"Time is money". This is probably one of the
most famous phraseｓ in the world, meaning that time is as valuable as money. In the movie "Time", time is really dealed with like money. But different from our world, losing money means losing your life on the spot.
In this movie, people stop growing at the age of 25. But that doesn't mean they're immortal, after reaching the age, a digital timer on their wrists go off, ticking away what amount of life they have left. If you don't want to die, you need to get time in some way. Time substitutes for money in this world, for example, you work in a factory and earn a few hours, if you want a cup of coffee, you pay a few seconds. All the time, you could see the length of your life changing. The more time you earn, the more you can live. Same thing as money, there are poor people-who never has more than a day left when they wake up-and rich people-who has lived more than a hundred years and is assured to live more-. This story is about a man, Will, who has lived in the slums all his life, but accidently got a hundred years from a man from the city. Suddenly becoming immortal, Will leaves for the city, but getting stalked for the hundred years.
What makes this movie different from others, is that the audience could know exactly how close the character is close to death. Extremely, just walking slowly will reduce life. If the clock turns to 0, it is lierally time out for the character. In the first part of the movie, a lovely young lady dies, falling down all of a sudden, as if she were a toy which ran out of batteries, a shocking scene which would stick to the audience during the whole movie.
Since losing money means losing your life, events that has money to do in them-like gambling or robbing-means much heavier than normal. It is a serious problem for the characters, but to the audience, it is even more exciting. Here, Will's character works strongly to the situation. He is just a man who lived in the slums, no fighting abilities or special techniques, but just guts. Will's life risking bets gives a real shudder to the audience. But in opposite, the action scenes did not really match the movie. It looked as if they were forced to move violently. Since such an interesting setting, I think it would of been better if they put more focus on the fights of the brain. Like I wrote above, just showing the ticking away timer makes a very tense atmosphere, a much stronger one then sticking guns against each other. I really loved the idea, and it was a movie I'd like to watch if there were a 2.
The official preview of "Time". Coming to rent soon.
In December 2011, Japanese Prime Minister, Noda Yoshihiko, decided to raise consumption tax to 8% from April 2014 and to 10% from October 2015. After this decision, some of the people opposed this plan.
In this blog, I'll see this problem from two different views.
(ⅰ) Advantages of Raising Consumption Tax
There are two advantages of raising consumption tax. First one is government can tax all Japanese nation. Second one is this tax is fair for all people. Let me explain one by one. First, government can tax all Japanese nation, because everyone purchases something almost everyday. That means you pay not only for the cost price but also consumption tax. Second, this tax is fair for everyone, because this tax is proportioned to the money people spend. Shortly, more and more people use their money, more and more the government get consumption tax.
(ⅱ) Disadvantage of Raising Consumption Tax
There is one disadvantage of raising consumption tax. That is Japanese business condition could be dull. If consumption tax is raised, most of all Japanese nation (especially people who don't have much money) try to save their money, because all products are more expensive than ever. That means less money circulate through the market. This bad circulation could cause the depression.
Next, I'll show you some data about consumption tax. These data are based on the website of Ministry of Finance. The consumption tax is about 11.0% of all taxes.
Then, I'll show you another data. See the graph below.
Compared with other developed countries, Japanese consumption tax is one of the lowest rates. EU countries' consumption tax rates are very high this is because this is the duty of this union.
Lastly, I'd like to give you my opinion. I believe Japanese Government should raise consumption tax, because Japanese Government requiring lots of money to solve some problems, such as pension system and social welfare. It is sure that some people disagree with this plan, but this is the time when we should raise consumption tax.
How do you think about this problem? Do you agree with raising consumption tax?
This is data about consumption tax.
Today I would like to talk about an activity I have been enjoying and practicing for about 4 months now :Yoga. The gym I go to in Ikebukuro offers regular yoga lessons and I have been going at least twice a week in order to stay in shape.
It is also for me a way to relax and add some spirituality to my life...
Tokyo,being quite a hectic and stressful city at times,I had to disconnect from the crowd and find some time to spend in a much more calm environment.
I like to practice “relaxed”,also called “restorative” yoga the most.Unlike power yoga,
or other more intense forms of yoga,it allows the muscles to rest after a long day but also makes them more flexible and tone up the shape of the body.
Here are a few easy poses I would like to introduce you to and you can do in the comfort of your own home:
-the seated and twist (shown below) is a basic yoga pose which helps stretching the muscles from the thighs and arms. It is also a good exercise to do before going for a jog .
-The downward facing dog: I really like this pose, though its a little harder than it looks when you do it for the first time.It strenghtened the spine and stretches the calves.
-The cobra: I do this pose to work my abs inner muscles.the key is to open the chest,keep your hands flat on the mat ,feet together.
-the low lunge: streteches every muscle of the body,strengthens the arm muscles,overall a great pose if you are trying to walk with more grace and balance.
Once you have mastered the basics move,you can add a few more challenging poses to your..”repertoire”.
For me,yoga is one of the few sports which helped me sculpt my body the way I wanted it to be.
Even though this sport can be practised by everyone,I would especially recommend yoga to girls and women wanting have a more feminine shape.What is great about yoga is that unlike common muscle training which tends to "bulk up" the body ,yoga helps elongate the thighs and still enables you to build inner muscles.
The first time I tried,it did hurt but gradually,after weeks of practice and always adding new moves,my body became used to the pain.I also pair relaxed yoga with pilates or/and jogging after a yoga session to add some cardio to my workout: It is a great way to burn fat and have a leaner and toned body (which is,I have to say one of my main motivations when working out )
I hope it made some of you want to try yoga, and for those of you who already are yoga aficionados,it would be great to have a chat in order to see which poses work for you and why :D
Hope all of you have a great week,
I would also like to apologize for the blog post delay ,
There are many movies which uses time warp as a theme, so much, that time warping may well be called a classic. But I'm pretty sure that there has never been a time warp using a bathtub for the time machine. Thermae Romae has done this, grabbing many interests just from the trailer.
As expected, the movie was a great comedy. Viewing the movie as a time slip, it was the good old "if a man from the past comes to our time". But, the movie does not show the familiar "man from the past being overwhelmed by the future city" or anything like it at all. This is because the Roman who came from the past, only cares about Japanese bathtubs. He is dead serious, trying to understand the mechanism of our bathtubs, but to us who are watching, each of his actions are just funny. This situation, and Abe Hiroshi`s sincere acting(his body is very muscular, like a Roman) created an endless laugh in the theatre.
But, there were some disappointing points, especially the climax. A contrast to the comedy of the first half, it was mostly serious. To the audience who were being excited, to what hilarious thing the Roman was going to do next, the last half may have lowered their tension. Though, thinking this movie's story from a manga which is not finished, I think there is a need to admit that it was a clean ending.
I'll tell you my Golden Week. During that holidays, I visited Gunma as a member of ESS(English Speaking Society). We stayed an old inn, or in Japanese ryokan. What I enjoyed the most in that stay was sports festival. See the photo below.
This is my team. We enjoyed some kinds of sports, such as volleyball, dodgeball and jump rope. We won the second prize. After that, we had BBQ. It was very delicious, but there was a sad point. Can you find something strange from the photo below?
The strange point is we were eating in a tent. So that means it was a rainy day;-( Although it was rainy, I enjoyed the event, of course!!
The next day we came from Gunma, we had an event of KUEL(Kanto universities ESS League). That event was held for freshmen. In the event, freshmen made some teams and discuseds some themes. I was suprised when my team number was decided because mine was NO.1! They are my NO.1team members.
I had a good time with them. I want to see them again.
This is my Golden Week. these were fantastic days!! If you have interest in my club, please visit ESS website.
I will be raising 2 titles I believe are worthy of watching this season. I may add more if I feel like it, or if there are any requests. I'm currently watching 66 animes simultaneously, 32 of which are from this season (my MAL). I've dropped 4 animes from this season so far (not necessarily because they're bad of course). I DO NOT PIRATE ANIME FOOTAGE. PLEASE DO NOT ASK ME WHERE PAST EPISODES CAN BE FOUND.
1) Hyouka ← I haven't watched this yet, so no major spoilers please.
It has been several seasons since Kyoto Animation's last new anime, Nichijou, which has been reairing for a third run on NHK. Anyone who watches anime regularly knows the name Kyoto Animation, which is famous for the Suzumiya Haruhi Series, the movie of which is 7th on MAL's top anime, and Key/Visual Art anime adaptations with its amazing visual novel storylines, as well as K-ON, which is probably the most trendy anime in recent seasons. Kyoto Animation, which has been challenging every genre, every aspect of anime directing there is since its first anime Full Metal Panic Fumoffu, has now moved on to the mystery genre with Hyouka. Many have been anticipating another to-be-famous masterpiece from Kyoto Animation, but there seems to be a large division in the reception of its production. Those who watch anime for what an anime is comprised of as opposed to other media of entertainment are fully satisfied with the maximum level of design consistency, background animation, and visual effects Kyoto Animation has to offer. However, many are also disappointed with its focus on moeblob and the lack of attention towards the mystery aspect involved. Gatoh Shouji, the script/series composer, explained on his twitter that Kyoto Animation intends to enforce the bittersweet human relationships found in the story over the mystery, and this comment has only fueled the concern for the possibility of another pseudo-K-ON work. However, no one denies its astounding animation quality, and this controversy is held due to the very high level of expectation that Kyoto Animation brings about.
The anime is planned to be 2 coeurs long, totaling 21 episodes with an additional OAD coming out with the 3rd volume of the manga in January 2013. This anime cannot be found legitimately online, and I recommend you watch it on BS11, which has superior graphics to Tokyo MX. Discussion topics may be found on the MAL forums.
UPDATE
The OAD planned to be released in January 2013 will be pre-aired on USTREAM at 24:00 July 8th, 2012. Note: the link is to the official news page, not to the USTREAM page.
2) Haiyore! Nyaruko-san
Probably the best received anime in nicovideo this season so far (with a successive top weekly ranked official anime video since its release back in April), this anime seems to be your typical moeblob, but is in fact literally a (Cthulhu) monster underneath the surface. The best way to describe this anime is a cross between Lucky Star (a hyper parody slice of life anime by Kyoto Animation, as well as the first anime to successfully encourage financial improvement in the local town the setting of the anime was based on) and Gintama (another hyper parody space samurai action anime by Sunrise, originally a Shounen JUMP manga, the second season of which is currently the top anime of MAL). Note first that "hyper parody" means that the anime can only be enjoyed to its fullest extent by knowing all of the references made in the anime. Here is a fanmade wikipedia which lists all of the references made, as well as a video series (nicovideo, free registration required) which compares them visually and by sound. The main story is an alien invasion based on Cthulhu Mythos, a fictional universe written in the American horror novel by H.P. Lovecraft. XEBEC, the animation company, manages to promote the wacky chaos of the original light novel series while mixing fan moe and preserving animation quality. The OP "Taiyou Iwaku Moeyo Chaos" has become a trend within the nicovideo subculture, and has given birth to the ascii art (」・ω・)」うー！(／・ω・)／にゃー！ If you're an anime watcher, don't be late for jumping in on the festivities, because the staff really knows what the subcultural fandom is looking for.
The current anime series is preceded by 2 flash animes released by DLE, but these are 2 series of shorts intended to be fan-service based on self-criticism, where the characters criticize the loopholes of her own story. Do not judge this anime by any impression from these flash animes. This anime will be 1 coeur, totaling a length of 12 episodes. Discussion topics may be found on the MAL forums. This anime is best watched on nicovideo with comments, which will facilitate reference recognition as well as participation in the festive atmosphere of the fandom. People outside Japan can watch this anime legitimately on Crunchyroll.
Sample Reference Video (nicovideo, but can be watched externally without an account)
I chose the second episode, because this episode contains
many references that non-anime watchers would get as well (like Star Wars and Sagrada Famiglia). Note also
that this video does not introduce every reference. I don't know if it's
possible for any one person to know all of them.
If you would like more information, sources, other animes perhaps, please leave a comment.
I plan to write about Nicovideo Zero in my next article.
