The Iroha Project main site finally recieved the much needed updates to the Japanese section. Presently, both English and Japanese images and audio are running very well. There are a few difficult to hear sounds that need to be recorded but the problem is with Audacity. Somehow there is a strange feedback sound that gets recorded, which can only partially elliminated through the use of the Audacity effects. Perhaps tomorrow I will be uploading three new languages (Mandarin,Guangxi Baihua (a dialect of Cantonese) and Southern Zhuang) on the about page.

Although Mandarin Chinese is the largest dialect of the Chinese languages and most widely spoken, it is interesting to note that there are still linguistic differences between Taiwan mandarin and Mainland Chinese mandarin. For example the word for taxi on the Mainland is commonly known as chu zu (出租), which translates literately into English as a for hire or rent and familiarly known as da di (打的) . In Taiwan; however, it is known as hwang che (黄車), which translates in English literately as yellow car because all the taxis are yellow in Taiwan.

A few good movies worth mentioning are Kikujiro (1999) 122 minutes by the Japanese director Kitano (Beat) Takeshi. The cast: Beat Takeshi, Yusuke Sekiguchi, Kayoko Kishimoto. A change of pace for Kitano, Kikujiro takes a lighter, more playful tone than Fireworks. Kitano stars as a cynical, manipulative lay-about who accompanies a boy Yusuke, on a quest to find the boy’s mother. The other movie Audition (1999) 115 minutes by the director MiikeTakashi with cast, Ryo Ishibashi, Shiina Eihi, Miyuki Matsuda. Director Miike (also director of Bird People of China) turns to the psycho thriller genre with this extreme tale about a widowed executive (Ishibashi) captivated by the charms of a young actress (top Japanese fashion model Shiina), until it becomes plain that romance is the last thing on her mind.