June 2009Archives

by Jib-kun

 

As much as I like this office, it's nice to get out every once in a while.  I mean it is a nice, well-carpeted and well-lit office, but sometimes I miss home.  I miss the trees, the mountains, and the beautiful scenery of Japan's great outdoors.  I've been looking for a good excuse to get out of the office and I found one not long ago.  One of the programs here at jibtv is called "Out and About."  The show takes viewers on adventures around the countryside to visit famous locations throughout Japan.

 

            Taking a stroll through the office I lingered by the desks of the producers one afternoon and overheard them discussing an up coming trip to the Japan Alps and Mt. Tateyama.  The producers were making their preparations for the trip and putting all the final details in order.  I pointed out that in their haste they had not hired an assistant food eater.  What would be done if, for example, they were to order a large meal and not have the capacity to finish it all?  Well, I volunteered my services and was soon accepted as part of the crew.

 

            Off we went to the beautiful mountainside of Toyama prefecture.  The tour began with a one-of-a-kind bus ride.  Making our way up from the base to the summit of these mountains, we encountered a number of unusual modes of transportation.  Our trip took us through old mountain tunnels carved into the rock and over huge mountain canyons suspended by wires on a gondola ride.

 

            Buried in the mountains is the popular tourist destination of Lake Kurobe and Japan's largest dam, the Kurobe Dam.  Its beautiful scenic views were breathtaking, but my personal favorite aspect of the location was the Kurobe Curry.  A small wall of rice holds back a pool of delicious curry, the plate arranged to represent the famous sightseeing spot.  It makes me think you could make an excellent restaurant based on Japan's many tourist attractions.  If there is a Kurobe Curry, why not a Tokyo Tower of pancakes or a Mt. Fuji of yakisoba?  Tourism could be sooooo delicious.

            Our travels took host Sotaro Nagasawa farther and farther up into the mountains.  I have to admit the cable gondola ride with an over 1.7 mile stretch of wire left me uncomfortably hanging in the air. From there with the help of a guide, Nagasawa-san hiked farther into the snow on a pair of ice climbing shoes.  Fortunately, they also had a fabulous cafeteria where I decided to stay for this leg of the journey.  I met the lovely staff of the mountain emergency response team and shared a meal with them in their mountain home!

           It was a fantastic trip through the mountains of Japan.  Living in Tokyo you can start to forget the beautiful countryside of Japan, but this trip reminded me of all the natural beauty this country has.  Even if you may never get to make the trip yourself, you can check out this gorgeous mountain destination on "Out & About". It airs on June 30^th!  Be sure to check it out.

After watching this office for quite sometime now, I have come to the conclusion that we produce a lot of garbage!  Wait.  I mean actual garbage.  Not the shows.  The shows are great.  But producing so much TV and getting it out into the world produces some garbage as a bi-product.  To give you a better idea of what I mean I did some digging into the waste bin to see exactly what kind of things we throw away.

 

First of all there is the recycling.  A large portion of what is thrown away here is recyclable.  All of them have to be sorted into different categories.  Plastic bottles go with plastic bottles and cans go with cans.  Birds of a feather as it were, flock together.  And its not as simple as simply throwing them away either.  The pet bottles for example have to be stripped naked of their label, de-capped and cleaned.

The single largest waste pile is paper.  But paper doesn't go straight into the can.  If it still has a clean side it is reused as scrap paper.  Some times cut down to smaller sizes for use as a note, a bookmark or a place to put some chewing gum.  After paper has made its way through a few uses it is probably eventually recycled and made again into new paper. 

Some things however can't be recycled.  These head for the trash, never to be seen again.  But most of the waste the office produces gets used again and again.  Its nice to know that something that outlived its usefulness might yet find some new use again.  I wonder what they are going to do with me when my time comes?  Will I come back as a paper cup?  Or maybe they can use me as scrap paper.  At least I will still be contributing to the office.

by Jib-Kun

 

I'm still just getting used to using this computer thing.  The mouse is my favorite part.  I can have fun with it all day long.  Watching the little cursor move on the screen. I guess for you its not so exciting, but trust me it is.  The fact that moving that little plastic ball on the table can guide me through so many electronic adventures, it's something I would never have dreamed of back home.  This is because back home, a mouse is actually not nearly as touch-friendly.  In fact, they are more likely to bite you than to do anything useful.

Surfing around on the website is amazing.  There is so much information out there, and so much to see and do. My favorite thing to do is search for photos of interesting foods I haven't eaten yet.  So many people out there on the internet are posting pictures of their meals in various locations in Japan.  It's a great low calorie way to enjoy food.  Many Japanese people have devoted websites to their favorite foods like ramen or soba.  Here on jibtv of course there are a lot of food related shows.  One of my favorite shows "Your Japanese Kitchen" even shows how to make Japanese dishes at home.  I'm not much of a cook, but I'm an excellent eater.

But for me of course the jibtv website is home.  Without it, you would never have known about me.  So I am very grateful that it allows me a place to talk to all of you out there.  And that reminds me... who are you?  I've been wondering what type of people are clicking into read my adventures here.  Please feel free to drop a comment and say hello!  I'd be pleased to meet you.

On the jibtv website the most exciting thing is probably the streaming video.  I'm really excited about the new programs they always have coming out.  To be honest, not every program is so interesting for me, but it's exciting to find out what new programs are on the way.  Recently there was new program called "Japan in the First Person."  On the show they interview famous and important Japanese people.  I really enjoyed an interview with olympic swimmer Daisuke Kitajima.  I had seen him swim, but never had a chance to hear him speak.  It was very interesting.

The other blogs have been interesting too.  Just last week I read about some cool fashions in Clays post and about women only cars on trains in Danny's post.  Clay's posts always make me laugh.  And Anna, the only female blogger makes me think.

Those other bloggers, like me seem to be interested in all the unique parts of this country.  I tried contacting Clay the other day using the messenger chat service on the website.  That was a lot of fun.  Using the service I was able to text message Clay while watching the a program.  I hope to make other friends out there and learn more about them using that service.  I just got a reminder, that a show I want to watch is coming on.  Even though I am in the building, I use the reminders so I don't miss any programs.

Drop a line and say hello.  I'd love to meet you!

Comments: jibtv@jibtv.com

 

By Jib-kun

At one desk in the office is a Frenchman.  He is a bit peculiar.  Of 
course, he is noticeably different from the rest of the office.  He is 
different because, I never see him eat.  At first, I will be honest, I 
thought that maybe he doesn't eat but simply survives on sunlight and 
water, which is really not so odd as I have a few other friends in the 
office who do just that.  The plants do without big greasy lunches 
just fine, and you don't hear them complain.  (But actually you don't 
hear much worthwhile from plants anyway.  On the whole they are 
pretty boring conversationalists.  The flowers, trees, shrubs, and 
grass I have spoken with in my life rarely, if ever, have much in the 
way of good anecdotes.  I think maybe if they tried eating, they might 
have something to make small talk about.)

             But I digress.  You see, this Frenchman who never eats, I 
was curious how he is able to stay alive, and well... not so... hmmm.  How do I put this?  Not skinny.  Many of the other workers can be seen 
eating these delectable little lunches they bring in little plastic 
containers.  It's one of the more exciting parts of my day around noon 
when I see what daily wonders they bring out from their bags.  Each of 
their "Bentos" as they call them are packed with pickles, eggs, cooked 
meats, salads, rice balls and more.  They all look so complicated that 
I'm sure this is what they are preparing during the night hours when 
they are not in the office.  It must take them quite a great amount of 
effort to ready these daily delicious feasts.  But the Frenchman only 
has his water bottle.

             I noticed one day as his eyes sharpened and watched as he 
licked his lips noticing the veritable feast being held at the 
neighboring desk.  He spirited himself out the door and I raced after 
him to see where he was going.  Following secretly behind, I trailed 
him as he made his way across the street, into another building, down 
a hall, and finally to his destination.
             It was a magical revelation.  I had followed him, like 
some industrious little honey bee all the way to his honey nest which was a cafeteria filled with all manner of food and drink.  It had on offer 
every food one could desire.  Sushi, curry, noodles, salads, 
sandwiches, grilled fish, baked meats and even adorable little bowls 
of ice cream all temptingly beckoned.

Swiping some little plastic card through a large vending machine, he 
simply pushed a button and out came a ticket.  The ticket soon was 
traded in for a heaping pile of steaming rice and big, beautiful pieces 
of fried tempura.  He ate hurriedly, constantly looking up and around 
like a bear at the riverbank crouched over a tasty fish.  When he 
finished and returned his plate, he made his way back to the office,  
albeit noticeably slower than the pace at which he walked to the 
cafeteria.

             That is how the Frenchman survives.  It's a good piece of 
knowledge for me too.  Now, whenever I get some rumbly tummy pangs, I know what to do.  I slip over to his desk and take his plastic card. Then I make my way down to the cafeteria and get myself a snack.  I always put his card back where I found it.  Sometimes the card doesn't work.  It just tells me "Balance Zero." I'm not sure what that means.  Perhaps the ticket machine can check your nutritional balance and recommend that you don't eat.  It's probably true since I have eaten 
dozens of ice creams with his card.  And I am well... hmmm.  How do I 
say this?  Not skinny.  But then, neither is he.

Now that I've been in the office for a while, I've had the chance to watch quite a bit of the programming here at jibtv. I was intrigued from the very first moment I saw TV. The first thing I wondered about TV is how they shrink all of the people into a size small enough to fit on to a screen.

It seems silly now that I think about it! What a stupid question that was. I recently visited the set of the show Tokyo Eye and was able to see how full sized people are transformed onto the small screen: magic! But I was later told magic is just a bunch of lenses and electric.

Ok, but there was still some magic on that set. But I recognized some friends from home... wood. It was everywhere but not like I knew it. In some way this typical forest wood had been turned into... well how else do I put it? Magic!

Trees, are my old friends. And to be honest they are boring friends. But I had no idea the versatility those boring comrades stored within. A typical tree in the forest I lived in, if it lived out its days was lucky to become even known in a small way, for example as a Christmas tree. But now such wood becomes famous in forms I never imagined. The cedar is as much a star as the cover of the most recent pop Idol magazine spread, which I should add is also printed on paper. But I digress...

Period dramas are probably the most exciting destination for the wood. Some of the luckier cedars, oaks and pines are destined to become elaborately decorated period drama sets.

Beautiful painted screens are made here to recreate as close as is possible the actual interior design of a famous Shogun or emperor from the past. In a room, hidden away from are the thousands of "fusuma" or decorated room partitions that have been created for productions over the years. Their art rivals even the remaining originals in temples, shrines and castles across the country. All to create the most accurate depiction possible for a TV viewing audience.

But there are a lot of shows going on the air. At first I thought it was amazing that they are able to get everybody and everything out of the studio and replace it with an entirely new set and cast in just the minute or so between episodes. But I've done some looking around and it seems there is not just one studio, but many many many studios.

All kinds of different things are being filmed in the building all the time. Every little corner of the building is filled with people doing something that helps to make the shows. Here you will find people at work preparing clothes for the actors, wigs, make-up, feeding the crews and even a dentist on call!

I was searching around deep in the back rooms of the building when I found a very special place. I tip-toed in to find a sleeping worker amongst the lumber. It's the place where all the sets begin. The room is filled with smell of wood. Now, not exactly like in the forest. You see the smell of the forest is that of living trees. This is the smell of wood as it has been freshly cut and hammered and nailed. Maybe not the best place to bring a tree, if you happen to be friends with one. But like this fellow in a moment of peace, I've never felt close to the peace you find deep among the forests firs, cedars and mighty oaks.

For me it was exciting. Exciting to see how many different things they can become. A simple tree can be transformed by these craftsmen into a finished set that will be seen by people all around the world. I guess in a way, you could say these trees become "famous."

The studio set like the one used on Tokyo Eye is not the only destination. This TV studio also makes dramas about time periods in ancient Japan. They are used to make beautiful recreations of old buildings that have long since disappeared. It's pretty amazing when you think a simple tree could end up being so many different things. Of course there are other destinations trees have in the building that are less exciting.