Japan care her elder citizens – New airbag to protect fall victims

Japan has always been a step ahead of others in declaring new inventions. Many times it prompts us feel that is that all really necessary for us to live ? But to a great surprising extent, Japanese people think well ahead of the problems and possible solutions.

The air bag to protect those people who may fall, especially the elder citizens, is such an invention from Japan. Prop, a Tokyo-based company, demonstrated such an airbag that can inflate in 0.1 seconds if it starts moving quickly towards the ground.

Many times while travelling in trains, we may feel like falling behind. If we wear this airbag and travel and if we are not really falling behind, will this airbag inflates? This will surely put us in an embarrassing condition with an inflated air bag at our back in the crowded train. However, the cushions that suddenly inflate only work if the fall victim slides backwards.

The device is strapped around the body thereby giving protection to the head and hips while falling on the ground.

President of Prop. company Mr. Mitsuya Uchida, said the invention was targeted for old people with epilepsy, who were particularly vulnerable to such sudden and dangerous falls.

Cushions of this airbag weighs 2.5 pounds and are to be tied around the waist. They will be activated by means of electric sensors that can feel a sudden movement.

Once the alarm is set off, 15 litres of compressed air will be injected into the inflatable pads puffing them up to protect the most vulnerable parts of the body.

With a price of around $1,400, the new invention is only available for those with a big pension - or rich children with a strong sense of parental duty.

Japan is famous for her highest life expectancy rates, which is attributed to a mix of factors including a traditional healthy diet with plenty of vegetables.

People aged 65 or older accounted for 21.5 percent of the total population of 127 million last year, according to the government. More than 36,000 people are aged over 100.

Watch the demo in You Tube video:

My Kitchen in Japan - McDonald's Outlets in Japan

When I start from my country to Japan, I could not imagine how I am going to manage food at Japan. I was told by friends that you are going to face problem with food and language. Language problem may be to some extent overcome as I will be posted at the office where many of my Japanese colleagues can communicate in English.

Food was really a nightmare for me! I depended on bread and jam for the initial days, tried some Japanese food. Many Japanese food tasted OK for me, but nothing came out my way to be a regular food. My mother at homeland was also worried as anybody's mothers do.

My problems was the lunch! We have one hour lunch break. Initially I tried at our company canteen. I treid Japanese food eventhough it tastes totally new to me. Within one week, I found my kitchen at Ito Yokado at Kiba.

There is my Kitchen - The McDonald's ! Yes, the McDonald's at Ito Yokado near Gatharia, Kiba, Koto ku, Tokyo.

Who told foreigners will face problem for food in Japan. Rather, I will think these all are a part of propaganda against Japan. Japan has the maximum number of McDonald outlets in the world except U.S.

Japanese people are crazy to eat McDonald burgers. My favorite burger is the recently introduced Shrimp burger which costs 270 Yen. The set (Setho in Japanese) which consists of Shrimp Burger, Fried potatoes (I like to call it fried potatoes instead of french fries) and medium size Coca cola, costs me 650 Yen. That is the cost of my lunch. And my 'lunch box 'setho' will be waiting for me at McDonald at 12 Noon every Monday to Friday.

At the middle of all my food problems, my friends criticize me for having lunch at McDonald, for having 'junk food' daily. This is what they have been informed through media against McDonald ! Now my eating out at McDonald outlet at Kiba is a matter of discussion at our Japanese class on every Saturday.

McDonald showed me a way to live in Japan, if I am not exaggerating the taste of McDonald food. The Ebi-Fileto, which I take on atleast 3 days a week along with fried potatoes keep me alive in Japan. Then there is a natural question, why you can't cook ? The answer is this blogger currently have some problems with health, which prevent him straining the body. Cooking is a strain?

Yes, cooking is a strain when McDonald is there around you !

McDonald's Japan official site says: Since 2004, adoption of world-wide success cases to Japan, re-introduction and continuation of proactive investments, full-implementation of customer base expansion strategies, and driving of company reform through the enhancement of personnel awareness were implemented to further drive globalization. In addition, the following initiatives were implemented during the period: (1) further enhancement of QSC (2) introduction of new products, such as ‘Premium Roast Coffee’, ‘Premium Roast Iced Coffee’ and ‘Mega Muffin’ (3) reinforcement of 100 yen Mac menu with ‘Shaka-Shaka chicken’ (4) expansion of 24hr drive-thru & front counter operation (5) refurbishment of stores to provide comfortable dining area (6) investment for people development (7) expansion of e-marketing, and (8) franchising program. These initiatives generated great synergistic effects and resulted in further expanding our customer base. During the period, the highest daily sales record was renewed twice (June 28 & 29, 2008). Monthly sales record is growing for 18 consecutive months, and system-wide sales is showing positive growth, year-on-year, for 29 straight months.All these brought about the following strong consolidated performance during the FY 2008 interim: consolidated sales of 202.891 billion yen, consolidated current profit of 6.854 billion yen, and 6.192 billion yen net profit for the period.

All these McDonald food is consumed by Japanese people. And still Japanese people are the most healthier people in the world, and Japanese people live more than people from any other contry live. Many times, I will have a seventy plus year old Japanese grandma near to me tasting her McDonald burger!

Still, you search in the google or Yahoo! about Japanese McDonald outlets, you will get the negative propaganda news about McDonald at the front pages. They are so powerful to make their presence at the front pages of search engines!

But, tomorrow, I will have my Ebi Fileto!

Unhygienic practices in Akihabara - Garbage disposal in Japan

I would not have surprised and shocked, had I been noticed these garbages thrown carelessly on a roadside in any other country except Japan. But to my surprise this is in Japan and when my friend asked about my opinion on this, I was without words, but agreed silently, 'ya, it happens in Japan too, but unfortunate'.

I was walking from Yodobashi camera building in Akihabara towards Laox today evening with my friend. First we noticed this garbage and passed by, but returned back and had a look at this and wondered such irresponsible acts happens in Japan ! We thought of taking these snaps in order to make public more aware of what is happening in our own Tokyo.

When it comes to hygiene, I was full of admiration with the Japanese authorities and Japanese people for their high level of social awareness and discipline to practice public safe health behaviors. Public garbage disposal control comes under the jurisdiction of prefecture governments.

Infact I used to argue with my friends about the public awareness of garbage disposal and public hygienic practices being adopted and practiced by Japanese society. J. Philippe Rushton, in his famous k-group transition theory grouped Japanese society as one of the most civilized human race, both intelligent and culturally developed and advanced. He got severe criticism from all the corners for supporting far east Asian countries including Japan and negating the Africa.

But I have observed characteristics of a culturally advanced society in Japan and used to propagate my feeling to my friends and relatives in other countries.

Disposal of garbage and domestic waste is an indispensable task of local authorities. Refuse disposal, sewerage disposal and street cleaning expenditures take up more than half of the total municipal health and hygiene expenditures, where municipalities are making their greatest effort. The volume of garbage has been increasing as living standards rise, and municipalities are trying hard to dispose of it as efficiently as possible.

Sewerage disposal is directly tied to maintaining good sanitary conditions and to ensuring clean rivers or lakes. Therefore, it is imperative to provide disposal plants with sufficient capacity. It is important to note that municipalities are only responsible for the disposal of domestic waste; it is the responsibility of the producer to dispose of industrial waste. However, the complexity of the problem forces local authorities to demonstrate commitment in this field.

In the field of health and hygiene, the central government handles the national qualifying examinations for doctors and nurses, the licensing of pharmaceutical products, general planning and instructions. Most of the actual administration closely connected with residents is undertaken by prefectures and municipalities.

The total expenditure is 5,707 billion yen in fiscal 2005, and the share borne by municipalities is three times that of prefectures. Public health comprises more than 86% of the total prefectural expenditures; on the other hand, in the case of municipalities, refuse disposal, sewerage disposal, and street cleaning expenditures comprise more than 51% of the total.

Japan has such an admirable local governance system handed over by generations and implemented and verified by culturally developed and advanced community members.

Akihabara may be one of the most crowded region of Tokyo. Maintainance of public resources in such an area requires constant monitoring. Lapses happens but will be corrected immediately. But even if it is for a short period of time, throwing garbages publicly is one of the unexpected thing in Japan.

Akihabara's crowd and a small level of indiscipline can be attributed to the street sales and sales canvassing on the road sides. Akihabara may be the place where we can see maximum number of gaikokujins - foreigners. But the disposal of garbage may not be accused on the density of the foreigners !

Anyway, I thought of sharing these photos to make aware within the Japanese society and among foreigners living in Tokyo that sometimes Tokyo municipalities are also not immune to unhygienic practices !

Waiting for Typhoon in Tokyo !

Yesterday till late night or early morning 3:00 AM I did not sleep. I was waiting for the typhoon.

It all came to my interest as our Japanese class on this saturday was cancelled due to the expecting typhoon. OVTA, where I go for learning Japanese language for beginners informed through my company adminstration that they will compensate the class which will be cancelling as a precaution towards the typhoon on October second week.

I have never experienced a typhoon and wanted to see how it happens. One of my friend at the office told about the typhoon which is expected to hit Tokyo on early hours of 20th September. He told the name of the typhoon is Sinlaku.

We browsed the internet for getting more details about the typhoon. Many Japanese sites had given detailed information on the route and time of the typhoon.

My interest grew to watch the typhoon. There was moderate rain in Tokyo area on 19th evening onwards. Typhoon as my friend informed will be with heavy stormy wind and landslides. He had experienced last year 2007 July a similar typhoon, in which some people were killed.

Last year's typhoon destroyed many houses and created panic among the public. People can not stand outside as the storm speed will be around 130 miles per hour.

This time the Meteorological Agency in Japan had warned the public to stay alert for heavy rain, stormy winds and landslides that the season's 13th storm is expected to cause in wide parts of the Pacific coast.

Japan has an admirable system to report and monitor typhoons, tsunami like killer waves and earthquake etc. One of the reason is Japan have similar past experiences of natural calamities and over a period of time have been developed encounter measures.

The place where I am living is with lot of trees and high buildings. I thought I can see the strength of wind while the typhoon passes through the area. The Komatsugawa area is one of peaceful area in Tokyo for living. Komatsugawa is with trees, rivers, bridges, and high buildings in between.

But I could not sense any big difference between normal wind and yesterdays typhoon atlest in Komatsugawa area. The news papers reported something different, that there were small casualties at some parts of Japan.

Today morning I woke up and had a round around the Komatsugawa area, but could not find any noticeable changes due to the typhoon. But the Japan Times online reported casualties at Owase.

The Owase Municipal Government urged about 7,900 households to evacuate. A total of 12 homes were flooded, the city said, adding that about 50 residents fled to public halls and other places to take shelter. Sinlaku also caused 17 schools to close. Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) announced the suspension of eight express train services due to the typhoon.

The summer is just finished ! - Japan and her weather

The summer is horrible in Japan. Many Japanese go out of Japan during summer holidays. When I first landed in Japan it was too cold and could not imagine the weather can turn exactly opposite !

In our Japanese language class also teaher used to say 'Nihon no natsu wa atsui desu'. Japanese summers are hot. The weather is a suitable topic for coversation for foreigners to start with Japanese people. The differences between the seasons in Japan are distinguishable. Spring and Autumn are the most convenient and pleasant. Spring is associated with cherry blossom popularly known as Sakura in Japan. O'hanami parties are very famous in Japan.

Autumn is another best season in Japan. It is associated with the autumn leaves known as momiji in Japan. I had a visitor to this blog from Japan who suggested me to put the photos of autum leaves in my blog. Her name is Momiji. She did not disclose that her name has the meaning of autumn leaves! I searched in the internet for momiji and from a Japanese site, I got the meaning and photos of momiji. It looked wonderful for me.

Foreign people can start conversation with seasonal changes. The Japanese summer is less pleasant as first the rainy season will start in June followed by a hot and humid August and September first half. Summer and early autumn coincide the typhoon season. The winter is short and mild in the south of Japan but grows longer and more severe at North of Japan.

The change in seasons are always mingled with festivals. Each area has its own festival in Japan. The major yearly festival is at the beginning of the year and in mid of August. At New Year everyone has about a week off, which would traditionally be spent at home, with visits to relatives home. Japanese people visit to their temples at this season. I have heard from friends that they go to temple only once in a year that is at New year !

Japan have Shinto temples and Buddhist temples. At new year children will get gifts of money in small envelopes, from their parents and visitors to home and from those whom they go to visit. April is the month for Cherry blossom. Schools will be starting at this month. My daughter will attend her LKG this coming April in one of the Indian school in Japan.

At the end of April or beginning of May there is a Golden week festival. It is a ten day holiday. This is the time for Japanese people to visit their ancestral home and visit their family graves. Increasingly it too is being used as an ordinary holiday. Generally Japanese companies distribute bonus during June and December.

The summer gifts are known as 'o-chugen' in Japanese language and the winter gifts are o-seibo. The contents of the gifts will be same, generally gift-wrapped boxes of towels, soap, tinned food, whisky etc, which are not handed over personally but delivered by the store from where Japanese people will purchase those gifts.

Mysterious life of some beautiful Japanese women - remembering Geisha

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Some of the irresistible pictures flashing into the mind while thinking of Japan were of the girls beautifully cladded with traditional Japanese cloths, having a bunch of cloths at her back, the face almost like white washed, lips reddened like hibiscus flower, the bunched hair tied at her back attractively and walking as if her legs are tied.

This terribly beautiful Japanese woman images persisted and dominated my thoughts of Japan while I was in India. The other image was of westling men with huge physical figure.I always wondered how these giant wrestlers and beautiful women make a perfect combination in a wonderful part of the earth – Japan. I was not knowing that these beautiful women are called geisha in Japan. To my surprise now, It was after almost three months of stay in Japan, I came to know about the term geisha and became interested to read more about such wonderful entertainers of Japanese culture.

Geisha are entertainers, skilled in singing, dancing, story telling, and flirting with customers, Geisha were conversationalists employed at parties and other social affairs to entertain men in a male dominated Japanese society.

The Japanese word Geisha consists of two kanji, 芸 (gei) meaning art and 者 (sha) meaning person or and the translation of geisha into English would be artist or performing artist.

Another term used in Japan is geiko, a word from the Kyoto dialect. Full-fledged geisha living in Kyoto are called geiko. This term is also commonly used in the region to distinguish geisha practiced in traditional arts from prostitutes who have co-opted the name and attire of geisha.

Often there is a confusion between geisha and prostitutes. Prostitutes wear the bow of their sash, or obi, in front of their dress- kimono. Geisha wear their obi at the back. A full time geisha usually had the luxury of a professional aide to help them in the difficult process of dressing; their clothing is made up of several layers of kimono and undergarments, and an obi is more than a simple band of cloth. Dressing could take over an hour, even with professional help. Prostitutes, however, had to take off their obi several times a day, so theirs were far less complex, and tied at the front for ease of removal and replacement.

Geisha are expected to be strictly entertainers and not engage in sex business, but the distinction between entertainment and sex has always not been maintained precisely and some of them became the mistresses of men who purchased their contracts from the masters who held them in bondage. In old times, eventhough the Tokugawa government directed the geisha not to engage in prostitution, the problem and mysterical confusion of geisha and the prostitutes persisted.

Interestingly there remains some confusion, even within Japan, about the nature of the geisha profession. Geisha are frequently depicted as expensive prostitutes in Western popular culture. Geisha are entertainers, their purpose being to entertain their customer, be it by reciting verse, playing musical instruments, or engaging in light conversation. Geisha engagements may include flirting with men and playful innuendos; however, clients know that nothing more can be expected. In a social style that is uniquely Japanese, men are amused by the illusion of that which is never to be. Geisha do not engage in paid sex with clients.

Apprentice geisha are called maiko. It is the maiko, with her white make-up and elaborate kimono and hairstyle, that has become the stereotype of a geisha to the outside world, ratther than the original geisha. A woman entering the geisha community does not have to start out as a maiko, having the opportunity to begin her career as a full geisha. In fact, a woman above 21 is considered too old to be a maiko and becomes a full geisha upon her initiation into the geisha community. However, those who do go through the maiko stage enjoy more prestige later in their professional lives.

Young women who wish to become geisha now most often begin their training after completing junior high school with many women beginning their careers in adulthood. Geisha still study traditional instruments like the shamisen, shakuhachi (bamboo flute), and drums, as well as traditional songs, Japanese traditional dance, tea ceremony, literature and poetry. By watching other geisha, and with the assistance of the owner of the geisha house, apprentices also become skilled in the complex traditions surrounding selecting and wearing kimono, and in dealing with clients.

Kyoto is considered by many to be where the geisha tradition is the strongest today, including Gion Kobu. The geisha in these districts are known as geiko. The Tokyo hanamachi of Shimbashi, Asakusa and Kagurazaka are also well known.

In modern Japan, geisha and maiko are now a rare sight outside hanamachi. In the 1920s there were over 80,000 geisha in Japan, but today there are far fewer, estimated to be from 1,000 to 2,000.

Young girls were sold into the geisha life by their families until the mid-20th century and were often subject to the ritual of 'mizu-age,' whereby their virginity was sold to the highest bidder. Such practices were eradicated after World War II and the geisha profession went into a steady decline.

Although the profession of geisha has declined greatly in modern times, some geisha have been successful working in the political world. These geisha are engaged to entertain at parties of leading politicians, where the sake (Japanese alcohol) flows freely and some times in important political negotiations are conducted. Although geisha are supposed to remain silent about what they hear at these affairs, it is interesting that the leading political parties tend to patronize their own groups of geisha. Political canvassing and eaves dropping business is not limite to some countries and Japan is not an exception !

An article about Japanese geisha can not be concluded without mentioning MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA.

Arthur Golden’s best selling novel – memoirs of a geisha depicts a world where appearances are paramount; a world where a girl's virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder; where women are trained to beguile the most powerful men; and where love is scorned as illusion. It is a unique and masterpiece work of fiction, at once romantic, erotic, suspense at the same time unforgettable with haunting memories.

In ‘memoirs of a geisha’, Nitta Sayuri tells the story of her life as a geisha. The story begins from a poor fishing village in 1929 when, Sayuri, as a nine year old girl with unusual blue gray eyes, has taken from her home and sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house. The readers witness her transformation of her life as she learns the rigorous arts of the geisha: dance and music; wearing kimono, elaborate makeup and hair; pouring sake to reveal just a touch of inner wrist; competing with a jealous rival for men's solicitude and the money that goes with it.

Ukiyo-e Japanese woodblock prints or woodcuts and paintings

Ukiyo-e , meaning -pictures of the floating world is a genre of Japanese woodblock prints or woodcuts and paintings produced between the 17th and the 20th centuries, featuring motifs of landscapes, tales from history, the theatre and pleasure quarters. It is the main artistic genre of woodblock printing in Japan.

The floating world (ukiyo) refers to the impetuous urban culture that bloomed and was a world unto itself. Although the traditional classes of Japanese society were bound by numerous strictures and prohibitions, the rising merchant class was relatively unregulated, therefore "floating." (pictures and headings from wikipedia)

The immediate precursor of the Ukiyo-e was the genre painting, that flourished in the late 16th and 17th centuries. It is debatable what criteria should be used to distinguish the earlier genre works from the ukiyo-e, eventhough one major difference is in the fact that the former were painted by members of the aristocratic schools such as the Kano~, whereas the ukiyo-e were done by townsman artists.

The establishment of ukiyo-e as an independent art form was to great extent the work of Hishikawa Moronobu who was the son of a Kyoto embroiderer. He grew up in the ancient imperial capital Kyoto and moved to Edo where he perfectly captured in visual form, Edo's vital and and engaging spirit. Throughout the Tokugawa period, the art of ukiyo-e remained, first and foremost the art of Edo.

Moronobu possessed two qualities apart from his natural artistic ability, that made him a successful pioneer in ukiyo-e. He had an intimate and personal interest in townsman life and he was assertive to demand recognition as an independent artist.

Moronobu's great innovation was the make shift of painting to Woodblock printing. The earliest ukiyo-e done by Moronobu and others were simply black and white prints known as 'primitives'. Slowly artists began to have colors generally red or reddish brown and green painted in by hand on their prints. The multicolored print, known as nishiki-e or brocade picture necessitated cooperation from three people - the artist, the wooblock carver, and the printer and became a joint artistic endeavor.

From the beginning, ukiyo-e artists were interested in two subjects - Women of the pleasure quarters and kabuki actors. Throughout the Tokugawa period the overwhelming majority of prints they produced were of these two subjects of nightlife. The ukiyo-e representations of pleasure women and actors usually stress the sensual and erotic, in contrast to the earlier genre paintings in which people were for the most part portrayed objectively and with little infusion of emotion on the part of the artist.

Many artists of the ukiyo-e school are noted for their depiction of feminine beauty. But the most celebrated among them is Kitagawa Utamaro. Utamaro-san's typical beauties are long and willowy and have about them a languid and sensual air, often portrayed in great intimacy, with one or both breasts opened and with hair and clothing casually displayed.

Utamaro san in his celebration of the beauty of the female body, represented something new in the Japanese cultural tradition. Until this age of townsman culture and establishment of the artistic theme of erotic love, the Japanese had devoted little attention to the human body, either male or female, as an object of beauty.

One of Utamaro san's contemporaries was a mysterious genius Toshusai Sharaku. He did mostly kabuki actors. The less-well-known sōsaku hanga movement, literally creative prints, followed a Western concept of what art should be: the product of the creativity of the artists, creativity over artisanship.

Traditionally, the processes of making ukiyo-e — the design, carving, printing, and publishing — were separated and done by different and highly specialized people (as was also traditionally the case with Western woodcuts. Sōsaku hanga advocated that the artist should be involved in all stages of production.

The movement was formally established with the formation of the Japanese Creative Print Society in 1918, however, it was commercially less successful, as Western collectors preferred the more traditionally Japanese look of shin hanga.

Ukiyo-e are still produced today and are influential in many ways, inspiring, for example, manga and anime.

Popular Japanese music and Stage performances

Japanese music is the highly eclectic musical culture of the Japanese islands. Over the years, Japan has borrowed musical instruments, scales, and styles from many neighboring areas.

Japanese music to a great extent evolved through the centuries in conjunction with the literature. This was particularly true from the medieval period on, when music was used as an accompaniment both to plays of the no~ theatre and to the reactions of itinerant storytellers, who strummed their lutelike biwa as they chanted excerpts from such works as The Tale of the Heike.

Probably, the first public performance of Western music in Japan in modern times was the playing by Perry's naval band during its visit to Edo in 1853. And as in the case of the conversion to Western style clothing, it was the Japanese military that led the way in the adoption of Western music.

It was in the public schools, that the most important measures were taken to advance knowledge and appreciation of Western music among the Japanese.

The pop/rock music scene has gone through a few different stages over the years. The rockabilly sounds of the late 50's became popular in the cities of Japan just after they revolutionised the US music scene. Young guys and girls flocked to see the stars of the day do their best impersonations of Elvis and Gene Vincent at the Western Festival in Tokyo in Februaury 1958.

I could read in Japan zone that Think about it - Sony Music Entertainment is one of the biggest record companies in the world; Yamaha is the largest manufacturer of musical instruments in the world; Japan has the sixth-largest population in the world; the music industry generates billions and billions of dollars worldwide every year. Yet how many Japanese artists have had a No. 1 hit in the US or European charts? One. Yes, one - and that was way back in 1963 (Sukiyaki by Sakamoto Kyu).

I could see the list of popular singers who have established themselves in the Japanese music world - Glay, Hamasaki Ayumi, Fukuyama Masaharu, Kitajima Saburo, Komuro Tetsuya, Morning Musume, Utada Hikaru, Go Hiromi, The Alfee, Matsuda Seiko, hitomi, Hotei Tomoyasu, Yazawa Eikichi and the list go on....

I could not see the name Hasegawa Shingo. Infact I was searching for his name in the list of top performing singers in Japan. This is beacause, many days, after taking my lunch at McDonalds or KFC, I have seen Hasegawa Shingo san performing at Ito Yokado. For me, a new comer in Japan, his songs, eventhough without knowing the meaning of what he sing, sounded good. His performance is also attractive and he pulls the crowd.

Ladies are especially found great fan of Hasegawa Shingo. Sometimes he whirls a towel to the audience and many are crazy to catch it and keep it with them. When I searched in google for his name, I could see one result in ebay with this caption - Find more items similar to: Import - HASEGAWA, SHINGO- YUBAENOMACHI/YOGIRINOKUTSUOO See all items in: Music > CDs

I am not sure, whether he is the same Hasegawa shingo san or not. If any of the readers know, please share it with me.

Hasegawa Shingo san performing at Ito yokado. He pulls the crowd and keeps them with him throughout the show. He knows the necessary stage tricks to cheer up his audience.

Music loving Japanese people are interested to watch his shows hosted at Ito Yokado. I have seen atleast a couple of times and many times missed his shows. He take care to shake hands of his audience and one day I also had that opportunity. Over the period, it has become usual practice for me to watch his performances at Ito Yokado.

Hasegawa Shingo is one of the known performing artist, who dance well and take his audience along with his music. His ability to dance and sing makes him a popular figure in the shows. He looks young, though I have no previous experience of introduction with Hasegawa Shingo san.

Music loving Japanese people encourages him throughout his performance by clapping and singing along with him. People enjoy him performing and he enjoy them listening and watching him and many time I enjoy both Hasegawa Shingo san and the public watching him.