by Philbert Ono
Video link: http://youtu.be/52tjGe470eA Here’s my video of Otsu Matsuri filmed last year on Oct. 12-13, 2013. Finally got it done and in time for this year’s festival on Oct. 11-12, 2014. It’s about 28 min. The video spotlights the karakuri mechanical puppets. I also got on-camera comments from foreign participants. Otsu Matsuri is an annual festival of thirteen ornate floats (called hikiyama)
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Video link: http://youtu.be/FKchoOLG2TY Pharrell Williams scored a huge hit with his song Happy last autumn. It has since become a worldwide phenomenon with people in cities around the world making street dance videos with the song. Pretty amazing. It has inspired me to make the above HAPPY video of matsuri festivals. Matsuri is a common way for people in Japan to express
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Video link: http://youtu.be/WKvSP9zmnb8 If you like lakes (especially very old ones), fish, plankton, endemic species, or fermented fish, this video is for you. It’s quite long at 1 hr. 6 min., but you can pause/resume at anytime. Or just watch the first 5 min. and then decide whether to watch it to till the end. Within 5 min., you’ll know
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Video link: http://youtu.be/X2uMzVDwe5I Hikone Castle in Hikone, Shiga Prefecture (next to Kyoto) is one of four Japanese castles designated as a National Treasure. I tried to make the video as short as possible, but even so, it turned out to be 34 min. Goes to show how much there is to see at Hikone Castle. There’s quite a bit of English
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Video link: http://youtu.be/Y6DMpluPV9k My video of the Higashi-Omi Giant Kite Festival (東近江大凧まつり Higashi-Omi Odako Matsuri) held on Sunday, May 26, 2013 in Shiga Prefecture next to Kyoto. Another one of my ongoing video series with local kids introducing the sights in English. The video also has a few cameo appearances by other local folks.
» Read moreReleased in Japan on Sept. 12, 2009, this movie is about Okabe Mataemon, a Nagoya (Atsuta)-based master carpenter who in 1576 was ordered by Japan’s leading warlord Oda Nobunaga to build Azuchi Castle on Mt. Azuchi fronting Lake Biwa. The main castle tower or donjon was to have an unprecedented five stories. It was to be the grandest and most
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