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The world’s top film animators, comic book artists and illustrators have come together to create original works of art inspired by the iconic animated film MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO for an auction to benefit the Totoro No Furusato (Totoro’s Homeland) National Fund — also known as the Totoro Forest Fund.

The organization is dedicated to preserving Sayama Forest, a large park outside Tokyo that inspired the beloved film by respected Japanese movie director Hayao Miyazaki. The Totoro Forest Project Charity Auction (http://totoroforestproject.org/) will be held Saturday, September 6, at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, California.

The Sayama Forest, which inspired the landscape of 1988’s MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO, occupies nearly 15 square miles of cultivated forest, rice paddy fields, wetlands and grassland amidst an encroaching sea of urban development. The area has been the subject of preservation efforts since the 1970s, but because land is at such a premium in the Tokyo area, it is under constant threat of development. The Totoro No Furusato National Fund was established in 1990 following the success of MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO and the attention the film drew to the Sayama Forest.

“Professor Tashihiko Ando, chairman of the Totoro No Furusato National Fund, has stated that Hayao Miyazaki has described MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO as a movie that portrayed a paradise for children,” said Dice Tsutsumi, art director at Pixar Animation Studios and one of the organizers of the Totoro Forest Project Charity Auction. “The Sayama Forest is the embodiment of that paradise. The auction is a wonderful opportunity for artists to help preserve this historic forest for future generations of children, and pay tribute to Miyazaki-san and the film that has been so inspirational to their art.”

More than 200 artists from around the world have created nearly 210 original paintings, illustrations and sculptures for the Totoro Forest Project Charity Auction. A high quality book featuring all the works of art will be available for purchase at the event. Additionally, a selection of the artwork will be featured in a special exhibition September 20, 2008 to February 8, 2009 at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco.

Pixar artists Dice Tsutsumi, Enrico Casarosa and Ronnie Del Carmen, and Yukino Pang of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, lead the Totoro Forest Project Charity Auction organizing committee.

For more information about the Totoro No Furusato National Fund and the Totoro Forest Project Charity Auction, visit http://totoroforestproject.org/ or email totoroart@gmail.com.

I asked Hitomi about these after reading this article on Stars & Stripes website. She said she’s never heard of them, nor seen them before.  However, they’re apparenlty pretty common in parts of Japan.  The article describes the げじげじ as:

Big. Quick-moving. More than 10 pairs of legs … having just one of these endearing qualities is usually enough to make an insect unwelcome, let alone all of the above, says Hideomi Kakimoto, a Yokosuka base environmental engineer.

But “geji,” or household centipedes, are known as “good bugs” in Japan, as their ninja-like maneuvering (and, cringe, their ability to jump) allows them to hunt other household pests like cockroaches and clothing moths.

Wikipedia says that geji are even sold in Japanese pet stores.

“They do look scary,” Kakimoto said. “But they are good bugs.”

Another “good bug” is the ashi daka gumo, which is a huge spider.

Frightening in size and speed, these are excellent cockroach killers and are harmless to humans, Kakimoto said. The spiders don’t even make a mess, as they don’t build webs, relying instead on high-speed chases to snag their prey.

Our daughter Rei loves insects.  She has no problem having an African millipede crawl right up her arm.  But personally I’d probably step on either one of these the second I spotted one in my house.

Artist, designer and animator Motomichi Nakamura was recently commissioned to create a 30 second animation to promote the “Japan Cuts Film Festival”.  This film festival is held annualy in New York by the Japan Society.  Sadly it’s already passed this year, but you can still visit their website and read about the films that were screened and about the Audience Award Winner “Near Equal Kusama Yayoi:  I Adore Myself”.

Here is Motomichi’s animation for the festival.

japancuts_trailer_online

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If you’ve always dreamed of having huge eyes like the characters in your favorite anime, now you can!  Apparently this somewhat sketchy appearing site is now selling contact lenses that have a much larger colored area than normal colored contacts.  This gives the appearence of much larger eyes.

The site says:

Wanna get big watery shiny eyes without plastic surgery?  Always crave to get big eyes like Korean actresses and famous Ayumi Hamasaki?

I suppose if you’re really into cosplay, it’d be worth the $35.  Of course, personally I don’t stick anything in my eyes (but I’m a big chicken).

What do you think?

Over on the Japancast Social Site, I’ve asked everyone to make sure they have an avatar & upload a photo.  However, some people don’t want to use their photo for their avatar and don’t know how to make one.  I just found a site that will let you create your own avatar in manga style.  It’s easy to use and does a pretty nice job.  Here is an avatar of me.

So head over to http://www.faceyourmanga.com and create your avatar and then upload it to the Japancast Social Site!

It’s summer vacation and to escape the sweltering Osaka heat I went to Hokkaido for a few days with a couple of friends. Sapporo was a really cool town, both literally and figuratively. We enjoyed the annual beer festival in 大通公園 (おおどおりこうえん/Odori Park) and ate lots of good food like ジンギスカン (Genghis Khan). Traveling outside of Sapporo was somewhat difficult as trains and buses run far less frequently than they do in the city and much of our itinerary was dictated by the public transportation schedule. Were I to go to Hokkaido again I think I’d probably sign up for a tour package if going with a friend who can rent and drive a car were not an option.

Back here in Osaka, I’ve been indulging in one of the best things about Japanese summers: 花火大会 (はなびたいかい/fireworks festivals).  First up, at the end of July were the fireworks marking the end of the month-long 天神祭 (てんじんまつり/Tenjin Matsuri).  Then, a week later were the PL fireworks. PL stands for “Perfect Liberty” and is the name of the Buddhist sect that hosts the display.  The largest in the world, 120,000 fireworks are launched in one hour.  The next day, I went to the fireworks at メリケンパーク (Meriken Park) in Kobe. Then, this weekend I went to the display along the Yodogawa River, just north of Umeda. There were also fireworks in Kyoto and Wakayama the day after, but I decided four festivals were plenty.  My favorite by far was festival in Kobe. There is a lot of flat, open area to sit with an unobstructed view of the sky. And because the fireworks are launched from two sides of the water along the harbor, the display is a bit more interesting than those launched from a single site. Also, in addition to the wide variety in fireworks (including shapes like hearts and stars!) a large speaker plays relaxing music.  This all stands in sharp contrast to my experience at the PL fireworks. After walking up and down the street to find a good place, we had to sit on the street because the proper seating area was full. The entire time we watched the fireworks, police officers with bullhorns shouted instructions at those going home, even though the display had just begun. Despite the fact that spectators spilled out onto the right lane of the road, the cops continually reminded the crowds to walk on the left lane, and to do so slowly. Another recorded female voice broadcast from light poles saying essentially the same thing. It made relaxing and enjoying the fireworks all but impossible to do.  Aside from the fireworks themselves (which are far more amazing than anything I’ve ever seen in the States), my favorite part of going to festivals is the food. Dozens of food stalls line the streets all selling freshly grilled specialties. I always get the 焼きそば (yakisoba).  While the festivals are a lot of fun, the trade-off is dealing with the large crowds.  Arriving, it’s usually not so bad, but when the finale has concluded and everyone starts heading to the train station, you can be in for a long wait.  As you approach the station, the dense queue of people slows to a crawl and when you do finally make it onto the train, there’s barely enough room to breathe. Still, living in Japan requires you to adapt to such things and once you accept the reality of it all, it’s not so bad.

I’ve also been busy lately helping the three new Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) who just moved into my building get settled in.  This year has proven to be a bit problematic for new foreigners in Japan.  First of all, it seems that the Japanese Diet passed a law that requires all foreigners to have lived in Japan for six months before they can open a bank account.  Bank accounts are pretty vital to living here, especially since your paycheck is nearly always direct-deposited into your account.  And since we as ALTs come to Japan at the invitation of the Japanese government, it seems contradictory to deny us something so basic.  Also, SoftBank, the mobile phone carrier most patronized by foreigners in Japan, has started requiring credit cards in order to purchase a phone.  Apparently last year some 15,000 foreigners left Japan without paying their final cell phone bill, so it’s understandable that the company wishes to ensure that they won’t lose money, but it still smacks of discrimination.  Luckily, with the help of local board of education officials our new people have their phones and bank accounts now, but it definitely was not the warmest of welcomes.

August is a significant month for those studying Japanese. From August 1st, you can submit your application to take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, which is held worldwide on the first Sunday in December.  There are actually four tests, one for each level, with four being the easiest and one the most advanced. I took level two two years ago and while I barely passed due to my less-than-adequate reading skills at the time, in the intervening time I feel I’ve improved significantly and though I’m not sure I’m quite at level one proficiency I’m going to give it my best shot this year.  Also, starting next year, the test for levels one and two will be given twice a year, in both July and December. So, should I fail this year, I won’t have to wait as long to re-take it.  Now, I should really get back to studying

What would you choose?  I can’t imagine garlic ice cream.  Perhaps it would be like having a cold soup.  I’ve only had cold soup once and I really didn’t like it too much.  Of all of them, beer flavor sounds like it would be the least objectionable…

From the Telegraph:

Yokohama Ice Cream Expo attracted thousands of fans before it closed yesterday (SUN), according to organiser Manabu Matsumoto, who identified beef tongue ice cream from Miyagi Prefecture as the most popular variety.

“We have ice cream from all over Japan – from Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa in the south – but beef tongue has been the one that people keep coming back for,” he said.

More than 125 varieties of ice cream have been available in the two week festival, including cheese, octopus, prawn and a garlic variety called Dracula Premium Ice. Another favourite was flavoured with very finely sliced pieces of pearl from the traditional pearl-growing region of Japan’s inland sea. Most were selling for between Y300 (£1.42) and Y800 (£3.78) for a small tub.

The majority of the ice creams were clearly acquired tastes, including the beer version, which failed to recreate either the taste or texture of beer.

“We like strange-tasting food,” said Keiko Hashiya, 27, who had driven for nearly two hours to sample the ice creams. “I think Japanese people always want to try new things and ice cream is always very popular when it is this hot in the summer.”

Many Japanese regions attempt to cash in on local delicacies by producing ice creams that incorporate their tastes, said Matsumoto, who runs an ice cream theme park in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro district.

“Japanese people don’t always have a dessert after a meal, but recently many Japanese housewives have got into the habit of buying ice cream because it is easy to serve and refreshing in the summer,” he said.

From AWN News and Variety:

Paramount Pictures and Brad Pitt’s Plan B have purchased the rights to manga series MIKI FALLS, per VARIETY.

TV writer Sera Gamble will adapt the four-volume series from Mark Crilley. MIKI FALLS is about Miki Yoshida’s senior year in high school. When she tries to befriend handsome new student Hiro Sakurai she is met with resistance, but she stubbornly refuses to take no for an answer, leading to a surprising revelation about the secretive teenage boy.

Crilley is best known for the AKIKO young adult novels and comics. The first of the MIKI FALLS series, each of which is a calendar season, was published in May 2007 by HarperTeen.

Gamble is a producer on SUPERNATURAL on The CW and was a staff writer on EYES on ABC. She was a finalist on PROJECT GREENLIGHT for her screenplay CHEEKS.

I find it interesting that Spielberg is remaking Ghost in the Shell.  Hopefully he won’t wreck it the way he wrecked Indy 4….

From AWN News:

Two animated features from Japanese masters have been selected for the 65th edition of the Venice Film Festival: Mamoru Oshii’s THE SKY CRAWLERS and Academy Award-winner Hayao Miyazaki’s PONYO ON THE CLIFF BY THE SEA (GAKE NO UE NO PONYO).

The films are in competition for the Golden Lion award at the festival, which will be August 27-September 6 in Venice, Italy.

Oshii is the only Japanese animation director who has had their work selected for competition at both Cannes and Venice. Production I.G.’s THE SKY CRAWLERS will be released in Japan on August 2. Oshii’s 1995 film adaptation of famed manga GHOST IN THE SHELL is being remade by Steven Spielberg in the U.S.

THE SKY CRAWLERS is set in another possible “now” — a world that has eradicated war. Private war contractors enlist fighter pilots known as Kildren to perform in an endless “war as a show” that people watch on TV and read about in the papers. Kildren don’t age, and live in a state of eternal adolescence until they die in the sky. When pilot Yuichi Kannami arrives to his new airbase, the only things he recalls are that he’s a Kildren and how to operate a fighter plane. Base commander Suito Kusanagi behaves as if she’s been impatiently waiting for him. What does Suito know about Yuichi’s past? What are the secrets behind the Kildren?

PONYO is the reclusive anime director Miyazaki’s latest feature animation; Miyazaki will be making an appearance at Venice. PONYO’s hand-drawn animated story follows a 5-year-old boy and his relationship with a goldfish princess who wants to become human. It was released in Japan on July 19.

Miyazaki’s SPIRITED AWAY won the 2002 Best Animated Feature Oscar and 2004’s HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE was nominated for the 2005 Best Animated Feature. SPIRITED AWAY was the first anime film to win an Academy Award.