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Last time we spoke about the Visayas Offensive. In March 1945, the Pacific War raged on. On Iwo Jima, the US Marines, after intense fighting and heavy casualties, declared the island secured. Meanwhile, in northern Luzon, General Clarkson's division advanced towards Baguio, facing fierce Japanese resistance, while General Mullins pushed through Balete Pass. The Japanese army, grappling with severe supply shortages, was forced to evacuate Baguio. In the Visayas, General Eichelberger's forces targeted the Sulu Archipelago and Central Visayan Islands, securing key airfields. The 40th Division landed on Panay, capturing Iloilo, and launched an assault on northern Negros. On Cebu, the Americal Division landed near Talisay, encountering mines but minimal resistance, and secured Cebu City. By April, Allied forces had made strategic advances across the Philippines, overcoming Japanese resistance and establishing crucial airfields. This episode is the Invasion of okinawa Welcome to the Pacific War Podcast Week by Week, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about world war two? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on world war two and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel you can find a few videos all the way from the Opium Wars of the 1800's until the end of the Pacific War in 1945.  We have come to the grand final battlefield at last, that of Okinawa. Of course battles are raging in all sorts of other theaters like New Guinea, China, Burma, etc. However as you might imagine its becoming impossible given the week by week format to cover all of this in single episodes. So we are going to hardcore focus on Okinawa for awhile, we will circle back to the other theaters to catch up. Seriously it was the only logical way to do this and honestly in retrospect I wish the entire podcast was campaign by campaign instead of week by week. But I am a mere podcaster following the youtube series of this. But if you want to hear a campaign by campaign series, over at Echoes of War me and my cohost Gaurav are beginning to roll them out. The first series will be the entire Malayan Campaign, and I think after that I might try to do the Philippines. Regardless lets jump into the invasion of Okinawa. As previously noted, the directive issued by the Joint Chiefs of Staff on October 3 designated Okinawa as the final target for invasion, following the establishment of air and naval bases in Luzon and Iwo Jima. Capturing this crucial island would bring the conflict to Japan's doorstep, disrupt the enemy's air communications through the Ryukyu Islands, and flank their maritime routes to the south. Consequently, from these newly established air and naval bases in the Ryukyus, American forces would be able to launch attacks on Japan's main islands and implement a more rigorous sea and air blockade, isolating them from Japanese territories to the south. This made it imperative for the Japanese Empire to maintain control over Okinawa and the Ryukyus. To this end, the 32nd Army, led by Lieutenant-General Watanabe Masao, was formed there by late March 1944. Initially, it comprised four companies and one artillery regiment stationed at Amami Oshima; five companies and one artillery regiment at Nakagusuku Bay; four companies and one artillery regiment at Iriomote Island; along with various garrison units from the 19th Air District in Okinawa.  Under Operation Tei-Go, the Ryukyus and Formosa were to form a long zone of interprotective air bases. These bases were expected to defeat any American sea or air forces sent into the region. To avoid destruction from the air, each base was to consist of a cluster of airfields, such that if one were damaged others could be used immediately. Military and civilian crews were promptly set to work building the numerous fields. 13 base clusters had to be created, stretching in a line from Tachiarai in the northern Ryukyus to Pingting on Formosa in the south. The only remaining tasks for ground forces were the defense of these facilities and their support anchorages and the unenviable work of building the fields. Much of the energy of 32nd Army would be absorbed building these air facilities. This was more difficult since 32nd Army had only two bulldozers and one earth roller. Japan had produced dozers in small numbers at its Komatsu plant since 1943, but few had reached the front. Since soldiers were thus obliged to use shovels, hoes, straw baskets, and horse-drawn wagons, construction was slow. Moreover, because of enemy submarine raiders, it was impossible for the Japanese to deliver the large quantities of fuel, ammunition, and anti-aircraft guns needed to operate the bases. Even more seriously, the planes themselves were not available. Between April and June, the 32nd Army received reinforcements, including the 44th and 45th Independent Mixed Brigades, the 21st Independent Mixed Regiment, and the 27th Independent Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion, among other air garrison units. From these forces, Watanabe chose to send the 45th Brigade to establish bases on Miyako Island and Ishigaki Island, while the 21st Regiment was tasked with setting up a base on Tokunoshima. On June 27, the 1st and 2nd Infantry Corps (approx. 4100 men) boarded the Toyama Maru and began the voyage to Okinawa. The 44th Brigade HQ, Artillery and Engineer Units meanwhile boarded other vessels of the Taka-412 convoy. Two days later, while the convoy was sailing east of Tokunoshima, the submarine Sturgeon successfully sank the Toyama Maru with two torpedoes, therefore inflicting the loss of 3724 men and much heavy equipment. Because of this, the 1st Corps had to be deactivated.  Following the fall of Saipan, the Japanese Empire rapidly deployed significant ground forces to the 32nd Army, including the 9th, 24th, 28th, and 62nd Divisions, as well as the 59th, 60th, and 64th Independent Mixed Brigades, and the 27th Tank Regiment. Additionally, the 15th Independent Mixed Regiment was airlifted to bolster the beleaguered 44th Brigade, which was reorganizing its 2nd Corps with local recruits. The 32nd Army Staff wished to use as much of the indigenous population as it could in direct support of the war effort, so on January 1 1945 it ordered total mobilization. All Okinawan males aged 18 to 45 were obliged to enter the Japanese service. 39000 were drafted, of whom 15000 were used as nonuniformed laborers and 24000 as rear-echelon troops called the Home Guard (Boeitai). Many of the Boeitai replaced sea based battalions and rear-area supply units that had been reorganized and equipped for frontline duty. In addition to these, 1500 of the senior boys of the middle schools on Okinawa were organized into Iron and Blood Volunteer Units and assigned to frontline duty. Some of these students had been tried out in the signal service in the autumn of 1944 with good results, so the program was expanded. Since the fall of 1944, 600 senior students of the girls' middle schools also had been given training in the medical service. While most of these troops were sent to strengthen the main defenses at Okinawa, a large portion of the 28th Division was actually assigned to reinforce the garrisons on the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands. The 36th Regiment was dispatched to support the Daito Islands, the entire 45th Brigade was moved to garrison Ishigaki and the rest of the Yaeyamas, the 59th Brigade was tasked with defending Irabu Island, the 60th Brigade was sent to reinforce Miyako Island, and the 64th Brigade was deployed to the Amami Islands. On August 9, Lieutenant-General Ushijima Mitsuru took command of the 32nd Army. His initial strategy was to occupy all of Okinawa with a strong force and eliminate any invading troops at their landing sites. As fierce fighting began at Leyte, intensive training for the troops commenced, including divisional maneuvers at potential American landing points, artillery bombardments of beachheads, and nighttime assaults on bridges. However, on November 13, Tokyo decided to send the elite 9th Division to Formosa to prepare for a movement to the Philippines that ultimately did not occur. The unexpected withdrawal of the 32nd Army's best division disrupted Ushijima's operational plans. Ironically, this situation improved combat efficiency, as it compelled the army to achieve more with fewer resources. Ushijima chose to concentrate most of his forces in the mountainous and easily defensible Shimajiri area, located in the southern part of the island. This strategic location allowed the Japanese to maintain control over Naha port and target the northern airfields with artillery. Similar to the situation in Iwo Jima, this decision marked a departure from the previously favored strategy of a "decisive battle," opting instead for a war of attrition that had proven effective at Peleliu and Iwo Jima. As a result, Ushijima positioned Lieutenant-General Amamiya Tatsumi's reinforced 24th Division at the southern end of the island, Lieutenant-General Hongo Yoshio's reinforced 62nd Division along the central isthmus, Major-General Suzuki Shigeji's reinforced 44th Independent Mixed Brigade on the Hagushi plain, and Colonel Udo Takehiko's Kunigami Detachment, consisting of two battalions from the 2nd Corps, in northern Okinawa. These troop placements were successfully implemented in December; however, concerns arose that the 32nd Army was spread too thin to effectively counter the anticipated enemy invasion. Consequently, on January 15, Ushijima decided to move the 44th Brigade from the Hagushi plain southward to overlap with the 62nd Division's area on the east, significantly shortening the Japanese front. Additionally, one battalion from the Kunigami Detachment was sent to defend Iejima and its crucial airbase, which necessitated the rest of the unit to consolidate its positions and strengthen defenses on Yaedake Mountain in the Motobu Peninsula. Ushijima also had the support of the brigade-sized 5th Artillery Group, led by Lieutenant-General Wada Kosuke; the 21st Field Anti-Aircraft Artillery Corps; the 11th Shipping Group, which included several shipping engineer regiments and sea-raiding battalions; the 19th Air District overseeing various aviation service units; and Rear-Admiral Ota Minoru's Okinawa Naval Base Force, which comprised nearly 9,000 personnel stationed at the Oroku Naval Air Base near Naha. Ushijima had nearly 100,000 troops at his command, with 29,000 assigned to specialized units for anti-aircraft, sea-raiding, and airfield operations. Anticipating the nature of the impending conflict, these well-staffed service units were reorganized for ground combat. The 19th Air District transformed into the 1st Specially Established Regiment, responsible for defending the Yontan and Kadena airfields it had recently constructed and maintained. Most of the service personnel were integrated into the new 1st Specially Established Brigade in the Naha-Yonabaru area, while the sea-raiding base battalions became independent infantry units. Additionally, the remainder of the 11th Shipping Group was restructured into the 2nd Specially Established Brigade on the southwestern part of Okinawa. This reorganization, completed on March 21, bolstered ground combat strength by 14,000 men, leaving only 10,500 of the 67,000 Army personnel in specialized roles. To protect themselves, the Japanese began constructing robust fortifications, tunnels, and cave systems to shield against anticipated enemy bombardments.  Work on the caves was begun with great vigor. "Confidence in victory will be born from strong fortifications" was the soldiers' slogan. The caves meant personal shelter from the fierce bombardments that were sure to come, and they also offered a shimmering hope of victory. The combination was irresistible, and units began to work passionately on their own caves. Enthusiasm was essential because of the great toil it took to create the caves. Just as 32nd Army had only two bulldozers to make airfields, it had no mechanized tunneling equipment at all. Besides lacking cutting equipment, 32nd Army also lacked construction materials. It had no cement, no ironware, and no dynamite. The units had to rely entirely on wooden beams that they obtained themselves to shore up their shafts. This was not necessarily easy because there were no forests in the south of the island where the troops were now stationed. Pine forests were abundant in the mountainous north, however, so each unit was assigned its own lumbering district in the north. Several hundred men from each division were detailed as its lumbering squad. The problem remained, however, of how to move the several million logs that were needed over the 40 or so miles from the forests to the forts. With no railroads and the use of trucks limited by a shortage of gasoline, the solution was for each unit to cut its own logs, then transport them in small native boats called sabenis. The divisions acquired 70 of these, which then plied the waters steadily from north to south. In January 1945, however, the Leyte-based B-24s that began flying over daily for reconnaissance also began strafing the boats. So the waterborne delivery of logs had to be switched from day to night, greatly lowering efficiency. Ushijima aimed to prolong the fight from these positions and decided to destroy the indefensible Yontan and Kadena airfields to prevent their use by the enemy, effectively ending the ineffective air defense strategy initially devised by Tokyo. Meanwhile, Admirals Nimitz and Spruance were preparing for Operation Iceberg, the invasion of Okinawa. Given the expectation that the capture of Iwo Jima and recent air assaults on Japan would concentrate enemy air power around the Empire's core, which would respond aggressively to any attacks on Okinawa, the Americans needed to first neutralize or eliminate enemy air facilities in the Ryukyus, Kyushu, and Formosa to achieve air superiority over their objective. As a result, all available carrier-based and land-based air forces were tasked with this operation, including Admiral Mitscher's Task Force 58, General Kenney's Far East Air Forces, Admiral Hoover's Central Pacific Forward Area, and General Arnold's 20th Air Force. From the 20th Air Force, General LeMay's 21st Bomber Command was assigned to attack Okinawa before moving on to Kyushu and other vulnerable locations in the home islands. Meanwhile, Brigadier-General Roger Ramey's 20th Bomber Command, supported by General Chennault's 14th Air Force, focused on neutralizing Formosa. Aircraft from the Southwest Pacific Area were also set to conduct searches and continuous strikes against Formosa as soon as conditions on Luzon allowed. Additionally, the British carriers of Vice-Admiral Bernard Rawlings' Task Force 57 were tasked with neutralizing air installations on the Sakishima Group in the ten days leading up to the landings. Once air superiority was achieved, Spruance's 5th Fleet was to land Lieutenant-General Simon Buckner's 10th Army, which included Major-General John Hodge's 24th Corps and Major-General Roy Geiger's 3rd Amphibious Corps. The 24th Corps comprised the 7th and 96th Divisions, while the 3rd Amphibious Corps included the 1st and 6th Marine Divisions. As the Commanding General of Expeditionary Troops, Buckner also oversaw the 27th and 77th Divisions and the 2nd Marine Division for special operations and reserve purposes. Furthermore, the 81st Division was held in area reserve. In total, Buckner commanded a force of 183,000 troops, with 116,000 designated for the initial landings. The plan called for Major-General Andrew Bruce's 77th Division to first secure amphibious bases in the Kerama Islands on March 26, with one battalion further securing Keisejima five days later to establish a field artillery group there. On April 1, following a demonstration by the 2nd Marine Division in southern Okinawa, the main landings were set to take place. The 24th Corps and the 3rd Amphibious Corps would land simultaneously on the west coast beaches north and south of Hagushi. After landing, both corps were to quickly advance across the island, capturing the airfields in their designated areas before securing all of southern and central Okinawa. Subsequently, Buckner's forces were to invade and secure Iejima and northern Okinawa. Once this was achieved, there were tentative plans to launch an invasion of Kikaijima with the 1st Marine Division and Miyako Island with the 5th Amphibious Corps. For the invasion, Spruance relied on a Covering Force under his command, along with Admiral Turner's Joint Expeditionary Force. This force included Admiral Blandy's Amphibious Support Force, which comprised minesweepers, UDTs, and escort carriers; Rear-Admiral Morton Deyo's Gunfire and Covering Force, consisting of ten battleships and eight heavy cruisers; Rear-Admiral Lawrence Reifsnider's Northern Attack Force, responsible for landing the 3rd Amphibious Corps; and Rear-Admiral John Hall's Southern Attack Force, tasked with landing the 24th Corps. Similar to Iwo Jima, Okinawa had endured multiple air attacks since October 1944 as part of the preliminary operations for the landings on Leyte, Luzon, and Iwo Jima that we previously discussed. These operations also included air strikes aimed at neutralizing Japanese air power on Formosa. Throughout February and March, Mitscher's carriers and LeMay's B-29s brought the conflict back to the Japanese home islands with a series of strikes that caused significant damage and instilled fear in the population. On March 1, Task Force 58 launched the first strike of the month against the Ryukyus, targeting Amami, Minami, Kume, Tokuno, and Okino, as well as Okinawa. This operation resulted in the destruction of 41 planes, the sinking of eleven vessels, damage to five others, and significant harm to island facilities. In between the main assaults on Japan, the superfortresses frequently targeted key sites in the Ryukyus, leading the beleaguered Japanese forces to refer to these missions as the "regular run." Throughout March, aircraft from the Southwest Pacific and the Marianas conducted nearly daily operations over the Ryukyus and surrounding waters, searching for Japanese shipping and contributing to the isolation of Okinawa by sinking cargo ships, luggers, and other vessels, while American submarines intensified the blockade around the Ryukyus. Meanwhile, after completing extensive training and rehearsals, Task Forces 51 and 55 gathered at Leyte, Task Force 53 assembled in the Guadalcanal-Russells area, and the rest of the 5th Fleet convened at Ulithi. On March 12, Reifsneider's convoy, carrying the 3rd Amphibious Corps, was the first to depart, successfully reaching Ulithi nine days later. On March 18, the tractor group transporting the 77th Division began its journey from Leyte to the Kerama Islands. On the same day, Mitscher's carriers targeted 45 airfields in Kyushu, claiming the destruction of 102 Japanese planes, damaging or destroying 275 on the ground, sinking six vessels, and damaging three more. In response, Admiral Ugaki's 5th Air Fleet launched a counterattack against the carriers Enterprise, Intrepid, and Yorktown, inflicting minor damage while losing 33 aircraft. The next morning, after locating the majority of the Combined Fleet at Kure, Mitscher dispatched 436 aircraft to target naval installations and shore facilities in the Inland Sea. At 06:50 three C6N Saiun “Myrt” recon planes discovered Task Force 58, and by 07:00 Captain Genda Minoru's elite, handpicked 343rd Kokutai had scrambled 63 advanced Kawasaki N1K2-J “George” Shiden-Kai fighters from Shikoku to intercept the Americans. Minutes later, Genda's powerful Shiden-Kais “waded into the Hellcats and Corsairs as if the clock had been turned back to 1942.” Soon the 343rd Kokutai was engaged in a wild maelstrom with 80 US fighters, including VF-17 and VBF-17 Hellcats from Hornet and VMF-112 Corsairs from Bennington. For once the Japanese broke about even, losing 24 fighters and one scout plane to the Americans' 14 fighters and 11 bombers. Nevertheless, Genda's expert but outnumbered 343rd Kokutai proved unable to blunt the American onslaught. Despite facing a formidable intercepting force, they managed to inflict damage on 18 Japanese warships, including the battleships Yamato, Ise, Hyuga, and Haruna, as well as six aircraft carriers. Additionally, one incomplete submarine was destroyed, 97 enemy planes were shot down, and 225 were either destroyed or damaged at Japanese airfields. In response, Ugaki launched a kamikaze counterattack that successfully struck the carriers Wasp and Franklin, causing significant damage and forcing Franklin to head to Pearl Harbor immediately. As Task Force 58 slowly withdrew the afternoon of March 20, a damaged Zero crashed destroyer Halsey Powell, killing 12 and wounding 29. Shortly afterwards friendly anti-aircraft fire started fires aboard Enterprise. At 23:00 eight Japanese torpedo planes unsuccessfully attacked the carriers, while three overnight snoopers were splashed by anti-aircraft fire. Between March 17 and March 20 Ugaki had committed 193 aircraft to battle and lost 161. On March 21 Ugaki dispatched a 48-plane strike, including 16 G4M “Betty” bombers, carrying the very first Ohka (“Cherry Blossom”) suicide missiles. However the combat air patrol (CAP) of 150 Hellcats and Corsairs repulsed them. Franklin, Wasp, and Enterprise, all damaged, steamed to Ulithi as a reorganized Task Group 58.2. Except for April 8–17, when Task Group-58.2 was briefly reestablished, Task Force 58 strength would remain at three Task Groups throughout Iceberg's duration. Ugaki's 5th Air Fleet was meanwhile effectively incapacitated for several weeks, but Ugaki nevertheless reported five carriers, two battleships, and three cruisers sunk, which IGHQ found scarcely credible. Meanwhile, the Mine Flotilla departed Ulithi on March 19, followed two days later by the rest of Task Force 52 and Task Force 54 to support the Kerama operation. On March 23, to prepare for the imminent minesweeping operations of Iceberg, Task Force 58 conducted extensive bombing raids on all known installations in Okinawa, resulting in significant damage and the sinking of 24 vessels and damage to three others over the following five days. Furthermore, Admiral Lee's battleships traversed the cleared area and opened fire on Okinawa, sinking an additional two vessels. With this naval and air support, Blandy's minesweepers and UDTs successfully cleared the route for Rear-Admiral Ingolf Kiland's Western Islands Attack Group by nightfall on March 25. Their primary opposition in the following two days consisted of a series of kamikaze attacks, which caused damage to the battleship Nevada, light cruiser Biloxi, four destroyers, two destroyer minelayers, one minesweeper, and two transports, while the destroyer Halligan was sunk by mines. The next morning, supported by naval gunfire and carrier aircraft, Bruce initiated his first landings. The 3rd Battalion, 305th Regiment landed on the southern beaches of Aka Island, facing sporadic resistance. Meanwhile, the 1st Battalion, 306th Regiment landed unopposed on Geruma Island, which was quickly secured. The 2nd Battalion, 306th Regiment achieved even faster success at Hokaji Island, while the 1st Battalion, 305th Regiment invaded Zamami Island with light resistance. The 2nd Battalion, 307th Regiment encountered minor opposition as it took Yakabi Island. The Fleet Marine Force Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion scouted Keisejima and found no enemy presence. After encountering some resistance, the units on Aka and Zamami pushed back the enemy garrisons, securing two-thirds of Aka by nightfall and successfully repelling a strong counterattack on Zamami that night. Simultaneously, Deyo's warships and Blandy's carriers began bombarding the demonstration beaches, while minesweepers cleared progressively larger areas around Okinawa, although the minesweeper Skylark was sunk by mines. By March 27, the remaining enemy forces on Aka and Zamami were finally eliminated, and a company took Amuro Island without opposition. Additionally, a company from the 307th moved to Kuba Island, which was quickly secured. At the same time, Bruce continued his main landings, with the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 306th Regiment landing on the west coast of Tokashiki Island, facing minimal opposition. As the two battalions advanced north along narrow trails toward Tokashiki town, the 3rd Battalion landed to secure the southern part of the island. On March 28, they reached the town, clearing the entire island and concluding the Kerama operation.  In Kerama, "Island Chain between Happiness and Good," the Japanese tradition of self-destruction emerged horribly in the last acts of soldiers and civilians trapped in the hills. Camping for the night of March 28 a mile from the north tip of Tokashiki, troops of the 306th heard explosions and screams of pain in the distance. In the morning they found a small valley littered with more than 150 dead and dying Japanese, most of them civilians. Fathers had systematically throttled each member of their families and then disemboweled themselves with knives or hand grenades. Under one blanket lay a father, two small children, a grandfather, and a grandmother, all strangled by cloth ropes. Soldiers and medics did what they could. The natives, who had been told that the invading "barbarians" would kill and rape, watched with amazement as the Americans provided food and medical care; an old man who had killed his daughter wept in bitter remorse. Only a minority of the Japanese, however, were suicides. Most civilians straggled into American positions, worn and dirty. In all, the 77th took 1,195 civilian and 121 military prisoners. This operation resulted in the deaths of 530 Japanese soldiers, 121 captured, and the neutralization of over 350 suicide boats, with American losses totaling 31 killed and 81 wounded. While this initial operation was underway, the tractor groups of the Southern and Northern Attack Forces left their staging areas in Luzon and Ulithi on March 25, followed by the rest of Spruance's fleet two days later. On March 26 and 27, Rawlings' Task Force 57 conducted a series of strikes on the Sakishima Islands, primarily targeting Miyako. Meanwhile, after a 250-plane raid on the Mitsubishi plant in Nagoya on March 24, LeMay sent 165 B-29s from the 73rd and 314th Bombardment Wings to attack the Kyushu airfields on March 27, facing minimal resistance as they caused significant damage to the Tachiarai Army Airfield, the Oita Naval Airfield, and the Omura aircraft plant. Other bombers from the 313th Bombardment Wing laid aerial mines in the Shimonoseki Strait. The Japanese responded with a raid on Spruance's naval units using aircraft and suicide boats on the night of March 28, resulting in one LCM being destroyed and one cargo ship damaged. On March 29, Mitscher launched another strike against Kyushu, but poor weather conditions led to only minor damage, with 12 vessels sunk and one damaged. By this point, the “largest assault sweep operation ever executed” had cleared the Hagushi beach approaches in 75 sweeps, with minesweepers clearing 3,000 square miles of coastal waters. The following morning, as Task Force 58 once again targeted Okinawa, Deyo's ten battleships and eleven cruisers advanced to bombard Okinawa's defenses and demolish coastal seawalls with increased intensity. At the same time, the 314th sent 12 planes to attack the Mitsubishi engine works in Nagoya overnight. The next day, LeMay dispatched 152 B-29s for his second assault on Kyushu, completely destroying the Tachiarai machine works and heavily damaging the Omura airstrip. On March 31, back in Okinawa, the final underwater demolition operation off the Hagushi beaches was underway while the 420th Field Artillery Group was successfully positioned on Keisejima, prompting a strong reaction from Ushijima's artillery. That morning, a Ki-43 fighter crashed into Admiral Spruance's flagship, the Indianapolis, resulting in the deaths of nine crew members and severely damaging a shaft, which ultimately compelled Spruance to transfer his flag to the battleship New Mexico. Meanwhile, the frogmen completed their last demolition operations at Hagushi, and the final preliminary bombardment of Okinawa and the Sakishima Islands was executed successfully. By the end of the month, over 13,000 large-caliber shells had been fired in the shore bombardment, and approximately 3,095 sorties had been conducted against the Ryukyus. However, effective Japanese concealment prevented significant damage to Ushijima's defenses. As night fell, a vast fleet of transports, cargo ships, landing craft, and warships navigated the final miles of their long journey, successfully meeting off the Hagushi beaches in the East China Sea before dawn on April 1. While Turner's forces prepared for the landing, a fire support group consisting of 10 battleships, 9 cruisers, 23 destroyers, and 177 gunboats began the pre-landing bombardment of the beaches at 05:30, firing a total of 44,825 rounds of shells, 33,000 rockets, and 22,500 mortar shells. In response, the Japanese launched some scattered kamikaze attacks on the convoys, successfully hitting the transport Hinsdale and LST 884. At 07:45, carrier planes from Task Force 58 and Blandy's carriers targeted the beaches and nearby trenches with napalm. Fifteen minutes later, the first wave of amphibious tanks advanced toward the shore at four knots, followed closely by five to seven waves of assault troops in amphibious tractors. Alongside the primary landings, Major-General Thomas Watson's 2nd Marine Division staged a feigned landing on the southeast coast of Okinawa, near Minatoga, aiming to distract the enemy's reserves in that region. Meanwhile, on the main front, supported by rocket fire from LCI gunboats and artillery fire from Keisejima, a nearly continuous line of landing craft advanced toward the beaches at 08:20. Encountering no resistance, the first waves began to land on their designated beaches at 08:30, with additional troops following closely behind. Within an hour, Geiger's 3rd Amphibious Corps had successfully landed the assault elements of the 6th and 1st Marine Divisions north of the Bishi River, while Hodge's 24th Corps disembarked the 7th and 96th Divisions to the south of the river. The lack of significant opposition, coupled with the rapid disintegration of the untrained 5473 airfield service troops of the 1st Specially Established Regiment under heavy air and artillery bombardment, created a sense of foreboding among the men, prompting them to scout the area cautiously. As before, the enemy's primary response consisted of kamikaze attacks on naval units, resulting in damage to the battleships West Virginia and Tennessee, the British carrier Indefatigable, destroyers Prichett and Vammen, the British destroyer Ulster, the destroyer minelayer Adams, and four other vessels. Returning to Okinawa, after ensuring they were not walking into a trap, the troops began advancing inland while tanks and other support units were brought to the beaches. In the north, Major-General Lemuel Shepherd's 6th Marine Division deployed Colonel Merlin Schneider's 22nd Marines on the isolated Green Beaches and Colonel Alan Shapley's 4th Marines on the Red Beaches near Yontan Airfield. The 4th Marines advanced toward Yontan, encountering only scattered resistance, and quickly secured the objective east of the airfield by 13:00. Meanwhile, Schneider's 3rd Battalion moved through Hanza without opposition, but the 2nd Battalion's progress was hindered as it needed to protect its exposed flank, prompting the 22nd Marines to quickly commit its reserve battalion to maintain their momentum. To the south, Major-General Pedro Del Valle's 1st Marine Division landed Colonel Edward Snedeker's 7th Marines on the Blue Beaches and Colonel John Griebel's 5th Marines on the Yellow Beaches just north of the Bishi River. By 09:45, the 7th Marines on the left had advanced through the village of Sobe, their primary objective, while the 5th Marines were positioned 1,000 yards inland. At this point, it was decided to land the reserve battalions of both regiments, along with Colonel Kenneth Chappell's 1st Marines. With forces arranged in depth and reserves positioned to the right and left, Del Valle's units continued to advance steadily over the rolling terrain as the 11th and 15th Marines artillery units were also being landed. At 13:30, the 4th Marines resumed their advance, facing light resistance on the left but becoming overextended on the right while trying to maintain contact with the 7th Marines. As a result, Shapley landed his reserve battalion to fill this gap, while Shepherd also deployed his reserve 1st Battalion, 29th Marines, to secure the critical northern flank, allowing the 22nd Marines to keep advancing eastward. Meanwhile, further south, Major-General Archibald Arnold's 7th Division disembarked Colonel Frank Pachler's 17th Regiment on the Purple Beaches just south of the Bishi River and Colonel John Finn's 32nd Regiment on the Orange Beaches in front of Kadena Airfield. Both regiments quickly ascended the gentle hills at the landing sites and began advancing eastward. By 10:00, the 27th Regiment had patrols at Kadena Airfield, which was discovered to be empty; by 10:30, the front line was crossing the airstrip. Moments later, it advanced 200 yards beyond, heading towards Cholon. Simultaneously, the 32nd Regiment secured the southwestern edge of Kadena and continued along the road to Kozo. To the south, Major-General James Bradley's 96th Division landed Colonel Michael Halloran's 381st Regiment on the White Beaches in front of Sunabe and Colonel Edwin May's 383rd Regiment on the Brown Beaches at the extreme southern flank. Both regiments moved eastward with the same ease as the other units that day, making significant progress towards Momobaru in the north and successfully capturing Chatan in the south. Additionally, all divisional artillery of the 24th Corps landed early; Hodge's reserve regiments and battalions were successfully brought ashore, and by nightfall, direct-support battalions were in position. By the end of the day, over 60,000 men had landed, suffering only 28 dead, 27 missing, and 104 wounded, thereby establishing a beachhead 15,000 yards long and up to 5,000 yards deep in some areas. Shepherd's Marines paused for the night along a line stretching from Irammiya to the division boundary south of Makibaru, which the 1st Marine Division extended further south to Kadena. Meanwhile, the 7th Division advanced nearly three miles inland, destroying several pillboxes but losing three tanks to mines. The 96th Division secured positions along the river south of Chatan, on the elevated ground northwest of Futema, in the outskirts of Momobaru, and in the hills to the northwest and southwest of Shido. Although there were gaps in the lines in several areas, they were filled by reserve units or weaponry before nightfall. Thus, the Battle of Okinawa, seen by most as the final climactic battle of the Pacific War has only just begun. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. As Gandalf the White once said “The board is set, the pieces are moving. We come to it at last, the great battle of our time.” The battle of Okinawa will become the bloodiest campaign America has ever fought. The soul crushing journey has just begun as the Americans end the last stand of the Japanese in the Pacific War.

Questo è il sesto podcast di “Fuorviato” una serie basata sul fatto che la bibbia letta in modo sbagliato può diventare dannosa! Dannosissima.Gesù stesso conferma questo pensiero quando dice ai suoi discepoli: “Avete udito che fu detto … ma io vi dico”. In altre parole, ciò che avete udito non è ciò che Dio ha detto e vi ha fuorviato! WOW! Micidiale!Matteo 22:37 “Ama il Signore Dio tuo con tutto il tuo cuore, con tutta l'anima tua e con tutta la tua mente".Hai mai provato a dire a qualcuno “Amami!” Hai mai provato a forzare qualcuno a volerti bene? Com'è andata? Esattamente!

Qu1nto il giovanissimo artista su Delta 1 presenta "Amami per sempre" con Daniele Di Ianni.

This episode we are taking a trip down the Silk Road--or perhaps even the Spice Road--as we investigate references in this reign to individuals from "Tukara" who seem to have arrived in Yamato and stayed for a while. For photos and more, see our podcast webpage:  https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-119 Rough Transcript   Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  This is episode 119: The Question of “Tukara”   Traveling upon the ocean was never exactly safe.  Squalls and storms could arise at any time, and there was always a chance that high winds and high waves could capsize a vessel.  Most people who found themselves at the mercy of the ocean could do little but hold on and hope that they could ride out whatever adverse conditions they met with.  Many ships were lost without any explanation or understanding of what happened to them.  They simply left the port and never came back home. And so when the people saw the boat pulling up on the shores of Himuka, on the island of Tsukushi, they no doubt empathized with the voyagers' plight.  The crew looked bedraggled, and their clothing was unfamiliar.  There were both men and women, and this didn't look like your average fishing party.  If anything was clear it was this:  These folk weren't from around here. The locals brought out water and food.  Meanwhile, runners were sent with a message:  foreigners had arrived from a distant place.  They then waited to see what the government was going to do.     We are still in the second reign of Takara Hime, aka Saimei Tenno.  Last episode we talked about the palaces constructed in Asuka, as well as some of the stone works that have been found from the period, and which appear to be referenced in the Nihon Shoki—at least tangentially.   The episodes before that, we looked at the expeditions the court sent to the far north of Honshu and even past Honshu to Hokkaido. This episode we'll again be looking past the main islands of the archipelago to lands beyond.  Specifically, we are going to focus on particularly intriguing references to people from a place called “Tukara”.  We'll talk about some of the ideas about where that might be, even if they're a bit  far-fetched. That's because Tukara touches on the state of the larger world that Yamato was a part of, given its situation on the far eastern edge of what we know today as the Silk Road.  And is this just an excuse for me to take a detour into some of the more interesting things going on outside the archipelago?  No comment. The first mention of a man from Tukara actually comes at the end of the reign of Karu, aka Koutoku Tennou.  We are told that in the fourth month of 654 two men and two women of “Tukara” and one woman of “Sha'e” were driven by a storm to Hiuga.  Then, three years later, the story apparently picks up again, though possibly referring to a different group of people.  On the 3rd day of the 7th month of 657, so during the second reign of Takara Hime, we now hear about two men and four women of the Land of Tukara—no mention of Sha'e—who drifted to Tsukushi, aka Kyushu.  The Chronicles mention that these wayfarers first drifted to the island of Amami, and we'll talk about that in a bit, but let's get these puzzle pieces on the table, first.  After those six people show up, the court sent for them by post-horse.  They must have arrived by the 15th of that same month, because we are told that a model of Mt. Sumi was erected and they—the people from Tukara—were entertained, although there is another account that says they were from “Tora”. The next mention is the 10th day of the 3rd month of 659, when a Man of Tukara and his wife, again woman of Sha'e, arrived.  Then, on the 16th day of the 7th month of 660, we are told that the man of Tukara, Kenzuhashi Tatsuna, desired to return home and asked for an escort.  He planned to pay his respects at the Great Country, i.e. the Tang court, and so he left his wife behind, taking tens of men with him. All of these entries might refer to people regularly reaching Yamato from the south, from a place called “Tukara”.  Alternately, this is a single event whose story has gotten distributed over several years, as we've seen happen before with the Chronicles.  .  One of the oddities of these entries is that the terms used are not consistent.  “Tukara” is spelled at least two different ways, suggesting that it wasn't a common placename like Silla or Baekje, or even the Mishihase.  That does seem to suggest that the Chronicles were phonetically trying to find kanji, or the Sinitic characters, to match with the name they were hearing.   I would also note that “Tukara” is given the status of a “kuni”—a land, country, or state—while “sha'e”, where some of the women are said to come from, is just that, “Sha'e”. As for the name of at least one person from Tokara, Kenzuhashi Tatsuna, that certainly sounds like someone trying to fit a non-Japanese name into the orthography of the time.  “Tatsuna” seems plausibly Japanese, but “Kenzuhashi” doesn't fit quite as well into the naming structures we've seen to this point. The location of “Tukara” and “Sha'e” are not clear in any way, and as such there has been a lot of speculation about them.  While today there are placenames that fit those characters, whether or not these were the places being referenced at the time is hard to say. I'll actually start with “Sha'e”, which Aston translates as Shravasti, the capital of the ancient Indian kingdom of Kosala, in modern Uttar Pradesh.  It is also where the Buddha, Siddartha Gautama, is said to have lived most of his life after his enlightenment.  In Japanese this is “Sha'e-jou”, and like many Buddhist terms it likely comes through Sanskrit to Middle Chinese to Japanese.  One—or possibly two—women from Shravasti making the journey to Yamato in the company of a man (or men) from Tukara seems quite the feat.  But then, where is “Tukara”? Well, we have at least three possible locations that I've seen bandied about.  I'll address them from the most distant to the closest option.  These three options were Tokharistan, Dvaravati, and the Tokara islands. We'll start with Tokharistan on the far end of the Silk Road.  And to start, let's define what that “Silk Road” means.  We've talked in past episodes about the “Western Regions”, past the Han-controlled territories of the Yellow River.   The ancient Tang capital of Chang'an was built near to the home of the Qin dynasty, and even today you can go and see both the Tang tombs and the tomb of Qin Shihuangdi and his terracotta warriors, all within a short distance of Xi'an, the modern city built on the site of Chang'an.  That city sits on a tributary of the Yellow River, but the main branch turns north around the border of modern Henan and the similarly sounding provinces of Shanxi and Shaanxi.  Following it upstream, the river heads north into modern Mongolia, turns west, and then heads south again, creating what is known as the Ordos loop.  Inside is the Ordos plateau, also known as the Ordos Basin.  Continuing to follow the Yellow river south, on the western edge of the Ordos, you travel through Ningxia and Gansu—home of the Hexi, or Gansu, Corridor.  That route eventually takes to Yumenguan, the Jade Gate, and Dunhuang.  From there roads head north or south along the edge of the Taklamakan desert in the Tarim basin.  The southern route travels along the edge of the Tibetan plateau, while the northern route traversed various oasis cities through Turpan, Kucha, to the city of Kashgar.  Both routes made their way across the Pamirs and the Hindu Kush into South Asia. We've brought up the Tarim Basin and the Silk Road a few times.  This is the path that Buddhism appears to have taken to get to the Yellow River Basin and eventually to the Korean Peninsula and eastward to the Japanese archipelago.  But I want to go a bit more into detail on things here, as there is an interesting side note about “Tukara” that I personally find rather fascinating, and thought this would be a fun time to share. Back in Episode 79 we talked about how the Tarim basin used to be the home to a vast inland sea, which was fed by the meltwater from the Tianshan and Kunlun mountains.  This sea eventually dwindled, though it was still large enough to be known to the Tang as the Puchang Sea.  Today it has largely dried up, and it is mostly just the salt marshes of Lop Nur that remain.  Evidence for this larger sea, however, can be observed in some of the burials found around the Tarim basin.  These burials include the use of boat-shaped structures—a rather curious feature to be found out in the middle of the desert. And it is the desert that was left behind as the waters receded that is key to much of what we know about life in the Tarim basin, as it has proven to be quite excellent at preserving organic material.  This includes bodies, which dried out and naturally turned into mummies, including not only the wool clothing they were wearing, but also features such as hair and even decoration. These “Tarim mummies”, as they have been collectively called, date from as early as 2100 BCE all the way up through the period of time we're currently talking about, and have been found in several desert sites: Xiaohe, the earliest yet discovered; Loulan, near Lop Nur on the east of the Tarim Basin, dating from around 1800 BCE; Cherchen, on the southern edge of the Tarim Basin, dating from roughly 1000 BCE; and too many others to go into in huge detail. The intriguing thing about these burials is that  many of them don't have features typically associated with people of ethnic Han—which is to say traditional Chinese—ancestry, nor do they necessarily have the features associated with the Xiongnu and other steppe nomads.  In addition they have colorful clothing  made from wool and leather, with vivid designs.  Some bodies near Hami, just east of the basin, were reported to have blonde to light brown hair, and their cloth showed radically different patterns from that found at Cherchen and Loulan, with patterns that could reasonably be compared with the plaids now common in places like Scotland and Ireland, and previously found in the Hallstadt salt mine in Central Europe from around 3500 BCE, from which it is thought the Celtic people may have originated. At the same time that people—largely Westerners— were studying these mummies, another discovery in the Tarim basin was also making waves.  This was the discovery of a brand new language.  Actually, it was two languages—or possibly two dialects of a language—in many manuscripts, preserved in Kucha and Turpan.  Once again, the dry desert conditions proved invaluable to maintain these manuscripts, which date from between the late 4th or early 5th century to the 8th century.  They are written with a Brahmic script, similar to that used for Sanskrit, which appears in the Tarim Basin l by about the 2nd century, and we were able to translate them because many of the texts were copies of Buddhist scripture, which greatly helped scholars in deciphering the languages.  These two languages were fascinating because they represented an as-yet undiscovered branch of the Indo-European language family.  Furthermore, when compared to other Indo-European languages, they did not show nearly as much similarity with their neighbors as with languages on the far western end of the Indo-European language family.  That is to say they were thought to be closer to Celtic and Italic languages than something like Indo-Iranian.  And now for a quick diversion within the diversion:  “Centum” and “Satem” are general divisions of the Indo-European language families that was once thought to indicate a geographic divide in the languages.  At its most basic, as Indo-European words changed over time, a labiovelar sound, something like “kw”,  tended to evolve in one of two ways.  In the Celtic and Italic languages, the “kw” went to a hard “k” sound, as represented in the classical pronunciation of the Latin word for 100:  Centum.  That same word, in the Avestan language—of the Indo-Iranian tree—is pronounced as “Satem”, with an “S” sound.  So, you can look at Indo-European languages and divide them generally into “centum” languages, which preserve the hard “k”, or “Satem” languages that preserve the S. With me so far? Getting back to these two newly-found languages in the Tarim Basin, the weird thing is that they were “Centum” languages. Most Centum languages are from pretty far away, though: they are generally found in western Europe or around the Mediterranean, as opposed to the Satem languages, such as Indo-Aryan, Iranian, Armernian, or even Baltic Slavic languages, which are much closer to the Tarim Basin.  So if the theory were true that the “Centum” family of Indo-European languages developed in the West and “Satem” languages developed in the East, then that would seem to indicate that a group of a “Centum” speaking people must have migrated eastward, through the various Satem speaking people, and settled in the Tarim Basin many thousands of years ago. And what evidence do we have of people who look very different from the modern population, living in the Tarim Basin area long before, and wearing clothing similar to what we associated with the progenitors of the Celts?  For many, it seemed to be somewhat obvious, if still incredible, that the speakers of this language were likely the descendants of the mummies who, in the terminology of the time, had been identified as being of Caucasoid ancestry.  A theory developed that these people were an offshoot of a group called the Yamnaya culture, which may have arisen around modern Ukraine as an admixture between the European Hunter Gatherers and the Caucasian Hunter Gatherers, around 3300-2600 BCE.  This was challenged in 2021 when a genetic study was performed on some of the mummies in the Tarim basin, as well as several from the Dzungarian basin, to the northeast.  That study suggested that the people of the Dzungarian basin had genetic ties to the people of the Afanasievo people, from Southern Siberia.  The Afanasievo people are connected to the Yamnayan culture. It should be noted that there has long been a fascination in Western anthropology and related sciences with racial identification—and often not in a healthy way.  As you may recall, the Ainu were identified as “Caucasoid” by some people largely because of things like the men's beards and lighter colored hair, which differ greatly from a large part of the Japanese population.  However, that claim has been repeatedly refuted and debunked. And similarly, the truth is, none of these Tarim mummy burials were in a period of written anything, so we can't conclusively associated them with these fascinating Indo-European languages.  There are thousands of years between the various burials and the manuscripts. These people  left no notes stashed in pockets that give us their life story.   And Language is not Genetics is not Culture.  Any group may adopt a given language for a variety of reasons.  .  Still, given what we know, it is possible that the ancient people of the Tarim basin spoke some form of “Proto-Kuchean”, but it is just as likely that this language was brought in by people from Dzungaria at some point. So why does all this matter to us?  Well, remember how we were talking about someone from Tukara?  The Kuchean language, at least, is referred to in an ancient Turkic source as belonging to “Twgry”, which led several scholars to draw a link between this and the kingdom and people called Tukara and the Tokharoi.  This leads us on another bit of a chase through history. Now if you recall, back in Episode 79, we talked about Zhang Qian.  In 128 BCE, he attempted to cross the Silk Road through the territory of the Xiongnu on a mission for the Han court.  Some fifty years earlier, the Xiongnu had defeated the Yuezhi.  They held territory in the oasis towns along the north of the Taklamakan dessert, from about the Turpan basin west to the Pamirs. The Xiongnu were causing problems for the Han, who thought that if they could contact the remaining Yuezhi they could make common cause with them and harass the Xiongnu from both sides.  Zhang Qian's story is quite remarkable: he started out with an escort of some 99 men and a translator.  Unfortunately, he was captured and enslaved by the Xiongnu during his journey, and he is even said to have had a wife and fathered a child.  He remained a captive for thirteen years, but nonetheless, he was able to escape with his family and he made it to the Great Yuezhi on the far side of the Pamirs, but apparently the Yuezhi weren't interested in a treaty against the Xiongnu.  The Pamirs were apparently enough of a barrier and they were thriving in their new land.  And so Zhang Qian crossed back again through Xiongnu territory, this time taking the southern route around the Tarim basin.  He was still captured by the Xiongnu, who spared his life.  He escaped, again, two years later, returning to the Han court.  Of the original 100 explorers, only two returned: Zhang Qian and his translator.  While he hadn't obtained an alliance, he was able to detail the cultures of the area of the Yuezhi. Many feel that the Kushan Empire, which is generally said to have existed from about 30 to 375 CE,was formed from the Kushana people who were part of the Yuezhi who fled the Xiongnu. In other words, they were originally from further north, around the Tarim Basin, and had been chased out and settled down in regions that included Bactria (as in the Bactrian camel).  Zhang Qian describes reaching the Dayuan Kingdom in the Ferghana valley, then traveling south to an area that was the home of the Great Yuezhi or Da Yuezhi.  And after the Kushan empire fell, we know there was a state in the upper regions of the Oxus river, centered on the city of Balkh, in the former territory of the Kushan empire. known as “Tokara”.  Geographically, this matches up how Zhang Qian described the home of the Da Yuezhi.  Furthermore, some scholars reconstruct the reading of the Sinic characters used for “Yuezhi” as originally having an optional reading of something like “Togwar”, but that is certainly not the most common reconstructed reading of those characters.  Greek sources describe this area as the home of the Tokharoi, or the Tokaran People.  The term “Tukhara” is also found in Sanskrit, and this kingdom  was also said to have sent ambassadors to the Southern Liang and Tang dynasties. We aren't exactly certain of where these Tokharan people came from, but as we've just described, there's a prevailing theory that they were the remnants of the Yuezhi and Kushana people originally from the Tarim Basin.  We know that in the 6th century they came under the rule of the Gokturk Khaganate, which once spanned from the Liao river basin to the Black Sea.  In the 7th and 8th centuries they came under the rule of the Tang Empire, where they were known by very similar characters as those used to write “Tukara” in the Nihon Shoki.  On top of this, we see Tokharans traveling the Silk Road, all the way to the Tang court.  Furthermore, Tokharans that settled in Chang'an took the surname “Zhi” from the ethnonym “Yuezhi”, seemingly laying claim to and giving validation to the identity used back in the Han dynasty.   So, we have a Turkic record describing the Kuchean people (as in, from Kucha in the Tarim Basin) as “Twgry”, and we have a kingdom in Bactria called Tokara and populated (according to the Greeks) by people called Tokharoi.  You can see how this one term has been a fascinating rabbit hole in the study of the Silk Roads and their history.  And some scholars understandably suggested that perhaps the Indo-European languags found in Kucha and Turpan  were actually related to this “Tokhara” – and therefore  should be called “Tocharian”, specifically Tocharian A (Kuchean) or Tocharian B (Turfanian). The problem is that if the Tokharans were speaking “Tocharian” then you wouldn't expect to just see it at Kucha and Turpan, which are about the middle of the road between Tokhara and the Tang dynasty, and which had long been under Gokturk rule.  You would also expect to see it in the areas of Bactria associated with Tokhara.  However, that isn't what we see.  Instead, we see that Bactria was the home of local Bactrian language—an Eastern Iranian language, which, though it is part of the Indo European language family, it is not closely related to Tocharian as far as we can tell. It is possible that the people of Kucha referred to themselves as something similar to “Twgry”, or “Tochari”, but we should also remember that comes from a Turkic source, and it could have been an exonym not related to what they called themselves.  I should also note that language is not people.  It is also possible that a particular ethnonym was maintained separately by two groups that may have been connected politically but which came to speak different languages for whatever reason.   There could be a connection between the names, or it could even be that the same or similar exonym was used for different groups. So, that was a lot and a bit of a ramble, but a lot of things that I find interesting—even if they aren't as connected as they may appear.  We have the Tarim mummies, which are, today, held at a museum in modern Urumqi.  Whether they had any connection with Europe or not, they remain a fascinating study for the wealth of material items found in and around the Tarim basin and similar locations.  And then there is the saga of the Tocharian languages—or perhaps more appropriately the Kuchean-Turfanian languages: Indo-European languages that seem to be well outside of where we would expect to find them. Finally, just past the Pamirs, we get to the land of Tokhara or Tokharistan.  Even without anything else, we know that they had contact with the court.  Perhaps our castaways were from this land?  The name is certainly similar to what we see in the Nihon Shoki, using some of the same characters. All in all, art and other information suggest that the area of the Tarim basin and the Silk Road in general were quite cosmopolitan, with many different people from different regions of the world.  Bactria retained Hellenic influences ever since the conquests of Alexander of Macedonia, aka Alexander the Great, and Sogdian and Persian traders regularly brought their caravans through the region to trade.  And once the Tang dynasty controlled all of the routes, that just made travel that much easier, and many people traveled back and forth. So from that perspective, it is possible that one or more people from Tukhara may have made the crossing from their home all the way to the Tang court, but if they did so, the question still remains: why would they be in a boat? Utilizing overland routes, they would have hit Chang'an or Louyang, the dual capitals of the Tang empire, well before they hit the ocean.  However, the Nihon Shoki says that these voyagers first came ashore at Amami and then later says that they were trying to get to the Tang court. Now there was another “Silk Road” that isn't as often mentioned: the sea route, following the coast of south Asia, around through the Malacca strait and north along the Asian coast.  This route is sometimes viewed more in terms of the “spice” road If these voyagers set out to get to the Tang court by boat, they would have to have traveled south to the Indian Ocean—possibly traveling through Shravasti or Sha'e, depending on the route they chose to take—and then around the Malacca strait—unless they made it on foot all the way to Southeast Asia.  And then they would have taken a boat up the coast. Why do that instead of taking the overland route?  They could likely have traveled directly to the Tang court over the overland silk road.  Even the from Southeast Asia could have traveled up through Yunnan and made their way to the Tang court that way.  In fact, Zhang Qian had wondered something similar when he made it to the site of the new home of the Yuezhi, in Bactria.  Even then, in the 2nd century, he saw products in the marketplace that he identified as coming from around Szechuan.  That would mean south of the Han dynasty, and he couldn't figure out how those trade routes might exist and they weren't already known to the court.  Merchants would have had to traverse the dangerous mountains if they wanted to avoid being caught by the Xiongnu, who controlled the entire region. After returning to the Han court, Zhang Qian actually went out on another expedition to the south, trying to find the southern trade routes, but apparently was not able to do so.  That said, we do see, in later centuries, the trade routes open up between the area of the Sichuan basin and South Asia.  We also see the migrations of people further south, and there may have even been some Roman merchants who traveled up this route to find their way to the Han court, though those accounts are not without their own controversy. In either case, whether by land or sea, these trade routes were not always open.  In some cases, seasonal weather, such as monsoons, might dictate movement back and forth, while political realities were also a factor.  Still, it is worth remembering that even though most people were largely concerned with affairs in their own backyard, the world was still more connected than people give it credit for.  Tang dynasty pottery made its way to the east coast of Africa, and ostriches were brought all the way to Chang'an. As for the travelers from Tukhara and why they would take this long and very round-about method of travel, it is possible that they were just explorers, seeking new routes, or even on some kind of pilgrimage.  Either way, they would have been way off course. But if they did pass through Southeast Asia, that would match up with another theory about what “Tukara” meant: that it actually refers to the Dvaravati kingdom in what is now modern Thailand.  The Dvaravati Kingdom was a Mon political entity that rose up around the 6th century.  It even sent embassies to the Sui and Tang courts.  This is even before the temple complexes in Siem Reap, such as Preah Ko and the more famous Angkor Wat.  And it was during this time that the ethnic Tai people are thought to have started migrating south from Yunnan, possibly due to pressures from the expanding Sui and Tang empires.  Today, most of what remains of the Dvaravati kingdom are the ruins of ancient stone temples, showing a heavy Indic influence, and even early Buddhist practices as well.  “Dvaravati” may not actually be the name of the kingdom but it comes from an inscription on a coin found from about that time.  The Chinese refer to it as  “To-lo-po-ti” in contemporary records.  It may not even have been a kingdom, but  more of a confederation of city-states—it is hard to piece everything together.  That it was well connected, though, is clear from the archaeological record.  In Dvaravati sites, we see coins from as far as Rome, and we even have a lamp found in modern Pong Tuk that appears to match similar examples from the Byzantine Empire in the 6th century.  Note that this doesn't mean it arrived in the 6th century—similarly with the coins—but the Dvaravati state lasted until the 12th century. If that was the case, perhaps there were some women from a place called “Shravasti” or similar, especially given the Indic influence in the region. Now, given the location of the Dvaravati, it wouldn't be so farfetched to think that someone might sail up from the Gulf of Thailand and end up off-course, though it does mean sailing up the entire Ryukyuan chain or really running off course and finding yourself adrift on the East China sea.  And if they were headed to the Tang court, perhaps they did have translators or knew Chinese, since Yamato was unlikely to know the Mon language of Dvaravati and people from Dvaravati probably wouldn't know the Japonic language.  Unless, perhaps, they were communicating through Buddhist priests via Sanskrit. We've now heard two possibilities for Tukara, both pretty far afield: the region of Tokara in Bactria, and the Dvaravati kingdom in Southeast Asia.  That said, the third and simplest explanation—and the one favored by Aston in his translation of the Nihon Shoki—is that Tukara is actually referring to a place in the Ryukyu island chain.  Specifically, there is a “Tokara” archipelago, which spans between Yakushima and Amami-Oshima.  This is part of the Nansei islands, and the closest part of the Ryukyuan island chain to the main Japanese archipelago.  This is the most likely theory, and could account for the entry talking about Amami.  It is easy to see how sailors could end up adrift, too far north, and come to shore in Hyuga, aka Himuka, on the east side of Kyushu.  It certainly would make more sense for them to be from this area of the Ryukyuan archipelago than from anywhere else.  From Yakushima to Amami-Oshima is the closest part of the island chain to Kyushu, and as we see in the entry from the Shoku Nihongi, those three places seem to have been connected as being near to Japan.  So what was going on down there, anyway? Well, first off, let's remember that the Ryukyuan archipelago is not just the island of Okinawa, but a series of islands that go from Kyushu all the way to the island of Taiwan.  Geographically speaking, they are all part of the same volcanic ridge extending southward.  The size of the islands and their distance from each other does vary, however, creating some natural barriers in the form of large stretches of open water, which have shaped how various groups developed on the islands. Humans came to the islands around the same time they were reaching the Japanese mainland.  In fact, some of our only early skeletal remains for early humans in Japan actually come from either the Ryukyuan peninsula in the south or around Hokkaido to the north, and that has to do with the acidity of the soil in much of mainland Japan. Based on genetic studies, we know that at least two groups appear to have inhabited the islands from early times.  One group appears to be related to the Jomon people of Japan, while the other appears to be more related to the indigenous people of Taiwan, who, themselves, appear to have been the ancestors of many Austronesian people.  Just as some groups followed islands to the south of Taiwan, some appear to have headed north.  However, they only made it so far.  As far as I know there is no evidence they made it past Miyakoshima, the northernmost island in the Sakishima islands.  Miyako island is separated from the next large island, Okinawa, by a large strait, known as the Miyako Strait, though sometimes called the Kerama gap in English.  It is a 250km wide stretch of open ocean, which is quite the distance for anyone to travel, even for Austronesian people of Taiwan, who had likely not developed the extraordinary navigational technologies that the people who would become the Pacific Islanders would discover. People on the Ryukyu island chain appear to have been in contact with the people of the Japanese archipelago since at least the Jomon period, and some of the material artifacts demonstrate a cultural connection.  That was likely impacted by the Akahoya eruption, about 3500 years ago, and then re-established at a later date.  We certainly see sea shells and corals trade to the people of the Japanese islands from fairly early on. Unlike the people on the Japanese archipelago, the people of the Ryukyuan archipelago did not really adopt the Yayoi and later Kofun culture.  They weren't building large, mounded tombs, and they retained the character of a hunter-gatherer society, rather than transitioning to a largely agricultural way of life.  The pottery does change in parts of Okinawa, which makes sense given the connections between the regions.  Unfortunately, there is a lot we don't know about life in the islands around this time.  We don't exactly have written records, other than things like the entries in the Nihon Shoki, and those are hardly the most detailed of accounts.  In the reign of Kashikiya Hime, aka Suiko Tennou, we see people from Yakushima, which is, along with Tanegashima, one of the largest islands at the northern end of the Ryukyu chain, just before you hit Kagoshima and the Osumi peninsula on the southern tip of Kyushu.  The islands past that would be the Tokara islands, until you hit the large island of Amami. So you can see how it would make sense that the people from “Tokara” would make sense to be from the area between Yakushima and Amami, and in many ways this explanation seems too good to be true.  There are a only a few things that make this a bit peculiar. First, this doesn't really explain the woman from “Sha'e” in any compelling way that I can see.  Second, the name, Kenzuhashi Tatsuna doesn't seem to fit with what we generally know about early Japonic names, and the modern Ryukyuan language certainly is a Japonic language, but there are still plenty of possible explanations.  There is also the connection of Tokara with “Tokan”, which is mentioned in an entry in 699 in the Shoku Nihongi, the Chronicle that follows on, quite literally to the Nihon Shoki.  Why would they call it “Tokan” instead of “Tokara” so soon after?  Also, why would these voyagers go back to their country by way of the Tang court?  Unless, of course, that is where they were headed in the first place.  In which case, did the Man from Tukara intentionally leave his wife in Yamato, or was she something of a hostage while they continued on their mission?   And so those are the theories.  The man from “Tukara” could be from Tokhara, or Tokharistan, at the far end of the Silk Road.  Or it could have been referring to the Dvaravati Kingdom, in modern Thailand.  Still, in the end, Occam's razor suggests that the simplest answer is that these were actually individuals from the Tokara islands in the Ryukyuan archipelago.  It is possible that they were from Amami, not that they drifted there.  More likely, a group from Amami drifted ashore in Kyushu as they were trying to find a route to the Tang court, as they claimed.  Instead they found themselves taking a detour to the court of Yamato, instead. And we could have stuck with that story, but I thought that maybe, just maybe, this would be a good time to reflect once again on how connected everything was.  Because even if they weren't from Dvaravati, that Kingdom was still trading with Rome and with the Tang.  And the Tang controlled the majority of the overland silk road through the Tarim basin.  We even know that someone from Tukhara made it to Chang'an, because they were mentioned on a stele that talked about an Asian sect of Christianity, the “Shining Religion”, that was praised and allowed to set up shop in the Tang capital, along with Persian Manicheans and Zoroastrians.  Regardless of where these specific people may have been from, the world was clearly growing only more connected, and prospering, as well. Next episode we'll continue to look at how things were faring between the archipelago and the continent. Until then thank you for listening and for all of your support. If you like what we are doing, please tell your friends and feel free to rate us wherever you listen to podcasts.  If you feel the need to do more, and want to help us keep this going, we have information about how you can donate on Patreon or through our KoFi site, ko-fi.com/sengokudaimyo, or find the links over at our main website,  SengokuDaimyo.com/Podcast, where we will have some more discussion on topics from this episode. Also, feel free to reach out to our Sengoku Daimyo Facebook page.  You can also email us at the.sengoku.daimyo@gmail.com.  Thank you, also, to Ellen for their work editing the podcast. And that's all for now.  Thank you again, and I'll see you next episode on Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  

Sara Santi dei Queen of Saba su Delta 1 per "ACAB (Amami come ameresti bambi)" con Daniele Di Ianni.

Amami sort un album à 50% dub intitulé Islands & Islands. Tout d'abord, bonne rentrée 2025, et félicitations à celles et ceux qui ont survécu à Noël et au fameux tonton Robert, qui a libéré son Michel Leeb intérieur après le cognac de trop. Quoi de mieux donc pour clôturer […] The post Amami: un nouvel album au gré des vagues first appeared on Radio Vostok.

Amami sort un album à 50% dub intitulé Islands & Islands. Tout d'abord, bonne rentrée 2025, et félicitations à celles et ceux qui ont survécu à Noël et au fameux tonton Robert, qui a libéré son Michel Leeb intérieur après le cognac de trop. Quoi de mieux donc pour clôturer […] The post Amami: un nouvel album au gré des vagues first appeared on Radio Vostok.

Das hauseigene Musikmagazin im Radio Stadtfilter; von unserer Musikredaktion sorgfältig ausgesuchte Release-Perlen, Künstler:innen-Interviews und Festivalreflexionen. Diese Woche mit Magnetband, Lambrini Girls, Unprocessed, Amami und dem Album der Woche von Ethel Cain. Im zweiten Teil der Sendung wird neu-alte Musik vorgestellt: Reissues und Compilations von Lou Reed, CHBB und Lou Barlow. Eine Sendung produziert von Charida Bänziger und Simeon Thompson.

Una grande verità, detta da Jerry Lewis. Fonti: video "The Crazy Jerry Lewis | Carson Tonight Show" pubblicato sul canale Youtube Johnny Carson il 7 dicembre 2022; video "Fede stona al suo live

Otorgan por vez primera para México el Diploma de Excelencia en el Premio Mundial Juvenil del Agua Padres y Madres de los 43 normalistas desaparecidos de Ayotzinapa dieron por concluidas sus reuniones con el actual gobiernoEl tifón Shanshan azota la región insular de Amami, en el sudoeste de Japón.Más informaciín en nuestro podcast

To complete our Thursday Heritage Concert Series, Japan born and raised violinist, Yuhka Nagai and NZ pianist Kent Isomura, present a programme including two NZ premier pieces by contemporary Japanese composers, alongside the works of two European greats.  Six pieces by Hikaru Hayashi (1931-2012) and a Nursery song by Rikuya Terashima (1964-) from Amami are related to Okinawan folk music which comes from the South of Japan. Traveling from Japan to Europe, Yukha and Kent play Rondo K.269/261 by W.A. Mozart and Violin Sonata No.1 by R. Schumann. The Mozart Rondo K.269/261 was most likely composed for A. Brunetti and written in the time he wrote his famous 5 violin concertos between 1773 and 1777. It was possibly a replacement of the finale for his violin concerto No.1, K.207. R. Schumann's 1st violin Sonata is dramatic and has his expressions of unstable emotions and the depth of energy.

In questo articolo vedremo 5 POESIE ITALIANE che tutti devono conoscere e leggere almeno una volta nella vita! 5 GEMME della POESIA ITALIANA: Versi da Non Perdere Prima poesia Ho sceso, dandoti il braccio, almeno un milione di scale di Eugenio Montale (1967) Ho sceso, dandoti il braccio, almeno un milione di scalee ora che non ci sei è il vuoto ad ogni gradino.Anche così è stato breve il nostro lungo viaggio.Il mio dura tuttora, né più mi occorronole coincidenze, le prenotazioni,le trappole, gli scorni di chi credeche la realtà sia quella che si vede. Ho sceso milioni di scale dandoti il braccionon già perché con quattr'occhi forse si vede di più.Con te le ho scese perché sapevo che di noi duele sole vere pupille, sebbene tanto offuscate,erano le tue. È una delle 28 che Montale ha dedicato alla moglie Drusilla dopo la sua morte. Nella poesia ricorda la compagna attraverso immagini di intimità quotidiana, come l'atto di porgerle il braccio per scendere le scale. Era un gesto semplice che ora gli manca. Lui guidava per le scale, lei lo guidava nella vita. Grazie a lei, ha imparato a non temere più gli affanni, le preoccupazioni e i mille impegni di tutti i giorni, che ha capito essere soltanto “trappole”, e a vedere oltre le apparenze. La donna era perciò la vera musa ispiratrice dell'autore, che ora si sente vuoto, smarrito e disorientato. Seconda poesia Amami di Alda Merini Amamifinchè sentirai il caloredi una fiamma tremulache sempre arde,difendendosi dai venti di scogliera.Sono un pensieroche non vuole mailegare le tue manilibere nel mondo,anche se vorreiche fossero solo mie.Amamiora che non ho paroleper farti innamoraredei miei silenzipieni di gioia,che non potrai vedere.Amami ancora,saranno solo gli occhia dirti la mia passionee le mie labbra,a raccontarticose difficili da dire.Saremo noi,un giorno forsead abbracciare solo i profumidei nostri corpisenza paurache l'assenza diventi una cosa vera. In questa poesia, l'autrice riesce a cogliere e trasmettere l'essenza dell'amore in tutta la sua complessità, come una forza che brucia (fuoco) e nutre (acqua) allo stesso tempo. Nei versi chiede di essere accettata e compresa nella sua interezza. L'amore, secondo la Merini, è totalizzante: un'esperienza tormentata e inebriante, che lei ci invita a vivere con passione, nonostante le ferite che può provocarci. "Amami" è una poesia toccante e lascia un'impronta forte nel cuore del lettore. È un invito a rischiare di amare, a immergersi nelle acque incerte di questo sentimento e a lasciarsi avvolgere dal suo fuoco bruciante. In definitiva, "Amami" è una poesia che ci ricorda che l'amore, con tutta la sua intensità e le sue contraddizioni, è uno dei sentimenti più potenti che possiamo sperimentare come esseri umani, perciò dobbiamo viverlo appieno, con tutte le sue sfumature, e non dobbiamo temere di aprirci completamente a ciò che esso ci può offrire. Terza poesia L'infinito di Giacomo Leopardi (1819) Sempre caro mi fu quest'ermo colle,e questa siepe, che da tanta partedell'ultimo orizzonte il guardo esclude.Ma sedendo e mirando, interminatispazi di là da quella, e sovrumanisilenzi, e profondissima quieteio nel pensier mi fingo, ove per pocoil cor non si spaura. E come il ventoodo stormir tra queste piante, io quelloinfinito silenzio a questa vocevo comparando: e mi sovvien l'eterno,e le morte stagioni, e la presentee viva, e il suon di lei. Così tra questaimmensità s'annega il pensier mio:e il naufragar m'è dolce in questo mare. Nella poesia, il poeta riflette sulle sensazioni e sui sentimenti che prova ammirando il panorama dall'alto di una montagna. Non vede l'intero orizzonte perché gran parte di esso è nascosta da una siepe. Eppure, proprio questo ostacolo visivo scatena la sua fantasia. Si immagina spazi sconfinati, dove regnano pace e silenzio, tanto che questi pensieri quasi lo spaventano. Avverte la suprema bellezza e grandezza,

Un'icona che ha rivoluzionato - è il caso di dirlo - il mondo dei videgiochi per uscirne e diventare famosa anche all'esterno: difficile che qualcuno non conosca il nome di Lara Croft. In questo episodio la celebriamo, parlando delle sue origini, delle evoluzioni e dei cambiamenti, senza omettere le produzioni esterne sia cinematografiche che (in futuro) seriali che fumettistiche.E musicali, perché "Amami Lara"... ma lo scoprirete nell'episodio.--Merchandising:http://store.polonerd.netPer sostenerci offrendoci uno o più caffèhttps://www.buymeacoffee.com/polonerdSito, Mail e Contatti:redazione@polonerd.nethttps://www.polonerd.nethttps://www.polonerd.net/contattiPagina dell'episodio: https://www.polonerd.net/?p=1477Diventa un supporter di questo podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/polo-nerd--3471139/support.

Severe Rainfall Expected in Southern Kyushu, Amami, Shikoku, and Tokai / Nagasaki Issues 'Husband (Not Registered)' Certificate to Same-Sex Couple, & more… English news from Japan for May 28th, 2024. Transcription available at https://japandailynews.com/2024/05/28/news.html

A trip to Amami Ōshima, Japan, transports Gerry Lopez to a familiar feeling and place in a distant land. “In a way, life is a little like Dad's car … it takes us down the road, and at some point, a stop at the service station is needed to keep going." Listen to Gerry on the necessities of surfing, friends, family and exploration. “Living on Easy” read and written by Gerry Lopez. This episode of Patagonia Stories was produced by Patagonia and Cosmic Standard. See more at https://pat.ag/PataStories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Da Amici a oggi, Emma Marrone ne ha fatta di strada! Abbiamo provato a raccontarvi le tappe principali della sua carriera in questa puntata di Music Idol

Typhoon 6 Approaching Kyushu and Amami, and Workers Hospitalized in Sapporo Parking Lot, & more… English news from Japan for August 8th, 2023. Transcription available at https://japandailynews.com/2023/08/08/news.html

Typhoon 6 Threatens Southern Kyushu and Amami with Heavy Rainfall, and Police Strengthen Deletion Requests for 'Dark Part-Time Job' Postings, & more… English news from Japan for August 7th, 2023. Transcription available at https://japandailynews.com/2023/08/07/news.html

Powerful Typhoon Khanun will again bring fierce wind and rainstorms to the Japanese southern island of Okinawa during the weekend.

The unique Amami rabbit has an even more unique favorite snack: Balanophora yuwanensis.

A Londra, Grazia comincia a frequentare un giro di giornalisti, registi, produttori e dirigenti d'azienda italiani, tutti più grandi di lei e tutti già padroni del loro destino. Alfredo è uno di loro. Romano, trentaseienne, affascinante, sembra aver conquistato il cuore della giovane studentessa in trasferta a Londra. Ma siamo nel 1959 e certe scelte vanno ponderate a lungo. Così succede che Alfredo deve ripartire per Roma subito dopo che è scoccata la scintilla e tutto finisce senza cominciare. Forse. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's A Moment of Science brings you something you've never seen before: the black Amami rabbit.

Today's A Moment of Science brings you something you've never seen before: the black Amami rabbit.

Dr Inès Amami holds a PhD from Sorbonne Nouvelle University in French literature and civilization.  Her research is about the representation of the West and the Muslim world in the Encyclopédie de Diderot (18th century).   Ines is also a political activist in the field of women's rights and fights against all kinds of violence.  She is a single mother of an 11 year old daughter.     In this episode we talk about the challenges that Ines has faced over the course of her PhD journey which started in 2004 - including periods of illness and a toxic boss.     We focus on Ines' experience of being a single parent on the PhD journey and the discoveries she has made along the way.   Ines shares the tools that helped her stay on track during her doctorate.   We discuss mum guilt and how lowering your standards can be the key to success!   Ines stresses the importance of self care as a foundation for single parenthood.   We finish with a top tip around asking for help.   You can contact Ines on twitter here: @inesParisFr If you would like a useful weekly email to support you on your PhD journey you can sign up for ‘Notes from the Life Raft' here:  https://mailchi.mp/f2dce91955c6/notes-from-the-life-raft

This week we learn more about the blobfish thanks to Matilde's suggestion, and we'll also learn about a primitive rabbit. Further reading: In Defense of the Blobfish: Why the 'World's Ugliest Animal' Isn't as Ugly as You Think It Is A rare rabbit plays an important ecological role by spreading seeds The Amami Rabbit: A Living Fossil in the Wilds of Amami Ōshima [amazing photos in this article!] The blobfish as we usually see it: The blobfish as it looks when it's in its deep-sea home: The Amami rabbit is so so so round: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I'm your host, Kate Shaw. This week we're going to learn a little more about the blobfish, which is Matilde's suggestion, and we'll also talk about an unusual primitive rabbit that's still alive today. We talked about the blobfish briefly in episode 231. The blobfish lives on the sea floor in deep water near Australia and New Zealand. It grows about a foot long at most, or 30 cm, and has weak muscles and a weak skeleton, but it doesn't need to be any stronger since the intense pressure of the water presses in around the fish all the time. Its gelatinous flesh is slightly less dense than the water around it, which means it can float just above the sea floor without much effort, just drifting along, giving its tail and broad fins a little flap every so often. It eats whatever detritus floats down from far above, although it also really likes to eat small crustaceans that live on the sea floor. But wait, you may be thinking, I've seen pictures of the blobfish and it looks like a pinkish blob with a cartoony frown and a droopy nose. Is that blobfish a different one from the one I just described? No! The trouble is that the blobfish lives in really deep water, up to 4,000 feet below the surface, or 1200 meters. That means that there's up to 4,000 feet of water above the fish, and if you've ever had to carry a bucket of water more than a few steps, you'll know that water is really heavy. So the blobfish has 4,000 feet of water pressing on it from all directions. This is naturally called water pressure, and at the depths where the blobfish lives, it's 120 times higher than water pressure in, for instance, your bathtub. At that water pressure, you could not survive for even one second. You would be instantly crushed into a messy blob if you were suddenly transported into water that deep, because your body is adapted to live on the earth's surface. But the opposite is true for the blobfish. If it was suddenly transported to the earth's surface, or at least the water's surface, without all that comfortable pressure keeping its body in place like a really big exoskeleton you can swim through, the blobfish would expand. And that's exactly what happens when a fishing net catches a blobfish and pulls it to the surface. It just goes BLOB all over the place. The blobfish was voted the world's ugliest animal in 2013, which doesn't seem fair since no one looks good when they've exploded into a blob. When the blobfish is alive in its deep-sea home, it's silvery or grayish with little spikes all over its body. It's a member of the family Psychrolutidae, sometimes called toadfish, and it has little black eyes near the top of its head sort of like a toad. Its head is large and wide, while its body tapers to a thin little flat tail. We know almost nothing so far about the blobfish, but we do know a bit about some of its close relatives like the blob sculpin. The blob sculpin lives in the North Pacific Ocean in even deeper water than the blobfish, up to 9200 feet deep, or 2800 meters. That's about a mile and three-quarters deep, or almost 3 kilometers. Deep-sea animals are mostly solitary, but the blob sculpin gathers in large numbers to spawn. The females choose a nesting area and they all lay their eggs in the same place. Then the males release sperm into the water that fertilizes the eggs.

Amami uomo con le mani da uomoE toccami fieroCon un soffio leggero Sì, mi piace cantare. Tanto più durante la settimana di Sanremo. Esistono giorni migliori per parlarvi di quella che secondo me è la canzone d'amore gay più bella di sempre? Secondo me no. Preparatevi a scorrazzare all'interno del pentagramma.Al racconto di una mia esperienza personale. E ad un ospite speciale: Renzo Rubino. Che è stato sul palco dell'Ariston proprio qualche giorno fa. E che dieci anni fa, su quel palco, mi ha dato la forza per provare a essere meno sommerso.Tutto SommersoDiventa un supporter di questo podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arcobaleni-timidi--5676041/support.

Vangelo del giorno: Dal Vangelo secondo Marco (2,13-17)In quel tempo, Gesù uscì di nuovo lungo il mare; tutta la folla veniva a lui ed egli insegnava loro. Passando, vide Levi, il figlio di Alfeo, seduto al banco delle imposte, e gli disse: «Seguimi». Ed egli si alzò e lo seguì.Mentre stava a tavola in casa di lui, anche molti pubblicani e peccatori erano a tavola con Gesù e i suoi discepoli; erano molti infatti quelli che lo seguivano. Allora gli scribi dei farisei, vedendolo mangiare con i peccatori e i pubblicani, dicevano ai suoi discepoli: «Perché mangia e beve insieme ai pubblicani e ai peccatori?».Udito questo, Gesù disse loro: «Non sono i sani che hanno bisogno del medico, ma i malati; io non sono venuto a chiamare i giusti, ma i peccatori».Commento: Anche una certa predicazione a volte rischia di fuorviare: “mettiti a posto e poi segui il Signore”. Ma Egli viene a cercarci tra la folla, per trascinarci verso una nuova vita. Lasciamolo fare!Citazione del giorno: Amami quando lo merito meno, perché sarà quando ne avrò più bisogno. (Catullo)

Following repeated delays, the COP15 biodiversity conference is finally going ahead. On December 7th representatives from most of the countries in the world will meet to reach an agreement on how to address the global biodiversity crisis. There's already a draft agreement in place, and the team explains the ambitions it lays out. But is this event likely to move the needle?A species of rat which should have gone extinct has somehow managed to keep going - and now we know why. In a story worthy of Margaret Atwood, the team finds out how the Amami spiny rat continues to survive despite losing its Y chromosome, the one which makes males. There's a genuine space race going on, with multiple companies hoping to become the first private firm to land on the Moon. The Japanese mission ispace has hit a delay, but the team explains how a viable lunar economy is now a serious prospect.Newborn female mice who sniff the urine of other female mice live longer - considerably so in fact. The team finds out what's going on, and whether the finding applies to humans too…And Rowan chats with Henry Gee, senior editor at the journal Nature, who has won the 2022 Royal Society science book Prize. He describes his book, ‘A Very Short History of Life on Earth: 4.6 billion years in 12 chapters', as a bedtime story for adults, that tells the greatest story ever - the whole saga of life on Earth.On the pod are Rowan Hooper, Chelsea Whyte, James Dinneen, Michael Le Page and Leah Crane. To read about these subjects and much more, you can subscribe to New Scientist magazine at newscientist.com.Events and discount codes:Cyber Monday deal: www.newscientist.com/cybermonday Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Saigo Takamori, the Great Saigo or the Last Samurai is the ideal Japanese man and one of Japan's most beloved historical characters. In popular imagination, Saigo is THE perfect samurai. His image is so heavily embellished that it is sometimes hard to see where reality meets fiction. But let's try to separate them anyway.  Support the show: https://japanexplained.com/#support Cover art: @justlavi

【図解】台風１４号の予想進路大型で猛烈な台風１４号は１７日夜、沖縄県・南大東島の北方海上を北上した。 The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a special warning for violent wind for Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, excluding the Amami region, on Saturday evening.

The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a special warning for violent wind for Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, excluding the Amami region, on Saturday evening.

Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force and the U.S. Army conducted Wednesday a joint anti-ship combat drill participated by electronic warfare units on the island of Amami Oshima in the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima.

「奄美群島で70年ぶりに生まれたブルワリー「AMAMI BREWERY 」」　8月2日、鹿児島県奄美市の飲食店・酒屋兼土産品店であるAMAMI BEER HALL で、店内で醸造されたビールが初めて提供された。ブルワリー名としてはAMAMI BREWERY だ。このブルワリーは2022年7月7日に発泡酒製造免許を取得。念のため補足すると、税制上は発泡酒免許でも、後述するようにヴァイツェンやペールエールといったビアスタイルの酒を製造しており、国際的にはビールである。The post 奄美群島で70年ぶりに生まれたブルワリー「AMAMI BREWERY 」 first appeared on クラフトビールの総合情報サイト My CRAFT BEER.

As a massive earthquake strikes the Philippines and Typhoon Songda blows itself out in the Philippine sea not far from Amami, Kyushu, and Okinawa, the second part of exhibition "Everywhere Gather Yourself Stand" continues at Yutaka Kikutake Gallery in Roppongi. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amami ancora, fallo dolcemente. Un anno, un mese, un'ora. Perdutamente. Un episodio speciale per una serata speciale come quella di Roma Bodø che vorremmo rivivere in loop. Ancora. Entrée con Mirko Bussi, dessert con Simone Conte.Diventa un supporter di questo podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/salida-lavolpiana--5909766/support.

Oliver is joined by Dr Charlotte Linton, Robert & Lisa Sainsbury Research Fellow at the Sainsbury Institute, to discuss dorozome (泥染め) textiles and traditional crafts today. Charlotte will share with us how her change from the fashion industry to academia over environmental concerns brought her to the dorozome or mud-dyeing workshop of Amami Ōshima, Okinawa to understand the challenges and benefits of traditional crafting methods in a world dominated by fast fashion. Image and audio credits Intro-outro music: jasonszklarek / MotionElements.com [L] The Tatsugo pattern of Oshima tsumugi kimono silk [R] Kazuhito Kanai of the natural dyeing workshop Kanai Kougei, mordanting silk yarns in the dorota (mud-field), which is naturally rich in iron. Copyright © 2021 Oliver Moxham, ℗ 2021 Oliver Moxham. May be freely distributed in a classroom setting. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/beyond-japan/message

Ce matin, réveillez-vous avec toutes les sonorités du monde. Nous partons à Genève, à Chypre, dans les rues de New York… Bintou Simporé vous fait découvrir les nouveautés de la sono mondiale. Le trio chypriote Monsieur Doumani nous plonge dans l'obscurité totale, entre rêve et sommeil, avec leur quatrième album Pissourin sorti chez Glitterbeat / Modulor. Créé en 2011, le trio a été récompensé de l'Oscar du Meilleur Groupe, lors des Songlines Music Awards de 2019. Antonio Antoniu le leader, chanteur et joueur de tzouras ( le frère du bouzouki) se démultiplie par ailleurs entre le Trio Tekke et ses oeuvres en solo sur l'album récent Kkismettin . On écoute leur morceau « Koukkoufkiaos ». Autre nouveauté méditerranéenne, “Slam-Iw”, une chanson de la star de la “yal musique” Takfarinas qui évoque les douleurs de l'exil et lance ses salutations à ceux qui rentrent au pays, l'Algérie. Ce morceau “à l'ancienne” figure sur le double album Mon coeur, c'est l'amour du chanteur et musicien kabyle Tak. On prend la direction d'une scandinavie des plus africaine avec le morceau « Where Is My Mbira? » du groupe Monoswezi. Leur influence musicale afro-nordique se combine à l'électronique dans le prochain album Shanu, qui sort le 29 octobre chez Riverboat Records. L'héritage musical zimbabwéen porté par la chanteuse principale et joueuse de mbira, Hope Masike, est toujours au cœur de leurs compositions. S'en suit le Soleil, titre du nouvel album du trio genevois Amami. Sorti en août chez Les Disques Bongo Joe / L'Autre Distribution, ce projet annule les frontières et fusionne sans hésitation afro pop, dance hall, sonorités orientales et dub. « Highway Delhi » nous le prouve. Nous écoutons le nouvel album We Are de “la nouvelle sensation soul” Jon Batiste. Sur son morceau éponyme, le musicien américain s'accompagne du pianiste et chanteur Craig Adams, du News Orleans Gospel Soul Children et du Marching 100 de St. Augustine High School. Ce worldmix se clôture avec le morceau « Strange Breathin » qui a fait les belles heures de la playlist de Nova. Le très soul et funk Adrien Peskine alias Gystere a sorti son album A Little Story en plein confinement et reprend avec joie la route des concerts cet automne. Playlist Lass - Mo Yaro Jorge Mautner - Samba Jambo Lime Cordiale & Idris Elba - Apple Crumble Dennis Bovell - Heaven Charlotte Adigery - Thank You Edu Lobo - Zum Zum Dont le Worldmix Monsieur Doumani - Koukkoufkiaos Takfarinas - Slam Iw Monoswezi - Where Is My Mbira? Amami - Highway Delhi Jon Batiste - We Are Gystere - Strange Breathin See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Expositions, cinéma, live et festival : Bienvenue sur Néo Géo !Worldmix : les nouveautés de la sono mondiale avec Jon Batiste, Monsieur Doumani, Monoswezi, Amami…Ce matin, réveillez-vous avec toutes les sonorités du monde. Nous partons à Genève, à Chypre, dans les rues de New York… Bintou Simporé vous fait découvrir les nouveautés de la sono mondiale.Le trio chypriote Monsieur Doumani nous plonge dans l'obscurité totale, entre rêve et sommeil, avec leur quatrième album Pissourin sorti chez Glitterbeat / Modulor. Créé en 2011, le trio a été récompensé de l'Oscar du Meilleur Groupe, lors des Songlines Music Awards de 2019. Antonio Antoniu le leader, chanteur et joueur de tzouras ( le frère du bouzouki) se démultiplie par ailleurs entre le Trio Tekke et ses oeuvres en solo sur l'album récent Kkismettin . On écoute leur morceau « Koukkoufkiaos ».Autre nouveauté méditerranéenne, “Slam-Iw”, une chanson de la star de la “yal musique” Takfarinas qui évoque les douleurs de l'exil et lance ses salutations à ceux qui rentrent au pays, l'Algérie. Ce morceau “à l'ancienne” figure sur le double album Mon coeur, c'est l'amour du chanteur et musicien kabyle Tak. On prend la direction d'une scandinavie des plus africaine avec le morceau « Where Is My Mbira? » du groupe Monoswezi. Leur influence musicale afro-nordique se combine à l'électronique dans le prochain album Shanu, qui sort le 29 octobre chez Riverboat Records. L'héritage musical zimbabwéen porté par la chanteuse principale et joueuse de mbira, Hope Masike, est toujours au cœur de leurs compositions. S'en suit le Soleil, titre du nouvel album du trio genevois Amami. Sorti en août chez Les Disques Bongo Joe / L'Autre Distribution, ce projet annule les frontières et fusionne sans hésitation afro pop, dance hall, sonorités orientales et dub. « Highway Delhi » nous le prouve. Nous écoutons le nouvel album We Are de “la nouvelle sensation soul” Jon Batiste. Sur son morceau éponyme, le musicien américain s'accompagne du pianiste et chanteur Craig Adams, du News Orleans Gospel Soul Children et du Marching 100 de St. Augustine High School. Ce worldmix se clôture avec le morceau « Strange Breathin » qui a fait les belles heures de la playlist de Nova. Le très soul et funk Adrien Peskine alias Gystere a sorti son album A Little Story en plein confinement et reprend avec joie la route des concerts cet automne. Playlist Lass - Mo YaroJorge Mautner - Samba JamboLime Cordiale & Idris Elba - Apple CrumbleDennis Bovell - HeavenCharlotte Adigery - Thank YouEdu Lobo - Zum ZumDont le Worldmix Monsieur Doumani - KoukkoufkiaosTakfarinas - Slam Iw Monoswezi - Where Is My Mbira?Amami - Highway Delhi Jon Batiste - We AreGystere - Strange BreathinUn Vent d'Ailleurs« Un Vent d'Ailleurs » souffle en France, direction le MaMA festival du 13 au 15... See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Et Pusha T en recommandation auditeur pour l'ouverture.David blot les vendredis soirs est chez lui dans son salon, en roue libre totale ! C'est la raison pour laquelle on vous dit souvent de pousser les tapis, de laisser un mot pour les voisins (au cas où) et des vous laissez aller … C'est ça la magie de la musique et du Nova Club.TRACKLIST :PUSHA T - NUMBERS ON THE BOARDSANZ - YOU COULD BE (FEAT. GEORGE RILEY) METRONOMY - MONDAY (FEAT. BRIAN NASTY X FOLLY GROUP)AMAMI - IN THE CITYSOFT CELL - TAINTED DUB / WHERE DID OUR LOVE GO ?DIANA ROSS - IT'S MY HOUSECARLY SIMON - WHY (12” MIX)MR OIZO - NO TONY (FEAT. PHRA)4M INTERNATIONAL - OPERATOR (DONATO DOZZY CADILLAC RHYTHMS RESHAPE)BASEMENT JAXX - SAMBA MAGICPIL - THIS IS NOT A LOVE SONG (12”MIX)KRAFTWERK - METROPOLIS (LIVE MACHINE-VERSION) LIVE UTRECHT FELIX DA HOUSECAT - READY TO WEAR JULES HENRI MALAKI - MAKIYAJ THE TEMPTATIONS - MY GIRL TOUR MAUBOURG - ODE TO LOVE (FLABAIRE'S NOD TO MR. FINGERS REMIX)SYLVERE - CARNIVAL DOLLY LYON - PALM ON YOUR HANDAARON CARTIER , BABY IZO & DYLAN BRADY - TREMIDOPROSPA, LSDXOXO - WANT NEED LOVEKAJAGOOGOO - TOO SHY (MIDNIGHT MIX)PUBLIC ENEMY - FIGHT THE POWER See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Confie-nous tout c'est toujours la même recette : on passe 25-30min ensemble pour parler d'un album, artiste, plaisir coupable, bande originale, compilation, p'tite vanne et sourires tous les matins aussi en  streaming sur Twitch & Facebook !  9h30 sur Tsugi Radio et avec Groover Aujourd'hui découvrons : AMAMI ⛳ Découverte de fin : Ilia Osokin

Confie-nous tout c'est toujours la même recette : on passe 25-30min ensemble pour parler d'un album, artiste, plaisir coupable, bande originale, compilation, p'tite vanne et sourires tous les matins aussi en streaming sur Twitch & Facebook ! 9h30 sur Tsugi Radio et avec Groover Aujourd'hui decouvrons : AMAMI ⛳ Découverte de fin : Ilia Osokin

David Blot solo, dans son salon, c'est lundi, c'est lundi nouveautés dans le Nova Club !TRACKLIST : BOBBY CHARLES - SMALL TOWN TALKSYLVERE - BECAUSEAMAMI - FRESHHUBERT LENOIR - OCTEMBREANDY SHAUF - JAYWALKERBARBARA ACKLIN - AM I THE SAME GIRLSARZ X OBONG JAYAR - SWEETNESSCLEO SOL - 23FINN - A GOOD PLACE BABYFACE RAY - FOREVA BABY KEEM - PINK PANTIES DE LA SOUL - EYE KNOWANZ - REAL ENOUGH TO FEEL GOODMETRONOMY X PINTY -- HALF AN INCH ACE SPECTRUM - I CAN'T KEEP HOLDING ONWESTSIDE GUNN - FREE KUTTER (FEAT. JAY ELECTRONICA)JORDAN RAKEI - FAMILY ZAPP & ROGER - MORE BOUNCE TO THE OUNCE SIMO CELL - YES DJANTHONY RED ROSE - TEMPOTEULÉ - DRINK ON ME (JEROME SYDENHAUM EDIT)ABFAHRT HINWIL - TECH 7LARRY NOZERO - CHRONICLE OF THE MURDERED HOUSE Pt.2 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

« Musique en été » au Conservatoire & Jardins botaniques de Genève : Entrée libre –  sans réservation, accès dans la limite des places disponibles Le 24 août 2021 à 21:00 – Le violoncelle fait son cinéma|- The Swiss Cellist, carte blanche à Ophélie Gaillard Le 25 août 2021 à 21:00 – AMAMI  Rock / Pop / Folk | Funk « Les Aubes 2021 » au  Bains des Pâquis à Genève Le 25 août 2021 à 06:00 avec  « Crumble in the Kitchen »  Rock / Pop / Folk  Du théâtre au « Parc Trembley » à Genève Du 19 août au 5 septembre 2021 :  Trahisons | Harold Pinter – Valentin Rossier –   

Lynn and Tracie sit down with Demi, an independent midwife from Praktijk AMAMI, to talk about her internship experiences as a student midwife in a Gambian hospital.  Lynn en Tracie zitten aan tafel met Demi, een zelfstandige vroedvrouw van Praktijk AMAMI, om te praten over haar stage-ervaringen als student in een Gambiaans ziekenhuis.

Amami nous enveloppe de toutes ses influences pour une Vostok Session ultra dynamique

Amami nous enveloppe de toutes ses influences pour une Vostok Session ultra dynamique

Lambrusco Brothers (Armando Bolivar Lele Abusiv Il Conte Il Borko) In diretta social domenica 21 febbraio per parlare del loro progetto (AMAMI) e di tanto altro!

Giornata di microscopio sul pianeta Marton.

Trotz Konzert- und Festivalwehen gestaltete sich unsere alljährliche Auswahl der besten Schweizer Musikreleases in diesem Jahr NOCH schwieriger als in den vergangenen Jahren. Wir versuchen uns an einem zweistündigen Querschnitt durch die riesige Ansammlung von CH-Highlights 2020, ohne Anspruch auf Vollständigkeit. Zu den ersten beiden Teilen unseres diesjährigen Jahresrückblicks (ebenfalls mit CH-Beteiligung) geht's hier (die besten Songs 2020) und hier (die besten Alben 2020). Unser letztjähriges CH-«Best of» findet ihr hier . Und weil die Zeit – wie erwähnt – heute äusserst knapp war, hier noch kurz die Liste weiterer, empfehlenswerter CH-Releases aus diesem Jahr, welche wir im heutigen «Best of» zwar angeschnitten, aber keinen ganzen Song daraus gespielt haben: Long Tall Jefferson, Augenwasser , Amami, The Animen, Migre Le Tigre, Soybomb, Dachs, Boomtown , Slow Glass, Noémi Büchi.

Trotz Konzert- und Festivalwehen gestaltete sich unsere alljährliche Auswahl der besten Schweizer Musikreleases in diesem Jahr NOCH schwieriger als in den vergangenen Jahren. Wir versuchen uns an einem zweistündigen Querschnitt durch die riesige Ansammlung von CH-Highlights 2020, ohne Anspruch auf Vollständigkeit. Zu den ersten beiden Teilen unseres diesjährigen Jahresrückblicks (ebenfalls mit CH-Beteiligung) geht's hier (die besten Songs 2020) und hier (die besten Alben 2020). Unser letztjähriges CH-«Best of» findet ihr hier . Und weil die Zeit – wie erwähnt – heute äusserst knapp war, hier noch kurz die Liste weiterer, empfehlenswerter CH-Releases aus diesem Jahr, welche wir im heutigen «Best of» zwar angeschnitten, aber keinen ganzen Song daraus gespielt haben: Long Tall Jefferson, Augenwasser , Amami, The Animen, Migre Le Tigre, Soybomb, Dachs, Boomtown , Slow Glass, Noémi Büchi.

On this week's episode, we sit down with special guest Jo from the YouTube channel MinaKago Couple to talk about moving from how she met her Japanese boyfriend, starting a YouTube channel about life in Japan, and a surprise proposal on the island of Amami! 今週の Small Talk Japan は： ▶️ユーチューバーゲスト「Jo」from MinaKago Couple ▶️日本人の彼氏との出会い話 ▶️YouTubeを始めたきっかけ ▶️プロポーズ@奄美大島

Ce soir c’est Mathilde qui vous proposait sa sélection musicale  : – Black Beanie Dub – Militant – OBF & Nazamba – Hot Beer – Jim Murple Memorial – Skankin The Night – Supergombo – Alien Felines From Beyond The Galaxy – Steam Down – Free My Skin – Galaxy – Disco Funk – AMAMI […] L’article Mix estivaux de l’équipe de prog’ 07.07.2020 est apparu en premier sur Radio Campus Tours - 99.5 FM.

Mario Biondi es considerado como el Barry White italiano, y en más de una ocasión lo han definido como el blanco con la voz más negra de Europa. Una voz que abarca todo, sensual, llena de fuerza y, a la vez, de una dulzura que todo lo inunda. Quizá un descubrimiento para muchos de vosotros, una preciada realidad para otros, pero el caso es que Mario, pura seducción, nos gusta…y mucho. LISTADO DE CANCIONES POR ORDEN DE APARICIÓN 1. Close to you 2. This is what you are 3. Amami per sempre 4. No matter 5. Lowdown 6. Non semetterei piu 7. Come in ogni ora 8. Be lonely 9. Something that was beautiful 10. Little B's poem 11. Ecstasy 12. No mo' trouble 13. Can't get enough 14. Yes you 15. All I really want 16. Life is everything 17. Shine on 18. What have you done to me? 19. Deep space 20. Driving home for Christmas 21. After the love has gone 22. Love is a temple 23. Nightshift 24. Do you feel like I feel? 25. Samba pa ti

How to propose, Japanese slang, and Amami Island! Those are the topics for this week's episode of Small Talk Kagoshima. このエピソードでは ミッチとはやとが ▶プロポーズの仕方 ▶日本のスラング ▶奄美大島 などを話しています！

Gogna online per gli adescatori di minorenni. Il ritorno di Carmen Sandiego. Droni sugli aeroporti. La Harley Davidson elettrica. Il cibo al CES. Queste e molte altre le notizie commentate nella puntata di questa settimana. Dallo studio distribuito di digitalia: Franco Solerio, Massimo De Santo, Giulio Cupini, Francesco Facconi Produttori esecutivi: Eugenio Tacchini, Alessio Prà, Don Giacinto, Vito Verna, Alessio Ferrara, Fabio Murolo, Alessandro Lazzarini, Alessio Conforto, Davide Lanza, Davide Capra, Giuliano Arcinotti, Christophe Sollami, Raffaele Marco Della Monica, Marco Barabino, Luigi Ricco, Marco De Nadai, Renato Battistin, Raffaele Viero, Diego Arati, Luca Ubiali, Matteo Moras, Alessandro Morgantini, Antonio Taurisano, Mauro Ronzana, Michelangelo Rocchetti, Mario Giammona, Simone Podico, Massimiliano Casamento, Davide Ferdinando Precone, Gabriele Serraino, Vittorio Giovanelli, Mirko Fornai, Stefano, Paolo Tegoni Sponsor: Satispay - utilizza il codice coupon "DIGITALIA" al momento dell'iscrizione per un bonus di 5 euro. Links: Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury - Rachel Bloom Ofo ha detto ai propri dipendenti di tenersi pronti alla bancarotta I gruppi che adescano i pedofili online, e poi li umiliano su Facebook Plex plans to offer ad-supported movies and premium subscriptions DJI urges caution in evaluating reports of drone incidents Few people shared fake news in 2016 election, but seniors shared the most Carmen Sandiego Bird Rides Inc. Demands Takedown of Report on Lawful Re-use of Scooters Google Stops Making Chromecast Audio Hyundai shows off 'walking car' at CES La tecnologia è diventata troppo semplice Al CES abbiamo provato Impossible, la finta carne di manzo che sembra vera Ces 2019, Lg lancia la birra artigianale fatta in casa in stile Nespresso Police handed new anti-drone powers after Gatwick disruption Robot dogs are the weirdest package delivery system we’ve seen Heathrow stops departures after drone spotted I don’t want to live in LG’s vision of the future Google Assistant is coming for your car with new hands-free voice control Heathrow, stop a tutti i decolli aerei , avvistato un drone nei cieli Harley Davidson reveals more about its push into electric vehicles DeepSqueak uses AI to translate ultrasonic vocalizations Gingilli del giorno: Minuti Contati - il concorso letterario più interessante del web Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Nintendo Switch E-Paper-Adventures Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? LEGO Porsche crashing in slow motion with 1000 fps

Is American food perceived in the light in Japan as it is in America and around the world? Listen to find out that and more. This week's questions from the Internet: - What do you think about when you hear American Food submitted by iamChillyP (https://www.instagram.com/iamchillyp/) - How do you spend your free time? Hosts: 1. Eri (Eri's Headshake Podcast) 2. Aya (Aya's Headshake Podcast) 3. Taka (Taka's Show) 4. Satoshi (File not Found) Send comments and feedback to hosts: https://goo.gl/forms/VB4wIB0g8VzQHzmf2 Submit your questions here: https://goo.gl/forms/VOxLRLezey6Tvh2y2

Torquigener albomaculosus. This amazing species makes incredible underwater art, out of sand! It was a mystery for a long time, nobody knew who was making these weird pop-up underwater crop-circle things, and then we finally discovered that a tiny pufferfish is behind them. But this has lead to more mysteries: How to they do it? And why? Dive into the waters off the coast of Japan on this episode of Species. Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CSF8j9v_ETlAgpG6xcpj1A0zv1SEdqbkWAaSEcU4j9Q/edit?usp=sharing  

Mark & Sarah face their biggest challenge yet with an 11th century Japanese piece of literature which is said to be the first ever novel. The Tale of Genji is difficult to follow even in the origianl Japanese so the film chosen is 'Genji monogatari: Sennen no nazo' from 2011. A Japanese adaptation of the book which also adds in elements about the writing of the original novel.  All hope of pronouncing names correctly go out of the window and Sarah also gets some exciting news about her favourite film 'The Name of The Rose' The Genji in the film we watched was played by Tôma Ikuta The female Genji in a different film from 2001 was played by Yûki Amami   

On this week's show, Akiko is joined by Chuck Malone, the second American to work in a shochu distillery. In the fall of 2017, he spent three months in Amami-o-shima, an island off the coast of Kagoshima, making kokuto (black sugar) shochu. He’s now returned to the U.S. and is plotting his next move. Japan Eats is powered by Simplecast

Japanese Rabbits (Part 1) Interview with Yudai Tanabe Rabbit Island:   When I think about Japan and rabbits the first thing that comes to mind for me is the video's of Rabbit Island.  As islands that are occupied by wild animals go, Okunoshima, better known as Usaga Jima or Rabbit Island, is probably the cutest.  Ōkunoshima (大久野島?) is a small island located in the Inland Sea of Japan in the city of Takehara, Hiroshima Prefecture.   It is accessible by ferry from Tadanoumi and Ōmishima.  There are campsites, walking trails and places of historical interest on the island.  It is often called Usagi Shima (うさぎ島?, "Rabbit Island") because of the numerous feral rabbits that roam the island; they are rather tame and will approach humans.  Situated in the East Sea/Inland Sea of Japan, the small island is occupied by hundreds of wild rabbits that roam the forests and paths, chase tourists, appear in viral videos and just generally lounge around.  They also provide a much needed counterbalance to the island's otherwise dark history – as the production site for Japan's chemical weapons during the second world war. Of course, Japan being the birthplace of kawaii – the distinct cultural appreciation of all things cute – the bounding herds of friendly rabbits are a much bigger attraction than the Poison Gas Museum.   The source of the rabbits remains a mystery, it may be that the origins of the island's fluffy residents is intertwined with its history as manufacturer of chemical weapons.  The ruins of the gas manufacturing plant are still standing today.  The island was a cultivated area until the Russo-Japanese War when ten forts were built to protect it.  Three fishing families lived on the island.  In 1925, the Imperial Japanese Army Institute of Science and Technology initiated a secret program to develop chemical weapons, based on extensive research that showed that chemical weapons were being produced throughout the United States and Europe.  Japan was a signatory on the 1925 Geneva Protocol which banned the use of chemical warfare.  Although the development and storage of chemical weapons were not banned, Japan went to great lengths to ensure the secrecy of construction of the chemical munitions plant begun in 1929, even going so far as to remove records of the island from some maps. The plant was built over the period of 1927 to 1929, and was home to a chemical weapon facility that produced over six kilotons of mustard gas and tear gas.  Between 1929-1945, the Japanese army secretly produced over 6,000 tons of poison gas on Okunoshima, which was removed from maps of the area and chosen because of its discreet location and distance from civilian populations.  At the time, an unfortunate colony of rabbits was brought to the island in order to test the effects of the poison.  Ōkunoshima played a key role during World War II as a poison gas factory for much of the chemical warfare that was carried out in China.  The island was chosen for its isolation, conducive to security, and because it was far enough from Tokyo and other areas in case of disaster.  Under the jurisdiction of the Japanese military, the local fish preservation processor was converted into a toxic gas reactor.  Residents and potential employees were not told what the plant was manufacturing and everything was kept secret; working conditions were harsh and many suffered from toxic-exposure related illnesses.  With the end of the war, documents concerning the plant were burned and Allied Occupation Forces disposed of the gas either by dumping, burning, or burying it, and people were told to be silent about the project.  Several decades later, victims from the plant were given government aid for treatment.  In 1988 the Ōkunoshima Poison Gas Museum was opened. While some claim the rabbits that live there now are relatives of the test bunnies that were freed by the workers at the end of the war, others are less convinced; it has been reported that all the rabbits were killed when the factory ceased production.  The other theory is that eight rabbits were brought to the island by schoolchildren in 1971, where they bred (presumably like rabbits) until they reached their current population, which is potentially in the thousands.  With the island being a predator-free zone – dogs and cats are banned – if the number of rabbits hasn't hit the thousands yet, it's inevitable it will do soon. The island now has a hotel"Kyukamura Ohkunoshima National Park Resort of Japan", a six-hole golf course and a small camping ground.  Visitors are able to swim in the clean water surrounding the island, regardless of the tide, and enjoy a day trip.  Visitors can eat lunch at Rabbit restaurant or cafe, take a hot spring bath and rental bicycles. According to Murakami, the former director of the poison gas museum, the current rabbits have nothing to do with those that were involved with chemical weapon tests.  Hunting these creatures is forbidden, and dogs and cats may not be taken onto the island.  The ruins of the old forts and the gas factory can be found all over the island; entry is prohibited as it is too dangerous.  Since it is part of the Inland Sea National Park system of Japan, there is a resource center and across the way is the museum.  In 2015, the BBC presented a short television series called Pets - Wild at Heart, which featured the behaviours of pets, including the rabbits on the island. The series depicted various tourists coming to feed the rabbits. Poison Gas Museum The Poison Gas Museum opened in 1988 to educate people about the island's role in World War II.  Opened in 1988, the museum "was established in order to alert as many people as possible to the dreadful truths about poison gas." Only two rooms large, the small building provides a basic overview of the construction of the plant, working conditions and the effects of poison gas on humans.  Families of workers who suffered the aftereffects of the harsh working conditions donated numerous artifacts to help tell the story of the workers' plight when handling the gas with poor safety equipment that often leaked.  The second room shows how poison gas affects the human body through the lungs, eyes, skin, and heart. Images of victims from Iraq and Iran add to the message of the museum.  As expressed by the curator Murakami Hatsuichi to The New York Times, “My hope is that people will see the museum in Hiroshima City and also this one, so they will learn that we [Japanese] were both victims and aggressors in the war. I hope people will realize both facets and recognize the importance of peace.".  In the museum one can pick up a guide to the numerous remains of the forts from the Second Sino-Japanese War and the poison gas factory.  Most of the buildings are run-down and condemned, but recognizable.  The museum is aimed mainly at the Japanese people, but English translations are provided on the overall summary for each section. Other buildings and structures The island is connected by Chūshi Powerline Crossing, the tallest powerline in Japan.  The best way of accessing the island from the mainland is to take the Sanyō Shinkansen train to Mihara Station (only the Kodama stops there); at Mihara, catch the Kure Line local train to Tadanoumi, from there walk to the terminal and catch a ferry.  Now the island, a short ferry ride from the mainland, is a popular tourist resort with a small golf course, camping grounds and beautiful beaches. Tours are also given of the now derelict poison gas facilities, while ruins of military outposts are dotted around the island. In some ways the allure of the bunnies is similar to that of Japan's and, more recently, England's cat cafes.  Most apartments in Japan forbid pets, so an opportunity to enjoy the company of a furry friend is a welcome one.  Visitors to Okunoshima can buy food for the remarkably tame rabbits, who became an online hit when this video of a woman being chased by a "stampede" of rabbits was posted online.  The videos from Japan’s Ōkunoshima Island are undeniably cute: excited tourists laughing and screaming in joy as dozens of fuzzy, semi-wild rabbits swarm over them, looking for a bite of food.  But those viral videos, which have inspired thousands of people to visit the so-called Rabbit Island over the past two years, hold a dark secret.  The rabbits are dying.   The very thing that inspires people to come to the island—the YouTube videos that have been watched by millions—is creating an unsustainable situation that puts Ōkunoshima’s wildlife and ecosystem at risk.  The rabbit population, which was apparently stable for many years, has exploded since the first YouTube video appeared in 2014. “It’s amazing how many tourists we interviewed came to the island just because of the video,” said Margo DeMello, program director for the Animals and Society Institute, an Ann Arbor, Michigan–based nonprofit.  The tourists often come bearing food, and that’s creating an unsustainable population boom.  “There are now about 1,000 rabbits on this two-mile island,” DeMello said. “They’ve destroyed the ecosystem.”  As a result of the lack of vegetation and the inappropriate food that tourists provide for the animals, the rabbits suffer from a variety of health problems and now have a life expectancy of just two years, DeMello and her fellow researchers found.  The findings were presented on Wednesday at the World Lagomorph Conference in Turlock, California.  Although the resort’s website contains warnings not to pick up the rabbits or feed them snacks, DeMello said most tourists ignore the cautionary instructions.  Tourists’ photos from the island posted online are proof of that.  The tourists, she said, often come bearing cabbage, one of the cheapest vegetables in Japan and a big part of the Japanese diet.  Cabbage is a bad food choice for rabbits, as it causes dangerous and potentially deadly bloat. It is also low in fiber, something rabbits require for what DeMello called their “very particular digestive system.  The supplemental food—which the rabbits now rely on because there’s so little natural vegetation left to eat—also comes irregularly, especially when cold or rainy weather or school schedules keep tourists off the island.  “Rabbits need to eat all the time and consistently,” DeMello said.  “Now they get huge amounts of food on some days and no food on other days.  They’re not like other animals that can adapt to that.”  The situation on Rabbit Island is far from unique. Experts warn that social networking—from YouTube videos to posting selfies taken with wildlife—all too often inspires behavior that is unhealthy for animals.  Adam Roberts, chief executive of Born Free USA, expressed concern that “seemingly benign social media” can lead to poor behavior by humans that is detrimental to animals.   “Social media can glorify the cruel consumption of animals, which leads people to buy animals, including from irresponsible breeders, and even wild animals, which should remain in the wild,” he said.  “Tourists should avoid feeding wild animals when it is not regulated,” said Laëtitia Maréchal, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Lincoln in the United Kingdom and lead author of the study.  “It not only presents potential risks for animal welfare but also for the tourists themselves, as they might be injured or risk potential disease transmission.”  Even official warnings don’t appear to stop the behavior, she said. “As people often believe that feeding animals is an act of kindness, they seem surprised or skeptical that this behavior can potentially harm the welfare of the animals involved.”  On Rabbit Island, DeMello and her fellow researchers found that the rabbits are fighting over even the least nutritious food provided by tourists.  “Of the 728 rabbits that we counted on the island, 28 percent had visible injuries or illnesses,” she reported.  The percentage grew to 50 percent in the areas of the island closest to humans. “The more humans interfered, the sicker and more injured the rabbits appeared to be,” she said.  Because the rabbits are officially considered wild animals, the national park and resort take no active role in their care.  “We as a hotel do nothing that might impact the wild nature of these animals, such as feeding or veterinary treatment,” Christoph Huelson of the Kyukamura Hotels sales department said in an email.  DeMello said she and others worry that word about the condition of the animals could lead to tourism restrictions or even to some of the rabbits being killed off.  Instead, she hopes her research will inspire some change that will benefit the animals.  “I would like to see a dialogue between the government, the hotel, and some of the local people who care about the rabbits,” she said.  Until then, she said, talking about the issues raised by social media might create some change in time to let the rabbits recover from the effects of the wrong kind of publicity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%8Ckunoshima https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2014/jun/02/rabbit-island-okunoshima-japan-holiday-resort-bunnies http://www.takepart.com/article/2016/07/14/viral-videos-are-destroying-japans-super-cute-rabbit-island In my research I found Another Rabbit Island!!!! AMAMI-OSHIMA https://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/spn/kagoshima/map_plus_info/locations.html By air from Tokyo: 2:20h; from Kagoshima: 50 min. Amami-Oshima: Mangrove Among the special natural attractions of Amami-Oshima are a species of black rabbit, dense virgin forests, and mangroves. The mangrove forest can be explored by canoe, and sea-kayaking is also popular. The beauty of the coral reef can be viewed by means of a glass-bottomed boat. The island has examples of traditional "taka-kura", which are storehouses built on stilts. While they may seem typical of a south-sea island culture, they were originally used not only in the islands but throughout Japan to store rice. The island has a centuries-old tradition of manufacturing pongee silk fabric, which is known for its fineness of pattern and pleasant feel on the skin. Agricultural products include sugarcane, sweet potatoes, pineapple, papaya, and bananas. Now I am going to cover the Amami rabbit The Amami rabbit (Pentalagus furnessi; Amami: [ʔosaɡi]), or Amamino kuro usagi (アマミノクロウサギ 奄美野黒兔?, lit. "Amami wild black rabbit"), also known as the Ryukyu rabbit, is a primitive, dark-furred rabbit which is only found in Amami Ōshima and Toku-no-Shima, two small islands between southern Kyūshū and Okinawa in Kagoshima Prefecture (but actually closer to Okinawa) in Japan.  Often called a living fossil, the Amami rabbit is a living remnant of ancient rabbits that once lived on the Asian mainland, where they died out, remaining only on the two small islands where they survive today. With its small ears and eyes and its dense dark fur, it looks very different from a typical rabbit or hare. It lives in or on the edge of old-growth forests, away from human activity. Although the rabbit has been declared as a Japanese National Monument, its existence is not widely known, even amongst the people of Japan. The species is protected from hunting, but populations have decreased in the last few decades due to extensive habitat loss and predation by introduced carnivores. This ancient species looks very different from a typical rabbit or hare. It has retained several primitive characteristics, such as small eyes and ears and a long snout. The rabbit’s distinctive fur is dense and woolly, and is dark-brown in colour, fading to reddish-brown on the sides and underbelly. Its body is heavily built with short limbs that end in unusually long curved claws.  The Amami Rabbit has a body length between 42 and 51 cms (16.5 - 20 inches), a tail length between 1 and 3.5 cms (0.4 - 1.4 inches) and they weigh between 2 and 3 kgs (4.4 - 6.6 lbs).  They are a distinctive rabbit with a bulky body and dark brown fur. They have a pointed nose, small eyes and short ears.  The Amami rabbit has short hind legs and feet, a somewhat bulky body, and rather large and curved claws used for digging and sometimes climbing. Its ears are also significantly smaller than those of other rabbits or hares.  The pelage (the fur, hair, or wool of a mammal) is thick, wooly and dark brown on top and becomes more reddish-brown on the sides.  The eyes are also small compared to more common rabbits and hares. The average weight is 2.5–2.8 kg. The only species in its genus, the Amami rabbit is one of the most primitive lagomorphs in the world. It is so different from other rabbits and hares that it is considered to belong to an early branch of the main rabbit-hare evolutionary tree.  Its ancestors are believed to have diverged from other leporids between 10 and 20 million years ago, about half as long ago as ancestral rabbits separated from pikas. Behavior Predominantly solitary and nocturnal. Individuals spend their days sleeping in a den, usually an underground tunnel or a space between rocks and trees.  At night the rabbits forage for food amongst the forest undergrowth.  They eat a variety of plants and fruits depending on the season, with Japanese pampas grass forming the bulk of the diet in the summer months, and acorns during the winter.  The rabbit breeds twice a year, producing two or three young which are raised in a safe den. This species of forest-dweller reproduces once in late March–May and once in September–December, having one or two young each time.  The mother visits the den at night to nurse her young. When she leaves she carefully seals the den with dirt and plant material to protect them against predators.  They are also noted for making calling noises, which sound something like the call of a pika.  Amami Rabbits communicate with each other using clicking sounds and calling noises, which is unusual among rabbit species. Distribution and habitat The ideal habitat for these rabbits is in an area between mature and young forests. They use the dense mature forests as protection and for the presence of acorns for their diets. More common in secondary forests close to mature forests than in those further from mature forests, indicating that a mosaic of mature and young forests is the most suitable habitat type for this species. Population surveys carried out between 1985 and 1990 indicate that the rabbits are most common in secondary forests, 10 to 40 years after clear-felling.  The species is not found in cultivated or residential areas.  They also use the high density of perennial grasses and herbaceous ground cover in the young forests for their diets during different times of the year.  Therefore, the best habitat for them to live in is where they have easy access to both young and mature forests with no obstructions between the two forest types. The species is only known to occur on the islands of Amami (820 km²) and Tokuno (248 km²) in the Ryukyu Archipelago, southwest of Japan. The distribution has been estimated to be around 370 km² on Amami and 33 km² on Tokuno Island. Some populations are completely isolated and thought to be very small. The population has been estimated to be between 3,000 and 5,000, of which the majority are found on the island of Amami.  There are believed to be fewer than 500 individuals remaining on the island of Tokuno.  Using fecal pellet counts and resident surveys, the number of rabbits is estimated at 2000–4800 left on Amami Island and 120–300 left on Tokuno Island. Population Trend In spite of an increase in the area of young forests due to continuous cutting, surveys have indicated a significant decline in the distribution and abundance of the species over the past 20 years.  In particular, populations of Amami rabbit have decreased in the central part of the island, where mongoose numbers have rapidly increased in recent years. Threats The rabbits initially became endangered as a result of hunting for meat and oriental medicine.  Before 1921, hunting and trapping were another cause of decline in population numbers.  In 1921, Japan declared the Amami rabbit a "natural monument" which prevented it from being hunted.  Then in 1963, it was changed to a "special natural monument" which prevented it from being trapped as well.  Even with Japan giving the species full legal protection, it is still under threat from predation by stray dogs, feral cats and other animals introduced by humans.  In particular, Java mongooses Herpestes javanicus have killed large numbers of Amami rabbits, following their introduction in 1979 to control the population of venomous habu pit vipers Trimeresurus flavoviridis.  Unfortunately, the mongooses devastated populations of the islands’ native small mammals instead. In the last few decades, habitat loss due to extensive logging operations has also been a major contributor to the rabbits’ decline.  Less than 1% of the forests on Amami Island have been protected from development activities such as logging resort development and road construction. The total area of mature forest in 2000 was estimated to be about 40% of that in 1970, accounting for about 9.1% of the forest area on the island.  Young secondary forests, resulting from complete clearance of mature forests, now cover much of the island. However, rabbits are less common in areas of secondary forest far from mature forest patches. Conservation Underway The species has been declared as a Japanese National Monument, and as such receives protection from hunting and capture. Some animals are further protected in national reserves such as the Amami Gunto Quasi-National Park.  A number of population surveys (consisting of rabbit pellet counts and community interviews) have been carried out over the past two decades.  These surveys have yielded important data on the population and conservation status of the species, and have confirmed the negative effect mongooses are having on rabbit populations. The results of these studies have led to recent culls of this alien invasive predator by the federal and local government. Conservation Proposed A combination of habitat restoration and predator control initiatives are required to mitigate the threats to the Amami rabbit.  Careful habitat management is needed to maintain a mosaic of mature oak forests and young second-growth so that the rabbit can obtain food throughout the year.  Such mosaics are still fairly abundant in the central and the southern parts of Amami Island.  The primary conservation measure in such areas would be to limit forest road construction.  This measure would restrict the logging of more mature forests, help prevent the further expansion of predators into the forest, and ensure that local rabbit populations do not become isolated.  Increased habitat protection would be beneficial in the southern part of Amami Island, where the population density of rabbits is still quite high.  Populations of predators (feral cats and dogs and introduced mongooses) should be controlled, particularly in areas of important habitat. Long-term research and monitoring programmes are also required to continue to assess the conservation and management needs of the species  A small area of the Amami Island has the Amami Gunto Quasi-National Park that further protects the population. Some attempt at habitat restoration has been made, but the Amami rabbit needs a mosaic of mature and young forest in close proximity, and when a young forest is regrown nowhere near a mature forest, this rabbit is not likely to inhabit it.  Research and population monitoring also is underway to try to keep the numbers from declining, even if they can not be increased. The Lagomorph Specialist Group of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources proposed a plan of conservation in 1990. The Amami Wildlife Conservation Center of the Ministry of the Environment was established in 1999. It restarted a mongoose eradication program in 2005 and designated the Amami rabbit as endangered in 2004 for Japan. Japan really loves its cats.  This makes managing stray overpopulation in ecologically vulnerable areas a challenge, at least if you believe it should be done in a way that doesn’t involve cruelty to animals.  Other nations, take a horrific and merciless approach with “culling” that often uses brutal tactics such as trapping and mass poisoning, even though these methods often have unintended consequences.  For Japan, these options were a nonstarter when looking at how to protect the fragile Amami rabbits of Tokunoshima island, so the nation devised a better solution: a mass spay/neuter program.   2,200 cats have been altered already, with around 1,000 to go — shows that it’s possible to control a very large population of strays effectively, and to the benefit of all parties involved. There is some more good news for the Amami Rabbit.  As of last month in Tokyo, on Jan. 18 (Jiji Press)—Tokyo will recommend soon that islands in the Amami-Ryūkyū region in southwestern Japan be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2018, Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide said.  The government will make its official decision on the matter as early as this week, Suga told a press conference.  Set to be recommended as World Heritage sites are the northern part of the main island of Okinawa Prefecture and Iriomote Island, also in Okinawa, as well the islands of Amami Oshima and Tokunoshima in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan.  An urgent task in the region is the protection of endangered native species such as the Okinawa rail, known as “Yanbaru Kuina,” and the Amami rabbit, or “Amami no Kuro Usagi,” as well as the preservation of subtropical laurel forests. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amami_rabbit http://www.edgeofexistence.org/mammals/species_info.php?id=44 http://www.catster.com/lifestyle/japan-saves-native-rabbits-by-neutering-thousands-of-cats http://www.nippon.com/en/genre/politics/l10103/ http://www.theanimalfiles.com/mammals/rabbits_hares_pikas/amami_rabbit.html Why the Rabbit is a Bird: For those of you who study Japanese, you might have come across this curious feature of the language. When counting rabbit/hares the word WA ( 羽) is used ( in Japanese different counting words are used for different things). The odd thing is that this is the counting word used for counting BIRDS! ICHI WA, NI WA – one bird, two birds.   Some explain  this by saying that is because rabbits/hares jump ( like flying) and their ears look like feathers ( and also because their meat tasted like chicken!). The real reason, however, is more interesting. Since the adoption of Buddhism, the eating of the meat of four-legged animals has been frowned upon ( though not anymore!). In fact, during the Edo Period, the Tokugawa Family officially banned the eating of such animals. The trouble was, that the Tokugawa`s in fact loved eating RABBIT. In fact it was a regualr feature of their New Year`s Dishes ( O-Sechi). How did they get around the law that they themselves promulgated and enforced? Easy. They called hares BIRDS ! Case closed! By the way, besides eating the meat, the Japanese also used the fur, to make brushes for calligraphy. Such brushes were long considered to be The highest quality. http://blog.alientimes.org/2011/01/for-the-year-of-the-rabbit-some-musings-on-rabbits-and-hares-in-japanese-culture-and-history/ Back when nights were pitch dark, people would be very imaginative when looking at the brightly shining full moon in the night skies. People in different countries see different things when looking at moon patterns, such as a standing lion, a crab with one large claw, or the profile of a man or woman. The Japanese say that "a rabbit is pounding mochi. In Japanese folklore there are rabbits living the moon which keep busy making mochi.  Mochi is a sticky rice snack. http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/indepth/cultural/kie/moon/kie_moon_06.html The venerable legend of "The White Rabbit of Inaba," and the fable of "The Tortoise and the Hare" are proof that Japanese have been interested in rabbits through the ages. The fact that these creatures are so prolific has made them an appropriate symbol of wealth. Perhaps the first linkage of hoppers and the moon came from India, where one legend tells of a rabbit that cannot bear to see people starve and jumps into the fire so they can have food.  As a reward for this self-sacrifice, the god Indra is said to have taken the rabbit to the moon. The story then traveled to China. There, the rabbit has become a pharmacist, mixing medicines with mortar and pestle. The tale then passed to Japan, where the rabbit is pounding mochi rice cakes, instead of pulverizing medicinal herbs.  All over the world, people have likened the shadows on the moon to all sorts of things, but the Japanese have always been infatuated with the idea of the rabbit pounding mochi. This can be seen at traditional confectionary shops throughout the nation, where people stand in line to buy cakes with a rabbit motif for the autumn moon-viewing season. He was said to descend to Earth around the time of the three-day moon, and return home when the moon was full.  Some artwork includes images of a rabbit or hare stands gazing wistfully at the moon,  In the midst of a field of wild autumn grasses, as if longing to return home. Now for a Japanese story: The Rabbit in the Moon (A Japanese Tale) http://www.uexpress.com/tell-me-a-story/1996/8/1/the-rabbit-in-the-moon-a Every night the Old Man in the Moon looks down on Earth to see how his animals and people are doing. He smiles to see them resting after a hard day's work. He winks at sleeping children. He hovers over rivers and lakes, lighting the waves and the shore. Then he sails on to other lands. One night long ago, the Old Man lingered in the sky over a forest in Japan. The animals below seemed to him to live in peace and harmony. Suddenly he spotted a monkey, a fox and a rabbit who were living side by side. The Old Man began to wonder about these animals that he knew only by sight. After a while he began to long to know them better. "Which of these friends is the kindest creature?" he asked himself as he watched the rabbit dash across the fields. "I wonder which is most generous?" he said softly as he watched the monkey swing from a tree. "I wonder what they are truly like," he said as he watched the fox paw at the forest floor to make his bed. "I need to know more about my creatures." The Old Man floated a while longer, but finally his curiosity got the best of him. "I must go and see for myself," he said, and because the Old Man in the Moon is a magical creature, he was able to transform himself into a poor beggar. In this disguise he floated down to Earth. He walked through the forest until he came to the clearing where the monkey, fox and rabbit lived. When the creatures saw him, they looked up at him with bright shining eyes. "Good day, sir," the rabbit said. "How do you do?" "Welcome to our forest," said the monkey, and the fox bowed low. "Oh, friends," the Old Man said, leaning heavily on his walking stick, "I am not doing well. I am old and poor, and I am very hungry. Do you think you could help me?" "Of course we'll help," the monkey chattered. "We always help our friends," the fox agreed. "We'll fetch some food for you," the rabbit added, and without a moment's hesitation, the three ran off, each one in search of food to offer the poor beggar. The Old Man sat down and leaned against a tree. Looking up into his sky, he smiled. "These are good animals," he said to himself, "and I am curious to see who is most generous." Before long the monkey returned, carrying an armload of fruit. "Here you are," the monkey said. "The bananas and berries are delicious. And take these oranges too, and these pears. I hope you will enjoy my gift," and he lay his fruit before the beggar. "Thank you, my friend. You are kind," the beggar said, and before he had finished speaking, the fox raced into the clearing. He carried a fat, fresh fish between his teeth, and this he laid before the beggar. Again he bowed. "My friend," the fox said, "I offer you a fresh fish to ease your hunger. I hope this will satisfy you." "You also are kind," said the Old Man. "I never knew how kind the forest animals were." "Of course we are kind," the monkey said proudly. "And we are skilled at finding food," the fox added. Now all three sat waiting for the rabbit to return. Meanwhile, the rabbit dashed this way and that through the forest, but no matter how he tried, he could not find food for the beggar. At long last he returned to the clearing. "Friend," the monkey cried, "you have returned!" "I have," the rabbit said sadly, "but I must ask you to do me a favor, dear friends. Please, Brother Monkey, will you gather firewood for me? And Brother Fox, with this firewood will you build a big fire?" The monkey and the fox ran off at once to do as their friend asked, and the beggar sat quietly by, watching in wonder. When the fire was blazing, the rabbit turned to the beggar. "I have nothing to offer you but myself," he said. "I am going to jump into the fire, and when I am roasted, please feast upon me. I cannot bear to see you go hungry." Rabbit bent his knees, preparing to jump into the fire. The beggar at once threw away his stick and cast off his cloak. He stood straight and tall and proud, and the animals, seeing this strange transformation, began to shake with fear. "Don’t be afraid," the Old Man said. "You see, Rabbit, I am more than a beggar, and I have seen that you are more than generous. Your kindness is beyond price, but you must understand, I wish you no harm. I do not want you to sacrifice yourself for my comfort. I will take you home with me, where I can watch over you and make sure you are never harmed." The Old Man in the Moon lifted the rabbit into his arms and carried him up to the moon. The monkey and the fox watched in amazement, but they were grateful, for they wished their friend no harm. If you look carefully at the moon when it is full and bright, you will see the rabbit living there in peace, resting in the Old Man's arms, helping him to watch over us all. Plant of the week: Raspberry Word of the week: Impress

  I recently found out that the San Carlo,Naples audience carried on so much after Sills' "Amami,Alfredo" that she had to return to the stage for a bow after she had gone into her dressing room. Sills gives her usual heart-wrenching performance and she is joined by Alfredo Kraus and Mario Zanasi. The conductor in this 1970 performance is Aldo Ceccato.  (73 min.) Just a little aside from me: The many times I saw Sills, I always said that she was "better than the sum of her parts." One would not think of her in the Bolena or the Roberto Devereux, or even as Violetta with an essentially "coloratura" voice that excelled in operas such as Le Coq D'Or and Julius Caesar. However, what emerged was a phenomenal career and I am so thanksful  I saw her in just about all her roles.

Today Atlus revealed their first English language trailer for the upcoming US release of their 1997 cyber-horror RPG, Soul Hackers. Take a look first look at the Amami city and the cast of this upcoming dungeon crawling epic. Shin Megami Tensei: Soul Hackers is set to be released on April 16th. The post Jack Into This Shin Megami Tensei: Soul Hackers English Trailer appeared first on Hey Poor Player.

AMAMI : ce chant traditionnel de l'île d'Amami dans le sud du Japon figure également sur l'album que Maïa Barouh a produit avec Martin Meissonnier. Maia Barouh is an artist born in Tokyo, with a Japanese mother and a …

AMAMI : ce chant traditionnel de l'île d'Amami dans le sud du Japon figure également sur l'album que Maïa Barouh a produit avec Martin Meissonnier. Maia Barouh is an artist born in Tokyo, with a Japanese mother and a … Continuer la lecture →