This blog post is dedicated to the book (which is not available in market): ニッポンの嵐.
嵐 (Arashi) is now the travelling ambassador for Japan, hence they compiled this thick book of 195 pages on different sides of Japan as a gift to all Japanese schools. It is not for sale.
At my school, you can't borrow it out either. I've made 2 visits to the library (1 hour each time) to read the book. :)
The book showcases the trips that the Arashi members each took based on the theme they picked:
- 大野智 (Ohno Satoshi) - Art & Crafts
- 櫻井翔 (Sakurai Sho) - Agriculture
- 相葉雅紀 (Aiba Masaki) - Welfare & Nursing
- 二宮和也 (Ninomiya Kazunari) - Entertainment
- 松本潤 (Matsumoto Jun) - Offshore Islands
Ohno attended art exhibition and also tried woodcraft making (making wooden spoons!) at Aomori Prefecture. At the end of the book, there are photograph contributions by each member. I think Ohno's pictures are the best! :) Great perspective... especially the wooden spoon picture.
Sakurai worked in the tea plantation in Nara Prefecture. He brought lots of tea leaves (handpicked by him) back as souvenirs. :P (Each member had to bring back souvenirs for other members from their trips. )
Aiba visited an welfare establishments such as old folks home and also tagged along a delivery guy whose company specialises in delivering bentos to the elderly (and often living alone). He covered the most prefectures out of the five: from Chiba (his hometown) to Kanagawa, Kyoto and Nara.
Nino covered his favorite topic, entertainment which includes games, in Kyoto and Tokyo. He is a well-known gamer among artistes. :P Lucky him, he get to interview the maker of Super Mario at Nintendo and the man behind Studio Ghibli, 宮崎 駿 Miyazaki Hayao.
Do you know?
- Nino says his first video game is Super Mario! Actually it's my first, too, and probably for many others. Hahaha...
- Nintendo started in 1889! And the very evergreen game series, Super Mario, make its first debut in 1983.
Jun took a trip to offshore islands in Shimane. He even visited a high school there! Gosh... how I wish he came to my school! (*_*)
The book also covered other short excerpts on the 47 prefectures in Japan, and snippets on the Japanese culture, living in Japan and festivals in Japan.
Do you know?
The ラジオ体操 (Radio Exercise) started in 1928! They remind me very much about Great Singapore Workout, which started in 1993. :P I still remember the throwing rubbish action. LOL.
And finally here's a youtube video I found which compiles some of the pictures in the book. Enjoy!
