11.18.09
Posted in Finnish, Japanese, Word and print at 15:23 by krause
Many years back I laughed myself into tears watching Hatten Ă€r din, an animutation internet meme or also a sora-mimi. A sora-mimi ç©șèł (lit. “empty ear”) is Japanese for “misheard lyrics” or for homophonic translation of song lyrics, which means interpreting lyrics in one language for similar-sounding lyrics in another language. The video or animutation Hatten Ă€r din has homophonic subtitles in Swedish, although the song is sung in Arabic – that sounds like Swedish…
There are also sora-mimi in other languages, and as I focus mainly on the Japanese and Finnish culture, I will remind of these songs that are sung in Japanese but sound like Finnish.
Lollin vei on Youtube
Hironobu Kageyama’s Lonely Way a.k.a. “Lollin vei” (Meros no Youn Live – Super Robot Spirits 99) and also Hironobu Kageyama’săéł„äșșæŠéăžă§ăăăăłăChoujin Sentai Jetman = Aviator or Birdman squadron jet man/ Jetto Man a.k.a. “Ghetto Man”, and Vajra on! a.k.a Kenkiin, the first “translated-into-Finnish” song. Many Finnish newspapers and tabloids have noticed the popularity of the Finnish “subtitles” or sora-mimi in their leisure and culture sections.
Lyrics for Lonely Way in Japanese (Requires support for Japanese charachters)
Kenkiin on Youtube
Japanese lyrics for Vajra On (Requires support for Japanese charachters)
Ghetto Man on Youtube
Lyrics in Japanese for Jetto Man (Requires support for Japanese charachters)
Just a Raper on Youtube
Huh, Just a Raper, that is ćč»æç„ăžăŁăčăăŁă©ă€ă¶ăŒ Genseishin Justiriser with Japanese lyrics.
And finally, Kimil’ on Corolla… You know, the Finnish F1 driver Kimi RĂ€ikkönen, may soon be driving a Toyota…Kimil on Corolla
with lyrics (ć
æŠéăăčăŻăăł Hikari sentai masukuăman = Light squadron mask man).
æ„æŹäșșă«
KenkiinăŻăă€ăłă©ăłăèȘă§ăéŽăźäžă«ăăKimil on CorollaăŻăă€ăłă©ăłăèȘă§ăăăïŒç·ăźććïŒăŻăăšăżCorollaăăăăă
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07.20.09
Posted in F-Design, Finnish, Friends, Japanese at 16:06 by krause
Some time ago I blogged some Japanese traditional garments (kimono and obi) made of Finnish design printed cotton (Marimekko’s Unikko). Now I spotted the same design on the cover of a booklet about Finnish fabric(s): Finland Fabric 2.
After all, it is not surprising that there are books about Finnish design in Japanese – one can search for more Finnish related stuff in Japanese just by typing (or copying) ăăŁăłă©ăłă into the search engine. It was actually entertaining to look at what for example Google finds on that search string. Somehow it tells us how the Japanese see Finland. Who would have guessed Santa, Lapland, Aarikka, Iittala, Arabia, Marimekko, Moomin, the cathedrals and churches of Helsinki, big ferries to Sweden, old Russian coins, snow, salmiakki, wooden artifacts, kahvila Suomi are well documented? Haha.
I would have liked to find more of viili, acidofilus / lactobacillus products, piimĂ€, xylitol – just to name a few. No Eliel Saarinen, not much Alvar Aalto. But true, this was only Google. I found some funny ones, though.
Pikku Finland day21.6 was a surprise. First of all the place for the festival is Kanazawa, the city where I happened to live. The caption is about sausage being served, Iittala and Artek…
I also found a calling card I received in Japan: Café Kiitos (Thank you in Finnish).
So we have Kamome Shokudou (Kahvila Suomi) and the Japanese have ă«ăă§ïŒăŹăčăă©ăł ăăŒăăč that is Kafe & Resutoran Kiitosu! Here’s anohter blog entry on kafe Kiitosu.
What’s more, there is a bakery by the same name:
(Blogged in Yuki-san’s blog Another Time).
And if I do kumihimo, there is Finnish himmeli straw craft in Japanese: 
From the category Finnish horror stories, ăĄăłă = mĂ€mmi, the black stuff fermented from
blogged by “Malion” form Japan: If you can’t understand the Japanese description of this traumatic event, look at the numerous smilies 
.
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06.17.09
Posted in Finnish, Japanese, Word and print tagged Engrish, Soomi at 16:31 by krause
Ei ole todellista! Hervottoman hauskaa kaikille, jotka osaavat englantia, mutta nyt huonon enkun lisÀksi Engrish.com -sivustolla on myös epÀkelpoa suomea (Kirjotusvrihekuva vie tÀlle saitille):
Hoono soomi @ Engrish.com
Muutoin saitti on kyllĂ€ ihan viihdyttĂ€vĂ€, siis niin kauan kuin voi nauraa muiden virheille.   Omat eivĂ€t niin naurattaneetkaan. Kuka tekee noin huonoa jĂ€lkeĂ€!!?? EipĂ€ ole varaa enÀÀ hihitellĂ€ engrishille…
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09.05.08
Posted in Dance, Finnish, Friends, Outings tagged Adile, dancing, Isle of Sheep, Jakke, Lammassaari, Manne, Mikko, tango, tanssi, Timo, Vallilan Tango at 16:42 by krause
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The one and only, legendary Isle of Sheep event hosted by Vallilan Tango was a success, once again. August 29th the evening started around 4 PM, when people took off to the trail through the marsh. We were invited to have juice, cookies, and candy, then to follow the signs to Lammassaari along the path. |
[Photo: Jakke. Path to Lammassaari]
A short person, all I could see for 20 minutes, was grass. Halfway, there was a platform from where I could see the beautiful city skyline in the evening sun. After a while we heard a voice coming from the grass, reciting old thruths about social dancing in the olden days. The player was hidden so it was a surprise – an “experience”, as the organizers called it.
[Photo: Jakke. Pohjolan Pirtti / Koitto]
When arriving at the site we were greeted by Mustalaisprimas plays blonde, a blond violinist playing outside the century-old red villa originally a social club for a sobriety society. No alcohol was to be sold, but we were well prepared. There were some other performances, as well. A band called The Barn Sparrows (Musiikkia syvĂ€stĂ€/-ltĂ€ etelĂ€stĂ€) entertained us with music from the deep south or from deep … and as last year, also Granny (Mummo) had a word or two to tell us.
[Photo: Jakke. Antti the musician peeking]
[Photo: Jakke. Guests and hosts]
“Jyrki Katainen”, both a female and a male version greeted everybody and reminded us to make a deposit – to buy badges and neckties to support the band.
[Photo: Jakke. Mr. Playback Boy]
The show inside started with Mr. Playback Boy, the only Drag King I’ve ever seen. I’m soo in love with him (her). Mr. Playback Boy is Laura , a “theater and music professional” as she calls herself.
[Photo: Jakke. Mr. Playback Boy = Laura Murtomaa]
(S)he was the slimiest latino ever, the playboy evergreen singer, the obscene pop star, a frustrated base vocalist in an acappella group, a pompous male choir member, and finally, a director of orchestra.
[Photo: Jakke. Vallilan Tango]
After a short while of dance instruction, the band started to play, and people floodedon the dance floor. Vallilan Tango is this strange but excellent band featuring among other things, a vocalist who sings in broken English or broken Finnish as I think he is Dutch. And, they excel in Finnish tango, although they play cha cha, waltz, fox, and even polka, too.
As the villa is old and has no heating, it was chilly when I first arrived. I had to change clothes halfway in the night, as I was soaking wet, and it wasn’t the slight rainfall we got that night.. The Youngest R had found me a pussikalja somebody forgot in the bus, so I drank my present – I was so thirsty I didn’t care what it was.
There are more pics and even more to come. All photos are taken by Jakke. To contact Jakke, leave a comment.
There are more photos of the event by Jakke. These require you to log in to Facebook.
These are in Picasa (Isle of Sheep 2008) / Reeta Viljakainen.
These are also in Picasa (Isle of Sheep 2007) / user: Christian
Also Isle of Sheep 2007 photos by Jungle/Arctic at Flickr
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08.09.08
Posted in F-Design, J-Design tagged Dome house, Futuro at 13:56 by krause
We have Matti Suuronen’s Futuro, designed 1968. Now the Japanese strike back with the styrofoam home Dome.
Futuro village:
Dome village:
There are interesting dome houses, spherical, round and even revolving houses around the globe (pun intended), not to mention all sorts of traditional habitats like huts (Africa, Celtic etc.), teepees, Sami fur kota teepees, yurts, and of course, igloos. This dome house in Hakui, Nooto hantoo (Nooto peninsula, Japan) was photographed by me in 2006.
Recently, the Futuro sold at Christie’s for €140,000 (¥23,200,000 or $210,600). The production has been discontinued, so the only way to acquire one is to buy a second hand Futuro.
A brand new Dome will sell at 3 million yen (under $30,000 or €18,100), but there are more expensive extended homes / public building solutions.
Futuro will arrive at your door step fully assembled. Only “legs” or supports and plumming, electricity etc. will need to be completed after transportation.
The Dome modules are assembled in a fraction of the time required to build a traditional house. The modules can be lifted by two or three people, and once the modules are snapped into place, the house is covered with plaster, painted, and customized.
Karaoke place in Suijin no mori.
Futuro will blend into the Finnish lake side landscape perfectly (?):
Interior of Futuro:
The interior is more versatile than in Futuro, which is always the same size, and not very spacious: The Dome can be used as a sauna, shop, bar, office, hotel etc. in addition to just being a home.
Some videos of Dome.
The Finnish Futuro and Japanese Dome are not the only round, dome etc. shaped or spherical houses. There are lots of ufos around. As this is not a blog dealing with architecture, here are links to non-Japanese and non-Finnish round houses.
Dymaxion
Sunspace Homes
Bulleâ Ă 6 coques
Kugelhaus
And a blog with unusual living solutions:
Flatrock
And you can always search for “dome home” or “dome house” “round house” “rotating house” “spinning house” or “revolving house” – lots of interesting images there.
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05.21.08
Posted in F-Design, Wafuku (kimono) tagged design, F-Design, Finland in Japan, Marimekko, wafuku at 20:18 by krause
Some time ago already I bought some fabric to make an obi for my purple tsumugi awase. I found striped blue/purple viscose/cotton fabric so stiff it almost doesn’t need stiffener. I was browsing some of my favorite obi links and found…
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that a Japanese woman had thought Marimekko was perfect for sewing an obi. |
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And what’s funny, obi means also stripe, not only belt or sash. So the bag (or fabric) is named OBI in Japanese. (Click on image to surf to seller.) |
Well, we the round eyed, we like the Oriental stuff. But hey, Marimekko looks great as an obi, and evidently the cotton material is ok, too. Works well with a more modern kimono like this:
Wafuku (Japanese traditional clothing, e.g. kimono / yukata / obi) are not the only traditionally Japanese goods manufactured in Marimekko motifs. I need one of these Marimekko kotatsu covers:
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If you don’t believe kotatsu covers are a big thing, visit the site by clicking on the image. |
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