kids to college and finally returned their debts. Their lifestyle was very simple, and they seemed not to have many possessions. However, they looked very happy. What they were proud of was not what they had, but their children’s education and their efforts for that. They showed us their passbooks which proved completion of their repayment. They seemed to gain confidence by paying back all the money they borrowed, making decisions by themselves, and becoming independent financially and psychologically. Moreover, this confidence inspired them to learn how to read, write, and calculate, and even to manage their bank by themselves. Most of them were once just customers at the bank for their microcredit, but they became indispensable workers there. They keep challenging themselves, and their bank is growing and helping more poor women.

What is happiness for human beings? Can people feel happy when they are able to own a lot of things? When supporting people in need, giving something might be a common idea. However, through communicating with them, these Indian women made me realize what is important in life. I will never forget their happy smiles.

Photo Credit: jeswinthomas@pexels.com

Blog Quiz

Q1. Where did the writer visit in India?

Q2. How did the Indian women use the money they borrowed?

Q3. What is important for the Indian women the writer met?

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

A1. Visakhapatnam, India

A2. They used the money for living and educational expenses.

A3. Becoming independent, getting confidence, making decisions, (children’s) education

Empowered women in India taught me what happiness means. I visited some women in the southern part of India with an NPO called “Mura no Mirai (Future of Villages)” in February 2018. I was interested in world cooperation, but not sure about how to find out the real needs of people in developing countries. The NPO has been active in several countries and successful in supporting underprivileged people. They gave me a chance to learn about the precious things in life from the Indian women in the slum.

Mura no Mirai offers a special way to communicate called meta-facilitation, which means to ask only fact-questions when trying to find someone’s needs. From his experiences in world cooperation, Mr. Wada from the organization found that when answering fact-questions, people gradually recognize what they really need and start to think about what they should do for their future. This NGO never gives money or things, but through meta-facilitation, they help people in need empower themselves and become independent financially and psychologically. Their goal is not to do everything for the people, but to guide them to stand up and walk by themselves at their pace. When I attended their seminar about meta-facilitation, I became very much interested in communicating with people using the method.

One of their great projects was to support poor women in Visakhapatnam, India. They asked fact-questions to find their needs and succeeded in leading them to manage their own community bank for small loans by themselves. I read their reports and books about their activities, but I could not believe what they have done and really wanted to see and listen to the local women’s groups. I joined their study tour to visit them in India.

Photo Credit: Still@pexels.com

Blog Quiz

Q1. What is Mura no Mirai?

Q2. What is the communication method used by Mura no Mirai?

Q3. What project was the writer particularly interested in?

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

A1. An NPO that helps underprivileged people

A2. meta-facilitation

A3. The writer was impressed by the women who managed a community bank for small loans. 

Whenever I have visitors from abroad and we are in Kyoto, I invariably take them to Pontocho in the evening. I love that this alley is narrow enough to easily cross from side to side. The proximity of the facades lining the street lets me inspect the displays and menus of every restaurant on my left and right. By now I have done this tens of times, and even though not much changes, I do not tire of it. I find it a great place to spend time with a friend.

Since I have been going to Pontocho for over 10 years, I have gradually learned some of its history, not all of which I believe.

The history of Pontocho that I find hardest to accept concerns the supposed origin of its name. If you google “Pontocho history”, Wikipedia and most travel websites will tell you that “Ponto” is thought to be derived from a Portuguese word, most likely “bridge” but perhaps “destination” or even “dot”. While this could be true, it seems unlikely.

To begin with, when Japanese borrows words from abroad it is usually for something that originally did not exist in Japan, like computers or pumpkins, but Japanese has long had its own words for “bridges”, “destinations”, and “dots”. Why the need for a foreign alternative, especially during that era? The timing is important.

When Pontocho was created in 1670, Japan was already 31 years into what would become its 214-year stretch of self-isolation. Would a culture that is in the midst of turning inward really choose a foreign word for a new street? Also, how many Kyoto denizens from the 17th century knew Portuguese well enough to linguistically borrow from it?

Finally, there is the kanji itself, 先斗町, which using my Heisig language book translates to something like “The town (町) before (先) the Big Dipper (斗) ”, which seems to have little to do with a bridge, although I guess “destination” would still be valid.

Even if we eliminate its supposed Portuguese origin, Pontocho is still a charming name. Using the Big Dipper (Ursa Major) as a proxy for North, a translation for Pontocho could be “The town just before the North end”. As Pontocho does lie at the Northern terminus to the 15-kilometer-long Takasegawa Canal, this is in fact true.

Photo Credit: satoshi-hirayama @pexels.com

Blog Quiz

Q1. What does the author find hard to accept?

Q2. Why does he find this hard to accept?

Q3. Why is it appropriate for Pontocho to have a character for “North” in its name?

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

Q1. That the name “Pontocho” was derived from Portuguese.

Q2. Because of Japan’s isolation at that time, the likely small number of Portuguese speakers, and the lack of a need to borrow a word.

Q3. Because it is at the Northern end of a famous canal.

How can one enjoy this short type of poetry? The most important point when reading and creating a haiku is the viewpoint used to illustrate the scene at which one is looking. The following is a famous work by Yosa Buson (1716-1784):

菜の花や (Canola flowers)

月は東に (The moon in the east)

日は西に (The sun in the west)

Tiny yellow canola flowers are seen on the roads in spring. As the author can see the sun and the moon at the same time, the time of day is sunset. No other information is presented in the poem; therefore, the readers’ imagination is required to complete the interpretation; how many canola flowers there are, where the author is standing, if the author is accompanied by other people or if there are passers-by, the weather, the temperature, the color of the sky, and so on. The reader can add as much information as needed to complete the visualization of the scene.

While one can enjoy reading the poem and exercising one’s imagination alone, it is also enjoyable to exchange the imaginings with one’s peers, who may imagine different scenes based on the same poem. Such discussions deepen one’s understanding of the poem by considering diverse interpretations.

Once one understands how to enjoy reading a haiku, the next step is to attempt to create one. If one ignores all the rules, the poem cannot be identified definitively as a haiku; thus, I recommend following the rules as far as possible when creating a haiku in a language other than Japanese.

Poetry and art may be difficult, but the stay-at-home period provides an excellent opportunity to enjoy reading and to practice creating short forms of literature.

Photo Credit: Photo by Satoshi Hirayama from Pexels

Blog Quiz

Q1.How many sounds does each haiku have?

Q2.When was the form of the haiku established?

Q3.What time does the example haiku take place?

I’ll admit it. The older I get, the older I feel, and the less I feel “in touch” with what’s cool. You see, when I was your age, today’s internet did not exist. You know what else didn’t exist? Streaming. Netflix. Binge watching.*

Having a favorite TV show meant watching it every week on the same day, at the same time, on the same channel. That has changed, though. Now if I want to watch Game of Thrones, for example, I can sit down at 6:00pm and watch episode after episode until either I fall asleep, or I finish watching five whole seasons.

I had never tried doing such a thing before. I didn’t understand the appeal of speeding through multiple episodes in one sitting. I mean, when you talk to friends about the show, you can only ask, “How far have you gotten into the show? Oh, so you don’t know what happens to… oh, never mind...” Then the conversation is over. When I was younger, we could simply ask, “Did you see the Simpsons last night?” and then have a conversation about the whole show. Then repeat again six days later.

Instead of boring you with how boring I have become, let me introduce a show to you that I recently binge-watched. It’s called Cobra Kai, and it is available on Netflix. It is based on a 1984 movie that was a childhood favorite of mine: The Karate Kid (ベストキッド in Japan).

 In the original movie, a teenage boy named Daniel moves to California with his mother and tries to fit in with others, but instead gets bullied. He learns karate, and eventually beats his enemies.

Cobra Kai has the same main characters in it, but 35 years later. Daniel is now 50 years old, a successful businessman, and has a wife and two teenage children. Johnny (his enemy) has just lost his job and has to figure out what to do with his life. I will not spoil anything except to say that both men take up karate again, and their rivalry starts over... but not in the way you would expect.

There are so many twists and turns, unexpected new (and old) characters, and it is highly entertaining. As an old guy myself, I can relate to Daniel the father, the husband, the career man. For young people, I think the appeal will be connecting with the high school students that take over as sub-characters.

You might want to take up karate after watching Cobra Kai, or like me, you might really get into binge-watching other shows. What are you waiting for? Go watch the first three seasons of Cobra Kai! Season 4 is currently being produced!

* Binge watching means watching multiple episodes of a TV show (often drama or comedy) one after another, and quickly finishing an entire season (or series).

Photo Credit: Cottonbro@pixels.com

Blog Quiz

Q1. What did not exist when the writer was young?

a. TV shows

b. Netflix

c. The Karate Kid

Q2. What is the name of the TV show the writer wants to introduce?

a. Game of Thrones

b. The Karate Kid

c. Cobra Kai

Q3. What does the writer think will be interesting to young viewers of the show?

a. The main characters, Daniel & Johnny

b. The sub-characters, high school students

c. The skill of the karate fights in the show

 Scroll down for the answers.

Quiz Answers

A1.b

A2.c

A3.b

How much do you know about Rakugo? I think some of you might know about the Sunday evening TV program called Shouten. All of the performers are Rakugo storytellers. They tell witty stories while wearing a kimono. Performed since the Edo period, Rakugo is a performing art that has become part of Japanese culture. The Rakugo performer kneels on a cushion (zabuton) that is placed on a raised platform (koza) in the center of the stage. Without the use of stage effects, sets, or costumes, the storyteller's goal is to make the audience laugh while using a fan or towel as his or her only prop. This simple yet unique and sophisticated narrative art does not exist anywhere else in the world. The key points of Rakugo are (a) the story should include a punch line; (b) the story unfolds as a form of dialogue; (c) the performer changes the character through facial expressions; (d) a Japanese fan and towel are the only props; and (e) slight changes to their posture, mannerism, and tone of voice give life to many different characters.

Rakugo used to be a cultural practice unique to Japan. However, as its merits have become known worldwide, foreigners have begun to perform Rakugo in Japanese, and Japanese have started to perform Rakugo in English. The problem here is translation. Some of the situations in the stories and even some of the punchlines can be difficult to translate. I will give one example. Newcomers to anything have to take the first step, and in the world of Rakugo, a beginner starts by telling a story called Kuchinashi. The story begins with a customer entering a flower shop and asking the florist if the shop has any flowers. The florist says, “Yes, I have many different kinds of flowers.” The customer asks, “Do you have any flowers that talk?” The florist says, “Yes, I have flowers that talk.” The customer begins asking the flowers their names. The flowers answer by saying, “I'm Rose.” or “My name is Tulip.” Eventually, the customer finds a flower that doesn't answer his question. The customer angrily asks the owner, “Why doesn't this flower talk?” The florist calmly answers, “Because that flower is a Kuchinashi!” This punchline is easily understandable and funny to Japanese speakers because Kuchinashi literally means “no mouth.” How can you express the same thing in English and make the audience laugh? Some performers of English Rakugo will use the words “dried flower” or “wallflower.” Which one do you like better?

Photo Credit: Miguel Á. Padriñán@ Pexels.com

Blog Quiz

Q1. When did Rakugo begin?　

Q2. What are the two props?

Q3. How do Rakugo performers bring different characters to life?

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

A1. Edo period

A2. A Japanese fan and a towel

A3. They slightly change to their posture, mannerism, and tone of voice.