The comeback of a succer ball from 3.11 tsunami (Ryuko Saito)

        

      My example is a literal comeback, not a cultural comeback.

 Boy’s ball drifted in the Pacific after 3.11 Tsunami was made a comeback to him.

It drifted to Alaska seashore after 3.11 Tsunami. The owner, a junior high school boy, said "happy" on 22th Apr, 2012. The soccer ball was found in the U.S. Alaska away from 5 thousands kilometers or more. The owner was Misaki Murakami, a high school boy who lives in Rikuzentakata in Iwate Prefecture.

The ball was found at the coast of Middleton Island in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Alaska. Apparently, it was the first case to return to the owner what was washed away by the tsunami.

         There was written "From Osabe elementary school 3^rd grade, Mar, 2005"
         on the ball and lined up the names "Yuki", "Akinori" and "Shunsuke" as
         their words of good wishes. When Misaki transferred to another
         elementary school at the time, it was the full-hearted gift from
         classmates. He said he lost all of his belongings by the tsunami, but he was very surprised and pleased to meet his memorial soccer ball again. 

I was very impressed by the news and warm-hearted communication
over the Pacific.

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HauuJqli0bY

Blog#4: The Comeback of a Tradition 'Kouji' Marino Mori

              I will introduce the Kouji, the material used for cooking as one of the examples of products came back in Japan. Kouji is a traditional material used for making the taste of the meal more rich and tender. It is white colored and thick liquid made of fermented flour. Recently, ‘Shiokouji’( kouji with salt) is popular among house wives, to use fish and meat making it tenderer. Shiokouji were shelved on the supermarkets, and many recipes were published in Japan. Even ‘Shiokouji restaurants’ and lunch menus were made when this boom came. The peak of this trend was in 2012, and enen though the popularity is getting steady, it is still popular for the cooking material.

              I consider that this trend has come on the background of changing food cultures in Japan. Currently, Japan is filled with fast food restaurants and oily meals imported from the Western culture. According to that situation, Japanese people’s health got worse than the previous times. Many diseases such as health-related diseases are now in concern among all generations in Japan. Therefore, in order to tackle these health issues, people in Japan started to seek the forgotten traditional food culture. As a result, healthyKouji attracted many people’s attention, because it uses few flavoring, and it became a boom around the country.

              I think this trend will give a positive impact on Japanese health issues. Once people in Japan found out that traditional food culture is healthy and delicious, their health concerns will increase, which means that more sound people may increase in our society. Since the medical fees cost much in Japan, it is one of the solutions to lower the costs for the medication. Besides, as the food culture in Japan has now more attention among Japanese after the Japanese food culture has registered in the World Heritage,   I assume that more traditional healthy foods will revive in our society.

              In conclusion, while many western style foods are still popular among Japanese people, booms of healthy traditional foods such as Shiokouji may have an influence to change the people’s eating habits.

 

 

  Koji　　　　　　　　Koji Cafe　　　

 

Blog #4: The comeback of a tradition ―YU-TAMPO (Minori Nagata)

Hi, this is Minori.

I would like to introduce YU-TAMPO, a hot water bottle. It has been traditionally used to warm our feet in bed during winter. It became old-fashioned and stale several decades ago, but around 2007 it has become in fashion again, due to the rise in fuel expenses.
We use YU-TAMPO by filling it with hot water and wrap it with a blanket or thick cloth. It is very convenient because we can make use of the warm water in it to wash our face in the morning. The warmth is mild and there is no worry about fire. Since it has become in fashion again in 2007, many types of YU-TAMPO has been for sale. there are ones made of ceramic, metal, rubber, jerry, etc.
Using YU-TAMPO is very comfortable and economical. Keeping your feet warm and your head cool is healthy and gives you sound sleep. If you try to keep your room warm with air conditioning, your blood  will go to your head; it might make you catch cold because of dry air. If you use YU-TAMPO, however, you will feel more comfortable with your feet warm and therefore sleep well. It is also very economical; you only have to heat water. It is also eco-friendly. Owing to the rise of crude oil in 2007, people have become very conscious of fuel expenses. That's one of the reasons a number of people have begun using YU-TAMPO since 2007. As far as I'm concerned, the use of YU-TAMPO is finally very rational. in this ecological-conscious age, it is a great means of heating, even when you are awake.

The two photos of YU-TAMPO are below.

Blog #4: The comeback of a tradition – Side-Parted with Two-Blocked Hairstyle (Kazu)

Hi, this is Kazu.

            

               It is said that things come in vogue making a cycle in Japan. In other words, things that were in great vogue would become vogue again after few decades making an endless cycle. For instance, side-parted with two-blocked hairstyle is in great vogue for young men nowadays.

                                                

It was an absolute standard for men to have tightly set side-parted hairstyle few decades ago, while in 21st century, long and airy hairstyle has been in vogue. However, the latest famous hairstyle that appears in the very front of the magazine is now side-parted with two-blocked hairstyle. Moreover, I would see 5 in 1 men would have this type of hairstyle when I go to Shibuya. In my opinion, one main reason for this comeback is that side-parted with two-blocked hair gives sharp and neat impression, where recent women’s ideal image of men is “できる男(an able man)”. In addition, I believe there are huge influences to the younger people by Japanese celebrities (such as Yusuke Iseya and Ryo Isihikawa) making their hair side parted and two-blocked.

In short, I think this comeback is a good thing since this hairstyle would not give negative impression. Moreover, since I would need to cut my hair short and prepare for job hunting in the next few months, it would be a great idea to try this hairstyle in order to attain positive impression from the recruiting personnel.