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Showing posts from May, 2022

Publishing an essay on drinks in Europe and Caucasus

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During the COVID-19 restrictions, I started another project: writing essays about drinks, mainly from Europe, Japan and the Caucasus. As someone who had worked in the travel industry, I had written many materials for my job introducing European drinks, including wines, beers, whiskies and liqueurs. The work involved a great deal of research on the internet, as well as actually trying the drinks myself. I felt it was important to experience the drinks firsthand, because I was introducing them to potential Japanese travellers who might encounter them abroad. I did not want to sound as though I was writing about something I knew nothing about. This time, I was able to spend more time researching the background of each drink. I found it fascinating to learn about the history of each one, the passion of the people who first created it, and the stories behind the businesses that developed around them. The main reason I chose this subject was that I wanted to continue researching food and dri...

Writing a fiction : A Moment in Japanese Medieval History of Street Entertainment

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 When I was young, I came across with a picture of two entertainers in Medieval Japan, called Kusemai dancer, and Shrabyoshi.   They were one of the prominent street performers in Medieval Japan, and they were mentioned in a book called “Seventy One Songs on Craftsmen", illustrating various craftsmen which was established at the end of 1500’s   Here is the link to the original painting of Kusemai dancer and Shirbyoshi. (On the bottle left) 狂言・能楽の歴史|文化デジタルライブラリー (jac.go.jp)   (Kusemai dancer on the left, Shirabyoshi on the right )   能・世阿弥|文化デジタルライブラリー (jac.go.jp) So, what are Kusemai dancer and Shirabyoshi ? Kusemai, also known as Mai-Mai (Roughly translated as "dance, dance") is a male street dancer, usually paired up with a singer, and dance while holding a folding fan. Shirabyoshi is a female dancer dressed in men’s clothe and sing song while dancing. Kusemai | the-Noh.com | Noh Terminology Shirabyōshi - Wikipedia   In a boo...