October 8, 2023 • 49 mins
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Scritto da Erick Simionato e Nicola Valletta
Montaggio e produzione audio di Alessandro Dimatteo
Prodotto da Nicola Valletta
Nicola Valletta - http://bodo.solutions
Erick Simionato - www.instagram.com/ilfujitivo/
Alessandro Dimatteo - https://www.instagram.com/thewolf__music/
Per contattarci --> thebodohope@gmail.com
Scritto da Erick Simionato e Nicola Valletta
Montaggio e produzione audio di Alessandro Dimatteo
Prodotto da Nicola Valletta
Nicola Valletta - http://bodo.solutions
Erick Simionato - www.instagram.com/ilfujitivo/
Alessandro Dimatteo - https://www.instagram.com/thewolf__music/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
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(00:47):
Buongiorno a tutti e benvenuti al sesto episodio di
L'isola a forma di banana!
Today we're recording this video from the new VODO's new recording room.
It's a miracle that I've finally managed to get away from it, rebuild it, adapt it and finally set it up.
(01:10):
I have to say that it's very nice in here, it's so quiet that I can hear my thoughts flutter.
In fact, the merit of the audio cleaning is not ours, because we are the ones who do it.
But it's the merit of ours, let's remember it, the holy phonic Alexander of Matthew.
That solves our problems with pronunciation and our...
(01:36):
Exactly, and above all of this soundproofed cabin that now makes our audio so wonderful.
How nice, do you hear how silent this moment of silence is? Wait...
You've just passed out, damn it!
Anyway, today we're here to talk about racism, nationalism, stress sources, people who die from work, Yakuza.
(02:01):
Today, something a little lighter, to close the second series in beauty.
It's still strange to talk about series.
Anyway, today we'll talk about Japanese...
Be careful when we're on the fifth and sixth.
Fifth, sixth, sixth series.
Oh no.
It's true, because we already have some ideas.
We're not going to talk about it.
So what are we going to talk about today? My dear.
(02:21):
My dear, today we'll talk about Japanese and holidays.
Joy and celebration.
Celebration? What are you talking about?
No, today we'll talk about Japanese and holidays.
So we'll make some parallels between how we celebrate holidays in Italy.
We celebrate holidays, you can't hear it.
(02:43):
We celebrate certain events in Italy and the respective Japanese.
This is because Japanese people, not being Catholic,
should have a calendar of holidays completely different from ours.
And culturally they are far from us.
As a result, we thought that deepening their way of life,
the holidays, is culturally very interesting,
(03:05):
and it could certainly help us to know them a little better.
Or maybe not.
We'll start with the simplest thing.
My birthday.
Okay, if you want to talk about your birthday.
Japanese people don't celebrate my birthday.
Nobody wants to see me.
But they celebrate the birthday of Jesus.
(03:26):
So what do they do on Christmas?
So, does Christmas exist in Japan? Yes.
Yes, it does, because it's a very powerful holiday that has been around the world.
But in Japan it's a little different.
We could say that our Christmas is a little...
They live it a little like a Valentine's Day.
(03:48):
What do you think about Christmas?
In the sense that it's a little more romantic.
If you go to Japan, go to Tokyo,
to give the example of the big city,
you'll find a lot of Christmas atmosphere.
Big Christmas trees, lights, sounds,
Christmas trees, strange Christmas trees.
(04:11):
Japanese.
The most Japanese Christmas tree I've ever met,
was several years ago,
a woman, a girl on a...
What are those three-wheeled motorcycles called?
A trike.
Exactly, a trike.
But instead of having a seat, she had a bike.
And she was very beautiful.
(04:35):
She was beautiful to look at.
Based on the fact that a Santa Claus is a woman,
culturally, he doesn't have a belly.
Fortunately, he didn't have a beard.
But she was this girl,
imagine a Japanese girl,
in a minigun, boots, etc.
So, she was sitting on a trike.
(04:58):
And she was like, oh, Merry Christmas!
In the center of Tokyo.
Ginza, one of the most famous neighborhoods in Tokyo.
In fact, I was a bit forbidden by the thing.
Anyway, going back to our Christmas.
Going back to Christmas in Tokyo,
you said it's very western,
very consumerist.
(05:19):
We could be very good in Central Park, in New York.
Exactly.
There's no Christmas in the middle of the night.
There's no Christmas in the...
Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve.
There's no Christmas in the middle of the night.
There's Christmas in the middle of the night.
Let's put it like this.
Let's give a bad image.
(05:40):
But it's consumerist Christmas.
Exactly.
I've thought about this several times.
What a bad thing.
I mean, it's not...
It's not the Christmas meaning.
What would my friend Jesus say?
In reality, my friend Jesus would say
a few nice things about how I live on Christmas.
(06:02):
Because at the end of the day, it's not that I go to Mass.
It's not that I live it as a practicing Christian.
It's all about Christmas lights, sounds and little songs.
Listen, what a beautiful atmosphere.
Let's exchange gifts, have lunch together or hang out together
depending on what you prefer.
If you have Christmas Eve,
you have admitted that you don't go to Mass.
(06:24):
No, indeed.
So I go, but not often.
No, the relationship is a bit inclined.
There's a part missing that I don't live here in Italy.
I don't live because it's not my choice.
So my thought is, what a bad thing this Christmas is.
Wait, what am I talking about?
(06:46):
Maybe they and I are the most authorized
to live Christmas in a consumerist way.
Because their religious tradition is not to celebrate Jesus' birthday.
No, indeed.
They have other definitions.
We say birthday, but it's actually birth.
Yes, birth.
Speaking of consumerist party,
you had made a parallel of our Christmas with St. Valentine's Day.
(07:09):
Yes.
I imagine that for their St. Valentine's Day,
it's exactly our St. Valentine's Day.
Let's exchange gifts, an excuse to sell things,
the party of lovers.
Yes, I did this thing.
Because, anyway, at Christmas there's a strong and omnipresent atmosphere.
If you go into the shops, you have a lot of accessories,
a lot of things, you have constant Christmas music.
(07:33):
Constant, always, anyway, even when you go to the bathroom
at the Christmas music station in piano collection version.
So you have a very particular atmosphere.
Which is pleasant, in the end.
And, in quotation marks, clean, pass the term.
And they live it as something a little romantic.
(07:54):
And so I live it as something a little couple.
They don't have the Christmas of the Cenote with relatives,
because basically I don't care about anything.
But, but...
But be careful.
Be careful.
We want to throw on the table
a Christmas tradition of Japan.
Christmas or the beginning of the year.
Christmas.
(08:15):
What do Japanese people do at Christmas?
Do they have a cenote?
No.
But in reality they have a dinner a little more...
So, it's debatable, which always makes me laugh.
They go to eat at KFC.
From Kentucky Fried Chicken.
(08:36):
Why?
But, by the way, very specific as a tradition.
It's not that they go to eat fried chicken in general.
They go to eat at KFC.
Exactly. Why?
But KFC opens in December and closes in January in Japan.
Because the rest...
Yes, in the sense that it quadruples the number of restaurants
in that period and then returns to normal.
(08:57):
In the Christmas period, if I'm not mistaken,
now I wouldn't want to say stupid,
but I think I read that in the Christmas period
double the entries of another average month.
Only in the Christmas period.
And why?
Because I don't remember the period.
Anyway, surely after the Second World War.
I don't remember if it was the 60s or 70s.
(09:20):
Anyway, decades ago,
Kentucky Fried Chicken started to make a campaign
also quite pushed on the fact of having in promotion,
you know those baskets of fried chicken wings?
Those things that do well in health.
Exactly, those things that make nutritionists rejoice.
Yes, it's rich.
(09:41):
But all about Christmas.
Christmas, Christmas, elves, Christmas babies,
happiness, snow.
With a green, red and white frame.
They did a super-pushed marketing on Christmas.
And so the Japanese, who basically didn't care much about Christmas,
said, ok, in our mind now will be indissolubly linked
(10:02):
Kentucky Fried Chicken and Christmas.
And so they started, they said,
they're advertising this thing, and here's to the basket of Christmas,
let's go get the basket of Christmas.
And it became a sort of tradition,
because KFC, obviously, the good old colonel,
said, look how nice the dollars are.
How disgusting.
Let's make it so we ignore this new Japanese tradition.
(10:23):
Let's make it so we honor the true Christmas spirit,
let's do it every year.
And every year they started to propose this thing,
until it became a tradition,
even if it makes me a little disgusted to talk about tradition in this sense,
but it's true.
Well, but that's a tradition.
Tomorrow More KFC, but maybe it will remain to them
the desire to share a huge basket of chicken wings.
Exactly, exactly.
(10:44):
And at the end of the show...
So this stuff remained here.
That to think about putting it down like this,
it's strange, and I think many people who are listening to us
will be a little disgusted.
But, but, if you think about it,
even from us in recent years,
a party like, I don't know, Halloween,
it's arrived like this, what do you do on Halloween?
(11:06):
Well, I dress up in a debatable way,
I go out, I drink, I make a mess,
I go to dinner, I party with friends.
Exactly.
Go to the shower, have a little joke.
It's over.
Maybe in other countries it's a party that has roots
a little more rooted, a little deeper,
and maybe it also has a different sense.
But for us it is so,
(11:27):
in the sense that we do not want to do anything wrong to anyone,
but it is so.
Same thing, what is it called?
For them Christmas.
For them Christmas.
Instead, if we want to arrive,
if we want to analyze a party
more similar to our Christmas,
in the sense of tradition,
doing things together,
reuniting with the family,
(11:48):
for them it is the New Year.
Why? How does it work?
I mean, ok, go.
I'm a little confused by this.
Yes, in the sense that we have Christmas,
family, New Year, friends,
a lot of people, I wake up the next day
from somewhere.
I party until night falls.
Exactly, exactly.
For them it is the opposite.
I mean, it is not the opposite.
(12:09):
This is the New Year.
The fact of spending the party with the family.
Could it be because they have a period of party,
of holidays, of longer breaks during the New Year
than not during Christmas?
Let's say that basically there are three days of party.
(12:52):
The last of the year, New Year, until 3, if I'm not mistaken.
Ok, because instead it is Christmas,
if they are not Christians.
No, Christmas is not a holiday.
(13:13):
It is a party like that.
So for them, to celebrate and be with the family
makes more sense if there are three days of party close.
Exactly, so much so that in big cities
there are people who leave Tokyo,
because maybe they are there just to work,
so they reconnect with their relatives
in the more peripheral areas.
(13:34):
Or people who went to live outside
and return to Tokyo to meet,
to spend some time with the family
who stayed there.
Clear.
At the end of the year, a super typical Japanese thing
is the visit to the temple.
There are actually a whole series of rites
that are done at the end of the year,
(13:55):
but the visit to the temple is the classic one.
If any of you who are listening to us
have ever spent a New Year in Japan,
you will have seen that especially in certain areas,
the party, as we understand it,
that is, the mess, the fact of...
The fireworks, the fireworks, the fireworks.
In some areas it is very shallow
(14:18):
and it seems that the party never starts.
In other areas, however, there is a monstrous delirium,
like Shibuya.
We said that it is one of the central districts of Tokyo.
There is the super mess.
If we go to a zone...
I mean the people who want to drink,
who want to make a mess, who want to have fun,
(14:40):
as we do,
in other areas, for example, in Tokyo there is a place,
there is the Meiji Jingle,
which is a very famous sanctuary,
and the Japanese go there to do the...
how is it called?
The visit for New Year.
(15:01):
If you go to the Meiji Jingle area
around 11, 11.30, 10 pm,
you will see that it starts to create,
it has already created a scary line,
because everyone goes to visit the temple,
obviously not only there, in the most famous temples,
obviously also in the smaller ones,
but the version is obviously reduced.
(15:24):
De-powered.
Exactly.
So these two parties are created.
The traditional party,
people maybe in kimono who go to visit the temple,
go to drink sake of the New Year,
give thanks and do all these things here,
and on the other hand people come back to the land,
a mess, party in the localities, etc.
It's a way to celebrate a little different.
(15:47):
This also makes the closeness of the big cities
and the most central areas of the big cities
bigger, more famous, with the West,
so this wave of globalization,
where the places more frequented by international people
are also getting more popular and internationalized,
so the traditions are becoming more or less similar
(16:11):
around the world.
Absolutely yes, absolutely yes.
In fact, we were talking about Shibuya before,
it is the same, also Shinjuku,
in several neighborhoods,
where there is a more pronounced nightlife,
let's put it like that,
in these areas you have more chaos,
you have the classic party as we think.
(16:34):
Before we were talking about Riti,
the New Year,
there are a lot of things that the Japanese do,
we have just seen the visit to the temple,
we have seen, we have said that you drink sake,
it is really a classic thing to open the sake of New Year,
there is the fact of seeing the first dawn,
(16:56):
a thing that they do, I also discovered in many islands in Japan,
Japan has thousands of islands,
in many small islands there are these communities
that wait for the first dawn,
we are the first to see the dawn.
It's cool though.
It's cool, it's cool,
there is also the first aurora in the mountainous areas,
especially they do this thing of waiting
and seeing the first aurora,
(17:17):
because for them it is a bit of a symbol of starting again
and to say with force towards the new year.
Keeping in mind that they are also spiritualists,
for them these things matter a lot,
but you see how to put the other one around the world,
even if the traditions have different starting points,
(17:38):
because for us the New Year starts from a tradition,
for them from another,
we are thousands of kilometers away,
but this idea of the new, of the new year,
of waiting for the dawn because it is a new day,
because it is a restart, something like that,
it repeats itself, it repeats itself in different cultures,
in different traditions,
even thousands of kilometers away,
(17:59):
and also very different cultures.
Absolutely, absolutely.
One of the moments perhaps during which I felt a little more,
let me finish, at home in Japan,
was during a New Year's Eve in Katanoshii,
a area of Osaka, I was a guest from the Ishida family,
(18:22):
Wakana, the daughter of a great friend of mine,
and they hosted me and Denise for about ten days,
and we had this experience,
we went to the small temple,
this temple of...
Humble compared to the central one.
Exactly, exactly, small.
What did we do?
We went to this area here,
we participated in the visit,
(18:47):
they made us drink sake,
we did a lot of things,
how do you call it, they make the sound of the bells,
they make the bells ring,
which is called joyanokane, which is not an insult,
it's not an insult, it's a blasphemy,
but joyanokane is the fact of making these bells ring
for 108 times during the New Year.
(19:10):
All things that don't belong to me,
all new things, all things I didn't know,
but the atmosphere was perfectly that of the small town,
because you have the bonzo, the priest, let's say,
who gives you sake, who makes you taste things,
then the old people from the town who arrive,
if they laugh, they shoot these three or four glasses,
(19:33):
and they say, how are you?
Alcohol unites the whole world.
Absolutely, yes, at a certain point,
during this formal thing,
but not so much, because anyway,
I tell you, it was a small town,
so it was a very easy thing,
at a certain point we hear the noise of motorbikes,
(19:54):
three or four guys arrived,
loaded, they arrived,
making noise, they started pushing,
taking turns, then they spoke in dialect,
so I didn't understand much,
and at a certain point one of them got naked,
he remained with a kind of perizoma, of fundoshi,
(20:15):
but very fast, he got naked,
he threw himself into a kind of canaletto,
a funnel, no, no, it was just a canaletto, no, like that,
which was nearby, near the temple,
he threw himself inside,
everyone else started laughing, making noise,
he saw it, he started looking at the meeting,
(20:37):
he ran away, he turned on the motorbike and ran away laughing,
it was such a beautiful scene,
so beautiful, because I said,
ah, but we are not only fools in Italy,
we are fools in Kiatanoshin,
that nothing happens,
and instead, perfect, perfect.
And instead, about birthdays,
since we talked about Jesus' birthday at the beginning,
(21:00):
let's talk about birthdays instead of Japanese,
how do they enjoy it?
The only thing I know about birthdays,
well, I know that once the Japanese system,
to count the years, was a bit different,
in the sense that we, here in the West,
were born after a year of existence,
you celebrate a year.
(21:21):
In Japan, instead, until, I don't remember,
I would say a stupidity,
however, for a long time,
they counted, at birth you had a year,
so you didn't celebrate a year,
but you entered the first year.
But it was something that was done in the eastern countries,
it's not the first country I feel something like that from.
(21:42):
If I'm not mistaken, at the time we are recording,
and we are at the end of June,
it's news from a few days ago,
that in South Korea they have just modified
the whole system of dating,
of dating of people's ages,
the way people are given their age,
because their problem was that
(22:03):
you even celebrated a year,
just after birth.
That is, just after birth you already had a year,
and in addition you celebrated the years
on January 1, in a standard way.
So, if you were born in December,
after a month you already had two years.
And, in itself, it is not a problem at the moment,
(22:25):
in which everyone more or less takes care of dates
and years in the same way,
when you have to start doing something,
like organizing the school,
where there are people who are the same age,
but two completely different periods of life and existence,
and they also said if you have to organize
group vaccinations of the population,
(22:49):
as it was in the case of COVID,
you have people who, at the level of physiological development,
are completely different,
while in age, graphically,
according to that measurement system, they are the same.
That's why Asians seem so young,
because in reality when they tell you that they are 36 years old,
in reality they are still 12.
Damn bros, we have discovered you.
(23:13):
And to close this parenthesis of aggression on Korea,
for them age is a very important thing.
50 years old
which gives a lot of importance,
and therefore it is one of the first things they tell you.
Consequently, rethinking,
indeed adapting to what the international system is
(23:35):
to define age for them is something that is destabilizing them for a moment,
but now, to be clear,
they are keeping both systems on their feet.
So it started with the international one almost everywhere,
for a few things and continue to be old for a while.
You were born one year, in January you have another,
and then on your birthday we add one of six years.
(23:56):
Exactly.
How old is your son? He was born yesterday.
He is 14 this year, I buy him a motorbike.
What are you saying, mom?
How is that possible? I took the dice and it came out well.
He always made 20 on aging.
Anyway, close parenthesis, D&D.
No, one thing that came to mind is that in Japan there is a recurrence,
(24:18):
there are actually three recurrences,
Shichigo-san.
Shichigo-san means seven, five and three,
and corresponds to the age of children.
Children aged three to five had...
(25:01):
A bit of a special party,
since the missing years were once considered lucky years,
I don't know why, because Japanese are bizarre,
during these years, sorry, during these recurrences,
(25:25):
until a certain date, the 15th of the month,
a group was formed,
the children were grouped and taken to the temple.
All the beautiful ones, with their little kimono,
something quite traditional,
(25:48):
were taken to the temple with the family,
and a rite was held to bring the children closer to the temple,
to the spiritual life.
I don't know why, because I found...
I didn't find much information about this,
but I found some quite disturbing explanations,
so I put it away, as if I never knew.
(26:09):
Anyway, this was the case, and it still is.
But it will be something of good auspice.
Exactly.
During the three, five and seven years.
Much later, people don't give a shit about you until you're 60,
when you're 60, they say,
wait, you're an important age!
(26:31):
Why?
Let's party again.
Exactly.
At 60 you've already done five zodiac cycles,
or stuff like that,
and so, good job,
I don't know, I think the stars are with you in some way.
Anyway, you're a lucky age,
and so you're seen as a new beginning.
(26:56):
Anyway, 60 years is an important age.
But, for the rest,
as far as I know, Japanese birthdays are celebrated normally,
if they're not working.
Because in that case, what do they do? They celebrate them together.
I don't know, I wouldn't be surprised to think that,
hey, it's my birthday today,
(27:18):
good job, happy birthday, go back to work.
To work.
Exactly, five slaps for you.
But I heard about a party,
an event, a recurrence,
called the Golden Week.
Oh, yes.
But I thought it was something to do with Willy Wonka,
(27:39):
like the Golden Ticket,
where they eat chocolate all week.
Tell me it's like that, please.
I'd love to,
but if you work nonstop all year,
you have a week off.
No, no, it's not true.
It would have been very Japanese.
(28:00):
It would have been very Japanese.
In fact, when I said it, I was convinced.
No, actually, the Golden Week is a week of party
for everyone, but not everyone.
Let's say it's a week of party.
Many people work anyway, but we don't know all the details.
It goes from April 29 to May 5,
(28:21):
and it's a recurrence that actually started
after the Second World War, in 1948.
So it's recent.
Yes, it's a very recent thing
that more than a party, it's a superpontet,
which we Italians like very much.
It's a desire to gather more parties.
(28:43):
The characteristic of the Golden Week is that Japan,
especially Tokyo, becomes a mess
because there are a lot of people who don't work,
many offices, not all, but many are closed,
or they have reduced schedules,
so there are a lot of people around,
there is a mess in the subway,
and those who don't live in Tokyo say
oh, how cool, the Golden Week, let's go.
(29:04):
Those who live in Tokyo say
oh my god, again, what a mess.
It's a bit like the mobile room,
the fashion week in Milan,
all those things that for the people who live there
they say, damn, you all have to die,
for those who don't live there, they say
oh, how nice, let's go see.
Let's not see the time that everyone is cursing us.
Exactly, exactly, same thing as the fashion week.
(29:26):
No, we were saying, starting on April 29,
because April 29 is the Showa No Hi,
that is the day of the emperor,
of Hirohito, it was Hirohito's birthday.
Which then became...
Exactly, which then became the beginning
of this Golden Week.
Then there are a whole series of parties
(29:50):
that go on, like the first of May is the work day.
Also for them.
The work day also for Japan.
I imagine that Japan stops completely from work,
almost if some Japanese is found
with a hammer in hand to plant a nail,
to hang a painting.
As a work day, it is not a national holiday,
(30:12):
so it is not really a holiday.
But look at it a bit.
It is part of the Golden Week, so in reality
many places are closed, but not all.
Let's put it that way, those things borderline
that they like so much.
Then, pause, the second of May,
stupid Japanese workers,
(30:34):
and then the third of May is the day of the Constitution,
the Kenpo Kinembi.
It is the anniversary of when the Japanese Constitution was made,
so after the Second World War,
in 1947, the Constitution was promulgated.
Let's put it that way, as a holiday.
(30:55):
A bit like our 2nd June holiday.
Our Republic Day, we have a day,
indeed, we have a Constitution Day,
but it is not a national holiday.
For us, the moment of change,
according to the World War, is precisely the 2nd of June.
I believe that for them at this point
it is the Constitution Day.
I don't know how much this day has been felt
(31:18):
as a Constitution Day,
because I have always seen the Golden Week
as a whole of parties.
I don't know in particular what happens,
if there will certainly be recurrences
of the parties, of the events on the subject,
but I have no idea.
(31:40):
The 3rd, sorry, the 4th of May, the day after,
instead, there is the Green Day.
Flowers, all the squares, all the main areas,
the parks are all beautiful.
All green.
It is an honour, let's say, the Spring.
(32:04):
Well, also because, I must say that it started
not long ago, from an astronomical point of view,
no, it has been a month, but actually
it starts to get warm and
it starts to see the flowery areas.
Let's remember that Japan is historically Shinto,
because Buddhism arrived after that,
it is historically Shinto, which is a religion,
(32:25):
let's remember, animist, which therefore
takes up so much of the seasonal imprint
of, let's say, events of nature.
It is very linked.
Exactly, so for them the Spring is a moment
of rebirth, a restart.
Among other things, now that I think about it,
(32:48):
the Japanese year starts in April.
The school, even if I'm not mistaken,
I don't know if it is something that matters,
but it came to mind now, so...
Well, certainly, maybe not directly,
but in the biggest circle of Japanese life
it certainly comes into play in some way.
Exactly, exactly, even the Japanese fiscal year
(33:09):
starts in April, so...
To make everything very simple.
Yes, exactly, especially in the big companies
like, well, a Sony that works in all
countries of the world have this moment
of discomfort in April.
To break a spear in favor of the Japanese
about the fiscal year, in Italy the fiscal years
also depend on the nature of your activity.
(33:31):
Yes, true, true.
So...
So it's fine.
We love you very much anyway.
A warm hug to you.
We were saying that on May 4 there is the Green Party,
May 5 instead is... May 5 is cool,
because it's Kodomo no Hi, which means
Children's Day, Kodomo and Children,
Hi is the day, so day, children.
Have you ever...
(33:52):
Maybe not.
Have you ever seen, perhaps in some manga,
anime or in some films, outside the houses
there is this long stick with a kind of
an aquiline shaped like a carp, this tube,
this little shoe in the wind.
Yes, absolutely.
Ok, perfect. Those are the Koinobori,
(34:13):
they are the carp, practically.
Why carp? Because carp in Japan is an
extremely strong symbol.
There is a story that actually comes from China,
like many things, but...
The carp, what does the carp do?
It rises the current, so great will.
Once the carp manages to rise the current,
(34:35):
it becomes a dragon.
This thing here, the story is very simple,
exactly, but what does this mean?
It means that when you make an effort,
the effort, the dedication, all these things
will lead you to have a great result.
So the carp that wins the current and
points to its own result, when it reaches it,
(34:58):
it becomes a dragon, it grows,
it renews, it gains power, it's super saiyan.
It's a salmon that in our imagination
made it.
It's a salmon with biceps.
Exactly.
It's what made it in our imagination,
in the sense that it managed to take
a place of honor in Japanese traditions.
Exactly. The carp becomes a dragon.
(35:20):
Anyway, why carp? Because these Koinobori
are aquilines, not in the sense of the
rhomboidal that flies, but it's a kind of
fan of the wind.
Ok, what are they called? Those that indicate
the intensity of the wind?
Yes, exactly.
Of the trunks cylinders, from both sides,
(35:44):
in different sections, so that the wind
can enter from one side and exit from the other.
Anyway, there are different ones.
There is the big black carp, which is the father,
the big red carp, which is the mother,
and then the small colored carp, which symbolize
the children. So, family with mom and dad,
two children, has big red carp, black carp,
(36:06):
and the two smaller colored carp.
This is the Kodomonokie. It's a day
thought for children, to honor, let's say,
children. Then there are a whole series of
rites that are done, if I remember correctly,
they told me that children are bathed
in a wooden tub with flowers inside.
(36:30):
I don't remember. Anyway, there are a whole
series of events.
This is to say that it's not just
putting some acolons outside the house.
You put the acolons, there are all these things
to honor.
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Children are important to the family,
it's a day for the family of children.
It's nice that we end this week of Golden Week
with the children's party.
Yes, it's nice. We start with the emperor's
birthday, which is...
It was a bit important for the Japanese.
(37:35):
It was important, but there's no more Hirohito.
So we end with Kodomonohi.
And instead the Japanese have the sagres.
Oh yes, how nice.
Because obviously we, at the level of sagres,
like Italians, we are very strong.
We are very strong. We are really strong.
(37:57):
And the Japanese?
So the Japanese have the Matsuri.
The Matsuri are beautiful.
Let me try, sorry, to pronounce.
It's not Matsuri with the A open, but it's Matsuri.
Matsuri.
Instead of U, it's not Matsuri, it's Matsuri.
Because the Japanese U is Matsuri.
(38:18):
Matsuri.
It's like the U of Kasura.
Matsuri.
Masura, which is a mixture of Kasura,
the Matsuri of Kasura.
Let's go back to Seri.
So these Matsuri.
No.
These Matsuri are traditional festivals,
which are still...
(38:41):
Matsuri plus Matsuri minus
Matsuri are quite rooted in religious beliefs,
in popular customs,
in some rites, as we said before,
I don't know, the succession of seasons or these things.
There is no univocal definition.
No, no, no, absolutely not.
There are different kinds.
(39:03):
There are Matsuri to honor legends,
such as the Tanabata,
which tells the legend of Orochimé, of Koboshi,
but I won't tell you more about that.
Or there is the Yuki Matsuri,
a festival held in February in Sapporo,
in Hokkaido, which is the snow festival,
where sculptures are made, ice sculptures.
(39:25):
There are camps dedicated to children
who go there and make this snow puppet,
more or less cute, depending on the child's abilities.
Everyone does what they can,
but the result after three days of Yuki Matsuri
is that it is a completely full field
full of snow puppets, which is still very beautiful.
(39:46):
And the whole city participates.
In the maximum line, many Matsuri, many festivals,
in the maximum line, many festivals
are linked to the religious tradition.
Many, however, differ from this thing.
For example, there are Matsuri for the Anami,
so the looking at cherry blossoms.
(40:08):
Ah, and in fact, after two seasons,
finally the famous...
No, it's not true, I had also talked about it in Nara,
in Nara's episode.
But finally this tradition of cherry blossoms comes out.
Yes, it is super sensual, something they love.
There is a moment when they are officially sitting
to look at these cherry blossoms.
(40:30):
Anami is written as hana, flower, mi,
and the root of looking, mi-ru, which is the verb to look, right?
Anami is not the flower, it is not the flowering of flowers,
but it is the act of looking at a flower,
it is a contemplation.
Also there, violated on the fact that the flower symbolizes
(40:50):
ceducity of life, because then it is true,
the cherry blossoms, when you book the flight for Japan,
they are assholes.
Take this word from the episode.
They are assholes because the Japanese cherry blossoms
so shyly towards the end of March,
(41:14):
and then it does its course.
End of March, which is famous for having rain,
frosty frosts, storms, wind, and all atmospheric events
that sweep it away with incredible ease.
So anami can be that lasts really short.
Usually, however, the period is that of end of March, beginning of April.
So airlines in doubt tell you,
(41:35):
there could be a very wide window that you can enjoy this anami.
You know what? All month will cost a mess to go to Japan.
It is clear that there are different varieties of cherry.
There are those more precarious, even in some areas,
they start in mid-February in some areas of Japan to bloom.
I have seen cherry blossoms full of beautiful, still in mid-April.
(42:00):
We are talking about the Osaka area.
So, however, without going too far in the area with extreme climates,
so different varieties give you the opportunity to do anami
in different moments of that period of the year.
Obviously, if you go in August, you will look at the granites.
(42:25):
The very famous Sicilian granites of Japan.
Yes, there are, they are called Kakigori.
Really?
I swear, I swear.
The Sicilian Gratta Kekka.
The Gratta Kekka, ok.
You have the ice grated, once it was grated by hand,
now there are the machines, with syrup on top.
It's not bad, but I don't know, let's start from the assumption
(42:47):
that we in Italy have a privileged position in terms of the ice.
But then, the Matsuri.
Yes.
Did I say it right?
Yes, yes.
Oh, well.
What are they?
Are they something definable in a straight and direct way?
Yes, they are straight and direct, you don't tell me that in the meantime.
(43:11):
You know I have to...
No, so, yes, they are these holidays.
During these holidays, what happens?
Imagine, let's create the atmosphere a little.
You have a situation where people celebrate this generic recurrence.
They can be, if they are religious recurrences,
(43:33):
usually there are people who take a walk from a sanctuary
in the various streets of the city to another,
or they take a walk and go back to the same sanctuary,
they bring a kind of small bag with,
according to the Matsuri, something on top,
which can be, I don't know, the symbol of the divinity,
(43:55):
of the celebration, of the traditional thing we are celebrating.
I got a flash.
For example, a penis.
Exactly, I was about to say it.
I was about to say it.
Sorry, or...
Or...
So as not to distract you, obviously.
Or, no, there is this stuff here,
(44:16):
and there is, however, on the street, this atmosphere of celebration.
To participate in Matsuri, for example,
many Matsuri are in summer, in the summer period.
What do you do? Go around in kimono?
No, go around with the yukata, which is the summer version of kimono.
So you have a lot of people who go around with these beautiful clothes,
because they are beautiful and extremely traditional.
(44:39):
And you have the, what are they called?
The classic food bars,
the bars with the toys.
It's a sacred thing, a sacred thing.
It's our sacred thing, but in Japanese version.
Instead of having the, what is it called?
The guy who makes you shoot the soldiers and wins the prize,
you have, now I'll make you travel through time,
(45:02):
maybe in some anime, especially those old ones,
you will have seen Japanese parties,
fish tanks and, typically,
a kind of paper fan that fish the fish.
Yes.
Ok, perfect, it's a game.
You have, in fact, tanks with smaller fish,
bigger fish, and you get a little bag.
(45:23):
You have a sort of fan,
let's say a little net,
but in paper.
So you have a sheet of paper with, let's say,
this rigid profile.
You have to immerse it in the water and pull it on the fish.
Obviously, the more violent you are, the easier it is to break the paper.
(45:46):
So you have to have your technique to immerse it, bend it and take it.
You can take small fish that are worth less points,
or big fish that are worth more points, but,
big fish are shaken by the risks of breaking the paper.
Wow.
You have a little bit of time, usually you play in two.
Who wins?
You have this thing here.
(46:08):
You live the fish, anyway.
You live the fish, yes.
You don't hurt them because they are still on the paper
and they are out of the water for a second.
Yes, yes, yes, then you put them in the sink.
Exactly. Once you have finished the game,
you have your prize and that's it, you put the fish back there.
Or, if you want, you can take a fish away.
(46:29):
Ah.
So, like this.
You have these particular traditional games.
The typical thing during, for example,
the Matsuri, but the Anami in particular,
is to drink beer sitting on the benches or sitting on the ground.
In case it is a Matsuri summer, spring, maybe the Anami,
(46:50):
you throw these stuinos on the ground, these things,
like a picnic, and you watch the Aegean
and you drink your beer, which then maybe
goes on the pesantino.
Between one stop of work and the other.
Exactly. But the Matsuri is this, it is a party.
It has a very beautiful atmosphere.
(47:11):
You can really smell the smell of Yakisoba,
the smell of the wooden doors.
It is very particular, it is a typical thing.
So, I recommend, if you decide to travel to Japan
and live it, to participate at least in a Matsuri.
Yes, absolutely.
Matsuri are concentrated, let's say, spring and summer,
(47:34):
more in summer, spring and summer,
but there are during the whole year.
So, let's say you can find them almost always,
if you go to Japan in summer,
you suffered like crazy the heat,
but you will find many.
I recommend you to try to participate in one.
(47:55):
This second season has also come to an end.
We are extremely happy,
extremely happy for what we have done so far,
for your support and your support.
Thanks to all those who listen to us,
thanks to all those who write to us,
thanks to all those who continue to ask us
to continue with this podcast
(48:18):
and to tell you more and more things.
We do it willingly, in fact the ideas are not...
They are not missing.
Exactly, they are not getting exhausted,
so you will still hear about us.
Thanks, thanks again to all.
This was the sixth episode or the sixth and last episode
of the second season of the banana-shaped island.
(48:42):
See you, hopefully, very soon.
Stay with us because we will have great news.
Thanks again to all.
Ciao!
(49:22):
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(00:47):
Buongiorno a tutti e benvenuti al sesto episodio di
L'isola a forma di banana!
Today we're recording this video from the new VODO's new recording room.
It's a miracle that I've finally managed to get away from it, rebuild it, adapt it and finally set it up.
(01:10):
I have to say that it's very nice in here, it's so quiet that I can hear my thoughts flutter.
In fact, the merit of the audio cleaning is not ours, because we are the ones who do it.
But it's the merit of ours, let's remember it, the holy phonic Alexander of Matthew.
That solves our problems with pronunciation and our...
(01:36):
Exactly, and above all of this soundproofed cabin that now makes our audio so wonderful.
How nice, do you hear how silent this moment of silence is? Wait...
You've just passed out, damn it!
Anyway, today we're here to talk about racism, nationalism, stress sources, people who die from work, Yakuza.
(02:01):
Today, something a little lighter, to close the second series in beauty.
It's still strange to talk about series.
Anyway, today we'll talk about Japanese...
Be careful when we're on the fifth and sixth.
Fifth, sixth, sixth series.
Oh no.
It's true, because we already have some ideas.
We're not going to talk about it.
So what are we going to talk about today? My dear.
(02:21):
My dear, today we'll talk about Japanese and holidays.
Joy and celebration.
Celebration? What are you talking about?
No, today we'll talk about Japanese and holidays.
So we'll make some parallels between how we celebrate holidays in Italy.
We celebrate holidays, you can't hear it.
(02:43):
We celebrate certain events in Italy and the respective Japanese.
This is because Japanese people, not being Catholic,
should have a calendar of holidays completely different from ours.
And culturally they are far from us.
As a result, we thought that deepening their way of life,
the holidays, is culturally very interesting,
(03:05):
and it could certainly help us to know them a little better.
Or maybe not.
We'll start with the simplest thing.
My birthday.
Okay, if you want to talk about your birthday.
Japanese people don't celebrate my birthday.
Nobody wants to see me.
But they celebrate the birthday of Jesus.
(03:26):
So what do they do on Christmas?
So, does Christmas exist in Japan? Yes.
Yes, it does, because it's a very powerful holiday that has been around the world.
But in Japan it's a little different.
We could say that our Christmas is a little...
They live it a little like a Valentine's Day.
(03:48):
What do you think about Christmas?
In the sense that it's a little more romantic.
If you go to Japan, go to Tokyo,
to give the example of the big city,
you'll find a lot of Christmas atmosphere.
Big Christmas trees, lights, sounds,
Christmas trees, strange Christmas trees.
(04:11):
Japanese.
The most Japanese Christmas tree I've ever met,
was several years ago,
a woman, a girl on a...
What are those three-wheeled motorcycles called?
A trike.
Exactly, a trike.
But instead of having a seat, she had a bike.
And she was very beautiful.
(04:35):
She was beautiful to look at.
Based on the fact that a Santa Claus is a woman,
culturally, he doesn't have a belly.
Fortunately, he didn't have a beard.
But she was this girl,
imagine a Japanese girl,
in a minigun, boots, etc.
So, she was sitting on a trike.
(04:58):
And she was like, oh, Merry Christmas!
In the center of Tokyo.
Ginza, one of the most famous neighborhoods in Tokyo.
In fact, I was a bit forbidden by the thing.
Anyway, going back to our Christmas.
Going back to Christmas in Tokyo,
you said it's very western,
very consumerist.
(05:19):
We could be very good in Central Park, in New York.
Exactly.
There's no Christmas in the middle of the night.
There's no Christmas in the...
Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve.
There's no Christmas in the middle of the night.
There's Christmas in the middle of the night.
Let's put it like this.
Let's give a bad image.
(05:40):
But it's consumerist Christmas.
Exactly.
I've thought about this several times.
What a bad thing.
I mean, it's not...
It's not the Christmas meaning.
What would my friend Jesus say?
In reality, my friend Jesus would say
a few nice things about how I live on Christmas.
(06:02):
Because at the end of the day, it's not that I go to Mass.
It's not that I live it as a practicing Christian.
It's all about Christmas lights, sounds and little songs.
Listen, what a beautiful atmosphere.
Let's exchange gifts, have lunch together or hang out together
depending on what you prefer.
If you have Christmas Eve,
you have admitted that you don't go to Mass.
(06:24):
No, indeed.
So I go, but not often.
No, the relationship is a bit inclined.
There's a part missing that I don't live here in Italy.
I don't live because it's not my choice.
So my thought is, what a bad thing this Christmas is.
Wait, what am I talking about?
(06:46):
Maybe they and I are the most authorized
to live Christmas in a consumerist way.
Because their religious tradition is not to celebrate Jesus' birthday.
No, indeed.
They have other definitions.
We say birthday, but it's actually birth.
Yes, birth.
Speaking of consumerist party,
you had made a parallel of our Christmas with St. Valentine's Day.
(07:09):
Yes.
I imagine that for their St. Valentine's Day,
it's exactly our St. Valentine's Day.
Let's exchange gifts, an excuse to sell things,
the party of lovers.
Yes, I did this thing.
Because, anyway, at Christmas there's a strong and omnipresent atmosphere.
If you go into the shops, you have a lot of accessories,
a lot of things, you have constant Christmas music.
(07:33):
Constant, always, anyway, even when you go to the bathroom
at the Christmas music station in piano collection version.
So you have a very particular atmosphere.
Which is pleasant, in the end.
And, in quotation marks, clean, pass the term.
And they live it as something a little romantic.
(07:54):
And so I live it as something a little couple.
They don't have the Christmas of the Cenote with relatives,
because basically I don't care about anything.
But, but...
But be careful.
Be careful.
We want to throw on the table
a Christmas tradition of Japan.
Christmas or the beginning of the year.
Christmas.
(08:15):
What do Japanese people do at Christmas?
Do they have a cenote?
No.
But in reality they have a dinner a little more...
So, it's debatable, which always makes me laugh.
They go to eat at KFC.
From Kentucky Fried Chicken.
(08:36):
Why?
But, by the way, very specific as a tradition.
It's not that they go to eat fried chicken in general.
They go to eat at KFC.
Exactly. Why?
But KFC opens in December and closes in January in Japan.
Because the rest...
Yes, in the sense that it quadruples the number of restaurants
in that period and then returns to normal.
(08:57):
In the Christmas period, if I'm not mistaken,
now I wouldn't want to say stupid,
but I think I read that in the Christmas period
double the entries of another average month.
Only in the Christmas period.
And why?
Because I don't remember the period.
Anyway, surely after the Second World War.
I don't remember if it was the 60s or 70s.
(09:20):
Anyway, decades ago,
Kentucky Fried Chicken started to make a campaign
also quite pushed on the fact of having in promotion,
you know those baskets of fried chicken wings?
Those things that do well in health.
Exactly, those things that make nutritionists rejoice.
Yes, it's rich.
(09:41):
But all about Christmas.
Christmas, Christmas, elves, Christmas babies,
happiness, snow.
With a green, red and white frame.
They did a super-pushed marketing on Christmas.
And so the Japanese, who basically didn't care much about Christmas,
said, ok, in our mind now will be indissolubly linked
(10:02):
Kentucky Fried Chicken and Christmas.
And so they started, they said,
they're advertising this thing, and here's to the basket of Christmas,
let's go get the basket of Christmas.
And it became a sort of tradition,
because KFC, obviously, the good old colonel,
said, look how nice the dollars are.
How disgusting.
Let's make it so we ignore this new Japanese tradition.
(10:23):
Let's make it so we honor the true Christmas spirit,
let's do it every year.
And every year they started to propose this thing,
until it became a tradition,
even if it makes me a little disgusted to talk about tradition in this sense,
but it's true.
Well, but that's a tradition.
Tomorrow More KFC, but maybe it will remain to them
the desire to share a huge basket of chicken wings.
Exactly, exactly.
(10:44):
And at the end of the show...
So this stuff remained here.
That to think about putting it down like this,
it's strange, and I think many people who are listening to us
will be a little disgusted.
But, but, if you think about it,
even from us in recent years,
a party like, I don't know, Halloween,
it's arrived like this, what do you do on Halloween?
(11:06):
Well, I dress up in a debatable way,
I go out, I drink, I make a mess,
I go to dinner, I party with friends.
Exactly.
Go to the shower, have a little joke.
It's over.
Maybe in other countries it's a party that has roots
a little more rooted, a little deeper,
and maybe it also has a different sense.
But for us it is so,
(11:27):
in the sense that we do not want to do anything wrong to anyone,
but it is so.
Same thing, what is it called?
For them Christmas.
For them Christmas.
Instead, if we want to arrive,
if we want to analyze a party
more similar to our Christmas,
in the sense of tradition,
doing things together,
reuniting with the family,
(11:48):
for them it is the New Year.
Why? How does it work?
I mean, ok, go.
I'm a little confused by this.
Yes, in the sense that we have Christmas,
family, New Year, friends,
a lot of people, I wake up the next day
from somewhere.
I party until night falls.
Exactly, exactly.
For them it is the opposite.
I mean, it is not the opposite.
(12:09):
This is the New Year.
The fact of spending the party with the family.
Could it be because they have a period of party,
of holidays, of longer breaks during the New Year
than not during Christmas?
Let's say that basically there are three days of party.
(12:52):
The last of the year, New Year, until 3, if I'm not mistaken.
Ok, because instead it is Christmas,
if they are not Christians.
No, Christmas is not a holiday.
(13:13):
It is a party like that.
So for them, to celebrate and be with the family
makes more sense if there are three days of party close.
Exactly, so much so that in big cities
there are people who leave Tokyo,
because maybe they are there just to work,
so they reconnect with their relatives
in the more peripheral areas.
(13:34):
Or people who went to live outside
and return to Tokyo to meet,
to spend some time with the family
who stayed there.
Clear.
At the end of the year, a super typical Japanese thing
is the visit to the temple.
There are actually a whole series of rites
that are done at the end of the year,
(13:55):
but the visit to the temple is the classic one.
If any of you who are listening to us
have ever spent a New Year in Japan,
you will have seen that especially in certain areas,
the party, as we understand it,
that is, the mess, the fact of...
The fireworks, the fireworks, the fireworks.
In some areas it is very shallow
(14:18):
and it seems that the party never starts.
In other areas, however, there is a monstrous delirium,
like Shibuya.
We said that it is one of the central districts of Tokyo.
There is the super mess.
If we go to a zone...
I mean the people who want to drink,
who want to make a mess, who want to have fun,
(14:40):
as we do,
in other areas, for example, in Tokyo there is a place,
there is the Meiji Jingle,
which is a very famous sanctuary,
and the Japanese go there to do the...
how is it called?
The visit for New Year.
(15:01):
If you go to the Meiji Jingle area
around 11, 11.30, 10 pm,
you will see that it starts to create,
it has already created a scary line,
because everyone goes to visit the temple,
obviously not only there, in the most famous temples,
obviously also in the smaller ones,
but the version is obviously reduced.
(15:24):
De-powered.
Exactly.
So these two parties are created.
The traditional party,
people maybe in kimono who go to visit the temple,
go to drink sake of the New Year,
give thanks and do all these things here,
and on the other hand people come back to the land,
a mess, party in the localities, etc.
It's a way to celebrate a little different.
(15:47):
This also makes the closeness of the big cities
and the most central areas of the big cities
bigger, more famous, with the West,
so this wave of globalization,
where the places more frequented by international people
are also getting more popular and internationalized,
so the traditions are becoming more or less similar
(16:11):
around the world.
Absolutely yes, absolutely yes.
In fact, we were talking about Shibuya before,
it is the same, also Shinjuku,
in several neighborhoods,
where there is a more pronounced nightlife,
let's put it like that,
in these areas you have more chaos,
you have the classic party as we think.
(16:34):
Before we were talking about Riti,
the New Year,
there are a lot of things that the Japanese do,
we have just seen the visit to the temple,
we have seen, we have said that you drink sake,
it is really a classic thing to open the sake of New Year,
there is the fact of seeing the first dawn,
(16:56):
a thing that they do, I also discovered in many islands in Japan,
Japan has thousands of islands,
in many small islands there are these communities
that wait for the first dawn,
we are the first to see the dawn.
It's cool though.
It's cool, it's cool,
there is also the first aurora in the mountainous areas,
especially they do this thing of waiting
and seeing the first aurora,
(17:17):
because for them it is a bit of a symbol of starting again
and to say with force towards the new year.
Keeping in mind that they are also spiritualists,
for them these things matter a lot,
but you see how to put the other one around the world,
even if the traditions have different starting points,
(17:38):
because for us the New Year starts from a tradition,
for them from another,
we are thousands of kilometers away,
but this idea of the new, of the new year,
of waiting for the dawn because it is a new day,
because it is a restart, something like that,
it repeats itself, it repeats itself in different cultures,
in different traditions,
even thousands of kilometers away,
(17:59):
and also very different cultures.
Absolutely, absolutely.
One of the moments perhaps during which I felt a little more,
let me finish, at home in Japan,
was during a New Year's Eve in Katanoshii,
a area of Osaka, I was a guest from the Ishida family,
(18:22):
Wakana, the daughter of a great friend of mine,
and they hosted me and Denise for about ten days,
and we had this experience,
we went to the small temple,
this temple of...
Humble compared to the central one.
Exactly, exactly, small.
What did we do?
We went to this area here,
we participated in the visit,
(18:47):
they made us drink sake,
we did a lot of things,
how do you call it, they make the sound of the bells,
they make the bells ring,
which is called joyanokane, which is not an insult,
it's not an insult, it's a blasphemy,
but joyanokane is the fact of making these bells ring
for 108 times during the New Year.
(19:10):
All things that don't belong to me,
all new things, all things I didn't know,
but the atmosphere was perfectly that of the small town,
because you have the bonzo, the priest, let's say,
who gives you sake, who makes you taste things,
then the old people from the town who arrive,
if they laugh, they shoot these three or four glasses,
(19:33):
and they say, how are you?
Alcohol unites the whole world.
Absolutely, yes, at a certain point,
during this formal thing,
but not so much, because anyway,
I tell you, it was a small town,
so it was a very easy thing,
at a certain point we hear the noise of motorbikes,
(19:54):
three or four guys arrived,
loaded, they arrived,
making noise, they started pushing,
taking turns, then they spoke in dialect,
so I didn't understand much,
and at a certain point one of them got naked,
he remained with a kind of perizoma, of fundoshi,
(20:15):
but very fast, he got naked,
he threw himself into a kind of canaletto,
a funnel, no, no, it was just a canaletto, no, like that,
which was nearby, near the temple,
he threw himself inside,
everyone else started laughing, making noise,
he saw it, he started looking at the meeting,
(20:37):
he ran away, he turned on the motorbike and ran away laughing,
it was such a beautiful scene,
so beautiful, because I said,
ah, but we are not only fools in Italy,
we are fools in Kiatanoshin,
that nothing happens,
and instead, perfect, perfect.
And instead, about birthdays,
since we talked about Jesus' birthday at the beginning,
(21:00):
let's talk about birthdays instead of Japanese,
how do they enjoy it?
The only thing I know about birthdays,
well, I know that once the Japanese system,
to count the years, was a bit different,
in the sense that we, here in the West,
were born after a year of existence,
you celebrate a year.
(21:21):
In Japan, instead, until, I don't remember,
I would say a stupidity,
however, for a long time,
they counted, at birth you had a year,
so you didn't celebrate a year,
but you entered the first year.
But it was something that was done in the eastern countries,
it's not the first country I feel something like that from.
(21:42):
If I'm not mistaken, at the time we are recording,
and we are at the end of June,
it's news from a few days ago,
that in South Korea they have just modified
the whole system of dating,
of dating of people's ages,
the way people are given their age,
because their problem was that
(22:03):
you even celebrated a year,
just after birth.
That is, just after birth you already had a year,
and in addition you celebrated the years
on January 1, in a standard way.
So, if you were born in December,
after a month you already had two years.
And, in itself, it is not a problem at the moment,
(22:25):
in which everyone more or less takes care of dates
and years in the same way,
when you have to start doing something,
like organizing the school,
where there are people who are the same age,
but two completely different periods of life and existence,
and they also said if you have to organize
group vaccinations of the population,
(22:49):
as it was in the case of COVID,
you have people who, at the level of physiological development,
are completely different,
while in age, graphically,
according to that measurement system, they are the same.
That's why Asians seem so young,
because in reality when they tell you that they are 36 years old,
in reality they are still 12.
Damn bros, we have discovered you.
(23:13):
And to close this parenthesis of aggression on Korea,
for them age is a very important thing.
50 years old
which gives a lot of importance,
and therefore it is one of the first things they tell you.
Consequently, rethinking,
indeed adapting to what the international system is
(23:35):
to define age for them is something that is destabilizing them for a moment,
but now, to be clear,
they are keeping both systems on their feet.
So it started with the international one almost everywhere,
for a few things and continue to be old for a while.
You were born one year, in January you have another,
and then on your birthday we add one of six years.
(23:56):
Exactly.
How old is your son? He was born yesterday.
He is 14 this year, I buy him a motorbike.
What are you saying, mom?
How is that possible? I took the dice and it came out well.
He always made 20 on aging.
Anyway, close parenthesis, D&D.
No, one thing that came to mind is that in Japan there is a recurrence,
(24:18):
there are actually three recurrences,
Shichigo-san.
Shichigo-san means seven, five and three,
and corresponds to the age of children.
Children aged three to five had...
(25:01):
A bit of a special party,
since the missing years were once considered lucky years,
I don't know why, because Japanese are bizarre,
during these years, sorry, during these recurrences,
(25:25):
until a certain date, the 15th of the month,
a group was formed,
the children were grouped and taken to the temple.
All the beautiful ones, with their little kimono,
something quite traditional,
(25:48):
were taken to the temple with the family,
and a rite was held to bring the children closer to the temple,
to the spiritual life.
I don't know why, because I found...
I didn't find much information about this,
but I found some quite disturbing explanations,
so I put it away, as if I never knew.
(26:09):
Anyway, this was the case, and it still is.
But it will be something of good auspice.
Exactly.
During the three, five and seven years.
Much later, people don't give a shit about you until you're 60,
when you're 60, they say,
wait, you're an important age!
(26:31):
Why?
Let's party again.
Exactly.
At 60 you've already done five zodiac cycles,
or stuff like that,
and so, good job,
I don't know, I think the stars are with you in some way.
Anyway, you're a lucky age,
and so you're seen as a new beginning.
(26:56):
Anyway, 60 years is an important age.
But, for the rest,
as far as I know, Japanese birthdays are celebrated normally,
if they're not working.
Because in that case, what do they do? They celebrate them together.
I don't know, I wouldn't be surprised to think that,
hey, it's my birthday today,
(27:18):
good job, happy birthday, go back to work.
To work.
Exactly, five slaps for you.
But I heard about a party,
an event, a recurrence,
called the Golden Week.
Oh, yes.
But I thought it was something to do with Willy Wonka,
(27:39):
like the Golden Ticket,
where they eat chocolate all week.
Tell me it's like that, please.
I'd love to,
but if you work nonstop all year,
you have a week off.
No, no, it's not true.
It would have been very Japanese.
(28:00):
It would have been very Japanese.
In fact, when I said it, I was convinced.
No, actually, the Golden Week is a week of party
for everyone, but not everyone.
Let's say it's a week of party.
Many people work anyway, but we don't know all the details.
It goes from April 29 to May 5,
(28:21):
and it's a recurrence that actually started
after the Second World War, in 1948.
So it's recent.
Yes, it's a very recent thing
that more than a party, it's a superpontet,
which we Italians like very much.
It's a desire to gather more parties.
(28:43):
The characteristic of the Golden Week is that Japan,
especially Tokyo, becomes a mess
because there are a lot of people who don't work,
many offices, not all, but many are closed,
or they have reduced schedules,
so there are a lot of people around,
there is a mess in the subway,
and those who don't live in Tokyo say
oh, how cool, the Golden Week, let's go.
(29:04):
Those who live in Tokyo say
oh my god, again, what a mess.
It's a bit like the mobile room,
the fashion week in Milan,
all those things that for the people who live there
they say, damn, you all have to die,
for those who don't live there, they say
oh, how nice, let's go see.
Let's not see the time that everyone is cursing us.
Exactly, exactly, same thing as the fashion week.
(29:26):
No, we were saying, starting on April 29,
because April 29 is the Showa No Hi,
that is the day of the emperor,
of Hirohito, it was Hirohito's birthday.
Which then became...
Exactly, which then became the beginning
of this Golden Week.
Then there are a whole series of parties
(29:50):
that go on, like the first of May is the work day.
Also for them.
The work day also for Japan.
I imagine that Japan stops completely from work,
almost if some Japanese is found
with a hammer in hand to plant a nail,
to hang a painting.
As a work day, it is not a national holiday,
(30:12):
so it is not really a holiday.
But look at it a bit.
It is part of the Golden Week, so in reality
many places are closed, but not all.
Let's put it that way, those things borderline
that they like so much.
Then, pause, the second of May,
stupid Japanese workers,
(30:34):
and then the third of May is the day of the Constitution,
the Kenpo Kinembi.
It is the anniversary of when the Japanese Constitution was made,
so after the Second World War,
in 1947, the Constitution was promulgated.
Let's put it that way, as a holiday.
(30:55):
A bit like our 2nd June holiday.
Our Republic Day, we have a day,
indeed, we have a Constitution Day,
but it is not a national holiday.
For us, the moment of change,
according to the World War, is precisely the 2nd of June.
I believe that for them at this point
it is the Constitution Day.
I don't know how much this day has been felt
(31:18):
as a Constitution Day,
because I have always seen the Golden Week
as a whole of parties.
I don't know in particular what happens,
if there will certainly be recurrences
of the parties, of the events on the subject,
but I have no idea.
(31:40):
The 3rd, sorry, the 4th of May, the day after,
instead, there is the Green Day.
Flowers, all the squares, all the main areas,
the parks are all beautiful.
All green.
It is an honour, let's say, the Spring.
(32:04):
Well, also because, I must say that it started
not long ago, from an astronomical point of view,
no, it has been a month, but actually
it starts to get warm and
it starts to see the flowery areas.
Let's remember that Japan is historically Shinto,
because Buddhism arrived after that,
it is historically Shinto, which is a religion,
(32:25):
let's remember, animist, which therefore
takes up so much of the seasonal imprint
of, let's say, events of nature.
It is very linked.
Exactly, so for them the Spring is a moment
of rebirth, a restart.
Among other things, now that I think about it,
(32:48):
the Japanese year starts in April.
The school, even if I'm not mistaken,
I don't know if it is something that matters,
but it came to mind now, so...
Well, certainly, maybe not directly,
but in the biggest circle of Japanese life
it certainly comes into play in some way.
Exactly, exactly, even the Japanese fiscal year
(33:09):
starts in April, so...
To make everything very simple.
Yes, exactly, especially in the big companies
like, well, a Sony that works in all
countries of the world have this moment
of discomfort in April.
To break a spear in favor of the Japanese
about the fiscal year, in Italy the fiscal years
also depend on the nature of your activity.
(33:31):
Yes, true, true.
So...
So it's fine.
We love you very much anyway.
A warm hug to you.
We were saying that on May 4 there is the Green Party,
May 5 instead is... May 5 is cool,
because it's Kodomo no Hi, which means
Children's Day, Kodomo and Children,
Hi is the day, so day, children.
Have you ever...
(33:52):
Maybe not.
Have you ever seen, perhaps in some manga,
anime or in some films, outside the houses
there is this long stick with a kind of
an aquiline shaped like a carp, this tube,
this little shoe in the wind.
Yes, absolutely.
Ok, perfect. Those are the Koinobori,
(34:13):
they are the carp, practically.
Why carp? Because carp in Japan is an
extremely strong symbol.
There is a story that actually comes from China,
like many things, but...
The carp, what does the carp do?
It rises the current, so great will.
Once the carp manages to rise the current,
(34:35):
it becomes a dragon.
This thing here, the story is very simple,
exactly, but what does this mean?
It means that when you make an effort,
the effort, the dedication, all these things
will lead you to have a great result.
So the carp that wins the current and
points to its own result, when it reaches it,
(34:58):
it becomes a dragon, it grows,
it renews, it gains power, it's super saiyan.
It's a salmon that in our imagination
made it.
It's a salmon with biceps.
Exactly.
It's what made it in our imagination,
in the sense that it managed to take
a place of honor in Japanese traditions.
Exactly. The carp becomes a dragon.
(35:20):
Anyway, why carp? Because these Koinobori
are aquilines, not in the sense of the
rhomboidal that flies, but it's a kind of
fan of the wind.
Ok, what are they called? Those that indicate
the intensity of the wind?
Yes, exactly.
Of the trunks cylinders, from both sides,
(35:44):
in different sections, so that the wind
can enter from one side and exit from the other.
Anyway, there are different ones.
There is the big black carp, which is the father,
the big red carp, which is the mother,
and then the small colored carp, which symbolize
the children. So, family with mom and dad,
two children, has big red carp, black carp,
(36:06):
and the two smaller colored carp.
This is the Kodomonokie. It's a day
thought for children, to honor, let's say,
children. Then there are a whole series of
rites that are done, if I remember correctly,
they told me that children are bathed
in a wooden tub with flowers inside.
(36:30):
I don't remember. Anyway, there are a whole
series of events.
This is to say that it's not just
putting some acolons outside the house.
You put the acolons, there are all these things
to honor.
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Children are important to the family,
it's a day for the family of children.
It's nice that we end this week of Golden Week
with the children's party.
Yes, it's nice. We start with the emperor's
birthday, which is...
It was a bit important for the Japanese.
(37:35):
It was important, but there's no more Hirohito.
So we end with Kodomonohi.
And instead the Japanese have the sagres.
Oh yes, how nice.
Because obviously we, at the level of sagres,
like Italians, we are very strong.
We are very strong. We are really strong.
(37:57):
And the Japanese?
So the Japanese have the Matsuri.
The Matsuri are beautiful.
Let me try, sorry, to pronounce.
It's not Matsuri with the A open, but it's Matsuri.
Matsuri.
Instead of U, it's not Matsuri, it's Matsuri.
Because the Japanese U is Matsuri.
(38:18):
Matsuri.
It's like the U of Kasura.
Matsuri.
Masura, which is a mixture of Kasura,
the Matsuri of Kasura.
Let's go back to Seri.
So these Matsuri.
No.
These Matsuri are traditional festivals,
which are still...
(38:41):
Matsuri plus Matsuri minus
Matsuri are quite rooted in religious beliefs,
in popular customs,
in some rites, as we said before,
I don't know, the succession of seasons or these things.
There is no univocal definition.
No, no, no, absolutely not.
There are different kinds.
(39:03):
There are Matsuri to honor legends,
such as the Tanabata,
which tells the legend of Orochimé, of Koboshi,
but I won't tell you more about that.
Or there is the Yuki Matsuri,
a festival held in February in Sapporo,
in Hokkaido, which is the snow festival,
where sculptures are made, ice sculptures.
(39:25):
There are camps dedicated to children
who go there and make this snow puppet,
more or less cute, depending on the child's abilities.
Everyone does what they can,
but the result after three days of Yuki Matsuri
is that it is a completely full field
full of snow puppets, which is still very beautiful.
(39:46):
And the whole city participates.
In the maximum line, many Matsuri, many festivals,
in the maximum line, many festivals
are linked to the religious tradition.
Many, however, differ from this thing.
For example, there are Matsuri for the Anami,
so the looking at cherry blossoms.
(40:08):
Ah, and in fact, after two seasons,
finally the famous...
No, it's not true, I had also talked about it in Nara,
in Nara's episode.
But finally this tradition of cherry blossoms comes out.
Yes, it is super sensual, something they love.
There is a moment when they are officially sitting
to look at these cherry blossoms.
(40:30):
Anami is written as hana, flower, mi,
and the root of looking, mi-ru, which is the verb to look, right?
Anami is not the flower, it is not the flowering of flowers,
but it is the act of looking at a flower,
it is a contemplation.
Also there, violated on the fact that the flower symbolizes
(40:50):
ceducity of life, because then it is true,
the cherry blossoms, when you book the flight for Japan,
they are assholes.
Take this word from the episode.
They are assholes because the Japanese cherry blossoms
so shyly towards the end of March,
(41:14):
and then it does its course.
End of March, which is famous for having rain,
frosty frosts, storms, wind, and all atmospheric events
that sweep it away with incredible ease.
So anami can be that lasts really short.
Usually, however, the period is that of end of March, beginning of April.
So airlines in doubt tell you,
(41:35):
there could be a very wide window that you can enjoy this anami.
You know what? All month will cost a mess to go to Japan.
It is clear that there are different varieties of cherry.
There are those more precarious, even in some areas,
they start in mid-February in some areas of Japan to bloom.
I have seen cherry blossoms full of beautiful, still in mid-April.
(42:00):
We are talking about the Osaka area.
So, however, without going too far in the area with extreme climates,
so different varieties give you the opportunity to do anami
in different moments of that period of the year.
Obviously, if you go in August, you will look at the granites.
(42:25):
The very famous Sicilian granites of Japan.
Yes, there are, they are called Kakigori.
Really?
I swear, I swear.
The Sicilian Gratta Kekka.
The Gratta Kekka, ok.
You have the ice grated, once it was grated by hand,
now there are the machines, with syrup on top.
It's not bad, but I don't know, let's start from the assumption
(42:47):
that we in Italy have a privileged position in terms of the ice.
But then, the Matsuri.
Yes.
Did I say it right?
Yes, yes.
Oh, well.
What are they?
Are they something definable in a straight and direct way?
Yes, they are straight and direct, you don't tell me that in the meantime.
(43:11):
You know I have to...
No, so, yes, they are these holidays.
During these holidays, what happens?
Imagine, let's create the atmosphere a little.
You have a situation where people celebrate this generic recurrence.
They can be, if they are religious recurrences,
(43:33):
usually there are people who take a walk from a sanctuary
in the various streets of the city to another,
or they take a walk and go back to the same sanctuary,
they bring a kind of small bag with,
according to the Matsuri, something on top,
which can be, I don't know, the symbol of the divinity,
(43:55):
of the celebration, of the traditional thing we are celebrating.
I got a flash.
For example, a penis.
Exactly, I was about to say it.
I was about to say it.
Sorry, or...
Or...
So as not to distract you, obviously.
Or, no, there is this stuff here,
(44:16):
and there is, however, on the street, this atmosphere of celebration.
To participate in Matsuri, for example,
many Matsuri are in summer, in the summer period.
What do you do? Go around in kimono?
No, go around with the yukata, which is the summer version of kimono.
So you have a lot of people who go around with these beautiful clothes,
because they are beautiful and extremely traditional.
(44:39):
And you have the, what are they called?
The classic food bars,
the bars with the toys.
It's a sacred thing, a sacred thing.
It's our sacred thing, but in Japanese version.
Instead of having the, what is it called?
The guy who makes you shoot the soldiers and wins the prize,
you have, now I'll make you travel through time,
(45:02):
maybe in some anime, especially those old ones,
you will have seen Japanese parties,
fish tanks and, typically,
a kind of paper fan that fish the fish.
Yes.
Ok, perfect, it's a game.
You have, in fact, tanks with smaller fish,
bigger fish, and you get a little bag.
(45:23):
You have a sort of fan,
let's say a little net,
but in paper.
So you have a sheet of paper with, let's say,
this rigid profile.
You have to immerse it in the water and pull it on the fish.
Obviously, the more violent you are, the easier it is to break the paper.
(45:46):
So you have to have your technique to immerse it, bend it and take it.
You can take small fish that are worth less points,
or big fish that are worth more points, but,
big fish are shaken by the risks of breaking the paper.
Wow.
You have a little bit of time, usually you play in two.
Who wins?
You have this thing here.
(46:08):
You live the fish, anyway.
You live the fish, yes.
You don't hurt them because they are still on the paper
and they are out of the water for a second.
Yes, yes, yes, then you put them in the sink.
Exactly. Once you have finished the game,
you have your prize and that's it, you put the fish back there.
Or, if you want, you can take a fish away.
(46:29):
Ah.
So, like this.
You have these particular traditional games.
The typical thing during, for example,
the Matsuri, but the Anami in particular,
is to drink beer sitting on the benches or sitting on the ground.
In case it is a Matsuri summer, spring, maybe the Anami,
(46:50):
you throw these stuinos on the ground, these things,
like a picnic, and you watch the Aegean
and you drink your beer, which then maybe
goes on the pesantino.
Between one stop of work and the other.
Exactly. But the Matsuri is this, it is a party.
It has a very beautiful atmosphere.
(47:11):
You can really smell the smell of Yakisoba,
the smell of the wooden doors.
It is very particular, it is a typical thing.
So, I recommend, if you decide to travel to Japan
and live it, to participate at least in a Matsuri.
Yes, absolutely.
Matsuri are concentrated, let's say, spring and summer,
(47:34):
more in summer, spring and summer,
but there are during the whole year.
So, let's say you can find them almost always,
if you go to Japan in summer,
you suffered like crazy the heat,
but you will find many.
I recommend you to try to participate in one.
(47:55):
This second season has also come to an end.
We are extremely happy,
extremely happy for what we have done so far,
for your support and your support.
Thanks to all those who listen to us,
thanks to all those who write to us,
thanks to all those who continue to ask us
to continue with this podcast
(48:18):
and to tell you more and more things.
We do it willingly, in fact the ideas are not...
They are not missing.
Exactly, they are not getting exhausted,
so you will still hear about us.
Thanks, thanks again to all.
This was the sixth episode or the sixth and last episode
of the second season of the banana-shaped island.
(48:42):
See you, hopefully, very soon.
Stay with us because we will have great news.
Thanks again to all.
Ciao!
(49:22):
Thank you.
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Introducing… Aubrey O’Day Diddy’s former protege, television personality, platinum selling music artist, Danity Kane alum Aubrey O’Day joins veteran journalists Amy Robach and TJ Holmes to provide a unique perspective on the trial that has captivated the attention of the nation. Join them throughout the trial as they discuss, debate, and dissect every detail, every aspect of the proceedings. Aubrey will offer her opinions and expertise, as only she is qualified to do given her first-hand knowledge. From her days on Making the Band, as she emerged as the breakout star, the truth of the situation would be the opposite of the glitz and glamour. Listen throughout every minute of the trial, for this exclusive coverage. Amy Robach and TJ Holmes present Aubrey O’Day, Covering the Diddy Trial, an iHeartRadio podcast.
Betrayal: Season 4
Karoline Borega married a man of honor – a respected Colorado Springs Police officer. She knew there would be sacrifices to accommodate her husband’s career. But she had no idea that he was using his badge to fool everyone. This season, we expose a man who swore two sacred oaths—one to his badge, one to his bride—and broke them both. We follow Karoline as she questions everything she thought she knew about her partner of over 20 years. And make sure to check out Seasons 1-3 of Betrayal, along with Betrayal Weekly Season 1.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.