Japantown: A taste of culture in San Francisco

A stroll through San Francisco's Japantown takes you past exquisite Victorian homes that escaped the urban-renewal wrecking ball, significant historic sites and elegant temples.

Today Japantown - generally comprising an area between Fillmore and Laguna to the east-west and Geary and Bush to the north-south - is only a remnant of its pre-World War II self. This is because Japantown was emptied during the war when its citizens were forced into internment camps. After the war, some Japanese returned, creating the core of today's Japantown, or Nihonmachi. The area suffered a second blow during the '50s and '60s, when block after block of Victorians were razed to widen Geary Boulevard and create the Japan Center malls.

At Post and Buchanan, the heart of Japan Center, look up at the five-tiered Peace Pagoda. Rising 100 feet over Japantown, the pagoda was designed by Japanese architect Yoshiro Taniguchi and presented as a gift to San Francisco from sister city Osaka. Flanking the pagoda are indoor malls filled with restaurants and shops. Near the entrance to the Kintetsu Mall is an interpretive sign for the first stop of the Japantown History Walk, a self-guided tour through Japantown focusing on history and culture.

From the pagoda, cross Post to walk through Osaka Way (Buchanan Street), the outdoor pedestrian mall. Look at the circular benches and lotus-blossom fountains (now waterless) designed by sculptor Ruth Asawa. Wonderful shops line the mall. Step into the Paper Tree (1743 Buchanan St.), an origami store with a gallery of intricate origami works.

At Sutter, turn right and walk past gorgeous Victorians to the Japanese American Citizens League headquarters (1765 Sutter St.). The JACL works to ensure civil and human rights for Japanese Americans. At Sutter and Laguna, you will find two of Japantown's many religious institutions: the Buddhist Soto Zen Mission Sokoji (1691 Laguna St.), where students of Zen come to meditate, and the Christ United Presbyterian Church (1700 Sutter St.).

Turn left on Laguna and walk north one block to Bush to see the Konko Church of San Francisco (1909 Bush St.). "Konko" means "teaching of the golden light" and teaches Tenchi Kane No Kami, the parent of the universe existing in all things. Open the door and walk inside to feel the room's peaceful simplicity.

Japanese cult hit “Voltron” heads to big screen

The producers behind “Get Smart” and “The International” have acquired the rights to make a live-action feature based on the Japanese robot-lion property “Voltron.”

Based on Japanese anime properties Beast King GoLion and Kikou Kantai Dairugger XV, “Voltron” features a “Transformers”-like conceit, in which a band of five robot-lions combine to form one super lion. A group of five pilots control the lions, which are charged with defending the planet Arus from villain King Zarkon, who dispatches evil creatures called Robobeats to fight the Voltron robots.

“Voltron” aired on U.S. television in 1984 and 1985. Since then, the property has remained a favorite in diverse communities, from the fanboy to the hip-hop worlds.

Jackie Chan Starring in The Karate Kid “Remake”

Variety reports that Jackie Chan will star in the Chinese-Hollywood movie Kung Fu Kid, which is a so-called remake of the 1984 American box-office smash hit The Karate Kid.

In the original, the late Pat Morita created one of the most iconic characters in movie history, the Karate master known simply as “Mr. Miyagi.” He mentored Daniel Larusso, played by Ralph Macchio, a high-school kid who suffers humiliation and physical abuse at the hands of bullies who take karate from a slave-driver coach with a serious attitude problem.

Chan will apparently be a second incarnation of the Miyagi role, and the part of the young pupil will be played by Jaden Smith, the son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith who starred alongside his father in The Pursuit of Happyness. Will Smith is also acting as one of the movie’s producers.

It’s strange that Kung Fu Kid’s being called a remake when so many aspects of the original have been changed. According to a post on Movieline, the project is shooting in China due to financial obligations, thus forcing changes to parts of the original story that were specifically Japanese. These include the change from Mr. Miyagi, a carpenter born in Okinawa, to “Mr. Han,” a Chinese janitor, and also the change from karate to kung fu.

Karate - Japanese Culture

I was actually pretty sceptical about Karate and did’nt think it would be my thing at all. Actually the only reason that I went along to a Karate class was to go with the kids who had a few friends that had taken it up.

The most striking contrast between my pre conception and the reality was actually the lack of physical contact involved. Whether this is always the case or not I don’t know however the whole class had a great fealing of Japanese culture and history about it. With each of the class members performing a set routine of sorts it was more akin to watching a theatrical performace than a fight.

I certainely came away with a very different perception of the whole sport / art and will definitely be finding out more about Karate and it’s place in Japanese / Chinese history and culture.

Differences between the Chinese and Japanese Language

It might seem to the casual observer that the Japanese language is closely associated with Chinese, however nothing could be further from the truth.

Admittedly, Japanese looks for all the world similar to Chinese in print form and indeed has absorbed a number of Chinese words over the centuaries, in common with many other langauges which ‘borrow’ from each other over time. In the context of Japanese however, these ‘loan’ words are merely a sign of cultural contact. In actual fact it would be hard to find two languages which are more dissimilar.

Chinese was originally monosyllabic, (now largely disyllabic), tonal, isolating with a subject-verb-object order. Japanese on the other hand is polysyllabic, atonal, with quite complex word formation and a subject-object-verb order.

It was precisely this enormous gap between the two languages that caused so many problems when the Japanese tried to adapt the Chinese script to their own ends in the 8th and 9th centuries.