A blog that will cure your apathy and inspire your dreams...
Warning: All who watch anime, play video games, like J-music and K-music, and the like... ARE OTAKU!
(Note: This post is about educational topics and Japan)
In America, psychology is straightforward and to the point: People would rather treat the disease than the person. This makes people wary about the American psychology treatment system.
Japanese psychologist, Naoto Kawabata, is working on the front lines of the Fukushima disaster, helping people adjust to the circumstances of the disaster. He's risking his life to help people that need it the most. Many people consider him a hero.
He's both a psychologist and a psychoanalyst which is interesting because he uses the Freudian theory! I've never heard of a Japanese psychologist using Freudian theory before. And, surprisingly, he is able to use it skillfully to help trauma victims.
His theory is called a "systemic-psychodynamic" model of trauma disaster aid. Instead of only treating people for the trauma of the disaster, he sought to treat past traumas as well, convinced that any weak areas in their psyche would could cause breakdowns in the future. For example, if you had family troubles before the disaster and later had a breakdown from the disaster, there's a good chance that those family issues were the root of the problem, and not the disaster itself.
There's a lot to learn from his method of helping... Instead of just fixing the short term problems, people can instead choose to delve in deeper to find the root of the problem and solve the long term problems that may arise. This way people are treated like humans instead of like insignificant patients with immediate circumstances.
Naoto Kawabata, thank you for making a difference in the world and "helping others" in their time of need!
The date was May 22nd 2011. The weather was downcast at times, but very temperate. The place was Central Park in NYC. And the event was Japan Day @ Central Park 2011! Japan-lovers gathered to celebrate the culture and endurance of Japan under this year's motto: "Ganbare Nihon!" ("Do your best, Japan!").
The focus of this year's Japan Day celebration was to bolster and support the resilience of Japan as they endure trying times after a series of earthquakes (one of which was magnitude 9.0, one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded) and tsunami that hit the nation and caused the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Since these problems arose, Japan has been struggling to recover. Japan Day in New York supports Japan by collecting donations in exchange for Japan Day memorabilia.
Nearly 30,000 people stopped by Japan Day. The attendants were a big lively group of people. An entire spectrum of Otakudom all its own existed at the event, from Rukia and Toshiro (from Bleach) to Ragna the Bloodegde from the Blazblue game series (best cosplayer of the event in my opinion). Below are some of the best cosplayers, with more in the spoilers tab!
» Awesome Cosplayers from Japan Day 2011 [Click to Show] «
[If you cosplayed, maybe we have a picture of you here!]
There were many fun and interesting booths to enjoy at Japan Day! At the Language booth, a Japanese teacher taught short beginners classes for small groups of people. Here are some of the phrases I learned:
Inorimasu - I pray for you.
Kibou wo motte - Have hope.
Ouen shimasu - I cheer for you.
The content was very limited and the phrases emphasized related only to the theme of Japan Day. It was a fun experienece and probably inspired some inexperienced people to learn Japanese!
Another fun booth was the Caligraphy area. Wait on line for your turn, think of an awesome Japanese phrase to write, and have a seasoned caligraphic expert help you compose it! Needless to say, it was an exciting experience all its own. It really fed the "power of dreams"!
There were many other fun booths. The Hello Kitty booth allowed you to take a picture with the adorable fuzzy mascot that is all the rave in Japan!
The Origami booth was a blast, and they even hosted a 1000 cranes charity fold.
The Traditional Toys booth was one of the most interesting.
There were many fun traditional toys such as the Kendama (a cup-and-ball game similar to toys of the same kind in America) and kenkagoma koma (Japanese spinning tops). It was truly a fun time with classic Japanese toys!
We caught the concert at the beginning stages during the sound check. Aisha performed with Darryl Daniels or DMC, singing a cover of New York and Walk This Way. Aisha is a new jpop artist who made her professional debut in December 2010. Aisha, international pop star who we saw first at New York's very own Japan Day!
The Japan Day staff handed out free tea! That's something that rarely happens in New York city, free, safe, and delicious beverages being handed out. The brand of tea is "Teas' Tea" by Ito En, a Japanese tea company. I have to say that the tea was delicious and very relaxing.
Otaku Reviewers is very glad to see Japan Day grow as an annual event in New York where we live. Japanese influence in the United States is usually limited and behind the scenes, but after the disaster in Japan everyone is finally coming together to help one another and celebrate culture and just have fun! If you didn't make it to Japan Day this year, I highly recommend you make it out here for next time! It surely won't disappoint!
This event was the same day as Japan day. It was located 40th avenue and Park avenue.
The Japan Block Fair had a great turnout of people. Many different types of people were there, all showing support to Japan and the businesses at the fair. Since the fair only used one block of space, all of those people were crammed onto one block of street. Moving around was not easy.
There were many food stands selling cuisines like ramen, udon, edamame balls, rice balls, etc. The food was really good but the prices were higher than we would expect for the small servings of food. But I bought and showed support and loved the food. ^^
There were many opportunities to donate to earthquake relief in Japan by buying buttons, souvenoirs, etc. They did not have much anime related goods which was a letdown. We got there after the performances too but we wouldn't want to be in a much larger crowd during the performance.
Overall, this is a great event. This year had an extra large turnout. Hopefully next year there will be more space or more blocks dedicated to Japan Block Fair NYC. We hope to see you there!
This blog, "The Otaku Reviewers", was started in February of 2010 on this very same platform, Blogger. At first, it was a venture into the informational and informal world of comics, anime, video games, and Japanese culture. In other words, just a random blog.
Over time, the founder of the blog credited with the pseudonym "RPGhero" was joined by two fellow bloggers and friends with the names "Chansu" and "Deretsun". Together the three bloggers looked up interesting Japanese culture facts, recommended new anime, talked about their own "otaku" interests, and traveled across the United States to various anime conventions.
There have been off periods when the blog ceased production of content and there have been times when there would be dozens of blog posts per week. The schedule varies depending on the lives of the people behind the alias'. However the pattern is that we always get back into the game with even newer information about Japanese culture, anime, video games, and other nerdy hobbies.
The motto of our blog is:
"A cure for your apathy and an inspiration for your dreams. ...Applies to Otaku, anime fans, J-pop junkies, and the like"
The purpose is to blog about cool stuff related solely to anime and otaku stuff. There's no other reason we're doing this.
If you like our blog, please support us in however small a way that you would like. We appreciate our readers!
