Live Breaking News & Updates on Avi landau

Stay informed with the latest breaking news from Avi landau on our comprehensive webpage. Get up-to-the-minute updates on local events, politics, business, entertainment, and more. Our dedicated team of journalists delivers timely and reliable news, ensuring you're always in the know. Discover firsthand accounts, expert analysis, and exclusive interviews, all in one convenient destination. Don't miss a beat — visit our webpage for real-time breaking news in Avi landau and stay connected to the pulse of your community

TsukuBlog | The Legacy of the SAKIMORI (防人)-Japan`s Ancient Frontier Guard Conscripts- is their timeless poetry of LONGING- and the colorful SAITOH-SAI Festival ( 祭頭祭 ) at Kashima Grand Shrine on March 9th

TsukuBlog
A Local Perspective on Life in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
The Legacy of the SAKIMORI (防人)-Japan`s Ancient Frontier Guard Conscripts- is their timeless poetry of LONGING- and the colorful SAITOH-SAI Festival ( 祭頭祭 ) at Kashima Grand Shrine on March 9th
8 March, 2021

By Avi Landau

One of the good things about living in the Tsukuba Science City, is that in addition to all the local folk ( JIMOTO NO HITO ), you get to meet the SHINJU-MIN　(新住民), the people who have come from ALL OVER JAPAN ( as well as from all over the world) to work at or study at the various research facilities and institutions of higher learning located here. Because of this diversity in geographical background , whenever I make new acquaintance, I always make sure to ask: SHUSHIN CHI WA DOKO DESU KA? (Where are you originally from?), and since I have been to all of Japan`s 47 prefectures, after hearing the answer, I mention that I have been to THEIRS and usually make some comments ( positive, of course!) about their home towns. I have found that this always makes for good conversation and sometimes helps lay the foundation for a future friendship.

Osaka , Japan , Ibaraki , Tsukushi , Fukuoka , Tohoku , Japan-general , Meiji , Hokkaido , China , Ireland , Dazaifu

TsukuBlog | Ibaraki`s Famous Plum-Blossom-Season Sweets ( and some thoughts they elicit on Japanese culture)

TsukuBlog
Ibaraki`s Famous Plum-Blossom-Season Sweets ( and some thoughts they elicit on Japanese culture)
7 March, 2021
My favorite accompaniment to a plum blossom viewing excursion- Mito no Ume – sweet bean paste wrapped in shiso leaves which have been soaked in plum syrup !
By Avi Landau

In Japan, at the heart of nearly every plan, at the core of just about any event, ceremony or excursion- there is…… EATING. No matter how solemn or raucous the ancient rite or how exquisite, refined or interesting the art, music , nature or history encountered, it is THE FOOD which is looked forward to, savored, photographed, and afterward, remembered and spoken of.

New-york , United-states , Japan , Ibaraki , Osaka , Tokyo , Tenjin , Hyogo , China , Tsukuba , Boshi , Guangdong

TsukuBlog | PLUM crazy! Ibaraki`s Ume Trees in Bloom!

TsukuBlog
PLUM crazy! Ibaraki`s Ume Trees in Bloom!
6 March, 2021
Walking to the Kasuga Community Center, I found myself enveloped in a sweet, warm and welcome fragrance. I knew what I would see even before I turned around – this large plum tree which had just burst into bloom!
Plum blossoms outside the MAIE soba restaurant in Yasato. Note how pointy the peaks of Mt. Tsukuba look from that side (March 5, 2021)
By Avi Landau
When one uses the word HANAMI (花見, flower viewing) on its own, it is understood by native speakers of Japanese to refer ONLY to the viewing and enjoyment of blooming CHERRY BLOSSOMS- and not of any other flower. This clearly shows the high regard given to the fragile pink blossoms which have since the Heian Period symbolized the transient nature of all things, one of the cornerstone concepts of Japanese aesthetics and philosophy. Going to a meisho (名所, a famous place for viewing cherry blossoms) can reveal how the Japanese have turned the simple pleasure of enjoying flowers in bloom, into what seems like a religious pilgrimage. They come from near and far, as couples, families, or groups shuttled in on karaoke equipped tour buses. They bring lunch-boxes and of course cameras. The blossoms are observed intently (and I mean with great intention, as if posing in a kabuki play) from afar and then from way in up close. The atmosphere is at once, solemn and celebratory, reverent and ribald.

China , Tsukuba , Ibaraki , Japan , Osaka , Kasuga , Fukuoka , Tenjin , Hyogo , Dazaifu , Chinese , Japanese

TsukuBlog | GASSUISEKI JINJA (月水石神社)- A Shrine with an Egg for Conceiving Children and Preventing Gynecological Ailments (has its festival on March 8th this year – 2021)

TsukuBlog | GASSUISEKI JINJA (月水石神社)- A Shrine with an Egg for Conceiving Children and Preventing Gynecological Ailments (has its festival on March 8th this year – 2021)
alientimes.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from alientimes.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.

Japan , Japanese , Mt-tsukuba , Avi-landau , Hitachinokuni-fudoki , Conceiving-children , Preventing-gynecological-ailments , Gassuiseki-shrine , Easter-egg , Christian-european , Tsukuba-city

TsukuBlog | Where are all the REAL PEACH BLOSSOMS (momo no hana, 桃の花) around the time of the PEACH FESTIVAL (momo no sekku, 桃の節句)- another name for the Hina Doll Festival

TsukuBlog
A Local Perspective on Life in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
Where are all the REAL PEACH BLOSSOMS (momo no hana, 桃の花) around the time of the PEACH FESTIVAL (momo no sekku, 桃の節句)- another name for the Hina Doll Festival
4 March, 2021
Multi-tiered hina doll sets always feature a little model of a peach tree in bloom – in celebration of the season. The only problem is that peach trees don`t bloom in early March.
By Avi Landau
On March 3rd, right in the very heart of the PLUM BLOSSOM season, we celebrate the Hina Matsuri (the Girls’ Day Hina Doll Festival), otherwise known as MOMO NO SEKKU (桃の節句), the PEACH FESTIVAL. And though you might recognize the purple petalled little peach tree replicas in the full Hina Doll sets, you might wonder where the REAL peach blossoms can be seen today. The answer is… that, outdoors, you can’t! (Practitioners of Ikebana flower arrangement, however, can get special blooming peach branches at flower shops). For the real thing, you will have to wait a few more weeks.

China , Tsukuba , Ibaraki , Japan , Osaka , Japanese , Chinese , Avi-landau , Hina-doll-festival , Hina-matsuri , Girl-day-hina-doll-festival

TsukuBlog | Celebrating HINA MATSURI ( The Doll Festival) – some Tsukubans will be taking their time in putting away their HINA DOLLS!

Hina Doll motifed cakes for the occasion!
The Hina Dolls are taken out and displayed in February, though there seems to be no consensus on exactly when it is best to do so. Some people do it right after Setsubun in the first week of the month, or on any other auspicious date after that. It depends on the family.
In this way, Japanese families can enjoy these sublimely beautiful seasonal decorations for a few weeks or days before March third, the day of the festival itself, on which it is commonly believed that the dolls must be put away. According to tradition, if the dolls are not packed in their boxes on the 3rd, the daughters of the house will have trouble getting married.

Tsukuba , Ibaraki , Japan , Hojo , Chiba , Osaka , Hishi , Shimane , Zushi , Kanagawa , Japanese , Avi-landau

TsukuBlog | Two Rare Ho-anden (奉安殿) Survive Within an Hour`s Drive of Tsukuba (but in opposite directions!)

TsukuBlog | Two Rare Ho-anden (奉安殿) Survive Within an Hour`s Drive of Tsukuba (but in opposite directions!)
alientimes.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from alientimes.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.

Makabe , Ibaraki , Japan , Osaka , Shimo-otsu , Nagasaki , United-states , Tsukuba , Kasumigaura , Taisho , Mie , American

TsukuBlog | One of the 331 Surviving "Blue-Eyed Dolls" (Aoi me no ningyo, 青い眼の人形) on Display at Tsuchiura`s History Museum

TsukuBlog
A Local Perspective on Life in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
One of the 331 Surviving “Blue-Eyed Dolls” (Aoi me no ningyo, 青い眼の人形) on Display at Tsuchiura`s History Museum
28 February, 2021

One of the 12,739 “Friendship Dolls” sent to Japan by Americans in the year 1927 – most of them were destroyed during the war (as “Symbols of the Enemy”), but as of this year (2021) 331 of the “Blue-eyed Dolls”, as they were called – a moniker immortalized in a song by lyricist Noguchi Ujo, have been accounted for. This doll had been buried on the grounds of the Tsuchiura Kindergarten.
By Avi Landau
Relations between Japan and the United States during the 1920s, were not moving in a very good direction. On the diplomatic front, the U.S. continuously opposed Japan`s widening encroachment (and influence) on the Asian Continent, and at home there was growing resistance to Japanese (and Chinese) immigration. This wave of xenophobia culminated in the passing of the Immigration Act of 1924, which put severe restrictions on the number of Asians who could settle in the U.S.

Japan , China , Ibaraki , Osaka , United-states , Japanese , Chinese , America , American , Tsuchiura-castle , Avi-landau , Tsuchiura-history-museum

TsukuBlog | Hearing the Echoes of the February 26th (2/26) Incident of 1936 in the Age of Trump

TsukuBlog
Hearing the Echoes of the February 26th (2/26) Incident of 1936 in the Age of Trump
26 February, 2021
The 1973 film COUP D`ETAT (KAIGENREI) by Yoshida Kiju stars Rentaro Mikuni as Kita Ikki, the ultra-nationalist provocateur who inspired the failed 1936 coup d`etat of February 26
By Avi Landau

Whenever I look up at my wall-calendar and notice that it happens to say 2/26, I am reminded of the February 26th Incident of 1936, an attempted coup d`etat that took place in Japan, referred to here as the NI-NI-ROKU JIKEN (the Two-two-six Incident). A few years ago, I even went to Tokyo on that day and tried to conjure up in my mind`s eyes the events that took place in 1936 as I wandered near the places where they actually occurred (though back then, before global warming, Tokyo was blanketed in snow on that February day while now it almost never snows at all on the Kanto Plain). My imagination got some help from the fact that I have read extensively on the subject – and have seen two films about the incident – the 1989 Hideo Gosha film 226 ( NI-NI-ROKU, Four Days of Blood and Snow, in English) and the more impressive 1973 work by Kiju Yoshida, KAIGENREI （戒厳令) – Martial Law (though an alternate title is Coup D`Etat), which is a psychological study of the man who inspired the coup, ultra-nationalist philosopher and right-wing agitator, Kita Ikki. Watch the trailer for Coup d’Etat (Kaigenrei) by Yoshida Kiju for on utube – with English sub-titles.

New-york , United-states , Japan , Tokyo , Tohoku , Sakhalinskaya-oblast , Russia , Akasaka , Aichi , Washington , China , Sanno

TsukuBlog | Setsubun-so (節分草)- eranthis pinnatifida- blooms, in fact, a few weeks after Setsubun ( the Bean Throwing Festival for which it is named)!

TsukuBlog
A Local Perspective on Life in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
Setsubun-so (節分草)- eranthis pinnatifida- blooms, in fact, a few weeks after Setsubun ( the Bean Throwing Festival for which it is named)!
25 February, 2021

Setsubun-so in Tsukuba
By Avi Landau
In Japan very few flower species bloom in January, February or early March. That is why nature lovers, or those who like to take note of the daily changes which occur in the natural world around them throughout the year, eagerly anticipate the appearance of EACH AND EVERY ONE of these cold weather bloomers- and savor them while they last.
Of these Japanese harbinger- of- spring flowers, the one with the easiest to remember name (for those familiar with Japanese culture) is SETSUBUN-SO (節分草)- named after the popular BEAN THROWING festival- which is held on February second ( and was traditionally held at the midway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox).

Mitsumine , Saitama , Japan , Tsukuba , Ibaraki , Greece , Japanese , Greek , Chichibu-tetsudo , Avi-landau , Bean-throwing-festival