A-Bomb City Podcast

Saturday 9th September: Episode #24 - Yuukan Dango and Botchan (er, no connection)

2006-09-14T20:42:00.001-07:00

Dave introduces Andy to an arcane Japanese summer tradition in which you prick a latex covered ball of Japanese bean-paste candy (aka a "yuukan ball") and end up with a sticky ball on a toothpick.

After munching on sticky balls for a while they remember that they are actually podcasting and get on with the subject in hand, namely, Botchan, or "a little boy" - the title of Natsume Souseki's novel set in Matsuyama... but don't rely on anything Dave doesn't tell you about the plot!

Dave delves into the intricacies of translating Japanese novels and exemplifies the difficulties therein encountered by reading four versions of the opening couple of paragraphs of Botchan, which go from the stuffy Meiji era attempt of an old Japanese buffer to a recent "devil-may-care" version in American English, featuring such gems as "Buck b'cawk," and "buttmunch"...

Somehow or other the lads get sidetracked by recurring themes of Scottish roots and the roots of tight-waddery. Andy supplies some genuine backpiped musical relief.

Andy takes us back to civilization with the 5th episode of his Kansai Diary in which he takes us on a tour of sleazy side streets and treats us to a rapping guide to the multifarious bars and dental clinics of nocturnal Osaka...

This week's musical offering, "When too Much is Never Enough," features lyrics by the infamous Mr. B...

Dave polishes off with a bit of Japanese trumpet blowing, "rappa o fuku..."

2006-09-14T20:42:00.000-07:00

Saturday 2nd September: Episode #23 - From Pink T-Shirts to Soluble Raincoats, Pin Kara Kiri Made!

2006-09-04T17:54:00.000-07:00

Today we're all about fashion: more T-shirts with offensive slogans, socks that look like they have another pair of socks inside, skirts worn over jeans and those feminine boys wearing low-cut pink tops.

This leads us to the beach and the Japanese ladies' nipple denial, before Andy tells us a tale of German nude bathing and its effect on repressed pallid English lads.

In part 4 of the Kansai Diary Andy ruminates on the horrors of mass Japanese tourism but finds solace in Kyoto's lesser visited sites, revealing on the way the trials of Zen monks in pursuit of enlightenment.

STAVKA (www.ardle.net/stavkahome.htm) play the laid back number 'Soluble Raincoat Dissolves', before talk turns to the bath house, and Dave takes us through the procedure for visiting a public bath in Japan. A brief comparison with the revolting practices found in Roman baths follows, before we run the whole gamut with the Japanese idiom 'pin kara kiri made'...

Saturday 26th August: Episode #22 - Old Farts, Deer Poo, Tanka Bollocks, Kattans etc.

2006-08-26T06:38:00.000-07:00

Why does Japan's Prime Minister keep going to the infamous Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo? Andy and Dave certainly have no idea, but that's not going to stop them blathering on about it...

In Part 3 of the "Kansai Diary" Andy visits the ancient capital Nara and regales us with tales of deer poo, enormous gilded boots, ornate gardens with nasty secrets and strange ceremonies conducted in mossy shrines.

STAVKA plays "Asleep on Wake Island", an ode to those miserable gits who constantly complain in this land of plenty. More info on STAVKA can be found at http://www.ardle.net/stavkahome.htm.

Next Dave reads an anti-Zen poem in the 'tanka' style sent in by Arthur Moss, before drawing once again on a 17th century account of Japan in the second part of John Saris' diary.

We round out with 'Dave's an Idiom', in which we talk of huge numbers and repentance, in another snippet of the Japanese language you will never need to use...

Saturday 19th: Episode #21 - Of Sweating Monks & Stinking Cabbages

2006-08-26T06:30:00.000-07:00

Skunk Cabbage Smells Good
Andy's new hard rocking theme tune is subverted by some God-awful sentimental Japanese ballad which would have us all going off to Oze the countryside of Gunma-ken to get a whiff of skunk cabbage ("mizu-bashou" in Japanese).

"When summer comes I remember
Faraway Oze, the distant sky,
Gentle shadows float towards me in the mist, moorland paths;
The skunk cabbage blossoms,
...
The skunk cabbage gives off its scent,
It's dream-like scent..."

Andy's Kansai Dairy - Part 2: Collapsing Bridges and Sweating Monks
Well anyway, next comes Part Two of the Kansai Diary, an audio record of Andy's recent trip to that region. In this episode he focusses on the collapsing bridges of Uji town and a fat sweaty monk in Daigoji temple.

Andy explains how one can become enlightened by being whacked on the bonce by a Zen master...

First Order Flesh Requisition
This week's musical interlude is a piece of melancholic reggae, another STAVKA song called 'First Order Flesh Requisition'...

Edmund Blunden and The Voyage of John Saris
Dave takes us through the second part of his mini-series on Edmund Blunden's "A Wanderer in Japan", in which Blunden introduces us to John Saris, an Englishman who visited Japan in the early 17th century. This leads onto a new mini series in which David will read two extracts from John Saris' diary. Here is John Saris describing his arrival in "Fuccate" - i.e. Hakata, the port town on the north-west coast of Kyushu:

"The place exceedingly peopled, very civil and courteous, only that at our landing, and being here in Fuccate and so through the whole country withersoever we came, the boys, children, and worser sort of idle people would gather about and follow along after us, crying, 'Core, Core, Cocore, ware,' that is to say, 'You Coreans with false hearts,' wondering, hoping, hollowing and making such a noise about us that we could scarcelyhear one another speak, sometimes throwing stones at us (but that not in many towns) yet the clamour and crying after us was everywhere alike, none reproving them for it."

Dave's an Idiom - Mizu-kusai
We wrap up with the strange Japanese idiom which, taken literally, means to smell like water... - "mizu-kusai" - a bit like "mizu-bashou" I'm sure...

Download the podcast here.

Saturday 12th August - Episode #20: Travels in Japan - Andy's Kansai Diary; Edmund Blunden in Nagasaki...

2006-08-13T22:11:00.000-07:00

We celebrate the 20th episode of the ABC podcast with a few drinks. The 20th episode ushers in the first of a series of parallel readings. Andy will read extracts from his travel diary, written while on a week's holiday in the Kansai area. Andy's travels is a seven-part series.

Dave has been doing some reading on Japan and Japan related topics and will also be reading whatever takes his fancy. For the next two episodes his theme will be Edmund Blunden in Japan, but that will lead on to the accounts of travellers to Japan from previous centuries...

Unagi Harakiri

Anyway, in this episode Dave kicks off the show by indulging in more talk of eels, and the different way in which they are cut open in the Kansai and Kanto areas of Japan - and the reason why that is. (Hint: harakiri.)

Andy in Kansai, Part 1

Then we hear Part One of Andy's 'Kansai Diary', documenting his recent trip to the cultural heart of Japan in a somewhat tongue-in-cheek fashion. This week centers on the truth about Kyoto's Geisha, and a visit to Uji to visit some alleged UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Andy's photo documentary of his trip can be viewed on his website at: www.ardle.net. Click the "Photos" button when you get there.

Low Tech Stavka

STAVKA sings 'Lo-fi Gods', an ode to all things badly recorded.

Edmund Blunden and the War Poets

Talk turns to the poets of World War One. David reads and discusses three wartime poems:

Rupert Brooke - The Soldier
Wilfred Owen - Dulce et Decorum Est
Jesse Pope - The Call

He also reads a poem by Edmund Blunden, written in 1936. It documents the way in which memories of war can be vivid even though some details, such as placenames, once so much a part of the soldier's life, are now forgotten:

Can You Remember?

Yes, I still remember
The whole thing in a way;
Edge and exactitude
Depend on the day.

Of all that prodigious scene
There seems scanty loss,
Though mists mainly float and screen
Canal, spire and fosse;

Though commonly I fail to name
That once obvious Hill,
And where we went and whence we came
To be killed, or kill.
Those mists are spiritual
And luminous-obscure,
Evolved of countless circumstance
Of which I am sure;

Of which, at the instance
Of sound, smell, change and stir,
New-old shapes for ever
Intensely recur.

And some are sparkling, laughing, singing,
Young, heroic, mild;
And some incurable, twisted,
Shrieking, dumb, defiled.

January 1936

Blunden in Japan, Part 1

Blunden subsequently visited Japan a couple of times, before and after World War II and wrote of his experiences in post-A-Bomb Nagasaki, an extract of which is read by Dave. Blunden recalls the Admiral Pellew incident when a British naval commander brought his ship into Nagasaki harbour hoping to capture some Dutch ships. There were no Dutch ships in the harbour at the time, but the disgrace that the mayor of Nagasaki felt was such that he committed harakiri.

Dave's ABC of Japanese Words and Idioms

Dave rounds the show off with another Japanese idiom, "jouhatsu", which has a double meaning - "evaporate" or "disappear" which was perhaps an unfortunate choice coming as it does so quickly on the heels of an account of Nagasaki...

Saturday 5th August - Episode #19: Cow Day Eels, Barbarians and Other Questions...

2006-08-13T22:09:00.000-07:00

We kick off with confusing talk of Cow Day, seasonal interregna, Chinese cosmology and eel-eating - all of which are somehow connected.

Next we reveal what Dave's Dad was doing in Malaya in the 1950's and explore the end of empire in that region before opening our ears to another STAVKA track, "Felled in Ginza."

Andy then tackles the slightly dodgy subject of Asian bloodlust - have wartime barbarities merely been transformed into violent manga, sadistic porn and extreme schadenfreude?

Controversy then continues with Dave reviewing Kishore Mahbubani's book "Can Asians Think?", which leads to a discussion of whether or not Japan is different from other Asian countries, as exemplified by its economic success.

Saturday 29th July - Podcast #18: What's in a Name?

2006-08-13T22:08:00.000-07:00

What's in a name? Quite a lot, as it turns out, as Andy delves into the world of Japanese monikers and unearths romanticism, conservatism, confusion and a lot of bilingual double-entendres too.

STAVKA rock out with the experimental piece "We Have Come For What's Left of Your Mind", before Dave lifts the curtain on the stereotype of the ultra-polite and civilised Japanese.

Saturday 22nd July - Episode #17: Cetaceans & Other Animals

2006-08-13T08:03:00.000-07:00

This week we return to the subject of cetaceans: that's whales, dolphins and porpoises to you.

Andy begins with a Japanese proverb about whales:

A whale on the beach is food for seven villages

David counters by challenging Andy to translate an extract from Jerome's Latin Bible whale:

fuit Jonas in ventre ceti tribus diebus et tribus noctibus

Erm, that's something like "'twas Jonah in stomach of whale three days and three night buses."

On which day of creation did God create "great whales"? (Rats! Dave was hoping Andy would say "Day seven" so that he could call him an imbecile. Whales were created on "Day five".)

We look at Japan's attempts to restart commercial whaling, the killing and eating of dolphins at Taiji, and then take a look at what those folk on the Faeroe Islands get up to.

This leads into a somewhat heated debate about the nature of cetaceans and whether or not they are special animals. Andy argues that dolphins are as humans as, well, humans, but later his fundamental misanthropy exhibits itself when he opines that "humans are just animals"...

From here we get into a wider discussion concerning man and his place within the animal kingdom.

On the musical front we return to alternative rock, as Andy's band STAVKA perform "Vinegar Tom" for your listening pleasure.

Dave attempts a comparative review of two books, John Gray's "Straw Dogs" and Robert Kaplan's "Warrior Politics" - a more coherent online review of the two books can be read on his website, here. The connection between Gray's book and the theme of "man and his place within the animal kingdom" becomes apparent when it emerges that Gray is even more of a misanthropist than our Andy (who is, after all, only 95% Jane - er Jain).

Links
Whaling - Wikipedia
A bloody war - Economist
Stop weeping over whaling - Helene Guldberg, Spiked
Why humans are superior to apes - Helene Guldberg, Spiked
Speciesism: a beastly concept - Josie Appleton

Saturday 15th July - Episode #16: The Peace Park Podcast...

2006-07-31T18:47:00.000-07:00

The lads return with a live broadcast from a very humid Peace Memorial Park in the centre of Hiroshima.

We hear how Dave's ditch-digging resulted in no episode last week, before launching into talk of summer plans: Andy will head for Kyoto and Norway, while Dave will head towards another ditch, which may or may not be full of newts.

A brief chat about the ugliness of Japanese parks and their lack of grass leads us to Easter Islanders playing the cryptically-named techno piece "92,000 yen". Andy then tells us how the title was inspired by his encountered with the Hiroshima police a few years back, after which we learn of Dave's immigration misdemeanour.

Finally we treat you to a short extract form the aborted podcast with our friend Mr.B, before wandering over to the Peace Bell to wrap things up with a dong for peace...

Saturday 2nd July: Episode #15 - Small Penises & Removable Vaginas

2006-07-04T07:30:00.000-07:00

Podcasting Disaster - Our Guest Gets Carried Away

This week's episode kicks off with a tale of a podcasting disaster: how our last recoding session resulted in the guest presenter stripped down to the bone and being carted off to hospital, but only after the amubulance crew called the fire brigade for some extra assistance!

Somehow or other this event leads us into a not entirely unconnected discourse on the endowment of the Japanese racoon dog (aka "tanuki").

ABC of Japanese Idiom

You may note that this section came quickly in this week's programme, as you would expect when the matter in hand is none other than the celebrated chinkoro, which is to say, being translated out of Osaka dialect, "small penis" (Jap or foreign).

chinmari - snug
enpitsu - pencil
hari - needle
hinedaikon - shrivelled radish

Japanese Love Dolls

Next we introduce you to "Candy Girl", the adult-sized sillicone female companion with detachable parts who may be responsible for Japan's declining birthrate. Consider:

"Japanese society's potent ability to consumerize has now made mature, healthy relationships with women superfluous to a growing number of men, with potentially disastrous effects on future Japanese demographics."

Tokyo Journal

Easter Islanders

Andy's techno outfit comes up with the song "Pure Essence of Carsten Meissner," after which we learn the sad story of the gentleman named in the title, which involves The Complete Works of Freud, a deviation about Clement Freud and his role in the classic BBC Radio 4 panel game, Just a Minute.

Website of the Week

Website of the Week features www.stumbleupon.com, where you can get a toolbar for your browswer that lets you surf the web in an intelligent and personalised way.

The Battle of the Somme

Being July 1st, we commemorate the Battle of the Somme which kicked off on that date 90 years ago, and our presenters tell us what their respective grandfathers were up to at that time.

The World Cup

The English are currently facing another kind of battle in the soccer World Cup, a tournament from which Japan have recently been eliminated. Dave tells of the case of too many yellow cards, and then finds himself caught short...

The Fortune-Telling Doll

We wrap up with more tales of dolls, this time in the shape of an old Japanese horror story...
(courtesy of Tokyo Journal)

Links and Sources

Tokyo Journal

Japanese Slang Uncensored

BBC Radio 4: Just a Minute

Clement Freud

Ref awards player 3 yellow cards!

Saturday 24th June: Episode #14 - A Trip to Miyajima

2006-06-26T20:34:00.000-07:00

Recorded live form Miyajima Island, (with consequent sound drop-outs), we begin by pondering why the Japanese like to group famous things into threes, before turning our attention to the shady dealings of Sokagakai, Japan's equivalent to Scientology.

Then on to earthquakes: a recent one brings back memories of the 1995 Kobe earthquake, and Andy tells us how he almost became a looter.

Next we look at the recent fad of the 'Meido Kissa', cafes in which waitresses attired in French maid outfits are ogled by nerds, which have apparently already made their appearance in Hiroshima.

The show is then interrupted by a ravenous deer who devours Dave's show notes, but the lads make good their escape and go to gawp at the Big Red Gate, symbol of Miyajima, and do a spot of winkle-picking at its foot.

Next a quick look at Itskushima Shrine, with its floating stage for play performances, before the appearance of a motorized priest leads us to a digression on the lucrative trade in remembering the dead in Japan.

Easter Islanders provide us with another mellow techno number in the shape of 'Devious III', before we go to sample one of Miyajima's delicacies, 'Momiji-manju', maple-leaf shape sponge cakes filled with chocolate, custard or sweet bean paste. Sounds revolting, doesn't it?

A brief chat about eels and the Japanese ingrained habit of gift-giving and the ferry home beckons...

Saturday 17th June: Episode #13 - The Hidari Maki Show!

2006-06-26T19:34:00.000-07:00

This episode opens with a live duet accompanied by Andy on the guitar...

"A Bomb City, A Bomb City, Episode Thirteen, (rpt.)
Its got style, its got class,
And if you don't like it you can stick it up your et cetera..."

This episode is nuts. Dave confesses that when it comes to nuts he is a peanut-man or was that peeman. Andy follows up with an explanation of the exoteric and esoteric meanings of the Japanese word "peeman" (green pepper)...

Japanese Nutters and Nutters in Japan

The main theme of today's episode is a consideration of the various mental cases who inhabit this fair city...

Japanese Nutter, Case #1: Andy tells us of the bizarre antics of the Yano Can Man

Japanese Nutter, Case #2: Dave describes the antics of tram-nutters who have learnt by heart everything that tram drivers and conductors say and delight in going through their spiel while on the tram...

Japanese Nutter, Case #3: Andy returns with a tale of a local Tourette's Syndrome victim who insists on accompanying him on his morning dash to the station...

Japanese Nutter, Case #4: Andy's classroom encounter with a real "hidari maki"...

The Case of a Foreign Nutter in Japan: Or what an English teacher did in class one day...

Easter Islanders

Music is provided by Easter Islanders, Andy's electronic outfit, who play the intriguingly named 'Oscar : Cut 'n' Dried Quagmire' - a nutterish title if ever there was one...

History As He Sees It

Andy has something against the Poles which he thinks should be set straight. Why was their country in the wrong place between the wars? Who was General Pilsudksi? Did the Polish cavalry really charge against German tanks in 1939?

All will be revealed on the podcast...

Dan Kurzman's Gaffe in The Day of the Bomb

Dave then tests Andy's historical knowledge by getting him to spot the series of historical errors in a passage from Dan Kurzman's 'The Day of the Bomb : Countdown to Hiroshima'. How many errors can you find?

In early January 1939, while Szilard was at Princeton visiting Eugene Wigner, who was teaching there, his friend gave him sensational news: Niels Bohr, the famous Danish physicist, had just arrived from Denmark after escaping from that Nazi-occupied country in a British Mosquito.

Japanese Idioms

hidari maki - a nutter
jigane o dasu - to reveal one's true colours

Buzzwords

rigmarole
to go off half cock

Saturday 10th June: Episode #12 - Yamashita & Yamazaki; Gordon Bennett & Gordon Bennett

2006-06-15T22:30:00.000-07:00

Another show from Happy Happy Park in which we tell you about Pocky Sticks, the history behind Dave's horrible coffee cups and the possible connection with Japan's current lack of children.

Next we get all historical and Dave lectures on the Japanese victory in Singapore in 1941, commanded by locally-trained General Yamashita, branded a war-criminal by the Allies, but still revered in some circles here.

The claims to fame, or to imfamy, of two different Gordon Bennetts is also expatiated upon.

Music is again provided by Andy's electronic outfit Easter Islanders, this time playing the oddly-titled 'Yamazaki Doughnut Conspiracy Theory'.

Said confectionery conspiracy theory is then revealed by Andy, a man with one hand in the Hiroshima cake business.

Andy takes a look at the attempt to introduce a new national day in Britain and tries to work out what it means to be British.

Dave wraps up with another idiom, this time concerning 'cause and effect', and there is talk of Dutch ladyboys for no apparent reason.

Recommended Books on the fall of Singapore:

1. Singapore 1942: Britain's Greatest Defeat, by Alan Warren (pub. 2003).

2. The Defence and Fall of Singapore 1940-42, by Brian Farrell (pub. 2005).

3. Singapore Burning, by Colin Smith (pub. May 2006).

Saturday 3rd June: Episode 11 - Jya Jya Uma Narashi

2006-06-15T22:08:00.000-07:00

A bumper drunken episode broadcast from Dave's new pad.

Dave reads some poetic fanmail, recommends a restaurant, and reveals the latest food fad in here in Japan. Meanwhile, Andy has some exciting news about his band STAVKA...

Talking of music, Andy reveals his techno side with the song 'Nichiren' by his electronic persona 'Easter Islanders', featuring the dubious vocal talents of none other than our Dave.

The Taming of the Shrew
After an argument about Buddhism we go all theatrical, as Dave waxes long and lyrical about a production of The Taming of The Shrew which was brought to Hiroshima by The International Theatre Company London.

Dave's review of the performance can be read over on his Hiroshima Cockseye Mahjong blog.

Andy attempts various digressions via native dramatic forms of Noh, Kabuki and Kagura, and how the Globe Theatre in London changed his views on 'Romeo and Juliet'.

ABC of Japanese Idiom
We jump to "j" for this episode's topical idiom, which is:

"jya jya uma narashi"

Jya jya uma = a shrewish woman, but in Japanese the animal of choice is actually a horse!

Narashi = taming, from the verb "narasu," to tame.

Saturday 27th May: Episode #10 - Japanese Cacophanies

2006-06-15T21:16:00.000-07:00

Our tenth show kicks off with a parable before we launch into sonic mayhem with an episode sure to grate on the ears...

News: Dave tells of his moment of soccer glory, before prognosticating on Japan and England's respective World Cup prospects, while Andy has been behind desks in amphitheatres listening to stylistic analyses of short stories.

The literary theme continues with the questions of why we read, what the best posture for reading in bed is, and why the Hiroshima Book Club came to a sticky end.

STAVKA crank up the amps for the hard-hitting anthem 'Angst Perimeter', before we change tack and consider leisure in Japan, the country where 'sleeping' is seen as a hobby.

We then conclude with a cacophonous tour around a game centre and a pachinko parlour to see what the natives get up to therein.

Saturday 20th May: Episode #9 - Tachigui Udon & Okonomiyaki

2006-06-15T21:15:00.001-07:00

In which we take you on a culinary tour of Hiroshima...

Andy kicks off with an intro from the Royal Host family restaurant at Tenjingawa, east Hiroshima, before meeting up with Dave on platform 7 of Hiroshima Station to listen to him slurp noodles into his maw. Gross!

A quick trip on the train to Yokogawa, the next station along the line, and your intrepid hosts crash into Okonomi House for a slab of Hiroshima's cabbage pancake that tastes better than it sounds.

To the clatter of the Master's spatulas, Andy tells of his Short Fuse Week and goes all class-conscious, while Dave impresses us with his recipes and three words of Japanese.

Of course, an idiom brings up the rear (so to speak).

Saturday 13th May: Episode #8 - No Doubt of His (Having) Sex?

2006-06-15T21:15:00.000-07:00

Dave returns, and we announce an exciting competition in which our listeners can win a great prize provided they respond before the end of the show...

We learn about crap trains in Britain, before discussing the onset of beergarden season here in Japan, and then get sidetracked onto the perils and pleasures of brewery tours in Europe.

STAVKA then sing about the treachery of Lady Luck in the song 'A Half Friend in Fortuna'.

Website of the Week features the Japan-themed forum at http://www.crisscross.com/jp/forum/

Then comes the main event: we tackle the myths and reality being the age-old question, is Japan 'Shag City'?

We round out with a couple of Japanese idioms from Dave centred on bowels and brushes...

Saturday 29th April: Episode #6 - Off the Cuff Collywobbles

2006-06-15T21:14:00.001-07:00

An off the cuff episode in which our hunger soon leads to talk of 'isakayazas', the ubiquitous Japanese eateries where you can lie on straw mats if you so wish.

In a similar vein, we marvel at Dave's metabolism, before talk veers towards liquid sustenance and we trawl through Hiroshima's nightlife area of 'Nagarekawa', discovering the delights and dangers therein.

STAVKA sing to us concerning 'Towers to the Moon', which leads Andy to wax lyrical about the unbounded imagination of childhood and how its cynicism-free innocence is occasionally recaptured in Zen-like moments.

We then discuss the origins of the good old English word 'collywobble' before once again delving into Dave's bag of Japanese idioms to round out the show.

Saturday 6th May: Episode #7 - A Bomb City's First Lady...

2006-06-15T21:14:00.000-07:00

Andy takes the helm since Dave is away in Britain, and regales us with tales of financial disaster and misdiagnosed computer ailments.

He then heads downtown, new portable digital recorder in hand, to interview a Japanese female in an exceptionally noisy restaurant. Between mouthfuls of pizza, the talk ranges from men with breasts to plastic bags full of goldfish, as our young interviewee gamely dodges a neverending stream of innuendo.

STAVKA treat us to the new track "Coasts of Low Potential" before Andy reviews www.japanesepod101.com in 'Website of the Week'.

After a brief description (including sonic proof) of the horrors of Hiroshima's 'Flower Festival', we drop back in on the restaurant to catch the tale end of the interview, which brings things to a close.

Saturday 22nd April: Episode #5 - Teniers the Younger

2006-06-15T21:13:00.000-07:00

Teniers the Younger
We begin with Dave visiting an exhibition of paintings by Teniers the Younger at the Hiroshima Prefectural Art Gallery.

Many of Tenier's paintings make a point of showing people - peasants, soldiers, cooks , winebibbers, amid their paraphanalia - glistening pots and pans, the tackle of warfare cast aside for the gaming table, dead fish and game and so forth, whether indoors or out. No detail of the squalid poverty of the interior of a base tavern seems to have been omitted. A shadowy fellow with his back to the viewer pisses against the wall by the chimney while his fellows play cards around a mean table. A pot, a dish, a basket laid aside catch what light the dim interior affords.

Move to an outdoor scene - a peasant festival - and there is a similar fellow with his back to the viewer, pissing against a wall... and once you have noticed this "one that pisseth against a wall" (I Kings XVI xii) in a couple of paintings you begin to seek him out in the other crowd scenes and as often as not he is to be found, this sempiternal wall-pisser.

In 'Website of the Week' we take a squint at www.alllooksame.com, where we discover that despite living in the Orient for 13 years we can't distinguish between Chinese, Japanese and Koreans.

A digression into why Japanese ladies' legs are compared to radishes and mention of Dave's first romantic exploit in Hiroshima bring us to this week's STAVKA song, the anti-war epic 'The First Casualty'.

Andy then muses upon the culinary fare found in the north of England, in particular the fabled dish known as 'peawet 'n' scraps', before we tuck into a discussion on 'Nihonjinron' - myths of uniqueness which the Japanese like to propound about themselves.

Muffin the cat puts in an unexpected appearance, and we round out with another collection of idioms form Dave.

Saturday 15th April: Episode #4

2006-06-15T21:12:00.000-07:00

We kick off with a discussion on Japanese biscuits, which soon morphs into the pleasures and dangers of the hi-tech toilet.

Next, Dave dons tacky clothing and heads for the golf course, where we learn a lot about balls.

In the 'Website of the Week' feature, we visit http://www.smalltime.com/dictator.html, where our attempts to extract comedy from an online game of 'Guess the Dictator' bomb horribly...

STAVKA comes to the rescue in the shape of the tune 'Mass Shoplifting in the Suburbs'

Ivor Cutler
Andy then reads the Ivor Cutler story 'Old Cups of Tea' in tribute to the recently departed Glaswegian comic.

Dave wraps up by delving into all things cherry blossom, those ephemeral pink bits which are so prized by the Japanese.

Saturday 9th April: Episode #3

2006-06-02T07:08:00.000-07:00

We announce that we have received our first email, a message of support from the good folks of the Planet Japan podcast.

Wakayama Whale Burgers
whale meat, from which we stray into

Soy Bean Milk
Dave joins the recent fad for soybean milk and describes what the stuff tastes like...

Vending Machine Woes
Andy then tells us how he lost $100 in a ticket vending machine... while David recommends actually talking to human vending machines such as tram conductors...

Hot Cross Buns in Australia...
On a recent trip to Australia, Andy did not get very far, but he did get some hot cross buns and somehow this reminded him of his youthful exploits as a pheasant-plucker in the English countryside.

STAVKA provide the musical interlude with the song 'In Search of Cryptic Authors'.

Igo
Next, we start to explain the Japanese game of 'Go', and actually play a live game for the edification of our listeners.

For more on igo check Dave's website

Japanese Idioms

www.abombcity.com

2006-04-18T04:06:00.000-07:00

***ATTENTION***

Just to remind people that we have moved...

The official A-Bomb City Podcast homepage can be found at www.abombcity.com

At that location you can download our shows, grab the RSS feed to subscribe, leave comments, and add your location to our Frappr map...

Saturday 2nd April: Episode #2

2006-04-06T19:12:00.000-07:00

Our second effort kicks off with a stroll round Hiroshima's cafes, before heading into the strange world of 'Engrish' - bizarre legends on T-shirts and inappropriately-named food products found all over Japan. Andy dishes it to the Finns and Dave goes on at excruciating length about the A-bomb...

Get the direct download here: A_Bomb_City_Podcast_Episode_2.mp3

Cafe Culture Comes to Hiroshima

In recent years a lot of cafes have opened in Hiroshima - both big chains such as Starbucks and small independent cafes.

In the podcast we mentioned the bad old days when a cup of coffee cost $5 and you barely got an inch of coffee in the cup. In those days the only reasonably priced cafes in town belonged to the Doutor chain. Doutor is still thriving in Hiroshima and they do a pretty good "set" menu of bread rolls with various fillings plus coffee or soft drink.

On the Hondori (the covered shopping street in the centre of town) there is a Doutor affiliated cafe-bar called Excelsior. For more info about the great range of cafes check here.

Strange Engrish - Stranger Food

Andy tells us about beavers on T-shirts and a range of chocolate products with unfortunate names... Have you ever had pink chocolate nipples, cow intestines or a glass full of live fish? We have!

History As He Sees It

Andy begins his 'History As I See It' series with an unprovoked assault on Finland, informing us what those jolly Nokia-wielding lumberjacks were really up to 60 years ago. Oh, and by the way, yes Finland is a member of the EU!

Andy's band

STAVKA plays "Iron Iconoclasts (Go to Hell)"

The Dropping of the Atom Bomb

We attempt to get serious (or as serious as the free-flowing cognac will permit) as Dave looks at the pros and cons of the dropping of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima in 1945. His aim, to present "both sides of the argument" (arguing "in utramque partem" as he unnecessarily informs us) is assisted by Andy who objects to most of the arguments in favour.

Japanese Idioms

Ignoring Andy's attempts to wrap up a show that has gone well over time, Dave presents some idioms based on the "b" words "horse" ("ba" in the Chinese - onyomi - reading, or "uma" in the Japanese - kunyomi - reading) and "fool" ("baka"):

bakyaku o arawasu
baka na mane o suru
bakawarai
bakateinei
bakashoujiki
bakabakashii
baka ni suru

Promises... promises
We were not so promiscuous in our promises in this show, but we did say that in upcoming shows we would talk about:

The Bosch
Playing Mahjong in Japan (Japanese Mahjong Parlours)

Links

References

Day of the Bomb: Countdown to Hiroshima, by Dan Kurzman

Saturday 25th March: The Inaugural Show

2006-03-30T19:07:00.000-08:00

The inaugural show in which we, Andy and Dave, introduce ourselves, drink way too much wine and cognac, then...with a whole load of comedic digressions... proceed to blather about Hiroshima City and stuff.

Get the direct download here: A_Bomb_City_Podcast_Episode_2.mp3

Hiroshima City:

"Spreading across the delta where the Otagawa River empties into the Seto Inland Sea to the south, Hiroshima is blessed with a warm and comfortable climate. The six rivers flowing through the city create an urban landscape dotted with picturesque bridges and unique vistas that have inspired the name "city of water." Rolling mountain peaks give the delta a magnificent backdrop, knit together by the city at their feet."

The Spirit of Hiroshima, p. 10.

How did we get here? (Via Italy... Africa... Gibraltar...)
What's it like living here?
A-bomb talk, including an impromptu account of how Mr Kubota survived...
Peace Park
Miyajima - Japan's "Holy Island"
Yamada Denki - the electrical gadget superstore...

So, is the Lonely Planet verdict on Hiroshima (not worth visiting had an A-Bomb not been dropped on it) vindicated or not?

The Yamato Battleship Museum, Kure

Andy talks about the biggest battleship of World War II and the new museum near Hiroshima dedicated to its memory.

Andy's band

STAVKA plays "Chain Mail Shelf Life"

Japanese Idioms

Dave quoted Charles the Wolf quoting Ovid who said:

barbarus hic ego sum quia non intelligor ulli...

A possible Japanese translation might be:

"kono tokoro ni ha watashi ga gaijin dakara dare mo watashi no hanashi wo wakarimasen."

And the English translation is:

"Here I am a barbarian for nobody understands me."

Beginning with "a" and going through the alphabet to "z" over the course of the next 12 months Dave will supply a few idioms in each podcast. He kicks off this section of the show with three examples beginning with "a":

abura ga kireru
aka no tanin
anaba

Promises... promises

From time to time during the podcast we promise to "talk about" a lot of Japan-related stuff "later" - by which we mean "in later podcasts." Stuff like:

Japanese games: Shogi, Igo, Mahjong, Hanafuda
How Dave came to live in Gibraltar [??]
The stresses of living in Japan
A&D's Travels
The Pretexts for the A-Bombing of Japan
How the Hiroshimites Celebrated the Capture of Nankin
Japanese Myths about Japan
The Cult of the Squeaky Voice
Murder in Japan (a shocking local story that hit the national headlines)

We are also planning to interview some local Japanese and foreign residents of Hiroshima to hear their stories about life here and so on...

Links

Mr K and the Atom Bomb - The story of how Mr Kubota survived and also how an English teacher survived Mr Kubota...
Wikipedia: The Yamato
The Yamato Museum (Japanese)

References

The Spirit of Hiroshima: An Introduction to the Atomic Bomb Tragedy by the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
How to Sound Intelligent in Japanese by Charles de Wolf

Get Our Shows from www.abombcity.com

2006-03-27T08:26:00.000-08:00

Yep, you can now find us and all our shows at www.abombcity.com, contrary to what we told you in Episodes #1 and #2.

This blog here, abombcity.blogspot.com will continue to be used for detailed programme notes.

Don't forget to subscribe to us via iTunes, PodcastPickle, Yahoo Podcasts or PodcastAlley, or alternatively you can just copy this feed into your player: http://www.abombcity.com/rss

Also vote for us at PodcastAlley to help us climb the ladder....thanx!

WE HAVE LIFT OFF!

2006-02-26T08:05:00.000-08:00

In a long and somewhat drunken session at my house today we recorded the first two episodes of the A-Bomb City Podcast, both clocking in at over an hour. We were a tad nervous at first, but the wine and cognac helped, and the ramblings were soon at full throttle. Only one slight cock-up: after recording the second show we realised that Dave's microphone had been turned down too low throughout, thus rendering it unusuable. We had to do the whole thing again - but fear not! We excelled, and the second take was far better than the somewhat lacklustre first...

These shows will be aired sometime in mid-March after my return from holidays in Australia.

OILING THE MACHINERY

2006-02-17T02:06:00.000-08:00

Keeping things ticking over until the glorious launch....

Greetings, Earthlings...

2006-02-09T05:37:00.000-08:00

A great new podcast will be coming to a pair of ears near you shortly...