Uncategorized | Dog Eaters

Harajuku in spring

Posted on 04.23.17 under Aurora Gran, Uncategorized

The view from the platform of Harajuku Station.

The Meiji Jingu Mae Kosaten, or as they say in English, intersection.

Pro-shopping marchers flood Harajuku — it’s just as dense as the trains during morning rush hour(s).

Dustin, Isaac, Takako. We were on a birthday gift buying mission for Junko at Aurora Gran.

With Mao and Ikuyo Kawaguchi, Aurora Gran owners, old friends from the mid-80s when they participated in the Japan-Hawaii Crossings exhibition.

Always keep your stock of good things in clearly marked boxes.

Are Euphoria

Posted on 04.20.17 under are euphoria, Dustin Wong, Takako Minekawa, Uncategorized

Takako Minekawa and Dustin Wong’s 3rd album, “Are Euphoria,” drops in April 2017 via 7 e.p. in Japan and from Thrill Jockey in the States in June 2017.

“Recorded and mixed by Wong, “Are Euphoria” is a refined version of what the duo has become known for. Exploring loops, samples and layers, the album paints a quirky otherworldliness. Minekawa’s vocals, which possess a serene transparency alongside Wong’s intricately constructed and ever-fluid sonic support, together present an album that is interested in creating atmosphere rather than any sort of conventional verse-chorus-verse structure.” — Ryotaro Aoki

It has been three years since Dustin and Takako have released an album and this article in the Japan Times touches on some of the reasons why. Dustin was born at the Kapiolani Children’s Hospital (same as Barak Obama), brought up in Japan and started his music career in America. His return to Japan five years ago meant yet another culture shock.

Relationship between Japan & Hawaii

Posted on 03.08.17 under Uncategorized

It’s complicated! Japanese first landed in Hawaii as plantation workers in 1806. At their height in 1920, they constituted 43% of Hawaii’s population. As of the 2000 census, there were 16%, but that doesn’t count the hapa-haoles of which there are many. Of course we will always “Remember Pearl Harbor!” However, the 442nd Infantry Regiment became the most decorated unit in U.S. military history.

In January 2017, a permanent exhibit that honors WWII Nisei veterans.

“The Japanese American soldiers fought two battles during the war: the Axis enemies in Europe, Asia, and the Pacific and domestic racism and suspicion at home,” said Wes Deguchi, Nisei Veterans Legacy president. “This exhibit will expose millions of travelers, not only from our country but overseas as well, to the heroism and achievements of these veterans. Very few of them are still with us to tell their stories in their own words, so it was our goal that this exhibit and the work of the NVL tell of their sacrifices for Hawaii, our nation, and the world. We’re very grateful to the Hawaii Department of Transportation for this opportunity and to our volunteers for their time and creativity.”

“Through this exhibit, millions of people who pass through Honolulu International Airport each year will have the opportunity to learn more about the heroism and service of Japanese American World War II veterans, who bravely fought for the United States even as their loyalty was questioned at home,” said U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, D, Hawaii.

Will manners save the world?

Posted on 02.15.17 under Uncategorized

We now all speak the language of the hubristic Materialistic Western Culture.

King James version of the Bible:

1.Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.

2.They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.

3 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

4 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.

5 And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.

6 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”

7 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city.
8 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
— Genesis 11:4–9

If we are nice to each other, will we be spared the fate of having our conceptual structures scattered to the winds and have to start all over again like Sisyphus?