FunBlog

This is the time of year when anime bloggers are busy posting their “Top 10 Lists” or other listings of the year’s best and worst. I’m not really in a position to do a top 10 list. I don’t watch nearly enough anime to make a meaningful judgment about which of the 120-odd shows broadcast last year were the 10 best or worst. I’ve seen only a minuscule sample, and from that I’d have to exclude any shows that haven’t ended yet, since the ending often makes all the difference.

What I will do is list some shows that made a significant impression on me (not always in a good way.) If your favorite show isn’t listed below and it ended in 2007, it’s quite possible that’s because I haven’t seen it.
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My initial reaction to Juno was a mixture of amusement and annoyance. As the movie went on I started to get drawn in and I ended up enjoying it a great deal.

Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) is a 16-year-old goth girl whose major talent is making smart-ass remarks. (She must spend hours thinking of funny/insolent things to say and saves them up for the right moment.) She is also, due to a moment of total irresponsibility, pregnant. This comedy is about how she choses to deal with the situation.

And that’s about all that I can say without spoiling things, except that the movie turns out to be insightful and touching. Ellen Page is really, really good here, initially showing us a character who doesn’t seem particularly likable and gradually revealing her to be vulnerable, decent and brave.

To begin with, I haven’t read the book by Philip Pullman that The Golden Compass is based on. I also don’t know the details of Pullman’s feud with the Catholic Church.

Apparently all the elements of the book that might offend Catholics have been removed from the movie–infuriating fans of the book. Nevertheless the Catholic League has called for a boycott of the movie on the grounds that it might encourage children to read the book. The Vatican has condemned the movie as “cold and hopeless” because it does not hold out the possibility of salvation through Jesus Christ. (It seems to me that very few movies could pass this test.)

All I can do is evaluate the movie in isolation: how does it stand up as a piece of entertainment?
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I have added two new pages to make it easier to find reviews on this site: the List of Anime Reviews and the List of Movie Reviews.

That’s the end. I’ve gone through all my photos and posted everything that looked reasonably interesting.

If you are considering a trip to Japan I strongly recommend that you go for it. Japan is a strange and wonderful place, full of beautiful things, and a few things that are just a bit odd. The people are friendly and hospitable, service is uniformly excellent and the trains really do run on time. (The average delay for a shinkansen leaving the station is supposed to be about 6 seconds.)

The country has a reputation for being clean, safe and expensive, and that’s pretty accurate. Still at today’s exchange rates it seems less expensive in relative terms. Many other currencies have appreciated much more against the dollar than the Yen has.

I would like to thank our tour organizer, Mike Roberts of Samurai Tours. He did an amazing job and I’m sure we saw a lot more of Japan than most visitors get to see. I would also like to thank our local guides who illuminated much that would otherwise have been obscure.

All Entries For This Trip.

Here are some photos that I think are interesting, but which don’t seem to fit anywhere else.
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Kyoto is much smaller than Tokyo, but it does have its own version of shopping districts. Teramachi and Shin-kyogoku are two parallel covered streets which seem to go on forever, connected to each other by short alleys so that they form a single complex. The complex is usually crowded with young people.
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I stumbled on this place by accident: a complex of buildings devoted to the practice of martial arts. It is located just around the corner from the Heian Shrine.
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The Heian Shrine is dedicated to two emperors: Kammu, who founded the city of Kyoto in 794, and Koumei, the last emperor to spend his life in the city. It is thus a focus of civic pride.

The entrance is marked by a suitably imposing torii.
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The ancient city of Nara, capital of Japan from 710 to 784, is a short train ride from Kyoto. Many people make the trip, and what most of them want to see is the great temple called the Todai-ji.
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The Kennin-ji is the oldest Zen Buddhist temple in Japan, established in 1202. It is notable for its artworks and beautiful gardens.
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This is Gion, the “Geisha District” made famous by the book and movie Memoirs of a Geisha. Perhaps I should call it a “Geiko District”, since in Kyoto a geisha is called a geiko (“art child”) and an apprentice geisha is called a maiko (“dance child”).
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The Ginkaku-ji (Silver Pavilion) is a Zen Buddhist temple that was built in 1474 by the Shogun Yoshimasa Ashikaga. Being the Shogun he presumably had nearly unlimited funds to work with. It’s interesting to consider how he spent them.
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In Hiroshima the Memorial Peace Museum is apparently THE place to bring elementary school children.
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The Homotsukan Treasure Hall contains hundreds of art works and other treasures donated over the centuries to the Itsukushima Shrine.
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Mt. Misen, the tallest mountain on the island, has been considered sacred since ancient times. The easiest way to get to the top is to take the ropeway that runs up the side.
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The Daishoin Temple on the lower slopes of Mt. Misen was founded by Kobodaishi in 806 and is the headquarters of the Omuro Branch of Shingon Buddhism.

The temple can be reached by climbing a very long staircase.
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Itsukushima Shrine is the largest shrine on Miyajima and the place most people want to see first. It dates back to the 6th century, though it was built in its present form in 1168.
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Miyajima (Shrine Island) is, as the name implies, the site of a number of striking shrines and temples. It claims to be “one of Japan’s Three Most Scenic Spots” (the others being the Amanohashidate sandbar and Matsushima Bay, neither of which I have seen.)

The island was visited by Kobodaishi in they year 806 and has a number of Shingon Buddhist temples. Because of the island’s sacred status, no one is allowed to die or be born there. I don’t know what the penalty is for breaking this rule.
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The Kokoen, located a short walk from the castle, consists of 9 formal gardens, some of them very beautiful.
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