Cultural
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Harumafuji becomes new Yokozuna
In my spare time in the last weeks I’ve enjoyed watching a lot of open skies and cloudscapes above the distant hills, plus the visual spectacle and ritual Ozumo September basho in Tokyo! Mongolian Ozeki Harumafuji gets a promotion after winning all fifteen matches, becoming the third Mongolian Yokozuna in a row, after the Hawaiians…
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Spirit and visual freedom in Jean Vigo’s ‘L’Atalante’
A few days ago, on the Midnight Film Festival website, which is connected to Kineattic – a Japanese organisation dedicated to promoting independent cinema – I watched the classic french film ‘L’Atalante’ from 1934 by Jean Vigo. He created only four movies before his death at the young age of 29. But this is a…
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Some films by Peter Greenaway
After watching his most famous movie a good while ago ‘The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover’ (1989) I was interested to see what his other films were like, having been inspired by the painterly suffused lighting and grotesquely captivating situations and relationships. First I watched his early film from 1982 ‘The Draughtsman’s…
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Sumo at Nagoya Basho heating up
It has been a hot and somewhat lacking in energy tournament but Ozeki level Harumafuji and Yokozuna (top rank) Hakuhou are keeping things lively by running equal with all wins – shiro boshi white star – into the last two days…
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Painterly movie and novels inspiration…
Being a fan of the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, I was a bit sceptical of watching the film version of his most famous novel ‘Norwegian Wood’. Firstly the romantic human drama element in the book is not quite my cup of tea – I’m more of the type of Harukist that is into the faster…
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Recent movie influences
What else have I been up to recently – well, I’ve been enjoying a few films as usual at night after a day’s work. Some turned out to be too dull to mention though and were ideal for snoozing deeply through, so I won’t bother with those… One that has been visually more appealing (I…
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Exciting final day Sumo matches
The 2012 Natsu Basho (summer tournament) was thrilling to the last day, with an extra match needed – Yushoketesen – to decide the winner. Kyokutenhou, the 37 year old veteran from Mongolia (in fact the first Mongolian sumo wrestler), became the oldest ever Osumosan to win a tournament when he won against Tochiouzan today. The…
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Ozumo Update Tokyo Basho. 5 days to go – who will win?
It has been an eventful tournament so far and the sumo in the last few days has been riveting stuff! Very unusually, Yokozuna Hakuho has been having an unfortunate time, losing four matches whereas Ozeki Kisenosato has been doing great, with nine wins and one lost. He won today against the Bulgarian Ozeki, Kotooshu (usually…
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The May Grand Sumo Tournament on in Tokyo
The Natsu Basho is up and wrestling! I’m quite into the whole Ozumo experience and have been watching since it started on Sunday. There are six tournaments per year, three in Tokyo, plus Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka in Kyushu. This one is in Tokyo in the imposing spaceship like architecture of the Ryogoku Kokugikan, the…