Koshi's first year in Yochien (kindergarten)... *mercy* that's already seven years ago!... was the year the MushiKing (King of Beetles) phenomenon hit Japan which I've written about before. About a year later, when Koshi was four, the animated series began on Wednesday nights.... which we duly watched every Wednesday night as long as everybody was fed, bathed, and properly jammied. I was immediately smitten by the opening song by Kiroro (who sings Cici's favorite song "Best Friend"). I sat down with the kids to watch a beetle anime just to listen to this song every week:-)) It's called "Ikite Koso", translation below.
While we live*
Mama, on the day I was born What was the colour of the sky?
Papa, on the day I was born How did you feel?
Since then, I began to pick up words My own
Liking, and my means to seek affection Became an inseparable part of me
While we live While we live Now, beginning from this moment
While we live While we live Our lives expand, and connect
Mama, when you first embraced me in your arms How did you feel?
Papa, the day I was born Were you overjoyed?
Since then, miracles recur... My own
Liking, and encounters I look forward as they continue to nurture
While we live While we live
The dream to keep flapping our wings forever
While we live While we live
The roots grow deep thick and strong
While we live While we live Now, beginning from this moment
While we live While we live Our lives expand, and connect
While we live While we live
The dream to keep flapping our wings forever
While we live While we live
The roots grow deep thick and strong
The roots grow deep thick and strong
ah(e-) Flapping the wings...
While we live [Ah~]
When you have kids, it doesn't take much to pull the heartstrings... Little Cici was only one when this show was on--she was scared of dolls whose eyes opened and closed. But she *loved* her brothers' big beetles (and Ultraman monsters... go figure).
That's the music video, not the opening sequence to the show (which doesn't seem to be available online...). But here's the commercial for the MushiKing movie that came out toward the end of that year to give you an idea of what the show looked like if you've never seen it--fanciful, but the beetles are well-drawn and there's a wide variety of them. My kids picked up a fair amount of geography and entomology learning beetle names and where they were from! Heracules Ookabutomushi is from Brazil, Caucasus Ookabutomushi is from Indonesia and Malaysia...and so on.
Enjoy!
Mata asobou, ne!
ooh, i'm excited to give this a listen later (stoopid work PC...*grumble grumble*)
ReplyDeleteKawaii desu ne! I'm off to go read your posts on Valentine's day. I'm so excited because next month some students from this really cool school in Kyouto are coming to our school. We're all being paired up with them and go to our regular classes. It's called 'shadowing'.
ReplyDeleteLast year I didn't get to do it because we were only level 1. :/
I saw some of them in my math class and I was soo amazed because they finished all the problems in under a minute, while the rest of us were still struggling with the first one. At Showa Boston (where I voluteer to host Japanese students)there's only girls, so I'm excited to see both girls and guys from the school in Kyouto. Sensei told us that the school is very respected in Japan, and she showed us some pictures of their school and its soo beautiful. :D
Woow, this comment got really long. Gomen nasai! :)
One important thing that made me feel very close to Japan on coming here (centuries ago!) was the great interest in insects. In England, one used to be regarded as an oddity if you liked insects - particularly if the kind of insects you were interested in were not the obvious butterflies (I was interested chiefly in solitary bees and wasps and Orthoptera). And in Japan, I was able to see praying mantises and to see (and hear) cicadas for the first time. (TimH)
ReplyDeleteLovely bugs--and anatomically correct!
ReplyDeletehaha kiroro song powerful!
ReplyDeleteSarah--hope you like it later when you can listen:-))
ReplyDeleteEzmirelda--you get to have students from Kyouto shadow you? That will be *so* fun! I can't wait to hear about it! (Are you going to post about it on your blog?)
Tim--There *is* a great interest in insects here, which I love, too. We had a pretty big back yard when I was growing up, so I played with praying mantises, worms, toads, lightning bugs, grasshoppers,...sometimes would open the front door to see a small stag beetle clinging to the screen... I *love* it that summer = bugs! Of couse, long about May our genkan turns into a zoo, but... shoganai, ne! Iii janai!
Jerry-- that's what I enjoyed about watching the show with my kids. That the bugs were drawn correctly, and that there was such a variety of them in the show--a fictional story, but interesting beetles!
ReplyDeletevvv--glad you like Kiroro, too! She *does* have a powerful voice! That's what I really like about hearing her sing. :-))
Nice Post...
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