30 May, 2005

Brutus vol.571

And here is the latest Brutus, but it was out two weeks ago. I forgot to post it. The reason for this shining cover design is because the magazine celebrates the 25 year anniversary. The feature story is all about LUXURY.

30 May, 2005

TITLE - July 2005

July's TITLE is about cars - "We Love Cars". It appeared interesting to me first, but I took a quick look at it today at a bookstore and found it wasn't that ...

30 May, 2005

Esquire - July 2005

The latest issue of Esquire goes to Tronto, New York and London to seek remarkable graphic designers.

30 May, 2005

Number Plus - June 2005

The new issue of sports magazine, Number Plus, features star players in selected European leagues - Ukraine, Sweden, Ireland, Iceland, Finland and Hungary. In the Ireland section, Damien Duff, Roy Keane and Robbie Keane appear. The cover picture is Andriy Shevchenko from Ukraine.

30 May, 2005

Because I've got pictures

I would like to dedicate this space to the Liverpool's victory of the Champions League.

29 May, 2005

Pretoria to Tshwane

South Africa is planning to change its capital's name from Pretoria to Tshwane. But this plan is arousing national controversy, deviding the white and black citizens.

Each name, Pretoria and Tshwane, has each root. Pretoria was named after Andries Pretorius, a hero of the Afrikaner group, which established apartheid. Tshwane, which means "We are the same", is the name given to the region by early African groups.

According to BBC news, many of white South Africans think that "the name Pretoria is part of a proud history", while the black see this as going back to their roots.

The point is that the black seek identity from the new city name and the disappear of Pretoria means, to the white, losing their citizenship.

There is also the fact concerning the cost for renaming. The opposition Democratic Alliance, which has strong support among whites, says that 1.5 billion Rand ($256m) would be needed for the switch and would be better spent on improving services.

The city council approved the switch to Tshwane in March as part of moves to make place names more African.

Pretoria's renaming is part of a national drive to make South African cities sound more African, which its proponents say fits with a continent-wide trend in the post-colonial era.

More information here:
» BBC News | Mixed response to Pretoria change
» BBC News | South Africans to rename capital
» BBC News | City names mark changing times

29 May, 2005

Martin Freeman

Martin Freeman, who is known as Tim of BBC's hit comedy, The Office, takes on the role of Arthur Dent in the new film version of the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. I've been supporting him since The Office. Hope this will be good for his career, although the film itself doesn't interest me much.

» The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
» BBC News | Freeman's big screen challenge

29 May, 2005

Natasha, Jade and Jemma

When I was in Cardiff, I noticed this. Sunday afternoon, on the Queens Streen in Cardiff, I found lots of teenage girls who have kids. They seemed too young to have kids. In addition, some of the girls smoked a cigarette beside a buggy.

» BBC News | Sisters give birth at 12, 14, 16
And I came across an article which made what I saw fairly certain. I wasn't wrong.

Three schoolgirl sisters, Natasha, Jade and Jemma, have given birth aged 12, 14 and 16 and receive £600 a week in benefits. Oh my god.

25 May, 2005

BBC strike

25 May, 2005

The first day at school

» BBC News | In pictures: Nikon picture editor awards
From BBC. Makes me think of getting married. But to who. Lovely pictures, anyway.

21 May, 2005

Animal kingdom

Japan is a country which has a weakness for lovely animals. People get very excited about them quickly. The animals "of the moment" are admired by people and are to control the state's politics, media and economy.

Now an animal is becoming the next hero - a standing lesser panda (red panda). The Chiba Zoological Park, located at the east end of Tokyo, is now attracting nationwide attention with the standing lesser panda.

The two-year-old lesser pand, called Futa, is able to stand on two legs for more than 10 seconds. This is zoologically very rare. That's why people are excited about this standing panda.

The panda has already appeared in the frontpage of the UK's Daily Express. Doesn't the paper have any other topic?

Well, thinking how long this fever will last, I wonder where the baby seal has gone...

This article tells what I'm talking about here more clearly and intelligibly. I cannot compete with native people.
» Guardian Unlimited | Tokyo dispatch: A nation's fate is sealed

18 May, 2005

BBC evolution

BBC announced that they would start an experimental service which enables people to watch and listen their programmmes in the BBC website in September. With this service, people will be able to enjoy programmes, which they miss.

The experiment will last for three months, providing 5,000 people with the BBC Interactive Media Player, which can download and record the programmes.

But there is, of course, something like copyright issues. To deal with them, BBC regulates the system - the programmes, which viewers obtain, will not play again after a week has passed. In other words, the programmes are to be broadcast within the last seven days. (There still seems to be more to be done for copyright issues, though.)

I'm very excited to hear this news, but unfortunately, BBC haven't announced that they will offer this service to overseas viewers yet.

» BBC News | BBC moves ahead with TV downloads

Moreover, another evolution. BBC will soon introduce the new generation of weather graphics.

» BBC | Clearer Weather from the BBC
» BBC News | BBC defends new weather forecasts

So I think this series of developments in the television sector, closely related to the Internet, should be advanced. And I hope BBC will bring many interesting BBC programmes, including the Office, Little Britain, Newsnight, etc, to us - those who do not have access to them like someone living outside the UK.

It's been long since a phrase - Linkage between TV and the Internet - started to be spotlighted in Japan. But what has been done? What does NHK do for it? How about Fuji TV? And Livedoor?

Just look at the BBC. They do what Japanese TV stations and others have to do. Respect BBC.

14 May, 2005

Business card

My business card has arrived.

14 May, 2005

Casa Brutus vol.63

The latest Casa Brutus (June 2005) has arrived. Its main story is "Tsunami Recovery Update". The magazine explores Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Phuket(Thailand), which now try to recover from the tsunami disaster in December 2004, and reports their reconstruction. Introducing new resort hotels, the magazine also suggests us to take a summer vacation in South-east Asia. This can be what we can do for the afflicted area.

In addition, another feature is Japanese architect, Kenzo Tange, who passed away in March - "KENZO TANGE : A SUPER ARCHITECT".

» Brutus Online | Casa Brutus

13 May, 2005

Memo (1)

» BBC News | Costly victory for chastened Blair
By John Simpson
9 May 2005

10 May, 2005

A time to be back

My respect, the living legend, Stevie Wonder is finally back to the music scene, after an almost ten-year absence. He is going to release his 28th album, "A Time to Love", on 25th of May in Japan. In fact, the release date seems to have delayed several times, keeping fans in suspense. But it's been fixed, finally.

I love Stevie Wonder. That's because of that golden period which is nothing less than miraculous. In the 70's, he produced successive albums, Music of My Mind, Talking Book, Innervisions, Fulfillingness' First Finale and Songs in the Key of Lifem, which gave him Grammy Awards. Each of them is still fadeless and strikes me. Secret Life, released after Key of Life, is also good.

In the 80's he started to use synthesizers, which people either like or don't like. Perhaps, owing to the use of synthesizers, his music can be slightly more commercial that what used be. After he released several albums in that period, he was going to be away from the mainstream.

But he's back finally. So it's time to love him again.

Stevie Wonder / A Time to Love
1. If The Creek Don't Rise
2. Time To Love
3. Forever Is How Long
4. What The Fuss
5. I Can't Imagine Love Without You
6. How Will I Know（Duet With Aisha）
7. If Your Love Cannot Be Moved
8. Moon Blue
9. The Future
10. Giant Steps
11. Sunshine
12. Tears
13. The Well
14. Songs Of My Father

» Stevie Wwonder Official Site

» Amazon.com

7 May, 2005

And the LD brings sweet memories of Cardiff

The election showed us not only the reelected Labour and the Conservatives' third successive defeat, but also the leap of the Liberal Democrats, which benefited from anti-war protest votes. Charles Kennedy, the leader of the party, has right to be delighted with that.

Kennedy, who became the party leader six years ago, has brought the party's largest number of MPs since the 1920s - the best performance ever.

Well, I don't know much about the Liberal Democrats, to be honest, but there is a reason why I'm still writing about the party. That's because I found the Liberal Democrats gained Cardiff Central, achieving a huge 13 per cent swing. Cardiff is where I spent two years to study journalism.

And there is more to it. Cardiff Central's new MP is Jenny Willott, a young lady politician. She was featured in a magazine, TRACK, which I and my classmates produced during the course last year at Cardiff University.

This is from an interview, "How to be an MP", with her.

Q. Where do you see yourself five years from now?

A. Five years ago I would have never imagined of what I am doing today. I am a strong believer of the fact that the joys of life lie in taking the opportunities as they come. But I am sure to be working for Cardiff, hopefully as a MP.

Her dream came true.

By the way, I didn't get involved in this feature, because I was busy at designing the magazine website. The interview was done by our chief editor, Piyush Roy.

You can read the rest of the interview with Jenny Willott.
» TRACK | How to be an MP - Campaign Chat with Jenny Willott

7 May, 2005

Tories defeat

The Tories failed to win the election. Although the Conservatives regained nearly 200 seats, they ended up with their third successive defeat. Having lost the election, Michael Howard, the fourth leader in eight years, announced that he would stand down "sooner rather than later so that the party can choose someone who can", despite calls for him to stay on during a crucial time for the party.

Howard considers the result as a "significant step towards our recovery", but BBC says that it was the party's worst series of results since World War II. In addition, according to BBC, the Conservatives "will still have fewer seats in the House of Commons than the Labour Party did at its lowest point back in 1983, and their share of the vote increased by only one percentage point".

This article, which analyses the Conservative's defeat, is quite easy-to-follow and suitable for someone who knows little like me.
» BBC News | Howard's parting favour
By Nick Assinder
6 May 2005

Most Conservatives probably believed the best they could hope for from this general election was an honourable second place, and Mr Howard has delivered that.

So it was always highly likely the party would then start another process of re-evaluation.

And the question remains: where do they go from here - do they continue building or return to their old destructive ways?

Mr Howard can comfort himself with the thought that he probably achieved enough to head off any suggestions that he is personally to blame for the election failure.

Indeed, when he became the surprise successor to Iain Duncan Smith in 2004 at the age of 62, most believed his only task was to stop the Tory party destroying itself.

» BBC News | Analysis: Where now for Tories?
By Barnaby Mason
6 May 2005

It is clear that, whoever the leader, the Conservatives would not have done even as well as they have without the special factor of the Iraq war and the loss of trust in Tony Blair.

So the question is whether the Tory leadership will draw the conclusion that the party still needs fundamental reform - or that it simply has to wait until next time to get back into government.

7 May, 2005

Blair victory

Tony Blair won historic third term, but with a reduced majority and with a question - How long will he last at No 10? There is a controversial issue, namely, Iraq, which has affected his way to get re-elected.

As a clear sign of an "Iraq effect", the Labour showed much worse performance in the capital than other regions, losing Enfield Southgate, Putney, Hammersmith, Ilford North and Wimbledon to the Conservatives.

When Blair regained his Sedgefield seat, he said, "I know Iraq has been a divisive issue in this country, but I hope now we can unite again and look to the future."

Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, also admitted that the party had suffered a protest vote, saying, "I promise that we will listen and learn so that we can serve our country and our community even better in the years to come."

While British media report Blair's historic victory, they also talk about the next successor who can be Gordon Brown. Independent says;

Although Mr Blair set to enter the history books, the sharp drop in his majority will raise a question-mark over whether he can remain in Downing Street for anything like the "full term" he wishes to serve before standing down. He will face calls from within the party for an early handover of power to Mr Brown, whose allies believe Labour would have suffered bigger losses if the Chancellor had not played a pivotal role in the campaign.

Blair won the election, largely because voters were not able to be willing to choose either Michael Howard or Charles Kennedy - even though there was an "Iraq effect". So the public who voted for Blair were not necessarily willing to do. Simply, they had no choice.

Boris Johnson, the Tory candidate in Henley, west London, said: "What we are now seeing I think is the slow, sad political extinction of Tony Blair."

» Independent | Blair secures his third term - but how long will he last at No 10?

6 May, 2005

Election day

6 May, 2005

London bid for the Olympics

From Londonist.

» Times Online | What Paula Radcliffe paused to do in the streets of London, bid organisers are doing to the locals
By Martin Samuel
4 May 2005

5 May, 2005

My GW - Tokyo in pictures

The Golden Week is still going on in Japan and I'm enjoying this holiday. So today, I'm showing some photos of Tokyo during the Golden Week. I think the readers of this auspicious blog are not only Japanese friends but also some friends outside of Japan. Whoever you are, I hope you enjoy the photos. » See more photos

Tsukiji Market, the largest fish market in Tokyo.

Matsuri, a festival, which I came accross.

Tsutsuji, azalea, is in bloom.

I and my friends visited Suitengu Shrine, located near my flat after lunch.

Various amulets are sold at Suitengu Shrine.

The paper fortune celebrates my upcoming successful future.

Kids are often trapped in this kind of stalls at shrines or festivals. This sells kid's masks.

The Tokyo Tower at dusk. Looks beautiful.

Ginza, one of the important shopping districts in Japan. Expensive.

Matsuya Ginza, one of the famous department stores in Ginza.

Here is an Apple Store.

4 May, 2005

UK kids in fat crisis

Having eaten unhealthy food like fish and chips, Mars bars and BK's Whopper, British kids are getting fatter. And the epidemic of childhood obesity is getting serious indeed.

According to the Department of Health, the prevalence of obesity among children under the age of eleven rose from 9.9% to 13.7% between 1995 and 2003.

Especially, an age group between eight to ten showed the biggest increase - from 11.2% to 16.5% over the eight-year period.

Dr Ian Campbell of the National Obesity Forum said; "These statistics are very worrying indeed."

"It's the fact that calories have become cheaper and exercise expensive."

In my opinion, unhealthy diet and eating disorder among kids are mainly caused by two factors; one is domination of for-profit, mass-produced, unhealthy food such as chocolate bars and hamburgers; and the other can be Britain's food culture that is interpreted as this question - Do parents cook by themselves for kids?

As we saw Jamie Oliver's Feed Me Better, British kids' diet is in crisis.

» BBC News | England's children getting fatter

4 May, 2005

Articles on Japan-China relation

Here are some articles related to the recent China's protest against Japanese. I found these few weeks ago and wanted to post, but too busy not to able to do so.

» BBC News | China suffers memory lapses too
By Rupert Wingfield-Hayes
23 April 2005

» Economist.com | Unrest that riles Tokyo and worries Beijing
20 April 2005

» Washingtonpost.com | Japan-China Fight Over History Rooted in the Future
By Jefferson Morley
19 April 2005

3 May, 2005

IDS

Golden Week is going on in Japan. I found the former Conservative leader, Iain Duncan Smith, in the UK election.
» BBC News | I'm still standing, says Duncan Smith