Book fanned long love of Japan for noted scholar

birou notarial

Dj Nunta

Pret aparat dentar

Baloane

By Yuko Takeo

TOKYO | Thu Sep 15, 2011 12:53am EDT

TOKYO (Reuters) - An ancient Japanese book believed to be the world's first novel helped U.S.-born scholar Donald Keene fall in love with Japan more than 70 years ago.

Now 89, the man who befriended giants of Japanese literature such as Yukio Mishima has returned to his adopted home to take up citizenship and live out the rest of his life.

"1940 was the worst year of my life. I think it was the worst year of their life for most people in the western world," Keene told reporters.

But reading "The Tale of Genji," a 11-century book depicting the life and loves of a prince at the Japanese court nearly a thousand years ago, changed everything.

"I realized how there was another world possible. The contrast between my daily world, which was horror, and their world, in which they made everything they touched beautiful, talking poetry," he said.

"I felt like a barbarian, but a grateful barbarian."

Keene, who graduated from university in 1942, studied Japanese language under the auspices of the U.S. Navy and subsequently worked in military intelligence during World War Two, interrogating prisoners and translating documents.

He then went on to a career as a noted scholar of Japanese literature and is credited with playing a key role in gaining recognition for "The Tale of Genji" as world-class literature.

But after more than half a century teaching at New York's Columbia University, he retired this spring and came to Japan.

On Mishima, who was notorious for committing ritual suicide in 1970 after trying to carry out a coup the day he delivered the final book of a series to his publisher, Keene said aspects of his friend of nearly two decades were always hard to understand.

"I received one of the last three letters he wrote. What he said was that he thought I understood him. Perhaps I did understand him, but not enough," he said.

"He was a unique person. There's no one like him now in the world of Japanese literature, I'm sorry to say."

After spending most of his life bringing Japan and the West closer through literature, Keene felt that his return was appropriate, largely as a way of thanking his Japanese friends.

Asked why he had finally decided to take up Japanese citizenship, Keene said, "I got tired of being different. I wanted to become Japanese, as much as my face permits."

(Editing by Elaine Lies)

Birou Notarial Bucuresti

Cost aparat dentar

Dj Botez

Aranjamente baloane

Met opera stars cancel Japan tour on radiation fear

birou notarial

NEW YORK | Wed Jun 1, 2011 2:24pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two of the Metropolitan Opera's leading performers due to sing in Japan this week, have pulled out with concerns about radiation, the New York opera company said.

Russian-born soprano Anna Netrebko and tenor Joseph Calleja canceled their roles in performances in Nagoya and Tokyo following concerns about radiation leaks from a nuclear power plant just 240km (150 miles) from Tokyo, caused by the massive March 11 earthquake.

Some 350 company members arrived on Monday for performances of the operas "La Boheme," "Don Carlo" and "Lucia di Lammermoor" beginning on Saturday and running until June 19.

"Last-minute cancellations by soprano Anna Netrebko and tenor Joseph Calleja, both citing concerns about post-earthquake radiation, forced the Met to scramble over the weekend to find replacement stars," the statement issued on Tuesday by the Met Opera said.

Up until last week, Netrebko, 39, and Calleja, a Maltese tenor who has sung in opera houses around the world, had been planning on performing in Japan, as scheduled, the Met said. But Netrebeko, 39, changed her mind because of the emotional weight of having also lived through the tragedy of Chernobyl.

"She didn't feel that she would be able to present her best performances and didn't want to disappoint her Japanese fans. Mr. Calleja also had last-minute misgivings about performing in Japan at this time."

Instead, soprano Marina Poplavskaya and tenors Marcelo Alvarez, Rolando Villazon and Alexey Dolgov joined the tour.

Soprano Barbara Frittoli agreed to move into the role of Mimi in "La Boheme" to replace Netrebko, while Poplavskaya will replace Frittoli in the role of Elisabeth in "Don Carlo."

"Anything can happen in the volcanic world of opera, and with this tour it seems that our volcano has momentarily erupted," said the Met's General Manager, Peter Gelb.

Engineers in Japan have been battling to plug radiation leaks and bring the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant under control more than two months after the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami that devastated a swathe of Japan's coastline.

(Reporting by Christine Kearney, editing by Jill Serjeant)

Birou Notarial Bucuresti

Baloane

NEW YORK | Wed Jun 1, 2011 2:24pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two of the Metropolitan Opera's leading performers due to sing in Japan this week, have pulled out with concerns about radiation, the New York opera company said.

Russian-born soprano Anna Netrebko and tenor Joseph Calleja canceled their roles in performances in Nagoya and Tokyo following concerns about radiation leaks from a nuclear power plant just 240km (150 miles) from Tokyo, caused by the massive March 11 earthquake.

Some 350 company members arrived on Monday for performances of the operas "La Boheme," "Don Carlo" and "Lucia di Lammermoor" beginning on Saturday and running until June 19.

"Last-minute cancellations by soprano Anna Netrebko and tenor Joseph Calleja, both citing concerns about post-earthquake radiation, forced the Met to scramble over the weekend to find replacement stars," the statement issued on Tuesday by the Met Opera said.

Up until last week, Netrebko, 39, and Calleja, a Maltese tenor who has sung in opera houses around the world, had been planning on performing in Japan, as scheduled, the Met said. But Netrebeko, 39, changed her mind because of the emotional weight of having also lived through the tragedy of Chernobyl.

"She didn't feel that she would be able to present her best performances and didn't want to disappoint her Japanese fans. Mr. Calleja also had last-minute misgivings about performing in Japan at this time."

Instead, soprano Marina Poplavskaya and tenors Marcelo Alvarez, Rolando Villazon and Alexey Dolgov joined the tour.

Soprano Barbara Frittoli agreed to move into the role of Mimi in "La Boheme" to replace Netrebko, while Poplavskaya will replace Frittoli in the role of Elisabeth in "Don Carlo."

"Anything can happen in the volcanic world of opera, and with this tour it seems that our volcano has momentarily erupted," said the Met's General Manager, Peter Gelb.

Engineers in Japan have been battling to plug radiation leaks and bring the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant under control more than two months after the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami that devastated a swathe of Japan's coastline.

(Reporting by Christine Kearney, editing by Jill Serjeant)

Baloane

Cost aparat dentar

NEW YORK | Wed Jun 1, 2011 2:24pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two of the Metropolitan Opera's leading performers due to sing in Japan this week, have pulled out with concerns about radiation, the New York opera company said.

Russian-born soprano Anna Netrebko and tenor Joseph Calleja canceled their roles in performances in Nagoya and Tokyo following concerns about radiation leaks from a nuclear power plant just 240km (150 miles) from Tokyo, caused by the massive March 11 earthquake.

Some 350 company members arrived on Monday for performances of the operas "La Boheme," "Don Carlo" and "Lucia di Lammermoor" beginning on Saturday and running until June 19.

"Last-minute cancellations by soprano Anna Netrebko and tenor Joseph Calleja, both citing concerns about post-earthquake radiation, forced the Met to scramble over the weekend to find replacement stars," the statement issued on Tuesday by the Met Opera said.

Up until last week, Netrebko, 39, and Calleja, a Maltese tenor who has sung in opera houses around the world, had been planning on performing in Japan, as scheduled, the Met said. But Netrebeko, 39, changed her mind because of the emotional weight of having also lived through the tragedy of Chernobyl.

"She didn't feel that she would be able to present her best performances and didn't want to disappoint her Japanese fans. Mr. Calleja also had last-minute misgivings about performing in Japan at this time."

Instead, soprano Marina Poplavskaya and tenors Marcelo Alvarez, Rolando Villazon and Alexey Dolgov joined the tour.

Soprano Barbara Frittoli agreed to move into the role of Mimi in "La Boheme" to replace Netrebko, while Poplavskaya will replace Frittoli in the role of Elisabeth in "Don Carlo."

"Anything can happen in the volcanic world of opera, and with this tour it seems that our volcano has momentarily erupted," said the Met's General Manager, Peter Gelb.

Engineers in Japan have been battling to plug radiation leaks and bring the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant under control more than two months after the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami that devastated a swathe of Japan's coastline.

(Reporting by Christine Kearney, editing by Jill Serjeant)

Cost aparat dentar