Toyota Prius Debut As My New Vehicle

A month ago, I sold my Nissan March and at the same time bought a Toyota Prius. It’s veeeery nice car as I had expected. Isn't it cool?
The Toyota Prius is the world's first commercially mass-produced hybrid car. It went on sale in Japan in 1997, and worldwide in 2001. It’s said that in Latin, prius means "before" or "first".
With the 2004 model, the Prius was certified as an Advanced Technology Partial zero-emissions vehicle. Prius has won numerous awards including Car of the Year awards for Europe, Japan and North America. (Information Source: Wikipedia)

The Prius has also won “Japanesque Modern 100” or the "New Japanese Style" Awards in Japan this year, 2006.
The "New Japanese Style" is defined by three traditional Japanese values: craftsmanship, manners and hospitality.
“Craftsmanship” is the spirit of constantly creating new technologies and culture, respecting materials as products of nature and stressing the importance of passing on knowledge and techniques.
“Manners” are the spirit of cultivating one's personality and seeking a noble and motivated lifestyle, with individuals sharing responsibility for the greater good.
“Hospitality” is the spirit of both establishing one’s self as an individual and supporting diversity and harmony, while respecting different ideas and new things.
I'm very proud of the Awords as one of the owners of the Prius.



I had my Prius done a one-month-checkup the day before yesterday. It’s still quite new. The above two pictures were taken before Utusnomiya Lifelong Education Center just ten minutes ago.

Movie “It’s tough being a man” and Japanese culture.

“I was born and brought up in Shibamata, Katsushika and I was blessed at Taishakuten Temple. Kuruma is my family name and my given name is Torajiro. But people usually just call me Tora, Tora the street peddler” which are famous words in the movie and most Japanese know them.

I watched a famous Japanese movie “Otoko wa Tsuraiyo” or “It’s tough being a man”, one of forty-eight series of movies yesterday.

Sometimes, it’s very hard to explain Japanese culture, but you can find it rather easily by watching movies like these.
The main actor of these movies is Kiyoshi Atumi who played the character of Torasan in the movies for more than 30 years and died on July 4, 1996.
The director of the Torasan films, Yoji Yamada who was a dominant director of the 1970s often explains that his aim is to show kind, meek and gentle quality of the Japanese people.
These films show two motifs of Japanese culture and dream: the everyday collective life of a family and the adventures of a lonely wanderer.

Miniature Car of Nissan March

It took me just two days to make the miniature car last weekend after selling my real car. I like this miniature car very much. It really looks like the real one I possessed. I bought an assembly kit more than three years ago but I did not feel like making it and just wanted to keep it.
Finally I did it. It’s very cute, isn’t it!
The miniature car is on the rice cooker with which I cooked Kuri Gohan in the kitchen room.

The car's last moment before leaving my hands.

Mashiko Pottery Festival

I went to Mashiko Pottery Festival last Friday for the first time in five years. I thought that Mashiko became a more modern town than that was five years ago.
Before going there, I never imagined there were such nice museums.
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