Because We Speak English Without an Accent

This past week, I got a message from a friend of Onions asking me to find some native English speakers to voice characters for a video game. I told her....no problem.  And using the wonders of voice memo technology I had a bunch of my students send in voice samples and three students and I were chosen.

So, this is what the inside of a video game app company looks like.  So we learned that the company, Topgame, is in the midst of creating eight different games.  We arrived and hung out for a while.

And we got to play the game we voiced the characters for.

The game is called "Farm Freedom" and has elements of Candy Crush with five animal characters.

I was up first.  My character, the bird, was described as having a "irritated and annoyed sounding voice."  I can pull that off in my sleep.

My lines consisted of "Nothing can stand in my way!", "Run! Before I get angry!" and "Burrnnn!"  I said each line three or four different times with a different intonation.

Christina N. played the only female voice....the Lady Cat!

The video game developers were particularly excited by the voice of Joey H. so he voiced two characters, the frog and the dog.  He had the best lines, such as, " Sayonara, you vile veggies!" and "Just what the doctor ordered!"

In addition to voicing our lines, each of us gave voice samples of the basic lines such as "Welcome back!", "Congratulaions! You Win!" and "Faster, Faster!"

Angus W. voiced the character of the pig!

The easiest money all of us will EVER make!

The company asked me when the students are leaving and I say the end of May.  But I told them a new group of students are coming next year and she will be in contact with more voice work for English speaking students.

Yasukuni Shrine

On my last full day in Japan, I took the train from Takamatsu back to Tokyo, from which I would fly back to Beijing the next day.  I got into Tokyo in the afternoon and decided to make an effort to go and see the Yasukuni Shrine.  As you can see, I made it to the first torii right as the sun was setting.

The formal entrance to the shrine takes you along a long path as you pass under three torii.  This is the second.

You can see the third torii and then in the far background Main Hall of the shrine.

So why does the Yasukuni shrine cause so much controversy amongst Asian nations?  The Yasukuni shrine was built in the 1870's by the Emperor Meiji.  The emperor, wishing to honor the memory of those who had died for their country (or at that time empire), built this shrine.  Any Japanese person who has died in a war for the country is enshrined at the Yasukuni Shrine as a deity.  At this point there are about 2.5 Million deities.  The controversy stems from the fact that in the 1970's in a secret move, the major war criminals from World War II were enshrined here as deities.  This particularly angers the nations of China and South Korea.  Additional anger is brought forth when Japanese leaders make a visit to the shrine.

The military tribunal for the Far East found a number of Japanese leaders and military leaders guilty of crimes against humanity.  However,  Dr. Radha Pal was the only judge who did not insist all defendants were guilty.  Because of that, he is given a memorial in the shrine complex.

Also honored are the women and children who suffered because of the war and the consequences of the war.

The last morning of my trip, I met up with Uncle Nino, who is my Dad's high school classmate.  We ate brunch and talked about, guess who...my Dad!

Soy Sauce....How it's Made

Another thing Shodoshima is famous for is it's soy sauce.  The island is the home for the Maruchkin brand of Soy Sauce.

Right around the factory, the air smells like soy sauce.

At the factory, there is a small museum that details the history of the company as well as the process of making soy sauce before the introduction of machines.

So, you start with your wheat.  You have to separate it.

And then roast the wheat.  Then grind it.

Simultaneously, you are fermenting malt.

Then mix together, the malt, the wheat, soybeans and salt water in a large vat.  Let it sit for a long time, stirring occasionally.

Next step is to mash the slurry...

...then strain the soy sauce to clarify it.

The soy sauce to be consumed drips into these vats.

These days.....a factory!  Much easier.

Each visitor is given a complimentary bottle of soy sauce.

And you are given the opportunity to try soy sauce flavored ice cream. It actually just tasted like ice cream...the soy sauce flavor was very faint.

Shodoshima

Outside the front door of the hotel I stayed at in Takamatsu was a small hole-in-the wall restaurant that served traditional Japanese Breakfast.  It was run by a woman and she charged 530 Yen (about 5 dollars) for this massive tray of food!

I chose to stay in Takamatsu because it offered a regular ferry to the island of Shodoshima, which is in the Inland Sea between Shikoku and Honshu.

Why did I want to go to Shodoshima?  Well, this is a testament to the saying that little things parents do or show their kids when their kids are young, stick with them.  In this case, when I was young, my Dad had us watch a Japanese movie called 24 Eyes.  I remember being moved by the movie and so I wanted to come to Shodoshima to see where the movie was based and to see the museum that honors the movie.

This is the iconic photo that everyone knows from 24 Eyes.  The primary school teacher, on crutches, and her 12 pupils (24 Eyes).

There are two sites that are related to the movie "24 Eyes."  The first is the movie set of the 1980's remake of the movie.  The famous movie was the original, filmed in 1954.

On the set, the 1954 edition of the movie plays at all times.  Since the day was rainy and cold, I took an hour to watch part of the movie.  The movie was in Japanese without subtitles, but I remembered some scenes.  This is the teacher, the main character.

This touching scene is where a couple of the students go and visit their teacher.

This is a building that was used in the 1980's remake.

Just a few hundred meters down the road from the movie set is the location of the primary school that was used in the original film.  The school was actually in use for students until the 1970's.

This is the first and second year student classroom, which is where a significant portion of the movie takes place.

The original desks and chairs.

So it turns out that Shodoshima has a climate that can grow olives.  Therefore the island is famous for olive products throughout Japan.

To finish my afternoon on Shodoshima, I spent an hour at an onsen.  This was the view from the onsen.

Back in Takamatsu, I made my way to another udon noodle shop.

While I was eating, I got talking to a guy named Ken.  Turns out he spoke excellent English because he lived in the United States for work for a decade.