Japan Video Topics 2009/04
Dancing the Summer Nights Away (3'51")
Gujo Hachiman is a well-preserved old castle town in the mountains of Gifu; a town of rivers, springs and waterways. It is most famous for its 400-year old dance festival, the Gujo Odori. For 32 nights each summer, the town's old streets are packed with people dancing and singing the traditional songs, and for several of these nights, the dancing goes on till dawn. A feature of this festival is that the dancing is open to anyone – visitors are encouraged to join in, and the dances themselves are quite easy to imitate.
Mottainai - Even Tiny Scraps Can Be Reused (3’45”)
Mottainai is a traditional Japanese custom of never wasting anything that can be reused, and Kaga Yubinuki are a good example. The old region of Kaga (part of today's Ishikawa) was famous for kimonos and textile dying. In the Kaga Yuzen style of kimono, many colors of thread are used for each piece, creating large amounts of cast off short lengths of silk thread. The old seamstresses recycled the threads to make thimbles (yubinuki), and over the centuries these silk thimbles evolved into delicately patterned little pieces of folk art.
Cruising Down the Shimanto River (4'22")
The Shimanto River, on Shikoku, is one of Japan's clearest and most beautiful rivers. And for centuries, Japanese tourists have been coming here to enjoy the scenery from yakatabune river boats. These wooden boats have a large cabin in which passengers sit on tatami mats to enjoy a meal of freshly caught river fish and prawns while watching the deeply forested banks pass by. Among the sights you see as you eat are fishermen casting their nets in the traditional way to catch the next meal.
Umbrellas to Slip in a Pocket (3'10")
An umbrella is essential in Japan, a land of frequent, unpredictable showers, so it's only natural that Japanese umbrella makers have long been pioneers in designing folding umbrellas that you can carry at all times, just in case. New technology is now allowing folding umbrellas to be made flatter, smaller and lighter – indeed, there are now umbrellas weighing just 192 g, that fold as small as a mobile phone. But designers are not yet satisfied – they hope to reduce this convenient item to the size of a fountain pen.
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