Wednesday In Japan... Yes, Hanshin Tigers !

Tucson son is visiting his brother, family and friends in Japan


Japanese son sent me this app so I could watch the flight.
And I did.

Walking in the Temple's bamboo forest.
I want to do this.

The sign says that the temple is a historical national monument
please don't walk dogs here.
awwwww no Square Dogs allowed.
yert !

This is really where I want to be, a Hanshin Tigers Baseball game.
I am a huge fan.
It was raining off and on, everyone stayed.
They lost (again) bummer.
Family buys bentos next to the stadium and beer at the game. Perfect !
Photos are from Tucson and Japanese son.
I wish I was there.

..................
Subliminal Coffee has been posting about movies.
Ones that she likes, disliked and wants to see.
One movie she wants to see is "33 Postcards" (coming soon to netflix) which got me thinking about three movies that I have on my Netflix list and one extra.

Afterlife... Japanese 1999
Hirokazu Koreeda
When I lived in California I had two Asian TV channels (LA) to watch on Cox cable. In Tucson on my "basic" comcast cable I have almost as many Hispanic channels as English but not one Asian channel, even on their premium package. But I do get the Chicago (WGN) channel ? which I do watch every once in awhile.
 I miss the LA channels very much, I was able to watch many interesting and different  movies.
Thank goodness for Netflix !

I watched this movie 13 years ago.
With any movie you watch you bring what is happening to you at that moment
or your personal history.
I think being raised Catholic had much to do with how I viewed this movie and why I still think about it long after the CGI's of Summer Blockbuster have been forgotten.
How sad that I never thought I would go strait to heaven but would end up in purgatory first, working off all my sins so this movie was very interesting to me.
I missed the first few minutes so it took a few moments to figure out what was happening.
You are at a  "station" between heaven and hell. People who have just died are helped by guides to remember their memories and pick one defining moment in their life. This moment will be recreated and then they will take it heaven. It is their only memory that they move on with.
I don't want to tell more (you are just dropped in the story) but for me it was very suprising how I felt after watching this quiet movie.

Next on my list.
Still Walking... Japanese,  2008
Hirokazu Koreeda 
A death in the family of a favorite son still weighs on the family 15 years later.
The movie centers on yearly gathering to commmemorate his death.
I like the directors work and many of the actors in this movie and from what I have read it sound very interesting.

And just so you don't think I am always thinking of death.
Third on my list
Good Morning... Japanese 1959
Yasujiro Ozu
I have read and heard much about this film off and on for many years
and have wanted to see it for a long time.
Tokyo in the 1950, social structure, culture and two little boys.
The boy are constantly bugging their parents for a TV.  The parents finely tell the boys to stop talking and  they do and how it affect the family and the people around them in different ways.

A film I saw it in 2006.

Riding Alone For Thousands Of Miles, China  2005
Yimou Zhang
 An aging Japanese father tries to re-connect with his dying son. He travels thousands of miles in China to finish a film his son was working on and didn't finish.
Understated and quiet film.

ummmmmmm I think you can tell I am not a "Twilight" film person.
I have a very eclectic list of movies on my queue, watching "The Girls From Paris" French 2001, but NO sparkly vampires please.

As I said, I have seen the first movie and will watch it again
and I wonder if I will see and feel about it that same way after all this time.
The next two are next up on my Queue.
The last one I watched before.

movies. . . parsnip
music. . . 10 Mile Stereo,  Beach house