Jerry Suppan / ジェリー スパン

Taking Life One Day At A Time

Japanese Text to Speech Conversion

The following widget will allow converting  Japanese text to speech.  If unsure of a reading for a Japanese kanji character, sentence or paragraph, copy and paste it here.  The widget will then read it back for you.

Learn Japanese verbs level 1. Verbs are displayed randomly. You can also display a new verb by clicking on the refresh button.

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Kitaro 15th Annual All Night Taiko Event 2010

Photos taken during Kitaro’s 15th annual all-night Taiko (Japanese Drums) event. This event occurs every year in August on the night of the full moon. For this year that happened all night on 8/24 – 8/25. The drumming starts approximately 18:00. Once it starts, it does not end until SUNRISE! That’s right! ALL night!! For those who might aspire to experience drumming on genuine Japanese Taiko drums, this is IT! It was quite an interesting, different, and exhilirating experience. It’s also a great escape from the doldrums of daily life, and a good stress release. As Kitaro himself likes to consider it, an appreciation for our planet…. to simply become one with nature, earth, with the beat of the drums. Best yet, although not very publicized, the event is totally free for those in the know. For those of you not familiar with Kitaro, he is the person famous for the NHK TV series, Silk Road of many years ago. He also did the soundtrack score for Oliver Stone’s movie, “Heaven and Earth” a story with a setting before, during, and after the Vietnam war. Kitaro currently lives in California, but returns each year to his native country to perform this event. To see the full load of all the photos of the event, please visit my website:www.gallery.suppan.net. Once there Enter >> EVENTS >> KITARO >> 2010-TAIKO.

Japanese

この写真集は喜太郎の第15回、富士山御殿場でのオールナイト太鼓イベントです。このイベントは毎年の八月の満月の夜に起こるイベントです。今年は8月24日、25日のオールナイトでした。太鼓のオペニングセレモニーは約18時頃からサンライズ(夜明けまで)止めません!そうです!オールナイトです。もし本物の太鼓を体験したいと憧れている人ならば、これです!来年の8月の満月の夜にも叉ですよ!面白くて日常生活のストレスから逃げて爽快イベントです。喜太郎自身も考えていることで地球に感謝するイベントです。地球と自然と一緒になることです。なによりもこのイベントはあまり広告されていないけれども一番良いのが無料です。自由に参加できます。 喜太郎さんが良く知らない人でしたら、昔の日本のNHKテレビシリーズ、「シルクロード」のBGMを作った人です。そして監督のオリバーストーンの映画「Heaven and Earth」のサウンドトラックも作成しました。喜太郎の音楽のスタイルは基本的にニューエージでシンセサイザーの方でも一番有名です。今現在アメリカのカリフォルニアに住んでいます。恐らく日本よりもアメリカのほうで一番人気かも知れません。このイベントのもっと詳しい写真を見てみたいなら、私のウェブサイトへ訪れて下さい: www.gallery.suppan.net/zen/events/kitaro/2010-taiko/


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Kitaro – 2010 All Night Taiko, Photo Gallery

I have just posted the first batch of photos of this event to my gallery,  Please visit the link on my gallery page or go directly to the album.

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Think Different

An interesting short video clip I came across recently was a presentation by Steve Jobs to developers back in 1997.  People who think different,  who don’t follow the status quo toward achievements, are the one’s who in fact change the world.  I won’t belabor the point myself.  Rather, watch Steve Jobs 1997 presentation to developers.  Think different.  Be different.  Quite inspirational and worth the 6 minute review.

Jerry

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Kitaro 2009 All Night Taiko Event – Videos Online

Just to get a little taste of the excitement of the event the night before the 2010 event begins,   I have posted all my videos of the 2009 all night taiko event.  These video files are ‘in-the-raw’,  meaning… NO post production work.  Rather then just sitting in my computer waiting to have  time to produce a nicely polished video I decided to post and share  them with the people planning to attend tomorrow rather then let the experience go to waste.   Also, bear in mind, these ARE videos, so be patient and allow a little bit of time to download and buffer before viewing.  In order to make the process a bit faster, I reduced the video files down to iphone frame size.  Thus, the file size is smaller, and should start more quickly.   Also, I have not figured out yet how to attach thumbnail images to the video clips, so you will need to go by the video file names to get some idea of what the content is.   Also, I have not figured out yet how to attach thumbnail images to the video clips, so you will need to go by the video file names to get some idea of what the content is for each clip.

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15th Annual Kitaro All Night Taiko Event – Mt. Fuji

Kitaro’s 15th annual August,  all-night Taiko (Japanese Drums) session will take place this year once again on 8/24 – 8/25, ‘night of the full moon’.  For those who might aspire to experience  Japanese Taiko, on real, genuine Japanese drums, this will be an interesting, different, and exhilirating experience and opportunity to do so.  It’s also a great opportunity to escape the doldrums of daily life, stress release, and to simply become one with nature, earth, and the beat of the drums.  Best yet, although not very publicized, the event is totally free for those in the know.

Event Information:  EnglishJapanese

Gotemba Access map (Japanese)
Kitaro’s official music website EnglishJapanese
Impressions of West Lake 52nd Grammy Awards, Best New Age Album Nomination

I have also posted a sub-section here under the PHOTO page which contains 3D scrollable albums participation in last year’s 2009 as well as  2007 all night taiko events. I also posted VIDEO of the 2009 event as well.

For those who might attend, I  prepared a  basic checklist of items you may wish to consider to bring for personal convenience and as contingency for sudden, inclement weather changes:

  • tent
  • sleeping bag
  • toilet paper
  • flash light
  • gloves, work type (hands will go sore without them)
  • bachi (drum sticks, professional type)
  • first aid kit (comprised of whatever you feel appropriate)
  • plastic sheets (spread sheets like for picnics, at the beach, etc.)
  • rain suit or parka
  • lightweight jacket
  • plastic garbage bags, large size
  • camera / video equipment (related paraphenalia.. tripod, lenses)
  • food / beverages, as you like.

This is not not necessarily an exhaustive listing, but a guideline.  This will be an ALL NIGHT event so be  forewarned!  Also, since Mt. Fuji is a mountain, at 1/3 the way up the mountain, the weather could become unpredictable.

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Thai-Vietnamese Evening Dinner

Video is now available taken during the recent Thai-Vietnamese evening dinner event with special guest, John Zendano. Actually date of event, August 10, 2010

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Night Video Test

Here is a night video test using the ancient Minolta SRT-101 camera prime lens, f1.4 f=58mm, of late 1960s vintage. I experimented with this lens docked to the modern Panasonic Lumix GH1 body. I was experimenting with the lens as I plan to use this lens extensively for Japan’s famous legedary Kitaro who will hold his 15th annual all night taiko (Japanese drums) event at Mt. Fuji coming up 8/24-8/25, the night of the full moon. This test video was taken of trains arriving and departing Kugayama Station in Tokyo, Japan. The environmental lighting pretty much reflect what the actual colors of the adjacent parking lot and street lights were.

Japanese
このビデオでは夜景テストとして撮影しました。東京の久我山駅辺りの電車を到着したり発車したりすることを撮影しました。使ったレンズは昔のミノルタ(型 番SRT-101) のf1.4、f=58mm レンズでした。これから過去の、日本の有名な喜太郎さんが富士山の御殿場で第15回のオールナイト太鼓イベントの撮影準備為にこのビデオで予めテストを 行っています。イベント自体は毎年の8月の満月の夜に行うイベントです。今年は8月24日。です。

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Apple-Connected TV Coming?

Recent market movement is beginning to hint at something along the line of an Apple TV coming to fruition over the next couple of years. If so, that might be a killer solution, once again coming from Apple.  Think about it for a moment…. they steamrolled and revolutionized the the personal computer, portable music player and mobile phone.  So, why not the TV market as well?   The upcoming Apple iTV is hinting at such an evolution.  It is theorized to be the prelude, a steppingstone to the eventual realization of this prophetic  all-in-one entertainment TV.   For Apple to deliver a cloud-based media service device to leverage competitive advantage makes sense.  App store, games, iTunes, internet, TV download streaming, and of course, regular local broadcast.    It may very well replace the typical home entertainment system as we know it, the TV.   Adding 3D  will be the icing on the cake too.  We’ll all find out soon enough.


 

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WiMax 2 Standard, Coming in 2011

Wimax 2 looks like it will become a standard early in 2011.  What does this equate to?  In short, download speeds up to 120Mbps is to be expected for mobile devices.  Nice!  And, in Japan where you can contract monthly for Wimax rather then 2 years at a time, this does not bode well for Emobile, given their paltry UL/DL capabilities.  Besides you need to do contract with Emobile for 2 years. Furthermore unlike Wimax, it is not a global protocol standard.

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