Gary J. Wolff's Blog Archives
October-December, 2015
This page shows archived posts for Gary J. Wolff's blog from
October-December,
2015.
Enjoy...
Cheers,
Gary
Dec.
27, 2015 - 2015: The Year in Pictures
It's been a great year! Thanks for being a part of it.
My full-size 2015 pics are here: https://flic.kr/s/aHskogjKFT
(click thumbnails there to open up full-size images or click tiny gray
right arrow in upper right to view entire album as an automated
slideshow)
Best wishes for a healthy & prosperous 2016, the Year of the
Monkey!
Dec. 24,
2015 - 2015 "NORAD Tracks Santa" in Japan
As of shortly after 11 pm Japan time on Xmas Eve 2015, Santa Claus just
made the rounds in Fukushima, Utsunomiya, Tokyo, Yokohama, Chiba,
Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, & Okayama. Over 1 billion gifts
delivered so far. Track Santa in real-time, 3D animation during the
rest of his 24-hr journey here: noradsanta.org/en
Santa Claus visits Japan just after 11 pm on Xmas Eve 2015
(If player above is not visible, you can view video
@ YouTube here.)
Sixty
years ago a Sears department store in Colorado Springs placed an
advertisement in the local paper which told children that they could
telephone Santa Claus and included a number for them to call. However,
due to a typo in the phone number, calls instead came through to the
North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), then known as the
Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) Center.
So as not to disappoint the children in Colorado Springs, the colonel
in charge that night told his staff to give all children who called in
a "current location" for Santa Claus. The tradition continues to this
day. Now, in less than 24 hours (5 pm on Dec. 24 Japan time), Santa
will begin his 24-hr journey to deliver billions of presents to eager
children around the globe.
The technology has improved greatly thru the years, and it's truly
phenomenal to view the 3D animation of his travels. The "NORAD Tracks
Santa" website videos page is generally updated every hour, when the
"Santa Cam" videos show CGI images of Santa Claus flying over famous
landmarks in cities around the world.
Get in on the action by visiting the NORAD Tracks Santa
website, where you can play games, listen to music, view videos,
shop, and link to downloadable Santa tracker apps for your mobile
device.
Below is a Santa Cam video of Santa when he blasted past Mt. Fuji in
Japan 10 years ago at a speed calculated to be greater than 100 times
faster than that of Japan's shinkansen bullet train.
Santa Claus flies past Mt. Fuji, Japan in 2006
(If player above is not visible, you can view video
@ YouTube here.)
Dec.
23, 2015 - "Mr. Wolfman," a song by Kazutoshi
Kazutoshi,
a very talented musician & one of my university engineering
students, has composed a song named "Mr. Wolfman" and posted it to his
SoundCloud channel. He said it was inspired by...yep, you guessed
it...yours truly.
Check it out!
"Mr. Wolfman," a song by Kazutoshi
(check out the lyrics here)
And by all means, don't miss the personal greeting at the very end of
the song by Mr. Wolfman himself!
Thanks, Kazutoshi, for sharing!! Well done!
Dec. 16,
2015 -
A 2009 Christmas Medley by Santa Mickey
Back by popular demand, the famous Santa Mickey thrills kids worldwide
with Xmas carol karaoke practice. Kids....by all means....DO try this at home!!
All 5 videos are in a playlist
and will play continuously, non-stop. Or click on the playlist symbol
above to select the other 4 videos. OR...play the
entire playlist in new window here.
Dec. 15,
2015 - Japanese Christmas trees
Over the past quarter-century in Tokyo, I've had the pleasure of
viewing some pretty amazing Japanese Christmas trees. These are a few
of them that I've posted to my websites thru the years. Click the photo
collage below or the following link to see the whole album @ Flickr
where you can click open the thumbnails to view the full-size images: Japanese Christmas
trees
Dec.
11, 2015 - "Cascadia," Danny MacAskill's latest death-defying video
Watch Danny MacAskill, Scotland's most famous
daredevil, ride his bike across the rooftops of Gran Canaria, one of
Spain’s Canary Islands off northwestern Africa.
This guy is AMAZING, as he balances and hops across rooftops with a
GoPro strapped to his head!! Boys & girls....DON'T try this at
home!
And don't miss the grand finale @ the 4:25 mark!
"Cascadia," Danny MacAskill's latest death-defying video
(If player above is not visible, you can view video
@ YouTube here.)
If you liked the above video, you will LOVE the
one linked below even more, one of the most incredible, daredevil feats
I've ever seen, when Danny rode his Santa Cruz Bronson mountain bike
along the notorious Cuillin Ridgeline in his native home on the Isle of
Skye in Scotland: https://www.garyjwolff.com/Gary-J.-Wolff-blog-archives-oct-dec-2014.html#danny
Dec. 8,
2015 - Enjoying a wonderful turkey dinner...
...and fellowship with 2 of my all-time favorite guys on Thanksgiving
Day in the Smokehouse restaurant.
Thanksgiving 2015 @ the Smokehouse
Nov. 29,
2015 - Life = Risk
In our efforts to achieve success in our everyday lives, we will all
invariably encounter many dark moments of self-doubt and fear of
failure along the way. And it's always a special challenge to maintain
our self-worth in spite of the doubts and discouragements of others,
particularly from those in positions of authority.... parents,
teachers,
coaches, bosses, etc.
In the process, if we lose our confidence to take risks, our chances
for achieving success are severely diminished.
But without risk, there can be no lasting success. And so many great
successes have been built upon repeated failures and the lessons we
learn from those failures.
Perhaps it's time for us to turn off the TV, stop checking our Facebook
news feed every few minutes, get off the sofa, stop being afraid, and
go conquer our dreams.
The very touching 1-min. video below puts it all into the proper
perspective.
In short, "If you've never failed, you've never lived."
"One day the people who didn't believe in
you will tell everyone
how they met you."
--Johnny Depp--
"One of the best motivational videos I've ever seen"
(If player above is not visible, you can view video
@ YouTube here.)
Nov.
27, 2015 - Musashi Junior & Senior High School English Speech
Contest
Last Sunday I had the pleasure of serving as a judge in the Musashi
Junior & Senior High School English Speech Contest, organized by
the All-Japan Inter-High School English Speaking Societies (ESS) Union.
The kids were great!
Musashi Junior & Senior High School
English Speech Contest, Nov. 22, 2015
Nov. 20,
2015 - The "New
Departures" country band performed live...
...@ the "Little Texas" honky-tonk in Meguro, Tokyo on Thurs. Nov. 19,
2015! Yee Hah!
"New Departures" country band performing live
@ the "Little Texas" honky-tonk in Meguro, Tokyo
(If player above is not visible, you can view video
@ YouTube here.)
The spirit of Texas rocks on...DEEP...in the heart of Tokyo!
Nov. 15,
2015 - Did you know many of the world's oldest businesses are in Japan?
In an era when Silicon Valley companies rarely survive for more than a
decade and as the average lifespan of multinational corporations has
gradually declined over the past 30 years, Japan’s centuries-old
businesses have defied the odds by surviving the formidable test of
time.
Of the 967 businesses worldwide founded prior to 1700, 517 of them
(53%) are located in Japan. Of these 517 businesses, the 3 most common
trades are sake (85), confectionery (70), and hotels (64).
Many of the other 517 businesses founded prior to the year 1700 are
related to Japanese culture: things like taiko drums, paper lanterns,
dolls, brushes, etc. Because of Japanese society's continuous
endorsement & nurturing of traditional industries of great cultural
importance, these kinds of businesses tend to enjoy centuries of
longevity.
Japan contains 8 of the world’s 10 longest-running businesses (all
founded prior to the year 800), including the world’s oldest hotel,
Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan, a hot spring that has been in continuous
operation since year 705. Japan also has the world’s oldest sake brewer
(Sudo Honke, year 1141), religious goods company (Tanaka Iga, year
885), confectionery (Ichimonjiya Wasuke, year 1000), and, until
recently, construction company (Kongo Gumi, year 578)....all confirmed
by the Guinness Book of World Records.
Other factors in the longevity of Japanese businesses include the
isolation & economic stability of the country between the 1600s
& 1800s, the longest human lifespan on Earth, the world's 3rd
lowest infant mortality rate, no financial risk-taking, being sensitive
to the environment, and the tendency of company managers to focus more
on the welfare of their employees rather than on the economic activity
of producing goods and services.
Nov. 4,
2015 - My photo of Diamond
Fuji from the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower 52nd floor observatory
I got lucky on an absolutely gorgeous day! Roppongi Hills is nearly an
hour from my home and it costs ¥1800 (~$15) to enter the 52nd floor
Tokyo City View observatory, but as they always say: "Persistence
sometimes pays off."
Diamond Fuji from the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower
52nd floor observatory
Tokyo, Japan, Nov. 4, 2015, 4:34 pm
Nov. 3,
2015 - A Taste of Texas Deep in the Heart of Tokyo
If you're looking for an authentic Texas honky-tonk in the world's
largest metropolis, go no farther than the Little Texas Bar and Grill
in Meguro, Tokyo. Live country music, cowboy hats & boots, line
dancing, chicken-fried steaks, Texas license plates on the walls, &
its gracious Japanese owners Takeshi Yoshino & wife Natsuco all
make this amazing place reminiscent of the old cowboy bars of the South
and Southwest U.S.
Recently I was alerted to a wonderful story written by NPR
International Correspondent Elise
Hu,
an award-winning journalist based in Seoul, Korea, who has done an
excellent job capturing the magic of this must-see Little Texas bar in
a piece for NPR's All Things Considered radio program.
In Elise's NPR story,
you'll be able to see more pics, listen to the audio track, and even
link to a video of the bar owners receiving "Honorary Texan"
certificates signed 4 years ago by then-Governor Rick Perry.
The Little Texas website, where you can view photos, the menu, & a
schedule of upcoming live country music gigs, is here.
Yee Hah!
Little Texas Bar & Grill in Meguro, Tokyo (photo credit,
with permission: Elise Hu/NPR)
CNN Student News, Vol. 2
is the second in a three-part textbook series
and is based on CNN Student News, a 10-minute, commercial-free, daily
TV news program that presents current events and issues in a simplified
format, targeting middle and high school students. The show airs
weekdays throughout the U.S. school year and is supplemented by the
program’s website, both of
which are accessible for free.
Each of the textbook’s 15 stand-alone, six-page
units features
a two-minute news story which has been previously broadcast and chosen
by the authors to be of interest to young adult Japanese learners of
English, complete with video, audio, and an array of discussion,
vocabulary, and listening comprehension exercises. The DVD contains
only two-minute videos for each unit and is furnished to teachers at no
charge. Read more...
It's almost that time of year again when we'll have a chance in Tokyo
to view an amazing phenomenon known as "Diamond Fuji," when the sun
sets
into the cone of Japan's tallest peak.
From Nov. 1-16, if you're lucky, you might be able to catch Diamond
Fuji from the top of some of Tokyo's tallest buildings & towers.
Click link above to see the best spots, dates, and times to view
Diamond Fuji from Tokyo over the next few weeks.
Diamond Fuji photo
taken Feb. 17, 2011 by Berndt
Otto
Oct. 20,
2015 - Venus/Jupiter/Mars conjunction
Wow, don't miss this amazing match-up of the 2nd & 3rd brightest
objects in our night sky, viewable every morning 60-90 minutes before
sunrise. In Tokyo, the best time right now is between 4:20 & 4:50
am.
In October, we can view all 5 planets that are visible with the naked
eye....Venus, Jupiter, Mars, & Mercury in the morning and Saturn in
the early evening.
Oct.
18, 2015 - Impromptu dance show @ Hooter's Ginza Tokyo
Hoo wah!
Impromptu dance show @ Hooter's Ginza Tokyo
(If player above is not visible, you can view video
@ YouTube here.)
Oct. 14,
2015 - New
glass-bottomed suspension bridge in China terrifies thrill-seeking
tourists
The world's first glass-bottomed bridge opened recently in the scenic
Shiniuzhai Geopark in Hunan, central China. It's the world's longest
glass-bottomed walkway at 984 feet (~300m) long and is 590 feet (~180m)
above the canyon floor below. Wow!
The world's first glass-bottomed bridge in Hunan, China
(If player above is not visible, you can view video
@ YouTube here.)
Oct.
10, 2015 - 202 skydivers break world record on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2015
More than 200 skydivers from nearly 30 countries traveled to Perris,
California & set a new world record for the largest number of
skydivers performing multiple sequential aerial formations. They jumped
out of 9 planes from a height of 18,000 feet (~5486 m) and performed 2
formations. WOW!
202 skydivers break world record on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2015
(If player above is not visible, you can view video
@ YouTube here.)
Climbers using the most popular trail on Mt. Fuji are expected to be slugged with a doubled fee of 4,000 yen ($26) from next summer as the Yamanashi prefectural government seeks to tackle overcrowding…
Performed December 13 at the "A Christmas Gift 2024" charity Christmas concert in Tokyo, Japan by singer Charito & dancer Ikumi. In its 21st year, the annual charity concert is organized & sponsored b…
BIG CHANCE! Smashwords, the world's largest publisher of indie ebooks (>228,000 participating ebooks from nearly 60,000 authors) is now holding its 8th annual end-of-year sale from now till Wednesday…
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